The path of least resistance

New Post New Year

2011-01-03T10:19:00.000-08:00

I haven't been good at posting at all but I thought I'd taken this last day off before returning to reality tomorrow to post something. We had a great holiday. Hayley came home for six days. Mike came over for several visits as well but was in the process of moving to a new place so that tied him up a bit. Like last year we headed to Ottawa to see a NHL game but this year we went a day earlier and spent New Year's Eve there.

Some time was spent skating on the pond in the woods. I bought a pair of used skates from Sportchek that were $10. I haven't skated in many years but I thought I'd give it a go. I didn't last too long because the left skate had a hard bump inside the boot. I suspect that is the reason they were returned in the first place. Can't complain much as they were only $10. I did make a few rounds successfully and didn't fall on my toucus. Hayley and Jeff discovered there was some bears in the woods and took pictures of the prints. Mike and his girlfriend Tara went walking to the back of the property and they saw some prints as well. Hopefully, they are long gone or hibernating by now. I'll leave you with some pictures of the pond. It's quite nice by coleman lantern.

Taking a break and proof I actually put the skates on.

Jeff zooming around the pond.

Bear Prints

Portland Maine

2010-05-21T05:24:00.001-07:00

The first week in May I had to go to Maine for work. Since I had brand new wheels, I thought it would be a good opportunity to mix business with pleasure. Jeff got the time off work and we headed to Maine early on a Saturday morning. The drive is about 9 hours long but is breathtakingly beautiful. The weather co-operated and we thoroughly enjoyed the drive there. On Sunday, we headed to Portland to see the Headlight Lighthouse at Fort Williams Park. Last time I went to Maine I searched for it but didn't find it. I was by my lonesome and lacking a navigator. This time I had the navigator and a GPS! Enjoy a walk around the park with us.

Interesting!

Way Up!

It's amazing to think that a ship wrecked here on a clear day.

.

The Lighthouse Keeper's house. (now a museum)

Mural in the Museum

Inside the Headlight Museum... a lighthouse lens.

Winter 2010

2010-02-07T14:59:00.000-08:00

It's been some time since I've posted. It's not that I haven't had anything to say or post I guess I'm suffering from a case of winter lethargy. I meant to post some pictures from our trip to Ottawa early January and didn't. Pictures from our latest trip to Toronto where we visited not only Hayley but my brother and his family. We took the girls skating at Dufferin Square near Hayley's house. I wanted to talk about what a wonderful family oriented outdoor rink this is. And it's free!!! How many things are these days. Even if you don't own skates you can rent them there for a Twoonie!

This last week I've been a bit pre-occupied thinking about a beautiful young women that has gone missing in our community. It always blows me away that someone can just disappear overnight especially when that person is responsible and loved. I feel for her family and hope that she is found safe and sound eventually.

This week Napanee hosted the Ontario Men's 2010 Tankard. In my younger days I did partake in a few bonspiels when we lived in the Lakehead. It was always a lot of fun. Jeff and I were curious to see how they transformed the rink where we watch the Raider's play on Tuesdays. It was good to see such a great turn out and what they had done.

Below are some pictures I took yesterday downtown Napanee. Enjoy!

The Napanee Townhall. See how little snow we have for February. I'm not complaining!

The giant curling rock ice sculpture that was put up in honour of the 2010 Tankard.

The Clock Tower of the Old Napanee Post Office.

Mandatory Christmas Blog

2009-12-31T05:07:00.000-08:00

Hayley's New Hat knit from Cascade Lana Grande
Pattern found here http://http://racheliufer.blogspot.com/2007/10/robins-egg-blue-hat.html

Hayley's Mittens Knit in Cascade Lana Grande

Pattern found here http://http://subliminalrabbit.blogspot.com/

That gets my knitting part out of the way. All I can say is I love this yarn and both patterns were great. I'm definitely going to make myself a pair of the mitts because they are so warm. Hayley was a bit disappointed to find out they are based on mittens seen in the movie twilight. She's definitely not a twilight fan but she did love the mitts. I knit the boy child a hat too but I was unable to obtain a picture of him in it. He's elusive that way.

I haven't been very good at updating lately but I feel I must post about my favourite holiday of the year. On the 23rd, Hayley was to take the train home and I had booked it online as I usually do. When she went to the kiosk with her printout and went to scan the upc code it requested that she insert the debit card that it was purchased with. Of course she could not do this because it was my card. This has never happened before so while she went to stand in the customer service line I called Via and was told that it was probably a problem with the kiosks and shouldn't of happened. So I wanted to call Hayley back and out of habit I called her landline at her apartment. Imagine my shock and bewilderment when a male voice answers. I politely said sorry wrong number and the voice said no Nancy it's Richard. Richard is her roommate. I explained what I had done and then wished him a Merry Christmas and attempted to call her cellphone again but this time instead of calling from my home phone I pick up my cell phone and make a long distance call on my cellphone that barely works from here in the boonies. I was definitely a bit discombobulated. In the end she obtained her ticket and arrived safely.

We went to Kingston, Christmas Eve morning so Hayley could do her Christmas shopping. I dropped her at the mall and I went to do some other errands. Other than the Liquour Store and the bakery being busy everything else was super quiet. I've always tried to avoid Christmas Eve shopping because it's just such a zoo. I went into the Urban Planet and there were the most awesome slogan t-shirts for incredibly cheap. $2.50-$8.00 I couldn't resists buying several.

Mike came over Christmas Eve and we had a really nice quiet evening together. Mike left Christmas Day to go back home as Yvonne had to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so he wanted to make sure he was there when she was off work.

It's all over now and Hayley returned home on the 29th. Here's to another excellent Christmas Holiday and looking forward to a great year in 2010.

Heard on the street

2009-11-29T13:47:00.000-08:00

Recently I helped out with a United Way Pancake breakfast at work. These are held once a week for 4 weeks in November. The company that runs our cafeteria provides the sausage, bacon, and eggs. They make up the pancake batter and we make the pancakes. Everyone makes a donation to pay for their pancakes. The day I worked we were really short staffed. I was working with the finance department who had a forecast due so we started off with 3 and the last hour there was just the two of us. We were doing fine but the cafeteria staff couldn't keep up. We ran out of everything at least once which is slightly embarassing. The worst was when we ran out of pancake batter. Some people don't want the pancakes, just the eggs and bacon so I asked the increasing crowd if there was anyone who didn't want pancakes and got this reply from Andrew one of the technicians. "Nance, it's a pancake breakfast!" That was the best comment of the day!

This weekend I took the train to Toronto to go dress shopping with Hayley. As we walked down busy Queen West we heard a young woman talking on her cell phone loudly. She said, "I don't know what to do! He's even too big for the extra large condoms." In this day and age of cell phones do you find yourself hearing things you never thought you would hear?

Thematic Photographic 77 Buildings

2009-11-29T13:33:00.000-08:00

I haven't blogged in quite a while and the only excuse I have is that I've been equal parts busy and uninspired. But Carmi's photochallenge http://writteninc.blogspot.com/2009/11/thematic-photographic-77-buildings.html and Hayley's posting of her Los Angeles photos gave me the desire to share these photos. Sorry Hayley but I'm sure you won't mind your mom sharing your photo. I thought that this building looks like something spies hide out in. I can picture Maxwell Smart or James Bond lurking about. Truthfully though this is Oakley (think sunglasses) headquarters in Los Angeles. It's pretty cool and they even have a tank!

PSA

2009-10-18T04:40:00.000-07:00

This is a public service announcement for the blog Fisherlady http://ashleymrae.blogspot.com/2009/10/tobago-day-five.html

Ashley is one of my daughter's dearest friends and she recently won a dream fishing trip to Tobago. She has captured some excellent video of fishing and nature reserves. She would love to somehow make a career out of her hobby and is working hard to do so. Enjoy!

Let's all say Thanks

2009-10-10T05:31:00.000-07:00

First and foremost I am most thankful that when Hayley called last night at 2 a.m our time 11 p.m California time that it wasn't because she had been raped or robbed but that she had run into Rod Stewart on the street and she HAD HAD to tell someone!!!!! Sure she could of waited but by then the excitement would have dwindled. She's not a fan of Rod although I am and I think it's really reassurance that she's currently where the celebrated congregrate.

But what I'm really really thankful for is that I have for the most part a happy healthy family. That this recession we heard about constantly really hasn't affected my immediate family much. I'm thankful that I have a roof over our heads, 2 beautiful children, and good jobs. I'm also so thankful that I get to live in Canada. I love this country. I'm thankful that I have a good head on my shoulders. I try to tell my children to appreciate their lives as much as possible and when things seem bad realize they could always be much worse and the bad is usually short term. And I'm always thankful for the wild turkeys that feel free to travel through my yard.

LA or Bust

2009-10-02T14:11:00.000-07:00

My baby is off on her first business trip ever on Sunday! She'll be heading to Los Angeles 4000 kms away for some training. The picture above is the only other trip she took without her family. It was when she was 19 and had just finished her first year of college. Her friend Rachel asked her to go on an adventure to BC via Greyhound 4300 kms away. H ence the "hat" which she borrowed from her dad. 4 days straight on a bus you need to have a hat! They visited Whistler where Rachel had friends and then spent a few days in Vancouver where they found cheap accomodations at the UBC residence. They actually spent more time on the bus than they did in Vancouver and Whistler. She survived that trip and she will survive this one too.

Thursday was extremely stressful for her. It was one of those days where everything that could go wrong did. Someone managed to abscond with $300 out of her bank account which thankfully the bank realized was fraudulent and closed down her account before they could get anymore. But suddenly she found herself with no bank account and no money. After several trips to the bank she got it all straightened out. We also called Visa and asked if she could borrow our visa card for the trip. The young man I spoke to was very nice and assured me this was not a very good idea. He said your daughter could be detained but he assured us that if my husband the Primary cardholder called by 6 p.m. that day they could overnight her a card. Really? I couldn't believe this. Well she had the card by 10 a.m this morning which is pretty awesome. Now I won't have to worry that she has money problems this week. And I'll sleep better. I told her to look on the bright side. Thankfully this happened on Thursday when we could get it all straightened out before she left.

Have a great trip baby girl and we'll see you when you get back!!!! Please dress nicer for this trip! :)

Corn Roast

2009-09-20T04:41:00.000-07:00

Last night, we attended a co-worker's annual corn roast held on their farm. Their was of course all the corn one could eat but their was also camping, bonfires and a live band. Their barn was a beautiful old structure that they've done a lot of work to. As another friend said, It's just a great atmosphere. Colleen told me that many of the kids have been coming since they were young and now they are teenagers. On the dance floor you could see those with white hair as well as the teenagers. The band "On Tap" was excellent. They played many old favourites like Stuck in the Middle with You, They Call it a Trap and Sundown. Even though it was quite chilly I felt quite warm and I think the sense of family and community had something to do with that. I'll leave you with a couple of shots from the night.

Hayley's Uhura

2009-09-13T05:16:00.000-07:00

This was originally supposed to be my knitting blog which morphed into somewhat of a hodgepodge of things. Now I feel rather odd when I put something knitting related in it but I was so excited with how the Uhura tank from the Twist Collective http://twistcollective.com/2009/summer/magazinepage_031.php that I just finished for Hayley turned out. I've only done one lace scarf before so I learned a lot. The pattern is quite easy. I made the xs and was worried that it might be too small but it fits perfectly. I also didn't make the hole in the front because Hayley said she would prefer it without. The yarn is Be Sweet Bamboo which I understands stretches so I didn't want it to be too loose from the start. The yarn has such a nice deep shiny colour and is supersoft. Hayley said that it felt good. Bamboo also has an antibacterial component to it. After we left her apartment she said some friends dropped over and and asked where she bought her top and she was proud to say my mom made it for me. Then her roommate returned and he liked it too. She gave me an A+ on this one.

On a side note, we had a lovely visit with her. We had a late breakfast (afternoon) at French Toast just around the corner from her apartment. It was lovely and sunny out and we walked. She got a call from her work asking if she would be available Sunday night to work the door at one of the Tiff parties. For those who don't know TIFF is the Toronto International Film Festival. So then we had to rush back to her place to find something suitable. Since Hayley works in a warehouse environment her closet is not brimming with fancy dresses. We decided upon a plain black dress she has and headed out to find some dressy shoes to wear with it. We found these fun little flats appropriately named Pizzaz to wear with it. It will be interesting to hear if she meets anyone famous. Right now she knows very little details but she promises me a full report on Monday night.

Labour Day at Bon Echo

2009-09-11T16:12:00.000-07:00

The Labour Day Weekend yielded such awesome weather. My son Mike and his fiance Yvonne were heading up for 4 days of camping relaxation on Monday. Bon Echo is just over an hour from our house and we hadn't been there for a couple of years so we decided to take a drive. When we got there around 1:30 pm the park was pretty quiet and there were more vacant sites than populated ones. Obviously a sign that summer is coming to an end. I've always loved this park with it's beautiful cliffs, clear beautiful water and trees. Enjoy a walk in the park with us.

Tree with a funky fungus! Not sure what it is but it is quite colourful.

A Stand of Red Pines Marks the Spot where the Bon Echo Inn once stood until it burned down after being hit by lightning.

Mazinaw Lake and Bon Echo Rock

Silhouette shot of Mike and Yvonne

If you were in the canoe you would be able to see the Whitman Memorial and some Pictographs.

The Coolman Canoe...seriously! Yvonne's stepdad's canoe...he has a great sense of humour.

The Happy Campers.

Maine - Grand Falls

2009-08-30T15:48:00.001-07:00

A few weeks back I took a business trip to Maine. I stayed in the small city of Auburn. These pictures are of the Grand Falls that were located directly behind my hotel. Across the river is the city of Lewiston, Maine. The skyline shows that in the past this was a very industrial area. Most of the factories are empty or used for another purpose. Thursday night my boss and I walked across the bridge to Lewiston and ate in a restaurant in one of these old factories. I liked this shot of the church spire next to the weather vane topper...not sure if that is what they call it so I'll call it that for lack of a better word.

Here's a closer shot of the falls and one of the factories. It was nice that the Hilton had a walkway along the edge of the river so that I could take these shots.

And this is from the edge of the bridge... before we walked over to Lewiston.

It was area to visit and I spent the Friday before I returned home visiting Freeport Maine. Helloooooo LL BEAN. And Portland Maine where I managed to spend $130 on Yarn. I hit up Seaport Yarn and Knitwit. Great yarn shops if you're ever in the area.

Grass Creek Sheep Dog trials.

2009-08-09T12:05:00.000-07:00

There was Sheep!

And of course sheep dogs!

Puppies!
Police Horses

Police Dogs

Birds of Prey!

Horses Big and Small!

Lumberjacks!

Llamas!

Dockdogs!

Well worth the $10 admission!

