rain

Yesterday was the heaviest rain in the history of the city.
There was a foot of water on the road.
The power went out and all the traffic lights were dark.
It took me 2.5 hours to get home.
The power is still out in some areas.

Saskatoon berries

... sorry, I've been away for a while.

These are called Saskatoon berries, after a city in Western Canada.
They are edible.

It's very humid lately. The forecast is rain for the next 5 days.

STAINED GLASS ...

... is a piece of art made by fitting together pieces of coloured glass.
It is often used in church windows.
A hundred years ago, it was often used to decorate houses.
You can still see stained glass in old houses in Toronto.

BBQ

"BBQ" is an abbreviation for 'barbecue', which is a foreign word borrowed in English, meaning: cooking outdoors over a fire:

streetcar (or) street-car

... is like a bus, but it runs on rails and is powered by electricity (usually from overhead wires)

I believe that Toronto and San Francisco are the only two cities in North America who have street-cars.

a walk in the park

... is an expression meaning: an easy task.

For example:
    Life is not a walk in the park.
    The test was not a walk in the park.

out of the frying pan and into the fire

... is an expression that means: you solve one problem, but you get a new (bigger) problem.

icicles

icicles - are long pieces of ice that form when water drips from a roof or other object and then freezes
pronounced: eye - si - kulz

Easter Monday

Easter Monday is not a statutory holiday, but government workers in Canada get the day off.

Happy Easter :)

Good Friday

... It's Good Friday today. Good Friday is the Friday before Easter and it is a statutory holiday in North America. The Monday after Easter is called Easter Monday, and it is not a statutory holiday, but government workers get the day off.

 Black cats are considered bad luck according to superstition. At Halloween there are often pictures of black cats.

fawn

... 'fawn' (noun) means a baby deer.

 

'to fawn' (verb) means: to be insincerely friendly, for example, a fawning speech means that someone is praising someone, but they really don't like the person.

snow drifts

'snow drifts' are when the winds blows snow into piles, which can be bigger than they look.

'drifting snow' is when the wind blows snow around; this can make it hard to drive.

touch base

'touch base' is a slang expression often used in business.
It means to talk to someone for a short period of time, usually to find out what they're feeling.
for example: "Touch base with Sandy, she has a problem with her computer."
This expression comes from baseball, when a batter runs to first base, and then stands there for a short time talking to the first baseman, before running to second base.
I lost my camera somewhere, so here's some old photos from a year ago.

Spring Forward

Daylight Savings Time starts in Canada today.

Toronto is now 13 hours behind Japan. It is morning in Canada, but evening in Japan.

nuke

'nuke' is slang for 'nuclear'.
it is also a slang verb meaning: to heat in the microwave
for example: nuke the coffee
---
these are pix that I took at Hiroshima.
The A-Bomb Dome was directly under the bomb, and remained standing.
All other buildings in the city were knocked down sideways by the blast wave.
The copper plates on the dome of the roof were melted, but the iron framework remained.
Even an iron spiral staircase on the left was only partially melted.

chocoholic

'alcoholic' is a real word meaning: (noun) a person who is addicted to alcohol, or (adjective) related to alcohol addiction.

'chocoholic' is a slang word meaning: addicted to chocolate. You can take any word and add '-oholic' to the end, for example, a 'shopoholic' is someone who is addicted to shopping.

By the way, the word 'alcohol' is very difficult to spell. It comes from the Arabic word: al co hol

leprecaun

'leprecaun' is an imaginary little man from Irish legends.
He usually wears a little green hat and green clothes.
In March there is an Irish holiday, Saint Patrick's Day.
People usually wear green and drink beer on Saint Patrick's Day.

still life

'still life' is an expression in art.
It means: a painting or photo of something that is not moving, i.e., not people or animals, usually flowers or fruit.

long weekend

Expression of the Month: 'long weekend' is an expression for when there is a holiday on a Friday or a Monday.

It's a long weekend in Ontario, Canada because Monday is "Family Day". That's a new holiday that the government started a few years ago because there was no long weekend in February.

We've been getting a lot of snow lately here.