David's Greatest Woodworking Achievement

Well, I finally did it!
'It' only took one full day of gluing and cutting and then designing. and then regluing because I didn't wait long enough for the glue to set.  And then screwing the glue and using nails.  and then upgrading to a few screws here and there. 
But I think I've made my finest woodworking yet.
Yes, even better than any deck, or shed, or pergola or gazebo or muskoka chair. 
I have made.....
A Bird Feeder.

Now hopefully the birds like it...

Christmas Lights

Last night we went to visit Upper Canada Village that has their "Alight at Night" show.  Dad, Mom, David and I drove up to Ottawa in the afternoon and picked up Grandma, who wanted to come along.  Then we went down to Steve and Katrina'a, got everyone all bundled up and headed out.  Luckily for us, the wind died down so it wasn't too cold out and with all the walking we did, we kept quite warm!  I had never been to Upper Canada Village, so that was cool on it's own.  But the 2 million lights (Dad's estimation--and over a quarter million according to their website) made the village light up to create a spectacular effect! 

There were lots of things to see.  There was a gingerbread house competition, which displayed the prize winners.  There were some very detailed entries!  There was also a life-size gingerbread house.  Naomi and I thought it would be cool if we could take a bite off of it, but it wasn't "eat-able" according to her.  They had a sound and light show, which is always really neat.  One of the songs they played the lights to was "Jingle Bells" and Naomi was belting it out at the top of her lungs and dancing around!!  And they also did a song from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, which was my favourite.

Anyways, here are some pictures of our night.  They didn't turn out really well because it was at night and we used a low shutter speed...but I think you'll get the drift!

Steve and Katrina and the girls--Halfway to the North Pole

Mom, Grandma, and Dad taking in the lights.

Inside getting warm and checking out the gingerbread competition entries.

A Yellow House--mom's favourite.

One of the gingerbread entries--a piano with wood grain, even!

The whole clan!

The "gingerbread" men on top of the life-size "gingerbread" house.

Christmas

Ahhh, I've officially made it to the first extended break of the year. Today I'm really tired (had to take a nap right after school!), but I am so looking forward to a few weeks off! The thing I love about Christmas break, is of course spending time with family, but mostly that the time off helps me regroup and refresh. Always at the end of the two weeks I'm ready to go back, with lots of ambitious ideas (some get done and some don't) and a refreshed perspective.

Anyways, definitely looking forward to the next 14 days! First on the calender: Christmas Cantata. Yep, we decided to join the choir again. It's been lots of work, mostly in the form of being at practice one night a week, and a bit of stress for me, my solo is significantly more difficult this time around, but still a blessing to be a part of! If anyone's in the Barrie area on Sunday, come and check it out at 9:30 am!

On a totally different note: For those who don't know, Dave is quite the artist. He loves to draw and often comes up with very creative ideas for my bulletin boards! He is frequently "recruited" to help me when I start new units. So, when he was in one of his teaching placements he came across these really cool markers that you can use on the blackboard but don't erase with a regular chalkbrush. These are great for writing things that I don't want the kids to be able to take off the board easily!! At one point last year Dave thought it would be fun to draw a picture for my kids on my back blackboard. The kids loved it and it has now become a bit of a tradition! He changes the picture about once a month. The kids try and put in requests for what they want to see, but we often try to keep it "curriculum-based", for example last month he drew a space picture with all my french vocab on it. I always say we should take pictures of them because they're really cool, but I generally forget and then it gets erased and a new one put up. Well, this month I had my camera at school for something else so I can finally show you what he does. Here is the December 2009 picture:

So I hope everyone is having a great Christmas season! Merry Christmas!

PS~Check out the pictures on our sidebar....I updated some of them!

Engaged!

Congratulations Nathaniel and Rachel!

(Thanks for the picture guys...we "borrowed" it from Facebook....)

We're very excited to welcome Rachel into our family!  Dave is feeling very good about himself right now because he's not the newest person anymore!

Anyways, we can't wait to spend more time with you guys!

Geertsema Christmas

The unveiling of the Geertsema Family Picture 2009!

Here's the nice version:

And here's the "Where's Waldo" version (or maybe....Where's Michael???)

Very Fun! Well, keep an eye on our blogs for more pictures to come of our fabulous weekend!

