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Post by rikita on Jan 22, 2017 7:56:00 GMT
supposed to be nice today, which is good, as it means we can do pony riding at agnes' party (we are renting a room at a nearby petting zoo, as our place is too small to celebrate at home)
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Post by tod2 on Jan 22, 2017 9:09:08 GMT
I hope you all have a wonderful time and I would love to see Agnes riding a pony. Hope all kids are made to wear crashers/helmets or no pony ride!
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Post by amboseli on Jan 22, 2017 17:00:52 GMT
Still lovely ice-skating weather: blue skies, sunshine and around 0°C
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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2017 17:40:45 GMT
I love cooking on our woodstove, although our cabin is so small that it gets very hot very quickly. I've requested a cooking woodstove in the (eventual) house.
The cassoulet I've had in France has been pretty meh, and I've tried making it twice: I've come to the conclusion I just don't like it.
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Post by rikita on Jan 22, 2017 18:18:33 GMT
no helmets, but the pony was just led up and down on the courtyard for a few minutes, they weren't riding by themselves. agnes was a bit scared at first though, but then after a friend of her's had ridden she wanted to ride, too ... and i had to sing the song about saint martin on his horse while she was riding ...
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Post by tod2 on Jan 23, 2017 17:34:46 GMT
Well I'm glad she had a little ride. The ponies in Parc Monceau are led and the children wear helmets. You cannot predict when an animal reacts badly or a child unfortunately falls off. I know people think this will never happen to them but I witnessed my grandson's head hitting the asphalt when he fell off his bike - he is not allowed to ride without his helmet so no harm came to his head. Obviously the owners of the pony have good insurance.
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Post by rikita on Jan 24, 2017 0:15:27 GMT
oh, i know horses can get scared easily, and i suppose a helmet is a good thing (for a's balance bike we have the rule that she has to wear one out in "traffic" but not in grandma's garden or for a short round on the playground where there is mainly sand - there is of course still a risk, but i suppose you always have to find a balance), but there are also riskier things ... the pony stepped on my brother's foot by the way (he is fine though) ... just googled pony riding in park monceau and saw lots of pictures without helmets, so i suppose that might be a new thing they put helmets on the kids? agnes would have liked a helmet though, she is a big fan of all kinds of equipment and hats and helmets and goggles and similar things ...
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Post by lagatta on Jan 24, 2017 23:30:29 GMT
So happy here as it had been mild and most of the snow had melted - it was safe to ride my bicycle, and pleasant to walk. It is still mild but we got freezing rain, so walking is treacherous and no, I'm not riding my bicycle, though several people are doing so. Cursing more than a bit. The climate has really changed here, by the way. Freeze and melt cycles, more like the weather in places a bit farther south in the lake-river system, like Toronto and Buffalo.
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Post by mich64 on Jan 24, 2017 23:57:03 GMT
I agree Lagatta, the climate in my area has changed as well. We have just gone through a melt for the past week and have not had snow in 10 days! More than half our snow has melted. We should not have to worry about shoveling the roof this year.
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Post by lagatta on Jan 25, 2017 0:21:34 GMT
Where you live, that is even stranger. We always got some melts, just because of urban heat islands in a large city. Remember, this also means problems such as potholes. Our winter is also much shorter than 40 years ago.
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Post by mich64 on Jan 25, 2017 2:42:36 GMT
I remember last fall that the forecast was to be a "traditional snowy and cold winter" for our area. Well so far that is inaccurate We were talking the other day at how different winter was when we were children and even 20 years ago when we moved out here. Yes, potholes! A few years ago our road was resurfaced with some new technology product/technique with the promise of greatly reduced potholes, to our surprise, it has worked. I do not think they can use the same product in the City. I will probably be reporting within the week how it is back to -25C though!
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Post by tod2 on Jan 25, 2017 7:12:02 GMT
Overcast with a sheet of cloud - nice and cool for a change, 24C. Yesterday it was nigh on 40C.
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Post by bjd on Jan 25, 2017 8:21:37 GMT
Blue sky and sunshine here but about -2°C. That would be okay in itself, but it's the cold north wind blowing that makes it unpleasant. it is supposed to go to 5° today, then a bit warmer every day for the next week.
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Post by mich64 on Jan 25, 2017 20:41:01 GMT
Another mild day! Temperature has been just above zero most of the day and we even had some sunshine.
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Post by mickthecactus on Feb 1, 2017 10:07:54 GMT
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Post by bjd on Feb 1, 2017 11:47:47 GMT
I saw that article yesterday, Mick. I was rather surprised by the caption to the photograph of the guy lying in the sun: "a man endures the heat..." He could move to the shade of the trees for one thing. He is not enduring the sun, he is enjoying it.
Meanwhile, here it's 14°, mix of sun and occasional clouds blown past by the wind which is fairly strong.
