A second post to wish Frank a very Happy Birthday! and some random Christmas stuff.

Happy Birthday, Frank! Hope you got to spend it with the Super kids.

We had Christmas dinner with the Lewis's again this year - only 11 of us this year. A great time with good food and great company!

Callie under the Christmas tree - where we prefer her to be.

Callie, in the tree - where we prefer her not to be - although she does look quite cozy!

Aaron's first Christmas Concert

On Monday I went to Aaron's first Christmas concert. It's been awhile since I've been to a kiddie concert - they are so cute and I love hearing them sing! My camera is acting up (ready to give it the boot this time for sure!) so my pictures are not the best. If you click on this Aaron is about in the middle in the front row on the stage wearing a pointy hat.





Aaron is in the second row towards the left, again with the pointy hat and not looking forward like everyone else!

Gary treated himself to a lobster (at $4.75/lb - poor fishermen!) today. Are you drooling yet, Frank?

Sunday Adventure

It was so nice on Sunday, we decided to go on a little adventure to the shore at Victoria Beach. There are some really neat rocks to climb. In this pic I am pointing to Gary trying to tell him that there are 2 dogs galloping at him from behind. He thought I was waving and was a little startled when the dogs nudged him.

What a difference from the Sunday before when we were pretty much snowed in. Not a spec of the stuff left.



A fishing boat heading out.

Some November stuff

The day after the storm - beautiful!


The first plowing of the winter - and many more to follow!

To answer your question Cathy, Nope, the project will not be done before the snow flies (I guess the snow flew a little too early this year). Oh well, we have a early start on it for the spring.

Bella, our little goat loves to come in the house - I think she thinks she's a dog.

Bella is not sure of the snow (it's her first winter). She sinks into the snow up to her knees (do goats have knees??) when she tries to walk.

So Valdy was really here and I was fresh out of the shower (no hair or make up done) and Gary suggests I get in the picture - Thanks Gary! He is really tall and had to just about get down on his knees to get close to my height - LOL

Birthday wishes to Athena and Mike and Valdy is here!

A belated Happy Birthday to sweet little Athena! I' didn't forget, I was away all day yesterday shopping with the girls in Halifax. Had a great day and got home around 11:00 p.m. For those of you who may have forgotten, today is Mike's birthday - number 43 if I'm not mistaken! Happy Birthday Mike!

In some other news, we have Valdy staying with us tonight - I'm sure us older folks remember Valdy! He is playing a King's Theatre tonight and we offered him accommodations in exchange for a picture for our 'Wall of Fame'. So far we have Bruce Guthro, Charlie A'Court, John Gracie, and The Cottars.

Valdy promised to play some of his oldies like "Play Me a Rock and Roll Song" - one of my favorites. Should be a good show.

Halloween and NBGB's visit

At supper time on Thursday Brenton 'remembered' that he was suppose to dress up for Halloween at school on Friday, so a quick trip to 'Frenchys' in Digby netted him a red sweater and a red hat. Then, with the purchase of white duct tape, glasses at Dollarama, and a little bit of sewing, by midnight he became 'Waldo' as in, 'Where's Waldo'. He and Karlea decided to go out for supper in their costumes as well.

I think I need a bigger lap! The NBGB were in for a visit while Momma and Poppa picked apples next door in the orchard. They each like to sit on my lap while we read stories and they are getting so big its a tight squeeze!

It's a small world . . . This one is for you Tim

We had a drop-in this evening - some folks from Fort Simpson. I asked if they knew Tim and, yes they do. The fellow's name is Chris Yarran ( spelling?) who owns Wolverine Air. He is with his wife and another fellow from Yellowknife. He had good things to say about you, Tim. He said you were a nice guy and do a great job! Anyway, what are the chances of that - having someone drop in here who knows Tim? A very small world . . .

Aaron turns 5 today!

Hard to believe the our little NBGB is 5 already! Here he is getting ready to open his gift.

It seems like just yesterday that I was cuddling baby Aaron.


What a cutie!



Little brother Luca with some face paint on - another cutie! Luca is 21/2 now.

And, a picture of our new 22 inch HP Pavillion flat screen monitor. As Jason would say, 'Sweet'!

A new Fall project

I know it's been awhile - I think I did better this summer when we were really busy. Oh well, that's how it goes sometime. Anyway, we have started a new project and this is the "Before". The concrete outside of the office has been in rough shape since forever and about 2 years ago we did the Home Hardware stuff that made it look pretty good for awhile, but that has started to crack over the past winters so we decided to finally fix it properly - a huge job!

Some of the concrete out.

The tractor comes in really handy to drag the stuff away.

My big strong guy!

Wow - doesn't that look better! More pics to follow as the job progresses. We will be putting down slate tiles - perhaps in a herringbone pattern. I was helping yesterday with the 'tamping'. Needless to say, I am very sore today but impressed Gary with how long I was able to stick with it! That tamper thing is heavy! Brenton and I are off to Halifax tomorrow to visit the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design for portfolio day. More updates soon!

Jay's vacation

Jason's time with us has certainly flown by - his flight back to Calgary is 8:00 p.m. tomorrow night. Some of the fun things he did while he was home - a visit to Upper Clements Wildlife Park to visit Riley (our little billy goat spent his summer there with Uncle Eddie). Gary couldn't resist getting this neat pic of 'farmer Jay'!

Gary and Jay went whale watching (someone had to stay home and my stomach isn't the greatest on boats !). In this pic, the road actually ENDS as noted on the sign. Miss that sign and you're in the water at Brier Island. The had a great sunny day for the cruise.

A whale and a Zodiac whale cruise - Jay and Gary went for the comfort of a bigger boat. Maybe a Zodiac next time!