Christmas

As many of you know, I've become an avid fan of many of Stephen Leacock's writings. I've shared some 'snippets' before, and I'm going to share some more right now... even though Stephanie rolls her eyes and says "not Again!" every time...
But these ones I thought appropriate to the season....

"Let me say right at the start that I am devoted to Christmas -- no time in the year like it. It's all brightness and light and Christmas trees with candles, and holly berries -- with little children dancing in a ring and everyone pretending to be a fine fellow, and pretty nearly succeeding in it.
I was brought up on it; weren't you? It was a sort of family tradition -- house all hung with mottos of MERRY CHRISTMAS, and cotton wool and red flannel.... You had all that in your family, too, didn't you, and your brother Jim always gave your brother Dick a neck-tie every Christmas, just the same as the one Dick gave to Jim, and your mother paid for both of them -- didn't she, so as to teach the children to be generous?
Quite so; and in that case you'll agree with me that of all the side issues and extras that go with Christmas and make it what it is, there isn't one that for warmth and character is in it with Christmas shopping! The pleasure of anticipation, that warm glow about the heart, eh! that joy in generous giving far ahead of getting anything for yourself. That's you, isn't it? Yes, I'm sure it is."

From "My Remarkable Uncle" in a chapter called "Christmas Shopping: Pre-war"

and later in his essay:

"... But it was a kind thought, anyway. I've had quite a few like that. There is a man going round in Montreal wearing, for me, though he doesn't know it, a smoking jacket that I nearly gave him the Christmas after he got married. There is, or was, a retired clergyman who nearly qualified for an encyclopaedia; and ever so many of my young married friends have imaginary sets of Shakespeare. But I needn't expalin it. I am sure that you yourself, and everybody else, have a list of these gifts that never were given. It is very sweet of you to have thought of them. Perhaps this Christmas you might make good on one or two. Change the encyclopaedia to a fountain-pen, or, if you like, to a pencil shapener; only give it, don't wait. But it is getting late - the shops will close soon..."

- from Stephen Leacock, copyright 1942.

Now, I'm not a tailor, but...

I recently came into possession of a new pair of pants.
They're a nice pair of pants, all things considered. But one thing really, truly annoys me.
The buttons...

Buttons seem to be a real problem with the manufacturers of pants lately, because, well, I run across this problem alot.
You see, the button, affixed to the pants above the zipper has come loose. Such that I know it will eventually pop right off. Which is compoundedly annoying for this reason - the manufacturers of these pants have sewn two (2) extra buttons to a tag on the inside of the pants.
Which means that they knew that the button would pop off if worn for anything more than 5 times.
But as I said, this whole button thing is a problem I've had with other pants... Which means that I have gained the experience necessary with a needle and thread to actually sew a button back onto a pair of pants.
What I don't get is this...
Every button that I've sewn onto a pair of pants has never come off. Even if I've worn the pants more than 5 or 6 times, my sewing has not come loose. I'll even stretch that to say that I've worn some pants 30 or 40 times and the button has still not come loose.
AND yet, the manufacturers of pants, who are trained (hopefully) workers with some skill in designing fashionable pantalons can't sew on a button so that it will remain affixed to a pair of trousers for more than 5 wearings.
But the two buttons they sewed to the inside of the pants are still there...

Introducing - Mr. and Mrs. Awesome

A real conversation I had with a child:

At the end of the school day:
Child - "Your new name is Mr. Awesome."
Me - "Oh?"
Child - "Yep, some teachers come in here and they get walked all over. But not you."
Me - "Okay... thanks."

A real conversation I had with Stephanie later that day...

Steph (seeing a letter from the church addressed to Mr. and Mrs. David J. Geertsema) - "Why do I have to be Mrs. David Geertsema?"
Me - "I don't know. It's just the way it is."
Steph - "Well, why shouldn't you be Mr. Steph Geertsema"
Me - "Because it doesn't work that way. Listen, think about this... A kid just called me Mr. Awesome at school today. So what does that make you? Mrs. Awesome."

Fall Work

Since the weather was so beautiful today we thought it was time to get some yard work done. A few weeks ago we had bought some Christmas lights, so this afternoon Dave got up on the roof to put them up. Very exciting! This is also a big step for Dave who sometimes acts like Scrooge at Christmas!!!! Then we raked up all the leaves and cleaned up the yard. It was great to take advantage of a nice day because I'm sure after the snow/hail/sleet we got the other day, there won't be too many nice days left. We'll have to take a picture of the house in the dark when it's all lit up to show you our handiwork (not that it's that creative!) We were also thinking of putting some lights in the bush to the left of the front door, but weren't sure what it would look like. Any thoughts?

