Blueberry Picking

Tom, Lewie and I managed to get a Blueberry picking trip in before Tom had to go back to Quebec. Went out to Bauline and had a really nice hike. Unfortunately there was not many blueberries so we decided to pick Partridge berries as well as blueberries. I was a little daunted by having to separate the berries. I put them into the water to wash and in the morning I noticed that they separated themselves. The Partridge berries were at the top and the blueberries were at the bottom. Made cleaning them much easier.

Lewie's Birthday

Well it never fails. The beginning of the new school year always occurs on or slightly just after Lewie's Birthday. This year he was fortunate that it was the second day of the school year and not the first day back. He had a good birthday. Unfortunately his dad is away but he got to speak to him on the phone so that made up for it. Lewie had a Football match on his birthday. Last one of the outdoor season. His football team the Rangers where playing the gold medal match. Each season the teams have a playoff and medals are given out for gold, silver and bronze. This year Lewie's team got through and played for gold. It was a very exciting match and the teams where very evenly matched. All of the kids played really hard and seemed to really enjoy themselves. The game came down to 10 minutes of extra time. After which the score was still 0-0. It was getting quite dark so some guys drove their big monster trucks onto the field and parked across the field so that their headlights would light up the penalty box and goalie but not so that it would be in the goalie's eyes. They spent quite sometime lining it up so that it was just so. They then had penalty shoot outs. After 5 players had gone they were still even 2-2. So they had sudden death penalty. Which ever team scored with one last player would win. Lewie's team scored and his team won the gold medals. I think it is a hard way to end the season and such a good game. All of the kids did so well. There is so much potential in some of these kids. All in all he had a good birthday just a little out of the ordinary.

Were all going on our Summer Holidays.

We went to St Pierre for our summer holidays this year. St Pierre is a little Island which is part of France in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland's Burin Peninsula. We drove down to Fortune and took the Ferry across to St Pierre. We went on a Catamaran
with a twin engine. It was really fast and sprayed up the water. You barely noticed the waves when we were traveling in it and it was very comfortable. When we came home we came back on an older boat that was a bit more choppy and turbulent. We got to sit outside on the top deck and see a lot of the coast which we missed on the way over because we were indoors.
I was surprised when we arrived how European the place is. I was expecting it to be a little like N. America because it is so close but it is really French. I knew people would speak French, but I guess I didn't know what to expect. The Roads and Houses are really very different. They have roundabouts and no traffic lights (which is a great thing). The houses are quite different. Some of them are really colourful and stand out. Some are like N. American wooden boxes with vinyl siding. Others are poured concrete houses. Some are so close together that you would not be able to get between them. As you can see in this picture this house is very colourful and close to the house next to it. Have a look at this house. I found them very different. This is a poured concrete house and you can also see how close together this house is to it's neighbour and still considered detached. Here is a very Eclectic house. It has "fish" drying on the window sill and plastic peppers hanging from the drapery. The whole of the pavement and side of the road is painted to "coordinate" with this house. It is very unique.
St Pierre is a reasonably small town and you can walk all around it in a day. We were unable to take our car so we were back packing. We spent most of the days out and about exploring the culture. Our B&B room was quite small and better only to sleep in. The shops are an interesting combination of N. American shops and French. For example we shopped in the Boulangerie for bread and went to the Magazin for stationary. All of the shops are specific for a certain item. You buy bread and cakes in the bakery and pens and stationary in the newsagent. The off license sells liquor. There is a general grocery store selling groceries. It is not like here in Canada where you can buy everything in one shop from groceries to paint to stationary/greeting cards to tools and household items. It felt out of place when we discovered Canadian shops such as Canadian Tire outlets, Home-hardware & Rona in France.
Tom's Blog has lots of scenery pictures of St Pierre, Miquelon and Langlade. We did manage to get some climbing in. There were some cliffs we noticed on the boat ride in. We took a day and went climbing. The walk there was tiring as it is across town, over a pool of water and up the side of a cliff. Tom and I put into practice our new knowledge of knots and anchors. We climbed all day and had a brew up. Tom got a lot of new gear from MEC on his last trip to Montreal and we christened all of the new gear. The Nuts and Cams are no longer shiny, they are a little scratched up.
Lewie has a great love of cars and really enjoys reading about cars and watching Top Gear. He was really excited by the French Cars here. They have some American cars but mostly Citroen, Peugeot and lots of mopeds.
Our French held up well. We were able to order food in the restaurants and cafe and get ice-cream and bread. The people were really friendly and if we attempted French they were very willing to speak in English to us. All in all we had a great holiday, we only went for a few days but it was great. We changed some money to Euros as their currency is Euros and we needed our passports to go there. We went through customs on arriving their and now we have a new stamp in our passports.