Summer Vacation 2009

2009-08-07T15:36:00.000-07:00

Last week, we took off on a road trip to PEI. I rented a 2 bedroom cottage through a co-worker in the teeny tiny town of Burton. I'm not sure why it even has a town name. Nearby, is the larger towns of Bloomfield and O'Leary.

It seemed like everything was against this vacation happening. Hayley who was going to come with us was to take the via rail Friday from Toronto. Well Via went on strike. My old car has no air conditioning and even though I'm confident running around the area here with it, Toronto is about as far as I think it should go. Jeff's Jeep just isn't a long distance vehicle even though it's quite new so we decided to get our GMC Safari back on the road. It had a shimmy and that's why we took it off the road about a year and a half ago because at the time we didn't really need it and couldn't be bothered to fix it. It's a great vehicle for long trips with lots of space for carrying gear along. Unfortunately, after sitting idle for a year and a half more had gone wrong with it. Jeff was clear with the garage that the shimmy was his first priority and if they couldn't fix it he didn't want the other items fixed. Well to make a long story short we spent over $2000 and we still have the shimmy. Thursday I made the executive decision to rent a vehicle for the trip. Friday we picked it up and I headed off to Toronto in my car and Jeff headed home to pack the rental car. I scooped up Hayley, who hasn't had a real vacation since we went to Mexico for her 19th birthday. That's 4 years!!! She was in dire need of a vacation. We drove to Drummondville QC Friday night and then took the final piece of the trip on Saturday. After 6 nights in PEI, we headed back and stayed 2 nights in Quebec City.

It turned out to be a wonderful trip that we will remember forever. Here are some of our memories. Enjoy!

The Bright Blue Cottage where we stayed in Burton.

The view up the road from the cottage.

The Beach Across the Road

North Cape Wind Farm

Hayley and Jeff Enjoying a Cold one in Old Quebec

Building in D'youville Quebec

Fireworks competition at Montmorency Falls to cap off our trip.

Thematic Photographic #57 Distance

2009-07-11T05:24:00.000-07:00

Carmi's photographic challenge this week is around distance. http://writteninc.blogspot.com/2009/07/thematic-photographic-57-distant.html So I present to you my entry for distance. Back in May, Jeff, Mike and I attended at concert at the community LVEC (I think that's the terminology). So a little background, the year before when this LVEC opened we attempted to buy tickets to the first concert but they were sold out immediately. The attraction was local band, the Tragically Hip. The day of this concert my husband heard on the radio that they just released another set of tickets so I get on the computer and attempt to gain some tickets on our ridiculously slow dialup. Luckily, it only took 2 attempts and we had tickets. We rush into Kingston that night. Our seats were right beside the stage and we could see the guitar tech working all night. We had such a great view of the stage it was unbelievable. That night I fell in love with Gord Downey because of his playful on-stage antics. This year we wanted to take the kids to see the Hip but unfortunately Hayley couldn't make it but Mike did. This time even though we ordered the tickets the day before they went on sale through the fan club we were right at the back of the arena. It seemed a bit of a let down after the first concert but it was still a good concert. The ironic part is standing outside the K-rock center we over head someone telling someone they were there to see if there were still tickets. The responce was "yes they just releases a section right beside the stage."
Here is my distance shot!

Thematic Photographic 55 - Cloudy

2009-06-26T10:43:00.000-07:00

Carmi's Thematic Photographic Challenge this week is Cloudy. Check it out here. http://writteninc.blogspot.com/2009/06/thematic-photographic-55-cloudy.html

Yesterday the weather was very unsettled and we experienced several thunderstorms, one of which was extremely intense. As usual the thunderstorm was short and the sun came out rewarding us afterwards. We headed for Kingston for supper and to run errands that night and as we were heading home the rain started again. Not thunderstorm rain but just a quick rainstorm. As we arrived to North Shore Hay Bay where we live there was a beautiful rainbow which Jeff captured with my camera and I caught the clouds on the other side of the road.

Rosebud and friends

2009-06-18T15:32:00.000-07:00

As I drove home from yoga last night, there were many boats docked at the small marina area in Napanee. I don't even know if you can call it a Marina. It's just by the park and the bridge that goes over the Napanee river. Sometimes there is a couple of boats but last night there were many. I decided that on my way into work I'd stop and catch a picture of them when it was quiet.

At 6 :30 am however it wasn't so quiet. There was some kind of boot camp group working out in the park and I could hear the instructor yelling. On my way home tonight I noticed every boat was gone. I have to wonder if it was the wakeup that they got from the boot camp instructor or if they were just heading out on the road.

And if you didn't already know, my favourite is the little red tug boat. Her name is Rosebud.

She's trying again!

2009-06-18T02:37:00.000-07:00

Ashley & Hayley

http://www.wfn.tv/adopt/view.php?entry=119

My daughter's friend Ashley is obsessed with fishing. She recently visited Hayley in Toronto and Hayley told her she should move to Toronto. Her response, "But where would I fish?" She is definitely one of my daughter's favourite people and my husband and I love when we run into around town. She's a nice girl, full of life and happiness.

Last year she entered the World Fishing Network's to win a fishing boat package. She came in the top ten I believe but ended up only winning a Bass Pro gift certificate. This year she is attempting to win a dream fishing vacation. I'm asking all that come into my blog if they could take the time to click on the link and view Ashley's video and give her a vote. The first part is based on the number of votes. Like last year I will be voting daily but I figured if others could even vote for her just once she would be so thankful.

Happy viewing!!!

Thematic Photographic 53

2009-06-14T16:38:00.000-07:00

Carmi's Thematic Photographic Challenge 53 this week is Road. If you'd like more information about his challenge head on over to http://writteninc.blogspot.com/2009/06/thematic-photographic-53-road.html Carmi has a new challenge every wednesday. I posted a picture early from my trip to San Francisco of the crookedest street in the world. It has a series of 8 hairpin turns in one block. This is a shot looking down from the top which is a different view from the bottom shot I previously posted. Good brakes are mandatory to take this stretch of road.

Here is a picture of my own driveway. It's a tad bit bumpy and at one time there was a promise from a neighbour. He used to come pick up my daughter to take her to events with his daughter when they were in public school. He said that if he ever won the lottery the first thing he would do his pave our driveway. Since he doesn't come to pick Hayley up anymore I think the promise is probably defunct. There was also the friend who didn't realize that we had a turn around at the top and backed the whole way down. A month later she still had a stiff neck. After living on a busy road for two years it was nice to live here tucked away from all the traffic. My children could roam free without worry. I still love our bumpy country lane driveway...except in the winter when it needs to be plowed.

Thematic Photographic 50 - Signs

2009-05-20T16:19:00.000-07:00

For a few weeks now I haven't participated in Carmi's Thematic Photographic Challenge but Signs is just too tempting. I have a couple that I will probably post. I find signs very interesting. This particular picture is one I snapped quickly while riding on the Hop On Hop off Double Decker bus in San Francisco. I believe it's a nightclub but I found the inscription on the sign very interesting and double edged. I love the way Love will only let you down is facing down...

A Thousand Splendid Suns Book Review

2009-05-17T09:19:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed the author's previous book the Kite Runner and received this book as a Christmas gift. I finally picked it up and found that I enjoyed it even more than the Kite Runner. Author Khaled Hosseini delivers several strong messages in this book about the bond between two women Mariam and Laila. I don't want to tell the story as I would encourage others to read this tale. I just want to say something about the message I received from it. It's about forgiveness and regret. That possibly we should put our anger aside and forgive because we later might regret not doing so. Not doing so we could possibly miss out on something very important in our lives.

San Fran Days 6 & 7

2009-05-04T07:17:00.000-07:00

I've been so bad at finishing this off but I'm truly committed to it now.

Day 6

At the suggestion of one of the cable car conductors we took the F Streetcar from Fisherman's Wharf up to Castro. A young girl from the cable car said it was a good place to have lunch. We were early so we had breakfast. Then we took the street car back to Union Square where we found a bus that would take us in the vicinity of the Golden Gate Park. A funny story from that bus ride was that my husband was sitting beside a young man who was writing in a notepad. Jeff noticed he was writing a letter to god. It said, "Dear God, I woke up in a bad place this morning but I've worked my way through it and I'm in a better place now. Jeff was worried that the bus was going to lurch and send him careening into the young man sending him back to the bad place.

Once we arrived in Golden Gate Park, we ventured into the beautiful Conservatory of Flowers. And beautiful it truly was. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Note the train display. The buildings were made from simple items like cassette tapes, etc.

Then we walked around the Botanical Garden and then to the Japanese Tea Garden where we enjoyed some Green tea and cookies. The garden as you can see is spectacular.

After that we took the Culture Bus back to Union Square where we ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory at Macy's. On exiting Macy's I saw a dog with a cat on top of it and a rat on top of it. I didn't get a picture of this but it didn't take too much googling to find this. http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2008/11/dogcatrat_man_busted_for_crack.php

Day 7

We rented a car so that we could go to Muir Woods and Sonoma and also use the car the next day to get to the airport. We picked up the car at 9 a.m. and shortly after we were heading across the Golden Gate Bridge. We took a quick drive through Sausalito and then headed to Muir Woods. What a wonderous place!! Nature is magnificent! We had a nice hike. I have to laugh at myself when we were leaving Muir Woods. The road is beautiful and twisty turny. I was trying to delete bad pictures off my camera to make room for new ones. The act of looking at my camera and the road made me queasy...not a good plan but you know the panic when you think you'll run out of space on your camera on vacation.

After Muir Woods, we made our way to Sonoma. What a beautiful little town. The downtown is built around the town square. It reminds me of Goderich in Ontario. We had a beautiful lunch in a small cafe. If you couldn't pick a wine, they would let you choose 3 and bring you 2 oz's of each. Jeff took them up on it.

After wandering around town we went to Bartholomew Park Winery http://www.bartpark.com/ Their wines are all certified organic. The only sad part is that they aren't available in Canada and they don't ship to Canada. Another reason to return someday.

We headed back to San Francisco for our last supper at Fisherman's Wharf. We decided to go to Joe's Crab Shack. It certainly wasn't the best meal I'd had all week but the one reason I mention it is that at one point there was an announcement that Joe's Crab Shack will be rocking in 2 minutes. I had no idea what this meant. Well apparently all the waiters are dancers too. For about 3 minutes a song comes on and all the waiters and waitresses do a choreographed dance. Nothing gets served or ordered in this time. It was kind of interesting and comical. I have to give them a lot of credit as it was pretty hot in there and some of the bigger guys were sweating profusely afterwards.

In conclusion, we had a great week. The weather was beautiful and only on the morning we were leaving did we see any fog...how fitting.

Warm Ewe Up Winter Final Swap Package

2009-04-27T14:42:00.000-07:00

I received my final swap package for the Warm Ewe Up Winter Swap. The mystery was revealed that Megan C (Kniteurope) from Monoma Wisconsin was my spoiler. She's apologized for not being in touch much, her computer died on her. However, her packages have all been wonderful. This one was no exception. See the beautiful green yarn. One is Knitpicks Shadow in Lost Lake Heather. It's is so beautifully soft. And the other is a silk merino from "the plucky Knitter". I can't describe how beautiful it is. I'll definitely be checking out the website too. www.thepluckyknitter.com if you are interested. I'm not sure what I'll make yet with the Knitpicks but I definitely see a scarf in my future out of the silk merino. There was a book from my wishlist "Knitting without tears", some sheep clips, a cute little sheep filled with hershey's kisses and some shamrock mint soap...it smells awesome!!!! Thanks Megan!!!!!

It's been fun and I'll miss the packages. I may do another swap in the future. It was definitely a positive experience. I enjoyed receiving packages and making packages for Brenda in LA. It's funny on my recent trip to San Francisco Brenda sent me a recommendation for a restaurant at Fisherman's Wharf. Of course I didn't ask for the recommendation until we were almost through our vacation but the first place we ate in San Francisco was the place The Pier Cafe she recommended.

San Fran Day 5

2009-04-26T14:40:00.000-07:00

I got behind on my blogging on the last few days of our trip. When I got home I was slightly jet-lagged all week and I had two evenings out so it was really hard to get back to it. So I will now attempt to finish up.

Day 5 we spent some time down at Fisherman's Wharf. We started off at Aquarium of the Bay on Pier 39. There are two tunnels that go right through the middle of the Aquarium so you are surrounded by fish. It made for a great photo op.

Then we headed down to Pier 23 to view the Submarine Pampanito and the US Liberty Ship Jeremiah O'brien. I've never been in a Submarine before and I'm not sure how comfortable I'd feel to be part of the crew underwater for too long but I was definitely game to tour this ship. It was very interesting to see torpedos with bunks overtop. Can you imagine sleeping over a torpedo...not me.

Then we took the cable car up to Nob Hill and found the Top of the Mark bar. What a fantastic place to relax, enjoy a drink and see the view. Below are the doors to the Top of the Mark, the view from the Top of the Mark and a shot from down the street of the Intercontinental Hotel where you can see the bar at the top.

San Fran Day 4

2009-04-16T08:03:00.000-07:00

Day 4, we purchased a three day pass to take the transit. Our hotel is so conveniently located that it's about a 2 block walk to the cable car turn around at Fisherman's wharf. We decided we would take the cable car downtown and we were going to attempt also to get to Nob Hill and find the Top of the Mark that the young fellow we met Day 2 told us about.

The Driver on the cable car was a trainee, and I think he was truly excited to get to drive this original cable car. He'd been driving regular buses in the residential area so this was new for him. He said there is so many more people. The car has two levers, one that engages the cable and the other that engages the brake...there is also a brake on the back I noticed on my last cable car trip that the conductor operates. It seems all very physical and mechanical. The driver was so friendly and answered all our questions. We jumped off the cable car right by Union Square. If someone was a real shopaholic, this place is their heaven. The selection of stores is amazing. Some I've only ever heard of in movies and media, being from the boonies.

Cable Car Driver

In the distance, we saw the gates to Chinatown and we suddenly had a destination. There was definitely lots to photograph here and we definitely enjoyed our walk.

We headed back down towards Union Square and the turnaround to take the cable car back and find the Top of the Mark. There were a couple of guys busking at the turnaround. They were dancing to a "Doors" song which seemed a bit bizarre. I never really thought of the doors as dance music. But they were working for their money. The one guy reminded me of Hayley's roommate Richard.

Cable cars are the greatest spot for meeting people, especially when you sit at the open end of the cable car, because someone always ends up standing on the edge beside you. And of course conversation starts. The conversation starter this time was the crankiness of the next driver. I said "wow our last driver was much nicer". The lady and her son holding on were laughing with us. We were going to exit at the cable car museum and go to the "Top of the Mark" but we got mixed up and we ended up staying on until we got to Lombard street, the crookedest street in the world. We're on vacation and I like that we can just play it all by ear. We'll try tomorrow for the "Top of the Mark"

This is a very cool spot and I wonder what the people who live here think of all the tourists walking past their houses constantly and the traffic. We were at the top so luckily we only had to walk down. From there we realized how close we were to the hotel so we headed back.