One More Time Around the Calendar

So, today is my birthday. So far I've had a good day. I was asked to go to a small Christian school to watch over some children for the day - and get paid. The beauty of it was that there were only 4 children left in the class (half the class went away for the day and I was left with 4). So I read a good amount of "Hatchet" by Gary Paulson. It was nice of them to pay me for my time.

I've been asked a couple times if I feel any older today. Which, of course, everyone knows the answer is 'not really'. I mean, you're told that you're a year older. But really, for about two years I've just rounded my age up to the nearest 10. So when my birthday comes around, I can actually surprise myself, and feel a little younger.
"Your 28?" someone might ask.
To which I'd reply, " I am?" in astonishment. All this time I thought I was 30... I really should keep better track of this thing...

Anyway, Steph and I have choir practice tonight. So we won't be around for much more of the evening. If you haven't called to say "Happy Birthday" you can try later in the evening, or tomorrow.
Just don't ask if I'm 40 yet. 'cause that would be insulting.

A Fall Walk

Fall is by far my favourite season. Aside from the rain, of course! I love the fabulous colours and am most often reminded of God's amazing creativity. We like to take lots of walks during this season, to view the colours and just to get out of the house before all the snow comes! We went for a walk at a park in Innisfil and took our camera. Here's what came of it:

We hope you're enjoying this beautiful season too!

Beard Trimmer

For those of you who have seen me this past year, you know that I have been 'sporting' a grizzly-looking goatee. Well, the other day, I discovered the problem with Beard Trimmers. That is - that I should check that I have the trimmer set to the right length. Which I didn't, so this past week I managed to shave it off. Unintentionally.
But I don't think Emily will mind.
I remember her telling me - over Skype (those of you not using Skype should install it) - that the goatee made me "look like a Wookie."
Thank-you, Emily.

Update, Thanksgiving and Regrouping

Dave has been bugging me to write a blog....he doesn't know what to write about and apparently I do. Not really true, but we'll go with it anyway!

Life here has been extremely busy (hence our lack of interesting blog entries...sorry about that!). School started off with a huge rush of busyness and I'm finally just starting to catch up. Omitting all the marking I have to do, I am enjoying my kids and being back at school. I do have quite an interesting bunch this year and they exhaust me, but they also make me laugh so sometimes that makes up for all the frustration!

Dave has also been busy working, painting, and coaching. I'm thankful that he's been given the opportunity to coach because he really enjoys it and does a great job! He's also finished painting the basement, which looks awesome! So now we only need to decide on some storage options so we can get it all cleaned up.

Thanksgiving was a great weekend to relax and spend time with family. We were at my parents and did lots of chilling and eating. But mostly it was nice to get away from all the craziness. A couple of family pictures:

And now that we're back at it again, we're trying to regroup and get ready for the next round of busyness. We started choir this week for our Christmas Cantata, so if anyone wants to check that out it's on December 19 and 20 (I think...).

And we're apparently starting the weekend with no hot water....AGAIN! I think I've just about had it with our water heater.....

Hot Water

We've finally had our water heater repaired! It only took us a week, and a few days to get it repaired. Who knew that painting your basement could cause you so much stress, eh? And who knew that you could be so relieved to get to take a shower again...?

Anyways, our only other news of late is that (seeing as we bought a big 21 quart pot for heating water - for our baths...) we decided to try our hand at canning our very own homemade tomato jam. Yep, so it turned out okay. You might get some at christmas. Maybe you won't. Maybe you don't want any, seeing as we used the pot for baths and all...

Welcome back Fall, wait, I mean Winter.

Who knew that oil-based paint gave off flamable fumes? This is day two without our water-heater. It's proving to be a long process to get the fumes out of the basement.... So we've decided to just keep going (with painting the basement) and live with heated water on the stove for a few days. We'll see if our water heater turns itself back on later.

Other things we're up to...
Steph's teaching. I'm painting.

I've also volunteered my time to coach the boys soccer team at Timothy C.S. and at the same time I'm back as the coach of the girls basketball team at Unity. It keeps me busy. I'm hoping we get a better season than what we had last year. It'd be nice to win a few games before going to the 'playoff' this time around.

