it was hotter than texas*

This might be our new catch-phrase, to replace the more cumbersome "it is hotter than the last time it was this hot at Thanksgiving" (which was about 3 years ago). It was also more humid than any October weekend should be. A friend of mine described how she spent all day Saturday scooping the leaves out of the pool instead of draining it. She did this while in the pool. As we sat outside, watching the thermometer and waiting for that magic number that would break the records (it got up to 28C) and as we ate our turkey and stuffing and roasted vegetables, I thought, this must be almost what it is like at Christmas in Australia and New Zealand. If you squinted against the bright sunlight you could almost imagine that the bright yellow leaves of the maples were instead, big blossoms.

All in all, it was a perfect weekend for walking through the forest or
driving around the countryside looking for fall colours and taking in the studio tour seeking out interesting artisans. Or getting lost finding the poorly signed studios. Not lost, really, I was familiar with the area having lived there for a time, but the signs on these long country concession roads were a little confusing and I ended up a little disoriented. And looking at the brochure, I discovered that GPS co-ordinates were provided in place of addresses! At one point, I just gave up and had some ice cream.

Later, while the turkey was merrily roasting and before the rest of the clan arrived, I decided to go sailing. Last year Orillia had the guitars, this year the street art was sails. Sixty of them. They had been up all summer, but this was my first opportunity to get a chance to find them all, or most of them.

some of them had different designs on the other side

sail on over to my other blog here for more pics

* the news kept making a big deal out of the fact that some cities here were hotter than Dallas, like that was a benchmark of some sort.

a few numbers

no wonder my Haagen Dazs melted on the way home!

Monday AMuse

and, because I know you are all wondering about those beer vats...

They arrived a short time ago, safe and sound at the Molson plant on Carlingview after nine days on the road.

apparently it will now take several months (months!) to hook up the vats.

photo from yfrog as seen on twitter (more photos of the journey on link above for the truly addicted)

6 million bottles of beer...

It is a long, slow journey for the six massive beer vats enroute to the Molson's brewery.

First, there was the 20 days crossing the ocean from Germany. They couldn't be unloaded for a few days due to high winds in November. Then they stayed in the Hamilton Port for a few weeks while the final logistics of the move were made. Then Christmas came... so the move was postponed so as not to interfere with holiday traffic.

But, last night was the much anticipated move. The first leg of a four night slow crawl.

Because of their size, highways are out of the question, they would never fit under the bridges, or the many overhead signs. The company charged with this undertaking had to plan a route that would avoid overpasses and then coordinate with police forces to close intersections, raise or cut hydro and cable wires to get the vats through, steer trucks by remote control through tight areas and remove metal poles then weld them back in place. The plan was to move about 10miles (15km) a night. then rest during the day.

Last night, it barely made it 3 miles into the first leg. The freight company is blaming the hydro company for not being prepared. Then a snow storm hit.

This map shows the anticipated first leg. The vats made it to Dundurn, just before the bridge. It still has a l-o-o-ng way to go!

The beer vats are huge — 45 metres long, eight metres high and more than seven metres wide - or in American values: 147' 7" long, 25' 3" high and more than 23' wide. And they can each hold enough liquid for about 1.2 million bottles of beer. There are 6 of them. Pity it's destined for Molson Coors and not a better brewery


Update on the crawl....
now that the convoy is out of the city things are moving better. the vats are now resting after a 12 hour 13km journey on day 2.