Sailing Gromit

26 March 2016
26 March 2016
26 March 2016
26 March 2016
26 March 2016
26 March 2016
26 March 2016
26 March 2016
26 March 2016
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Winter Wonderland in Canada

26 March 2016
Yes, it's winter in Canada and we are in the thick of it.

There has been a hint of spring, but mother nature can be fickle at this time of year. Two weeks ago we had temperatures in the mid teens (mid 70s for you Fahrenheit folks), then a huge snow storm that gave the kids two days off of school and now heavy freezing rain that coated everything to the point of tree branches bending to the ground and snapping like toothpicks.

Where are the palm trees and beaches?

This is the house we are currently living in. We'll be here until our house is rebuilt....we don't know when. We'd hoped to start rebuilding in spring....which is now....but progress is slow, because the process is slow.
We can't complain because this house is spacious and comfortable, though quite dark. We've talked about lightening it up with some brighter paint. Just haven't gotten there yet. Still too much to do regarding the fire.

Winter in Canada

26 March 2016
Maia, Liam, Zoe, Jaya

Loving the snow.
Building snow buddies.
Make snow angels.

But.....also looking forward to spring!!!

Snow Buddies

26 March 2016
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Winter Wonderland

26 March 2016
Patterns in nature.

Winter Wonderland

26 March 2016
Freezing rain.

Winter Wonderland

26 March 2016
Geometry
Vessel Name: Gromit
Vessel Make/Model: Olympic Adventure
Hailing Port: Toronto
Crew: Michael, Cornelia, Zoe, Maia, Liam. Photo: At Tilloo Bank, Elbow Cay, Bahamas (photo by Frank Taylor)
About: Michael: The technical/mechanical/all about the boat and systems guy. Cornelia: The lists/house and land details gal. Zoe, Maia and Liam: Gromit's Skippers in Training!
Extra: Departure date: Summer 2008 email us at: sailinggromit@gmail.com
Gromit's Photos - Haputale
Photos 1 to 34 of 34 | Main
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Haputale written in Sinhalese (top) and Tamil (middle).
A giant teapot on the outskirts of Haputale.
We walked from our guest house to town and everywhere we looked, there were tea plantations.
Tea bushes ready to be picked.
Just the top leaves get plucked off. The final product of 1kg (1000gr) of fresh leaves is 250gr of tea.
One person can pick up to 18kg of tea per day, earning between 200 - 500 rupees ($2-$4.50). It is gruelling work and many of the workers, who are women, live in poverty.
The bags of fresh tea leaves are stacked by the roadside for pick-up.
Trucks drive the narrow roads and pick up the fresh leaves and take them a few kilometres to the factory for processing.
Dambatenne Tea Factory
It was built by Sir Thomas Lipton in 1890. The plantation is 369 hectares (1 hectare =10,000 square meters) and employs around 1500 workers. In high season, up to 20,000 kg come into the factory daily.
We toured the facility. The process of transforming fresh, green tea leaves to the dark, dry crumbs we put into our tea cups is simple but has many stages: drying, rolling, chopping, sieving and finally, grading. The machines required to do this are astounding.
Beautiful smiles.
As we got closer to town, there were more children. They shouted hello and waved at us. After taking a picture, they asked for pens for school. We didn
Gathering firewood for cooking.
We walked from Haputale back to our guest house and at the last curve, we saw a huge rock which overlooked the valley.
Time for yoga said the girls. Why not!
 
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Sailinggromit

Who: Michael, Cornelia, Zoe, Maia, Liam. Photo: At Tilloo Bank, Elbow Cay, Bahamas (photo by Frank Taylor)
Port: Toronto