Photos

I'm sure some of you eagle eyed individuals will have spotted the link to the photos on the right. If not, click on the 'Charlie & Karen's Visit' link and it will direct you to my online album of the photos taken while they were with us. I will get around to captioning them at some point, but as there are 312 photos in the album, this may take a while (plus the fact that we weren't with them all the time, so I may have difficulty identifying where they are!)
I may have to go through and selectively delete, as there are some pretty unflattering ones as well!! Depends who gets there first, me or you.....
On another sadder note, Deborah was informed yesterday that Purple Tree are ceasing business. The parent company have taken a 'business decision' not to continue with the company. She's less than impressed as you may imagine, especially as she was doing really well with it. Oh well, life goes on....

Whale Watching?

Well first of all apologies to all those regular blog readers who were expecting an update at the weekend. I'm a day late - sorry. We got back late Sunday from our whale watching weekend and then we were out to dinner this evening and basically I haven't had the time! Of course I could've done it at work, but I had a big presentation to do today to DND so I was snowed under (and stressed!)
So what has happened this week? Well it's been a busy one! Charlie & Karen arrived last Sunday to a glorious couple of days of sunshine. I don't think they were expecting it to be quite so warm! However, a pleasant surprise. They have had a busy week doing the trips to Lunenburg, Mahone Bay, Peggy's Cove and so on. On Wednesday evening we drove down to Hubbards to meet them and went to the Shore Inn. The history of this is quite interesting....In 1813 there was a battle between the US Frigate 'Chesapeake' and the British 'Shannon'. Needless to say the British won and the defeated US ship was taken to Halifax where a lot of the fixtures and fittings were sold at auction. The Harnish family aquired the large copper cook-pot. It was put to use as a feed trough for the family dairy farm in Hubbards.

In the summer of 1936 The National Gyro Club contacted Guy Harnish about hosting a "lobster supper" on Hubbards Beach. The old pot was cleaned and polished and cooked its first meal in over 100 years.

The lobster supper was a great success, and soon other groups began to seek the services of the Harnish family. Weather was always an issue, so in 1946 Roy Harnish (Guy's son) built the Shore Club so that groups could be accommodated even on rainy days. The old cook-pot was decommissioned in 1957 after it was partially destroyed in a barn fire, where it was stored for the winter. However, the Lobster Supper tradition continued and this is where we found ourselves on Wednesday evening! I have to say it was an excellent evening and everyone enjoyed the all-you-can-eat mussels and salad for starters. The Lobster were excellent. The weather was also superb and Hubbards on a perfect evening like this is unbeatable. The bay was like a millpond.

So the toursits continued doing what tourists do (I was at work all week, so couldn't join them) and then on Friday we left mid-afternoon for a drive up to Smith's Cove for a weekend of discovery and Whale Watching. We stayed at Hedley House (Inn by the sea) on the Friday and Saturday night. We woke up Saturday morning to heavy rain and indeed this continued for our entire drive up Digby Neck to Brier Island where our boat trip was due to depart. Fortunately the rain stopped just before we embarked (of course it would as we had just bought Matthew and Emma new waterproof coats) and we set off on time. Now we were quite excited as this team had spotted a Blue Whale two days before, the first time one had been seen in the Bay of Fundy. Sadly it was not to be and after sailing around for nearly 5 hours, not a single whale was spied. Of course we were disappointed - especially for Charlie & Karen. We all got free tickets to return and try again (they guarantee a sighting or you get a free trip), but that is not much use to them as they fly back to the UK on Tuesday! However, it was still a fun day and at least the rain stopped! The following day started off with rain again, but after we went to the First Nation Reserve at Bear River and looked at the exhibits and then drove down to Annapolis Royal it had stopped. We had a lovely few hours walking around Annapolis Royal including the Historic Gardens. There are some lovely historic buildings there and a few photos were taken. I've included a couple of photos here, but what I'll do is provide a link to a whole raft of photos that have been taken by us and Charlie during their visit. It might take a day or two to upload them all and caption them, so please be patient. I'll let you know when they are done. In the meantime we have a photo of Charlie's 'Large' Lobster supper and me on the boat with Camera in hand wistfully gazing out in search of whales. The caption may well read 'Where are all the bloody whales?'
Our visitors depart tomorrow and so tonight we took them to Montana's, a great place for Ribs etc (which happens to be Matthew and Emma's favourite). A great time was had by all and all that remains to be done is wave them farewell from the airport. Their visit has gone really quick.....