New Nephew

I want to welcome a new addition to my family. I am an Auntie of a gorgeous little boy William Alfred Goulding. He was born this morning at 7am UK time. Both Mum, Dad and Baby are doing really well after a long night. Baby is named after our Granddad Alfred William. He was born 8lbs 4 oz and is absolutely perfect, he has gorgeous red hair. Congratulations to my Brother and Sister in law. You both are fantastic beautiful people, I hope you enjoy your new baby. Can't wait to come home and meet him.

Woodpeckers

So I popped Home from work this morning to bring in Lewie's Paper's. I thought it was going to rain and they often just deliver them in a bundle without any protective bag or anything. I went down the driveway and was totally focused on the papers. I turned around and spotted these little guys in the hanging flower basket. I think they are babies and learning how to peck. They look a bit fluffy. They were pecking at the wood in the basket. Not sure what they found to eat but the image of them both together pecking at the basket was spectacular. Unfortunately I have not quite been able to catch that image as they moved away to the tree. One did return but the other one did not join him again. This year has been a wonderful treat for wildlife in the garden. By the Way this is Tom's Hanging Basket Design he made it using left over bits of wood and string. Quite a Cunning Idea, and yet so simple!!!!

A Lucky Break

Lewie and I had one of those days on Friday best forgotten. Started out with me slipping down the stairs. There was a puddle of water at the top of the stairs left over from a shower. Unknown to me until I slipped on it and fell 4 steps down the stairs. I was incredibly lucky that the banister was there and I grabbed it. Could have kept going to the bottom. My toe popped and it sounded like it was broken. It swelled immediately and turned black. I called in sick to work and went to the doctor. This lead to us having to go to the Hospital for an Xray. Turns out it is only badly bruised and not broken. It is quite tender and ugly looking.

Lewie ended up staying home with me and doing his paper round, instead of going to summer camp. At about 4pm I received a call from Lewie. (I let him borrow my cell phone in case of emergencies while out on the round) He had fallen off his bike in the church parking lot and couldn't get up. I hobbled to the car and went down the road to find Lewie sitting on the grass with blood all over his knee and hands. I cleaned him up best I could on the side of the road. We managed between us to finish the round and get the bike and trailer back home. Once home I was able to assess his injuries a little better. He had a deep cut on one knee and road rash on the other. Road rash on his chest, and palms of his hands. The cut on his knee didn't look like it needed stitches so I patched him up using a butterfly bandage. Later on in the evening Lewie still seemed to be in pain and favouring his wrist. I checked it out but couldn't really tell if it was just badly bruised and swollen or broken. So we had a quick trip to the Janeway to have it checked out. (The Janeway is the Children's Hospital) Lewie had an Xray and his wrist is also only badly bruised but not broken.
So all in all a very lucky but eventful start to Tom's Birthday weekend.

Time Flies

Well Tom has been home now for 4 weeks now and is due to leave again on Tuesday to go back up to Northern Quebec, Raglean. We have had a lot of dilemmas since he has been home and time has really flown on by. Firstly we were thinking of buying a new car. Which we still are looking around for but are finding that the car we want is very desirable by others and hard to come by. Secondly Lewie wanted to get a paper route, this has cause some discussion around is he really old enough. We decided that yes this responsibility will be good for him. Lastly we have been looking for a new house. Not that there is anything wrong with our current house. It is just that we are steadily outgrowing it and space is getting limited. Of course everything always happens toward the end of Tom's time home leaving it all very rushed and chaotic. Still it hasn't stopped us taking some time and sitting back and smelling the Lilacs. I know the saying involves Roses but mine are really not that spectacular. Not like the Lilacs. They have been really amazing this year attracting all kinds of wildlife to them. They smell absolutely fantastic. If only we had smell-o-vision. Anyways we will make the right decisions and we will try not to be rushed by time as it flies by.