Groundhog Day in Canada

I have to hand it to Tom Allen, the Classical DJ of the CBC’s morning show ‘Music and Company’ (who I’ve praised in past postings): he opened his show this morning with the legendary “I got You, Babe” by Sonny and Cher because that’s how Bill Murray’s character wakes up each morning in the movie Groundhog Day (which I’ve also mentioned in these pages). That photo is actually a frame from the movie, one of the many times Phil Connors is awoken with that duo from the 60s.

What I did not know is that in Canada, they not only have a different groundhog than Punxsatawney Phil, but they actually have 2 of them here, named Wiarton Willie (in Wiarton, Ontario), and Shubenacadie Sam (near Halifax, Nova Scotia). Unlike, Phil, Wiarton Willie is an albino and is a handsome shade of white, which makes him look a little like a little polar bear. Sam is the more typical brown groundhog.

The prediction by all three groundhogs in North America is for an early spring. None of them saw their shadow, which means, according to the Scottish couplet:

If Candlemas Day is bright and clear, there’ll be two winters in the year.

So Candlemas Day, (which is technically a date relative to Christmas but since the date for Christmas is now fixed to December 25, it is now also fixed at February 2) was cloudy where these groundhogs were, so there’ll only be one winter this year.

Frankly, given that groundhogs never had to reckon with Global Warming or any of the changes that this is bringing, if they had predicted a long winter, I doubt if I would have believed them. However, the unanimous verdict by all 3 of a short winter this year is interesting; I’m making a note of it, and if next year and the year after they continue to all predict a short winter, then maybe there’s something to this Annual Rodent Meteorological Forecasting Ritual.

Update: Thanks to Miss604 (who also associates the day not only with the aforementioned animal but also with that Sonny and Cher song) I learned that there are more than just the two groundhogs I mentioned. There’s a whole list of them throughout North America (most of them in the US). From CityNews:

Nova Scotia: Shubenacadie Sam
Brandon, Manitoba: Brandon Bob
Alberta: Balzac Billy
Kleinburg, Ont.: Gary the Groundhog
Birmingham, Alabama: Birmingham Bill
Marion, Ohio: Buckeye Chuck
St. Louis: Chester
Dunkirk, New York: Dunkirk Dave
West Virigina: French Creek Freddy
Georgia: General Beauregard Lee
Sun Prairie, Wisconsin: Jimmy the Groundhog
Long Island, N.Y.: Malverne Mel
Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Octarara Orphie
Vermont: Peewee, the Woodchuck
Hollis, New Hampshire: Pennichuck Chuck
North Carolina: Sir Walter Wally
Staten Island, N.Y.: Staten Island Chuck
Unadilla, Nebraska: Unadilla Bill

Groundhogs of North America, hope your special day went well. Now you can go back to sleep.

Home, Sweet (but Cold) Home

The trip back to Vancouver was uneventful, and I really like the service by Qantus. A smooth take-off and landing by a 747, in-seat entertainment (I saw Borat - first half going down, second half coming back), and even on a 1 hour and 50 minute flight, a hot meal. It’s a pity that this affordable and comfortable flight is only offered during Australia’s summer months, but I’ll certainly take it again if the opportunity arises. The arrival at Vancouver airport was smooth and had no problems. The Immigration officer asked about my permanent residency ID card, but when he saw the date of my paperwork, he waved me through with no further questions.

I arrived home from sunny San Francisco (and average days of 15-18° C) to temperatures well below freezing. We’ve finally turned on our gas fire as well as the electric baseboard heater in our bedroom. We don’t need much heat here (it’s a small place and only one set of windows), but it’s definitely needed this week. The small pond out back where our Koi swim has pretty much frozen over again, and I hope they survive another bout of ice over their heads.

I hear from family and friends back East that their winter has continued to be freakishly warm. I’ve always known that our temperature falls when the skies clear, and aside from a bit of snow and rain on Monday or Tuesday, it looks like we’ll be clear and cold for the rest of the week, with highs in the lower single digits.

