Spring cleaning: At the car wash

This weekend finally feels like it's Spring. It was a very beautiful day, the sun was out, it was still a bit cool but definitely not freezing, which is a welcome change and made for a great day. As I was running around town today, I figured I'd go through the car wash. It's been a long winter and the car looked like it was coated with a coating of salt and grime, and I was quite happy when I looked at the outside of the car after the wash. Here's a few photos from inside the car wash.

Serious warning and false advertising!

Tonight I was driving down the 417 and noticed this sign and had to pull over as it occurred to me that it was false advertising. If you're from Canada and you've ever seen a moose and a deer, you know they aren't even close to being the same size. A big deer ways approximately 275lbs where as a moose can weigh over 1200lbs, now if you look at the signage, they look like they are the same size. Ask anyone who's hit a moose or hit a deer and the impact difference is definitely not the same. Most people would rather take a hit from a deer, less chance of totaling your vehicle. All that being said, I do appreciate signs that tell me to be weary of them popping out at night as I'd rather avoid any contact with these nice animals. Be careful when driving at night during this time of year, better to be safe than sorry!

new growth

If you look closely at this branch, you can see the small buds that are starting to come up, which feels nice to see, as it announces Spring and the new growth. I'm really looking forward to warmer weather and Spring vegetation. I'm looking forward to seeing the greenery, the tulips at Dow's Lake and being able to go out without thinking if I need to wear a winter jacket.

Another texture item in my apt.

When I got home from work today, I was supposed to head out, but I had a headache and rested instead. Since I had not taken a photo earlier, I had to scramble around my place and find something else I wanted to take a photo of and I decided to look for something different. I decided to look for something with some texture. I came up with this photo, it's a bit dark, sombre, but it works.

Talisman: The Board Game

I decided to take a few photos from tonight's board game called Talisman. We decided to change it up from our regular Tuesday night game and try it out. As you will see, the board game with the two map expansions takes a lot of place. It took us just over three hours to complete the game with only three players. Normally we would be at least four, but one person backed out tonight, which is probably not a bad thing, as the more players you have the longer the game can be. For those maybe familiar with this game and for those not so familiar, we were playing the fourth edition of the game with all the current expansions (view link to Fantasy Flight Games for more info). Tonight, it was the Dread Knight that was victorious! The photo above is of the Dread Knight with the Grim Reaper in the background (Fear the reaper as you could easily loose all of your character's lives!).

Intertwined

I was looking around my apartment for something interesting to take a photo of and came up with this. I has some texture and movement, nothing fancy, but capable of many things.

Let's make some pasta, I got the sauce

Every once and a while, I like to do a batch of meaty red sauce. I usually do a big pot and eat some pasta throughout the week and then freeze the rest for later on. Today, I finished gathering my ingredients and went at it. Here are the results :


It made for a good meal for tonight and now I have some leftovers for tomorrow and the next few days :)













Here's what it looks like packed away with a few containers of leftovers with a little bit of pasta that cooked. I figured I'd start off with spaghetti, but will probably change it up in a few days. I actually measured my pasta portions and it seems small, but I imagine with an apple and yogurt tomorrow for my lunch, it should be all good. :)

Laurier Ave Bridge

I often drive down Queen Elizabeth Drive, which run parallel to part of the Rideau canal in Ottawa. Some of the bridges that span the canal have intrigued me. I sometimes wonder when they were built, as some seem like giants and others like little fortresses. Tonight I decided to take a quick photo of the bridge that supports Laurier Avenue. As the year progresses, I hope to catch some of the other bridges, especially in evening shots as I find they are often well light. Here is the green monster!

March Poker Night

Tonight I went over to Nadim's to play the patriarchy poker night (interesting way of calling it a boys night). This was his second attempt at bringing a bunch of guys together and having a night of fun. At his first attempt a month ago, most people had to cancel and thus cancelling the poker night. As for this evening, Nadim had no idea how many guys were going to show up. To his big surprise, we were 12 guys, and it was a great evening of laughter and fun. We played 2 tables of 6 players, and finally bringing the last 6 for a final table. At the beginning of the evening, I was almost the first guy out at my table. We all started with $20 worth of chips, and I was down to $3.50. I remained calm and started my comeback. The evening ended with me finishing on top! I was excited with the winnings as you can see in the photo. I figured I'd also share a couple of photos of the evening. Kudos to Paul for finishing second, at one point, I was sure he was going to win it all, but I came back from behind to clean up the house!

Here are the other players waiting to see who is going to win the big pot!

And here's good ole Phylroy with his special cup :)

Getting home

After a very late night game of soccer, this is the last view that I get before walking into my apt. I'm not the biggest fan of those 11pm soccer games. I get home around 12:15am, wide awake and not ready for bed. Only good thing I can say, I napped earlier hoping that I wouldn't be too tired tomorrow morning.

Evening snack

A little snack while watching a movie. Amy borrowed Scott Pilgrim from the library. I often forget that the library has movies, I need to take more advantage of their services. I am a librarian, and I should know this! I under utilize the Ottawa Public Library, I should make a point to walk-in more often. Here's a photo of some sour cream and onion chippies :)

Light scales

Today I looked for something different, and came up with these photos. I decided to see how play with light and a new texture, and this is the result:

WTF Spring? Looks like a blizzard out there

The title for this post says it all! Spring started yesterday and it was a really nice day outside. Sunny, above the freezing mark, and when I look outside now, I wonder, when is it going to end! I remember the groundhog not seeing it's shadow, and now I wonder, how could this be!?!?

Mmm Muffins...

My roommate Amy often spoils me. She usually makes muffins every week or so and usually offers me a muffin. I figured I would take a photo of this week's muffins: blueberry muffins. The whole apartment smells of blueberry muffins, yummy!