Wot - No Comments?

Now I know a lot of people are reading my blog (my counter tells me so...), I also know these people are scattered across the world (my counter tells me this too), obviously most are located within the UK, but I've had visitors from the States and Norway (welcome!). It struck me that it would be nice if now and again visitors left a comment. Now this could range from what they like about the blog, what they don't like, or even some questions about life in Canada. You could also tell me where you live! I won't bite!! I try to answer questions within the body of the blog, but if need be, I'll reply with another comment.
Now we're going Whale Watching off the Bay of Fundy this weekend. I know there are lots of opportunities there, but which is the best one to go to? Who does the best trip? Anyone out there know? Anyone been on one of these trips?
I must remember to take the old fashioned film camera. Digital ones are all very good, but once you start using the digital zoom (as opposed to the optical), they don't perform. Plus they aren't great at quick photos, such as when a whale appears out of nowhere.....I wish. Don't worry, I'll get digital copies and get them posted here, or on my online album (with a link from here).
Yesterday really dragged. Felt really drowsy all day. I think it may have been an anti-histamine I took, so I'll see if today is any better without it!
Anyway, busy week this week at work, new guy arrives later this week (welcome Nick!!) and presentations to prepare....best I get on with it.
Enjoy the rest of your week.

What a difference a week makes..

Well what a week weather wise! It started off on Monday pretty well the same as the previous week ended (grey and drizzle). However, it all came to a head on Thursday when we got the tail end of Hurricane Alberto. It was a shocking day - howling gales and wind. Apparently we had stronger winds here than they had in Florida. Either way, the drive from the Airport to downtown for Toastmasters was 'entertaining'! If it hadn't been the last meeting of the season, I may well have given it a miss. However it was the last meeting and apart from a party next week, it's all over until September. Looks like Summer is here! So following the horrendous weather on Thursday, it's been glorious ever since! Yesterday was particularly hot and we got a lot done in the garden. I managed to get the whole lawn cut - it took me two hours, but it's looking really good. It was lovely again when we woke up today (Fathers Day!!) and so we decided to get up and get out and do some more gardening. So no lie-in here! However this was also due to the house alarm going off. Matthew decided he'd get up, put the collar on the dog and then not let her out. Of course, we assumed when Bella came up to the bedroom with her collar on, she'd been let out for her morning ablutions! Apparently not, and so when Deborah got down, she opened the patio doors and the alarm went off. After apologizing to the Alarm Monitoring Company who phoned 30 seconds after it went off, it was time to open Father's Day cards and gifts - I got a new Weber Smokey Joe Barbecue!! Fabulous. After some excellent croissants from Atlantic Superstore, it was out into the garden. Got some new shrubs planted, and started digging the turf from the bed extensions at the front. This will be a work in progress, but at least we have the plants in to start establishing. However, come 11am it was too hot, so we called it a day and went inside to shower off the sweat and mud! Plus we had to take a drive up to the airport to meet Charlie & Karen. They had a great flight in from London, no delays, in fact they were 10 minutes early! We had a lovely afternoon sat on the deck and we went for a walk with Bella and then we had barbecued steak for supper. All very civilised! They managed to stay up until 9pm but have now hit the sack!
They brought over a BiOrb Fish Tank which Deborah had ordered for Emma. It's basically similar to an old fashioned Goldfish bowl, but made of acrylic and hardly needs cleaning. These aren't available over here yet, but the company were very accommodating and provided it with a 110 power supply. We're very grateful to Charlie and Karen for lugging it over! There are lots of plans for the week and of course we're going whale watching next weekend. Very exciting.
Matthew and Emma are getting excited about the imminent summer holidays. They have less than two weeks till they break up.
They have a few friends who have pools, so they are making the most of that and accepting the invites with glee. Just about everyone's pool is now open and ready for use, so everyone seems to be making the most of the glorious weather. It's due to last most of the week, but as with weather everywhere, that will probably change!
Anyway, that's about all my news for this week. Apologies for the lack of pictures - I just haven't taken any!! I'll rectify that next week following the whale watching trip....

