Well, its been a while between drinks as the Motts in Maple Syrup were struck down by a bug that some say resembled the Bubonic Plague. This has kept us indoors and generally unable or completely unwilling to do very much at all. But we are stronger for the experience and despite this we still have managed a few adventures over February and this may well be considered a bumper edition. This episode needs to be published as we are off to visit friends in Quebec next week during 'Spring Break', so another great adventure is just around the corner!
This episode commences with us supporting another Aussie to participate in a fundraiser doing something completely ludicrous - jumping into frozen Lake Ontario!! Yep that's right, they move a bit of ice out of the way and about 40 people took turns at jumping into the lake. The annual Polar Plunge is a fundraiser for the Canadian Para-Olympians, and you might see another post around the same time next year featuring me....so here's a couple of photos from the day, with Aaron Dries, the other Australian Army bloke here in Kingston, dunking himself.
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| Pre-Plunge |
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| The Plunge Location |
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| Mid-Air |
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| Swimming towards the warmth!! |
The next part of the Blog is in two parts, the first being my work trip to Washington (where the plague came from) and then a massive dump of snow which resulted in me being stuck there as planes could not get into Toronto. So Washington was great, I had to travel there with the other Australian Army Liaison Officers from around North America, for a conference at the Australian Embassy. I caught up with Nipper, had a couple of beers and ultimately went out for dinner with him, followed by a run the following morning (he took all of the happy snaps below @ the White House, the Lincoln Memorial and looking down the Pool of Reflection). Unfortunately though I ended up stuck there for another 30 hours, crook with the plague and not able to get out and enjoy the sights.
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| White House prior to dinner at Old Ebbitt Grill. |
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| A run to the Lincoln Memorial. |
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| At the Pool of Reflection. |
.....meanwhile back in Canada this happened:
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| Our Driveway is under there somewhere! |
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| A 30cm Ruler in the back yard. |
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| A 30cm Ruler on the Front Verandah. |
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| After the Snow was cleaned up.... |
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| Tom next to the Snow to show the scale of it. |
So anyway after I got back to see what all the fuss was about, there was bugger all left - ripped off! But I spent two days in bed, which was just enough time for the plague to incubate in Ben then Jared and the rest of the week revolved around thermometers and paracetamol for those two.
As soon as I was almost better it was time to shoot off to Ottawa for a conference. As is always the case, as soon as I want to go somewhere it starts snowing. This time it snowed enough to turn my 190km drive to Ottawa rather nasty. So after 4 hours I made it to my hotel, seeing quite a few stacks on the road as well as my share of snow ploughs for the next year. So feeling a little perky, I decided to leave the warmth of the hotel and go for a run in a blizzard. Here are a couple of photos I took. Although a bit difficult to see, due to the snow falling, the first photo features the Parliament buildings (the tall spiky ones). The second photo is again looking towards the Parliament buildings.
Fortunately I was able to get back from Ottawa by about 8pm, which gave me enough time to get a kip in and then get up at 0530 to head up to Calabogie for our second skiing / boarding lesson. This trip was much more successful, firstly Jared didn't vomit in the car going there, but with one lesson already under our belt, it all sort of came to us this time. Even Ben managed to enjoy himself without nearly killing anyone!
We all had a lesson in the morning then in the afternoon the boys all had one on one lessons which helped them out a lot. During this time I decided to head up to the 'easiest' Green Run and throw myself down it....literally. Well I didn't think it would be that steep, it is a Green Run after all. But at one point I thought I was going to die and just clenched my teeth, locked the legs in and just let it go, not even trying to slow myself down. It worked out ok....So I convinced Jac to come up as well. As much as she said, "No, I think I need to practice my turns and slowing down," I just said, "pffft that's for losers, you need to get yourself up the top and learn that way". I knew it wasn't going to work out when we got tangled getting off the chair lift at the top of the hill, I nearly broke my thumb, thankfully it's just badly bruised, one of Jac's poles is looking a bit like a boomerang and then there we were like turtles on our backs, skis and poles everywhere!
So that didn't go too well, and after experiencing the same feelings I described above, half way down and a few falls later, Jac decided to take her skis off and walk to the bottom. More time on the turns and slowing down I think, just as I suggested.....
So here is a selection from Calabogie Peaks.
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| Tom heading up the magic carpet! |
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| Jared gets his one on one lesson. |
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| Ben getting his one on one lesson - wish I was 6!! |
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The view from the haunted chair lift that almost claimed my life...
On the way home from Calabogie we noticed that there appeared to be a whole heap of people on the ice with a death wish:
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| Death wish dudes on the Ice! They drive their vehicles onto the ice - make a hole and drop in a line. |
But on closer inspection it was an organised Fishing Derby.....
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| The sign says it all. |
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| That's how to get through the Ice! |
So we made it home safe and sound ready to get it another working week, when low and behold, Wednesday sees another storm which resulted in a snow day. So another 24 hours of hyperactive kids locked up in the house - awesome. They are still not a 100% following the plague outbreak so no rolling in the snow for them. We did manage to get a couple of cool snaps though.
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| The ubiquitous front yard shot. |
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| Looking out my back door - thanks CCR. |
So that's it for this bumper edition. Just to think, that's February 2013 in a nutshell and as the weather starts to warm we will hopefully get out a bit more. We are tending to run with a fortnightly cycle where we will spend a weekend at home, have people over or catch a game of hockey, then on the alternate weekend we'll go skiing or sight seeing. Next week we are off to Quebec to catch up with our old Staff College buddies Yan and Petrina. Not sure the car will have enough room for luggage by the time we have put the wine in.....
The final word is that over the years I have tried to annually fund-raise for some worthy cause or another. This year that cause is "Soldier On" an organisation that aims to improve the quality of life of injured and ill soldiers and their families. I will be running a half marathon in Ottawa on 22 September and Jac, Tom and Jared will all run the 5km event on the day (yes you read that right - Jac is running the 5km!). We are aiming to raise $2000 and are close to 5% of the way there so far. It would be great to get some support if you are able to manage it! Thanks. Just copy the link below to go to the fundraising page or its on Jac's and my Facebook pages.
https://secure.eventsonline.ca/events/army_run_pledge/pledgeprofile.php?id=JME5126500d91d21
All for now,
MIMS
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