Goodbye 2020...with one last adventure

Even though we slipped away to Sheenboro, QC, last week, we couldn't let the year end without one last winter walk. This time we visited Northumberland County, Ontario, which is about three hours West of our house. For obvious pandemic-related reasons, our expedition was pretty low key: just enjoy a change of scenery and perhaps go for some local walks and hikes.

Even aside from the obvious, it's been a strange Christmas season because there has been almost no snow. Usually at this point we're knee deep in the white stuff but we actually had a Green Christmas in Ottawa this year and Northumberland County was hardly better. The forests had a sprinkling of snow but the property surrounding the farmhouse property we stayed at near Castleton, Ontario, had almost none until our last morning there. 

Snowless in December?!

I'll say one thing for COVID, it's given a newfound appreciation for the quiet beauty at my doorstep in Ontario and Quebec. Northumberland County is a land of rolling hills, small forests and little creeks. It's Ontario's answer to the rolling countryside of England but at the end of the day it just a pretty place I've somehow always overlooked as I go back and forth between Ottawa and Toronto. 

We did eventually find some ice and snow in the woods

The site where we stayed even had a cool tiny microhouse and maze at the top of a hill you can rent with a commanding views of the surrounding (snow-less) hills and farms.

The little maze and littler house

View from the top. Ah the beautiful browns and greys of early winter!

Best of all, it offered just what we needed to end the year: a place for walking, reflecting and a chance to disconnect from the news cycle. (Oh and a nice big fireplace)

2020 - you were a son of a gun. But you didn't stop me and my gang from discovering these simple pleasures. Bring on 2021!

Sheenboro ski holiday

On Monday, Glosette Girl and I jetted off in our Kia Rio to Sheenboro, QC, where we had rented a cottage for us to hide in for a couple of days. 

First cross-country ski trip of the season!

 The cottage had all the essentials for a great Canadian winter getaway:

• Waterfront view - check.
• Down a dirt road - check.
• No Internet - check.
• Crazy cat blankets - check.
  
• Old Board games and puzzles lying about - check.
• Wood oven stove, which I kept crackling with fire  - check.
• Cross country ski trails....well....there weren't exactly trails in the area, but because the cottage was so isolated we were able to use the dirt road leading up to the cottage as a makeshift trail. A bit dodgy but since we never saw another car on the road for the 2 days we were there, I'd say it was less dodgy than going to the grocery store and trying to dodge all the people not folowing the arrows on the ground!

The hills on the road made for good fun:

 

There was a power failure on the last day, which meant we had to skip out a little earlier than we had planned, but overall I would say the visit was a grand success. It was the perfect excuse for each of us to indulge in some simple pleasures (me - eating chips and drinking coke; Glosette Girl - reading and knitting; Margot -  reading tons of bande dessinée and watching some Christmas movies and TV shows) without any guilt that we should be more productive with our time.

500 piece puzzle completed in two days: check!

Christmas Classic TV Shows and Movies

I grew up before the age of the Internet. In December, I used to scan the TV guides we would get in the mail for my favourite Christmas movies and TV shows. There were definitely a few classics that I could never pass up:

• Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer (1964) - who wouldn't want to see a reindeer, elf-dentist-wannabee, and arctic prospector Yukon Cornelius triumph over the abominable snowman?
• The Little Drummer Boy (1968) - I think when I was a kid I imagined myself as being the little drummer boy.
• Frosty the Snowman (1969) - I'm not a huge Frosty fan now but when I was young it was a regular part of the fixture.
• Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983) - who knew that you could blaze through hundreds of pages of Charles Dickens' classic in 22-short minutes?! Does a pretty good job.
• A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) -  this one is even better now then when I was a kid! The second one has some funny moments too.
• Jack Frost (1979) -  one of the more obscure ones but this one has a few holiday songs that are real gems - "It's just what I always wanted, it's perfectly right, it's just what I always wanted - a Christmas delight"!
• Twas the Night Before Christmas (1974) - have you noticed how many Bass/Rankin movies are on this list?! Another one with a catchy song.
• The Year Without A Santa Claus (1974) - Whose side are you on? The Heat Miser or the Snow Miser? It's on!
• And of course I love how my regularly watched TV shows (Transformers, Thundercats, etc.) would have Christmas shows which usually involved the main bad guy doing something nice for a change.
  

