I Come from a Land Down Under

Enchanted

Hello...and first of all let me wish my friend Sylvie a Happy Birthday! She is an avid reader of the blog and hopefully this will be the first thing she reads on Monday morning.

Bit of a dull old week again, nothing really to talk about. We have had a lot of rain this week and quite a bit of wind too, so sadly the Fall Colours have gone past their best now. I still haven't taken a photo of the updated cushions and curtains in the family room...Note to self...Must try harder!

Rachael and I went out for a walk yesterday, we went back to Shubie Park and I her took her along the exact trails Rob and I walked last week. There were still pockets of colour here and there, but I would say two thirds of the leaves are now on the ground.

I was pleased to read this article in the paper this week. If he is right I will be more than happy! However the sceptic in me says this is coming from someone connected to Environment Canada...And you all remember the Rick Mercer +1 video I posted! It could be a false sense of reassurance to stop us all from going to those dark places and destroying property!

In a random piece of trivia apparently I am sounding more and more Australian. You would not believe the amount of people that talk to me on a weekly basis and say 'I love you accent' I always politely say thank you...and then ask them Where do you think I am from? The answer is always the same...Australia. Actually there was one chap about a week ago who actually thought I was South African. I corrected him one time and he obviously didn't hear me and carried on talking about South Africa so I loudly corrected him again, which seemed to stop him dead in his tracks as he had no anecdotes about the UK. I feel all these people can't be crap at hearing my accent so I can only attribute this to the following:

1. English mixed with Canadian sounds Australian
2. My best mate Sarah's NZ accent rubbed of on me a long time ago and part of stuck and has emerged again since I moved to Canada
3. I have been watching too much Australian Big Brother

Whatever the reason, I think I am stuck with being from a Land Down Under.
On that bombshell, I will leave you with some more images from our fabulous Fall.

Fall Forest Finery

Falls Island

Fall Delight

Fall Patchwork II

Cascading through Fall

Titivating Interiors

Touches of Fall

Well it's Sunday and I am not going to put off until tomorrow what I can do today. I only say that of
course because I don't have a whole, heck of a lot to write about.

The weather has been just lovely this week apart from Friday when it rained most of the day. All the hurricane activity moving around and past us, coupled with weather fronts from Ontario are giving us almost Summer-like conditions. I think this is the first year I have known when we haven't experienced a massive wind storm that has quite literally blown the leaves off the trees overnight.

That said the colours really are so beautiful right now. Depending on which area you visit, some have maybe gone past their best but in the City they have just emerged. Robert and I took (what turned into) a long walk around Shubie Park yesterday in the late afternoon. It wasn't what I would call a blue sky day but light kept peaking through the hazy, grey clouds lighting up all the golds and reds, it's just so lovely to see.

In other news I have been titivating the family room. My tired, old blue sofa was in need of a makeover, so I finally spent the rest of the vouchers we were kindly given by Rob's boss. I ended up buying some new cushions for the aforementioned sofa and just by doing this, it has completely given it a new lease of life and looks ten times more trendy than it did before. I also finally threw out the old beige/check rug that we bought we we first moved here. It went past it's prime a long time ago and was an eye sore as far as I was concerned. It has now been replaced by a small grey shag pile rug and today I got some heavier weight nice quality grey curtains for that room to complete the look. I have yet to take a photo, but I will. It's amazing how much a few little tweaks can vastly change the look and feel of a room.

For those of you in the UK wondering (perhaps)...I am watching Strictly Come Dancing and loving Jake AKA Max Branning from Eastenders...I would love to see him win the whole thing. My other favourite it Caroline Flack who I think is amazing on the dance floor. Simultaneously I am also watching the USA version Dancing with the Stars, so I get somewhat confused on a weekly basis.
Without doubt my absolute favourite is Alfonso Ribeiro AKA Carlton from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He is an outstanding dancer.

I will leave you with a video of Carlton doing 'The Carlton' and some gorgeous Fall scenery.

Fall Splendour at Shubie Park

Ground Fall

Sunshine Squash

Happy Thanksgiving

Wine Tasting!

