A Brand is Born

Another pretty slow news week sadly. Doesn't make for a riveting read!

The weather has been okay, only a dusting of snow here and there, we were on the edge of a big storm coming in, but it hit New Brunswick mostly, we just got the high winds and some rain. I must admit I wouldn't want to live in New Brunswick, they seem to get hammered with snow. I remember last Winter they had tons of the stuff and we, in comparison didn't have much at all.

Here's hoping this weather trend continues. Who knows if this keeps up I may start venturing out of hibernation.

Those Metro Transit folk are still on strike. I am baffled as to why there isn't more effort being made to get them back around the negotiating table. I think it's been a month or more now.

Heard in the news this week that Mayor Peter Kelly will not be running for re-election this time round. He seems to have quite a bit of scandal surrounding him right now with regards to a friends' Will he is the executor of, he has been dragging his heels in sorting it out and the flack he has received seems to be the last straw for him. Apparently there are 4 candidates for the post when it comes to voting, but I have no clue who they are...yet!

Something observational now, that I have been meaning to mention for ages. When we first moved here I noticed so many places sporting the sign 'Donairs' I kept saying to Rob, what the heck is a Donair? Well it's obvious if you haven't worked it out already, it's a Donar Kebab also known round these parts as Spiros. I have had many conversations debating the word Donair with people and I even googled it. The Donar Kebab goes back centuries and is known by all sorts of names around the world including Spiro...BUT there is no mention of Donair. My conclusion rightly or wrongly is that someone somewhere thought Donar was too difficult of a word, and extended it to Donair and it stuck? Still makes me laugh every time I see a sign though.

Back to this week and the only thing worth mentioning is that Cheryl and Deb came round on Friday to finalize discussions on the logo for our photography venture. It has been difficult determining what look it should have, especially with 3 creative minds inputting ideas. But finally we have a simple logo and tag line that hopefully describes the venture. Next on the agenda is the website, cards and the all important pricing. All of which we have started but have yet to finish. I believe Deb already has a client lined up looking for Trash the Dress images to be taken, so we could be off to a good start.

It's Cheryl's birthday on Tuesday and some of the girls including myself will be out on Monday night at a Thai restaurant to celebrate.

No News Week

Well, what can I say, this week has been pretty uneventful to say the least.
Work and pretty much nothing else. I seem to have gone into hibernation mode this week and watching more TV that usual which is a feat in itself.

Weather-wise it has been pretty nice actually, a little bit of snow here and there but is disappears as soon as it arrives, I sincerely hope this continues.

Survivor started it's new season this week and The Voice is all ready up and running, so I have some reality TV to keep me going.

The bus drivers are still on strike and waving every day, who knows when they will be back. They can't go on indefinitely as they get literally no money on strike pay. I heard that there is one couple amongst the strikers, I cannot imagine how they are paying their bills with both of them on the picket line.

Rob and I went to Camera Club on Wednesday night to catch up with Nancy and the others but didn't go to Tim's afterwards. I have committed to adding some of my images to a display in the library. It was recently renovated and are displaying work from club members on a permanent basis, I shall be submitting around six images for rotation at the next meeting.

Let's hope I have something more eventful for you in next weeks news. I am off out now to get some petrol and have a mooch around Dartmouth Crossing (Our nearest shopping park).

Canadian 44!

Yes it's that time of year again when I turn another year older! I am very happy to report that on Friday February 10th the weather was stunning. The sun came out for me and the it was almost spring-like, people around me were even talking of firing up the BBQ's for the first one of the year...Yes slightly odd if you are Brit reading this in February, but out here completely normal.

I digress, let's start off the weeks news with last Sunday, Cheryl persuaded me to go out and photograph the Eagle Watch, something you may remember Robert and I attended last year. I really didn't have any plans to go this time around, but she convinced me get 95 layers of clothes on and make the trek to the valley. I am so glad I went. People have been turning up in the droves for a few weekends prior to last Sunday to catch glimpses of them, but as the temperatures have been fairly mild they weren't feeding and stayed largely in the trees, but last weekend it was really cold and snowing, we didn't have to wait long at all before they were swooping out of the trees and feeding on the chickens left out for them, it was fantastic to watch.

