Finally...

Nolan's been bugging me that I haven't updated my blog in a while. 'I'm checking every day, and there is nothing new to see. Don't you think it's time for an update?'  Maybe time to update the background picture as well, since we're not in a fall season anymore. A picture of a deepfreeze with serious ice build-up would be more appropriate.

But I'll take this opportunity to post some pictures of Paris and the Netherlands. We had a great trip, had a wonderful Christmas with my parents and Gijsbert (too bad Monika and Rob were not there, but understandable), caught up with good friends and enjoyed Paris. Too bad nothing was going on for New Year's. But still, it was fun.

A beautiful rainbow on our way back from Wijk bij Duurstede to Amerongen.

Dams were open in the Rijn due to the high water level.

Le Sacre Coeur

Moi

...

Le Louvre

Notre Dame

Louvre (and the line up to get in)

Locks of love

Does this need an explanation?

Arc de triomphe

Eiffel tower all lit up.  It will get the blinking lights going for about 2 min every hour on the hour. And that's what happened at New Year's. Nothing more than that. Just some blinking lights. Oh well...

I might have to photoshop my head in.

There were some cool lights though.

The weirdest thing happened on our last day in Paris though. The hotel we stayed at was nice and one of those typical Paris-type hotels. Nothing strange about it. We had breakfast at the hotel every morning, which included those delicacies that France is known. Yum!

Our last evening at the hotel, I had a shower, but noticed that the water was getting cold. Yep, we ran out of hot water. They told us that the hot water tank was broken, and since it's January 1st, no technician could come. They'd fix it tomorrow. That put a bit of damper on things, since we wouldn't be able to shower the next morning (our last morning before taking the train back to Amsterdam).

The next morning we wanted to go downstairs for breakfast, but there would be no breakfast. They were busy packing the place up! We asked about breakfast, but they told us we had to go somewhere else because they were closing that day!! As in, this is the last day we're open and having guests! So weird... We had breakfast and then came back to the hotel to pick up our stuff and checked out. I did mention that we were disappointed we didn't have hot water so we did have a nice discount. But it was still very strange how the hotel just 'closed'. Luckily we went home that day, so we were not affected too badly. But it made for a good story!

44 cm and counting

Of snow that is. Finally a bit of winter :) A great day to go snow-shoeing, even though is was a bit chilly (-7 and super windy!).

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! 

See you in 2013...

I love my job/life!

It seems so much easier to put a blogpost together when I actually have something to write about. Or better, when I have pictures to show. This time there are a few things to say, but definitely things to show.  I also wasn't sure how to name this particular post, but I think this sums it up nicely.

Why so happy? Partly because they let me out of the office for the last two weeks! I spent a good chunk of the last two weeks outside, and what is better than spending time in the woods, especially with some really knowledgeable and great people?
It started about 2 weeks ago with a workshop which was a nice opportunity to catch up with people I hadn't seen in a while (including my supervisor, who lives/works about 800 km from Ottawa). I think the highlight of the workshop was the roast (retirement sent-off) of one of my colleagues from the provincial government. For maybe obvious reasons I won't post any photos... Trust me if I say it was a great night :)
After the workshop, we spent two days touring research sites. The first day we visited McConnell Lake, north of North Bay (close to Temiskaming), to look at a white pine competition study. It was the first removal cut of the overstorey, since the regeneration has established quite well. Remarkable was the amount of red pine in the understory! The photos below give an impression of the site.

This photos is really cool. The little stem in the centre is the original stem when the tree was still very tiny (the trees were about 110 years when cut).

The next stop was the clear-cut site. It used to be a mix of low-quality popular and other mixedwoods. It was harvested about 10 years ago, and again, with the right site prep the regeneration was plentiful!

The following day we went to a red pine spacing study, but since that was on AECL property, we were not allowed to take any photos. The site visit was very successful though. We had some good discussions about next steps. It is due for remeasurement and treatments next year, and I'll be actively involved with this study. Looking forward to it!