I seem to have slipped into a bi-weekly update. Apologies! My lack of updating boils down to two reasons...1) I have done very little and have nothing to talk about or 2) I am so busy at the weekends that I run out of time and put off updating. In the case of last week it was definitely a 'did nothing' week. I had hoped to be out at the weekend but it was windy and rainy...Of course as soon as Monday came around, the sun came out again and it has been very nice all week. 

With it being Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada, we have a lovely 3 days off. Yesterday I went in search of Fall colours with Rob and we headed to the Tatamagouche area first (approx 1.5 hours away). I have wanted to get back and take some photos of the Balmoral Grist Mill for such a long time now. Rob and I hadn't been there since 2005. Although closed for the season I did manage to get a couple of decent shots of the Mill with some Fall foliage. From there we headed towards Parrsboro area via the Wentworth Valley, there were some spectacular colours along there covering the mountains and hills, but sadly the road to Parrsboro was a let down, and was pretty much colourless, the greyness descended and we decided to head back. We did however stop in at Masstown Market to buy our annual pumpkin. Masstown Market is a huge Farm store, it also has a large separate fish market, restaurant and gift section. The produce there is always superb and the place is and has always been packed the the rafters every time we have stopped there. I should imagine the owner is worth a small fortune.

Today I went out with a colleague of mine from work. We have been saying we should go out for a while now and for one reason or another haven't, but today we did. We went to visit the Avondale Sky Winery. For those of you that didn't think of  Nova Scotia as a wine producing area, think again. There are many wineries in and around the Annapolis Valley all offering something different from sparkling wines, desert wines, Rieslings and Merlots. The owners of the Avondale Sky Winery loving moved and restored St. Matthew’s Church in Walton which was to be demolished and turned it into their winery shop, complete with original stained glass windows and font, it is a charming place which is very welcoming and beautiful. Having sampled some of the wines there today I actually did buy a bottle (being a beer girl) this was quite something. 

From there we paid a visit to Howard Dill's Pumpkin Farm, which as you know by now is always a favourite haunt of mine this time of year...BUT not today. I definitely picked the wrong weekend to drop in...It was packed, the whole word, his wife and kids were there, there was no parking and it was bedlam, I have never, ever seen it so busy. Needless to say I was in and out of there in a flash.

After the last couple of days I am pretty tired so I know my Thanksgiving will be spent mostly looking at the inside of my eyelids! Happy Thanksgiving Canada!

The Balmoral Grist Mill

Winery Corks

Vines and Colours!

Fall Colours in the Wentworth Valley

St Croix River

Fall is Here

The Milky Way Over
Horton Lighthouse

I have been remiss of updating in the last couple of weeks, so I thought I had better make the effort today to write something.

Fall is finally here and the leaves are starting to change already. It's a wonderful time of the year when the colours show themselves in all their glory, but I find it sad too as the season is so fleeting and we all know what will follow...Grrrr.

Last weekend, Rob and I attended the funeral of a friend of ours, our old neighbour Gord. He was a gentle giant of a man, who on first impressions may appear quite gruff, but he was very kind and would do anything for you. From the time we moved in next door to him and Christine, they were very welcoming and lent us anything we needed and didn't have, we shared back yard chats and drinks with them on many occasion. My father and Marjory met them when they visited in 2010 and we all spent an evening together round at our place.

Gord was diagnosed with pancreatic Cancer in May and the prognosis was not good. The chemo didn't help and the inevitable outcome happened on Wednesday 17th September.
Gord was the founder member of a a biker gang, at least 50 of which pulled up on their bikes to pay respects to their fallen brother. It was quite the spectacle and one which I think Gord would have taken great pride in.

This week has been a tough one, we are getting a new software system at work and I, along with others from East Coast branches have been in training for most of the week. My head has been crammed full of stuff to the point I can't fit anymore information in. I just hope I can remember some of it at least by the time we go live in December.

