Cars!

So this is quite rare these days...2 posts in 2 weeks.
This post is more of a follow up to last week regarding the car subject! We took ours for it's oil change this week, and Rob the mechanic, got it up on the ramp and showed my Rob the full horror that was going on underneath. I truly think that Rob had been in denial about how bad it was and how quickly we needed to think about getting another vehicle. Our poor old Focus is pretty much on it's last legs and fit for the knackers yard.

With his mind made up Rob then proceeded to explore more options and deals at various places on Friday. By Friday evening, I thought, we might be investing in another Ford, but by Saturday, we had decided to go a different route. We have decided to lease a Toyota Corolla. Leasing we think is by far the best option for us and with all the extra warranties we took out we are pretty much covered for everything, including breakdowns in the whole of North America. It's a nice car, and for any potential visitors, it has 4 doors instead of just the two that the focus had which will make things so much easier. It has heated seats, mirrors, air con, CD and bluetooth. It's a nice slate grey which actually has a hit of blue about it. I think it will be a little easier to find in the Walmart car park than silver, which seems to be the norm round here, Rob and I could never remember where we parked the Focus in the sea of silver. Best of all the Toyota deal at the moment is $2500 trade in on any vehicle. And there is no way we would have got that anywhere else for ours. All being well we just have to pick it up on Tuesday. Then we just have to find the money to pay for it every month. Good thing is at the end of five years we just hand it back for another new one or possibly buy it outright.

It will save us money on car hire for road trips and CAA so every cloud and all that!
Will try and post a photo if it next week. Until than more photos from last week.
Big congrats this week to Blake and Robyn who have just got engaged!

Walking in the Past at Sherbrooke Village

Chronic Weaknesses (Apothecary, Sherbrooke Village)

Historic Gardens, Annapolis Royal

Blacksmiths Shop, Sherbrooke Village

Days Off

To the Beach

I do hope dear readers you are still following. It seems to take me forever to get round to updating the blog these days. Due in part to the fact I have had nothing much to write about.

Rob and I have a few financial issues right now, One is a complicated matter to do with his work van and the tax people...Which I might add was nothing to do with him, it was because the firm he works for got audited. It really is so stupid and way to long and complicated to go into. The other problem we have is that our car is on the way out. It needs so much money spent on it to put it right that it makes more sense to get another one. There in lies the rub as we don't have the cash and cannot agree on anything. We are however toying with the idea of leasing rather than buying. Having had a chat with one of the sales people in the Honda showroom, leasing does seem the way to go, bearing in mind you can lease to buy or upgrade after the 5 year lease is up. We are now thinking about a Chevy of some sort as their leases are shorter and a tad cheaper. Who knows?! It's a mine field, but one things for sure we will have to do something before our MVI is due next year or if the car packs up in the meantime.

This week was Robert's birthday so he and I took Thursday and Friday off work to make a nice long weekend. The weather has been fantastic for the whole four days so no complaints here.

Thursday we drove to Annapolis Royal and visited the Historical Gardens, which neither of us had been to before. It was superb, by far the best gardens I have visited in Nova Scotia. It's rather formal and so pristine, it reminded me of home and the National Trust gardens I used to love wandering around. The colours and planting were spectacular. I would highly recommend it if you are ever visiting this Province. From there we went to Port-Royal Historical Site. You may remember I went there last year with Anne, but Robert hadn't been. I enjoyed my second visit there as much as my first. We meandered our way back along the mountain roads, until we finally hit Wolfville where we went for a lovely dinner at Paddy's Pub (one of my favourite out of town places to eat). I have to say we were shattered when we got home as it had been a long, hot day.

Friday on Rob's birthday, still tired from the day before we got up early again and headed along the Eastern Shore about 2 and a half hours to Sherbrooke Historical Village. We stopped briefly on route at Sheet Harbour, where I finally photographed the incredible waterfall/river there. I think it was once the sight of a pulp mill. Rob and I hadn't visited Sherbrooke since 2010, so it was nice to re-visit this rather charming place. It was another hot one and we got tired out pretty quickly. We ended up leaving the village grabbing and ice cream and heading home around 4.30ish. On the way back we stopped for a quick walk along Taylor Head Beach. I think this is my favourite beach. It's flat and long, with lovely dunes. I did dip my toes in the water and yes it was freezing.

