Québec II.

12-30-22 QUÉBEC: We were late to rise and managed to head out for breakfast at lunch time. We ate at Les Mordus and then headed down to the lower city, le bas-ville, down along the river, down a steep, twisty street, down several flights of stairs, at the bottom of the cliff. The haute ville is at the top of the cliff and dominated by the Frontenac, which looms over the lower city.

The lower city was the first settlement and has several narrow streets and hundreds of old stone buildings with steep roofs. Today a lot of them are snow covered and some dumped snow onto the street into the crowds. The crowds were everywhere with everyone swaddled for the weather. Warming stations are scattered around with fires and play houses for the kids, many kids following Mom and Dad. 

It was overcast and very foggy and about forty degrees. There was maybe a little less slush. We saw an acrobat perform on the side of a building hanging from a wire. That was a surprise, but a few minutes later another acrobat was performing on a slack wire in front of the Notre Dame des Victoires church. This one juggled snow balls as well as wire walking and other stunts.

While we were walking down further and further to get to the lower city, I thought that it would be a struggle to walk back up and decided to ride the funicular to the top of the cliff when we were ready to return. But no! Funicular closed for maintenance. I struggled and huffed and puffed my way back to the top in slow stages with Judy’s encouragement. Then back to the room for a nap. 

Outside the Frontenac, seems a little out of season to me.

Breakfast at Les Mordus.

The Frontenac is certainly imposing.

Coming down the last set of stairs to the lower city.

The author with a new hat and scarf.

Warming station/play ground for kids and grown-ups.

Crowds of shoppers.

Another playnground for kids.

Wall walking acrobat.

The Frontenac loomimg over the lower city.

Slack wire acrobat in front of Notre Dame des Victories.

Taking a bow.

The house of six dormers.

Québec Avec Snow.

12-29-22 QUÉBEC CITY, QUÉBEC: We drove north today in clear weather and light traffic after dropping the dogs off at the kennel. We made good time and arrived in mid-afternoon, checked in to the Frontenac, bundled up and started walking around. 

There was a lot of snow here and the sidewalks are slushy and the gutters have puddles. The city is still beautiful and bustling with people all here for the Holidays. First we had a late lunch, and the we went through a Christmas market where I bought a scarf, there was music, food, beverages and lots of stuff. We looked in at a church from the 1600’s, checked out the nearby streets, looked at the St. Lawrence, which has a lot of floating ice covering 80% of the surface, but still floating downstream. 

We went back to the hotel to nap and warm up before dinner at Le Continental at 8:30. They do a lot of flambé at table side. Great dinner.

The party on Xmas was excellent, Judy outdid herself, as we all have come to expect. I had to put out an emergency call for red wine, and the neighbors rallied to the cause. A last minute invite went out to Ben  and Jenna, who came and enjoyed.  

Big, icy river.

The park across from the Frontenac.

Rue St. Louis.

Big wreath.

Xmas market.

Lobby of the Frontenac.

Warm Rain, Cold Freeze.

12-24-22 VERMONT: After a couple days to get shoveled out, do shopping, admire the snow, we got a new storm. This one started with a little snow then a lot of rain and temps in the mid forties. There was a gusty wind but nothing like other areas of the country got. There was one to two inches of rain. It melted a lot of the snow, but both basements stayed dry. The deck got cleaned by the rain, as did the roofs. 

We lost power again, but not all the comms this time. The power came back after about 12 hours. As the storm ended, there were periods of no rain, one gave us a nice sunset, between downpours. It got cold as the rain ended, in fact, the last precip was more snow, a new half an inch. 

The temp fell lower and lower, from 45° to 20° to 12° and 6° this morning. We went to the dump in max cold weather gear this AM. We stopped at the town yard for several buckets of sand/gravel mix to spread on the ice.

Speaking of the ice, yesterday during a lull in the rain I was outside in the driveway, an icy driveway covered in rain water. I fell flat on my back in an instant and was soaked from head to butt. Getting up, getting in the house and changing clothes was exhausting and called for a nap. 

Judy has been prepping for the Xmas day party through power, no power, rain, snow, cold, wind and has triumphed. Alison, Dan, Lily and Claire are due to arrive this afternoon. 

Sunset after the first storm.

The horses waiting for Mom to bring hay.

Bench after the snow storm.

The same bench during the rain storm.

Rain storm covered the frozen pond with water. I was hoping it would freeze for skating.

The upper and lower ponds and the stream curved in as 'S' between the ponds.

Sunset during a rain storm lull.

Quite a Storm.

12-19-22 VERMONT: We probably got two feet of snow, it’s hard to say exactly how much because the later snow compresses the earlier snow, it blows around. The snow continued until mid-day Saturday. 

