Pictures update... As promised... yet LATER!!

Here are some pictures from my first few weeks of holidays...
The first pictures are from the reunion...









These are from my days out with Kenneth, taking pictures around the county...











Next picture was from a sunset... it was the week after the reunion and while a few of my old classmates and I met for a drink on the patio at Rudder's...



Then on Seafest weekend, Yarmouth was host to a few Tall Ships. Here are some shots taken on Saturday afternoon when Mom and I were hanging out.







Hmmmm, oh, and then the Seafest Parade. We were lucky that the day turned so nice!! I love the parade every year. Our town works very hard to have a parade that is not just a big long commercial line of boring undecorated trucks and cars...



Then Saturday evening was the fireworks...



Rum running races took place on Sunday, and somehow I was recruited to join a few teams. I was on the dock hauling up the barrel for a mixed team, and then for a womens team I was one of the two rowers. I was surprised how well we kept up to the mens team we were racing against. It took us only 9 min 40 something sec to cross the harbour, get a barrel in the boat, row back, haul up the barrel, and run it to the finish line!



Oh and just before I finish, my brother Paul and his wife, Jessica, dropped in with the CUTEST kitty, who was found by one of my brother's co-workers and is looking for a good home... Paul and Jessica can't imagine bringing her to the SPCA and the Customs staff have even donated money to pay for the spaying/neutering (whatever the girl animal needs!) So if you are looking for a VERY cuddly cute pet, I can attest to the sweetness of this little beast. She snuggled into my neck and slept their for a half hour during their visit! (Give me a call if you want this pet!)



This shot was taken one evening as I was walking on the wharf... Thought it was a PERFECT illustration of my blog address... THIS is why "Glistening Water" means so much to me!

July 6th- July 22nd (Recap)

So, since I have been home in NS, it's been rather hectic. Enjoyable hectic, but hectic all the same... I'll give you a brief overview of my summer-to-date, then follow up in the next few days (hopefully), with more pictures to SHOW you what I've experienced!

Someone once "wisely" conjectured that "a picture is worth a thousand words", but I have never fully been able to give up words... I just love them too much, and for some people, words are necessary to understand, and thus fully experience the meaningfulness of the pictures and images and what the represent to the photographer... But let me delay no longer...


July 6-8: Was picked up at the airport by both Mom and Dad, continued on to Merigomish/ Lower Barney's River, where both my Aunt Maxine (and Uncle Len) and my Nanny have motor homes. It was a wonderful visit as mom had only just learned that Nanny was actually in NS and had been there for a month. Dad hadn't seen her in almost 10 years. Good times!


July 9-13: Helping get last minutes details ready for my graduating class' 10 year reunion. Went with Kenneth on his day off taking pictures all over Yarmouth County, fun times! Thursday night, met at Rudder's for Karoake night with a few good buddies who came into town early(Natalie and Karni)... Sang MANY songs, drank many Apple Martinis (new fave drink) and caught up on old times! Great priming for the reunion festivities!

July 13- 15: Reunion weekend... got off to a fun start with a get-together for ice-breaker games, slideshows of "where are they now?", chatting and smoosing and meeting new spouses. I somehow got wrangled to be the MC after a while, and had a great time... Saturday continued with a family BBQ at the beach where we met all of the adorable offspring of my classmates... Saturday was a pub night, with attempted karaoke, followed by a move to Kelley's Pub where one of my former classmate's brother's band was playing... Caught up with some old school friends who hadn't been there on Friday, danced till closing time with them to James Brown songs, then went to the pizza joint for a piece of donair pizza and a few garlic fingers (thanks to Beth!) Sunday concluded with a brunch, for those who could actually wake up, and many goodbyes for the ones who had to start their migration "back home" whereever that now was...


I loved the reunion though, after breaking the ice again on Friday, it was SO amazing to connect and get to know people that you might not have been close to during high school... For me, I clicked completely with a girl, I knew but had never really hung out with- Jocelyne. We had SO much fun and hung out all weekend. I met her little girl too, who I have to say is one of the cutest little girls I have ever seen! I also enjoyed spending time with Natalie (and her boyfriend, Curt) and Karni, ladies, that I used to be friends with, but hadn't kept in touch with or stayed close with since High School... I loved seeing others that I hadn't seen in years, Jenn P- who I had been in Brownies with, Kristina- the exchange student in our grad class, whom I had also visited when I lived in Germany(and who had come from Germany with her boyfriend), Beth C.- who I never really knew in HS (and her hubby), Beth S.- who I had been in French with for JH and HS (and her girlfriend) , Dave C- who I had played with in the Band in HS, and so many more!!




July 16-18: Relaxing and hanging out a bit with the remaining visitors to town, spent a day shopping with Mom too, also bought myself a new bike and got a sore butt riding it too much the first day and then enjoyed a few days of peace before the excitement began again!

July 19-today: Seafest! That AWESOME festival that pits the town in a frenzy of sea-related celebration! There are Queen's pageants, parades, fireworks, dory races, run running races, Sidewalk sales, musical entertainment on the wharf, fish feasts, bubble gum blowing contests... and this year we also had the RCMP Musical Ride in town and 4 or 5 Tall Ships that had left Halifax to come down just in time for the festival. I went with my dad to the waterfront today and was recruited to participate on two winning teams for the rum running races, where members of a 6 person team row a dory across the harbour, run across the mud flats to retrieve a barrel that is then transported back across the harbour where it is tied onto a rope, then hoisted up to the top boardwalk and run to a finish line... It's WAY more fun than it sounds!!