All I can say it's a good thing it doesn't snow here or get icy.

Today is our actual 30th anniversary, so we went back to Cellar 360 in Ghiradelli square and sat in the courtyard, and toasted 30 years with a glass of California wine. On our way to Ghiradelli Square on foot, we walked past the Turnaround, we watched as a cable car pulled in and the riders disembarked yelling thank you to the driver. Yes it was our friendly driver making more friends. It's people like this that make one's trip special, it isn't always just the place you go to see.

For dinner, we stopped at the Boudin Bistro which is in a big Sourdough factory overlooking the water. It was very nice and the service and food were excellent.

San Fran Day 3 (Alcatraz)

2009-04-14T07:49:00.000-07:00

To start off our day we took the Hop On Hop Off Tour one more ride in entirety which was kind of nice to hear the whole thing in one shot.

We had booked the night tour of Alcatraz because the website said it was the most extensive tour. We also thought it might give us some nice night shots. Once we landed we started the trek up the hill with Drew the tour guide. It doesn't take much to imagine how a prisoner would feel shackled and handcuffed walking up this hill. Once we arrive in the prisoner building the staff outfits you with a headset and you take a tour directed by former Alcatraz inmates. There is also some talk from guard's children who grew up on Alcatraz. It's a really good tour and lends a certain personal touch.
Approaching Alcatraz

San Francisco View from Alcatraz

We heard about John Paul Scott and Darryl Parker who over several months, used string they impregnated with baking soda, to cut through the kitchen window cell bars and escape. They were then faced with the tall barb wire fence so they climbed the pipes up the side of Alcatraz and onto the roof where they went down the other side and down the cliff and began to swim towards San Francisco. Parker, exhausted, landed on a pile of rocks in the water called Little Alcatraz and waited there until he was "rescued" by the guards. John Paul Scott swam and swam and was carried by the current until he landed under the Golden Gate Bridge. He was laying there on the rocks, exhausted and suffering from hypothermia, when some teenagers came along and found him and called the police.

There was also the fellow who worked down at the dock and over the years managed to steal, one piece at a time, from the laundry that was brought in at the dock, a full sargent's uniform. Then he snuck on the boat dressed as a military man but unfortunately the boat was going across to angel island (military base). It didn't take long for his absence to be discovered at headcount and a call was made to the boat that discovered they had one more soldier on board than they came with. He garnered a new nickname in prison; Sarge.

In the cells you can see where 3 prisoners used spoons to chisel away the concrete from the air vent in their cell. In the end, they drowned trying to swim to freedom.

Alcatraz at night just before departure.

Thematic Photographic Edible 2

2009-04-13T08:53:00.000-07:00

Ghiradelli Chocolate Shop at Ghiradelli Square San Francisco

A zillion calories in one cup!

San Fran Day 2

2009-04-13T07:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, was a beautiful day. After we got out of our hotel we wandered down towards the water where we purchased two tickets on the Hop On Hop Off Tour. It's a double decker bus and a ticket gives you access to the tour for two consecutive days. The tour part is a recording but still not too bad. We got off at Union Square to tour around and find the highly rated Dottie's True Blue Cafe for breakfast. When you stand right a Union Square you are surrounded by retail giants like Macy's, Tiffany's and Sak's Fifth Avenue. An art show was taking place at the square. Even though it was Easter Sunday there was a lot of people milling around.

We walked toward the vicinity of the cafe. Now the reviews of the cafe said that it usually is a 45 minute-1 hour wait to get in. I guess I didn't really believe it. There was some conversation in the line on how long it would take. Luckily, we met a really nice young couple and her parents who are from San Francisco. We had a great conversation with them and they were quick with the suggestions of what we "must do" and where we "must eat". The young lady had grown up here and she said she is always excited to meet someone who has never been because she loves her city so much. Our wait was 1 hour 15 minutes. Once in service was quick and the food excellent. The sausage was not regular links but a homemade patty with a distinct fennel taste. The young couple ended up getting a table for two right beside us to break up the size of their party. We joked about how they could laugh at her folks in the line and wave at them during breakfast. They were there a few minutes ahead of her folks so it was only right that they got served first. :)

You can see all the people still lined up outside to get in.

After breakfast we wandered back to the Hop On Hop Off and continued on the tour.

City Hall

We had to see the Haight Ashbury district. There was many interesting sights and sounds here I thought I might have an acid flashback...well not really. There was many windows decorated with old rock and roll memorabilia, hippie clothing and lots and lots of drug paraphernalia stores.

Take a walk with us.

Hippie Houses

Not sure who these two were but they looked interesting.

The next stop on our tour was the other side of the Golden Gate bridge. What a beautiful view from here.

San Fran from other side of Golden Gate Golden Gate from San Fran side

Then back on the bus where we got off at Ghirardelli Square which is within walking distance of our hotel. We checked out the square where we both ate ice cream at the Chocolate Shop. I can definitely attest it was excellent.

We bought some Californian wine at Cellar 360 and then headed out on our walk. We watched a wonderful street performer (check out his website http://www.kingdrums.com/) Share the Love! What an upbeat guy! He had everyone moving to the beat! Sorry for the poor quality video. Its my first.

We had a quick dinner at Fisherman's Wharf and headed back to the hotel to rest up for Day 3.

Thematic Photographic "Edible"

2009-04-12T08:37:00.000-07:00

Even though I'm on vacation I'm going to take the time to post a for this theme. In San Francisco, there is many things that are "edible" from seafood to chocolate to coffeee. This picture of Salt Water Taffy was captured in the Candy Baron on Pier 39.

San Fran Day 1

2009-04-12T07:51:00.000-07:00

We had set our alarm for 3:40 at the hotel to catch the 5 a.m shuttle. The front desk told us to make sure and be downstairs and ready by 4:50. Even though I was really tired that night I seemed to wake up frequently and poor Jeff didn't fall asleep until after 2:30. Probably just the excitement of the trip ahead.

Check-in and Security at the airport went very well and then we took time to relax and have a bite to eat and a coffee. Our first flight had very few people on it and actually took off about 10 minutes early which was nice. We had a short layover in Chicago's O'hare Airport to prepare us for the 4.5 hour flight ahead. We were both pretty tired by the time we got on and we both took a bit of a nap on the flight. It got me thinking about long international flights and how do people do it. On the happy side, the flight, even getting a 5 minute late start, we ended up arriving a half hour early. As we started the descent into San Francisco you can see the Sierra's.

Once we landed, I was happy to see that our luggage arrived with us. That's always something I fret over especially when you have to switch flights. I've heard the horror stories and I just don't want to live them. I thought I had booked a shuttle service through Travelocity but I don't see anything on the paperwork. We found a shuttle that would take us to Fisherman's Wharf and we were off. It was wonderful to drive through the city and see all the sights. I can't believe though that I didn't pull out the camera and capture some of those shots. We will try to capture as many shots as we can over the course of the week.

For today let's take a stroll out of our hotel and down to Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. Our first perception is how busy it is. Aren't we in a recesssion? Or is it just this busy because it's a holiday weekend? It's cooler than you think it will be and you see people with winter clothes and summer clothes on. Alcatraz is very close. Take a look for yourself.

Alcatraz from Fisherman's Wharf

View from the Wharf towards SF

Thematic Photographic 43 Reflective

2009-04-06T02:19:00.001-07:00

Carmi's photo challenge this week is reflective. A quick trip to Bloomfield to taste some wine and enjoy some dinner that turned into a 30th anniversary/50th birthday surprise celebration had me reflecting on how wonderful people can be. Sunday morning we visited the Art Gallery next door where I got this perfect shot for this theme. It even has a reflection of my brother in law captured in the stone.

Maple Syrup Money

2009-03-27T17:00:00.000-07:00

Many of my co-workers have maple trees and tap them and process maple syrup. This particular year has been very productive for them. And they now have many gallons of the sweet stuff to show for their efforts. One mentioned a post in a blog regarding making money from Maple Syrup. I'm not quoting word for word, just as I heard it from my friend Willie. Apparently, you can make money from maple syrup, if 1. your land was handed down to you from your father and 2. Your father had all the maple syrup processing equipment. After you've sold all your maple syrup, you return your empties and that's your profit.

It just seemed so ultimately canuck so I had to share!

Thematic Photographic 42 "DRAB"

2009-03-27T09:07:00.000-07:00

I took a walk to the abandoned farm next door to capture a "drab" picture for Carmi's challenge. See here for details http://writteninc.blogspot.com/2009/03/thematic-photographic-42-drab.html I wasn't able to take part for the last two because I had no inspiration. Walking around the farm is quite sad and quiet except for the buzzing of flies in the barn. No one has lived there in years. The people who do own it used to love to come here and go to auctions and the house and property has collected junk ooops I mean antiques over the years. The grass hasn't been cut in a few years and the property is totally overgrown. From time to time, people have expressed interest in the property but I believe the owner is reluctant to sell. It was their dream to one day live there. Now I'm sure it's all quite overwhelming. I couldn't decide which shot to post so here is a few.

Warm Ewe Up Winter Swap Package #2

2009-03-15T14:22:00.000-07:00

On Friday, I received my 2nd Swap package. What a nice way to end the week! It contained a beautiful ball of JWRAYCo Hand Painted Yarn in a Variegated Red. I rewound it because my swap partner encouraged me to either use it right away or store in a cool place. Even though it's fairly cool here I decided to find out what surprises lay hidden in the ball of yarn. Inside were Dove Dark Chocolates with Almond and some beautiful red stitch markers. It's kind of a neat way to do things. There were a set of needles, a valentine dishcloth, a cute red notebook, a little squishy black lamb like the real ones at the end of our road and a authographed by the author Vintage Sock Book. I really love the book because it has a lot of nice men's socks in it. Thanks Secret Pal! I love it all!

Thematic Photographic Transparent

2009-03-08T05:35:00.000-07:00

It took me a while to determine what I should photograph to hit this category but being the smart and creative person I am of course I came up with this idea. Oh shoot, can feel my nose growing. It was Jeff's idea. So the credit does go to him. This is a piece of leaded glass I picked up a few years ago at the big summer craft show in Picton. It hangs in my bay window that looks out into my backyard and woods. Even though it contains some "translucent" and "opaque" glass it also has sections of transparent glass and you can see the trees in the woods through them.

Warm Ewe Up Question 5

2009-02-28T08:31:00.000-08:00

This blog is for my Warm Ewe Up Yarn Swap. The moderator poses the question "What knitting/crochet pattern have you worked that you could see yourself making over and over and never get tired of?"

I would have to say Stephanie Pearl Mcphee's Basic Sock Recipe. I've made several sweaters that I thought I could make again but the problem is I don't have that much time to knit and they is just so much choice and variety out there that I doubt I would make a sweater pattern more than twice. The first item I made I have made 3 times but probably won't make it again.
The reason I pick the sock recipe, is that for socks sometimes the sock yarn makes the pattern and a basic sock pattern is all that is required.

Winter- Thematic Photographic

2009-02-26T14:48:00.000-08:00

This week's Thematic Photographic is Winter as per Carmi. This picture was taken March 8th last year. This makes me feel a whole lot better about the snow we have this year. At the time I remember thinking when will I be able to enjoy a coffee out on my chair.

Ewe got to love this

2009-02-26T14:01:00.000-08:00

I've been watching these little babies every night on my drive home and finally stopped today to get some shots. The one little lamb believes mom is a island on which he lives.

This guy I named Oreo. How original of moi!

Birthday Trip to Toronto

2009-02-22T05:27:00.000-08:00

Hayley's 23th birthday was Thursday and since we couldn't make it then, we headed up early Saturday. We didn't tell her but Mike and Yvonne were coming too. For those that don't know, Mike is our older child. I thought it would be nice to keep this as a surprise for her. Well her reaction was priceless. As we pulled on to her street, I could hear my cellphone ringing from the back seat and I was struggling to reach it. I knew it must be Hayley calling to say where are you guys because as we pulled in it stopped ringing. As I got out of the car, Hayley came running out, screaming with glee, muttering this is the best present ever as she hugged her brother and Yvonne.

It was a beautiful afternoon so the 4 of us walked down the street to "Coffee and All that Jazz".

For dinner, we decided to venture closer to downtown and go to the Hard Rock Cafe. Across the road from Dundas Square there was an artist doing a painting on the sidewalk. Note the 3d drawing of the wishing well where people had thown change...it has so much depth...it looks real. The sad thing is just 2 hours later there was so much snow on the ground his painting would be gone. It reminds me of the sand castles we saw up at Sauble Beach one year. So beautiful but short-lived.
When we ordered drinks in the Hard Rock, the waiter asked for id from Hayley and Yvonne. Hayley said "Sheesh it's my 23 birthday" Later, when she wasn't at the table he returned and asked her first name and said he planned a little birthday celebration public spectacle. I personally would detest anything like that for myself but we laughed because we knew that she had ratted herself out. He brought a large sundae out for her with 5 spoons and made her stand up and then he announced very loudly to the restaurant that it was Hayley's 23 birthday and he wanted everyone to yell Happy Birthday. When it was over we reminded her that she was the one that told him it was her birthday and she laughed and agreed. Here's some pictures from dinner including Tina Turner's dress which was right behind us, the ceiling at the entrance, Jeff, Mike and Yvonne, Mike enjoying his girlie drink and Hayley with her birthday Sundae. It's not often we get the opportunity to share a few hours together so we really cherish the hours we do.

Busted- Thematic Photographic

2009-02-19T16:35:00.000-08:00

This is in response to Carmi's blog http://writteninc.blogspot.com/ This is such a great idea I had to try. He posts a theme on Wednesday and if you take his challenge you post your own related photo. This weeks is "BUSTED" Here's mine! We were in St. Andrew's, New Brunswick this summer. I can't remember the name of the place but it was an aquarium and marine biology school. They had a nice picnic area look out onto the Atlantic. I declined to take a seat!

My Love

2009-02-13T05:47:00.000-08:00

It's the Eve of Valentine's Day and it just seems appropriate to say a few words about the person who has been my companion and partner for more than 30 years. I first met Jeff in Grade 11 when he was a new kid at school. He sat in front of me in Physics class. He was very cute with his beautiful long curls and dimples. One day he noticed quiet little me and the rest is history. I remember being very excited that someone as cool as him seemed interested in me. We survived Grade 12 even though his family moved 2 hours away. April 14th, 1979 we tied the knot. Yes, we were both officially still 19 years old but Jeff turned the big 20 while we were on our honeymoon. Reasons why I love this guy are:

1. The sweet things he does. For example, one time he brought a blizzard home for Hayley from town. It's a 15 minute drive but he drove with the air conditioning on full even though it wasn't summer.

