Happy Thanksgiving!

Yes it's Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada which means a day off today for me! Hence the reason the blog is a day late! We have had the most amazing weekend of weather. It was 21 degrees today! But let me rewind to the beginning of the week and fill you in on all our comings and goings.
Deborah has been doing a series of Business Orientation Seminars. They happen every Monday, Wenesday & Friday for three weeks and are run by the Immigration office. It gives an excellent insight into doing business the Canadian way. Look out for the resurrection of VIP Cakes! She's also doing the Welcome Wagon stuff for Waverley/Fall River.
As usual it's been a busy week. Cubs this week was on Tuesday evening - a joint meet with the scouts to pick up litter along our designated section of the Highway 2. It's a scheme called adopt a highway and we're lucky enough to have a section of the highway leading from the Wellington Firehall where we meet, towards Enfield. It wasn't too bad, and we never had the repetition of the thong that was found in the spring! However, we found a disgraceful number of Tim Hortons cups....
So I had Wednesday off, but this was spent writing a speech for the Toastmasters meeting on Thursday. It was the club Humorous Speech Contest, and foolishly I said I would take part. As it happens only two members did enter, but to make matters worse, I won! Trouble is this meant I had to drive out to Hubbards on Saturday morning to represent the club in the Area contest. I came second! What happens now is the first and second placed competitors go on to the District competition which is on October 21st in Halifax. I'm not sure I can make this as I'm supposed to be away for the weekend with the Cub leaders learning First Aid and about the equipment. I'll have to see what I can arrange.
Friday night was spent polishing the speech for the Saturday morning, Saturday dawned bright and warm and the drive to Hubbards was glorious. The speech contest was held in a Restaurant right on the seafront - absolutely stunning views.
I then got home around 1pm and we drove out to The Flag Shop in Dartmouth to buy a large Italian Flag. We were hosting the Monthly Newcomers Pot Luck supper and it was on an Italian theme. I also made an excellent Arrabiata sauce and various Italian dishes were brought for us all to sample. It was a very successful evening and I think people enjoyed themselves!
Sunday again dawned bright and warm and we decided to take a drive out to Mount Uniacke which was having a Fall Fun Day with Hot Dogs. Pumpkin Decorating, Apple Bobbing and Fiddle music. We had a lovely walk along the lake there and we even took Bella with us. Even better - she didn't throw up in the car! We took the long way home and stopped off at Withrows farm market where we bought Apples, veggies, Matthew & Emma had an ice cream, and we also ordered a loin of pork with the rind on. It's very difficult to get pork with the rind on - it's always removed and thrown away. Therefore you don't get the crackling! This butcher though will do whatever you want and he'll butcher it with the skin and give us a load of chops and a couple of roasts - all for around $40 - bargain!. Should be ready to pick up in a week. He also does excellent sausages...
When we got home I got the lawnmower out and mowed the front lawn for possibly the last time this season? I put the grassbox on this time to collect all the leaves that are dropping with a vengeance now! As you can see from the photo, the leaves are really turning. I did the front and left the back for today. Probably a mistake as it was soooo warm! However, before I did the back lawn we decided to dismantle the trampoline and put it into storage in the basement. It was a bugger to take apart I have to say - the side rods which act as the springs were really difficult to get out! I did it eventually, but I'm sure to have a blister tomorrow. The back lawn was then finished (with a trip to the local gas station to get more gas (petrol) as I ran out. It did an excellent job of collecting the leaves though. I'll probably use the mower to collect the leaves as it mulches them nicely. We can then make leafmold for the spring.
It was a bit of a wildlife week this week. A black bear was spotted walking along Brook Street (our street leads off Brook) and it spent some time in someone's garden. Then when we were out for our drive on Sunday we saw a porcupine at the side of the road having a root around for grubs in the verge. We stopped, but it did a runner before we could take it's photo. However, we DID get a photo of the raccoon that appeared on our deck this evening. Apologies for the quality, but it was dark and I didn't want to scare it off. Bella was already barking at it! It just sat there and looked at her! It was feeding off the sunflower seeds I had scattered on the deck rail for the blue-jays. Our local squirel also likes the sunflower seeds. This way we thought it would stop them trying to get into the bird feeder. It was fascinating though - it seemed totally unfazed by the barking dog and us stood there watching!
So as it was Thanksgiving, we had Turkey of course, with Roast potatoes, parsnips, squash and green beans. Followed by Apple Pie and Ice Cream. Delicious. We then all retired to the media room in the basement where we watched a movie (The Wild) and then the kids went to bed.
And finally something really scary happened Friday - we received our first Christmas Card. Can you believe it? I can't....