A Mock Winter Photo Roundup

Tim Horton's Today

I was out at the Provincial Offences Court with Matt C today. Before we came back downtown, Matt insisted on getting a coffee at Tim Horton's. Even though I didn't have a free coffee coupon on me, I decided I could buy one for a change. At the counter, he ordered a medium black and I ordered a large black. His came in two nested Roll Up the Rim cups. My coffee came in two nested ordinary cups. "This isn't fair," I said. "I don't get a Roll Up the Rim and he gets two?"

Just like I'd failed to persuade a justice of the peace earlier on a fine recommendation, I failed to persuade them to give me a Roll Up the Rim cup.

As we were leaving the building, Matt said, "Just so you know, if either of these is a big winner..."

"I know," I said, "I'll get nothing."

"That's right."

But you know what? Later in the afternoon, Matt came over and gave me one of the cups. One with a "win/gagner un café/a coffee" on it. "Just so you know, Matt," I said, "If the coffee I get with this wins the car, I'll be keeping it and giving you nothing in return."

"That's right!" he said. After eight months of small claims court, we like having things like this spelled out in advance.

[The cup pictured above was found on Lisgar, already rolled and not a winner. In the garbage can I was putting it in when this photo was taken there was another cup that looked like it might not have had the rim rolled because it still had its lid on. But there was a bunch of Lisgar Collegiate teachers right behind me and I was too embarrassed to fish that cup out.]

Sign of Spring

In the bottom left of this picture is a blurry image of a robin. When I first spotted him, he was standing in the snow. Of course, once I got the camera out, he walked onto the grass and then kept getting farther and farther away from me until I spooked him enough that he flew away.

But at least this is proof that it is not actually winter here.

Binder Clip Research

In the comments to Uses for Binder Clips - Parchment Bag Cooking, Jennifer asked if the paint on binder clips will stand up to cooking temperatures. The binder clips pictured here were in a 400F oven for two hours and show no ill effects, not even the yellow one. (Alas I didn't get it together to make date squares, only an easy oven meal thing.)

Christmas Lights

The weekend before this past weekend, I took down my Christmas lights.

I'm tempted to say that this is the earliest in the year I've ever taken them down. This would be a truthful statement. But given that I'm supposed to be striving to be "ethically ambitious", I should acknowledge that this is the first time I've taken Christmas lights down since I moved into this house in 1993. Three things prompted me to take them down.

1. Only three of the bulbs lit up the last time I plugged them in (probably six months ago).
2. I have a secret plan for the dead bulbs (this photo shows them in sudsy water before I scrubbed and rinsed them.)
3. Pam, my lovely next door neighbour, asked if I would mind if she took down the string of lights on the side of the house we share. (Pam is very good at the technique of getting me to clean things up by offering to do it for me.)