This weekend, Robert and I went to Hatfield Farm, the weather has been lovely so I didn't want to waste it doing nothing. It was a pleasant morning and fun with the animals. I have yet to look at my images from there, but will post some as and when I do.
Last night Rachael and I went to Raye's Lighthouse to practice shooting stars and do some light painting. Raye joined us to see what we were up to. It's is very dark there and so peaceful. We could hear Coyotes howling and there must have been a rogue skunk mooching about somewhere, because although we couldn't see him we could definitely smell him.

Belated birthday wishes go out to Pam this week (I hope you received the card) and coming up, Happy Birthday to my friend Sarah!

Big Tancook Island Houses

Fall is upon us!

Spinning Sails - Big Tancook Island

Tractor and Shed - Big Tancook Island

Staycation

Well hello followers.

Kip

It's been a couple of weeks since I have taken to the keyboard and updated you.

I have just enjoyed a blissful week off work. Shame it went by all too fast.

Last weekend Robert and I headed up to New Brunswick again, this time we were aiming to attend the Atlantic Balloon Fiesta in Sussex, New Brunswick, we had actually attending this event back in 2005 as tourists. Due to the popularity of the event, I had a hard job booking up a place close to it, and ended up staying in a very cute little village called Alma, which is just at the entrance to Fundy National Park and approximately an hour away from Sussex. When we got to Alma to check in, the weather had got rather drizzly. I can only describe Alma as like visiting Cornwall in the Alps...Fishing village surrounding by mountains.

After a quick look round, we bought our park pass and headed up over the other side of the mountain towards Sussex, where the weather was hot and sunny...Weird! We got to the Launch site for the balloons, where they was quite a bit going on, including a fun fair and music. After hanging around a little bit, we realised that the wind had picked up substantially and the announcement confirmed what we had already thought, there would be no balloons taking off that evening. More importantly I also found out that there was a storm on the way...The mere mention of the word storm sent me all of a dither. 

We stayed around for a couple more hours, and watched the Atlantic Canine Freestyle display which was utterly adorable, especially little Rat Terrier Kip (pictured above). At one point Kip got a bit excited and tried to jump one of the hurdles before it had been lowered. As he crashed into it there was a huge collective awwwww from the spectators. Kip also had me in absolute fits of giggles as in between tricks he/she spent quite a lot of the time getting friendly with his owners leg.

After the dogs were all tricked out we decided to call it a day at Sussex and head back to Alma, where once again the weather was damp and drizzly. We had a very early night and I did toy briefly with the idea of getting up at stupid o'clock on the off chance the balloons might take off at dawn...Hmmm, well I soon scrapped that idea.So instead the next morning, we headed into Fundy National Park for a look around. I photographed a few spots, The Covered Bridge at Wolfe Point, Bennett Lake and Dickson Falls...Now Dickson Falls...A moderate hike so the brochure said, OMG, how many steps, down, along, then up...It was touch and go but I made it. After the picture taking we went off to find breakfast and we ended up having sausages and waffles with Maple Syrup at the tiny Farmer's Market in Alma.

From there we took the scenic route to Cape Enrage Lighthouse and then travelled on to the Hopewell Rocks. I wasn't sure if I was going to do the rocks. I have only been there once before in 2005, but as it was a nice day I thought why not...Long walk down the hill...not to bad, then down the steps to the ocean floor as the tide was out, then back up the steps again...then thankfully a shuttle back up the hill. 

Come Monday when I went to get out of bed, I literally couldn't walk. I had completely overdone the climbing and walking and my calves were so painful and stiff you wouldn't believe.

Needless to say I didn't do anything Monday except edit a few photos and recover.

Tuesday I took myself off to The Tangled Garden for a walk around, the weather was beautifully sunny. Wednesday Rachael and I met up and went to Eastern Passage for lunch, she is waiting for a replacement camera as her wasn't cleaned successfully by Nikon. Thursday I went for a lovely self indulgent pedicure, I had the full works including a hot paraffin wax on my feet, and leg massage.

Friday Rob had the day off and we decided to take a trip to Big Tancook Island (which you get to via ferry from Chester). The ride on the ferry is about 40 minutes during which you pass by many smaller islands, some with one of two houses/mansions on, some with nothing on, the Ferry first stops at Little Tancook Island and then continues to Big Tancook. It has a charming harbour and nearby there is a lovely little cafe (the apple pie went down a storm), bike rentals (as you cannot take your car across), and some pretty and unusual artisan shops. 