2. He's supportive. No matter what. I have a friend whose husband will only buy her gifts from Canadian tire. Even when she wants items from other stores...he considers those other stores "girly stores" and he would be embarassed if someone saw him in them. My husband has no problem going to yarn stores, craft and gift stores with me. When Hayley's high school boyfriend's punk rock band was playing in the basement of the local gay bar, he attended. Yes, he did request that she walk him out after the band played. He would let Hayley play with his hair (often it has been longer than my own) and he'd realize later when he was out that he still had a barrette in the back. There was the time that she put nail polish on his fingers. It was a heat sensitive kind that looked clear when warm but went black in the cold. He forgot about it until he was pumping gas in the cold and noticed his black fingernails. We laughed later when he told me how he went into pay and noticed that the young fellow taking the money had black nail polish too.

3. He's got a strong work ethic. Not only at work but at home. In fact I've seen him work on fixing things late into the night to get them done.

4. He's kind.

5. He's intelligent. Something I recognized early on and I know it's something I'm attracted to.

I could probably go on forever but you get the idea. I can't imagine my life without him in it. Please excuse the quality of the old pictures. It just seems like yesterday!

Movie Review Time

2009-02-08T15:29:00.000-08:00

Last night, Jeff and I went to Kingston to see Slumdog Millionaire. I really didn't know much about this movie except that it was getting really good reviews and I'd heard touted as a feel good movie. Since Jeff always prefers the feel good movie to movies where people get killed or go through major tragedies I thought this would be a good movie. For those of you who do not know the story it's about a kid who grew up in the slums of Mumbai and his experience on India's version of Who wants to be a Millionaire. I will warn the faint of heart that although this movie does indeed have a happy ending there is scenes that are very disturbing. And although I got caught up in the story right away, I knew my husband was totally disturbed. I think he suffers from too big a heart. However, for me this was the best movie that I had seen in a while. In fact, it seems lately I've seen some really bad movies. For me Slumdog Millionaire, had some fantastic cinematography, the screenplay was great, and the film direction awesome. The soundtrack also went well with the film.

I remember when Jeff and I went to see Crash and I was totally enthralled with the story and anxious to talk about the story as we exited the theatre Jeff said that was the longest two hours of my life. I guess we can't always agree but he is always happy to go with me and I can't remember him ever saying no to something I wanted to see. I often make sure that we attend something that I know that he will enjoy even if I'm luke warm about it. Just to take one for the team.

One thing that I thought was a clear sign that everyone liked the film is that there is a dance number at the end of the film as the credits roll. The theatre was packed but yet no one got up, everyone sat and watched the whole number play. Usually there is a mass exodus as soon as it ends.

Warm Ewe Up Blog Question #4

2009-02-08T04:26:00.000-08:00

On Feb 2nd I received this email from my husband with the subject Valentines.
Hey Sweetheart,Do you want to go to the final game against Amherstview Sat. Feb. 14thin Amherstview? It should be a good game. It could be like a Valentinesdate or something, with a romantic candlelight dinner and wine.XOXOXO,Jeff

Yeah, I bet you area all jealous aren't you? Oh, the game in question is between our local hockey team the Napanee Raiders and their arch rivals the Amherstview Jets. You can tell we've been married 30 years can't ya? The last time we actually went out for dinner on Valentines it was terribly crowded and slow so I'm more than happy to go to a game instead.

Warm Ewe Up Swap Package #1

2009-02-01T04:35:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited about my 1st Swap Package. It's like Christmas in January. Nothing like surprises to warm up a January day. Inside my package, my spoiler had wrapped everything in colourful tissue package and their was a nice card from her. First thing I opened was a beautiful skein of Misti Alpaca Chunky. The nicest yarn I've used to date was Misti Baby Alpaca which wasn't chunky. This is the same colour and has the same wonderful softness. Then I got a cute little sheep tape measure. Currently, I carry around a big old regular tape measure so this will be nice to put with my knitting stuff. I just love it. There was a gorgeous handknit dishcloth, 3 beautiful smelling candles and the Mason Dixon book that I believe I had on my wishlist. There are already things I wanted to make out of it. It just makes me wish I had more time to knit! Come one retirement!!! Ooops got to stop wishing my life away. And there was chocolate! Unfortunately, at the time of shooting only two pieces remain to be in the picture.

Oops forgot to put the book in the picture with the other items. It was over by the sofa where I'd been reading it. Here is a picture off the web of it!

Today was perfect! Not only did I get to enjoy this package but my son called in the morning and asked if they could drop over. They ended up staying all day and going to the movie with friends and came back here rather than heading back to Madoc.

Warm Ewe Up Swap Question 3

2009-01-28T16:20:00.000-08:00

What is your favorite way to keep warm when it’s snowing outside? (And if you live in a warm weather climate, what would you do to stay warm and cozy while it’s snowing?)

I probably have the cheesiest answer ever but I think the best way to keep yourself warm in the winter when it's cold and snowing is to surround yourself with those you love!

2009-01-28T14:49:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm really tiring of winter. Although the snow is beautiful, it does inconvenience me. Tonight's drive home took about 1 hour as opposed to 40 minutes. I decided to not play with the big trucks on the 401 so I took the back roads. The first road had not been plowed yet and the snow was about 5 or 6 inches high and heavy. Slow going it was. Once off that stretch, it was much better but I don't think I got over 70 km's per hour once. Now I'm home safe and sound all is good. I really would like winter much better if I didn't have to drive so far.

Hayley at Sunrise Grill

The weekend was lovely. Bright and crisp. My favourite type of winter weather. We headed out early to Toronto to visit Hayley. It was perfect for travelling! We arrived around lunch, grabbed Hayley and went to the Sunrise Grill on Roncesvalles for Brunch. It was that great stick to the ribs kind of breakfast.

Then we headed off to the Beaches Area which is the other side of Toronto from where Hayley lives. What a lovely area. However, it didn't seem too beachy at this time of the year. We went to the Naked Sheep where I bought Rowan Cocoon for the Owl Sweater I'm going to make Hayley. What a lovely neat and tidy store. We then took a stroll down a few blocks to see what other stores we could check out. We definitely need to return in the warmer seasons.

See the Beaches Grill on the corner. Looks very beachy but the weather wasn't!

That evening Hayley and her roommate Richard cooked us a really great dinner. It was very tasty! We enjoyed dinner and watched the Crashed Ice event on tv which I mentioned in my last post. Then we headed to our hotel 5 minutes away. It was clean and nice except the fact that it backed on the Gardiner's Expwy. The only noise we usually hear is wolves howling and not the constant sound of traffic. I think we'll try a different spot next time.

On the corner of Hayley's street is this shop which has Stained Glass Lamps and stained Glass. It always looks so inviting in the evenings.

Sunday we headed back to Hayley's and took Hayley and Richard skating. Well I should say that I watched. Last time, I skated was when the kids were little and my ankles killed me so I never tried again. Hayley hadn't skated in about 10 years and Richard 2. Jeff of course has been pretty actively skating. The rink we went to was super. It's outdoors but had a nice warm building to change into your skates. Many young families were there. Many new Canadians learning to take part in a great Canadian activity. It just had such a happy feel there.

The Skaters, Jeff, Hayley and Richard

Next year this time

2009-01-23T13:10:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvFNJVWUFas

I just have to go to Quebec City and see this with my own eyes. To me it's crazy, exciting and dangerous plus I do want to go to Quebec City in the winter and this would be a good draw. Maybe we can convince the kids to make the trek with us next year. This year I'll be content to watch it on TSN. Pat, from work who is originally from Quebec City will be in the crowd. Since it's forecast to be -21C here on Saturday, I would imagine it will be a tad colder there. Long undie weather!

2009-01-22T18:27:00.000-08:00

I've been giving blood for about 10 years now. It was always something I wanted to do and then when Hayley had one of her surgeries she lost a lot of blood. She had given autologous blood donations but it wasn't enough. The doctor told us that he could close up and she could give more blood and he could book another surgery. I knew I couldn't do that to her. And the thing was that if one of your children had an accident and needed blood there would not be any question about using donor blood. Since that time I've felt it especially important to do it. Tonight was the local blood donor clinic. Since I didn't want to go home and then head back into town I asked Jeff to meet me at Shoeless Joe's for dinner and I would go after that.

I walked in the door right behind an old friend, Mary. I often run into Mary at the blood donor clinic but this was the first time that we got there at exactly the same time. She got through the finger pricking stage first and headed off to the 2nd stage, but I was finished the 2nd stage about 2 minutes before her. We laughed about how I beat her. Then at the last stage, the one I call the "bloodletting" I got a very friendly girl who got me set up. But another girl came out and I could here them talking. My girl said, "This girl will take care of you. Take anything she says with a grain of salt" The other girl laughed and replied, " You just dodged a bullet!" All this sort of slowed my bloodletting down a bit. The 2nd girl had a very interesting sarcastic sense of humour and we quickly bonded. Made small talk about the recession, jobs and our children. Then she stuck the needle in my arm. It was absolutely painless and of course I told her so. She replied, "That's what we like to hear! I guess that 25 years of experience has finally paid off!" When I was close to done and just waiting for the bandaid, I looked up towards the snack table and there was Mary smiling smugly and waving! She beat me on the bloodletting. I'll blame it on the girls but it's okay because I did have a pain free experience. Oh yes and I forget to add the other girl returned and asked me if girl 2 had taken good care of me and I told her yes and declared how pain free it was. She then proceeded to tell me that she actually had a guy yesterday tell me that she was the first one to ever actually hurt him. I guess I really did dodge a bullet.

Knit Night

2009-01-21T15:35:00.000-08:00

Last night was our monthly knit night. It's normally held in the community room at Chapters but we couldn't use that room this month so it was arranged to meet at a local library. We were positioned comfortably downstairs by the window in nice comfy tub style chairs looking out on the park. There were 8 of us total and like always the conversation flowed. As one of the women was telling a story and we were laughing, we were suddenly shushed. By teenagers studying for January exams. OOOOPS! It's a bit disconcerting to be dressed down by children younger than your own children. We had a hard time gaining our composure. We tried our best to whisper but it was hard. As someone said the library was probably not the best choice for us. If we'd wanted to knit quietly we could of done that at home. Edit I just realized can you imagine the shame involved if I'd been kicked out of the library!!! :)

Got a lot of comments on my pretty harmony needles. I'll have to take a picture of them for my blog but tonight I'm just too tired!

Cold enough for you?

2009-01-16T14:02:00.001-08:00

I've tired of hearing that question from someone who sits in the next row of cubicles at the plant. Yes it has been brutally bitterly cold but I always find that kind of a dumb question. No one is going to answer, "Oh no I'd like it to drop another 10 degrees c and I'd feel more comfortable!"

My heart went out to those in Toronto who lost power last night. I received an email from Hayley saying that last night she went to the Bloor Cinema and they only got through the trailers and the power went out. She said it was out from Bathurst to High Park and as she turned onto her own street off Dundas W. all the power was off except for the last 6 houses of which one was hers. Her apartment is chilly in the winter at the best of times so if the heat went off I'm sure it would have been frigid. She was very, very happy! I heard this morning that the power was still out.

It definitely would have been a good week to curl up with one's knitting on the couch.

These pictures were taken last Sunday before the deep freeze hit. As you can see in the one shot the bay is now snow covered. It wasn't long ago that there was open water.

I used my Christmas money from Dad to order a set of Knitpicks needles and after more than two weeks they arrived today. They look beautiful. I'm anxious to try them out.

I've been working on these socks. They were part of the Robyn's Nest Sock Club for December and the pattern is called Massie and the yarn is a Zen Garden. It has little threads of bling throughout it. I absolutely love knitting with this at night because it actually sparkles. Unfortunately, the photo doesn't do it justice. No sparklies! I do love the pattern. This is my first patterned socks unless you count Thuja...that was much simpler.

Bi-Weekly Blog Question #2

2009-01-10T04:48:00.000-08:00

This is for the yarn swap I'm currently in. We have to answer bi-weekly questions. This one's a hard one.
Question #2
If you could only knit or crochet with one brand of yarn for the rest of the year, what would it be and why?
The nicest yarn that I used last year was the Mirasol Miski, a baby alpaca. See ravelry project http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Alwaysnancy/gretel I haven't knitted with any other Mirasol yarn but if the quality is the same as the Miski I would definitely be a happy happy woman. The colour was rich, the yarn was incredibly soft and I don't think I ever had any knots in it. Although the skeins are small ones. I just hate joining yarn and weaving in ends. My weaving technique needs to improve for 2009.

Alero

2009-01-10T03:36:00.001-08:00

My Car on the Cape Breton Trail 08

I drive a 99 Olds Alero. She's seen better days. She has some rust spots and recently I noticed one spot goes right through the body. She isn't as shiny as when I bought her back in 2001. When I first got her she had only 65,000 km on her but in 8 years, I've put another 220,000 kilometers on her. That's an average of 32,000 km a year. I have a friend who has a car that's a 91 and still has under 100,000 kilmeters on her. She took us all the way to the East Coast and back last summer because I didn't want to take Jeff's Jeep. It has no trunk and in the summer he has a soft top and you can't lock it. How would I bring mountains of yarn back? Hubby loves his Jeep and I think it's fun but not for a long trip. I lent this car to Hayley one summer when she was doing landscaping for a summer job in Oakville. It's survived one teenage driver (luckily Mike had his own car by this time) and yes Hayley, you are a great driver who would never smash up her mother's car like her brother. This car has never left me stranded. Sure, I've replaced the battery and done regular maintenance. Lately, the little problems are getting more regular. I have no rear defrost anymore, my gas gauge no longer works properly and my dash lights up like a Christmas tree with all the warning lights, and currently the trunk is bungied shut because it won't close. And before Christmas, suddenly my fan would stop working after a few minutes. Jeff replaced it and all was good with the world. Here in Canada, the last thing you want is to be caught with no heat, driving in a blizzard. Well, yesterday when I left on my 40 minute trek to work I had heat, and then suddenly on the 401 it was gone. Luckily, although cold, there wasn't snow or ice to deal with so I didn't experience any problems, and the same again on the way home. Jeff will have to take a look at her again. It's like her heart keeps beating but all her other faculties are starting to go. I'd really like to nurse her along 1 more year and buy something newer when the Jeep is paid off. Hang in there baby!!!!!

On the knitting front, I've been working diligently on a Central Park Hoodie for Hayley which I'm calling the High Park Hoodie because High Park is close to wear Hayley lives. The yarn is Saphira, a superwash merino in a rich wine shade. I've got the back, the fronts, 1 sleeve and a part of a sleeve done. Just the hood and the button bands to do and then the finishing. The pattern is very easy to follow plus I joined a KAL on ravelry and whenever I seem to have a question it's one that's already one that's been asked. Google is our friend. I think Hayley will really be happy with this sweater.