Our leaves are turning yellow. Which stinks. 'cause I looked at our October postings on this blog from last year. Yeah... Snow on October 21. Snow stuck around as of the second week in November...

Oh, and we're not joking about the snowblower. If anyone is looking to upgrade their present snowblower, and would like to sell their old snowblower cheap, let us know. We'll talk. Have your people call my people. That sorta thing. Seriously.

Snowblower

Seeing as Barrie just had its first night in the negative temperatures, I thought I'd ask if anyone has a snowblower available?
Let me know!

Wallpaper

Many of you now know that I have been trying to get rid of some wallpaper in the basement, and have had some frustration. I was having some difficulty as the paper would tear off in only two inch by four inch pieces.
"Have you tried perforating the wallpaper?" was a common question people would ask... indicating the method whereby you perforate the wallpaper with something akin to a fork and then soak the wall with a spray bottle.
I was doing that from the start.
Now, I know some of you might be thinking "Do they not have steamers that will soak into the wallpaper and loosen it up for you?"
I tell you that is a copp out. It wouldn't be work anymore. And for things to be done right, it must be done by working at it. It is only Christian. After all, did the Lord not work for 6 days to create the earth, and on only on the 7th did He rest? And did He not create our bodies for the very purpose of doing work? (If he did not give us bodies for this purpose, then why do we have bodies at all?)
Besides which, a steamer would have cost me money. And as a person of dutch heritage, well, I think we all know what it means to be of a dutch heritage, however distant that dutch heritage may be.
So, I tell you that I have come across the most brilliant method by which a person of proper mind may be rid of wallpaper, and produce a brilliant finish.
Now, don't think that you need to go out and buy any special tools to perforate the wallpaper. No, just go into your kitchen, and find that handy-dandy tool commonly referred to as a cheese-grater.
Many of you don't know this, but a cheese-grater was originally designed for plastered walls. It produced a finish that is hard to mimic by any other means. Time has run its course, and most people, (I dare say, all people) have forgotten it's original intention.
But yes, a cheese-grater, or as it is properly called -- the wall-grater, is the just the tool you need.
Those store bought tools you see now-a'days hardly even touch the wallpaper, but a wall-grater, takes a good solid rip out of the wallpaper, and also gives the frustrated person a good healthy thick sound of tearing at the wall.
Now, I know some of you are thinking -- won't that result in deep grooves in your drywall?
I tell you not to worry.
After finishing with the wall-grater, you should have a nice roughed up finish throughout the respective room that you are working on.
And yes, gypsum (the stuff that drywall is made of) will be prone to falling off the wall, seeing as there is no longer any paper to hold it to the wall. But don't worry.
I'm told that a little bit of plaster, and a healthy coating of oil-based primer will do just the trick to hold it all together.
Of course, if any parts of your wall are still looking a little loose, then a few healthy knocks with a hammer should put it back in its place.
After you have plastered and primed the walls (remember to use an oil-based primer!), your wall should be perfectly prepared for painting. You can use any sort of paint you want by now, because oil-based primer is just the primer, and there is no worry about using latex paint over an alkyd (oil) primer.
And there you have it. A sure-fire method for getting rid of wallpaper, in an expedient manner, resulting in a modern, rough "Texan" finish (everyone is doing this in those southern states where wallpaper was once the rage).
Good luck!

Back to school... Back to school...

So it's been a while since I've had to be in school. Can't say that I relished the idea of heading back when there's still golf to be played, and baseball season ain't over yet, and the basement still has (very hated) wallpaper on it yet.
But anyways.
Last week Friday morning I wasn't expecting any calls from the school board, but just to be sure, I had kept my cell phone beside the bed "Just in case". But I really didn't expect any calls.

Sure enough, at 6:07 am (when I'm getting my best sleep, you know) the cell phone lit up with my 'construction' ringtone (BEEP.... BEEP.... BEEP....)(but not like a truck backing up kindof beep ~ it's more of an annoying high pitched beep).

As I said, I wasn't expecting the phone call.
So after fumbling in the dark for the phone, and not finding it where I had left it, and consequently prolonging the agony of beeping, I finally found it, tried to open it up and somehow hanged up.
So I didn't get the call.

Now this morning, sure enough, at 6:07 am, the phone lit up again. (but this time I was prepared) I opened up the phone, and realized that a cell phone's small buttons are really hard to operate in the dark at 6:07 am.

But don't worry. I managed.

