Quebec's Ice Hotel

The end of January has finally arrived and winter is about to remind us that it is not over by a long shot. We are preparing for a big storm arriving from Texas, of all places. I prefer winter storms from the arctic with cold, dry north-west winds. The storms from the south usually have nasty east winds that are damp and biting and they often include freezing rain along with the snowfall.

I had some interesting comments on the Ice Fishing post and once again thank Andre for allowing me to use his photos. Mouse, who is living in France, wrote about her experience of ice fishing on a Finnish lake, complete with reindeer skins for warmth.

Ice bed

She reminded me of a very unique hotel near Quebec City in Sainte Catherine de la Jacques Cartier. It has recently opened for the 2008 season, and if you have not had enough cold yet, you may want to book a visit before it melts in April! Here is a description from the site Unusual Hotels of the World.

Since 2001, the Ice Hotel has become an unparalleled and world-famous winter experience. It takes 5 weeks, 500 tons of ice, and 15,000 tons of snow to craft the Ice Hotel with its ceilings as high as 18 feet, walls covered with original artwork and furniture carved from ice blocks. The Ice Hotel has many rooms and theme suites, a magnificent chapel, the astonishing N'ice Club reception room and nightclub, decorative fireplaces, a Nordic-style relaxation space complete with 3 hot tubs and 1 sauna, and the famous ICE BAR, where cocktails are served in special ICE glasses.

Bar and Disco

Etolane is a Flickr member who has a magnificent collection of photographs of this hotel including a group taken this month at the grand opening of the 2008 season. I have included three of them here. If you are planning on coming to the Quebec Winter Carnival (which opens tomorrow), you may want to pay a visit to Hotel de Glace Quebec , even if you don't stay the night.

Thoughts on another birthday

A long, long time ago in a country far away....
Before email and Facebook and YouTube and Messenger...
My father sent this telegram to Canada announcing my arrival.

Today I will receive more birthday greetings on Facebook than from Canada Post. My family will be able to communicate with me quickly, easily and relatively inexpensively from anywhere in the world.

While my birthdays are no longer greeted with the enthusiasm of my four-year-old self, I am thankful for good health, for family and friends and another year to live and learn and love.

Ice Fishing

Ice Fishing on Lake Simcoe, (photo by Andre)
Click to enlarge the view of this all-Canadian fisherman!

I visited my daughter this past weekend and on the 90 minute drive to her place passed a man-made lake and conservation area where a river has been dammed. The sky and ground blended together as light snow fell and a mist added to the featureless landscape. Out on the lake were groups of people, some in small huts, others huddled over small holes as they fished through the ice. The weather has been quite cold for over a week, but we had a complete thaw earlier this month. I doubt I would have trusted the surface to be thick enough to support a crowd.

Ice fishing near a dam on the Thames River, Ontario

When I returned home yesterday, I noticed a co-worker and friend of my husband had posted some pictures of his weekend on his Flickr site. Andre is an avid fisherman and enjoys photography too. I emailed him and asked if I could feature some of his pictures in this post. He replied,

"Hi Ruth. Feel free to use any pictures you find useful in your blog. If you have any questions concerning ice fishing or its culture (we are a different breed) I would be glad to be of help."

A different breed indeed! That comment made me chuckle. Winter fishing is not for everyone.

Inside Andre's Hut

Andre wrote again, "We went to Lake Simcoe near a small town of Lefroy. The ice was about 5 to 6 inches thick. We were over about 20 to 25 feet of water. There was plenty of snowmobile and ATV activity on the ice. I usually try to go out every weekend from late January to the end of February. There is something about getting out in the wide open spaces of a big lake that attracts a lot of people."

Andre's Portable Ice Hut

Andre's hut is on the right and his catch is thrown on the ice in front of the zippered door. It was a good day for fishing. These huts fold down onto an attached sled for easy set up on the ice surface. Fishing can be relatively comfortable with shelters from the wind, portable heaters, food, drink and motorized transport on and off the ice if you want.

I have spent many hours in a fishing boat, but have yet to spend any time ice fishing. I like open spaces and the outdoors, but a hut would be a little confining for my taste. And those stories you hear on the news each winter about vehicles falling through ice, or ice floes breaking off from the land... Five to six inches of ice is not enough for me! But then, I cannot really judge unless I try it.

