Physio

 I had a physio appointment today and she checked me out fully. First she checked that there were no neurological issues. There weren't. Then she checked for joint issues. Nothing there either. So her final conclusion was muscle/tendon issues which just needs some rest. She gave me some exercises to strengthen muscles around the injury. She also gave me a 10minute treatment on a machine, which felt pretty good.

She also said that she worked out some knots in my glutes.

The end result was that I was walking better after the appointment!

Clearing up

 There were no sidewalks today. I walked on the back roads to work and back and it was ok, there was not much traffic. There is ice under the snow so it was very important to walk on snow packed surfaces. I ran our training session that was packed as I guess a lot of people had cancelled classes. There were a lot of challenges today sorting out what was running and what was not. James will need to do a lot of shovelling tomorrow!

Not closed

 So Queen's ended up not closing but cancelling classes before noon. It still seems to be snowing heavily. I cancelled the morning training session but still have one to run at 1:30pm.

The snow

 So when James left for the rink around 5:30pm things weren't too bad but when he called to say he was coming home around 9pm there was so much snow that he wouldn't be able to pull in the driveway. The roads were rally bad so I had quite a bit of time. The snow was light so I got enough cleared to he could pull in and he went in frontwards instead of his usual reverse as he wasn't sure if he could reverse in safely. Now it is 11pm and you couldn't tell that I had cleared snow at 9pm. James says he'll shovel it all tomorrow. I am interested to see Queen's decision tomorrow. Not a problem for me as the way is still walkable through the back roads but we'll see what happens in the morning. The weather radar seems to indicate there is not much left of the storm.

The cold creeps in

 Yesterday was super cold and today was super snowy. Many things were cancelled, I think.

Elevation in North Carolina was closed but had prerecorded the service yesterday. My friend from Texas and I watched the recording together as I didn't feel up to the trek to Rustle.

James has trekked out to the rink because hockey doesn't stop, apparently.

I am expecting schools to be closed tomorrow but likely Queen's will remain open. We have training sessions planned but we can pivot them to Tuesday if necessary. Tuesday will be a long day for me with meetings from 9:30am to 10pm.

Extensive closure

 I had a fall about a week ago or so and so am slower than usual in everything I do. With the cold I'm not going out today so we'll see if the rest helps. Also I am hoping to see a physiotherapist next week.

On my way home yesterday I selected to walk on Princess St as I hoped it would be clearer and flatter than other routes as it was a main street. It was indeed plowed but there were some very icy parts. At any rate as I was carefully picking my way home, I heard some sirens (not unusual) and a fire truck came up from behind me as it was travelling in the same direction that I was. I could see other flashing lights ahead which looked like an ambulance coming the other direction. The fire truck arrived at its location about a block away and parked very deliberately perpendicular on Princess St to block both directions. I don't think I have ever seen them park like that before and there must have been some reason for that. However, the ambulance was coming in the other direction and now had to navigate around the fire truck that was blocking the entire road. They made it around pretty quickly and backed up to the accident scene very quickly. The accident scene was by the sidewalk and there must have been a firetruck there before the one that passed me as the person who was hit was already on a stretcher and covered to protect from the cold. The ambulance was backing up as I walked past and could hear it with its sirens on heading to the hospital a few minutes after I walked by, so I thought that it would be all over and the firetruck would move and reopen Princess St. shortly after. However, that wasn't what happened, the road was closed for about 12 hours. I was there before any Police were there but I'm guessing that the closure was for a police investigation so maybe was a hit and run or maybe it was a more complicated situation. There hasn't been anything posted about that though.

Rain boots

 On Friday it was pouring with rain and the sidewalks were still ice covered so impassable with the amount of rain so I walked the back roads on the streets to get to work. There was no rain after work and the sidewalks were in better shape.

Rain boots were the right choice.

On Saturday things were a bit icier, which isn't so good for rain boots but rain boots were still the correct choice as there were large pools of water.

Today it says it is 1-2 degrees so I'll probably go with rain boots again. They are very waterproof, which is important for puddles!

I discovered Melonia popsicles. They are apparently a Korean brand. I thought there would not be much taste as honeydew melons don't have a lot of taste, but they really found the essence and the texture is very creamy, not like frozen water. There was apparently some controversy as maybe the original versions had milk products but then Health Canada wouldn't let them import it. Haven't checked the ingredients to see what is true yet!

a long day 1

 The first day of term- a 12 hour day. We had training and lots of emails. Still a lot to do to set up the course for the term.

Raptor in my backyard

 While in the front my sidewalks are not cleared, my backyard was home to a raptor who caught a bird.

Back to work tomorrow and still so much to do!

Start of 2026

 The sidewalks on our street are not plowed yet but it is a fairly quiet street. The busier streets the sidewalks were ok. I wore the Halara thermal leggings as I was out walking and everything was good.

Yesterday I made calzones and today made a chow mein that we had had before. 

Still have a lot of work to do to prepare for Monday!

End of 2025

 I went to Food Basics in the morning to get some groceries and Bulk Barn to get some fortune cookies for James. Sidewalks were mostly ok with some icy spots.

Wrote a lot of emails in the afternoon. Washed a lot of dishes so all the dishes are clean for the new year. No emails tomorrow. James is planning to go to Ottawa to watch a Sens game. I am planning on cleaning.

Traipsing

 There were sidewalks today! So I went to Food Basics to stock up. I am working through emailing students who failed. Keeping busy while on break!

Reckoning

 James made it home in the window where the temperature was above freezing and before the snow and wind got too bad. I didn't sleep well last night watching the ice hang heavy outside knowing that he needed to make the trip. But it all worked out. 

While the temp was above freezing I worked to scrape the driveway free of ice.

I worked today on getting grades out, still more to do tomorrow.

Waiting out the storms

 On the 26th we waited out the after Christmas storm in Brighton. Then had to dig out after.

Today everything outside is icy so waiting it out again. James is in Toronto hoping to return home tomorrow.

Christmas Eve Eve

 Yesterday evening Kingston was the dividing line- to the east was snow to the west was rain. This meant that the sidewalk was a mix of rain and ice as I went to the Christmas Eve Eve service. The service was at the new St. Vincent de Paul building which just opened and is gorgeous. I worked on uploading the rest of the marks and am just typing up some loose ends today in hopes of having the marks ready to be posted soon.