So I went to school today.
High School.
First class - Grade 12 English. (I made up stuff about Shakespeare and they ate it up...)(just kidding).
Second class - break.
Third class - baking chocolate chip cookies in home ec. !
Fourth class - annoying grade 10 boys doing seat work and not working quietly.
Fifth class - break again.

And now I'm home again.
Altogether ~ a successful and good first day back at school.

Now I've got to do something about my ringtone.

Funny Pieces

A new book that I think everyone should read, is Stephen Leacock's "Funny Pieces". Look for it in your library. This guy is funny. It's even funnier when you consider that he was writing between wars (1936 is the copyright on this book).
But I can't say too much about it, because I wouldn't give the book enough credit.

Honestly, if you're looking for a humourous writer, and you don't mind skipping a few words that you will not understand (because the words just aren't used anymore), then you should pick up a book by this guy.

(If you like Stuart Maclean, you'll like this guy too)

Satisfaction

The golf course, is one of those places. Where, you can hate something sooo much, but still really have to love it.
Maybe it's part of our instinct, that, if we really suck at something, we need to improve, if only to prove it to ourselves, and thereby get satisfaction.
So satisfaction may be the key to a healthy golf game. When you walk off the course, satisfied, well, there's just something to it. If you walk off the course dissatisfied, well, you'll stay bitter until you get back out there and do it better.
Yesterday, I walked off the course satisfied for two reasons.
1) I started off the game with horrible drives off the tee. (The kind of drives that don't make it past the women's tees)(and worse, didn't even go in a straight line to get there...). This was leaving me terribly unsatisfied ~ because the last time I had been using my driver ~~ a year ago ~~ I had been making pin-straight 200 yard drives. It was costing me my game. My satisfaction. Fortunately, after a Brutal score on the front nine, I managed to regain some of the form I had with a driver one year ago. My back nine score made a dramatic improvement.
2) My short game had made some huge improvements ~ such that I was becoming extremely confident with my sand and lob wedges (Christmas present from Stevin a couple years ago - thanks Stevin). This resulted in one particularly memorable 30 yard chip-in for birdie that was just, oh-so-satisfying.

Now, I'm left feeling unsatisfied because I am at home, on a computer, instead of being on the golf course. Golf, anyone?

The Garden's Produce (or lack thereof)

So, today, our 'vegetable patch' went from looking like this...to looking like this.... A little bit 'uglier?', but hopefully, our abundance of tomato fruits will ripen without all the extra foliage.
We've also had problems with snails and slugs. So... we're starting a collection of eggshells. Hopefully we can get rid of them next and do better with our garden next year. I might try relocating the garden as well.

Only a Few Rooms Left!

Only a few rooms left to paint - These are the next ones.... Found in the basement. These walls feature really ugly wallpapers that really need to disappear.
Below you'll see the floral print in the basement hallway.
And the Pink, Blue, and Yellow Palm Tree print in the basement rec-room.

Today, I managed to pack a TON of stuff into a few small areas found beneath the stairs and around the freezer. Don't expect me to pull out the Christmas decorations any time soon!

OH, Does anybody need a rug? We used the rug (rolled up in picture above) for a year and a half in Jarvis, but now we have no need for it... Speak now, or it's going on Kijiji soon!

And the Jungle Produces...

For those who haven't seen our vegetable garden recently, I think when you look at the picture below you will understand, quite easily, why we have dubbed it "the jungle." I'm not really sure what happened while we were gone to Nova Scotia, but when we came home we found this:
...most definitely a jungle. Our tomato plants had grown (and continue to grow) to an enormous size and our cucumber plant (which is a little hard to see, but it on the left) is also quite large. Anyways, until this week we really haven't seen any fruits from this jungle. Not too many tomatos, cucumbers, or peppers (which I ended up pulling out because they weren't growing anything). But today while I was doing some much needed work in the garden a saw, out of the corner of my eye, a flash of red. And upon further investigation I found:
.....three red cherry tomatoes. Horray!!!! Finally we're getting somewhere. And there are lots of green tomatoes (cherry and regular) that I'm hoping will continue to ripen. I'm not so sure what we're going to do with all these tomatoes, but it's exciting to finally see it coming together!
And other than that I'm attempting to enjoy my last week before school gets going....I'm trying to motivate myself to do some work so that I won't have to work too hard next week, but we'll see how that goes! And with Dave staying at his parents this week, I'm not getting much done around the house either. But on a side note, I'm being kept company by my parents dog, Roz. We're dog-sitting for three weeks while they're on vacation! So here's to hoping I can find my motivation and tomatoes!

