Happy New Year!!

I am back! It feels like forever since I did an update on here. Happy New Year to you all.

My brother coming to visit over the holidays made Christmas special for Rob and I, it was great having him here and although it's Winter, the weather wasn't so bad apart from a couple of days. The day after he arrived the snow came down, he helped me dig out the path and the car and we took the ferry across to Halifax, the snow didn't let up for most of the day and Clive had to invest in a hat...He also bought me one for Christmas, I will post a shot of this on my head in due course which I know all of you will find amusing.

Christmas Eve Rob and I showed Clive some of the South Shore, including all my favourites, Mahone Bay, Blue Rocks, Lunenburg and Stonehurst...Which I think had to be the coldest place on earth that day, crossing the small foot bridge there we all instantly went numb with the wind chill.

In contrast, Christmas Day was quite different, the sun was shining, and although the temperature was minus 10 there was no wind at all and it certainly felt much warmer. We wound our way around the Peggy's Cove loop (Route 333) stopping at many places along the way and ending up at Peggy's. Everything looked like a Winter wonderland, very pretty and I had never seen it all in the snow before.

On the way home we stopped off at Deb's for a quick drink and a Mince pie, then finally back home for a late Christmas dinner and some present opening. We wanted to do something Canadian with Clive, so one of his presents was a ticket to a Hockey match on December 27th, The Halifax Mooseheads vs the PEI Rockets at the Metro Centre. The Metro Centre is the largest venue in Halifax for events like this and concerts etc. The game was great, plenty of action and even a fist fight on the ice at one point. What astounded us the most though was the utter disregard for the PEI team. When Halifax scored the fanfare and celebrations were unmissable, but when PEI scored you could hear a pin drop, they were even booed after one goal. The outcome was inevitable and The Mooseheads won in the end.

We did quite a lot in a short time and of course took Clive out for Fish and Chips at Wharf Wraps, which I think we all enjoyed, we also took a drive around in the evening to check out some of the Christmas Lights, I thought some in Dartmouth were impressive until we found the battle of the lights in Halifax at two stunningly large houses in a rather posh part of town. Apparently they do this every year and take donations for the food banks. Our favourite is featured below.

As quickly at Clive came he was gone. We took up to the airport on Thursday night and said goodbye, which did not come easy for me I can tell you. Since then it's been quite dull. I was working Friday, New Year's Eve came and went and Rob and I did nothing apart from watch movies and eat chocolate. We did briefly contemplate heading down town to watch the bands and the celebrations, but it was raining most of the evening and that alone was enough to put me off so we watched it on telly instead.

Clive thanks for coming and for everything you did on the IT front. Now next time come back in Summer!

Smile...You're at Peggy's and it's minus 10 degeees!

Snowy Lobster Traps at Peggy's

Winter at Blue Rocks

Now that's what I call Christmas Lights!

Seasons Greetings

Another week done and dusted and this will be my last blog entry this side of Christmas. My brother will be here next week and I can't wait! We will be busy out and about hopefully weather permitting, so there will be no time for blogging.

This week has been pretty uneventful, Robert has again been working hellishly long hours and has not been getting home till late in the evenings, so he is pretty knackered.

Saturday evening we attending a party at Anne's house (Anne is another member of the camera club)...Nice spread and good company. A few of the regulars also attended including Cheryl and Deb. Anne lives in Dartmouth and her area was full of some pretty amazing Christmas lights. I have been enjoying seeing many of the houses lit up beautifully. I intend to get out and capture some of the more elaborate ones over the holidays. Until then here's one that caught my eye earlier, taken with my little point and shoot camera.

It's nearly Christmas and I don't think I have mentioned the resident deer much. In case any of you were wondering, they have been about, not as much though sadly. I had 4 of them outside the front door the other night, so I fed them an apple, as I was chucking the slices, suddenly from around the corner of my house the stag came bounding along...frightened the life out of me...and the other deer, the promptly butted them out of the way and took most of the apple for himself. So rare to see him, first time for me and I wasn't getting to near to those antlers I can tell you. He is not massively big but I reckon he could do some damage.

I have been scouting the Christmas TV in the UK...OMG, I didn't think it could get any worse, but this year has to be truly the worst yet. There is hardly anything worth watching, so I hope you all have your board games at the ready.

