Hi Val and Mal:It's been a while since I sent you an update. In the meantime I have suffered a total hard drive meltdown and gotten a new computer. I am not sure if I like Windows 8.1, but it is what it is. Since we last talked it has become a brutally cold winter here in the Canadian tropics. The upside of that is we have had more sunny days than I can remember during winter which has helped a lot as we have 2 "Cansolaire" heat exchangers on our house. Early morning temperatures in the -25c range have been common and a new record (for me) Sunday past of <lo> on our indoor/outdoor thermometer.
Just an hour before I had seen it register -29.8c so I presumed that meant it didn't register -30 and below. Other than that Sunday was a beautiful day as the pictures will show. I went to the beach at Inverness which, in the summer anyway, has the warmest water north of Virginia. I was hoping to see some seals, but it is hunting season the next few weeks so they were probably hiding out on the off shore islands. They would be pretty safe there since the ice is pretty solid this winter and as you can see in the pictures nearly impossible to walk, sled, or snowmobile on. We did have a surprise visitor to our bird feeders on February 9th (-25.7c), a ROBIN. This guy must have been lost or blown in by a storm because, although common from April to October, I have never seen one here in winter before. It is more unusual in that they always travel and gather in flocks so a single bird is not normal at all. I remember many years ago seeing a bird here in winter that lives in the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean exclusively. It was obviously blown in by a recent storm.Maggie and I will be in Promilhanes April 14th until the end of May. We are looking forward to seeing all our friends and having some fun in the sun! I hope we get better weather than last year, but if not, there is always bridge. Take care and we will see you soon!
Bill McCarthy North Lake Ainslie, NovaScotia