Pianoman

There's a piano I know of that's not quite in tune.
It's never in tune.
The tuning guy comes once or twice a year, and for the rest of the year, the piano is not in tune.
I used to play guitar beside this piano.
It never sounded right.
One 'C' on the piano would not match another 'C' on the piano, and neither of those 'C's would match the 'C' note or chord on the guitar.
So nothing was ever in harmony.
Necessarily.
And yet, during church this past sunday, I contemplated the fact that although this piano has never been in tune for any sustainable amount of time, it has still made music, and church members have done their best to sing in tune with it, to the glory of our Lord.
Which is interesting to me, because, you have to wonder what it sounds like to God.
All our dissonant notes and harmonies, blended into a praise song of our God.
He's probably pleased with it.
And we should keep strumming our guitars with it.

Sidenote... this church could invest in a piano tuner ($75.00), and Piano Tuning Tool Kit ($50.00) and keep the piano in tune all the time...

Nothing much, just enough.

Wow, it's been a while since we 'updated'! So here's what's been going down...!

Not a whole lotta much.

I (David) have been working for me old boss in Hamilton (area). So two weeks ago I was spending time in Port Dover buildin' a shed. This week I was in Dundas buildin' a deck. Nothing special, but it's nice to have a friend/boss who will let me work whenever I seem to want to, with no real expectations for long term commitment. It's like a work affair. There when you want it.
But it's helping us pay the bills - which apparently don't stop when teachers go on vacation...

When we came home from Nova Scotia, we found out that our garden had done fairly well without us. We found our first ripened tomato. But couldn't eat it 'cause it was already eaten by something else... All the other tomato fruits are taking their time to ripen. Overall, I'm kinda disappointed by our vegetable garden, which hasn't produced much produce. We might have to make some changes for next year.

Steph has been enjoying her time off. But when I'm at work, she gets kindof bored. It doesn't help her that I've got our only car (yes, Steph's dad found a buyer for our red Mazda) with me at work - two hours away - so she has a 'harder' time getting out of the house. Mind you, all the malls are only a 20 minute walk away...

This summer has really been flying past us. I guess that happens when you are only in one place for two weeks at a time...

Oh, and our computer magically screwed itself up, so we couldn't print anything. Which is kindof a problem for teachers. And we couldn't fix it. And none of the backup discs we'd made would fix it. So Steph wiped our computer and it's back to its 'store-bought' condition. Now we have to download everything - like Skype, to get it back to normal... This has been terribly annoying.

So that's about it... Nothing much. We're looking forward to visiting Mom and Dad Geertsema's next week. The summer's finally gotten warm - so maybe we'll have reason to get into the lake?

Planning to Visit the Island?

I thought I'd post a few tips based on our experiences out on the Cabot Trail and our Return drive through New Brunswick for anyone who might be interested in doing a similar drive sometime in the future. If you're anything like us, you'll like the same kinds of things we liked, and dislike some of the things we disliked.

#1) Pull out your map of Eastern Canada (Quebec and the Atlantic Provinces). Study these roads:
Highway #2 is a four lane easy driving, and definitely not very scenic drive. I'd recommend it for your drive home - when you're sick of touristy stuff, and just want to get home.
On the other hand - Highway 132 (in Quebec / Highway 11 and Highway 8 in New Brunswick) travels a little further East and adds at least an hour to your drive. I recommend it for your drive to Nova Scotia - when you'll still find Quebec cities interesting (the churches in each town are quite something to see) and the scenery between Mont Joli and Campbellton is really nice. Sometime, it might be nice to camp near AMQUI, or Routhierville. The rest of the drive through New Brunswick is short (2 hours) but is abundantly disappointing as it lacks scenery of the ocean. To see the ocean along Highway 11 and 8, you'll have to get off the highway and take street-roads through all the little towns, which will slow your drive down considerably. The bridges in Campbellton, and in Miramichi/Chatham are interesting to see.

#2) Getting to the Island. Getting there along Highway 104 (on Mainland Nova Scotia) is somewhat dull, but we enjoyed the cities of New Glasgow and especially Antigonish (a nice-looking university and a downtown that's small enough to walk). But these towns aren't anything terribly special, so don't get your hopes too far up. There is a Dairy Queen in Antigonish (visible from the highway), which is nice if your car lacks air conditioning like ours does.