I had a long chat with Angela and her miniature Pot Belly Pig 'Ruby' at the Sea Myst Gallery and then further across the island (on the main path) I met and chatted with Hillary at Wishing Stones Studio & Gallery, this shop is not only holds some wonderful gifts but is also a museum for the island with lots of lovely old bits and bobs from bygone days, a collection that was started by Hillary's mother. This is the wonderful boxed display sign outside of her shop/museum. When you leave she makes sure you get a wishing stone to wish on and throw into the ocean..Which I did, so fingers crossed. The weather was gorgeous on Friday and I ended up getting quite sunburned.

Saturday was a day of rest and I spent most of it in bed. Which brings me to today. Today, Rob and I met up with Nancy and one of our Flickr contacts Katherine and her husband from Ontario. We of course went to Wharf Wraps down at the passage for lunch. It was very nice to meet up with them and they had plenty to talk about from their trip so far through the Maritimes. So now I am back at home and thinking about dreaded work tomorrow. 

A Walk on the Seabed at The Hopewell Rocks

One Tree Island - On route to Big Tancook Island

Groundhog Day - Taken Roadside in Fundy National Park

Point Wolfe Covered Bridge, Fundy National Park

The Drying Shed at The Tangled Garden

Wishing Stones Gallery, Big Tancook Island

Happy Labor Day Weekend

Peggy's, Yesterday Evening
 (click to view larger)

Apologies for the lack of posting last week. I really haven't been up to much so I thought I would
save what little I did have to write about for this weekend.

So it's Labour Day Weekend here and officially the end of Summer, which I find very depressing. Fingers crossed though we have some lovely Fall weather to come. It's a long weekend here so it's nice to just recharge for the week ahead. Only 4 days and then I am off for another week.

I dragged Rob back to the Sunflowers again last weekend as the weather was beautifully sunny and I wanted to capture some different shots of them under blue skies rather than cloudy ones. Other than that we really haven't done a whole heck of a lot. Yesterday we took the boys for their annual check up at the vets. All looking good, Hamish did somewhat embarrass us though as he got very hissy after the vet tried to take his temperature!!! I guess I would get a bit hissy too if someone tried to take my temperature that way!!! Shakespeare is overweight...! He has to lose some, we never over feed him, but he does tend to pick at Hamish's food so we are going to have to watch that. Hamish got some new food which is supposed to help his brain and organs, he is getting a little senile of late and has vacant spells where he howls (blood curdling howls) and forgets where he is. We also bought him some essential oils spot of treatment, which is supposed to help his coat and skin. They really are the most pampered cats!

The visit to the vets took about a large part of the day, but later in the afternoon we decided to take a drive out to Peggy's Cove as we hadn't been this year. It was a very pleasant sunny evening.

As I shall be on Vacation from next weekend (more of a 'stay-cation' my next update may not be for 2 weeks).

'Sun & Cloud...Computing' Rob distracted on his iPhone

'Follow Me'

'Leader of the Pack'

Sunflowers

Another quiet week, and after the short 4 day week last week, this one seemed to go on forever.
Thursday was Rob's 50th, but we didn't do anything on Thursday, instead we went out for our usual fish and chip supper at Wharf Wraps with Anne and Smiffy. They bought Rob some pressies one of which was a pair of badminton rackets as we have mentioned before that we might use out front garden as a badminton court (of sorts) as it is just the right size for knocking a shuttlecock around on. So now all we need is a net :o)

On Saturday Rob and I went out in the afternoon to Dakeyne Farm which is approximately an hour away near Hantsport. They have a gorgeous Sunflower Maize, I was supposed to go last weekend on a Photo Club field trip but the rumour was that the flowers weren't at their peak, so we waited until this weekend to go instead. They were very impressive, and so pretty. I took way too many photos, but here are a few of my favourites.

Sunny with a Chance of Rain

Life Cycle

Duo

Almost There

Colour Washed Vintage Postcard Sunflowers