1. I am the Friday Feature author on Writing 4 Two, where I'm also giving away a signed copy of Violins of Autumn.

2. I'm starting to crave spring weather. We have beautiful parks around here, and I desperately want to go for a long walk surrounded by colour, and warmth, and flowers.

3. On the Family Day long weekend we celebrated my sister-in-law's 40th b-day at a chalet in Blue Mountains, Ontario. My vacations usually involve sleeping in a tent and cooking outdoors, so a chalet with the comforts of home was a nice change of pace! And I'd never been there before, so it was great to go somewhere new. Blue Mountains/Collingwood is only a 3 hour drive north of where we live, but the kids and I were shocked by how much colder that area is than what we're used to. The kind of bitter cold that immediately seeps to your bones, straight through multiple layers of clothes. But, it was just so beautiful. I pushed myself to bundle up and get out to the ski resort two days in a row.

4. Day 1 at the resort, I watched my teens attempt to ski for the first time. That was... amusing. And the tiny little skiers (seriously, they looked about 2-3 years old!) zipping down the hills like pros were amazing to watch. Day 2, I skated on a pond for the first time! Apparently in the twenty years since I last wore my skates my feet have become even more hobbit-like. Determined to skate, I crammed my broad flippers into those narrow skates and off I went. Talk about pain. But I did it! And I didn't fall once! We also explored the shops and restaurants in the resort's Village, which was fun. You can't beat lunch at an Irish Pub after spending hours outside in the cold!

5. This was our view from the chalet's living room. My oldest daughter and I could have stood by the windows and watched skiers and snowboarders whiz down the double black diamond runs for hours. I don't know why we found it so entertaining. Maybe because that level of talent and athletic ability astounds us--it was like watching real-life superheroes or something.

Will we go back to Blue Mountains again? Definitely!