#3) The Island Itself. We drove along highway 19 (the Western side of Cape Breton) up to Glenora Falls (the whiskey distillery and a Celtic Music Translator Museum on this highway). The Distillery was nice but overpriced unless you actually like taking shots of whiskey. Pay attention to the corner where Highway 19 meets Highway 219 - Steph and I missed that turn and added a bit of useless driving to our trip...

Cheticamp has a Tim Hortons and a Full Service National Camp Ground nearby.

The Skyline Trail - was disappointing. If you're thinking it's nice scenery the whole 10 kilometer hike - well, it's not. It's a long walk through a forest, and only 100 -200 meters of the 10 kilometers feature a wooden boardwalk. They SAY you can expect to see 2-3 moose along the trail - but we saw 0. And only the trail to the left is gravel. the trail that goes to the right is an old-fashioned trail complete with rocks and roots to step around or twist your ankle on. Oh, and definitely don't do the whole trail if you are feeling sick (like I was). The nicest part of the trail is on the left. So we recommend you just stick to the left trail which takes you out to the Headland jut-out, and then turn around and come back. Unless you're actuall hunting for Moose.
Sidenote - We DID see a Momma bear, and two cubs cross the road somewhere near the skyline trail.

Our first night, we stayed at MacIntosh Brook and really lucked out. It has flush toilets, but the water (from the taps) is not drinkable. What made it memorable was the fact that we shared the campground (it's small) with only two other families/groups - So we were able to have a lot of privacy, and yet, as we set up our sight, we enjoyed the violin and cello being played by a son and daughter of another family. (It was like having a private concert being played for you in the middle of the scenic highlands!)(it was nice). We also discovered that there is a 15 minute hike into the woods with a nice waterfall at the end of it. (which we also enjoyed).
MacIntosh Brook turned out to be much more enjoyable than the full service campground we stayed at later - simply for the fact that there were so few people to share it with.
Whale Watching is also really close by in Pleasant Bay.

The Second Night, we stayed at Broad Cove (a full-service National campground) which is close by Ingonish, Mary Ann Falls, and the #1 Rated Public Golf Course in Canada. The only thing I could say was that it was nice choosing a campsight near the ocean, AND be careful of the showers - they're really sensitive to any adjustments you make to the temperature. Steph really hated her shower. I learned from what she told me, and enjoyed a great shower - but only barely touched the controls when I needed to change any temperature. I laughed as I heard a boy screaming when he kept cranking the hot and then cranking the cold, going from Extremely Hot Water, to extremely Cold water.

There are some nice shops on the Ingonish side. We found a wood-workers shop, beside a glass-makers shop, beside a Chicks Cafe & Bakery somewhere between Ingonish and Tarbotvale.

And that's really all we can say or recommend.

Be careful of the "Ferry" to get to Englishtown. It costs something like $5.00, and only moves about 500 meters before it lets you off again. It's probably just as easy to go around the bay, and you can check out the Celtic College near MacLeods Point.

- Hope our advice is helpful!

Very Glad to Be Home!

We've finally made it home! It was a fun two weeks, and we really appreciated being able to stay at Martin and Emily's for so long!

We thought we'd better update everyone on what happened out yonder on the isle'o'cape Breton.

So we drove out and on to the island... That took a while.

We moseyed on up to the Glenora Distillery - maker of Canadian single malt whiskey - paid a little bit of money. They walked us down a hallway, gave us a shot of whiskey, and said "Thanks for visiting!" Just like 'em to treat us like a bunch of scots...

As it turns out... Steph doesn't actually like Whiskey on its own. "It burns" she said.

Some interesting facts we learned about whiskey - You're actually supposed to smell it. The glenora brand sits in wooden barrels (which Jack Daniels or someone like that uses first), and sits in a barn for something like ten years... During that time, the wooden barrels absorb some of the scents of the neighbouring countryside, and so Glenora's whiskey is said to have a bit of an apple scent. So go ahead and smell your whiskey!

Another interesting thing... The whiskey 'mix' gets boiled twice. The alcoholic evaporation is collected, and then boiled again. After the first time it's boiled, it's approximately 30% alcohol. After the second time it's boiled, it's approximately 75-80% alcohol.

Then they add water before they put it in a bottle at approximately 40% alcohol.

