Another chilly morning

Conditions at 5:15 am: -17' with a wind chill of -27'
Expected later: warming up to a balmy -10'

I'm really hoping we'll get the really cold weather out of the way before the ladies from Ontario get here. Not that they aren't familiar with cold weather, it will just make it much nicer if it's not quite so frigid. Walking around and getting from one place to another won't be quite so nasty.
It appears that Ontario is going to get a big storm today and then they're very generously sending it our way tomorrow. Hopefully the build up will be much bigger than the actual event.

Our friend Richard called last night to see if I needed any tickets for curling as he has passes. It seems his company is one of the major sponsors. I called Fran to see what they have and apparently they have tickets for everyday as well as one for me on the first day and the last day. So we really don't need the tickets from Richard, which is really unfortunate. His are in a special sponsors lounge with free food, etc. Sounds like it might be THE place to be. But I guess he'll just have to wave at us from their better vantage point.

Tonight Sheila, the weaving neighbour, is coming over after supper to have a look at my loom and tell me what pieces I might be missing. I think I have a good idea of what I need but since I'll be able to pick up parts in Ontario while I'm there, I want to make sure I get everything I need. I'm quite excited to be able to finally get something on it that I can actually work with but that will have to wait till I get back, and likely until after the Curling ladies have left. I think my free time will be pretty much used up while they are here. I'll have to sit down with Fran while I'm there and figure out what evenings they are actually here so I can give meal planning some thought. Several days have curling three times a day - that's way too much for me to even consider watching. It's probably a good thing I have to work! 

I got Patti's schedule for the kids yesterday. She laughingly told me she was reluctant to send it to be before hand in case I decided not to come!  I can see why. My goodness, what a busy crew!  Each evening is packed with activities and the list I got still doesn't include hockey practice.  I have no idea how they do all of this every week. But we'll be fine. My lunch dates are filling up quite nicely. I have a date in Fergus with Helen on Monday, Tuesday I'm going to the weaving place in Orangeville, Wednesday at Borealis with Nancy, Thursday is so far still open (that might work for the office folks) and then Friday with Cathy. We're meeting with Jana and Scott on Friday night when I arrive, to go out for sushi.  We have (tentative) dinner with Jan and Kathy on the first Saturday evening (as long as we're home by 9:00). The following Friday night we have dinner with Jim and Patty. We should really plan to see the Wilsons on Saturday night as her birthday is the next day but I'll be  flying out early on Sunday morning. Somewhere in there I hope to connect with Linda for a coffee at some point, and then we also want to find time to get together with Heather and Kim. I'm going to need a vacation when I get back from my vacation!  But I am looking forward to it.

I just realized last night, that by the time the ladies leave, it will be the first of March already and the worst (hopefully) will be behind us and spring will be just around the corner!  I can't wait. Lloyd will be coming down in April, followed by the IAAP girls in May,and then after that I have no idea. I haven't heard yet if Patti and the kids are planning on coming for a few days in March Break or not. I was hoping they might be able to come down for the Jack Frost Festival but that is right in the middle of curling and all my beds will be full. They've moved the location this year so we'll give them a year to work out the bugs and maybe they can come down next year.