I also knit up a speedy cabled beret for my friend Mary from work. I had a beautiful Araucania Azapa in a light blue from Rose Haven Farm Store in Picton. Note Rose Haven is a wonderful store and I'll be back. The hat was so speedy that I started it on a Saturday night and finished it up Sunday morning and then had enough yarn left that I made a matching cowl to go with it. Mary said she loved it and that her daughter Maddie nabbed it and wore it to hockey that night. I have a photo posted on ravely but it's not very good because I didn't have anyone other than Jeff to model and it's just a little to feminine for him. The next day I found a big jug of wine on my desk from Mary. Thanks Mary!!

As I've mentioned before in this blog almost every Tuesday night I go with Jeff to cheer on the local Junior C team. Until Thursday night, they had an undefeated season. I'm not sure what happened that night but in my eyes the team is still fantastic. Hopefully, they just had a bad night and maybe they are just adjusting to recent player changes to their team. I got a new camera from Jeff for Christmas. I love it because I've never been that good at photography but even I can not screw this one up. I tried it out at the hockey game but there is definitely an art to following the players and snapping the picture at the right time when it focuses. Sadly, the pictures I took are not as good as the ones Jeff took and standing behind the dirty plexiglass doesn't help but I at least didn't have to pick the dirtiest piece to stand behind. Therefore I give you a picture Jeff took of the hockey game which I think captures the action and one that I took of the Zamboni...everyone loves Zamboni's right?

I'll huff and I'll puff

2008-12-28T14:08:00.000-08:00

The wind outside is crazy. We were supposed to drive Hayley back to Toronto but a friend sent her a text message saying he would be in Belleville for the weekend and did she happen to need a ride back to the city on Sunday. Our holiday visit was wonderful and it was great to have both kids here for Christmas eve and Christmas morning. Mike had to head back to Madoc for a visit with Yvonne's family. Last night, Mike and Yvonne came back and spent the night to have another visit with Hayley. Tomorrow, it's back to work for two days and then 5 more days of time off.

For Christmas, my husband got me a Panasonic Lumix TZ5 and I'm in love with it. I've never been very good at photography but the big screen on the back of this camera is like a godsend. Even I can take great, not just good pictures.

Proof: Taken first thing this morning from my front yard. If you look closely toward the horizon you will see the bay we live on.

Why did I learn to knit?

2008-12-28T04:37:00.001-08:00

Hayley Mount Elmo resized
Originally uploaded by alwaysnancy

Originally I learned the basics when I was a child. That is I learn to knit and purl but that was it. Mom would cast on some needles and I was knit away to my heart's content never really ever making a finished product. 3 years, ago when my daughter was in her second year of Media Arts at college she asked me if I would knit her a hat made with love. Her words exactly. Now what mother could deny her child such a request. Certainly not I! She was working on a lot of outdoor film shoots until 3 in the morning and she needed something really warm. My attempts to get her into warm boots had failed and the least I could do was complete something that kept the other part of her body warm. So I found a pattern I thought she would like that looked superwarm. It was knit with three strands of decor wool and had earflaps. I knew nothing at all about guage and I proved that fact. The first attempt at the hat produced a hat that not only covered the ears but covered the whole face. Eventually, I conquered it and that first hat was no masterpiece but it must have been somewhat okay because then I got requests to make two more from a couple of her friends. Each one was somewhat better than the last and it was the start. I'm still learning and trying to perfect the craft and I'll get their eventually. I leave you with a shot taken by my daughter's friend Ben when they were shooting on location near Hamilton, Ontario.

Snowmaggedon in Ontario

2008-12-20T06:11:00.001-08:00

Environment Canada has designated the system of storms coming through Ontario as "Snowmaggedon". The first hit us early Wednesday morning. Tuesday night, I drove to Kingston to the Kingston Knitting Circle's Knit Night at Wooltyme. The rain and unseasonably warm temperatures had eradicated almost all traces of previously fallen snow. I drove home around 9 and there were absolutely no signs that I would wake to a winter wonderland other than the meteorologists promise. The first thing I did when I woke up that morning was look out the window and sure enough he had delivered. The drive to work was fairly non-eventful. Over the last 17 years, I've learned to not push it and stay well back from the car in front. My young friend Kelly was not so lucky. When she entered into a 90 degree, her car spun around 360 degrees several times. There were concrete barriers nearby and she was terrified that she was going to smash into them but she didn't and no harm was done. Unfortunately, she now knows that feeling of no control. It was probably a good thing that she had to continue on to work... you know get back on the horse. She said after all that she was darn well getting to work and getting paid.

Yesterday, was the 2nd part of the Snowmaggedon. I had the day off so during the day I didn't have to venture out. Hayley was arriving at 11:50 p.m at the Belleville Train Station. Jeff was playing hockey at 10:20 so I knew that I would be the driver for this. From the weather reports however I knew that the storm should be over by that time and the only thing I would have to deal with were unplowed roadsand drifting snow. I have awesome snow tires which make a big difference. I left home at 10:30 which is really way more than sufficient time because it's normally a 40 minute drive. I stopped for gas and the pump seemed to be somewhat frozen. It took me 10 minutes to put 10 litres of gas. My fingers were frozen so I figured that was more than enough gas. When I got to Belleville I checked my cell phone to see that I had two text messages from Hayley that I hadn't seen before I left...one that said I just left Union now. 10:42. So now I'm early and she's late. In all that 42 minutes late expanded to an hour and a half late and she arrived at 1:20. We arrived home at 2:10. Which anybody who knows me will tell you is 5 hours past my bedtime! But the girl is home safe and sound and feels great to have her here.

On a side note, Thursday night I went to dinner at the Yangtze Restaurant with several work friends. We meet on a regular basis with a friend who is now retired and to hear how his life is going. He's one of those very quiet people that you probably wouldn't get to know unless you had to work with him closely but when you do he leaves a big impact. He has three beautiful children. The oldest volunteered the summer before last with Engineers without Borders where he was stationed in Ghana. He loved it and had a great experience. The daughter is in her 2nd year of University and she is following the same path. She heads out Jan 2 to Guatemala. He doesn't know what it is that makes his children want to do these things but I'm sure the roots come from the parenting skills of him and his wife. They've raised their children to be socially conscious and caring. The highlight was at the end of the night when I opened my fortune cookie and read "You will enjoy a comfortable retirement". Bring it on I say!!!!!

Canadian Must Have

2008-12-14T05:47:00.000-08:00

Friday several folks from our department decided to head out of the plant for lunch. AA and I carpooled with Bob. As I sat in the front seat I notice a warm feeling overcoming me. No it wasn't the Christmas spirit or the joy of sharing a meal with my wonderful co-workers. This came from deeper down. I looked at Bob and said do you have heated seats and he replied yes. This was my first experience with heated car seats. It's part of a Canadian package that comes with heated mirrors which also be nice for those days where we've had freezing rain and it's coated the mirrors and you can't see a thing. As someone who is driving a 99 Alero with 270,000 kilometers and whose rear defrost no longer works, this was luxury beyond compare even if it came in the package of a Ford Focus. It made me want to run out and purchase a car with the same package. I can imagine nothing nicer than getting into a cold car in the winter and within minutes having a warm and toasty ass. And it's one of the few times I could really really admit that yes I do have a hot ass!

Warm Ewe Up Winter Swap

2008-12-11T02:44:00.000-08:00

I joined this yarn swap through Ravelry. And this is officially my first yarn swap unless you count the Amazing Race Contest that just ended where I came in 2nd last or to say I was the first loser. At work I joined a Secret Santa Swap this year. For 3 weeks, you bring your person a $1-2 gift and on the 4th week we give our person a gift work $10-15 dollars. On the last week we've booked one of the conference room's to have lunch with and try to guess who our Secret Santa is. Well I already know who mine is and vice versely she knows who hers is. I fait une gros faux paus. Do NOT, DO NOT ever attempt to re-use one of the gift bags you received on a previous week. I thought what are the odds that I get the same person who got me...probably zippo right???? WRONG? I sent my elf down to deliver the package and he reported back to me that my cover was blown. WHAT??? HOW? WHY? Well it seems her face lit up and she said I know who has me because that's the bag from the package she delivered the week before. I was unjustly accused of being a re-gifter by our capital buyer. I am not a re-gifter. I am a re-bagger which is like a re-cycler which is GREEN right! Unfortunately, I should not have re-bagged within the swap. The good news is that my recipient and I had a good chuckle about the whole situation.

Swap Q&A
Do you knit or crochet, or both? How long have you been at the craft? I learned to knit when I was a child. My mother would cast on and I'd just knit. These were never made into anything. Then when I was 19 and newly married I learned to crochet and made afghans. That was 30 years ago. In the last 25 I haven't crocheted anything. Then about 3 years ago my daughter asked for a hat made with love because she was in film school and outside shooting till 3 in the morning. I ended up making an ear flap hat for her. Then 2 more for her friends and then in the last year my obsession really took over for knitting.

Do you spin? No.

What yarns/fibers are your favorites? I like wool, silk wool blends and alpaca. Soft things!

What yarns/fibers do you not like? I'm not so crazy about acrylic.

What yarns/fibers would you like to try but haven’t? I keep hearing about malabrigo which makes me curious. I've been eyeing some Silky Tweed at my LYS.

What are your favorite colors? Colors that you don’t like? My favourite colours are burgundy, deep green's, rusts, jewel tones. I like pastels but typically wouldn't pick them to knit with. Pink isn't a favourite.Edit. I shouldn't say that. I do like pink. I love it in a colourway mixed with blues but I probably wouldn't purchase pink wool unless it was for a baby girl or the colour struck me in a special way. For me it's sometimes about the richness or a colour. It's hard to explain. And if it's for socks though I like lots of colour!

What are your favorite types of projects to knit/crochet? I've made a couple sweaters in the last year and I really enjoyed making them but I also love making hats. I like making socks as well.

What are you currently working on? Currently, on the needles are a scarf for a secret Santa swap at work, socks, and a central park Hoodie for my daughter.

What is your favorite FO? (Please post a picture if you have one.) This is the favourite thing I've made. It's the Gretel Hat from Ysolda. I loved the cables and the yarn I made it in is a baby alpaca. The softest thing I've ever knit. My daughter texted me yesterday and said she was getting lots of compliments on it.

Are there any techniques that you want to learn? I'd like to learn colour work. Everything I've done is mostly one solid yarn except for one striped scarf and a sock monkey hat I knit.

Do you have a yarn winder and/or swift? I have a yarn winder and I asked for a swift for Christmas from Santa.

How do you store your needles/hooks? I have a case that I put them in.

Do you collect anything? Not really.

Do you like sweets? I have a sweet tooth for sure. But will hopefully be staying away from them in the new year.

What are your favorite scents? I like spicy scents like Cinnamon, ginger etc and fruity ones too.

Are you having a birthday during this swap? No

Do you have any online wish lists? (Amazon, Loopy Ewe, etc.) I don't have one now but I think I'll take some time and make some. I'll repost the links when I've got them set up. I was listening to a show about random acts of kindness. How cool would it be to send someone something off their wish list and do it anonymously. The one time I was a victim of a random act of kindness I was blown away!

http://www.theloopyewe.com/wishlist/show/20080/?token=2b6ec8e2c3c8
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/registry/wishlist/3SETYQ3GFJWOV/ref=reg_hu-wl_goto-registry?ie=UTF8&sort=date-added

What is your living situation (Are you married? Do you have kids, pets, or both?) I've married and our 30th anniversary is in April. We have 1 son, 25 and 1 daughter who will be 23 in Feb.

Are you allergic to anything? Other than some metals nothing.

Is there anything else that you would like your pal to know? I'm pretty excited to do this swap. I've seen what others have received in similar swaps and think it's pretty cool. I'm also looking forward to doing the same for someone else. I hope to be able to find cool local things to send the person I get.

Helpless

2008-12-07T15:56:00.000-08:00

Helpless is a novel written by Canadian Author Barbara Gowdy. Helpless is the only book I've read by this author but probably not the last. I always love when a story it set in a familiar place and the setting for this is Cabbage Town in Toronto. She speaks of Parliament Street, Shopper's Drug Mart and Riverdale Farm. During my daughter's first year living in Downtown Toronto at the sketchy but convenient area of Shuter and Sherbourne we shopped at the quaintest Home Hardware on Parliament. On one visit we went to Riverdale Farm to visit the animals. It's amazing to visit such a place in the middle of such a large city. I remember telling my daughter, a born and bred small town girl who grew up in the country with lizards, turtles, bunnies and mice that whenever she was down she should walk to this farm because it would make her happy.

The story revolves around a single mother and her young beautiful daughter. The daughter has caught the eye of a pedophile appliance repairman. I've always been intrigued by mysteries, murder stories and the like. I found it an easy read especially with the story it's hard to put down until you find out what happens. No spoilers here.

Next up to read BloodLetting and Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam. So far I'm blown away with this writer's ability to set a scene. He has the ability to capture not only the sights but the sounds of a setting as captured in the first story. Loved it and can't wait to read more.

On a personal note the attempt to prepare for Christmas is continuing. Still have more gifts to buy. Hopefully will get all my gifts off that have to be posted next weekend. I'm getting excited like a 5 year old child.

The Boy in the Man

2008-12-04T13:12:00.000-08:00

My husband is 49 going on 14. Last year, through the encouragement of his RMT, Dawn he joined powerskating. He used to play shift hockey many years ago but hadn't done so in many years. He found he really enjoyed the powerskating and the workout it gave him. Some nights he came home totally exhausted but happy. This year he joined again but because of lack of adult interest, they were grouped in with younger children. The only other fellow there is a man in his 30's. Needless to say both my husband and the other man feel a bit silly out skating with these boys. This week he had a few days off so he decided to check out the local shift hockey at the arena on Tuesday morning. I phoned him at lunch to see if he had sustained any major injuries. He assured me all injuries were minor. He had a blood blister on his finger but he had scored 3 count 'em 3 goals. The other players were from the Goodyear factory and were very friendly. So since they had shift hockey again this morning he went again. This afternoon I received an email from him at work with the subject line that said "MEGA SCORING TODAY" The email said:
I lost count of the number of times I put the puck in the net today!!!
No broken bones, trashed knees or heart attacks, but I did spill some blood though.
And now for the real story.... 2 skaters, no goalies, so it was basically a skills session.
Practice skating, stick handling, shooting etc.
The spilled blood was from the blood blister on my hand breaking.
Kind of anticlimactic eh? Oh well, it was still fun, and practice that I need if I ever want to
have any chance of making the NHL.

Canadian Boys need dreams and if it isn't the NHL it's being a Rockstar. I don't have the heart to tell him his time is up!

