Horticulture

Our Blooger colleague, Tiffany, inspired me to go into house-plant horticulture. At the beginning I was a little worried about my novice green thumb. She had an excellent suggestion; take pictres, so if it doesn't go so well switch the "before" and "after" shots and it will look like you saved the plant. Well Tiffany, do I make you proud?


Before:





After:

Law Breakers!

So, I thought to me-self, “Gee, I wonder if my license from Manitoba is still valid?” So I checked. Nope, it definitely isn’t! Apparently it hasn’t been since the beginning of the month. So the nice lady gave me an appointment for a driver’s license exchange on March 16. “Alright,” I says to me-self, “I can wait that long.” (Besides, I like it when my strapping, handsome husband drives anyways.)

So, apparently, I have been driving with an invalid license.

So, then I thought to me-self, “Gee, I wonder how long our vehicle can remain registered and insured in Manitoba, seeing as my license is no longer valid.?” Apparently, you only have 90 days to get your vehicle registered in Quebec before Manitoba’s Public Insurance will no longer cover you.

So, apparently, I have been driving with an invalid driver’s license in an uninsured vehicle for the past couple of weeks. Oops!

So, then I thought to me-self, “What is the process to get our little, old beater of a Mazda registered in Quebec?” I came to learn that it is a simple process - a really simple process that starts with a mechanical inspection. There is no, no, no, way that the Mazda will pass any kind of inspection.

So, apparently, I have been driving without a valid driver’s license, in an uninsured car, that can’t pass an inspection to be allowed on Quebec roads.

So I thought to me-self, “Where shall I walk to today?”

Sign Post

Living in Montreal has given us some insight into how to communicate effectively with people who may not speak the same language as you do. How do you get around a language barrier? Maybe try some visual communication methods. That's right... Signs! I've placed some examples below.

Sign #1: No Superman's Allowed.


Obviously, Superman is the only real person capable of running so fast that he appears to be in three places at once. We first found this one at the Fairview bus terminus. Somebody put in a lot of effort, and came up with a pretty silly looking sign.

Sign #2: Don't Ask, Don't Tell


Any questions? Too bad!

Sign #3: You are in the big city now, kid!


Highway 20 meets Highway 15 meets Highway 720. Look at all the crazy overpasses and underpasses! I love it!

Sign #4: That the big city needs some big work done.


Overpasses collapsing? In Montreal? No way! (Sarcasm.) Look at all the crumbling concrete... I think the drainpipe is *actually* holding up the overpass.

Sign #5: Our car is probably too old to drive on these streets, anyway.


Oh "Road Runner", oh "Old Gray", you've certainly done us well.

Sign #6: This one needs no explanation, I think.


This one cracks us up, every time.

Sign #7: They *really* mean it.


These signs are on 6 or 7 sign posts in a row, down the street in front of our church. Honestly, who invested a bunch of their own time, went to Dorval City Hall, convinced the council that there were too many dogs pooping on the street, and that a sign should be made an posted to put and end to this outrage?

[PS: As an added bonus, here's a little "Where's Waldo?" for you... Can you find two more signs in the picture above that don't make much sense in Montreal? I'll post the answer as a comment in a couple of days...]

Sign #8: This post is over.

Never knew grade 10 science could pay off so much.

This past weekend I was a judge for a science fair at a near by high school. I was actually pretty nervous that the students would know more than I would! The fair went really well. I had four projects to judge:

1) An experiment to compare the effectiveness of toothbrush-cleaning methods. This girl was good. She had a great study design that included controls for a number of variables, carried out the experiment in an actual laboratory at Concordia University, and was very serious about her findings. She told me all about her possible sources of error, other experiments she wanted to conduct, and had an acknowledgement list that was fit for the Oscars. Very impressive.
[Did I mention she was only in grade 10? Heading straight for a doctorate I'm sure.]

2) An experiment to determine if fabric softener increases the flammability of clothing. Very dramatic. Very. They ending off their descriptive (and very scripted) speech with "If you decide to not use fabric softener - you will be making a decision that may save your life!"
[Are you even old enough do to laundry???]

3) Testing the relative conductivity of yellow fruits. Terrible - and they knew it. So nervous. So very, very nervous. Shaky voices, shaky hands, and sweat when asked questions. They had lemonade for the though!!!
[Um, at least they tried????}

moving on...

4) An experiment to test the relative resistance of bathing suits to wear and tear from chlorinated pools. These two scientists were swimmers. Oops, my mistake! One was a swimmer, one was a diver. The diver was very excited about their findings. The swimmer was Vanna White pointing to pictures and the display board as their speech was presented. Nothing like a very excited, very short, very red-headed grade 10er telling you about her diving, her swimsuit and that she has even met an olympic diver - paired up with a very serious presenter fanning her hand over pictures, diagrams, and charts as either of them spoke of the project.
[If only there was a scoring category for cuteness, the red-head would have taken the cake.]

Great! Handed in my score sheet and T&me headed for the door. But wait!! All judges (and my cute man to be sure) were invited to a luncheon. We were like "free meal? We're in!"

"Free meal" was an understatement.

Free wine, free beer, free fully-catered Indian cuisine with appetizers, entrees, and dessert/coffee/tea to boot. We filled out plates (and our wine glasses) and headed for a table in the corner. We ate our beautiful meal while looking over the private school's courtyard on our white-linen lined table with a centerpiece made of roses and valentine's day red hearts.

Note to self: Science fairs rock!

Preview of Panama

Here are a few pictures I received from a colleague of mine who has already moved to Panama. Our trials will be conducted in small villages in this rural area.

Colour Recap

Well, the polls are now closed, and the ballots have been counted:
Pink, blue, red, yellow, orange, turquoise blue, and bird coloured(?) made the cut. But, by far, red took the majority. So Tom, I guess we both “lose”. It’s not pink, but it definitely isn’t maroon either!

Our Ski Trip to Mont Tremblant

It was early, and Tom was tired


















It was early, and Tom had to shovel the rental car out quickly, because he slept in.

















Tom hits the slopes.





















Tom is a natural.



















Tom is tired and forgets what he was suppose to say.
[press play!]

Coming soon...

A story and pictures of our weekend ski trip to Mont Tremblant

















[Picture from Web]