More rain....

Well it's been a pretty miserable week weatherwise. However, as I'm at work all the time, it's not such an issue!! However, it's carried over into the weekend which isn't so good. We had the most torrential downpour on Saturday morning. So heavy it took a branch off a friends tree. Deborah and the children had walked down to the local Firehall to go to a fleamarket in aid of something (I forget what) and luckily were actually in the hall when the rain hit. Needless to say I went and collected them!
So what's been going on this week. Well as you know it was our 6month anniversary on Wednesday, which gave rise to an 'extra' blog to celebrate/recollect/summarize. So really I only have half a week to blog this time. No cubs as it's finished for the summer, so Wednesday's are now my own! Thursday was the volunteer tea. They put on a tea at the school for all those parents who have volunteered their services during the school year one way or another. Deborah went along as she'd volunteered a few times for things such as school trips/classroom help etc. It was a nice occasion and she won a plant!
Then Thursday evening I was at Toastmasters as usual, only two more weeks to go though until it too finishes for the summer. They finish up with a party at one of the members houses, so that should be fun. I'll be really involved next year as I'm on the executive, so best I get plenty of swatting up done over the summer!
Friday evening was the PTA dance in the form of a ceilidh at the local firehall. It was a good night, but the turnout was a little disappointing. We even had a go at Cape Breton dancing. A bit like Moira 'singing shortbread tins' Anderson doing Riverdance. Very energetic and very tiring. They had a girl who teaches it, come along and give a bit of instruction. She's starting classes for beginners in September - we might go along - could be a laugh...
Saturday was a quiet day - lots of rain as I said, so it was spent inside mainly. I popped out to buy a Strimmer - a cordless one no less. I charged it last night and had a quick try of it this afternoon. Very impressed. I suspect it may be used a lot! Emma was invited over to a friends for the evening, so Matthew and I walked her over with the dog. They invited us in for a quick drink and Bella and their Labrador went beserk! They had a ball tearing around the house! Anyway, it was then back home and an early night after all the dancing the night before...
Then today it was the 'Over the Garden Gate' event, which is something similar to the UK National Gardens Scheme, where private individuals open their gardens to the public in aid of charity. This event is in aid of the YWCA which does a lot for cancer patients here. There were nine gardens in total spread over the Halifax area. Four downtown, two in Bedford and three in Kingswood. All very impressive in their own right. Ranged from a small town garden, to a tiered garden running down to a lake in Kingswood, to a lovely wooded garden in Bedford. The photos were taken at the Bedford garden, except for the Hosta which was taken at one of the town gardens. Matthew was very taken with the giant Hostas - as you can see they don't have a slug problem here! It was a lovely day though, despite the drizzle at first. Everyone was very enthusiastic, and in fact one lady asked us how long we'd lived here, and then told us we'd moved to Paradise....indeed.

6th Month Anniversary....