New Hat for Hayley

2008-11-26T14:17:00.000-08:00

Seems like knitting Hayley a hat every winter has become a tradition. Last year there was 2, the sock monkey hat which fit a bit tight and the green toque both which I never got a picture of. The year before was another green hat which was too large and the year before was my first knitting project, the ear flap hat. Now that Hayl's a bit older I don't think she wants to wear the earflap style because it would probably make her look like a 16 year old. She appeared happy with the new one. I loved the colour and the yarn. The yarn Is Mirasol Miski Baby Alpaca. It's the softest yarn I've ever touched. Of course I loved it so much that I'm now making a scarf for her to go with it.

Last weekend we headed west to Toronto so that we could have a quick visit with Hayley. I needed one to tide me over until she comes home at Christmas. It was a good day. We went to Creme de la Creme for a nice breakfast lunch. We did a bit of shopping but it doesn't take Hayley and I long to get shopped out.

also gave her the gathered pullover I made her. It fit alright except the lenght was a little short. I may make this one again for someone else. I'd like to see it in a prettier colour than brown. Whatever it seemed to bring out the Ninja characteristics in Hayley.

Happy and Relieved!

2008-11-23T04:08:00.000-08:00

About a month ago I went for my first ever mammogram. My mother was first diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 51 and I'm 49. I thought the time had come to dig my head out of the sand and face the music. I've always been a big procrastinator when it came to doctor visit's.

The mammogram was not too bad. The technician put me at ease the best she could. She was very efficient and professional but also kind. I have a lot of respect for people that do these jobs. I'm sure it all becomes quite routine for them but it's not routine for their customers and they seem to know this. They told me beforehand since it was my first mammogram not to be concerned if I get called back because the first time is like the baseline and they have nothing to compare it to it and they will be really cautious. Sure enough several days later I get called back to come in for another mammogram and also an ultrasound.

The 2nd mammogram was quite different than the first. The first could be deemed uncomfortable but the 2nd was more like a short torture session. I told my husband "Imagine someone taking one small piece of your penis and flattening it to .00125897 mm and then rotating it about 370 degrees." Of course he reminded me of the time he went for a test that they put a small camera in the end of his penis. Maybe he wins this time. :) Once the technician had my boob flattened and twisted she walked over to the controller and told me not to breathe. I wasn't too worried about breathing but I was worried about passing out. What a relieve when she released me. I don't think my left breast will ever be the same!!!

After that the Ultrasound of course was a cakewalk. A few days later I got the dreaded call. Please come in for another Ultrasound and Needle Biopsy. I just felt this wasn't quite as routine as the other call. However, I wasn't worrying every minute of the day. I think my husband did that for me. I only told one person at work and she was as bad as I was. Note to self when going for medical tests do not tell anyone until it's over. Wednesday at work my general practictioner's office called to set my mind at ease. My test came back benign. I called my husband who was very relieved. We met for dinner that night and he joked to me that he was glad he wouldn't have to break in anyone new. After 30 years of marriage, I guess we've grown on each other. I was also glad for my children too. Especially as a child who lost her mother far too soon I could totally relate to their feelings on this. I didn't tell them about the extra tests because they would have worried very much.

In closing I would encourage anyone thinking about going for a mammogram to go. Especially if this disease runs in your family. Breast cancer can be so treatable.

Books (Spoiler Alert)

2008-11-03T14:18:00.000-08:00

I recently finished the Friday Night Knitting Club. Although this is really chicklit I did find that the book made some very deep statements about relationships. And for some reason I expected it to end with a much happier outcome. Luckily, no one was at home when I read the last few pages because I cried like a baby. If you want a light read, like knitting and reading about female bonding and have a good supply of tissues, then I can suggest this book to you.

I also recently picked up Custom Knits by Wendy Bernard. I didn't look at it too thoroughly in the store so I was even more surprised and delighted when I got to take a close look. The patterns are great and I would make almost everything in it but a couple. The pictures in it are lovely. I give this pattern book an A+.

Not a knitting related book but I'll mention it anyways is Helpless by Barbara Gowdy. Just started this yesterday and it sucked me in right away. It's set in Toronto so many of the streets are familiar and I always enjoy that in a book. I'll keep you posted on this one.

Hockey and Knitting

2008-10-29T15:14:00.000-07:00

Every Tuesday night is the night our Junior C team plays their home game. Last year Jeff decided that we should become fans so we started attending. At that point our team was already in the playoffs so there was mucho excitement. I'm not much for watching Hockey Night in Canada, too many bad memories of my dad yelling at us to be quiet during the game and memories of having to crawl under the tv so he wouldn't get mad at us for blocking the screen. He's a hardcore Canadian. But something in the Canadian comes out in me when I go to an arena. I feel the excitement. I feel like I'm part of the community even though I may only know a few people. I actually even think some night I might get lucky and win the fifty/fifty draw. This year I've been trying to take my knitting with me. Of course I can not knit while they are playing but between periods I can. The first time I tried it however it failed terribly. I wore my leather jacket and the sleeves kept catching my needles. Not a good effort at all. Now it's cold enough for my winter coat which sleeves don't gap as much. I was knitting away before the game started and had to jump up to let another couple pass. As I tried to move my pointy needles to a safe point where I wouldn't poke anyone the woman smiled and said I should have brought my knitting too. Then at the break after the first period, as hubby was relaxing with his feet resting on the seat in front of him, and holding my yarn in his lab, I looked up and to the right where te window to the heated bar area is and there was this woman watching me and smiling as I knit. Then I felt a bit self conscious about my technique but I still figure I could possible convert a large portion of that crowd into bringing their knitting to the game. What do you think?

2008-10-26T04:38:00.000-07:00

This weeks knitting related events were the Knit Night at the local chapters. This happens once a month and was the 2nd time I've attended. It's a good group with a wide range of ages from twenties to late fifites. The conversation flows well with discussions on family, books, movies and knitting. I don't often just join groups on myself but knitters are all such a friendly bunch and I find this group to be quite welcoming.

I finished hubby's Big Fabel Socks. I really, really loved this yarn so much that I think I may go out and purchase more for Christmas socks for the kids. They knit up really fast. Wow do his feet ever look long in this picture. He's going on a weeklong outdoor adventure with the menfolk from his family next week and I asked him if he'd be embarrassed to wear patterned socks and he assured me he would wear them with pride. I'm working on another pair of heavy socks but much plainer in black and hopefully they will be ready for him to take with him.

On the subject of my husband whom I will be married to for a total of 30 years April 20th in 2009, the man will never ever grow up but I don't mind. I knew when I met him back in high school and then met his father that he was a man cut out of the same cloth has his beloved dad. On Friday morning, when I went outside to leave for work I found thick frost covering both our vehicles. I knew he was running really late and the last thing he would need is to come out and find his jeep covered in frost. So I started my car and scraped it and then scraped his off. Later that morning when I got back from my coffee break I got an email from him saying. "Thanks you are a total sweetheart. I think I will keep you. Love Jeff" I know it's such a small thing but I believe it's the respect and appreciation that keeps the love alive. And it lifted my morning up just that he took the time to send those few words!

Next week I'm planning on going to WoolTyme to take a lesson on seaming set-in sleeves for Hayley's Gathered Pullover I'm making. The body is complete except for the edging around the neck and some ends to weave in and I have one sleeve done but as I look at it I can't imagine that shape fitting in that hole but the owner of the LYS told me it will fit and I should take a real lesson. I want to learn to do this correctly and am excited for it. However, I must say I enjoy the technique for the sleeves on the Top Down Raglan Sweater I made for Hayley much better. :)

Here's a preview of the cable detail on the sweater. It's hard to see in the photograph unfortunately.

Blogging bug

2008-10-19T05:09:00.000-07:00

I must have it...blogging two days in a row rather than waiting a month. On the way to see Stuart McLean we stopped into Chapters because we were a bit ahead of schedule. I picked up the Holiday edition of Voque Knitting and then wandered back to the Craft section where I saw Wendy Bernard's Custom Knits. Now I only have a couple of real knitting books, 2 Stitch 'n Bitch books and a couple from the Yarn Harlot and one called Knit Fixes (kindly bought for me last Christmas by my sweetheart daughter who know I need all the help I can get) Hmmm seems the girl who works with big numbers all days can't add small numbers...that's more than a couple. Back to the Custom Knits, I remember seeing some patterns from it on Ravelry that I liked and I glanced at it quickly and then threw all caution to the wind and purchased it. Later I took a better look at the book and have to say that I made a wise purchase. This book is great and full of lots of sweaters I would knit. I saw one I'd like to do for my son's fiance, some I'd make for Hayley and wow even some I'd make for myself....which I really should do...make something for myself that is. I tend to make 80% of the stuff for Hayley. A) she truly appreciates it and doesn't mind if it's not top notch quality. B.) she loves the thought that it's one of a kind and made for her. I'm just not always sure others will appreciate the handmade stuff. I'm feeling like there is so many things I want to make and not enough time to do it.

The Stuart McLean Vinyl Cafe show was excellent. I laughed at two new stories and Stuart also told one of my favourites..."My Dad is Dying". Joining him were Musical Talents Dala and Danny Michel. The Grand was packed to capacity. It was nice to see the old theatre redone but I don't think it's as beautiful as the Empire Theatre in Belleville. I would say the Empire Theatre spared no expense. The sound quality was fantatic at the Grand though. I purchased a Danny Michel CD and another Stuart cd

Purple Purl Visit

2008-10-18T05:48:00.001-07:00

This week I played hookie from work on Wednesday and Thursday so I can accompany my husband to Toronto to attend a training course. Truth be known I will take every opportunity I can to spend time with my daughter Hayley. I knew Hayley still had time vacation time left and I asked her if she would be able to take one day off to hang with her mom and she said she couldn't think of a better way to use her vacation. Oh what a sweet girl she is. I wish I lived closer...not Toronto exactly because I'm a small town person.

After a trip to Ikea where we could get Hayley some curtains for her living room (where I had flashbacks to the sixties and my mother's leaf motif plastic curtains) we headed to the Purple Purl www.purplepurl.com . I found the most beautiful superwash yarn from the Southwest Trading Company in a beautiful dark cherry colour. I will make a central park hoodie out of it for Hayley. I'd love to get to it right away but I have the gathered pullover to finish (one sleeve to go) and some socks for Jeff and a hat before I start this but I'm excited none the less. The girls at the Purple Purl were so nice and helpful and I would definitely encourage anyone to check it out on a trip to Toronto. It was not that close to Hayley's hood but that didn't matter and I'm sure I'll be back at some point. The day was one of the perfect Canadian fall days and we had a great time. I almost forgot to mention lunch at Brad's Eatery on Roncevalles near Hayley's house. Great Food and Service. Even though I didn't eat all my veggies Hayley!!!

Looking forward to going to the Grander Grand in Kingston today to see Stuart McLean tell his Vinyl Cafe stories. It's our first trip to the Grand since it's been redone. I'm excited to see if the new seats are better than the old...how could they be worse? It looks pretty splashy from the outside. It's another perfect fall day out so just the drive to Kingston should be pretty.

Note to self

2008-10-01T14:40:00.000-07:00

If you plan on attempting to knit while attending the local hockey game make sure you wear a coat that does not have big sleeves. It's almost impossible to knit a sock when the needles keeps geting caught on the inside of your sleeve. It looks clumsy! And feels worse. So much for knitting last night but on good side my team won 9-5. Go Raiders Go!

Wicked Good

2008-09-28T13:28:00.000-07:00

Finally finished Hayley's Wicked Cool Sweater after having to frog it once. I'm very happy with the finished product except for some of the woven in ends coming astray. Hayley loves the sweater and wore it out on Saturday when we came to visit. I'm amazed that it fit so well. I used a t-shirt to size it up as Hayley lives too far away for fittings.

I could have done a better job of whipstitching
the pocket to the top unfortunately but my
daughter didn't seem to notice.

And I was worried that she would have liked the neckline tighter but she was okay with it. She's become so easy to please in her elderly age. As I look at these pictures I've uploaded there is a very sad reminder that summer is over and fall is upon us. The leaves are turning that lovely shade of yellow. I love this time of year but I hate thinking that soon winter will be here.

Winter is not my favourite time of year and I always always hate that drive to work on the 401 in the winter.

This has been an incredibly busy week for us. Monday I had meetings at the lovely http://www.waringhouse.com/ in Picton all day. When all the work was done we had team building which was disguised as a cooking glass. Yes we had to cook our own dinner at a place that has excellent cuisine. It was a lot of fun and the food was edible although I did manage to make one of the worst apple crisps of my life. I got home at 10:10 pm which is way past my bedtime.

Wednesday we attended the http://www.blueman.com/ group at the K-Rock Centre in Kingston. It was the best show I've attended yet. I loved the music, the humour and the colour. It was the most interactive show I've been to yet and the crowd seemed to love it as much as I did. The next day I spoke to a co-worker who also attended and he enjoyed it immensely as well.

Friday I took the day off. My husband had a dinner to attend to at the Royal York in Toronto for the quarter century club. It's hard to believe my young husband has hit the milestone of working for the same company for 30 years. This gave us the opportunity to reconnect with old friends, some who we had not seen in 30 years. Hayley came up after work as well. For a while she was probably the only person under 30 in the room then she spotted another young person in the suite. It was a late night especially for me who usually never gets past 10 p.m. I was laying awake at 2 p.m. trying to wind down from all the excitement. Of course, I woke up at 6 am as usual. Around 11 we headed to Hayley's where we went out and had a wonderful breakfast on Roncevalles. It was fun but I'm glad next week will be less eventful.

Personal calls at work!

2008-09-12T12:34:00.000-07:00

Everyone has them but typically most people I work with keep them to a bare minimum. Oh but there is always one or two people out there that abuse the priviledge. The young fella who is my cubicle mate does this a lot but thankfully most of the time he's speaking in Turkish so I don't really know what he's saying. On the other side of me, another co-worker is in a more difficult situation. He has a new cubicle mate and this new cubicle mate at one time sat on the other side of the wall from my co-worker. My co-worker had to endure listening to phone calls made to this guy's lawyer and exwife. To guitar shops and friends. We're not talking an hour, we're not talking a couple, we're talking more. Now this fellow is part of our team. Great!

Overheard yesterday by my co-worker.
"Hey, you know that thing you wanted to go to? I scored some tickets to it!!! Yeah. Are you happy???? ....... I just really want to make you happy! ...........I bet you are sooooo happy! ...............Oh I'm so glad I made you happy! Love you!!!!!

Please don't subject your co-workers to inane pointless conversations like this! And I hate to say it but I give this relationship 6 months...at most. I'm sure she'll get tired of being asked how happy she is.