I'll save adult Christmas classics (e.g. It's a Wonderful Life, etc.) for another time but here are some more modern faves of mine.

• Home Alone (1990) - this one came out just at the edge of my childhood so it's not something I regularly looked forward to it but I can appreciate some of its charms including the great John Candy.
• Elf (2003) -  one of Will Farrell's greatest hits.
• National Lampoons Christmas Vacation (1989) - another one that is more for adults than kids but is bound to be played every year.
  
• And here's a guilty secret - those cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies you may have heard about? Glosette Girl and I are hooked! Yes the stories are predictable* and the acting is bad but something draws us in! Maybe because so many of them are filmed around here? Check out Christmas in the Heartland and The Princess Switch for starters.
  

Why is this coming up now? Because one of my absolute favourite movies was on last night: The Dog Who Stopped the War (originally titled La Guerre des Tuques). 

Orange Crush and Christmas movie = heaven

How many snow forts were inspired by this movie? There's a slightly sad tinge to the film but it perfectly captures the absolute ups and downs of childhood. Bonus points: it was filmed it Baie St-Paul, which I visited this past summer. The movie stands up to the test of time and amazingly the fashions are back in style again.

Good ol' Cleo

Super bonus points: I watched the whole movie in French on TeleQuebec. I understood...60%? Not bad.

* Beautiful yet-for-some-reason still single woman meets slightly stuffy prince or other businessman, they have some shenanigans, there is a mild misunderstanding and then they resolve everything to realize they are perfect for each other.

North, East, South and West

I remember when I was a kid experiencing a feeling that my neighbourhood was mine. Inside the safety and security of a few square blocks, I knew where my friends lived, where the corner stores were and which parks were best. It was my home! But beyond this area, everything felt different.

I sometimes feel the same way around here. I'm not sure what the proper geographic boundaries of Hintonburg are but, to me at least, the elevated highway splitting Hintonburg from the Civic Hospital area, is the southern boundary.

The great southern border...

To the east it's Breezehill Avenue/Loretta Avenue where this past weekend I enjoyed some brew from Happy Goat Coffee.

"Honey, who is that strange man taking photos of our car?"

The west is trickier as some say Hintonburg extends all the way to Holland Avenue. However, I put my money closer to home - Parkdale Avenue. Between Holland and Parkdale the houses are a bit more posh and feel a bit different. 

See that smorgasbord of orange? That spells "Hintonburg"

Finally there is the north. Wellington Street is an obvious dividing line bet but even though the neighbourhood on the opposite has a different look (smaller streets, houses closer together), I consider it part of my hood. So I'll say the northern border extends to Scott Street.

It's not a huge area. I walk to the edge in any direction in about 15 minutes. But it's home.

Last of the Patio days...or is it?

Last Sunday it got up to a balmy seven degrees in Ottawa. So balmy in fact that Glosette Girl and I even had an opportunity to enjoy a ringside table to a sunset on a nearby patio. 

Love that snowy goodness

"Patios on the last day of November you say?" Yes that is the new reality around here in these days of Covid. Ottawa is in Zone Orange, which technically allows for indoor eating but many people are still only comfortable eating/drinking outside as a precaution.

Sadly, even though the city waived patio fees, and many bars and restaurants purchased space heaters, it seems most places in this neighbourhood packed up their patios by mid-November. I find that surprising as we've had a relatively mild November this year and definitely if more patios had been open last weekend, I'm sure they would have been occupied.

Luckily, we found one of the last remaining ones: at our friendly neighbourhood ice cream shop: Stella Luna! I had a hot chocolate and Glosette Girl had a Vanilla Latte. It was really enjoyable to soak in a bit of sun and let the day fade away. If there is one thing I hope we keep even in the brave new post-covid world it is this new experience of shoulder season patios.