Saturday it was vets day! Off we went with the boys for check ups and vaccinations. Shakespeare got a bit whingy when he had to have some blood taken, but other than that he was a complete suck up with the girls in there. (They adore him). However he is too fat. He has to go on a strict diet. The reason he has got so big, is because we have been trying to put weight on Hamish as he needs the bulk as his muscle mass is starting to go now as he is an old man. Hamish doesn't eat all his food and before you know it Shakespeare is in there like a ninja finishing it off. As for Hamish, he seems to be doing okay, he had put on a little weight, but OMG did he make a scene in there hissing and snapping, and the girls barely touched him. He is due to have more teeth out in December, so when he gets put under they will give him a full exam them. He is so bad at the vets now they have a big X on his notes saying under no attempt take his temperature. He is the original Grumpy Cat these days.

Today (Sunday) I have done nothing at all, it's been great. I caught up on my soaps and romped through the latest series of Hell on Wheels on Netflix, such a superb series! Rob has been cleaning the guttering outside and at 4.30 pm we decided to go to the lake for a quick swim, it was lovely and refreshing.I heard crickets whilst by the lake, I love the sound of them but for me they herald the fact that Summer will soon be drawing to a close, once they stop chirping the nights will get cooler and the leaves will start to change once more.

Still Life at Port-Royal Historical Site

Beautiful Sherbrooke Village

Gorgeous Property and Garden spotted at Granville Ferry

The magnificent Historical Gardens at Annapolis Royal

The River at Sheet Harbour

Summer Days

Time for an update! Since my last post I haven't been doing to much. The weather has been pretty nice though and it looks like Summer has finally arrived.

I was annoyed to learn that the aquatic club at Bell lake that we swam at last year has now stopped their day passes. So frustrating as it was such a great place to relax and swim. Thank goodness Anne has a back up plan (and lake). So this week on Monday (the hottest day) Rob and I went for our first swim at Penhorn Lake after work. The water was lovely and such a welcome relief as it was scorching. It seemed quite a few others had the same idea and there were at least 40 others there. This lake is pretty near to home and roughly a 10 minute drive from our place. I think we will definitely be making use of it again.

Once a week the BBQ's have continued either at Anne and Smiffy's place or at ours. This week it was our turn on Friday. I think we are getting the hang of it more and more now. The first one was a little amateur and ill prepared to say the least. The menu is always gluten fee and I have to say, I really find gluten free food, burger, sausages and cake, all much more tasty than regular.

Yesterday I went out with Nancy, Cheryl and a chap called Wesley (from the camera club), who I had never met before. We drove out to Wolfville and took a stroll round the Botanical Gardens at Acadia University. I had never visited the campus before. Gorgeous place, lovely buildings and gardens. It doesn't cost to visit and you can wander pretty much anywhere inside and out. After the photography we went for supper at  Paddy's Pub (always one of my favourites). We than briefly stopped off at the door installation and the Grand Pre look off. I got back around 9.45 pm.

I have been busy editing some more of my vacation shots, so here are a few more, plus a couple of shots from yesterday.

Boldt Castle Power House

This Island is called 'Just Enough Room'

Toronto Skyline from Tornoto Islands

View from the CN Tower

Kingston Penitentiary

Blueberry Surprise 

Lady & the Plant

Canada Day and Other Stuff

Pickles in the Garden

So this week was a bit of weird one. We had two days of work on Monday and Tuesday and then a Day off for Canada Day on Wednesday. Being a Brit. having a Bank Holiday on any other day but a Monday is an alien concept, plus it feels very strange as it feels like a weekend, but isn't.

That said a day off is a day off! The weather started out pretty lovely in the morning. Rob and I were at odds as to what we should do. He wanted to go down to Alderney Landing to take in the free entertainment, there was, as always much going on. Pancake Breakfasts, the parade on the Halifax side. Free ferry rides and live music at Alderney Landing. However I really didn't fancy it, from past experience, parking is a pain in the arse and there are too many queues for my liking. If there was someone I really wanted to see on the sound stage I would have made the effort but there wasn't and I wanted out of the City, so we headed to Grand Pre to The Tangled Garden and then onto to see my favourite Uncommon, Common art installation by Nicole Evans and Pat Farrell. You will remember I have annually photographed this installation for the past 4 years. This year sees a return to a door theme again and what a fabulous display it makes.

As we returned to Dartmouth the skies became darker and the rain began to fall, although not a lot of rain, it and the fog which came later put the Canada Day fireworks on hold.

Friday night we had a BBQ at our, Anne, Smiffy and Rachael were in attendance as were the mosquitoes later on. We did have a vague plan to go and watch the postponed fireworks but in the end we couldn't be bothered. We did catch a glimpse of Bedford's fireworks from the back garden.
I really enjoyed the evening and the company.