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Post by tod2 on Feb 2, 2017 13:21:20 GMT
We are melting....I nearly caved in yesterday watching my grandson in his swimming lesson - it was over 40C. Even in the shade I was far too hot. What worried me was the cricket matches were still played in that searing heat.
Today, hot again but large clouds have come over and rain is predicted at around 8pm tonight.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2017 14:19:24 GMT
Splendid days of late here.
Up to 70F's during the day, cool evenings with the windows open.
Much in bloom,most especially the lemon trees whose scent wafts all the way up to upstairs balcony.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2017 16:40:11 GMT
The temperature in Paris has been positively balmy (14°), which is as evil as always, because it makes you think that spring is on the way and then wham! winter returns for several weeks.
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Post by onlyMark on Feb 2, 2017 20:10:29 GMT
This afternoon, the regular wet season rain began again. As it does most every day now. The view from the front of the house -
The view around the side. The rain has been heavy enough to break the guttering (not that it was probably well secured though in the first place). I've tried to prop it up with a ladder so it doesn't fall of completely -
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Post by tod2 on Feb 3, 2017 7:11:09 GMT
WOW Mark, what a downpour! Wish we could have just 30 minutes of that to fill our JoJo tank (water storage tank). It has been three days of murderous heat and yesterday we had a thunder storm with lots of lightening at 5pm. It has rained gently ever since and this morning we awoke in a thick fog.
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Post by onlyMark on Feb 3, 2017 8:02:36 GMT
The wet season started off gradually but it is relatively certain we'll get a thunderstorm or two every day now. Good for the plants though.
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Post by questa on Feb 3, 2017 13:54:59 GMT
Mick. Thanks for the bit on our heat in Oz. The last comment is the common belief of those who ran wild during the 6 weeks of December/January each year. With minimal clothes and no sunscreen we got burnt badly. We would have our top layer of skin actually 2nd degree burned and it was the job of your best friend to peel off the dead skin from your back and shoulders.
The last 20 years or so I have noticed the change in the sunshine itself. Even on a warm day the rays carry a skin burning strength they did not have before. As I have said before, years ago the heat was like the opening of an oven door, dry and uncomfortable but not enough to damage. Now you step into direct light and it is like touching the edge of the oven to your skin and getting a burn.
For fair people it takes only 20 minutes before it is a second degree burn.The people you see lying on beaches "getting a tan " are usually tourists. Brits have told me if they don't go home red like boiled lobsters they feel they haven't had a holiday.
I do not know anyone over 50 who hasn't had cancers frozen off their skin. I get about 15-20 a year mostly Basal Cell Carcinomas but this year I needed surgery to remove a squamous cell carcinoma on my right shoulder, probably from all the desert driving I have done. In Oz we get lots of BCC on the right side of face hand and arm. In the US their cancers are on the left, depending on which side the driver sits.
We are only now starting to raise awareness of heat related illnesses. It is gonna be a hard job to teach the Ozzies that "Grew up with the heat" that they should just phone Grandma and see if she is OK.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2017 22:37:11 GMT
And as an antidote for you Antipodeans:
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Post by tod2 on Feb 4, 2017 5:22:43 GMT
An expected 36C today - we will be travelling to the beach and hope for that cooling breeze that always blows at the coast.
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Post by bjd on Feb 4, 2017 6:59:57 GMT
You seem to be having an unusually cold winter for Vancouver, Lizzy. I always thought of the area as rainy rather than snowy.
There hasn't been much snow in the Alps this year, quite a bit in the Pyrenees and it's certainly snowing now at a high enough altitude. This is important because school holidays start today for the academic zones of Toulouse and Paris. The country is divided into 3 zones to keep the ski resorts happy and not have everyone on the roads at the same time.
It's raining here this morning. It's just beginning to get light but it's 10°C. High winds forecast. Instead of going to the mountains, we are leaving for the coast on Sunday, despite the crappy weather forecast: rain and more rain.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2017 7:00:19 GMT
We are having a nonstop downpour on Paris this morning. There is a big storm on the coast with almost hurricane force winds, but no wind here -- just rain.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2017 9:39:42 GMT
You seem to be having an unusually cold winter for Vancouver, Lizzy. I always thought of the area as rainy rather than snowy. Yes, well, you assumptions are generally true. We get a snowfall every few years, at best, which lasts a day or two before turning to rain. This year we have had two great freezes and snowfalls which is highly unusual. I'm praying it's good for the watersheds and bad for the garden pests.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2017 17:04:22 GMT
I was in Vancouver in the snow once, staying with Pakistani friends in North Vancouver. It was hilly there and nobody could get their car up the street.
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Post by fumobici on Feb 5, 2017 2:11:35 GMT
More antidotes for antipodeans. Here's what I awoke to this morning at a friend's house- This is just south of Abbotsford BC at the end of a long hilly little road. We just barely made it out to run into town. This is absolutely the winteriest winter I've seen here since I arrived in 1978. I'll be quite pleased when this winter finally gives up.
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