The Cabot trail was nice scenery. Here's Steph on the 'Skyline' Trail which didn't really live up to its name... it was more like the "7 km of walking through a forest, and 100 meters of ocean view trail". Steph is sitting on the 100 meters of boardwalk on the trail where you can actually get a really nice view of the surrounding ocean and valleys. Steph is at the limit of how far we actually able to go out on the 'boardwalk' though - because there were high winds that day and the warning on the signs said "Don't go out on the boardwalk in high winds". Apparently you can get blown off the boardwalk. And possibly off the cliff... ( a couple that went out after us, didn't read the sign, and found out the hard way...)

This is me, on the trail. Carrying an unfortunately heavy back-pack full of raingear that we didn't need or use.

Below, is me in the forest of 350 year old trees. They're old, so they're protected. Hence, you can't journey into the center of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park...

Below, is Steph, at a picturesque stop called Black Cove.

And below, is Mary Ann Falls. On the Ingonish side of the park.

And this, is just some random guy fishing. But it looked like a good picture.

We didn't go whale watching because it was too windy, so our boat reservation was cancelled. Apparently they don't take you out onto the ocean in a Zodiac when it's windy. That day it was like 30 km/h winds. so that was disappointing.

And we Don't recommend doing the Cabot Trail just before heading home. Because it's just way to much driving.

Oh. And don't take the Eastern side of New Brunswick on the way home. It's boring. Unless you're going to stop in all the small towns.

Oh. and Steph doesn't like Quebec as much as she used to think she did, but we'll blame that on all of the driving.

Yar, I missed me sailing vessel again!

A couple days ago, we travelled out to Peggy's Cove, and then to Lunenburg. We took fewer pictures but still managed to get a few that I really like. Here are a few:

The 'postcard' view of Peggy's cove in use. I like all the colours in it that kinda stand out from all the brown and grey.

This one was hard to choose - I like it for the look on Maria's face - slightly turned to her dad, as if her dad had something important to say and she was really paying attention.

I like this one of all of us with the lighthouse behind us. The lighthouse was smaller than I expected... Anyways. I like the line of heads just sticking up from the rock between us and the lighthouse - it kinda reminds me of pigeons.

I just like this one for the look on Maria's face... Like, you gotta be kidding me... You're kidding me right Uncle David?

We took it easy for the last couple of days. Martin and I did a little more work on his investment. Tomorrow, Steph and I are heading for the Cabot Trail. We'll check out the Glenory Distillery (home of Canada's Only Single Malt Whiskey)(which can't be called Scotch because it's not made in Scotland...) and then we'll stay up near Pleasant Bay. Saturday we hope to do the whale watching out of Pleasant Bay (No Sailboat tours unfortunately - they aren't operating this summer - hence the title of this blog entry), and hike the Skyline Trail (but it's supposed to rain 10 cms all day Saturday!), and then Sunday we'll check out the fort at Louisbourg before we head back to Martin and Emily's again.

Hopefully I can raise a glass of Canadian Scotch Whiskey to NO RAIN on Saturday?!

Powder Rooms and School Rooms.....similarities?

First, a side note: IT'S A GIRL!!! We are sending our congratulations and love to Steve, Katrina, Naomi and Petra on the birth of Rachel Jean this morning at 3:30!! Welcome to the family Rachel!

Alrighty, now for our update: We have been very busy here in Nova Scotia. We're making sure we see lots of things and are checking out all the "touristy" spots and more! So we checked out the Citadel. It was an absolutely beautiful day (which are few and far between here...) and so we spent a few hours touring around the rooms and different exhibits.

Here is some of the gun powder stash:

Here are the rules that were posted in the school room at the Citadel.
Emily took this great picture of us. It has the MacDonald Bridge (one of the bridges between Dartmouth and Halifax) in the backround, but that might be kind of difficult to see on this size of picture.
And here the soldiers were shooting off fake cannons. Despite the fact that they were fake, they were very loud!

Next on the list was the Parade of Sail for the Tall Ships. The Tall Ship festival has been going on since Thursday and on Monday they were leaving for the next port. So they sailed around the Halifax Harbour and then out onto the ocean. So we got a few close-ups of the ships and then we drove down the coast to see them sailing out.

And then last night, we checked out the Halifax Public Gardens. They have beautiful flowers here! So there were lots of photo ops! Here are a FEW of the pictures we got!