We lost power sometime Friday night. we were watching TV by the fire, when bang it was dark. the generator came on after a few minutes so we had lights in the stairways and essential services—heat, water, refrigeration, computer station. We still had phone and Wi-Fi and cell service. I called Green Mountain Power and found 20.000 people were without power ,and they knew about our road, and they’re on it. Ultimately 100,000 Vermonters lost power. By morning, Saturday, EC Fiber was down taking out all the Wi-Fi, phone and cell service. 

We talked to neighbors, Steve and Diana, when they came over to borrow water, they don’t have a generator. We decided to do breakfast together, they brought the eggs, maple syrup, bacon and OJ, their daughters, Eliza and Clara, and their boyfriends, Ben and Elliot. I made pancakes, Steve made bacon, Judy scrambled eggs with ham and cheese. We made lots of coffee. The kids shoveled us out while we cooked.

TV service failed Saturday afternoon because the Dish dish had snow on it. It’s not that far away ordinarily, but Judy trekked out there in snow shoes to clean it off. She lost a snow shoe at one point and had a tough time getting it back on. The snow was too deep for the dogs to go with her, they turned back. 

Sunday after the driveway was plowed and after we cleared the garage entry of the snow that fell off the roof, we went to town for extra batteries for the flashlights and more food and stuff. Many trees had fallen on the wires and road.

Today we did more shopping for the Xmas party planned for the 25th, assuming that the power would come back at some point. Yesterday afternoon and today we shoveled the deck a few times because snow kept sliding off the roof and falling on the deck. There’s still more up there. 

The generator sucks up propane, so I called for a delivery. I shoveled the tank out yesterday and checked the level yesterday and today. The level dropped 5% in 24 hours. 

The power came back on tonight with all the comms, and we started the dishwasher and the washing machine—Hallelujah.

Snowy bench.

Snow on the trees and the deck and railing.

Snow everywhere.

Horses and hay in the snow.

Judy fighting through the snow.

Afterwards.

Snow Storm in Vermont.

12-16-22 VERMONT: We came up on Wednesday under sunny skies that had turned cloudy by the time we got here. We had an inch or so of snow on the ground then. It was in the twenties with a cold wind. Thursday we ran a bunch of errands including cutting down our tree at the tree farm in Lyme. We set the tree up and decorated it in the afternoon.

The big storm started in the early morning Friday and now, at midday, we have eight inches of new snow with more to come for the next 24 hours. It’s already piled high on the trees and fences and roofs.

The new, upper pond is finally full and trickling down the waterfall to the lower pond. 

The winter birds are swarming the feeders. The horses are in blankets and had their morning hay ration. The game cam showed a lot of turkey and fox activity. 

Peaches the horse looking for Mom to bring the hay.

Here we are at the mid-point of the storm.

Here's what we had brfore the storm started.

Maizie and Blanca getting whiter by the minute.

Five days ago, we had no snow, but lots of turkeys.

Earlier this month there were turkeys. The pond is already full.

Here are the foxes early in the morning.

Xmas tree with Chelsea the angel on top.

Time Travel.

12-13-22 SHORT HILLS: We had a dusting of snow a couple of days ago. It fell overnight and was gone by noon—my kind of snow storm. Other than that we have had more rain. 

Yesterday we took the tall case clock to Anna and Gardner’s to set it up at their apartment. It was our house warming present to them. We bought the clock in early September. It needed big repairs to the face, which the dealer, Bob Larson of The Hour Gallery in Highbridge, NJ, arranged. The face was sent to California to be re-painted and made it back to NJ last week. We picked it up and managed to get the case and all the parts into the Subaru on Friday and left it all there over the weekend.

Fortunately Gardner was home when we arrived because we needed the muscle to get the case and weights upstairs. The case needed shimming to get it level. It is so tall that I needed a ladder to get it going. The clock went in, then we wound the cords and hung the weights, and attached the pendulum. It worked, but was off center and needed the escapement tweaked. Gardner put the bonnet on. It all took about two hours, including a call to Bob Larson. 

The traffic was awful both in and out with delays, construction and collisions. Vermont tomorrow.

Snow storm.

Obstructed view of the clock.

Unobstructed view of the clock.

Here's the face before make-over.

And after.

December Arrives.

12-7-22 SHORT HILLS: Almost two weeks without a post and almost nothing happening in the gardens. We’ve had a lot of rain, but I don’t know how much because the rain gauge is put away for the winter, as are the hoses. The gutters have been cleaned.

I cut down a dead juniper on the road. It was smallish, but big enough to contribute two logs to the woodpile. 

The birds are draining the feeders almost daily and pecking away at the suet cakes. The grackles are gone. Robins have been eating the holly berries.

Judy has been doing Dog Therapy visits several times a week. Today she and Maizie were at Covenant House, and Judy took pix of Maizie by the Xmas trees.

We had a nice sunset last week.

Another pic of the sunset, which is happening at 4:30 these days.

Maizie posing without any kids, pix of the residents are forbidden.

Maizie and another tree.