I haven't yet got back to editing images from our trip, so this week here are some pictures from last Wednesday.

Opportunity Knocked by Nicole Evans & Pat Farrell

The Tangled Garden 

A Tasty Sight

Tangled Garden Jellies and Preserves...
Good to eat and great to photograph!

Road Trip

City Lines

I'm back!

Once again it has been far too long since my last post. I honestly haven't had too much to talk about lately and the prospect of dedicating time every Sunday to updating has become somewhat daunting. However this week I do have something to talk about, so put the kettle on, rest up and prepare for a long read!

Rob and I finally got to take a break and left the shores of Nova Scotia on a road trip bound for Toronto to visit our friends there. We started our journey on June 5th, we picked up our rental car in the afternoon and drove 6 hours to Grand Falls, New Brunswick. It seemed the most convenient place to stop overnight as it is close to the Quebec border. Grand Falls is pretty small and it's main attraction is the Falls and Gorge. Rob and I had been there before years ago, but the last time we visited there didn't seem to be much water there, so it was great to re-visit them this time on a sunny morning (June 6th) and find tons of water and rainbow! After a quick stop we headed on, we had a long drive of 8 hours to complete to reach our next destination, which was the town of Gananoque which is situated in the heart of the 1000 Islands. If you have never heard of the Islands, let me tell you, it is an absolutely stunning area and a must see. Here's some info on them from Wikipedia:

The Thousand Islands constitute an archipelago of 1,864 islands that straddles the Canada-U.S. border in the Saint Lawrence River as it emerges from the north-east corner of Lake Ontario. They stretch for about 50 miles (80 km) downstream from Kingston, Ontario. The Canadian islands are in the province of Ontario, the U.S. islands in the state of New York.

The 1,864 islands range in size from over 40 square miles (100 km2) to smaller islands occupied by a single residence, or uninhabited outcroppings of rocks that are only home to migratory waterfowl. To count as one of the Thousand Islands, emergent land within the river channel must have at least one square foot (0.093 m2) of land above water level year-round, and support at least two living trees.

We checked into our motel in the late afternoon having driven along the parkway which was such a pretty ride in. After the lovely scenery on route our motel was somewhat disappointing to say the least, it was very musty and what was advertised as a steak and pancake house at the front of the motel on the website was now a Chinese restaurant. The motel was run by a Chinese family, the rooms were old and small, the WiFi was non existent and out front there was a rancid old swimming pool. Needless to say I wouldn't recommend a stay there! However, they are renovating and I found out later that it had been closed the whole of last season. (I can only assume that is why everything smells musty). Aside from the accommodation we had a lovely time in the 1000 Islands, we took a boat trip the following day which takes you around the bulk of the islands including millionaire's row and Boldt Castle which is one of the main highlights. The weather was gorgeous and we got a little sun burned that day. After the boat trip we drove out to the observation tower which is on an island half way between the US and Canada. From there we drove up to a small town called Delta where we visited The Old Stone Mill, which is an Historic site and one of the best preserved Stone Mills in Canada. We rounded off the day with a lovely dinner on the water's edge in Rockport, which is just gorgeous.

The next day we were up and on the road again, heading to Toronto. We stopped on route at Kingston to visit the Penitentiary Museum which is located in the old warden's quarters of the recently closed (2013) Kingston maximum security prison. Now being a huge Prison Break fan, I absolutely loved this museum. It was fascinating, the history of the place is very interesting as are the exhibits, including some rather evil looking, crude, home made weapons (which are pretty scary to say the least). You can read about the ingenious escape attempts and the people that run the museum are all ex-correctional officers who have some great stories to tell. I would absolutely recommend a visit to this museum if you are ever in the area.

Having stopped there, I didn't factor in the traffic and road works that we would encounter as we got nearer to Toronto, so the drive took us a lot longer than expected. As we got nearer and nearer to the city the traffic got heavier and heavier The lanes on the 401 (which had started of as essentially duel carriageway) ended up as 16 lanes of heaving traffic (8 lanes in both directions). Now being from Nova Scotia and barely seeing any cars on the road, this came as quite the culture shock for us...I found myself wincing quite a bit and hanging onto to the overhead hand gripper, poor Rob had to figure out where and what we were doing as the Sat Nav decided to have a fit on us, and couldn't work out that we had ended up on the express way. It seemed to take forever to get off the bloody thing, but we did eventually and arrived around 4.30 pm at Eunice's house in Royal York.