Ice Hut Village, Lake Simcoe, Ontario
(Photo by Andre)

Friday Flowers: Purple and Orange

Here is another flower picture my dad took in Mexico. I wrote a Friday Flowers post last year entitled In Praise of Orange, and Dad sent me a number of unidentified orange flower pictures. I can tell you nothing about these flowers except to say they are beautiful and the scene is inviting.

So, I will talk about the words purple and orange. It is commonly said there are three words in the English language that have no words that rhyme perfectly with them. The other one is silver. Can you write a rhyming poem that has purple, orange or silver at the end of a line?

Hilary Price created a comic strip called Rhymes with Orange, playing with the singular idea that nothing rhymes with the word orange. The strips are random commentaries on the absurdities of modern life and have no recurring theme or characters. I do look forward to reading them in the daily newspaper.

Rhymes with Orange -Hilary Price

...a random end to a random and absurd week...
Have a great weekend!

War Time Rationing

All of the countries involved in World War 2 had some kind of rationing program that affected every citizen. We received the first set of the British series Foyle's War (highly recommended) from my brother's family for Christmas. The crime series deals with everyday life in wartime England and many of the stories involved theft and black market activities involving food, fuel and munitions. RuthieJ commented on my last post saying,

"I found it especially interesting that it was actually illegal to feed birds. Makes me wonder if that situation occurred now, would I break the law?? I imagine it would have been impossible in those days to even sell birdseed don't you think?"

Britain, being an island, had big problems with supply as well as the challenges of outfitting an army. It was even illegal to sell meat for dogs. Shipping was disrupted for years and items like bananas were never seen. Canada did not experience rationing in such a stringent way. Food rationing began in January of 1942 and fuel was rationed starting in April of the same year. Sugar, tea, coffee, butter, fat and meat were rationed and other foods were often not available at all.

Mom told me that her father, being a country doctor, had a special permit for fuel and was not subject to restrictions. However, her family raised sheep for meat (she never served us lamb at home, having tired of it as a child) and were restricted in other food items. Everyone was encouraged to grow a "victory garden" and housewives were given special tips on canning and preserving by the government.

One surprising effect of rationing in Britain was that the health of the nation actually improved as people ate a more balanced diet, less meat and fat and had more exercise. (This point system for foods was invented long before Weight Watchers started their points program!). No fuel rations were required to pedal a bicycle or to use public transit so people had to use their legs.

This calendar was issued in our city in the 1940's (Click to enlarge)
Restaurants did not serve meat two days a week and the days when coupons could be redeemed were highlighted. And recycling, from bones to aluminum and other metals to old clothing was part of the war effort at home. The slogan for the times was, ''Use it Up, Wear it Out, Make it Do and Do Without."

Many of my patients lived through the great depression and then through the Second World War, overseas or in Canada. The effects of doing without has stayed with them for a lifetime and we sometimes see them hoarding sugar packets, jam, and other left-overs from mealtime in their bureau drawers.

I would not like to see a return to enforced rationing, but in this day of environmental concern and overconsumption, we could revisit some of the lessons learned in the war years.

Do you have any family stories about war time rationing?

Mom, Uncle Bill, Grandad Devins and ? at Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada

Birds of War

(Click picture to enlarge)

I was looking through Grandma's birding scrapbook which she kept in the 1930's and 1940's and found this cartoon which was published in October 1939. Canada declared war on Germany on September 10, 1939 a day after it was learned that two Canadian women were on the unarmed ocean liner, SS Athenia, which had been sunk by German U-boats. Britain had declared war on Germany one week earlier.

The world has never been without conflict somewhere, but there has never been a war in my lifetime that had an impact as significant as the Great Wars had on the world of my grandparents and parents.

Grandad Devins at about age 22

My maternal grandparents were completing their medical training at the University of Toronto during the First World War and my grandfather's graduation was delayed as he joined the army reserves. I could imagine their dismay at hearing that Canada was once again at war just a short twenty years later.

