Winter is coming...

We had our first dusting of snow a couple of days ago and the weather is dipping below zero almost daily. I am walking to work less and less. I'm pretty sure that when I injured my calf muscle playing basketball a few weeks ago, I tore it a bit. After our big comeback win almost three weeks ago, we had a week off. The following week, although I had really tried to warm up my calves a lot, I still felt worsening pain throughout the game. I didn't play very well and we lost quite badly. I have decided I will take at least one week off to try to heal a bit. My whole lower leg gets swollen by the end of the day, so I may have to go see the doctor or physio.

I got caught without winter tires this week (even though there was only about 1 cm of snow on the ground and it would have been fine to drive on summers) so I swapped over to the winters one evening in the garage, after the kids were asleep. 

I think that people will be putting away their sports and classic cars this week, as it's only a matter of time before we get some real winter weather. 

There are still a few cool cars on the road, and a surprising number of motorbikes too. The other day, I even saw a Mini Roadster with the top down when it was below zero. I love when people use their cars as they were meant to be, for as long as possible before winter.

Cool and rare 500E

The RX8 looks so nice with these wheels

It's still warm enough to play in the park

Oscar looks ready to start walking at any time now

Surprise Ferrari 456 spot in late November

The 993 is not my favourite generation of 911, but it's still a nice car and I like its small size.

I am not excited about Mercedes' latest coupe designs. I prefer the clean lines of previous generations, like this one.

... or even this one, a decade older.

What is it about these Jaguars that I find so appealing? This is a Vanden Plas edition. I wonder how they are to drive?

Late fall and still no snow

I went for a walk at lunch time with my camera and I found a few trees in Old Montreal that still had some leaves on them. The pier with the clock tower is probably the nicest spot in Old Montreal and the only one where you really feel like you are on St-Lawrence Seaway.

 

 

 

 

 

We had another activity-filled weekend, which included eating authentic carbonara made by our friend Alessia's mother. She is also an expert at watching babies, it turns out. Jules is doing well at swimming lessons (no parent in the pool anymore) and Oscar is almost sleeping through the night (he makes it until 5 or 6 am without intervention).

In basketball news, I injured my calf three weeks ago and played a lousy game after that. We lost. I missed the following game, which we lost after leading by 15 because our captain JP was injured too. We made up for all this last Friday, however, when we came back from a 15-point deficit that lasted most of the game to win by one point. I almost blew the whole thing with a terrible turnover on a lousy pass I threw. I made up for it with a couple of late foul shots and a jump shot. It felt pretty good to win that one!

I still haven't winterized the BMW, but there's still time for that, right?

Oscar did not eat the carbonara, but had some of the crescentini

Jules enjoys the very large toys at the Outremont library.

New Camera... Yay!

Last Friday, I came across an ad for a used Pentax DSLR camera on Kijiji and I bought it. It's a 2012 model, so six years newer than my old one. It takes pictures at 16 megapixels, rather than 6. It also takes series of photos much faster and performs better in low light situations. I'm pretty psyched!

New camera!

In other news, my parents sold the house where I grew up, which they have owned since 1974. I visited with the kids last Saturday and let them play in the back yard a bit before it's gone. My parents will be moving to N.D.G. in December, bringing them closer to all three of their kids.

We enjoyed some pretty decent weather for Halloween. We went trick or treating with a family of recent immigrants who were doing it for the first time in their lives (with their little daughter). It was really quite sweet (as was Jules' haul of chocolaty candies!).

Action shot of J.

Oscar in the yard

Jules with his grandpa

Ready to trick-or-treat

A really clean Golf . Not a GTi, but still nice.

Defender 110 looking ready for adventure

My buddy used to have a Cougar like this one

The best angle for the new C63

Beautiful sky this morning on the way to work

A happy boy wearing my hat.

A typical alley view in Montreal

Another beautiful fall day

It was a beautiful day to walk to work today, as the temperature was several degrees above normal for late October. There aren't many leaves left on the trees, but it's still quite nice out there.

On a walk to Bureau en Gros earlier, I saw a new Audi TT, and it must be the most underwhelming re-design of the year. 

The new edgier nose does not fit with the rest of the design

The rear has barely changed

Within a few minutes, I had spotted both previous generation TT's

The first generation still looks good and it was a really bold design when it hit the market in 1998

A strikingly-coloured M3

I again spotted this 6-series

One of the coolest M-cars now available, the M3

Ugly wheels, but the FR-S looks much better without the rear wing

There was an extra Rolls this week in front of the LH Hotel

This F430 seemed out of place in Mile End

A break in the clouds on McGill street

Some trees still have their leaves

It was misty on the mountain this morning

Oscar quite likes the piano

Jules, making himself at home at Rockland shopping center

Oscar, waiting patiently for lunch time

Fall Colours

Jules enjoys the nice weather at the park

Most of the leaves have fallen at this point, but the weather has still been quite nice. Yesterday was incredible, with a high of 17 degrees. It's time to spend as much time outdoors as possible before the cold and snow hit us!

The Mini's pale green contrasts nicely with the fall foliage

The Basilica this morning

Fall colours on the mountain... look how much bigger a 997 is than an early Miata!

The pumpkin-coloured M3 in its natural setting

The same yellow Z06 blending in with the fall surroundings

Neat cloud cover

I don't know much about bikes, but this BMW looks like a serious machine

It's not winter yet! Keep driving that Corvette to work.

The weirdly proportioned (and huge) Fisker Karma

A Cayman with 997 wheels looks like a squashed 997

The garage on Clark and Laurier works on some cool European cars

Another rare colour for the E46 M3

Oscar is smiling again after a few days of teething issues

The right colour combo for this car

... the wrong colour combo for this car.

I don't love the Allroad Audis, but this one had nice wheels

An unexpected sight in this grungy parking spot

I didn't know there was such a thing as a Spark RS Turbo. Good for you Chevy!

One of two V70R's spotted the same morning

Here is the other

Sleeper: the Legacy GT Spec B. It had a very nice interior

Nice paint, looks nice without the wing too

I love how the sunlight was shining right through the mud flaps

This STi owner replaced the taillights with much nicer/redder ones

These are the best OEM wheels for the new STi

This GTR was extremely clean and shiny

I read that in some places, there are hardly any unmodified early Miatas. Not so for Montreal!

There are some nice old buildings in Little Burgundy

Just across the street from the first one.