Whatever you are doing and whoever you are with, Robert and I wish you all a Very merry and peaceful Christmas.

Ho Ho Ho, How very Festive!

Beautiful Blue Rocks

Wind and Shopping

Well we are still here and hanging on to some good weather. A slight blip this week with some extreme wind, which they called a weather bomb. Gusting winds of 100km per hour were just a tad tricky to walk about in and for me it was a little hairy crossing the bridge!

Rob and I attended Camera Club on Wednesday, it has been quite a while since Rob has been able to attend, so it was nice for him to catch up with a few people.

On Thursday night we went shopping, we didn't leave until about 7pm and didn't get back until about 10.30pm. the trouble is with shopping here, particularly in Walmart, is there is so much to look at, Rob says constantly he hates going shopping with me as I am like a Magpie, anything shiny seems to catch my eye. Some of the Christmas decorations were on sale and I picked up a few bits to add to my tree.

Saturday night Cheryl came round, her PC is being repaired so I said she could edit some images round my place for Suzanne (the shoot we did last weekend). It was good fun watching her and sharing techniques. I also introduced her so some British telly which she loved!

Bit of a quiet week news wise, so apologies for the short entry. I can't imagine there will be too much on the agenda between now and Christmas.

More from Peggy's...Not many photos to post lately!

Christmas Lights

Well I must say it's been another rather non-eventful week, so this could be my shortest blog entry to date.

The weather hasn't been too bad at all, a mixture of sun and cloud, the temperatures are getting cooler again now though so it's definitely time to don the big coats!

Rob and I bought some new lights for the Christmas Tree this week, it didn't have nearly enough last year and we got so sick of trying to find replacement bulbs that we have changed to white LED lights this time.

After much huffing and puffing by me and several hours later, my tree was up on Friday night. I have no clue why it always takes me so long as I am certainly not particular about placement of ornaments or anything, but I can never get through it in under 3 hours.

In other news this week, I finally got an appointment date for my sonogram, it's not until the 16th of January, I shall just have to shuffle on until then, and after that I just hope they find out what's wrong quickly so I can hopefully start to rectify it.

I invited Cheryl out with me on Saturday to do a family portrait session with one of my co workers Suzanne. She asked me a few weeks ago to do it and I thought it would be good practice for me, but never having done children in the mix before I needed back up. The light was a real challenge and so was getting all to look and smile at the same time, but we got a few shots that weren't bad.

Cheryl, myself and Deb are planning to start a collaboration from next Spring, to do Weddings, Portraits and Trash the Dress shoots on weekends. We think that being 3 women and having a unique selling point of having 3 photographers at a session plus a competitive price point will hopefully bring in the bookings and cash. We are at present formulating names for the venture so we can start on the website. Deb and I already possibly have another session already and Cheryl is lining up a few weddings.

My first attempt at a Family Portrait


A shot from Mount Uniake Area a couple of weeks ago.

First Snow

So here's me thinking that we weren't going to get any snow until December! On Tuesday night they forecast a snow storm coming in that was going to affect pretty much all of the Province except coastal areas which would receive a lot of rain instead. I was thinking, well it will be rain here then. Woke up Wednesday no sign of snow, drove to work and by 8.30am the white stuff was coming down!

They always say here, small flakes big amount of snow. These were small flakes and they kept on coming the whole day. The driving outside looked tricky to say the least. I ended up getting a lift home and leaving my car at work, just as well as the roads were chaos. I think in total there were 60 accidents on the roads. The main reason being that many people have not changed over their summer tires to winter ones (we changed ours at least 3 weeks ago). In total around 35cm of snow fell, it was pretty impressive. Yet as fast as it came it went, the temperatures are so mild again, it has been melting ever since. I think we are back up to double digits now.

Sorry I don't have any photos of the snow for you, but I haven't really had the time to take any shots until today, and now it really isn't worth the effort.

Robert had to drive home in that weather, he found it a little tense to say the least. His motto was to keep going no matter what because once you stop, you're stuck, well the ironic thing about his journey was that he very nearly did get stuck thanks to a snow plough who was wheel spinning in the middle of the road.