The war even affected the birds. Airplanes were quite new to Canadian skies in 1939 and the cartoon above reflected the concern people felt about migrating birds sharing the same airspace as RCAF pilots. And this article below from Britain declared the House Sparrow to be Hitler's feathered friend as they ate precious crop seeds from farmers' fields and gardens. In war time Britain, feeding wild birds of any kind was against the law.


...something to think about as I go out and refill my bird feeders on this snowy morning!

12 Best Foods

12 Best Foods Cookbook by Dana Jacobi

January is a prime time for diets as people enter the new year wishing to shed some weight or to improve their health. I am not sure what the most popular food plan is right now but I have seen a lot of them over the years, from the Scarsdale diet, the T- Plan (lots of fiber), the F-Plan (no fat), Atkins (lots of fat), South Beach, etc, etc. Most of these food plans restricted certain foods severely with the focus on what you shouldn't eat. I admire those who can stick with a vegan diet or a raw food diet, but it can be challenging to feed a family in these restrictive ways.


Laura reviewed some food books she recently read in a post yesterday and her summaries are worth reading. Dr. Judy (Femail Doc) wrote last week about the negative effects calcium supplements can have on the cardiac health of post-menopausal women. There is no magic pill or supplement that substitutes for a well balanced diet of whole and minimally processed foods. Food preparation and mealtime should be a pleasure, not a chore that is squeezed into overly busy schedules.


I have enjoyed a cookbook I purchased a couple of years ago by Dana Jacobi called 12 Best Foods Cookbook. It is full of tasty dishes and interesting positive commentary featuring some familiar super foods (including dark chocolate!). Under each of the 12 foods, similar foods are also recommended. For instance, blueberries are highlighted, but the author also points out that other berries such as raspberries are loaded with nutrients too.


So bring on the colourful fruits and vegetables, legumes, nuts, fish and real chocolate and a toast to your good health.

Here is one recipe from the book that can be made at home or assembled at most restaurant salad bars. Served with grilled salmon and a fresh berries for dessert, the meal includes most of the 12 best foods. (This recipe serves 4)

Nine-a-day Salad

1 cup broccoli,
4 green pepper rings, 4 red pepper rings
2 to 3 thin onion slices
1/2 cup black beans
1/2 cup sliced carrots
1/2 cup sliced zucchini
1 large sliced mushroom
8 whole cherry tomatoes
2 cups spinach, washed and torn
1 tbsp soynuts

Dressing
2 tbsp cider vinegar, 1 tsp lemon juice, 1/2 tsp dried basil and oregano,
1 clove garlic chopped, 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp canola oil, salt and pepper to taste

God, who touchest earth with beauty

God, who touchest earth with beauty,

make my heart anew;
with thy Spirit recreate me,
pure and strong and true.

Like thy springs and running waters,
make me crystal pure;
like thy rocks of towering grandeur,
make me strong and sure.

Like thy dancing waves in sunlight,
make me glad and free;
like the straightness of the pine trees
let me upright be.

Like the arching of the heavens
lift my thoughts above,
turn my dreams to noble action:
ministries of love.

God, who touchest earth with beauty,
make my heart anew;
keep me ever by the Spirit,
pure and strong and true.

Mary Susanne Edgar, 1925

Mary Susanne Edgar was a Canadian author born on May 23, 1889. She is the author of several books, one-act plays and hymns, the most famous of them being God Who Touchest Earth with Beauty which has been translated into several languages and placed in hymnals around the world. She was the daughter of Joseph Edgar and Mary Little, from Sundridge, Ontario. In 1922 she opened a girls' camp near Sundridge on Lake Bernard, called Glen Bernard. Mary Edgar continued as the camp's director until her retirement in 1956. Her life was devoted to working with girls and camping through many local, provincial and national organizations. She was the author of many books, plays and hymns... (Wikipedia)


Mom spent many summers at Glen Bernard Camp in the 1940's as a camper and also as a leader. She shared some of her camping experiences when she visited us this Christmas and told me about Mary Edgar and her writings.

I was on call today and had to do some home care visits at the far end of our region. When I was done, I had time to walk a few kilometers on a new trail. The sun shone and it was bitterly cold, but the beauty of the day was captured in the above pictures.