Life in the south

So we're in VA Beach right now, and here are some of my ponderings!

Apparently Canadians are known for how much we talk about the weather, so let me first start with that topic :)

For instance, when we were packing to come down here, I was thinking it would be like warm Toronto winter temperatures. Well, my thinking on that, as an average, was a little off. The day after our arrival it was so warm outside that Mac was wearing shorts, a t-shirt and flip-flops while washing the cars (as a study break from his comprehensive exam readings). Apparently they get 4 or 5 of those a winter. After that it cooled down again, but it was still warm enough that you could be outside with a light jacket or a sweatshirt/fleece and still be fine! Ok, so this is what winter means in the South (well in VA)? Well..... not exactly. Yesterday we had some snow squalls -- though not like what we call squalls in the norther reaches of this continent -- the sun was still shining, but the snow did come down pretty good for .... oh.... 5 to 10 min. And this happened twice!! All the while it was above 0c! (i think the radio said it was 36.) The snow didn't accumulate at all, but it was pretty. So the verdict: Winter in VA Beach = a little bit of everything!

It seems that the term "cold" is a very VERY subjective term. Cold here seems to mean any temperature that you must where a sweater (minimum) to be outside in. Ok, so i wouldn't call 0-10 degrees hot or even warm, but i don't know that it deserves quite the label of being temperatures for a "cold winter"! But hey, quite frankly -- i could live with 0-10C being "Cold" for winter! There's no mistaking that!!

I bumped into someone I "knew" yesterday for the first time. Well let me clarify, I'd met Sara before, she went to Mac's old church and was at our Wedding Reception. But i didn't expect to see her at the grocery store. But there she was shopping with her daughter Kylie. I know so few people down here that it was really really good to be able to see someone I knew simply because we ran into each other! Makes it feel a little more like home down here!

The ironies of ironies. The other day we were visiting with Mac's mom and dad. [Some of you know that his dad re-broke his hip on Christmas Eve Day (the first break was on my birthday, Oct. 11, the day before my grammie broke her hip). Winston is healing much better and is already walking a lot better than he ever did after the last break! It is very encouraging to see him as mobile as he is!] While we were at his mom's house, Jewel mentioned that Mac's brother is thinking about selling his 2000 passat. He's been promoted within the fire department to arson inspector and drives a company car now, so has little need for the passat. So we took it for a bit of a drive around Atlantic Shores (the Seniors community the Davises live in), and are now thinking seriously about buying it from Jon in March if he decides to definitely sell it and is willing to wait a few months until we move south. The ironic part: Mac sold the passat to his brother a number of years ago!! The other exciting part, is that we might be able to get about the same amount for my golf as he's selling the passat for, so it would be an easy (financial) switch and we could by-pass all the importation laws and taxes etc. (And while its not my dream car of a Jetta, i think I could "settle" for a passat!)

For Christmas Mac ordered me a kitchenaid stand mixer -- so this has taken my desire to bake to a new level. It arrived yesterday and I was desperately trying to figure out what i could make for dinner so that i would have an excuse to use the blender! So we settled on a homemade soup and homemade dinner rolls! It was quite an enjoyable evening!

We're also getting ready to start work on the house down here. On tuesday Jewel was here and the three of us walked through the house and listed off what needed to be done. New paint, take up the carpets to let the hardwood shine, new bathroom(s), update the kitchen.... Its going to be fun! We've picked out a couple possible colours for the livingroom/dining room and may get started in there before we head north again. But there is a leak somewhere that we need to find, patch and then fix the damage it did in the living room ceiling. So we might paint another room instead. We've also cleaned out a couple closets (and promptly filled them with our own things) and most of mac's mother's books are in boxes now. So its exciting to see the progress there. I'm really looking forward to being down here full-time and being able to really attack what needs to be done.