Nothing else to report, all very quiet here. Rob and I bought a Vacuum Cleaner this week it was on sale and a very good deal, so I have been making the most of it and cleaning the house from top to bottom. It's pretty hard to keep things clean when it gets to this time of year with all the weather and salt being tramps in through the house.


Mount Uniake Estate

Autumn Lines - Trees in Smileys Provincial Park


Woman in Red...Nancy

I Knew It Wouldn't Last!

My blog entry last weekend definitely jinxed the weather. It went from mild to cold on Thursday and we had some flurries Friday! However the flakes barely touched the ground before disappearing in the city. In other parts however, they had little more that settled before melting on Saturday afternoon.

It's been a mentally draining kind of a week, my energy levels are pretty low and I am sure that the beginnings of Winter have something to do with that.

I am no longer a dental virgin when it comes to fillings, I had my first two this week on Tuesday. I headed off to the dentist with dread and a headache like you wouldn't believe. Having got there they were running late which didn't help my nerves any. Once in the chair Dr Sharma talked me through the freezing process and injected the back of my lower left jaw first, as she did so she told me not to move, MY GOD, a pain like the worst electric shock ever hit me like a ton of bricks and I DID MOVE at which point the whole left side of my bottom lip when instantly numb. Remember that headache...I didn't have it anymore, the other pain cancelled it out in a split second. Then she injected the top set, and off she went drilling, scraping and lord knows what!...I blissfully, didn't feel a thing.

When it was all done, and she removed all the tools of torture from my mouth, I tried speaking and it was not pretty...I sounded like Jeff Bridges on Crack! One lip seemed to be going one way and the other in the opposite direction. My left side of my tongue felt like something dead you would buy from the butcher. I think her exact words were "you look fine, well maybe a little droopy". I settled up at the the front desk after yet more weird mouth movements and then used the toilet, when I looked in the mirror I could see what she meant by droopy!

Having driven home, my headache was back. As soon as I got in I grabbed some water and a tablet, I tried to carefully drink the water on the right side of my mouth and just as soon as it was in there, it flew straight out of the left side...Even I had to laugh at that. I then heated up some soup, that I thought went well, slurping and going to the end of the bowl, of course I didn't realise that most of was on my face!

You will be pleased to know that the feeling came back about 4 hours later...Phew! I opted for white fillings and I kid you not, you cannot see them at all, they are so invisible I still haven't found one of them. My teeth look better than ever :o)

Rob has been working really hard all week, now the colder weather is here his hours seem to be longer and longer, most of the time he gets back later in the evening and from now until Christmas he is working Saturdays as well. I think he is nearing his next exam in oil, which fingers crossed he will pass...No date as yet, but will keep you posted.

Nancy and I headed out on Saturday, it was chilly but beautifully sunny. We found some pretty scenes along the way. We headed up to Mount Uniake and then on to Smileys Provincial Park and finally into Wolfville for a bite to eat and to pop into one of our favourite gift shops there.

Nr Lakelands, Mount Uniake (Taken yesterday morning)


The Farley Inlet - Stonehurst (Taken a couple of weeks ago)

Summer in November...It Won't Last!

So what's been happening this week...Well, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous, Monday to Thursday it was like summer in November, I kid you not it has been t-shirt weather all week...Until Friday. Friday was a Bank Holiday as it was Remembrance Day. As with any Bank Holiday in the UK, the weather took a turn for the worse and we encountered the tail end of a hurricane. The wind and rain was pretty much non-stop all day, what leaves there were left on the trees now seem to be mostly in our back yard!!! The good news was as soon as it came it went again and we were back to sun again on Saturday and Today.

Saturday morning Rob and I went to meet up with my newest friend Lucia. I met Lucia at Gatwick Airport when I was returning from holiday. She is originally from Slovenia and lives with her English partner Simon over here in Halifax now. We hit it off straight away and as I had a 5 hour delay returning home we had plenty of time to chat and get to know each other. She totally gets me and understands some of the frustrations when it comes to adapting over here, especially with regards the job market. She works for an expanding firm and it constantly keeping an ear out for me which is nice. We met up at the Farmers Market (which is huge and not the best place to meet anyone), it was great to catch up and she got to meet Rob, hopefully her and Simon will be popping round at some point in the near future.

Today I decided ankles or no...I couldn't miss the sunshine, so Cheryl, myself and Deb headed off to Peggy's Cove early this morning. What a beautiful day, so warm, no wind, and so peaceful. If you don't believe me check out the images below.

