Pure as the driven snow

For a number of winters, I have been promising myself to get back on my skis. To be exact, 19 winters. The procrastination stems for an incident that occurred at my first attempt to downhill ski. On that bunny slope, I failed to stop and crashed into a sign post. I didn't damage vital organs or break any bones. I did cut my lower lip. The blood splattered on the snow did resemble abattoir art. Needless to say, my parents were most horrified at my post skiing appearance. Imagine Hannibal Lector with gauze instead of wires.

Well all this is now in the past. I got back on those skis today. After some coaching from the ski instructor, I made a run down the bunny slope. And wouldn't you know it, I didn't collide with any object, stationary or moving. Hurrah!

Both my mother and my friend Dessie shared in this small victory.

The Impressionist Sky. I'm sure this is where Monet must have picked up some of his inspiration if not his vision of the world.  

The Ghost of Christmas Trees

That time of the year at last must come. To take down the Christmas decorations and put away the lights. This always makes me feel sad. The finality of the end of the season. The saddest moment is taking out the Christmas tree to the sidewalk as it showers the last vestiges of its needles along its way. That tree that once stood proud and tall, ornamented in golden lights and decorations, now lies on the sidewalk abandoned, clothed in nothing more that a delicate blue wrap (formerly packaging for medical equipemnt). Shivering in this cold winter snap as it awaits its final journey. This tree that has provided those 6 weeks of joy and happiness now alone waiting for the recycling truck. To add insult to injury, the recyclers remove the tree's only garment and cast the blue drapery to the sidewalk as they hurl the naked conifer onto their vehicle. I'll never look at wood chips in the same way again.

Politically incorrect

There was an interesting development at the conference I had attended this weekend. The focus of the conference was obstetrical malpractice which is a rather un-nerving topic to start. The speakers were very polished and attempted to inject a little humour to the lectures. With the exception of two speakers, the invited lecturers were all physicians of Irish descent. And you thought the Irish Mafia only operated in the police departments of Chicago and Boston.

The most comic moment though was brought about by modern technology. The last speaker, a lawyer and not a physician started to speak about landmark obstetrical cases. However, his power point presentation stole the show. First the colour of the slides kept going green. Clearly foreshadowing the next audiovisual failure, the complete shut down of the LCD projector. In his attempts to correct the problems, the audiovisual tech guy shut off the auditorium lights, raised the projector screen and then turned off the power to the microphone. The audience was hooting all the way home!

Hop Scotch

Tis hard to believe that it has been ten years since I first tasted my first single malt scotch. I was on a guided tour of Britain, Scotland and Wales with my parents. Being the youngest member of the tour and the only person under age of 30 years made for episodes of boredom. I soon realized that guided tours was not for me. I do not like to be herded during travel. Lacking of freedom to wander, taking in a meal or drink at my leisure nearly...well drove me to drink. Worse it seemed the collective goal of the tour by many of my fellow travellers was to "I've been there" pictures or footage of the UK.

But I digress. The highlight of the tour was the first to Glen Livet's Distillery. After a long and rather tedious description of the distilling process, our guide finally brought us to the tasting room. I really think he should have started here and spoke about the history of this drink in Scotland as we toured the facility.

The drink....so smooth, so tasty, straight up, no ice, none of that harsh aftertaste so often I have since experienced with other less brands that are fit to poured into car batteries. After all this time, I hope to start a new chapter in a long glorious history of EtOH consumption at a new scotch tasting night in town.

As Liberace once said...Bottoms Up!

For observing doctors only! 

Caution: Wish at your own risk

A little Christmas gift comes a bit early. Golden Boy, one of my colleagues, had made a passing remark about how difficult it was to find a parking space at the hospital on many a mid afternoon. This is particularly stressful as one is driving in order to delivery a baby usually. Lo and behold, a special sign appeared in the parking lot a few days later. "Reserved parking for OBS doctors". There remains however two problems. The sign appears in separate parking lot that the docs rarely use and how many people out there are wondering what an "OBS" doctor is? Incidently, this problem of parking at the hospital in the middle of the day is specific for Golden Boy. Both Red, my other colleague and I do our deliveries after midnight.

Rolls and Udon 

Spiders and Rainbows

For the size of this town, it is very surprising to find out that Milton has TWO good Japanese restaurants. This may not seem significant to big city folk like TO but it is my good fortune. The waiter at the one place is Korean with a mischevious smile but he is very prompt with his service. The fish is fresh and beef dishes are yummy! Check out the presentation on these rolls.

The lovely gingerbread house made by a local family in Milton. Almost too good to eat. 

Small Steps

A New Year begins...this is one of the few resolutions I have started to work on. Starting a Blog. Why? Mostly because it is impossible to share all my thoughts with everyone everywhere these days. That resolution and trying to lose that the holiday pounds. But in view of the great disaster of last week, it seem almost pointless to muse on these resolutions now.

The pictures stream in day and night as do the web updates, emails and blogs of course. Images reminescent of a nuclear war...Hiroshima, Nagasaki. Everything reduced to a lunar landscape. Very humbling each time we humans think we own this planet...Nature bats last. Have to turn the TV off now that I am so blurry eyed.

Taking a break from the true "reality" TV to see Spot's family. Very cute family with a new addition last August. Lots of pictures of the new boy who is just delightful to play with. He taken to sucking his and other people's thumbs. The boy is destined to be a Olympian in the trampoline it seems. Children give hope to the world.