"Sweet!" Jaz says. A plane zooms over our heads onto the runway parallel to the road. Three of us in the back of the bus. A sea of dark and red swimming tail lights surround us. It's Friday night rush hour, we're on our way to Niagara-on-the-Lake. "How would you describe that?" I ask them, as the hulking steel vehicle lands on the tarmac, flashing red & white lights."Dark, shiny, really big." Jaz says. "Loud!" Suddenly they laugh with one guffaw. "Okay if I just use some comic book words here?" Another double laugh. "Zzzzzzzoooooo! Zwwoosh! Zoom!"




Yesterday, our Core Crew arrived an hour late at Toronto's Pearson International, and dragged our stuffed-to-the-gills hockey bags onto the pushcart. Erik found us almost instantly once we got outside the door. What a relief! He looked wilted as he'd been hanging in there, for four hours after his plane arrived from Calgary, thinking we were coming in on West Jet. Even he, veteran traveller, seemed discouraged and added, almost giddily, next to our mountain of luggage, "I'm glad we're not in Berlin." When I asked him 'How'd you figure out we were coming in on Air Canada?'he said, "The Don." And so now Gord's new name is "The Don."(Note. Good use of Gord's new cell phone.)


In Vancouver, Jaz had once again unwittingly packed a weapon in his carry-on!"What's she looking for?"I asked him, as the lady dug into the bottom corner of his back pack, determined to find something. He shrugged, totally serene.She produced his Torino souvenir pocket knife, so we took the option of running back to check his bag, as he wasn't willing to give THAT up(JC had given it to him in Torino), and we had two (extra?) minutes. (Last year, at the airport on the way to Italy, remember, it was his skates?) So not enough time even for a coffee.



But! on the plane we sat next to a really nice Ruth Ross (our travel superhero) who surprised us by treating us to snacks and sandwiches, when she saw us digging for coins. Jaz kept saying, 'I can't believe they're not going to serve us anything.' We chatted about the thrills and pitfalls of working for yourself and the fact that her dog is named Jazz. At the airport, we found stacks of Winter City cards in promo racks, featuring -- Paintings Below Zero! In colour! So for a moment we felt important, excited, happening, and then, upon closer examination, a small let-down, as someone had mis-spelled Gord's name.

Niagara-on-the-Lake (NOTL) is a strangely magical town; last night it was eerily quiet in the streets. We felt like players in a Christmas Twilight Zone until we hit Angel Pub, the happening local spot. Gord and JC were, I'd have to say, buoyant at our arrival. "Everybody knows how to spell Gordon," he said, "at least they got my last name right."



Met Bosco, we all leaned into our pub food at a pine table while a live trio belted celtic tunes at blasting decibels and a few Canadian classics in harmonies. After a couple beers we shouted! we sang with The Don! we got Hoarse!

At breakfast, he drew his new design on a napkin.Form follows function here as his tinkering with the new copper tubing will help keep the cold from escaping. Here's Erik and JC at the skeleton site.



Gord says there's pick up hockey everyday at a rink in Virgil and Debi is trying to get us into the local squash and workout club. Jaz works away as the Design Student in the apartment above the storefront. We are guests at a film at The Shaw, and Debi will introduce the project to the audience. I met Stacey! We're definitely drinking Inniskillin wine. Today, the townsfolk came out of hiding, I'm guessing, since the sun was out. There were actually people in the shops. Here's Bosco and The Don.