Last week I spent most of my time at the PRF, helping out with the remeasurement of a white spruce genetics trial, but also had a chance to look at the harvest of the site of the biomass study, currently underway. As you can tell, they're using some serious equipment! And the snow has started to stick around...

But it's not just work. Life at home is pretty good too, and luckily Nolan doesn't mind spending some time outside as well. Today was chilly (-10), but sunny, so a great day to go for  a walk in the Greenbelt and feed the chickadees.

We also saw a pileated woodpecker:

And even more exciting, a white least weasel, but it was too quick for photo, but it looks like this:

(Source)

And of course, plenty of squirrels. We made a short movie of them being very vocal towards each other, but I have a hard time uploading it (too large?), so hopefully I can add that later. For now the photos:

Our cats are still doing well, although Murphy is starting to act a little weird lately...

Have a wonderful Christmas, and a happy, healthy New Year!

Road trip, good friends, and simply life

It's been a bit quiet from my end, and I think it's in part because life is just so normal. Well, at least to a certain extent... A couple of weeks ago I had a day (because of Remembrance Day, and Nolan took the day off) so we decided to go to Burlington to visit our dear friends Riley and Tina (remember the cute couple that got married a couple of months ago?).  The drive there was nice and relaxing; we took highway 7 instead of the busy and less-than-pleasant highway 401. In the end, it turned out to be faster as well! We even had enough time to take the Gardner Expressway downtown Toronto, so we could have a look at the CN tower... Unfortunately it was covered in fog, so the view was not great. But still, downtown Toronto never ceases to impress me (still a little village girl at heart!).
It was great seeing Tina and Riley, and of course Julie who is 15 months now. We took it easy, went for walks, visited the waterfront of Burlington, but mostly just chatted and caught up on our lives. It was just a wonderful weekend and we all wished we lived closer together! But really, they are 'only' a 5-hr drive away, so at least doable for a long weekend.

What else happened? We spent a weekend in Brockville to celebrate Nolan's dad's birthday (70!). It was a nice weekend with everyone there, so good to catch up.
We also went to an art gallery for an exhibit, which really we shouldn't do since we alway end up buying stuff. Including this time. However, we are very happy with this new addition! It looks really nice in our upstairs hallway, especially since that is now all painted and has the new light fixtures in. Now it really is our place, completely re-done since we moved in.

We had a somewhat quiet Halloween this year, only 157 kids... That's one less than last year!
And the rest is just same old, same old... Work is still great and still busy. I've been on the road quite a bit, but mainly down the Ottawa Valley so no exotic destinations. Nolan is doing well, so no complaints there either. Running has been a bit quiet, but we signed up for a half marathon in February, so I guess we'd better get our act together soon!

Cats are happy, especially Murphy since we recently moved his girlfriend back to our bedroom:

He spends most of his days now in close proximity of our humidifier. Not sure why he's so obsessed with it, but every year when we pull it out, it's love at first sight all over again...

Renos, trail running and fall colours

Since Thanksgiving made for a shorter week, we'd decided to both take the week off. First we had plans to go to Vegas for a few days, but then got smart (well...), and decided to stay put, and do some renos. I guess it all started by our shopping spree where we'd bought new blinds and lights. And of course to make them look nice, we really should do some more painting. And so we did.
We ended up painting our bathrooms (ensuite and powder) and the hallway upstairs. Especially our hallway was a bit of a challenge, since we have a circular staircase with tall ceilings, it was a bit of feat. But we did it! Once it was all painted we (well, Nolan) put up lights in the bathrooms, hallway and all the bedrooms. With some fairly small changes, our house looks so much better! Well worth the week.

The weather has been very fall-like lately, but we definitely have the nice days in there as well, and no snow so far, so really we can't complain! We went for some nice walks in the Greenbelt to catch the last few call colours before all the leaves are gone.

This morning I ran a cross country run (5.5 km) which was a lot of fun! The organization was great, and the mud was plentiful! I was not a 100% fit (fighting a chest cold), so wasn't in the best shape of the world, but still had lots of fun, and will definitely come back next year. Maybe Nolan will even join me :)

And finally, meet our newest accountant...