Despite the Montreal -20C winter weather, die-hard fans of the sport of ultimate were out in droves to play. Dressed up in multiple layers of high tech fabrics in order to keep warm, comfortable boots and a few layers of gloves only slightly inhibited the players but you couldn't see it through their shining smiles! They were all comfortable, warm, and having fun with the intention of supporting three of their local Montreal traveling teams planning go to the World Ultimate Club Championships in Prague, which will be held in July 2010. Mephisto , Storm and RIP qualified at last years Canadian nationals in Winnipeg for a chance to represent Canada at this international competition. In the end, Hot Cocoa, a team hand-picked by Naomi Jackson, won the tournament.

Just for the record, it was an amazing day in Montreal today. If you were in town and didn't get outside then shame on you!! Blue blue sky, bright sunshine and just above freezing made for great walking weather. Apparently Edmonton was not so lucky so I'm hoping to rub it in a bit with some pics from my walk about the plateau. I would have to say that the highlight was watching all the kids and parents on the toboggan hill on Parc ave. The hill was basically a sheet of ice which we all know allows for break-neck speeds and awesome crashes into the hay-bail barricades! No one was hurt but the hay was a flying and the kids were a laughing.

Open night mic at Grumpy's. Quality of shows varied as one would expect from an open mic venue with Lydia being a definite crowd favourite! She has a wonderful voice which definitely soothed my frazzled nerves from the previous 2 or 3 acts! Pictures soon to come and sorry for the slow download of the video...(the entire song 2min duration, approx 60MB taking about 2min to download). Sound quality is ok but pretty good for a mobile device.

My photos from the Orthopaedic Research Laboratory Christmas Party have just been uploaded and are on display at Ateliers & Saveurs Facebook site. See link below. Looking back at these images brought back the event in full flavour! The fun and excitement of putting together a fine cuisine meal (including an amazing desert) will be a cherished memory for some time to come. Ok, so I didn't cook but the meal was phenomenal. Cheers to the ORL gang!

Finally, after 3 weeks of -24C weather here in Edmonton, we are gifted with an amazing day of -1C and big beautiful blue Albertan sky. On days like this you wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world...well that's how I feel at least. So what does one do on a day like this....well you get out of the house and do ANYTHING!! Ice skating, down hill skiing, cross country, running, walking and if you love horses and know “THE DUKE” then you go for a sleigh ride in the country (well just outside of Edmonton). A nice quiet ride with only the jingle of bells and the occational cry from my soon to be god daughter we cruised the back 40 acres of Duke's land. We were treated to the site of the occational herd of deer in the distant fields as well as a half-time stop to enjoy some hot chocolate and Baileys. This would also allow the horses a well deserved break from pulling to cool down. Just to make a fun ride even more fun, we attached a couple of toboggans to the back of the sleigh.!!!! And if just sitting back wasn't enough of a challenge, my cousin Tak and I decided to Surf the Boggs!!! Great time had by all.

Captured this image of a Chickadee at Duke's Ranch just outside of Edmonton. Beautiful little devil, isn't he (or she). I'm pretty new to bird watching but I've taken a liking to it. I was extremely impressed with the variety of wild birds wintering in the Canadian prairies. I hope to get more photos in the next month or so.