aaahhhh

It was one of those great,  busy church Sundays.
The kind with blisters on my feet and pain in my head...
but love in my heart!
I have much to give, but even more to learn!
Can't wait for my head to hit the pillow.

My Little Braveheart

Today was Culture Day at Ocho's school.
He chose to represent his English roots (hat) and Scottish heritage...minus the kilt, but with a Scottish flag face.
He's so cool!

CLUE

12.16 km
in the dark
with my runners

i haven't done that in a LONG time. i really didn't think i could still do that. i like surprises, but it's an even better feeling when you surprise yourself! today is going to be a GREAT day.

Is that celsius or farenheit?

First post of the year- How typical, in true Albertan fashion, that it is about the weather! Seeing as though that is about all that's been talked about for a few days...Chinook, where are you? (that's another science lesson)

Hi, I'm Dave Thurlow from the Mount Washington Observatory and this is The Weather Notebook.(Keeping this intro means I am trying to NOT plagarize) 

 Today I'm going to talk about the significance of 40 degrees below zero. Now you're probably saying to yourself "Oh boy that sounds fascinating", but curious things happen at forty below zero, give or take a few degrees. Scientifically, 40 below is a temperature worthy of note.

First of all, am I talking about 40 below fahrenheit or forty below celsius? Well that's a bit of a trick question because the answer is both. Forty below is the only point where fahrenheit and celsius are the same, where the two scales cross.

It's also near the point at which mercury freezes. Mercury is the most commonly used fluid in thermometers and it's fine for temperatures above minus forty. For colder temperatures a different fluid is used, usually alcohol. Though mercury is more precise, alcohol doesn't freeze until minus 200 fahrenheit.

Interestingly enough, if you figure the average of the record lows for each state in the country, it comes to minus 40.

Minus 40 is also the point where it's no longer safe to expose any skin to the cold. At this temperature, or windchill temperature, skin can freeze almost instantly. This was determined, believe it or not, by a bunch of scientists who stood around in Antarctica until their skin froze.

Forty below also represents the ultimate freezing point of water. Microscopic drops of water can stay unfrozen down to around minus forty, seventy-two degrees colder than what we all know to be freezing for big water. This means that even clouds and fog are made of tiny ice crystals at this frigid temperature, but can actually be made up of drops of water at temperatures well below freezing. Forty below -- you might never feel it but at least now you know.

Oh, we know, alright. 

Here is how I keep warm at night. 

I named mine Phoenix.

Some of you will laugh and know why. 

Do you hear what I hear?

Last night was piano recital. Merry Christmas from the Crew.

Mother in Law For $200, please, Alex.

My mother in law is one of the smartest, most interesting- and interested- people I know. She is always learning and teaching us about, ...well... anything and everything. I can only best her in the pop culture category in Jeopardy :)
Case in point: Tonight we had a "trial run" Christmas dinner.  She was trying out a new method to cook turkey. No sooner do we enter the house and I hear "Merry Christmas. Who wants to see the spinal cord?"
Classic. She is the best. And we're smarter and better people because of her.

What Matters Most

If you're like me (and I hope I have some company) you have a To Do List that is nearly never ending, especially this time of year. But tonight I totally ignored it. Homework? Who knows..Haven't even looked at school agendas yet.  

Tonight we are just being together.

We ate dinner...very late...in front of the tele...and finished watching a Christmas classic. 

The antics of Marv, Harry and Kevin still make me laugh and cringe! 

Then, just before bed (because I drew the line at pulling an all nighter, Christmas movie marathon) we watched this:

His antics made me smile and get teary.

It was a very good night at the Stewart house.