It was so lovely so see Eunice again, it had been 7 years since I last visited and longer since Rob had been out there with me. We spent the evening catching up with her and (son) Tim, and enjoyed the best roast beef dinner we have had in a long time. The following day we took the subway down town and went up the CN Tower (always a favourite of mine), the price to go up these days however is shocking. $35.00 per person to the observation decks, and if you want to go up to the sky pod, you can add on an extra $12.00 per person. It was a bit grey in the afternoon, so the views could have been better, but it was still enjoyable, afterwards we had a late lunch on Front Street and headed back.

In the evening we enjoyed a night out with Tim, Paul (his brother) and their nephew Blake. We went to see the Blue Jays play Miami at the Rogers Centre (which to me, will always be the Sky Dome). 

Tim and Paul, had a method to getting in. They bought tickets after the game had started outside from a tout, the idea was them to take these 'nose bleed' seats in the 500 section and then sneak our way into one of the lower preferable sections. As their were 5 of us this didn't prove so easy. I think we got booted out of 3 sections before finally finding a spot. It was a gorgeous evening but a little too hot for me as I was sweating like a horse after all the running around. The roof was open in the dome and the view of the CN Tower from there was as always, excellent. The game was pretty exciting (even for me who, as you know is not a baseball/sports fan). It was looking doubtful the Blue Jays would win, but then in the final moments of the game, they pulled it back and won by one run. Which is just as well as Paul and Tim said if our presence there made the team unlucky they would never take us again :o)

The next day we bit the bullet and drove down town, the Sat Nav did us proud and we parked  the ferry terminal that runs over to the Islands. We headed over to Centre Island and walked 4 km to Hanlan's Point which has the best view of the skyline. Halfway along the sky got darker and darker and the heaven's opened, it was quite the down pour and just for good measure there was some thunder and lightening (poor Rob). I am terrified of storms so I wasn't at my best.

We took cover at the Art Centre near the lighthouse and fortunately it didn't last long. Afterwards the sun came out and it was as if it had never happened.

Later that day we said farewell to Eunice and headed to Georgetown to spend the next two nights with Eunice's daughter Lisa. Lisa made a fabulous meal for us upon arrival and we had a good catch up that evening, she has recently moved to a new house, so it was nice to see it, it a lovely town house with 3 levels and 2 walk out decks. So neat and tidy. The following morning she cooked us a lovely breakfast and we headed off to Niagara. We stopped briefly at Niagara on the Lake on route, it was so busy with tourists and parking was a nightmare. At Niagara, the amount of people was again staggering, but we parked and then got the hop on, hop off  bus to the Skylon Tower for my favourite views of the Falls.

We got back around 7.00 pm to Lisa's and were hoping to meet up with Paul again for dinner, but sadly he couldn't make it so Rob and I ate out in Georgetown. The following day Lisa had to be at work early and we had to be on our way to Montreal, so we said farewell and headed off at around 6.45 am. I wish we could have stayed longer but time just didn't permit.

The journey to Montreal was long. It seemed to take forever, I miscalculated the time it would take.

We were heading to see a friend of mine (who I have known online for many years, but had never met in person). Rosy and her hubby Edwin live not far outside of the city (although you would never know it), in LaSalle which located in the south-west portion of the Island of Montreal, located along the Saint Lawrence river. The area is mostly English speaking and looks very English. It is a Gorgeous area, I was instantly enamoured with the location.

As soon as we met, Rosy and I clicked, I always new we would and we enjoyed a wonderful evening chatting, we stayed in with Chinese food, and what a feast it was, such  a great night. Even Benny their dog, who is 'mature' and can't walk so well these days, got so excited to see us that he even made a huge effort to make it up the stairs when we took our bags up. Rosy and Edwin are writers, but they have been renovating upstairs into a photographic studio as Rosy is moving more towards the photographic side of things, undertaking newborn shoots and glamour photography.She is extremely talented. I have no doubt this new venture will be a roaring success. I just wish she lived nearer, as I know we would pretty much be inseparable. The next day we were up fairly early (although to be honest I could have stayed in bed). Rosy cooked up a storm with breakfast  and then took Rob and I to her happy place. A migratory bird sanctuary/park on the river near the Lachine Rapids. A truly beautiful spot, where you can commonly see Blue Herons (although we didn't that day). We did see river rafters on the rapids which brought back a few memories for me!

Sadly we had to leave at around 2.30 pm. Our time was brief and I really didn't want to leave, but we had to get back to Grand Falls (6 hours driving). So off we went. Of course we lost an hour in time as we crossed back over from Quebec into New Brunswick so we finally reached the motel at around 9.30 pm. Our last leg was the 6 hours home the next day. All in all we did around 2,500 km.

