'Tis the season

To quote Dickens, "Bah!" ("Humbug" only appeared in the second draft).

So, OK, we had a wonderful winter solstice season and are well prepared to welcome the New Year. Pictures are from Christmas Eve (people here for munchies and silliness), Christmas Day (stockings and extra presents for the wee folk), and Boxing Day (lovely, noisy family dinner).

Tammy practiced holding very small people. She will need the skill very soon. No pictures of Ryan. Be thankful.

Charlotte practiced being cute.

The hockey game was a big hit. And Jason claims he has no knowledge of the holes in the wall where the shelf once resided. A mystery?

Leonard was at the centre of it all. We had a lovely time with "Great Poppa".

Lots of family photos. Mike & Eri & Charlotte & Bennett. Look at the other blogs for more.

Christmas dinner on Boxing Day was great (unless you are a turkey or vegetable).

Hannah & Nan gave us a Christmas concert.

I got to play with Dana's & Eri's cameras. Aquarium is working well.

It is a Wonderful Life!

Yup, we have snow

A very quick post. Penny is off to Montreal in a few minutes.


These pictures are from last night.

The big cedar tree by the kitchen door with Christmas lights, and the barbeque in the back yard.

Montreal got even more than we did by all reports.

Sunday tree decorating

Sunday was Penny's choir concert. Sorry, no pictures. Dana, Hannah & Jack were there. Also Eri & Charlotte. The concert was great and so were all the kids. Jack almost fell asleep after the excitement of his 3 goals in the morning.

Then off to Dana & Jason's to decorate the tree. The kids were all over it, as usual, with the normal shrieking and giggling.

Dana practiced her kung-fu moves. Actually, this is the necessary pose if you have a camera slung on your shoulder.

And the finished tree may not even have to be completely re-done. Then Chinese food all around. A good day!

Wednesday night we are back with everyone to see Alison. The only one missing will be Andrew.

Halifax (Happy Birthday, Andrew)

So, after much planning and deception (without any explanatory remarks about the 4.5 hour flight from Toronto to Halifax), Penny and I finally got to Halifax late Thursday afternoon to surprise Andrew. Linda and Rick Creese picked us up at the airport (many, many thanks) and drove us to the Radisson hotel downtown (nice place!). We had arranged with Alison to meet at "Jane's On The Commons", a lovely restaurant not far from where Ali and Andrew live. We would get there first, Ali would walk over with And, and, surprise!, there we would be. Andrew knew nothing of the plans.

All went exactly as planned and Andrew was quite confused for a moment. We had a lovely dinner and Andrew's dessert came with a token candle. Great food, gabbing and fun!




After dinner, we all walked to And & Ali's place (which I had never seen). Presents were opened, more babbling and hugging was undertaken and we all had a wonderful time. A & A and Buster all look very well and comfortably at home in their not-quite-so recently-moved-into digs. Now I can imagine them at home being cozy and doing crosswords, playing music or whatever. Then Penny and I walked back to the hotel - quite late Thursday night.


Friday morning came with the usual Halifax sunshine. Our hotel suite looked out toward the harbour and George's Island, so I took several experimental pictures. Penny and I spent most of Friday just walking all around Halifax from about Scotia Square and Historic Properties to Spring Garden Road and the Public Gardens, and down to Terminal Road and the big Super Store near the train station and everywhere in through there. Barrington, Argyle, South Park, Birmingham, Lower Water ...

Halifax has changed since I saw it last about 8 to 10 years ago. Many really interesting restaurants and pubs have been added, some new buildings (and vacant lots trying to get through the development approval process), lots of new and changed stores (with the focus moving from Barrington toward Argyle and Spring Garden Road). And whole areas are exactly the same as they were. The city looks really good for the most part: well kept, alive and thriving. There was even some clearing in the afternoon.


Friday night we went bowling with Andrew and some of his friends.


What a hoot! I have not bowled since before we left the area some 23 years ago. And the bifocals do not help one bit.

Andrew is quite good and really gets into the game. We had a super time with the whole gang (pictured here - except for me).

On Saturday, clearing and COLD, we had lunch and hung out with Frank Davis. No pictures. Frank has an apartment up Spring Garden Road, so we met near there for lunch and went on a short tour around the Dresden Row area. Frank has not changed a bit; still jokes and carries on like crazy. We had a great visit and hope to see him and daughter Sara in Toronto sometime in January. Lots of time was spent looking at current pictures of kids and grand kids. And the sun finally did make a grand entrance late in the day. And we went to the Farmers' Market sometime in the morning.

Saturday night we went out with Linda and Rick to "Saege", a lovely restaurant up Spring Garden very near where Frank lives. What a grand evening being silly and well fed and chatting just as though we had been hanging out like this every weekend for the past 18 years or so that they have lived in Nova Scotia (this time). We came back to our hotel and continued into the night.

Sunday we all relaxed. And & Ali, Linda & Rick and we all had brunch at a pub down the street, chatting and giggling until it was time to head back to the airport and Toronto. We eventually got home Sunday evening to start working through all the little piles of "gotta do this now" things that seem to grow when one is away.

A super trip!

Good news!

A short post: my colonoscopy today showed nothing wrong. This completes the journey that started last December. No cancer at this stage.