Some of you may be wondering about the ankles. They are still the same and I am still awaiting a phone call for an appointment. I have started trying to shift a bit of weight, not so much of a diet full on, but cutting out all the crap I have been eating of late and moving more into the soups & healthier foods. No more Tim's for a while at least!!

Finally, I must comment on Big Brother...Let's face it, it wouldn't be me if I didn't...

So Aaron won, He was my winner pretty much from week two, and I am thrilled he won, finally a winner to be proud of, intelligent, some might say crafty and a game player, I say well done, you fooled them all and played the game well. He entertained me throughout the whole show and I was disgusted that he was booed upon leaving the house as the winner. Not fair, he won, and he should be celebrated. Sorry Sarah, I know you were routing for Alex, but honestly Aaron was more entertaining.

Anyway I have enclosed a little video of an Aaron interview recorded after he managed to escape the booing masses and the dreadful Brian Dowling interview.

A Gorgeous Sunny Sunday at Peggy's


Morning Stillness on Route to Peggy's

Ankles

A mixed bag this week and not too much to report.Halloween came and went on Monday, I rushed home from work and the trick or treating had already begun, even witht he extra candy we bought we still managed to run out but thankfully not before the last kid had come and gone. The whole thing was done and dusted by 7.30 pm and by our calculations we had about 150 kids round in the end. Rob donned his scream mask once again for the event, but only managed to scare about 3 kids this time round.

Recently more and more I have been having trouble with my ankles, my archilles tendons is where the pain is and especially first thing in the morning I have trouble walking. The pain does seem to get better throughout the day but never goes away and I am always aware of it. Enough was enough this week and I went to the doctor. There are lumps on both ankles and my doctor seems alarmed by this. he said this is not normal and is going to schedule me in for a sonogram to find out what is wrong with them. In the meantime I have been told to be extremely careful how I walk as the tendons could snap at anytime.

As you can imagine this has left me somewhat shellshocked and I have spent the whole weekend worrying about what this could mean. Rob got me some slip on ankle supports yesterday, and if nothing else they did make me feel a tad more secure in walking about. I will have to wait and see what the outcome of all this is.

Needless to say any plans I had for going out and taking photographs this weekend, I put on hold. Rob and I did however go out with Marg and Tom last night to a dance at the airbase, it was a fundraising even held by Seaside FM, and although I didn't shake my ass on the dance floor the music was very enjoyable. All 50's and 60' music mainly.

Happy Halloween

Well it's been a quiet news week this week so this will be a pretty short entry.
The weather has been nice still with some sun but the temperature has turned colder now, Winter is definitely just around the corner. There was apparently snow in some parts of the province this week, thankfully I was blissfully unaware of it.

Rob has been working some long hours and has not been getting home until about 9 pm most evenings. I think this will be the way of things now until January.

It's been pretty frantic at my place too with many changes occuring, it's the end of the month and as usual we are busy trying to get all the invoicing done. As well as that we had stock taking on Friday in preparation for the change-over next week. The company that bought us out last year are now going full steam ahead and switching over our systems to theirs and installing brand new billing software... From Tuesday onwards as it will be slightly chaotic to say the least as we get to grips with billing in a whole new way.

Last weekend I found out for definite that my brother Clive will be coming over for Christmas and I am so looking forward to his visit, I just hope the weather is kind and we can get out and about a few places!

Yesterday I dragged Robert off to Stonehurst and Blue Rocks in the afternoon as the weather was gorgeous, I was hoping to capture some of the red foliage on the rocks that I found there last year, but sadly it had already gone over and turned brown. I did however manged to get a couple of nice shots of Stonehurst as the light was so pretty. After returning home we carved out our pumpkin ready for tomorrow, I haven't bothered to photograph it, as it looks exactly the same as last years :o)


Still and Blue at Stonehurst


Mirror views and not a ripple in sight

Ships Start Here

It's been a mixed bag of weather this week as Autumn rolls on. On Thursday there was a record amount of rain causing flooding in many areas of the city and beyond, some major roads were closed although people still decided it would be a good idea to drive through them with the inevitable outcome!