Well here it is - 6 months to the day since we landed in Canada. Hard to believe, and it's gone so quickly. I thought it would be a good opportunity to reflect, make some observations, and list our achievements. I also took a couple of pictures of the house last night so you can see how it's changed now that the trees all have some leaves on them! It was getting late however, so apologies if they appear a little dark. Incidentally, if you click on the pictures, they open up in a bigger window so you can see them more clearly.
So do we have any regrets? Absolutely not - of course we miss family and friends, but with the wonders of modern technology and this blog, we manage to keep in touch. Matthew and Emma are particularly bad at replying to emails from their friends and no amount of pestering on our part makes any difference. However, Emma now has her own computer in her bedroom and we're hoping this will encourage her to be more conscientious at replying! I might even encourage her to start a blog.
Things are different here, of course they are, it's a different country, but that doesn't mean they are bad. There are some things that aren't as convenient or as switched on as things in the UK, but you accept these. Such as? Well, you can't buy wine/beer in the supermarket - you have to go the Liquor Corporation (but it's usually next door to the supermarket). The unions are very strong here - bit like they were in the UK before Maggie whipped them into shape. There's a big paper mill in Cape Breton, been shut for weeks because of a Union Dispute. It will shut soon - they can't afford to keep it open if it isn't running, so they'll all be out of a job. Not good in Cape Breton, it isn't exactly brimming over with potential employers. So that will be a result for the Union won't it?
Although petrol prices here are lower, they fluctaute wildly - for instance it went up 7c a liter on Monday night. Glad I filled up on Saturday! However, we do live a bit out of town and tend to use a lot of fuel. The other side of that though is that I have a 10 minute drive to work, and we live in a fantastic neighbourhood, have a great house with plenty of space.
Our heating bill is higher, but then we'd expect that - it's colder here in the winter and we have a bigger house. Next year we will be making a lot more use of the wood stove and the supply of free fuel we have out back following the tree felling. The house though is extremely well insulated and the heating has been off now for a month, and even last night the house was warm even though it wasn't a particularly warm day. We had to open the bedroom windows it was so warm (what sort of bird it was that woke me up I have no idea, but it had a really annoying call!).
Food prices I would say are on a par overall, with fruit and veg on the expensive side (it's all imported from the States and South America during the winter) and convenience foods cheaper. Milk is more expensive. We keep our eye out for deals though! There is also Costco which enables us to buy certain stuff in bulk which keeps costs down.
Drivers are much more polite with speeds generally lower and there is much less traffic. If you head downtown during the rush hour then you will hit traffic - it is the Capital City of Nova Scotia after all, as well as the largest city in the Maritimes, but it's still better traffic-wise than Swindon!
The television is shocking - good job we don't watch much. Main problem is the adverts. Same ones over and over again, sometimes the same one twice in the same commercial break. We've just started watching Canadian Idol - that's how bad it is!! We do get the odd UK import, but they are few and far between and we have just cancelled BBC Canada as we were getting sick of the endless repeats of Carol Smillie and Changing Rooms....If we see something good coming on, we can always get the channel on it's own for a month. The joys of cable.
Telephone calls are cheaper (free in the local area), international probably more expensive - we tend to use Skype or messenger instead. Our internet is very good - 10 meg line, so very fast and reliable as well.
The school system is similar is some respects. We put Matthew and Emma in their age group as opposed to their academic level. It has given them the year to get used to how things are done and the differences in teaching methods. I suspect Emma has been a little bored once she got into the swing of things, but next year I think she'll really take off. Matthew is, well, Matthew. If we can get him to focus we'll be well on our way!
So that was the observations, now onto our acheivements.
It took us less than a month to get all unpacked and sorted. We had a housewarming party to meet the neighbours just after Christmas and this was excellent. I would thoroughly recommend moving just before Christmas - everyone really made us feel welcome.
We sorted out our health cards, doctor and dentist, cars, insurance, utility hook-ups, all in the first week of arrival. Matthew and Emma were in School within 4 days of arriving and getting into the routine.
I managed to get a job within 2 months of arrival, and managed to combine it with a career change. Okay it's not as well paid as I would have liked, but it is still well above average and I'm still learning a new 'trade'. It's also very enjoyable!
I have joined Toastmasters and come September I will be on the executive committee. I have already completed two speeches, both of which were well received. In fact someone has suggested I enter the second speech in the Humorous Speech Competition coming up in the fall. Not sure about that - it wasn't THAT good!
Deborah is a member of Newcomers and again she will be on the committee this coming term as secretary. She has also started her own business selling craft goods and projects. (See her website link to the right). She has also done sterling work in the garden. Nothing grows all winter and then suddenly it becomes a jungle of weeds! She's been out there weeding despite the onslaught of blackfly!
Matthew and Emma are Cubs and I will be invested as a leader in September (can't wait). We've been on two Cub Camps (well three really, but they didn't sleep over on the first) and trips to York Redoubt, Martinique Beach as well as numerous evening hikes and activities. They certainly do put the out into scouting!
We've done lots of visiting of places around Nova Scotia. We haven't managed to take in Cape Breton, or the other end of the province (Yarmouth), but plenty of visits to Peggy's Cove/Lunenburg and up to the Valley.
We've got a dog. Rescued from a center in Cape Breton (though she'd been re-homed once to Truro and we collected her there). She's got a fantastic nature and has settled in really well. We have an Invisible Fence, so she's got the run of the entire garden.
I've probably missed loads, but I'm writing this at work, and I really should get on with some work. If I remember anything else I'll add it later!
Enjoy the pictures. Please leave your comments - they are appreciated.

