Friday, November 9th - a lovely evening

It's a mild 7' this morning but that's as good as it's going to get.We're going to hover around that temperature for the entire day with a cloud cover that will keep the sun from shining in my eyes at work so there is one good thing about that. We were supposed to have heavy rain all day yesterday but most of it came last night.

My carpaccio looked very similar to this

Lloyd was off for the day so met me in town and we went out to Terre Rouge for something to eat. This was my second visit. We started with the Charcuterie Board - a mix of breads, sausages and various other pickley  items that we shared. It was quite enjoyable. To follow that, Lloyd had the pork sandwich that I had last week, and I had the Beef Carpaccio. We both really enjoyed everything. We decided to forgo dessert and instead Lloyd had an espresso coffee and I had a cappuccino.  I stopped in at the grocery store on my way home and picked up a few things for next Tuesday's class, in case I'm not in town over the weekend, although I realize now that the stores are all closed on Sunday the 11th so will be open on Monday. Who knew!

Yesterday I was listening to a radio station in Guelph and the on air person mentioned that it was 'shockingly cold' outside. I checked the weather and it was -6'. I sent Patti a text message about it and she advised that she was at that moment in Calgary, where it was -16' and snowing. So needless to say, -6 and sunny when she got home was much preferable. I also noted that they were getting heavy snow in Edmonton and I thought about poor Caitlin. Not a great welcome to her new city!

So Brenda and I are finalizing our plans for our weekend away next Saturday and Sunday. We have our hotel booked, the concert tickets are purchased and we have a reservation at 'Chives' in Halifax for dinner on Saturday evening. Chives is owned by Craig Flinn, who used to be one of the sous chefs with Michael Smith on 'The Inn Chef' - there were two Craigs but I don't know where the other Craig ended up. If I get the chance I'll ask. I have a cook book from Chives that I'll take with me in case he's working that night and I can get it signed. (once a food groupie, always a food groupie!!)

I'm taking this Saturday off so I have 3 days ahead of me. I have lots of stuff to do around the house and the weather should be good. It might be chilly but the sun is supposed to shine so I'm hoping to get some badly needed outside stuff done, now that the trusses are moved out of the way. I also really need to do some cleaning inside as well. Lloyd is working on Monday so that will likely be my inside cleaning day.

It will soon be time to get thinking about Christmas decorating. I'm looking forward to everyone coming this year.  It's been two years since they were here at the holidays and this will be the first year that Lloyd's living here. I want the kids to have fond memories of going to their grandparents for Christmas. Going out and cutting down the tree, lots of time together in the kitchen making the Christmas dinner maybe some hikes in the woods, are all things I hope they will look back on with fond memories when they get older.  Now that they're getting older they're so much more interested in how to do things and they can do lots on their own so they'll be a big help. They did a lot last year when we made dinner at their house. Their mom and dad were both working so it was just me and the kids and they were truly great assistants. I remember Meghan commenting late in the afternoon, how we had been busy all day long working on just one dinner. I'm sure she has a greater appreciation now for what goes into a feast like that.  She put a comment on Wednesday's blog about looking forward to seeing our little garage - will she be surprised when she sees it and I can take her up on the ladder to the second story so she can see what will eventually be the craft room.