Hockey & Chinese

Another week has shot past, and the weather, thankfully has been pretty kind to us here, cold yes, but sunny in part too and no snow....Well there was some actually but it was half an hour away from where we are, so that was okay! I think in actual fact the UK has it colder with more snow than we do right now, but I am sure that will all change!

Not too much to report this week, the company I work for has been bought out and there is a bit of a re-shuffle going on at the top, our manager is now not our manager anymore and the chap that used to be manager in the branch, is now manager again. In the long term I have no idea how this take over will affect things, I guess only time will tell, but we are now a cog in a slightly bigger machine than we were before.

I know that most of you have now received your Christmas cards from me! I was early, but the girl in the post office told me such horror stories about the length of time the post took at this time of year I felt I should post everything as soon as possible. If you haven't had a card from me yet, it's either lost in the post, or I have sent it to someone else to give to you!

Apart from work we have done nothing this week apart from going out last night. We headed out with Tom and Marg to watch the Dalhousie Tigers play again. OMG, what a great game it was too, very fast paced and exciting, They were up against one of the top teams UNB and personally I thought there was no way they were going to win, but they played so well defensively. UNB dominated the game in terms of attempts on goal, but the wall of defence put up by Dal really was formidable and as much as UNB tried they could get past it, meanwhile the UNB goalie had very little action, which meant that when Dal did get the puck down UNB end, they caught him off guard, and scored. The final tally was Dal 6 UNB 3. Dal Tigers are now officially my faves!

After the hockey we headed out for a Chinese...I have been itching for Chinese food for the last couple of weeks and The Great Wall restaurant, did not disappoint, it was a great night and we will definitely be going back there again!

On the UK side of things I am glued to I'm a Celeb and enjoying every minute of it. Shaun to win! Gillian Mackeith, needs a good kick up the backside though.

Marg, Tom and Rob, at the game

And now some random shots...

Matching Reds, taken at Blue a couple of weeks ago

Falling Down, a lovely old barn taken near Maitland in the Summer

Giving off Sparks

Well hello again, It's Sunday so it must be time for an update. I don't have to much news to report, but I guess the big story is the change in weather. Yesterday it snowed! But in all fairness it was an anti-climax, just a few flurries where we are and nothing settled, but the temperature really dropped down, I think it was -7 last night and it's been about -3 all day today, of course the wind chill makes it feel a whole lot colder. Even though it was cold, today was beautifully sunny again, not a cloud in the sky. I got to wear my new coat which my dad bought for me when he was over visiting. Thanks dad!!

I have a couple of observations this week, firstly I had no idea how the temperature would affect my clothing and the amount of static generated, in the last week I have noticed I am practically giving off sparks when I remove my cardigan. I literally have to wrestle it off my body. I have checked with a few people and apparently this is really common. I have a few tips to try out to reduce it and I plan to get some anti-static spray. Secondly my skin is really suffering, I am starting to flake across my nose and cheeks, so I definitely need to invest in some thick old cold cream to keep me from drying out altogether. Rob bought me a pair of ice traction slip on's yesterday in preparation for the weather ahead and to hopefully prevent me from falling on my arse!

This weekend was the Sackville Photography Club Fall Show in Sackville Library, Rob and I went along today to check it out, they did a good job and most members that submitted got 2 or three prints up and 5 images per member in the slide show on display. Rob and I finally got to meet up with another of my flickr contacts, Shaun. He and his wife Suzanne are from New Minas, and up until now we haven't managed to meet up, so it was great to see both of them, Nancy, Darrel and Dave were also in attendance today and of course we headed for Tim Horton's after the show.

The Fall Show at Sackville Library

Freedom 55, one of two images I had on display this weekend...

...Autumn on the Parkway was the other one

Gearing up for Winter!

Bank Holiday Thursday!

So another week has come and gone. I cannot believe we are coming up to 6 months already. It seems so weird thinking back and how much we have accomplished in the last few months. I mean who would have thought I would have passed that damn driving test and be commuting to work in a city?! My advise to anyone thinking of doing this kind of thing is just to keep going, the minute you pause to catch your breath you start to think all those thoughts like 'am I doing the right thing?' And that can seriously distract you from achieving your goals and moving forward, no matter how hard the journey may be sometimes.