The autumn colours took a beating and many of the leaves got blown away sadly, but thankfully the weather improved again for the weekend and Cheryl, Barb and myself decided to venture out on another trip to Parrsboro, Wentworth and Tatamagouche. We found plenty of beautiful landscapes and found some new spots to re-visit in the future. It was another early start and a long day but so worth it.

One of my highlights was Wentworth Falls. I have never really had the opportunity to capture waterfalls properly, and Cheryl was a great teacher and helped me get the most out of the experience.

In Tatamagouche very late in the day we all discovered a really neat place called The Tatamagouche Railway Inn. What a great idea...This place originally a working station has been converted into an inn. The station house itself has rooms but the train carriages have also been converted inside to accommodate guests. We all want to go back and stay there, although it's not the cheapest place to stay, rates range from $120 - $179 per night per room.

In other news this week, Halifax Dockyard have been awarded a whopping $25 billion dollar contact to build new combat ships for the Canadian Navy. This is such good news for Nova Scotia. It will mean initially 11,000 new jobs later on 4,000 sustainable jobs. The contract it set to last for 20 years and should have a trickle down effect into other industries finally making Nova Scotia a 'have' rather than a 'have not' Province.

The only down side I can see to all this is that with every boom, house prices rise. Which is great if you already own but if you don't then it could create more problems. I think mostly likely in the next three years prices will be on the rise.


Misty morning...An early start!


Wentworth Falls


Classic Fundy Shoreline!


Abandoned homestead, Parrsboro

Another pretty river scene near Parrsboro


Tatamagouche Railway Inn

Autumn Has Arrived

Well only a 4 day week this week thanks to the Bank Holiday last Monday. The week seemed to go by in a flash. My dreaded cold was still in full force with the coughing keeping me up all night, but now thankfully it is settling down. I had by first full night's sleep last night.

On Tuesday evening we had the pleasure of finally meeting Robert (my blog follower from the UK) He was over taking in some more of the sights of Nova Scotia. We met him at the B & B he was staying at in Elmsdale...A beautiful B & B I might add. We went for an Italian meal locally and it was great to hear about his adventure and finally meet the man behind the comments and information! Robert you will now been know to me at PP Rob!

I had a dentist appointment this week on Thursday. Yet another thorough cleaning and a check up by the dentist that disturbed me somewhat...After 43 years of no dental work what so ever, I have finally got a couple of tiny cavities. So much to my utter disgust I have to go and get 2 fillings next month. As you can imagine I am not impressed by this all all. I couldn't help but wonder as Dentistry is big business on this side of the pond if these fillings are entirely necessary, but better to be safe than sorry I guess. Fillings are going to be a new adventure for me and I am not sure what to expect!

In other news this week, the Autumn colours finally popped. They literally started to show properly over night. I headed out with Cheryl and Nancy yesterday on a Photo Club field trip to Parrsboro. Wow the colours were amazing there, the whole area was just stunning. I had passed through that area many years ago, but never really spent any time there. Us girls ended up breaking away from the main group and doing our own thing most of the day, we headed off to explore Amherst and the Pugwash area as we had heard there were some abandoned houses out that was, and we definitely found a one cracking old place in particular. A bit dangerous under foot, but well worth the scary moments!

It was a long, long day, we met all the other photographers at the Camera Club at 6.45 am and we didn't get home until around 7.30 pm. The weather was great once again, sunny and warm, so much so I got a sweat on most of the day!

Autumn, just around the corner in Parrsboro

Just beautiful everywhere!


A riot of colour


Even this old shed looks great!


Five Islands Lighthouse


PP Rob, Robert and me! (Photo courtesty of Rob's camera)

Happy Thanksgiving

Yes it's another bank holiday here in Canada, only one more now in November before Christmas!

I am a little slow updating the blog this week as I have been ill since the beginning of the last week. No sooner had a stepped back on Canadian soil the lurgy kicked in. I have had a the most awful cold all week, it completely wiped me out on Thursday, and I have been trying to combat it with all kinds of remedies including Buckleys cough and cold medicine...For those of you who don't know what Buckleys is, it is by far the worst tasting medicine imaginable. If I had to describe it's taste it would be perm lotion and sick. That said it does work (if you can keep it down!).

I am still sniffing and coughing and I may have to see the doc as I think I have a full on chest infection again, will give it a couple more days and see how things pan out.