After seeing the Eagles, we headed to Halls Harbour for a look around, Cheryl had found some really quaint little gingerbread holiday homes there before and we went off to find them. They were so cute and fairytale-like, in Summer I imagine they are even better as they are situated just off the beach.

Apart from the flurries last Sunday we have had a snow free week which was lovely I must say.

On Friday at work I was surprised and pleased when they ordered in Pizza for my birthday and not only that they presented me with a huge ice cream and brownie birthday cake from Dairy Queen...Very unexpected and thoughtful, especially as in the other branch you were lucky if you got a card. My old work pals over in Halifax phoned me up throughout the day wishing me a happy birthday, nice to know I haven't been forgotten over there.

Saturday Rob and I went shopping and I bought a couple of new items for my wardrobe, a new top, some trousers, a cardigan plus some more mitten type gloves as my old Monsoon ones have literally fallen apart and finally some snow trousers....yes I know not the sexiest things I have ever bought, they are huge and fit over my normal trousers they are lined and padded, so you can just imagine how utterly huge I look in them...Not a good look, but they will come in so useful!

Saturday evening we celebrated my birthday with friends at Fans Chinese Restaurant...the best Chinese food you will ever eat! It was a great evening and we had a lot of fun.

In other news, the Metro Transit strike continues, talks broke down and they are not scheduled to negotiate again until March. Every day on my way to and from work I pass the picket line, and they all wave at me, I wave back, not really sure why they are waving but I go with the flow on it. Must be cold out there day in, day out, I just hope they get things sorted soon so all these extra bad drivers can put their cars away again and stop snarling up the traffic.

Big thanks to all of you that sent cards, presents and well wishes this week, they were all much appreciated.

Click on any image to view larger


The Eagles have Landed


The Dive Bomber


You gotta love that colourful stonework!


Who lives in a house like this?...Hansel and Gretal?


The Birthday Bash, left ro right: Suzanne, Nancy, Melissa
Rob, Me, Barb, Kevin, Cheryl

Groundhog Day Again :o)

I cannot believe it was Groundhog Day once again this week, it only seems like yesterday that I was writing about this last year.

All around the country and in the USA Groundhogs have been dragged out of their warm little nests to see if they can see their shadows. In case you have all forgotten, if they see a shadow and run back into their burrow it means that we supposedly have 6 more weeks of Winter. If they don't see a shadow then an early Spring is on the way.

Neither Willie (The Albino) Groundhog in Ontario, nor Shubenacadie Sam saw any shadows. My guess is that poor old Sams' eyes hadn't adjusted to the morning light as he was dragged out and as for poor old Willie...He is an Albino...I would be surprised if he has ever seen a shadow, bless him!

The results of the Canadian Groundhogs were at odds with the famous Punxsutawney Phil of Pittsburg (As in Groundhog Day the movie!) Now he did see a shadow and was met with boos from the crowds...Awwww, poor Phil. An Interesting fact I didn't know which really made me laugh was the hill on which Phil makes his predictions is called Gobbler's Knob, now c'mon that is funny!

I just hope Willie and Sam are right, I would really like to see the back of Winter now. It's okay for a while but then it gets on my nerves.

In other news Metro Transit have gone on strike. This is not good in my opinion as it means the 96,000 people that rely on buses now need to find ways of getting to work. Some of them are lift sharing and well done to them! Others I think have decided to dust off the cars they couldn't drive before and have hit the roads! In the last two days, the traffic has been chaotic and not surprisingly there was a 5 car pile up and a stalled vehicle on the MacKay Bridge causing mayhem all over the place. I just hope the strike doesn't go on too long. I heard from others that the Toronto and Newfoundland strikes went on for 4 months! The roads will be carnage, there are enough bad drivers here without adding to them.

A quick footnote and shout out to my friend Lorraine who celebrated her birthday yesterday! Happy Birthday!!