It was tiring but such good fun!

I have only really just begun to edit images, but here are a few for now. Don't forget to click on all the links in this article to see where we went and what we did.

Oh and finally here's what you need to know about the origins of 'Thousand Island Dressing' in case you were wondering:

A fishing guide's wife, Sophie Lalonde, gave the recipe to an actress, who in turn gave it to another Thousand Islands summer resident, George Boldt, who was building Boldt Castle in the area. Boldt, as proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, instructed the hotel's maître d'hôtel, Oscar Tschirky, to put the dressing on the menu.

Grand Falls

View form the 100 Islands Parkway -
Nice little crib with boats houses and bridge

Rockport Island Lighthouse

The Old Stone Mill, Delta Ontario

City Heights - My favourite Skyline view from The Islands

Long Weekend

So Victoria Day weekend is upon us...Hooray for 3 day weekends.
The weather was spectacular yesterday So Rob and I drove down to the South Shore and visited Mahone Bay, Lunenburg and Blue Rocks & Stonehurst. Definitely my 'go to' places especially when the sun is shining.

I think we discovered the best fudge ever in Mahone Bay, we bought a box of different flavours including Root Beer, Maple Nut and Orange Cream to name a few.
We had a spot of late lunch in Lunenburg at The Grand Banker, our favourite restaurant along the waterfront. All in all it was a lovely relaxing day in the sunshine, something much needed!

Robert has been busy in the garden, as everything is starting to sprout now. We got some new neighbours recently next door, obviously we didn't get to see them much over Winter except when they were behind a snow blower! But now they too are our in the garden most of the time. Cindy is not a big plant fan, something that surprises me, since she and her husband bought a bungalow that was owned by a keen gardener. I have been eyeing up a dwarf weeping willow in that back yard for a while, so I made her an offer, and the deal was done. It is now planted in the front garden where we dug up a rather sad rhododendron bush last year. We also gained a rambling rose. When Cindy said she didn't want it, I jumped at the chance of taking it, as I knew it was the previous owners pride and joy and the colour is my favourite shade of pink. Rob and I are thinking of moving in on her compost next :o) The lawn is looking pretty awful after the all that snow and ice. Not sure it will ever look right this year as there are so many bald and dead patches. We had an area to fill that has no grass at all, the previous site of a kids swing set. So a new flower border is now in place...Now all I need are some plants.

We now have a BBQ thanks to Anne and Smiffy who were getting rid of theirs. So far we have cooked up a storm on it twice, and it's so good to finally have one. I suspect if the sun is back out again tomorrow we might be heading for our third.

Big Brother UK has started....So apologies to those of you who are following me on Twitter as I am tweeting quite a bit about it and also on BB Canada as that is still running for another two weeks.
For those of you that know me as a reality TV junkie, I hope your read the article in the Daily Mail recently which finally vindicated me, as it said that watching reality TV is good for you....I know, weird huh, but apparently it is good on a social level. People that watch are able to analyse people much better in real life, and it keeps the brain sharp tactically.

Here are some images taken yesterday...Click to view large!

Lunenburg Panorama

The Three Sisters, Mahone Bay

My Favourite Place...Stonehurst

The Sun is Shining

Finally all the snow has gone, Robert has started to pick away at the grass and even I ventured out in the yard today to clear some dead foliage and do a little weeding. Nothing blooming yet, but it's shouldn't be long!

Anne and Smiffy gave us their old BBQ, it needed some TLC but it's back up and working, we just need gas now and a quick paint job and it will be good as new. It will be great to finally have one. I think we must be the only people living in Canada without one until now. Canadians BBQ all year round, not just the Summer...Oh know they are out there in all weather?! Now that is something I will never quite understand as a Brit.

I finally caught up with Racheal yesterday, and we took a brief ride out to Eastern Passage to try and get our photo mojo back. Linda (our Mortgage Broker and Tax filer now) popped round with out Tax paperwork. What with one thing and another, being first time home buyers in Canada, costly reno's on our house in the UK and some other factors, we did actually get some money back this year, which is much needed. Some of that money is going towards a Cordless Dyson...OMG I cannot wait to get it! How sad am I to get so excited about a vacuum.

Robert has got himself a second (part time) job. It's only a couple of hours cleaning on the weekend (very early in the morning), but it should help us when his work drops off in the Summer.

Will leave you with a favourite Your Tube vid and some recent pics.

The Colours of Fisherman's Cove

Spring at Prospect

Makes a Change from a Fish Supper

A Ropey Collection