The weather here has been odd to say the least. Mid week it was as cold as can be, it even snowed a little in some parts. This weather followed a load of rain. And then, Saturday, Sunday and Today it's back to summer. Yesterday was a scorching 28.5 degrees.

Rob, Nancy and I went out on Saturday to Howard Dill's Pumpkin Farm to pick our pumpkin for this year. So nice to see the place in the sunshine. When Dad and Marjorie came over last October is was freezing cold when we visited the farm.

After spending a good few hours there we headed for Wolfville and had some lunch and then made a couple more stops at another pumpkin patch and a little nature trail place just outside of Wolfville.

Yesterday just Nancy and I headed out to Ross Farm again (yes I am obsessed about the place). We wanted to see if there was any sign of the Autumn colours yet. We definitely found some colours but nothing was as vivid as it should be. (Ross Farm Lake image at top of article)

Howard Dill's Pumpkin Patch


Pretty Yellow Leaves!

The Big Pumpkin Seat

Rob really wanted his picture taken in this...NOT!

Back Home!

So I am back from my travels in one piece. I had a wonderful trip with my father on a cruise around the Med. We visited Barcelona for a couple of days before sailing and then on route I got to visit Florence, Pisa, Pompei, Sorrento and Capri. There were other stops in Italy and Palma, but I got a bit lazy and chose to sunbathe on board instead of taking yet another gruelling 10 hour excursion on shore...Can you blame me!

After the cruise I headed back to the UK for a couple of days and got the chance to catch up with my some of my friends and family. Although I didn't get a chance to see everyone (Sorry I missed some of you but time was so limited) it was fun. I have missed you all very much. I hated saying goodbye all over again. Sarah are you okay now? :o)

The weather was superb throughout the whole trip but sadly I came back to rain, rain and more rain here in Nova Scotia. I fancy it will take me a while to get back into my routine now, always the worst thing about taking a trip.

Before I left I answered a phone survey for a travel company, and we have been invited to to promo thing on Tuesday evening, I am only going as there is a chance of winning a travel related prize, so wish me luck!!

Out tenants in Templecombe have decided to move out which is annoying to say the least. We just hope that the letting agents can get another tenant as soon as possible otherwise financially this is yet another burden we cannot afford.

Not much news this end so far...I am sure I will have more to report in the coming weeks. In the meantime here's a couple of images from my travels!

Pompei, Itlay

Parc Guell, Barcelona

La Pedrera Chimnies, Barcelona

Almost Autumn at Stourhead

Late again!!

Sorry to my regular Monday morning readers...Sylvie! I just didn't have time yesterday to write anything as I was out most of the day.

Nancy and I went...drum roll please...to...Ross Farm. Yes are you all getting a feeling of Deja vu? Nancy hadn't been there in years and I so wanted to go back and take some more photos...and see my cat of course.

As soon as we got there, the man who brings out the cows said to me (I must have one of those unforgettable faces) Your cat's gone. He told me someone else had taken a shine to him and taken him home. He said he thought I would be back and was gutted I was two days too late. Let me tell you, I was not best pleased!

Of course it didn't stop me fussing the other kittens at the barn. Hence this seems to be the special cat edition!!

I have actually been up to other stuff since my last update, Last weekend on the Bank Holiday, Rob and I went to Pictou, I had fond memories of staying there a few years back when we caught the ferry over to PEI. However, having gone back there, I am not entirely sure what I was thinking at the time. It's a very small, blink and you miss it place, and the waterfront area is quite nice, but that's about it. The surrounding area is very pretty though. We visited a Lavendar farm, I was scouting for photography opportunites next year. after that we headed to a provincial park called Caribou Island. Very nice indeed. The weather was scorching and the beaches there were pretty much empty with just a few people scattered around and as it was so nice we decided to take the plunge in the sea. It was a tad cold at first but then so welcoming! We had a picnic (of sorts) on the beach and laid in the sun for possibly too long as I burned yet again!

We also got to catch up with friends from the UK this week. Elaine Fraser and her partner Ian are visiting for a couple of weeks touring around the Province. We had the chance to take them out for the now famous fish and chips of course! Great to see her! Now I would have some photos of her and Ian, but sadly Elaine forgot to bring her camera out and I didn't realise I didn't have a card in my camera. Not bad for two members of the Wincanton Camera Club! How damn annoying is that!!!! I took one photo on my phone and now have no clue how to get it off the phone...I hate mobile phones!

