Epic Journey

Well, from not much happening around here, it's been all change this week. It all started on Friday 12th January when I found out at work that there were going to be some redundancies and that I was possibly going to be one of them, but I was also told that they didn't want to lose me at all, which was nice!

The redundancies would affect not only the Halifax branch but the Dartmouth branch as well, and that there was a possibility that I may get transferred from Halifax to Dartmouth.

I took all the news in my stride surprisingly. My normal mode would be full on panic, but I think I had been expecting this since October of last year when Suzanne returned from maternity leave, so it wasn't really a shock, anyhow, I just decided to wait and see what would happen.

I had Monday off for my appointment at the hospital regarding my ankles, it was actually an ultrasound not a sonogram as I kept calling it. I asked the woman doing it if she could see what was wrong and she said it was a major thickening of the tendons, but the results will be passed on to my doctor and if it is something that needs addressing further he will call me...?

The same day I also signed up with a staffing agency in preparation for losing my job. They were really nice and hopeful of finding something for me even if it's temp work. I also started applying for new jobs online, as yet I have yet to hear anything from them.

Tuesday I went into work and was immediately told I was being transferred on Wednesday. This came as a shock to all of them in the office. Vickie I think was the most annoyed and upset by it as we have such a great working relationship. In truth though they were all upset, which was quite touching.

Wednesday I started in Dartmouth, I was nervous driving in as I didn't know what to expect. I already knew some of the people over there, so it wasn't like I was heading completely into the unknown. So far I have really enjoyed my first few days there getting to know people and finding my groove. I have my own little office and have been billing and helping out where I can. Their filing is in disarray, so I am sorting that out for them and as of next week I will also be helping out with large format B/W printing, this would involve finding the files in the database and sending them to print for the girls to collate and bind for rush orders.

Yesterday, Friday....it snowed quite a bit, I cleaned my car off around 4.30pm (in a blowing blizzard) and left work at 4.45pm to start my journey home, I kid you not, the journey to and from work normally takes no more that 10 minutes, but yesterday because a large percentage of Nova Scotian drivers cannot seem to drive properly, there were accidents just about everywhere on all major routes, and my 10 minute journey home turned into an epic 2 hours and 15 minutes.
I have no patience and I was literally going mad in the car! If I were a cartoon there would have been steam coming out of my ears.

Everywhere is white today outside, it looks really pretty and tomorrow is supposed to be really sunny so I think Cheryl and myself are going to head out to Peggy's for some more picture taking, hence I am updating the blog early this week.


Bleak House - Terence Bay Lighthouse


Blue Rocks, Red Shack


Across the Rooftops at Peggy's

Weather and Not Much Else

Boy oh boy, this week has been boring. I don't really have any news for you sadly.

The weather has been weird, we had a load of snow this week on Thursday night, it started as I left work and went right through till the small hours, the snow was blowing all over the place, and you would would be forgiven for thinking we would be digging ourselves out in the morning, but no. It turned to rain before the sun came up and the temperature soared to a very pleasant 8 degrees. I say pleasant, as with the wind chill this week we have been down to minus 15 on some days. So the snow came and went very quickly.

I am off work on Monday as I have my long awaited appointment for my sonogram to find out about my ankles. I took the day off as I have some other errands to run and need to see my doctor as well for a repeat prescription. Such a faffing annoying system here compared to the UK. You can't just get a repeat prescription as far as I can tell you have to see the doctor every time which is a pain in the arse.

Rob and I bought an Acer Aspire One netbook this week. I wanted one so it's an early birthday present. I love it, it's just right for watching Netflix of a lunchtime! I do hope to use in a practical capacity as well, hopefully for showing clients straight from camera images as and when some jobs come in for Cheryl, Deb and I.

Just a quick note on Dancing on Ice...I was so excited about the new series and as much as the skating was okay week one, please tell me why oh why did the producers of the show think it would be a good idea to put that idiot Louis Spence on the Panel, I just cannot bare to listen to him!


Snow Capped Peggy's


Shaw's Landing

The Snow Cove

General Musings and a Publication

The Winter continues to surprise us here, mild one day, freezing cold the next, I think it was Tuesday that the temperature was just raw, it was only about minus eight, but the wind chill made it feel like minus 20, now that was harsh! Since then it has warmed up, snowed a little, frozen over night and warmed up again. Just as well I have a collection of coats to choose from now.

I am pleased to say that I have just had another on of my images published. This time the image was of the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi. I was contacted quite sometime ago by The Halcyon Gallery asking if they could use in their public art book. I was sent a copy of it this week, this Gallery exhibits and sells art all around the world and the book is stunning, there are some fantastic and unusual sculptures featured. My name and website has been included on the photo credits page at the back to the book.

I think my brother was quite surprised to hear about the crime we have here in the City during his visit, I myself was shocked this week when I heard about a lad of 16 being shot at the Dartmouth Bus Terminal...A place I frequent when the roads are bad and I get the bus to work. Thankfully the boy did survive, saved largely by his baseball cap of all things. The shooter gave himself up yesterday I read, but still it makes me a tad nervous now about getting the bus and is a reminder that I don't live in rural Somerset anymore.

Fact: Nova Scotia has the highest petty crime rate of any province in Canada.

The reason, I think is people are largely underpaid and drugs are rife. There seems to be on average 2 shootings or major incidents (i.e. armed robberies) of some sort every weekend. I know...Shocking isn't it. The best thing is of course to avoid the trouble spots. We know now where they are roughly, but it is hard to tell as unlike the UK and other places where you get very obviously defined dodgy areas, here you can literally walk from a trouble free zone into a criminal hot spot within yards of each other.

Anyway, enough of that...I headed for the dentist again this week as I have been having some pain in my teeth, I think it is where one of the fillings is, although it seems to be affecting the whole upper left side. Dr Sharma filed down a tiny bit of one filling and checked out my bite, it seems okay, but in truth I don't think it was the filling at all, I think for some reason I have developed a habit of clenching my teeth at night, I think it could be stress related. I have to keep an eye on it and may have to wear a guard in the future.

TV...A new year and thank god I have some reality shows to get me through the Winter. Celeb BB started Thursday, I am almost 100% sure that none of you reading this are watching, except perhaps you Sarah! But as you know I am the biggest BB fan. Not a bad line up, right of the bat I am routing for Natalie Cassidy and Denise Welsh to win.

Dancing on Ice returns tomorrow and I cannot wait. I trust at least a couple of you will be watching that one!

Icey Prospect


Peggy's Harbour - A Snowy Overview


Published - The Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi

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.