Winterizing..

..takes many forms here...not just putting the garden to bed or tuning up the car, but changing the tires....Today was winter tire (or tyre) changeover day ...off with the summer tires and on with the winter ones.

The ritual includes having the dealership store the summer tires (on their rims) and dig them out next spring for the summer changeover. All very convenient...This year however, as my summer tires have seen better days, it will mean either buying new summer ones in the spring or buying a new car - whichever comes first! 

I hate buying a car...but mine is 7 years old now and the time for a new  one is nigh...The whole buying ritual, however, turns me off....the endless negotiations re: the selling price, the trade-in value....the cash price vs  a payment plan... and the salesman going back and forth to check each step with his manager..then the "final" offer - which isn't, if you just up and leave...as often you get a phone call later with a better offer.....hmmm..it seems the price was still negotiable after all. What a crock. Been there, done that...and no matter what deal I end up making, I always wonder if I got the best one...Fun wow..

Whatever, it does mean that I have to start checking out new car options. I am leaning to going with another brand this time...so that will require more effort on my part as I will need to visit different dealerships; it will not be my usual one-stop shopping! 

TEACUP series: Rosebud Chintz, by Copeland Spode (extra)
from my maternal grandmother's "good" china (that she used daily!) I enjoyed many cups of tea with her back in the day and those teacups bring back a lot of memories of her. I was her first grandchild and named after her, so I always felt "special". I associate her too with books...she always gave me one on my birthday..not your usual children's book either Here is the inscription in my leather-bound Nicholas Nickleby, by Charles Dickens..."To Marion, June 30, 1953..for passing into Grade 2" !!!..heh heh Yep..Charles Dickens for graduating from Grade 1..One can never start too early sowing the seed of a love of literature! I also inherited some wonderful old small leather-bound (and often illustrated) classic books from her including Poetical Works of Robert Burns (she was a fan) and the Complete Works of Shakespeare she inherited from an aunt who was given it as a gift in 1926! Family treasures..but with print so small I cannot imagine reading them now without a magnifying glass!