Dec 8 - the boat parade

I actually forgot to mention the boat parade in yesterday's blog. On Saturday the Santa Clause Parade on Canal Street was followed by the Boat Parade. Based on the schedule the SC parade started at 4pm and the Boat Parade at 6pm. Norm and Patti had invited us to join them to watch the parades but Sandy was not excited and I was ambivalent ... so time went by. At 5:55 pm Sandy decided that she wanted to go to the South Causeway (the one closest to us) to see if we could see the boats passing below ... so we left, including Abby.

When we got to the causeway there were no boats in sight. It was dark, so we'd have seen them from a distance. We turned right at Live Oak, intending to drive over to the North Causeway but quickly realized that Canal St. was still blocked from the Santa Claus Parade and we would have to turn around. Geographically speaking, Canal is very close to the South Causeway with the North Causeway perhaps a mile further north. At the east end of Canal you must drive north along the Intercoastal Waterway before the North Causeway angles north and east.

We pulled into a parking lot and found that we couldn't move much because of all the pedestrian traffic around us walking away from the first parade and then realized that they were all headed to the breakwater at the edge of this parking lot to watch the boat parade. So .... we found a parking spot, miraculously, put the leash on Abby and went to the corner of the breakwater so that Abby didn't bother the crowds of people, and vice-versa. In due time we could see boats in the distance, all lit up, coming from Edgewater, under the South Causeway. It was fairly short with perhaps a dozen or so boats heavily decorated, all lit up. It was fun to watch. There were a few boats in the water close to the breakwater out there to watch the parade and the decorated boats passed by within about 200 feet.

Now that I've caught up on Saturday's activities, I can write about Sunday. I went biking into a strong NNE wind. It never got over 60F but I'm not whining. I left it as long as I could, leaving a little before noon, and returning about 4:15. I'm feeling pretty good at this point and should probably plan a longer ride. While I was out biking Sandy picked up fish for Sunday and Monday because the fish store is closed on Monday. We had tuna again, very good, with enough leftover for my lunch today.

Prior to the tuna, however, we watched another two of my Dad's videos:

Apr - Aug 91

-- Jeffrey's first communion
-- Jeffrey at the cottage with chickenpox (he stayed there because he couldn't go to school)
-- Stef fishing
-- Jeffrey and Vicki in the paddleboat
-- Stef + her boyfriend + Jeffrey at the dam
-- Allan & Christine at the cottage, then at a tour of the Inco mine and Science North
-- then it looks like their two boys & daughter and perhaps the wife of one of the boys at dinner
-- onto Jeffrey fishing
-- Philip and his girls
-- (just a side note here, it's hard to watch all this activity at the cottage without some regret that we tore down the old cottage.)
-- Philip and me shingling the roof
-- Jason's kids in the cove (this is a short shot from the cottage window)
-- in our place in Port Credit, Jeffrey Soccer
-- back at the cottage, Jeffrey fishing

Apr - Jul 92

-- Nassau / Paradise Island Resort and Casino
-- Mom & Ethel
-- then we move to the ducks. Most of this video is of the Mallards that Dad raised from eggs from an abandoned nest. From watching them hatch through getting quite big but still flightless in July it's amazing to watch. There is another video that we'll watch next that then shows them taking flight.
-- Doris Sherar & Caroline & daughter
-- Philip & Meghan, pouting
-- Mom operating the Hoover Washer/Spin Dryer with Meghan and Olivia
-- July 1st fireworks, Philip and the girls

We have six more to watch. My goal is to get through these before we leave and that should be fairly easy at this point -- three nights. All the copies are ready to send but I have to get boxes for shipment.

I may get out for a bike ride today since our plan is to go boating tomorrow. Today it's supposed to hit 69F; tomorrow 79F; Wednesday 82F. On Wednesday Sandy is going to Orlando so tomorrow is the ideal day. After that we're looking at highs in the low 60's until we leave on Sunday -- yes, that's still the plan. Checking the weather, it seems to be as clear as we could hope with no major snow storms in the offing, but I'll monitor that.

Wednesday would be a good day to get in a longer ride. With Tuesday's 79F it probably will not get very cold at night so I can head out earlier. Understand, however, that we're not talking really cold any night -- mid 40's last night, for example. Below 50F I have to wear full length tights or leg warmers though because the old knees get stiff at that temperature.

Bonnie says that it's still snowing up north but they can still see the top of our house. She's kidding of course ... I hope ! The last I looked they were predicting another 20cm for tomorrow so there will be a pile of snow indeed.

That's it ... I think ... for the moment.