Windchill of -36 C in Edmonton

It was quite the adventure getting to Edmonton this year. It started last Thursday night. We got to the Ottawa airport early and managed to get on our flight to Calgary without rushing like we have in the past. Hehe .. anybody who knows us .. we can be so laid back sometimes that we are late for everything. Anyway, for once .. we were early. We arrived in Calgary around midnight (EST). We were supposed to get on a connecting flight to Edmonton but our flight ended up being delayed a few hours due to weather. Holy cows .. it was cold in Calgary. I think it was -25 C with a windchill of -36 C. By the time we boarded the plane, it was 2:15 am. A few hoodlums got on the plane and sat in the row behind Jeff and myself. You could smell the alcohol from them. Ugh .. they reeked so badly, they had to be intoxicated. Suddenly one of the WestJet reps came over and asked the two fellows behind us to leave the plane. After they were escorted off the plane, WestJet had to get their bags off the plane before we left. It took an hour to dig the bags out and reload the bags back on to the plane. After that, we had to de-ice the plane. To me, it didn't seem to help much because the windows completely froze up from the de-icer liquid. At 3:30 am, we finally took off for Edmonton. The flight was 40 mins long and another 30 mins to get our bags. We decided to take a taxi to the Hamilton house because the roads were so bad. You know how difficult it is to hail a cab at that time? It was 3 am Edmonton time .. not a soul on the roads. It was bone chilling cold and the roads were literally an ice rink. By the time we got to bed, it was 4:30 am in Edmonton.. or 6:30 am Ottawa time. So literally, a simple 4.5 hour flight took all night. Sigh .. the bright side to this? We got out a day early and missed the storm. Had we left on Friday, we probably would have been delayed or cancelled.

So far, the stay has been great. It may be -29 C outside, but it's warm indoors. The shopping has been good too. :D

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Pics around the house

I've been meaning to post a few pics of the changes around our home. A while back, we had replace our temporary shades with real curtains. Here are some changes that have taken place in our house over the last few months.

This is our dining room. You can't really tell but the curtains are dark brown silk-like. I know you're laughing at our naked orchid. Trust me, it's still growing!

Our Christmas tree. It hasn't changed since we got it last year. I think we did a better job decorating it last year. Can you see our curtains behind it? :)

This is our front living room window. I chose to put sheers there. I think it looks really nice in the morning when the sun shines through.

This is our hallway table. We made it our picture table. Right now, there are more Hamilton photos than Ng photos. We need to balance it out more.

This is our latest purchase. Our new wine cabinet. It is in our dining room. We even put some of Jeff's Egyptian pics up on the wall. It makes the room more like a home now.

My apologies the photos aren't as bright as they could be. It took them at night .. :(

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Operation LCBO

It was a cold December morning. The plans were laid out, the alarm was set. At 8:30 am sharp, we got out of bed, got dressed, threw on a hat and coat, and we were off. We drove to our local LCBO in anticipation of the December 6th premium release. I have been waiting for this release for months. When the doors opened, I made a bee line to the vintages section in search of Brian, the vintages consultant. Over a month ago, he informed me that his LCBO location was going to get 1 case (6 bottles) of 2005 Don Melchor in December. He told me that if nobody asked for it, it was all mine. Sure enough, he went to the storage room and brought out their only case of Don Melchor. The wooden crate was still wrapped in thick plastic. A fellow behind me had asked if they had any more .. but all he could do was watch me pay for it at the front counter. Sorry, my friend - I've been waiting for this case for over a month.

Why did this wine mean so much to me? It was Puff's Christmas present. Well, part of his Christmas present. He'll get other stuff but wine is always something I give him. And no, he doesn't get the cheap stuff. :)

Anyway, the spree didn't stop there. While I was paying for my purchase, Puff had loaded up his cart with some interesting finds. An hour later, we put a serious dent on our credit cards.

We took our load of goodies home and the case of Don was too cool. We carefully cracked the wooden crate open and there was a certificate of authencity that went with the case.


Happy early Christmas, Puff. It's not Christmas yet and there was no element of surprise, but I know you will enjoy it. It was a fun shopping spree. Let's do it again next year!

Toodles,
Pudgy

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