Girls' getaway

The girls are: moi, sister Sandy, Leanne and Ingrid.

It's a snowy day at the farmette. We just got a new lightweight snow thrower that will likely be put to work on the sidewalks later today. Rob tried it out yesterday, and it seemed to work fine.

I had an amazing few days last week on our annual girls' outing. There were only four of us, including my sister Sandy, Leanne, who has been a friend forever, and Ingrid, who is a new friend from our curling club. This year, we picked Niagara-on-the-Lake, and it was perfection. We stayed at the sumptuous Pillar and Post, which Leanne booked ages ago, along with an amazing dinner and wine tasting at Trius Winery and Restaurant. We ate a lot of great food, enjoyed the downtown decorations, shopped and played a couple of rounds of euchre, like the good Canadians we are. We also went to see the Shaw Festival's version of A Christmas Carol.

Here I am at the gateway to the hotel's outdoor bar, where we cashed in our complimentary drinks tickets. I was being silly, photobombing the other girls as they tried to take pictures.

We had to make the requisite visit to the BeauChapeau hat store. The selection was enormous, and I could not resist buying one for myself.

The downtown was festooned with all manner of Christmas trinkets.

This hotel and spa especially caught my eye, with its gorgeous window dressing.

Everyone was in a festive, friendly mood.

One lovely stranger asked if we wanted her to take a photo of us on the steps of the old courthouse. Of course, we say YES.

The play was magnificent. Scrooge was fantastic and the entire cast could sing like angels. They cleverly used puppets to show some of the trickier scenes. I'm always gobsmacked by the way actors can successfully take on three or four roles in a small production. They graciously stayed on stage after the play to let the audience take photos.

On a more sombre note, we found out that the historic Royal George Theatre is scheduled to be torn down and replaced after this production run. While it is kind of sad, when I tried to sympathize with one of the volunteers, she said, "Well, they're taking it down before it falls down." Fair enough.

While it was only three days, it was a ripping good time. Nothing like being in the company of good friends and family at this time of year. Until next week.

Gratuitous cat photo courtesy of Calvin, who constantly invents new ways to relax.