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