Monthly Archives: November 2013

Friday night – white friday

1 Comment

Woke today to city sounds through our open window in Montreal. It was a brisk morning(in the teens).. but bright. Everything was coated with a couple of inches of snow that made even the city feel clean. We hung out with the Townsends until our parking was about to expire.. then took of south around 9:30. It had been a really nice visit..

We decided to take anew way to cross the boarder in order to miss the hoards of poeple that might be crossing to take advantage of the Black Friday sales.. Our normal crossing on i 89 can get backed up as much as an hour sometimes.. as can the one oni 87 in NY. There are two very small crossings between those large ones.. the one in Rouses Point NY can get pretty backed up.. Barry told about the one at Noyan Quebec.

THe route took us through the flat, quiet farmland of southern quebec.. we hardly saw another car as we approached the boarder…

Then we snaked back through swanton.. all in all, not shorter.. but probably faster in high traffic.

 

The only other thing we did today was to take a run in the bright snow.. it was cold and blustery but beautifully white.. I couldn’t shopping ona day like this… but I know many folks were.. and they were enjoying it..

 

ok. thats it for the day.. really enjoying the down time of this vacation

more (or less) tomorrow 🙂

nite all. nite sam

-me

 

 

Thursday night – happy Thanksgiving!

Leave a comment

Greetings from Montreal… Diane Gabe and I are up here with the Townsend's spending the night and having Thanksgiving dinner. It always amazes me that this huge city is only an hour and a half away.

Tim drove while I sat in the back. Even stopped for a snack and I got cheese and wine not a bad way to start the day

width=480

 

We got here mid afternoon but the Townsend kids were still in school… So gabe and I want to explore the city. Our goal was to get to the science Museum but it closed at four and we got there at 3:59. Oh well. We walked around old Montreal Not a bad alternative

width=500
width=500
 
 
 
width=500
Even found a street named after gabe
width=500
 

Around five headed back to the apartment. On the way I realized gabe and I could have our first legal beer together. So we stopped in to a bar did that. Surrounded by TV screens it was nice.

width=500
width=500

 

Dinner at the Townsend was really nice. Hannah, Matt, and Ian had several friends over so was mostly folks in their 20s. Lots of great food.

width=500
 
width=500
 

Now everybody's playing some sort of word Game in the living room. Believe it or not, I fell asleep. You were little quiet so I snuck off the blog.

Talked to Max on FaceTime today. He's having his Thanksgiving down in his new apartment in Brooklyn.

It was very good connecting with him.

Okay… Getting sleepy…
Thinking about all I have to be thankful for. I love my family and friends.
Night all, night sam… We were thinking of you
–me

 

Wednesaday night – Thanukah !

Leave a comment

 

Happy Thanukah everyone. This is the first time that Chanukah and Thanksgiving have overlapped in .. welll… wait.. its complicated.. here’s what I found out about that in Chabad.org

Chanukah was declared a Jewish national holiday 2178 years ago. Thanksgiving was declared a national American holiday on the last Thursday of every November by Abraham Lincoln in 1863. Before then, Thanksgiving was celebrated on different dates in different states, so we won’t count those. But, using the Chabad.org Date Converter, you will see that Thanksgiving coincided with the first day of Chanukah on November 29, 1888. It also coincided with the fourth day of Chanukah on November 30, 1899. On November 28, 1918, Thanksgiving was on Chanukah eve. But since it’s still Thanksgiving until midnight, and Jewish days begin at night, that would still mean that Jewish Americans would have eaten their turkeys that Thanksgiving to the light of their first Chanukah candle. It gets more complicated. Originally, Thanksgiving was always on the last Thursday of November. In 1939, FDR decided it would be good for the economy to push Thanksgiving back a little, so he declared the fourth Thursday of that November to be Thanksgiving—even though there were five Thursdays to November that year. In 1942, that became federal law. But not all states went along with it. As late as 1956, Texas was still celebrating Thanksgiving a week later than the rest of the country. Which means that if you were a Texan Jewish family, you would be eating that turkey to the light of your first Chanukah light in 1945 and 1956.

Oy.. that’s complicated.. and wouldn’t you know that it was my home state of Texas that messes up the whole specialness of tomorrow night. .. Anyway.. it’s kindof cool thinking that it happened last when our house was a mere 20 year old.. Diane was cooking all day, getting ready for our trip north tomorrow. One of her projects was latke, one of the traditional foods of Chanukah…   The whole house smelled so delicious !

 

The next convergence pf Chanukah and Thanksgiving won’t be until 2070… and then 2156.. how cool is that .. and thats not to mention the extra special visit of   Comet Ison  but more on that if it survives its run in with hte sun…

 

for now, let me wish you and yours a chappy thanuckah.. and a sweet time of piece..

nite all. nite sam

-me

 

 

Tuesday night– half speed

Leave a comment

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Vacation! I took today at half speed. Woke up early but stayed in bed. A short run with the dogs and Diane… Puttered around the house all morning. Lunch with my friend Dave. Home and then a nap. And then some more puttering.

Short meeting in the early evening and home and asleep on the couch by 10.
Two spoons of ice cream and now up to bed.
Doesn't get much sweeter than that.
Night all, night Sam
-me