the Daily Duke 3.23

This crazy dog is pretending he's resting on a pile of warm sand, not a pile of snow in March.

Only in Quebec

After over two years of living in Quebec, we finally received a copy of our benefits in English -- supplemental healthcare insurance, life insurance, dental and all that fun stuff. While reading the fine print on the Optional Life Insurance it was oh so entertaining to read..

"If you are employed in Quebec you must also pay 9% provincial sales tax on the monthly premium."

Yes folks, we pay taxes on everything...we even have to pay sales tax to the tax preparer. 

In the air

If you can look past the snow on the ground, the temperatures hugging freezing and the crater-sized potholes, we believe, based on what we recently saw in the back yard, spring might be in the air.

the Daily Duke 3.14

Duke is frustrated trying to find THE same snowball Danielle just threw for him. Yes, there's still this much snow on the ground in the Eastern Townships of Quebec.

the Daily Duke 3.12

Duke starts looking sad when he sees us pack our ski stuff. He likes to position himself as if to say "don't forget to take me."

Random photo 3.10.11

Spring seems very far away.

the Daily Duke 3.8

Duke says Happy Mardi Gras y'all.

An inspirational weekend

Owl's Head Special Olympics 2011 from kish.pisani@gmail.com on Vimeo.

What can I say except it was a very cool weekend at the Quebec Special Olympics Winter Games. We are so proud of our TEAM....we had five athletes attend and six medals. The alpine ski competition was made up of the best Special Olympics skiers in he province!

Louis was amazing...almost too amazing. Something "clicked" with his technique in the last week and he improved tremendously. The first run on Friday was for divisioning and he nailed it! So much so that he jumped up in a division, which meant more competition. We were so proud that the came in 4th or 5th in all three of the races. But more importantly, he was there to cheer on his teammates, one of which won silver in their division -- twice! He lived the Special Olympics oath..."Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me brave in the attempt." He was so happy for his teammates (as you can see from the video) and we are so happy that he is such a good sport.

We asked him on Sunday night what his favorite part of the weekend was...thinking he would say skiing. He said "my friends." That's what it's all about.

He had a great time sleeping in a school classroom with his team...eating meals, going to a dance and the most amazing opening and closing ceremonies. All the ceremonies were in French which made it difficult for some of us, but in a strange way, we could understand it all.

We can't say enough about the power, inspiration and pure joy that comes from watching these athletes...all of them.

the Daily Duke 3.7

Duke had a nice weekend at dog camp (a.k.a. the country kennel). He's pictured here as we are leaving the place.  He used to be known as "The Humper." Now he is known as "Captain Humper." Nice Duke. Really nice.

Imagine

Louis and I took the long way home from the Eastern Townships where we were skiing to take a side trip through Burlington, Vermont. We encountered a beautiful drive along Hwy 105 in Vermont. Can you imagine what this road will look like come fall? It's on our "to do" list for sure.

the Daily Duke 3.1

We follow the rules...most of the time.