Warmer but wetter

Well although the weather has turned a little milder it's also turned wetter. We've had a couple of days of rain and it's forecasted on and off for the next few days. Can't complain though because really we've been lucky with a dry mild winter and by all accounts we're in for a long dry summer - we'll see though. Of course the warm wet weather means the grass is growing really fast! (and the dandelions...).
We recovered from the camping excursion last weekend and then on Wednesday night we had the end of season Cub Photo show which was held in our basement. A good time was had with over 400 photos shown on the big screen. There were some nice ones of Matthew and Emma which I hadn't seen before, so I've added a few of them here.
A big milestone will be reached on Wednesday - our 6 month anniversary since landing in Canada. This means I am now half way through this blog. We'll have to celebrate with a Tim Horton's! As it happens the team at work go to Tim's every Wednesday for lunch - it's a way of getting out of the office for half an hour! I also try and meet Deborah there once a week for lunch if she can fit it into her busy schedule! Talking of work, we now have a total of four on the team, so despite the fact I have only been there four months, I am the second most senior member! The two new recruits are new to the field as well. One is Chinese and the other is Canadian (of Portuguese descent) so we have a real international flavour! We have some fascinatiing conversations on customs in each others countries etc! As usual I was at Toastmasters on Thursday evening, and I have just been elected the new Vice President Education. A very complex role apparently as it involves tracking all members progress through the program and assigning mentors etc. However, it's a challenge and I'm looking forward to it. As a result of this, I attended an executive officers training course on Saturday in Halifax. A very interesting day with some good pointers on how to do the job. Then in the evening we were all at a Pot Luck Supper with a Mexican theme. This was as a result of Deborah's involvement with Newcomers. She too has been roped into doing one of the organisational roles and she's now the secretary. The supper was a good do and wespoke to some interesting people. Today as it was raining we watched a movie in the media room (Scooby Doo 1) and then we went to Laurie Park to walk Bella. Luckily the rain held off ,but the children still got wet - I wonder why.......We had the little boy from next door with us as well, I'm sure his Mum & Dad were thrilled when he got home! (they are actually wearing shorts!). The photo of Matthew was taken at Smiley's Camp last weeknd, Emma on the beach was at Martinique when we went to look at Piping Plovers, Emma in the Cub hat was taken a couple of weekends ago at the Cub Fun Day, and the children in the lake was taken today and it speaks for itself.
Incidentally, one good thing about the rain, no blackfly!!