Wicked sad

2008-09-06T04:08:00.001-07:00

Well the other day I re-learned that old lesson that if you think something is wrong it probably is. I had the top portion of Hayley's wicked sweater done and my husband was going to attempt to take a shot of it. Looking at it I thought...hmmmm those raglan sleeves don't look right. I asked my husband if they looked strange to him. One side looked fine but the other side instead of slanting out at an angle seemed to angle down. He said it's just because it's on the circular needles it looks weird. So being positive I laboured on....and on....

My son and his fiance got their first place. They'd been living with her parents. We had to deliver a few items to them and I thought this is great. I can knit and finish the body up in the Jeep. I was weaving in all the ends and spreading it out on my lap to look at it....hmmmmm. I think that shoulder doesn't look any better. Hubby looks over and says yes...it does look weird. Darn it all. So the moral of the story is that things don't correct themselves over time. Now I have to frog the whole thing back. Go through all that collar business which I struggled with. The worst part for me is joining in the round. For some reason I have a hard time getting through without twisting it.

I've persevered on and after two attempt to join in the round and succeeding finally and ultimately I have finished the collar. The first attempt at this sweater was pretty good and other than the wonky shoulders it looked pretty darn good. Yvonne, my son's fiance being the nice person she is told me that Hayley would still probably wear it as is...haha. Yep she made it with love but obviously didn't know what she was doing. That might have worked when I was first learning and made some hats and mittens. I just knock it up to another learning experience. Thankfully this is a pattern that knits up very quickly.

One other nice thing I would like to mention in my blog is the niceness of knitting people. I've never met virtual strangers that reach out to their comrades like knitters do. It's awesome. In ravelry, I posted how my daughter would like to learn and asked about knitting groups and lessons. I got so many very helpful responses, from offers of private lessons at the Naked Sheep, Knitting night at Lettuce Knits and one person who lives in my daughters area who offered so kindly to meet her at a coffee shop and work with her. So far she's still struggling and her crazy schedule doesn't help matters. And every time I have an issue or don't understand I've posted online only to receive help in minutes. It's really helped me tremendously.

Well we're into September and where did the summer go. I think not having little children at home anymore you don't have the end of school that defines when the period begins and the return to school when it ends. I'm however sure that last summer seemed much longer than this one.

Hayley's Nantucket Tank Top

2008-08-13T17:39:00.001-07:00

Since we returned from vacation I haven't really posted anything in here. And the whole idea is that not only would this blog show our vacation but it would be my knitting blog as well. So what have I been knitting you ask? Well, thanks for asking. I finished off the lace ribbon scarf that I knit in Sirdar Baby Bamboo. I still need to block it and just haven't been in much of a hurry to do so since returning from vacation. Call it procrastination...call it me being lazy. I finished Hayley's Nantucket Tank and it fit!! I'm really happy with this one. It was my first attempt at cables and my first totally finished piece of clothing. Yes I've done hats, mitts and scarfs but the only other piece of clothing was the sad hoodie that sits in a bag begging to be seamed together. I guess I haven't been too anxious to finish it because I know it's so baggy that Hayley won't probably wear it now. Those were the old days where she wore clothes big enough for someone twice her size. Back to the tank, the first part was a dream and when I got to the part where I was working two balls of yarn I struggled a bit. I don't always read instructions correctly. I question and read between the lines instead of just doing it...call it a personal defect. I did a bit of tinking on the top part but in the end I think it turned out pretty great. It fit Hayley perfectly. Her bra straps show at the back but she didn't seem to mind this. And I think she could wear another top under it.
Enjoy the picture.

Hayley's Nantucket Tank Top
Originally uploaded by alwaysnancy

This is really just a rant!

2008-08-11T17:38:00.000-07:00

One of my co-workers said they were going to go home and write something on what Pay and Progression has done for them. So I thought I'd write a few comments as well. Pay and Progression now says no one can stay in a role longer than 4 years. I've been in my current role and feel more than ready to do something new. I'm not learning anything at this point so to do something new and learn again would be welcome. Unfortunately, having applied for a new role I was told that I can't leave at least for the next six months. My fear is that after six months all the roles coming up in my pay level will be filled and I'll be homeless. Sure the rating system worked in my favour and I was rated a 1 or Top Performer but I can't take that to the bank. I really want to continue to work my hardest and give it my best and all that crap but I'm starting to get jaded like all those around me. One of the joys of working for one of the largest corporations in the world.

Wrap Up

2008-07-21T15:19:00.000-07:00

Since the internet was pretty non-existant at the Loews Le Concorde in Quebec City I haven't posted anything in the last 3 days. However, I will try to wrap up our final few days.

Grand Falls, NB- We left Halifax in the morning after stopping at Pete's Frootique. I noticed this store when we went to Cora's the day before. I remember Pete being on Canada A.M. to discuss fresh fruits and vegetables years ago. Not sure if he still appears but I was excited to see the store. We decided as we had a long day of travel we would drop in there and grab fruit and other items for the road for breakfast. It was a nice grocery store with a fish and meat counter and lots of specialty items. Jeff got his first yogurt in over a week. I'm sure his body was saying what the?
We arrived in Grand Falls around 4 ish and checked into our hotel which was a fairly new Best Western Motel and Suites. We headed down to check out the Falls.

I was amazed to find that in the spring these falls put over almost the same volume of water that goes over Niagara Falls. By late summer, most of the water is diverted to a hydro electric plant. Grand Falls seems to be about the same size if not smaller than Napanee so there wasn't a lot of dining choices but we went to this old house that served Italian food. The food and service turned out to be excellent. It was pretty busy there and I always take that as an indication of the quality of the restaurant. If a place is dead I'm always worried there is a reason why it's so dead.

The next day we left for Quebec City.

We arrived around 2 ish so we went to our hotel to check in. It's a big hotel with a rotating restaurant on top. Super busy. Our room was on the 10th floor overlooking the Plains of Abraham and old Quebec.

We could see very clearly where they were setting up for the free Sir Paul McCartney concert on the Plains of Abraham.

The room decoration was sort of ultra modern and seventyish. But it was the only hotel room I've been in that had a flat screen tv. We got our stuff unloaded and headed off to find a place to eat since we'd only really eaten leftovers from Pete's Frootique for breakfast. We walked through the walls into Old Quebec and got to the point where you can either take the Funicular down or take the stairs down. We figured we walk down and take the Funicular up. Smart people we are. Next level down we had two choices.

Being the bossypants I am I said I knew where we were going and proceeded to take us on the longest route ever. We saw things we never saw the last time we were here...like Hope Gate.

I tried to find some info on the net on this but mostly it's pictures but one link said it was the entrance to Old Quebec City. The outside of this gate is covered in 32,000 plants. After walking through the gate, we continued downward into lower town and ended up on the far side of Lower town on Rue St. Paul where all the antique shops were and we were trying to get to Le Cochon Dinque (the crazy pig) which is on the opposite end of Lower Town. Quebec City is still quite small though and we didn't feel so bad about indulging at supper. I had the Sugar Pie for dessert. I expect it to be a bit like a butter tart but it's more custardy. After supper we looked in some shops. There was one fellow playing crystal wine glasses and another playing a harp. The sound was amazing. There seemed to be a lot more buskers this time than last time we were here probably due to the 400th anniversary of Quebec city and the free concert on Sunday. I love Quebec city and I really enjoy just walking around and taking in the sights.

The next day we headed out for the Omelletrie for breakfast. The little french girls are so nice that serve you there and we had a nice relaxing breakfast. Then fueled up, we headed out to do some major souvenir and gift shopping. We found some nice stuff but then we were saddled with shopping bags. We found a gelato store for Jeff and he had a cup of two kinds of gelato. I tasted the praline kind and it tasted yummy. We sat in a park to cool down and let him enjoy his treat and we met a bunch of older french ladies who sat beside us on the bench. The one closest to me spoke to me in french and I could tell she was commenting on the beautiful day so I said yes it's beautiful. Well she switched languages just like that and we had a nice talk. She asked us where we were from and we discussed how there is no place in Canada like Quebec city. We decided to head back to the room and unload our purchases, freshen up before our early dinner. We went to one of the patios on Grande Allee just around the corner from the hotel. Jeff just wanted Nachos and I wanted pasta so we had to find a place that had both. First we just shared a litre of wine and then we ordered. Did lots of people watching and lots of car watching...

We ran back up to the room before heading to D'youville Station to catch the shuttle to Montmorency Falls. At 6:45 p.m we headed out with our bag of poncho's and our umbrella, prepared this time for anything. Even though it had been beautiful all day it had threatened rain a few times and it looked pretty ominous at this point. We were near the Congress Centre when it just let loose. Us and about 20 others headed for the shelter of the cement overhang at the congress center. We held out there waiting for the rain to quit for about 25 minutes. Finally, the rain was a bit lighter so we took the umbrella and headed off once again for the station. Jeff took a couple of good bonks to the head from the umbrella...Oops. By the time we got to the falls, the rain was gone. I don't know exactly why and maybe it was the heavy rains prior but the fireworks spewed out so much smoke that at times you could not see the fireworks...just flashes or slight sparkles behind the curtain of smoke. Several times they just stopped to let the smoke clear. It was a shame because from what I could see this was one of the best choreographed shows I've seen. Fernando from work was there and he felt the same way I did. I'm sure the team competing was pretty upset. We still enjoyed it and everyone still gave them a loud round of applause.

We got back to the city later than we would of because of all the stoppages and we walked home. There was plenty of people walking about. Enjoy some of the scenes we saw on the way home.

In the morning, we got up as early as we could...since we didn't get to the room until just after midnight we couldn't get up as early as we would of liked but we got up at 7 and got on the road at 9:30. At 9:30 there were people already heading into the Plains of Abraham for the concert. We were glad to escape before it got too crazy.

The drive home was busy and there was some heavy rain. We both felt like we had a great vacation but were happy to be going home. We got home and unloaded our packed car, relaxed and had a great chat with Hayley. We don't get that often enough. Then we had to go pick up the Minster. It was her first time ever at a kennel and she did fine. The kennel is across the bay and we'll definitely use it in the future. When we got back we had a call from my dad who was also vacationing out on the East Coast and attending the Antigonish Highland Games and a Ross Clan Meeting in Iona. Low and behold, it turns out he was in Baddeck in Sunday, the day we arrived and had supper in the restaurant of the Lynwood Inn where we were staying. We ate in the same restaurant that night on the veranda. He went to the Ceilidh at the Parish Hall behind us and we had discussed going over there as well but we were still eating at 7:30 when it started.

Another weird coincident is that I mentioned the fella we met in St. Andrew's who worked in St. Andrews in the summer and Key West in the winter. Cor, a co-worker met the same guy only she met him in Florida. It's definitely a small world.

Halifax

2008-07-16T16:08:00.000-07:00

Today, we took in the sights of Halifax. It was another absolutely beautiful day. I can't believe how lucky we've been. We went to the Citadel and took a tour lead by a soldier's wife Clare. We also had a concert by bagpipers. Since growing up in Kincardine where there is a bagpipe parade every Saturday night, I don't usually get too excited about bagpipes but I guess it had been a while and I truly enjoyed the concert. They also shot off the cannon at noon which they do 364 days a year.

We killed over 2 hours at the Citadel and I thought it was best to head to the waterfront because we wanted to do both the Atlantic Marine Museum and the Alexander Keith Brewery Tour. On the way back down to the water we stopped at a confectionary shop called Freak Lunchbox.

http://www.freaklunchbox.com/ The young man at the cash greeted us with a friendly hello. This was the best candy store I'd been in as it also had lots of toy items like tin lunchboxes, gumby and pokey's and other not normally seen items. I picked up a t-shirt for Hayley (because she like's freaky things I figured a t-shirt that said Freak Lunchbox fit the bill and a few other items.) The young man commented on my good taste on the other items I bought but this must remain a secret. Some gifts must remain secret.

We finally arrived at the Marine Museum. What a great display. The first thing we saw was this huge lens from a lighthouse. Quite amazing.

Halifax has so much history and there are very extensive displays on the Halifax Disaster and the Titanic. We also got to tour the CSS Acadia and watch a 3D film about going down to the wreckage of the Titanic.
We really needed much more time for this museum than we had. In fact, we were the last people out of the building before it closed.

We went for a nice dinner at a seafood place called McKelvie's. http://www.mckelvies.ca/ Our waiter was a really nice guy and the service was excellent. Jeff had Jambalaya and I had a nice seafood pasta with haddock, scallops and shrimp. They also served a delicious bannock bread. After dinner we trucked it down to Alexander Keith's http://www.keiths.ca/ to do the tour only to find out that they were done for the night. However we still picked up some gifts from the Alexander Keith's store including two cold one's for the road!!

Tomorrow it's a long drive to Grand Fall's NB. No sightseeing just a travel day inbetween here and Quebec City on Friday.

Baddeck to Halifax

2008-07-16T03:59:00.000-07:00

We went to the Lynwood Inn Restaurant for breakfast again because it was so good yesterday and of course handy. I had the french toast and it was the 1st time in my life that I've had french toast that was coated in crushed corn flakes. I will definitely have to try this version at home because it gave it a nice cruncy tasty texture. We stopped off at the Cape Breton Clay store because other than the yarn store we hadn't visited any of the other Baddeck store. The pottery items were beautiful but too expensive for my budget. Their was some beautiful framed photography prints and some jewelry I was tempted to purchase but I decided to save my money to spend in Halifax or Quebec.

The first part of our trip there was heavy rains and then along the coast it was very foggy over the water. We felt even though it would take longer we would take the shore route rather than the cross country route. Once we arrived in Halifax, found our hotel, got parked and ventured out we realized we maybe should have taken the quick route. Our hotel, the Sheraton Four Points is right downtown close to the historic waterfront. Jeff felt a bit stressed after the quiet pace of all the previous places to again drive in the city but once we started walking around his stress level dropped quickly. We found that our hotel is a block from Alexander Keith's brewery, about 5 minutes from the Atlantic Marine Museum and also within walking distance of the Citadel. Previously our plan had been to look around Halifax and then drive tomorrow out of the city to Peggy's Cove and Mahone's Bay but now that we see all that is here to see within walking distance we decided to take in all of that. We ate supper at Murphy's Restaurant at the end of the wharf. For Jeff, it was awesome because there was so many things to take pictures of. I'd finished my meal and he had barely eaten his. Note to self in the future do not drink two big glasses of beer with dinner when you plan to walk around.

That's all that's to be said for now. Please enjoy the following photos.

Bridge to Halifax

Theodore Tugboat
Harbour Hopper

Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship Grandeur of the Seas

Hayley note the climbing wall on the back top level of the ship!

Cabot Trail

2008-07-15T01:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we had breakfast inside the Lynwood Inn Main House. Our waitress had that wonderful Cape Breton charm and sense of humour. On the menu there was an item called Cape Breton Oat Cakes so I ordered a couple with my breakfast. They were essentially a warm, flat, square oatmeal cookie and they served it with butter. This was what was crumbled on my Cape Breton Sundae the day before. I told the waitress they were good and she told me "Dear to tell you the truth I'm not fond of the one's here but up on the Cabot Trail, the Clucking Hen makes the best ones." So we decided to check it out on our way up the trail.

