February 7

It's Tuesday, February 7.  The sky is blue; the snow is white.  The sun's not warm though it is bright.  And I'm staying home with a cold.  Even my most rugged friends decided not to ski today.  This is the coldest winter in Vernon since I've been here.  We were even getting low on snow until this past week, but now we have a lot.  Skiing was perfect on Sunday.  Miriam and I went up to see the Winter Carnival snow sculptures at Silver Star after skiing at Sovereign.  Two of them were exceptional, considering the dingy blocks of snow they had to work with.  The winning team will compete at the Quebec City Winter Carnival.  

The winning sculpture.  I forget the name, but it had something to do with first contact, I think

Second prize 

Other entertainment that I've enjoyed in Vernon recently has been at the Performing Arts Centre.  The Okanagan Symphony Orchestra's January concert, Beethoven Blockbuster, featuring a guest pianist, Ian Parker in the "Emperor" Concerto No. 5 in E-flat was wonderful. Another evening, there was a tribute to Dave Brubeck by the Remi Bolduc Jazz Ensemble from Montreal.  The opening act was the Jacob Soucy Quartet from a local high school.  Their first piece was shaky, but the others were good and Remi Bolduc even asked Jacob to join them in their first number.

Jay stopped by for a chat on his way home yesterday; he's been getting tons of overtime and has had about enough of short, cold days and long hours of hard work.  He is looking forward to long, warm days and fewer hours of work.

My thoughts have also turned to summer these days.  Yesterday I bought a ticket for a flight to Deer Lake, Newfoundland on Aug. 15.  I'm going to meet Caroline and her friend Barb for two weeks of touring the Rock.  It will be my first time there. I want to see some parts of Canada where I've never been in this 150th Birthday year.