Responding to the cold weather, I’m making ‘comfort food’ tonight: meatloaf and mushroom sauce, along with cauliflower au gratin (really, puréed cauliflower mixed with a little butter, cream, salt and pepper and topped with shredded Parmesan cheese and run under the broiler for a few minutes).

It’s fun to go to Macworld, but it’s also nice to return home, even if it’s a little colder than I’d like (and oddly enough, Cambridge would have been warmer to return to this year).

Christmas Day Walk

That nasty looking storm did appear, but it brought most of its force to Vancouver Island, where they experienced high winds and heavy rain. Then it hit the coastal mountain range and seemed to dissipate. By 11 AM this morning, the rain stopped, so we took a walk on the False Creek seawall, just like last year.

Everything was gray and quiet, but there were a few other people out doing the same (perhaps taking a breather before a big Christmas dinner — we are keeping things simple with a roast chicken and delicata squash). I was surprised to see a crib-style baby stroller occupied not by someone’s child, but their border collie. I didn’t ask them why.

We’re taking it easy today because I have an important trip coming up tomorrow. I’ve decided that the best way to expedite our getting Landed Immigrant Status is for me to take all of the materials (passports, fees, photographs, other assorted papers) directly to the office that is processing our case. That office happens to be in Buffalo, New York. Most people immigrating here would go to the office in nearby Seattle, but because we moved from Boston, we (in retrospect, without much forethought) chose the East coast’s Canadian Consulate, rather than the west coast’s. Another tip for people considering immigrating to Canada: Choose the office closest to your destination area, not the US point you are leaving.

We could get away with sending our passports and the funds via courier and waiting for their return to us, but since I will be needing my passport soon in early January to attend MacWorld Expo — and frankly, because I’m just not comfortable with sending off these extremely valuable travel documents without accompanying them to their destination — I’ve decided to fly to beautiful downtown Buffalo in the week between Christmas and New Years. Yes, the office I’m visiting is indeed open for business on Wednesday. Tuesday, when I am traveling, it is closed for the Boxing Day Holiday.

So, I leave tomorrow morning, change planes in Chicago, and arrive in Buffalo at about 10 PM EST. Bright and early at 8 AM the next morning, I appear at the Canadian Consulate and present all of our documents. According to their web site, they make every effort to get cases processed the same day, and return all items between 1 and 3 PM. If all goes according to plan, I then fly back at 6 AM EST the next day. My route this time is via Washington, DC, which is an odd way to go, but strangely symbolic, I think. I should arrive in Vancouver at just before noon, and at that time, become a Permanent Resident of Canada. If all goes according to plan.

Christmas Eve Skies

I keep an eye on the widget that shows a weather loop of the Pacific Ocean. It’s often a good indicator of the kind of weather that we can expect here. This indicator of wind and cloud movements has shown most of the storms that have eventually made landfall here in the Pacific Northwest. There have been 4 big ones in the past months, including a howling monster that brought havoc and power outages to Seattle and blew out 1/4 of the trees in Stanley Park. This information has left me a bit — uneasy, shall we say? — as I see this on my screen this afternoon:

Now, I’m no expert, but this looks like pretty rough stuff for both Santa’s sleigh and our coast. Since I have a very important flight eastward in about 2 days, I hope this thing looks worse than it actually is. After all, as I said, I’m no expert.

Crazy Weather Continues

First it was the rain. We expected that. Then the mudslides that turned the water brown. OK, we’ve had bad tap water before in Cambridge. But one thing we thought we’d left behind in New England was snow. Lots of it. Big, fluffy, wet flakes that are sticking.

Pam really had her heart set on the Culture Crawl, but I’m sure that the organizers of the event (which is essentially walking through a neighborhood where a lot of artists and craftspeople live and work, and whose studios are open) are wondering why it always takes place during the worst single patch of weather of the year.

No matter, we are home and warm, with plans to cook a Pheasant tonight. Pam spied one at the market the other day and decided that a plump game bird was just the ticket for a cold November night. Don’t know if we are going to serve it ‘under glass’, but I think some other delicacies are in order. Let’s see: Chestnuts, wild rice, perhaps some more exotic green vegetables?