And now, I sit in my bed as it approaches midnight, typing with sore and burnt shoulders, thinking back on how quickly the time is passing... And how much more I will certainly have to write before this holiday is finished!

Visiting Ottawa: June 23- July 6...

So, on June 23 (Saturday) I flew from George River to Montreal and was picked up by my buddy, Sherry and her friend, Kathy. We drove back to Ottawa where I stayed until July 6.

I stayed the bulk of the time with Sherry as she is home with her 15 month old, Jack and is expecting her and Rob's second child, which I predict will be a girl. It was a wonderful vacation, relaxing but fun tat I was able to see lots of people that I had wanted to see. Unfortunately I noticed I don't have pictures from all of those meetings, but I'll tell you about them all the same!

In the first week of my visit, I was able to catch up on some much needed sleep and Sherry and I enjoyed many wonderful lunches on her patio under un-seasonably pleasant temperatures. Her patio is a little oasis...


Jack, who was born after my time in Ottawa was well over, is such a sweetie and warms up to me very quickly. I could make him laugh quite easily and had lots of fun playing with him... In this pic, we were playing chase and I was hiding around a corner as he crawl-raced to catch me.



Jack loves to drums and is quite musical for a baby. When a woman was on Regis and Kelly singing a song from Beauty and the Beast he stopped playing abruptly and slowly crawled, mesmerized towards the TV. He LOVES all types of singing/ music. It's quite incredible!



On Friday of my first week, I had the opportunity to babysit Emily, Jordan and Jessica. The kids of two of my best friends from Ottawa. I used to babysit them and these kiddies are like family to me. We had lots of fun at the park then back at their place playing hide and seek and taking funny pictures before their parents came home and we ate lunch together.





I had a pretty busy day seeing many old friends, including a former colleague from when I worked at the Visitor Info. Centre in Yarmouth many years ago. Darby had since moved to Ottawa so I met her at her apartment and we caught up on the happenings of the past few years while looking out over the city from her balcony. I wish I had had more time that day but my ride was on the way so I had to cut our time short.

On Friday night of that week Sherry and Rob got a babysitter (her grandmother) overnight and we met up with a bunch of people at The Works a burger place with around 30 or 40 types of burgers with wild and wacky topping combinations(including choices with avocado, kraft dinner, fried eggs and peanut butter). It was DELICIOUS and the company was quite enjoyable.







The floats and milkshakes were also phenomenal and HUGE!!







On Canada Day, I took off on OC Transpo to the downtown to enjoy the festivities. I spent the bulk of the afternoon watching a B-boy (breakdancing) battle in the middle of Rideau Street. The music was great and the moves were quite impressive! The MC was a member of the "Canadian Floormasters" who have done some work in Northern Quebec with the students in one of the schools of KSB. I had a chance to chat with him and hope this crew comes to GR next year!



There were both guys and girls showing their moves.





I had a fun trip to OVPC camp with my friend Andrea in her red Mini Cooper overnight on Canada Day Sunday/Monday. We joined the bonfire that night and relaxed most of Monday before a delectable barbeque compliments of Shirlee and Garth before driving back to the city.

I also had one of the nicest days with Leslie, a teacher who was next door to my mentor teacher during a teacher's college practicum I spent at Sir Winston Churchill Middle School in 2003. She was such an incredible woman who I learned a lot from and I have kept in touch a bit through the past few years. She picked me up and took me to her place (beautiful home/ property!) where we ate lunch poolside and paddled around the pool for a few hours talking, talking, talking... I am actually kind of surprised that we didn't run out of things to talk about- whether it was comparing classroom horror stories, to discussing political movements in education, to family vacations... I had such an incredible time, I wish we had longer to spend!(PS Leslie, I can't believe I didn't take a picture from our nice lunch... You'll have to send me a picture of you in your backyard so I can pretend!)

I had another "dinner and a movie" night with Andrea and Sherry on Wednesday, July 4. We ate Thai treats and watch the oh so yummy "The Holiday" and "Casino Royale" (I am in LOVE with Daniel Craig now I think! SUCH a hotty!!)

Other than that, I did a LOT of shopping! Tried to pick up the things I couldn't get in Yarmouth, like a new parka at 50% off, and lots of new clothes from American Eagle, Old Navy and Laura. One place that I would like to mention is the "Ten Thousand Villages" store on Wellington Street, directly across from the MEC in Ottawa. This message is mostly for Nancy, who I thought of when I saw a certain set of dishes and tea set. She is a serious FISH fan and I thought this design was so nice, available from the Ten Thousand Villages store, a fair trade enterprise that helps earn a fair wage for artisans world-wide and often from impoverished areas... enough of the commercial, check out the below photos!











Then on Friday, July 6, Sherry gave me a lift to the bus station so I could make my plane that afternoon in Montreal and fly back to Nova Scotia where my holiday would continue.