After breakfast we walked over to Baadeck Yarns. www.baadeckyarns.com It was Yarn Heaven. The selection was unbelievable. The woman who help us was very nice and told us she was originally from Toronto but came to Baddeck 15 years ago for a two week vacation and never left. She was a computer programmer in Toronto. Many times when I'm on vacation I've wanted to do the same thing and it's nice to hear that some people actually do it. I walked out of the store with yarn for Hayley's "Wicked" Sweater" http://www.zephyrstyle.com/catalog/item.cfm/2367447/3974522 and Baadeck Yarn's Fleece Artist called Baadeck Summer yarn for a lace scarf.

After the Yarn store we headed up the North Shore of the Cape Breton. The sun started to break through the clouds. The scenery along this route is the most breathtaking I've ever seen. I swear we only drove for 10 minutes at a time and had to pull over for observation points. Each was miraculously more beautiful than the next. I believe Jeff said the trip around if you were to drive it takes 4 hours but it took us 9 hours. That included dinner at the Rusty Anchor and Jeff's dip in the ocean. Words can not describe this area so I'll just leave some pictures.

This is where Jeff went and took a dip in the ocean. Moments after we pulled over it started to rain. At least the rain washed the salt water off him. He had lots of fun getting undressed and dressed in my little car.

This morning we head to Halifax. We'll probably check out the downtown area today and the Alexander Keith brewery and then tomorrow we'll head out of the city towards Peggy's Cove and Mahone Bay.

Baddeck

2008-07-14T16:47:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, we’re having internet issues here in Baddeck. The connection I got here at the hotel disappeared around 8:30 so I’ve been unable to publish Day 5 and Day 6. Eventually it will get done.

Yesterday we left Auld’s Cove to head to Baddeck. Again we were blessed with beautiful, perfect weather. I can’t say enough about the weather we have had so far. Sunny and warm but not too hot! We arrived in Baddeck around 11ish and went straight to the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site. There is so much that I didn’t know about this man. I think of him as solely the guy who invented the phone but he was so much more than that. He was an experimenter and a teacher of the deaf. Even Helen Keller said he changed her life. Originally, born in Scotland he moved with his family to Brantford after his two older brothers’s got tuberculosis and died. He fell in love with one of his deaf students and they married. She was an integral part of his life. They owned a big estate in Baddeck called Breinn Breagh. It reminded Bell of his homeland in Scotland. They wanted a non-conventional lifestyle where their young daughters would be able to run about in trousers. Here in Baddeck he continued to experiment with flight and hydrofoils until his death. He was quite the family man and loved his grandchildren dearly. I watched a short video of townsfolk talking about Bell. One guy’s father worked for Bell and Bell told him he should build a home and he said I have 8 children. I can’t afford a home and Bell said you build it and I will make the payments. So he did. At Christmas, the first payment was due months away and Bell had all the employee’s in for Christmas presents. He handed the man a envelope and said Ferguson this is your Christmas gift and he assumed it was a cheque. When he got home and opened it he discovered the deed to the house paid off in full.

After we finished the exhibit, we went to the Bell Buoy Restaurant for lunch around 2. We sat outside and it was gorgeous. This restaurant had homemade ice cream. Jeff ordered a bowl and I ordered the Cape Breton Sundae. All I can say is OH MY GOD. Ice cream, maple syrup, crumbled Scottish oatcakes, and whipped cream. It was sooo good.
Then we came to the Lynwood Inn and checked in. Our room is beautiful here and the main building has a gorgeous veranda where you can eat.

On the back street behind us is Baadeck Yarns which was closed for Sunday but we will check out first thing tomorrow and they have Ceilidh’s also beside the Yarn place every night so Monday night we will go to that.

We went for a little drive around and saw a sign that said UISGE Ban Falls. We had to go see. It was about a mile hike there and back. So beautiful. If asked to describe this forest I would call it enchanted, even mystical. I wouldn't be shocked to see the roots reach out and grab us.

Back to the hotel to relax before dinner. At 7 we went down and the wind had picked up but we were determined to sit on the veranda. They had live entertainment in the form of Warren, a singer/guitar player. First we were on the front of the veranda facing the bay but the wind was so strong that the waitress moved us around the side which was still cool but better. I had mussels. They tasted okay but I can’t get over how they look so I don’t think I will have those again. Jeff had Nacho’s . Every once in a while you have to take a break from the seafood.

On the road to Cape Breton

2008-07-12T16:43:00.000-07:00

Today was just supposed to be a travel day. However, when the GPS told us to go one way, we being the rebels we are, took another route called the Sunset Trail. It was a beautiful scenic route. As we were travelling along I saw a sign for the Lismore Sheep Farm.
When I searched on Ravelry about Maritime Wool Shops, this sheep farm was mentioned. They also have a side business making wooden knitting needles. www.lismoresheepfarmwoolshop.com We pulled off the road and into the farm and there were 3 other cars there plus a couple of motorcycles. First we toured the barn, where they had displays set up explaining the wool process. Partway through we noticed the sheep....and the babies. Two of these beautiful lambs were just born yesterday. They were so beautiful. The ones that were born on July 9th were bleating and we watched the ewe feed them. They didn't seem too strong on their feet.

After our visit to the barn we entered the wool shop where they sold yarn, yarn kits, sheep skin rugs and hats, wool duvets and all sorts of things. I bought several kits and we were back on the road.

We arrived at the Cove Motel around 5.
Another pleasant surprise. We are on the Causeway and the hotel has a guest laundry so we were able to do two loads of laundry before dinner. We went to the dining room at the hotel for dinner. So far this has been the best dinner of our trip. When one is visiting the Maritimes, one feels that they really should order seafood but since I've had seafood for almost every meal since we arrived except one I was again torn between Lemon Pepper Chicken and Maple Glazed Salmon but the waitress told me that the chicken was her favourite so I went for it. I'm so glad I did. It was really good. Someone was supposed to bring Jeff his spinach salad before his meal but they didn't so the waitress felt so bad that she gave us one drink on the house. Jeff thought his dinner was excellent too even though his salad was late.

Tomorrow we head out for Baddeck NS, home of Alexander Graham Bell, Baadeck Yarns and Gateway to the Cabot Trail.

Before and After

2008-07-11T16:55:00.000-07:00

On the way to Hopewell Rocks we came across a winery, http://www.watersidewinery.ca/ that made Blueberry Wine so we stopped there. Jeff tasted their rhubarb and blueberry wines and then we bought some to bring back home. Along the road we saw an old Bank and an old school.

They were just so cool that we had to take pictures.>
At the Hopewell Rocks $8/adult buys you two days admission. I thought that this was a very good deal considering 3 years ago we paid $25 each to see the Capilano Bridge in Vancouver. We did a lot of walking along the ocean floor. And a bit of rock climbing. I am definitely not a billy goat.
Jeff however is. The flowerpot rocks are awesome. It's amazing that the artist is nature itself. After a couple hours at Hopewell Rocks we went for a drive to Cape Enrage. http://www.capeenrage.ca/ On the way there, we pulled over to take a couple pictures of a covered bridge.<

At Cape Enrage there is a lighthouse plus you can go rappelling, climbing or do a zipline. We really just went to check out the lighthouse.

It was so much colder here than at Hopewell Rocks. We didn't say too long because of the cold. You can also see here how the tides have eaten away at the valley. Where their once was a coal room and a steam whistle there is just rubble and the road to delivery the coal is mostly gone.
By this time it was supper time so we headed back up to Hopewell Rocks for dinner. While we were eating a deer walked through the yard behind the restaurant. I was hoping for a moose but it was still nice to see the deer. We got back to Hopewell Rocks in time for high tide and Jeff took all the after shots. It's amazing to see where you walked just a few hours under water. The tides right now are about 36' high but can get as high as 43' high depending on the day. Here are some of the low tide high tide pictures.

Time doesn't stand still....

2008-07-10T15:37:00.000-07:00

at least not for 30 years. This morning we headed for Saint John. We went downtown to the Market Square area and had breakfast/lunch at Cora's in the mall. We wandered around the area for a bit and then headed to Rothesay/Quispamsis for Jeff to relive his childhood. A lot has changed since his last trip here in 78.

We found the house he grew up in and he was happy to find that the initials he carved in one big rock on the lawn were still there. It brought back a lot of happy childhood memories as we toured his old hotspots like the school, Ritchie Lake,

and the Gondola Point Ferry.

I was entertained by the stories of the time when 4 of us on one bike road down the hill with no brakes (wipe out) and how some people used to walk through Garvey's garage to the lake. Although there were a lot of changes, there were some old businesses that he clearly remembered from his childhood. We took the Gondola Point Ferry over and back. It reminds me of the Glenora Ferry, just much shorter. Jeff realized once we left the area that we should of looked for the giant tree that also has his initials carved in it at the top. Thank God!!!

Then about 3ish we headed for Alma. We are staying at the Parkland Village Inn. http://www.parklandvillageinn.com/

It was a pleasant surprise because I wasn't sure what to expect. The hotel seems to be totally renovated and our room which faces the ocean is just like new. We ate in the dining room downstairs. The waitress was friendly and the food was good. What more can one ask for??

We wandered around the area surrounding the hotel. Checked out the harbour and the Fish Market next door.

Alma is much smaller than St. Andrew's and definitely has that fishing village feel but there seems to be quite a lot of other tourists here. In St. Andrew's we didn't see too many other cars from Ontario but here I've seen more.

Day 2 St Andrew's

2008-07-09T17:12:00.000-07:00

Last night we set our cell phones to go off plus the clock radio to ensure that we would not be late for our whale watching cruise. I thought that the time on our cellphones was Eastern Standard time so I suggested that we set them for 5 a.m. which would be 6 a.m. Atlantic time. It was my second night in a row of interrupted sleep. I woke up at 4:30 and I was thinking that our cellphones wouldn't ring until 6 but no...they did ring at 5:00 a.m. I guess they readjust automatically to whatever time zone you are in. Jeff's was on the dresser and mine on the night stand. Jeff made a graceful dash to get his. At this point we discussed the time and we decided if we reset the the cellphones for 6:30 we would still have time to get to the cruise. I fell back to sleep and was again woken by the cellphone. Had our showers and were all ready to go when the cruise company called us to tell us the fog was too thick. They scheduled us on their 4:30 pm. cruise. At least we were up and at it to start the day. We went out to the Huntsman Aquarium. We saw a one month old seal pup and the biggest Atlantic Sturgeon you could imagine.
Seriously, I may have bad dreams about these guys. This aquarium has university courses for Marine Bioligists from several different universities.

Jeff took a walk on the ocean floor,

we went to see the Fairmont Algonguin where Stephen King stayed and got the inspiration for the movie the Shining.

We ate lunch and drank wine on the porch of the Kennedy Hotel.

We went into a few of the stores we missed yesterday and then it was time to go whale watching on the tall ship. It was quite warm when we left but windy and wavy. They warned us that the people at the front of the boat might get wet from waves splashing over the side. One of the young crew members offered us raincoats which we declined as we were at the back of the boat. About one minute out in the Passamaquoddy Bay I got drenched with salt water from a wave that splashed over the side. I grabbed my jacket and thought great, now I will be frozen. The young man who so kindly offered us jackets said to me...so would you like that raincoat now?

It was a long ride to get to where the whales were but the crew were funny.

The owner of the boat liked to act pirate like and his captain was cut out of the same cloth. The two young crew members were so nice. They served homemade pirate soup (not made of pirates but peas) IOn the way back they brought around sea creatures for the young kids to touch. They really went all out for the people. I talked to the one young man for a bit and he told me that he had to go out for a party cruise after this one and wouldn't get done until late but he didn't mind because they got pretty good tips. He said he could be working in a kitchen and hate it and I told him Hayley's story about how she would rather cut off her index finger than work at McDonald's again. It's early in the whale season, they just started showing up again in the last week or 2, but we did get to see a couple of Minke whales. Even though we didn't see as many whales as in Tofino it was still a truly enjoyable night.

It was 8:45 when we got back to the Inn and had to unlock our Inn for the first time. It felt weird unlocking the front door.We were too tired to go out for dinner at this point so we just had some snacks in the room. It was a long day and I'm sure tonight I will sleep good. Tomorrow we head for Saint John to see Jeff's old hood. And then on to Alma for the next two days. Alma is on the Bay of Fundy near the Hopewell Rocks.

First real day of Fun

2008-07-08T16:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a long, long day of driving. Lots of beautiful scenery through New Hampshire and Maine though. We stayed as planned in Bangor Maine. In the morning we decided that we would just head out on the GPS route and stop somewhere enroute for coffee and breakfast. Unfortunately, the route from Bangor to Calais has no real breakfast stops anywhere. I was just dying for a coffee by the time we reached the US/Canada border. And my head was telling me you need caffeine!!! We drove right through to St. Andrews. What a beautiful place. We nixed breakfast and went to the Red Herring Pub where Jeff was super excited to see that they offered wheat-free Fish & Chips. Seemed to be a lot of locals enjoying their lunch there as well. We enjoyed the friendly small town banter. Also, an elderly gentlemen we met who worked as a waiter at the Red Herring lives in Key West during the winter. After lunch, we wandered around and spent some money and booked a whale watching trip for early in the morning on board a tall ship

http://www.whalewatching-cory.com/home-gb.htm

We finally decided to go check in at the Treadwell Inn. This was a very pleasant surprise. It's quaint and cozy and the price wasn't too bad at all. Not only do we have a key to our room but we also have a key to the Inn because later on in the evening they just close the place down.

For supper, we dined at the Harbour Front Restaurant. We both had the Seafood Brochette which has salmon, lobster, shrimp and scallops. Huge plate of food with baked potato, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli. We feel great that we got to eat outside for both meals of the day. Jeff said it reminded him of our vacation to Akumal where we ate outside for every meal.

The Kennedy Inn. We obviously have to go here for drinks tomorrow.

Let the adventure begin!

2008-07-06T04:40:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow Jeff and I will embark on a roadtrip to the Maritimes. First stop Bangor Maine! Super 8 Hotel Accomodations! Our attempt at reducing costs for the trip. And Trip Advisor had some good reviews for this basic hotel. As long as it's clean, the bed is comfortable and we have no inebriated neighbours listening to Ultimate Fighter at a high volume all night we'll be fine!
The 2nd day of the trip and the real touristy part starts when we stay in St. Andrew's NB. We will be staying at the lovely Treadwell Inn. http://www.townsearch.com/treadwell/rooms.htm In room 3. We'll be there for 2 nights! We hope to wander St. Andrew's downtown, eat some lobster and do some whale watching. Stay posted for trip reports and pictures.