TV...Strictly! It's almost back, as is Dancing with the Stars, I have to say the line up for the UK looks so good, I think there will be a couple of dark horses in there the only downside is Lulu is part of the line up. Words cannot describe how I feel about her. We will now sadly be subjected every Saturday to her slipping in and out of that Scottish accent that she does all the time...Grrrr

Big Brother USA reaches the final this week, that's been a real filler for me, and oh joy BB UK is back on Cahnnel 5, I am pleased to day it is already shaping up better than the really bad celebrity version prior to the non celebs going in. I am hooked it's offical. Thank you Channel 5 for not letting me go without.

Righty ho, that's about it I think. Have a lovely week everyone. The sun is still shining here.

There will be no updates for a couple of weeks now as I am off on a jolly with my dad. I cannot believe it's been nearly a year since I have seen him.

In the words of Arnie...I'll be back!

Two adorable fluff balls at the farm, Crusty on the right...
So called now by me as he has terrible crusty eyes, so much so Nancy and I went and washed him off...I do like him...and then there's Bowie with white half brother of
my cat. I named him Bowie has he has one blue eye and one green eye. These little cuties need homing before the winter.

The Beautiful Lake at Ross Farm

The Barn and the Cottage

Pictou Lighthouse. I fulfilled my quota of lighthouses last
weekend with Caribou Island and Pictou.

Labour Day Weekend...Hooray!

First off before I tell you what I have been up to, I have to congratulate my UK blog follower Robert. If you have been following the message board here you will know that he is the font of all knowledge when it comes to Nova Scotia and follows the NS web cams all the time. Well on Friday morning at around 7.30 am on Kool FM they were talking about the the web cams and people following them and Robert was mentioned...Famous before he even settles here!

Due to an excess of hours I took Friday off to make this weekend even longer as it is Labour Day weekend, and once again all week the weather has been fabulous. I gave Cheryl a call to see if she wanted to go somewhere on Friday as I was determined not to waste the day. In turn she called Deb and the three of us ended up heading to Ross Farm. This is the place we went to a few weeks ago now but the weather let us down, but not this time, it was super sunny and super hot!

We had a great time there pottering about and taking zillions of photos. The thing I love about Ross Farm more than anything is the cats. There are always kittens and farm cats around, but this time I was smitten with one in particular. A gorgeous white cat possibly about 8 months old, so friendly. Apparently he just wandered in one day as a stray and has stayed. I spent the whole of Saturday trying to persuade Rob we should have him. The farm said we can have him if we want him...once again it comes down to cost, but I just cannot stop thinking about him.

Having said goodbye to 'Shakespeare' (the new name for my would-be cat) we headed off to Lunenburg for lunch and then onto Stonehurst as neither Deb or Cheryl had been there before and I knew the way...That never happens in my world as I have no sense of direction.

It was a great day and I think I ended up getting home about 7.30pm int he end. Rob had Saturday off and after a late start on my part as I was knackered from yesterday we drove down to the Seaport Farmers Market to have a look around, we hadn't been before, nice environment, but personally I thought everything was way to pricey.

We walked along the harbour walk to see what was going on and caught a glimpse of the big event on right now which is the Junior Beach Volleyball Championships. The city have built 4 sand volleyball courts especially for the event, a pretty impressive set up and it was sold out Saturday, plenty of atmosphere for sure. All along the harbour front there are great places to sit and eat and everyone was either out sailing or enjoying the good weather, it had such a nice vibe today.

If I could describe to you Nova Scotia right now, it would be, hot, sunny, laid back with the smell of hot dogs and coffee in the air with the sound of crickets at evening...which I love listening to.

I have no clue what I will be doing for the rest of the long weekend. Mostly catching up at home tomorrow while Rob is working at UHaul, but if the weather is still nice on Monday no doubt we shall go somewhere.

How could you not fall in love with him!!

Prtty and Picturesque Ross Farm


The Old Barn and One of the Houses


Yes, It's my cat again!


A moment of sillyness...I had the giggles so bad!

Left to Right Deb, Me, Cheryl.