The 'traditional' whale tail shot. Good one Jay!

An inukshuk on the rocks - there are tons of these and I guess they are really cool to see as the boat heads out to the whales.

Gary on the rocks.

Jay's home, Wharf Rat Rally, and summers over . . .

So, end of the summer news - the of course the big news is Jay is home! Gary picked him up at the airport at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. It's great to have him home! There is a big event in Digby on Labor Day weekend - the Wharf Rat Rally. On Sunday Gary and Jay ventured into Digby to have a look. As you can see - thousands of bikes!

. . . and more bikes! They close 'downtown' Digby to vehicle traffic, allowing bikes to park on each side of the street and down the middle. Then the bikes drive up and down between the rows. All weekend long all you can hear is motorcyle traffic.


. . . and more bikes! Just about every accommodation between Brier Island and Kentville is full of Wharf Rat attendees. This year we had 5 of our cottages booked out to bikers. Instead of our usual Mom, Dad, couple of kids and a minivan, we had couples and 3 or 4 bikes at each cottage. It was really neat and they were all so nice!



One of the impressive rigs at the rally.

A jet ski demonstration at the rally.

More jet ski.

Some of the boats at the Digby marina.

Well summer is over - we finished August with 100% occupancy - yeah!! It's kind of a bitter sweet time - in a way we're happy its over - being so busy every day, but you get so used to the routine that it takes a while to adjust to not being 'ON' 24/7. We do have quite a busy September lined up so far, but it's very different with the seniors and no kids. Aaron starts school on Wednesday - I can't believe my little NBGB is growing up so fast! I guess its time to plan my fall decorating project - I'm thinking Jay's room (Brenton's old bedroom) is going to be my target this time. I'm a little tired of the lime green and black - yup - I'll be sure and take some 'before' photos of that!

Belated Happy Birthdays to Tim & Ellia!

Gary's brother Eddie is the manager of the Upper Clements Wildlife Park which is almost directly across the road from us. Eddie needed a beaver for their beaver exhibit and, as luck would have it, there is a colony of beavers just below the wildlife park. Eddie set out his catch alive trap and caught a beaver, then another beaver, and then this one - beaver #3! The beavers are having a blast in the beaver exhibit - delighting onlookers with their antics. He drove over in the mule to show us this guy.

The NBGBs were over for a swim yesterday. I couldn't get the camera to work for a swimming picture, but it did work for a snack picture. Aaron starts school on Sept. 3rd - it just seems like yesterday that he was born.


I can't believe summer is almost over - basically another week and the summer crowd will be gone - we are fully booked until Labor Day Monday right now - yup - looks like another 100% occupancy for August - yeah!! Something to look forward to as summer winds down - one more week until Jay comes home - I have officially started clearing the junk out of his room - hopefully I'll have it ready for Saturday.

Small up-date - Busy, busy summer!

Yup - we're still alive and kicking! We're haviang a very busy summer - 95.8% occupancy for July and aiming for 100% again in August. Things are going well and we even have a day off with no cottages to clean now and then so that we can catch up on other work. If you make this pic bigger, you'll see that we finally got the weathervane and Gary is installing it here. With the dark green of the trees in the background, it doesn't show up so well in pictures.

Gary doing his morning pool chores - opening the pool, scooping the bugs, testing the water and sweeping the deck.



My window box flowers have gone crazy this year. They decided that they want to go up and cover the window rather than hang down! This picture is just before I got up with scissors and gave them a little trim - they were making the bathroom dark! Oh, note the 2 bunnies in the left hand corner of the picture. They have made a huge tunnel beside the foundation - at the corner of the bottom step is the dirt that they have dug out.


This baby bunny blends in with the rocks in the walkway.

Count down is on till Jason comes home - the end of the month - yeah! It will be 2 years since we've seen him, can't wait!

Cousin Alan

You are absolutely right, Tim. Alan used to come and visit when we lived in the little white house. His family was in Newfoundland, so he would come for supper and stuff. He was also out to the camp - he remembers rowing the Newfoundland dorey that Mom had shipped back from Newfoundland. Do you remember that? Anyway, here is a snapshot from the past - I think I'm about 16 here and Alan is about 18. I should have taken his picture this weekend, but he plans to come back, so I'll remember next time. The family connection is Alan's grandfather and my Grandfather Cox were brothers. Oh, another neat note - Alan's daughter Lisa put some pictures of their visit on Facebook and one of her best friends, Scott and Jenn in Calgary are Jason's roomates - imagine that! It is certainly a small world.

Odds and ends . . .

So school is over - yeah! Brenton received 'Honours with Distinction' again this year - meaning that he has an average of 90 or above. Good job B! He also received a Silver 'A' for his participation in Student Council.

Finishing up some jobs - here is the cupola that Brenton designed - he made the bottom part and Gary made the roof part as Brenton has been busy working at Upper Clements Park. We have a weathervane on order to complete the cupola.


Another view of the cupola.



Finishing another project - Brenton designed this sign for above the office entrance. Gary is a applying the vinyl letters here.

Lettering all done - the only thing left to apply are the 2 white pinstripes - I don't have a pic of that yet.

My wegelia is in bloom - see what we have to do to protect our plants from the bunnies? The bush would be so pretty if we could unleash it - but the bunnies would have their way with it in no time! The joy of free roaming bunnies, sigh, sigh!

Frank, do you remember our cousin Alan Cox? Well he was down here this weekend with his daughter and her family and her in-laws. I haven't seen him in a few years and it was great to see him again. I didn't get a pic, but they plan to come down again in the fall so maybe then.

We are officially in 'high gear' here now so updates may be a little sporadic'; however, I will be checking your blogs whenever I get a few spare minutes so keep 'em coming!