As a small advertisement:
Anyone "of an age" (say 50 to 55) should have a colonoscopy. The concept is rude, the preparation day is even more rude, but get it done anyway.
And if you are one of my direct descendants, get the test done around 40 to 45.

Now for a celebratory glass of good wine with dinner!

Sunday Morning

Sunday was a great morning. I have been experimenting with my big aquarium, and by Sunday the rsults were becoming obvious (and good). Then there was the Timbits hockey; I went to see Jack play hockey. Finally, when I got home the sun was shining through the maple tree as the leafs rained down. That led to the Sunday afternoon workout, but that is another story.

The picture of the aquarium shows a plastic Coke bottle on top. This is Dad's new still. I am making alcohol in that bottle, but that is just a by-product. The real purpose is to have the little yeasties burp carbon dioxide. The CO2 is collected in the bottle and fed down a plastic tube into the aquarium (through a stone defuser). This is supposed to help the plant growth, and it works. The aquarium plants are beginning to really respond - after about 2 weeks.

Here are some pictures of Jack (#12) and the game. It is a riot to watch, and Jack seems to be having fun.

Charlotte watched too. A grand outing with Jason and Jack; Eri, Mike, Bennett and Charlotte; followed by Dana, Hannah and Henry. With Grampa arriving in the middle there somewhere.

After the game, as I came home, the sun was playing with the tree and the leafs. Very lovely (except for knowing the whole mess has to be bagged).

Three-way b'day

This is rather late and just the first edition. I have some fun pictures from the annual Big Birthday last month.

Hannah was dressed in a fine gown; looking very grown up.

Hannah was a waitress for the party. She took orders for everyone's drinks. I hope this works because it is rather funny.

Dana took lots of pictures. As always. Some will show up on next year's calendar, no doubt.

And Poppa got to see all the greatgrandkids. There are some other pictures, but this is it for now.

Regarding Chooch

Here is an article that appeared in the Fredericton Gleaner October 29th. The links are to a better article in the St. John Telegraph November 3rd, to a write-up of the NB Arts Excellence Awards from 2006 when Chooch was one of the recipients, and to a write-up of the opening of the Charlotte Street Arts Centre in the school Chooch fought so long and hard to save.

http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/salon/article/115894

http://www.artsnb.ca/eng/excellence_winners2006_cultural.htm

http://www.fal-inc.com/newsOc19.html

Knock, knock. Who's there?

So, here's the story:

We hear a knocking sound at the south side of the house; a rather strange, sharp hammering sound, but somewhat arrhythmic.

A quick look out the kitchen door confirms the suspect - a woodpecker. And the little beggar is modifying the entrance hole to a birdhouse.

Some research in the Audubon book yields the identity of the aforementioned beggar and the probable intent:

• female Downy woodpecker (no red patch seen on the back of the neck, size smaller than a robin),
• woodpeckers will thump on a dead tree limb, or similar material, to announce their presence and declare their territory. In other words, the little beggar was drumming, or
• the house hole may be marked for future use.

It might be nice to have resident woodpeckers, but they do make some weird noises.

Thanksgiving visit

The Thanksgiving weekend has come and gone. I have been remiss in updating these pages.


Granny Gwen came for a visit on Friday. We saw Dana and Jason, Eri and Mike, and all the great-grand kids on Friday and Saturday. Much noise and good fun. GG had gifts for all the kids; well thought out and well received.


Thanksgiving dinner was on Sunday. Only Erika, Bennett and Charlotte Mary were available, everyone else was either busy or on the road. Rather and active group!

So, here's what happened. Erika came over with Bennett and Charlotte. We had a grand time while the bird and other good stuff was cooking.

Everyone took turns entertaining everyone else.


Granny Gwen said "hello" to Charlotte.
Charlotte didn't say much, but she was interested in all the comings and goings.

She has changed a lot in just the 5 weeks or so.





Bennett played with all the toys and then took a picture of Grampa.







The dinner was really great, but I don't have any pictures. Penny took lots of pictures using an ancient camera that has to be loaded with something called "film". And you can't actually see the pictures. Doesn't seem like a very good system to me. Must be hard to sell that idea, what with the time delay and effort to get the pictures out of the camera. And how are you supposed to share them with all your pals?

I did get a couple of pictures of the "last" roses of summer. The way things are going, we may have new roses into February. These were cut and put in the kitchen window.

Nicole & Jeff got married

The wedding was at the Hockley Valley resort - about 90 minutes drive from home. The resort does many weddings, so the place was well prepared. Everything went pretty much as planned, but Jeff seemed a tad nervous.

The girls in the wedding party were gorgeous.

Jen's daughters were 2 of the flower girls and were perfect.
The kids had a great time, but in a very well-behaved way.

Vows were said and the happy couple eventually presented.

Of course, the photographer looked great, too.

After the ceremony, there was a pause as pictures were taken. Jason helped as the photographer's assistant.

Everyone danced up a storm, even the photographer.

Eventually, even the Maritime contingent got tired, so it was called a night and away to bed. Many people stayed overnight at the resort, so bed time was definitely in the wee hours.

Congratulations to Nicole and Jeff Creese!