New Post New Year

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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

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.

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

Mural in the Museum

Inside the Headlight Museum... a lighthouse lens.

Winter 2010

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

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.

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Heard on the street

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

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

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!