Thursday was a bank holiday. Over here they celebrate Remembrance Day here on the 11th and regardless of whether it's a Thursday or not it's a day off...Quite odd having a Bank Holiday on anything other than a Monday or a Friday as you slip into weekend mind set and it's very hard to get up for work on Friday!

Nancy, Rob and I spent the day out around the Peggy's Cove Loop, The weather was beautifully blue but pretty windy along the coast. We discovered a new spot called Paddy's Head Road. Such a pretty place, a community of 9 houses on a Island, that is attached to the mainland by a small causeway and a bridge. We were hanging around there for ages, when one of the residents (Peggy) came to collect her post. We got chatting and found out that her husband (Brian) is a semi famous artist with a studio in Toronto and she kindly invited us in to her beautiful home and the studio to view the work...Amazing paintings, mostly musically inspired, with jazz musicians being the focus of many. Great house with an ocean view from pretty much every window. Needless to say this place is now on my wish list of places to live.

After leaving there we ambled along to Peggy's, stopping on the way at every blade of grass for photos, finally at Peggy's we had something to eat in the restaurant and watched the sunset.

Rob was working Saturday, so I caught up on some chores. The weather was unbelievably mild yesterday, sunny again with a high of 13 and no wind. It was very summery. Today was colder, sunny once more but around 7 degrees. We headed out to a hiking path near Peggy's (which is what I wanted to find on Thursday, but we ran out of time). The little trail takes you along to a gorgeous view of a group of islands, one of which is called Indian Island, rugged and very beautiful!

Solitude at Peggy's

The view looking out towards Indian Island


Hackett's Cove, one of the many stops on Thursday


Autumn Boat House on Waverley Road

Go Tigers!

An early update this week, Saturday instead of Sunday...That'll be because it has been rubbish weather! Yesterday we had gale force winds again, and today although the wind has stopped it has been raining all day, it's all due to a weather system coming up from New England. The good news is even though it's raining it is very mild. This afternoon I went to investigate a few shopping places I had not yet been to. One in particular is the Mic Mac Mall which is very near to us. From the outside it doesn't look as if there is much there, but once inside it was brimming with good stuff! Excellent food hall too!

Friday night we had a last minute invite to attend a hockey game, something that Rob and I have wanted to do for a while. Darrel picked us up and we went to Dalhousie University to watch The Dalhousie Tigers play St Thomas Tommies (from New Brunswick). It was fast paced and exciting, The Tommies took the lead and entering the last period they were 4 -2 up. But it all changed, and Dalhousie caught up and evened the score just a minute before end of play, they went on to clinch the win just one minute before the end of extra time. Hats off to them as I didn't think they would come back from being 2 down let alone win it.

Not much else to report this week. We had our winter tires put on the car in prep for all the snow I am sure we will get. Hamish had a five minute venture outside on his lead, quite exciting for him. I was surprised he wanted to even go out, but he showed a bit of interest, I had to drag him back in though as two other cats were wandering round...Typical as I haven't seen a single cat in ages (not since Darrel) and then all of a sudden I take mine out and two come along, one black one ginger. Both ran off before I could make friends with them....damn it!

UHaul are having a Christmas party some time at the end of November or early December, so Rob and I are going to that, sounds like fun, it consists of a meal first then Pool at Dooleys, my kind of night. Dooleys is a chain of pool halls around here, just in case you were wondering :o)

The clocks go back here tonight, so that's to look forward to...NOT...Getting up in the dark is standard now, but coming home in the dark, hmmm, not nice! Roll on Spring I say!

I think there's a puck in there somewhere!

I think this look says 'Come and have a go at goal if you

think your hard enough!'

Getting ready for when the Ref drops that puck,

that's about the same time I take 160 pictures out of focus!

Fancy Dress

As I was away from work last week I missed their annual dress up. Not everyone participates but those who do like to get a group shot, so here are a few of my work colleagues all dressed up, although I am not rightly sure what some of these outfits have to do with Halloween, none the less it made me laugh. Especially Shaun and his Mexican Hat.

From Left to Right: Shaun, Arthur, Rebecca, Marcel, Loan, Ursula & Wayne