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Saturday, 20 December 2014
Saturday, 21 December 2013
Monday, 2 September 2013
What do you think?
I belong to several Facebook groups here in town and I want to put a question out to people so I thought this might be a way to do it. I know a lot of you no longer live in one town but I'm sure you have an opinion anyway.
In these groups we get lots of complaints that there's nothing for kids or adults for that matter to do in this town. Do you feel that it's up to a town to provide entertainment for kids, teens & adults? Any opinions? Looking forward to hearing lots of opinions.
In these groups we get lots of complaints that there's nothing for kids or adults for that matter to do in this town. Do you feel that it's up to a town to provide entertainment for kids, teens & adults? Any opinions? Looking forward to hearing lots of opinions.
Thursday, 18 July 2013
The Long Awaited Trip to the U.S.
I haven't been keeping the blog up but thought some might like to know how my first border crossing went.
We left home on Thursday and drove to Niagara Falls, Ontario and spent the night. We enjoyed seeing the Falls after such a long time and even went up in the Skylon Tower. I usually avoid anything with heights but it didn't really bother me. We were both nervous about Friday's border crossing so we probably didn't enjoy being at Niagara Falls as much as we normally would but it was great to see the Falls again!
Friday morning we were very nervous. My lawyer had indicated that we would be crossing about 9 a.m. With the waiting time at the border it was about 9:15. The border agent (in the booth) was a bit on the obnoxious side but he sent us inside to see the immigration agent. We were aware that we would have to do this. Mr. Brunelle (the immigration agent) was very nice, professional and polite and indicated that this type of problem was not meant for Canadians. I was lucky my lawyer had emailed me all the documentation which I had printed off and taken with us as although he had faxed the documents to the border crossing they didn't seem to be aware of them. One look at my documentation and the name on the letterhead and Mr. Brunelle indicated that my immigration lawyer was one of the best and does things right. It took about 3/4 of an hour to process the paperwork and send appropriate emails to parties involved and to straighten things out for me for future border crossings.
By about 10:15 a.m. we were on our way to Cincinnati! It was a long, tiring drive with lots of traffic especially going through Columbus. It was after 6 p.m. when we arrived at Gordon's sister's house.
Carol had dinner ready for us and had made sure that we could eat everything that she made.
Sunday was the Wolford Family Reunion. On our way there we stopped at Ian and Tracy's to see them and the kids, three of which we had never seen. There were a lot of people at the reunion, most of which I had no clue who they were.
The Wolford reunion was a great success. It was quite overwhelming with so many people that I didn't know but I managed to meet a few new relatives.
From the reunion we made our way to Columbus to spend some time with Michelle and her family. Faith was at camp and I'm afraid my camera hardly came out while in Columbus. The photos I did take while we were at a little falls in the city turned out blurry.
We're both so glad that we can now travel to the U.S. when we want to and no, we aren't going to start RVing again.
We left home on Thursday and drove to Niagara Falls, Ontario and spent the night. We enjoyed seeing the Falls after such a long time and even went up in the Skylon Tower. I usually avoid anything with heights but it didn't really bother me. We were both nervous about Friday's border crossing so we probably didn't enjoy being at Niagara Falls as much as we normally would but it was great to see the Falls again!
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| Falls with Maid of the Mist in foreground |
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| Lots of mist |
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| Rainbow at the Falls |
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| Me with the American Falls in the background |
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| Top of the Falls |
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| Niagara Falls near sunset |
Friday morning we were very nervous. My lawyer had indicated that we would be crossing about 9 a.m. With the waiting time at the border it was about 9:15. The border agent (in the booth) was a bit on the obnoxious side but he sent us inside to see the immigration agent. We were aware that we would have to do this. Mr. Brunelle (the immigration agent) was very nice, professional and polite and indicated that this type of problem was not meant for Canadians. I was lucky my lawyer had emailed me all the documentation which I had printed off and taken with us as although he had faxed the documents to the border crossing they didn't seem to be aware of them. One look at my documentation and the name on the letterhead and Mr. Brunelle indicated that my immigration lawyer was one of the best and does things right. It took about 3/4 of an hour to process the paperwork and send appropriate emails to parties involved and to straighten things out for me for future border crossings.
By about 10:15 a.m. we were on our way to Cincinnati! It was a long, tiring drive with lots of traffic especially going through Columbus. It was after 6 p.m. when we arrived at Gordon's sister's house.
Carol had dinner ready for us and had made sure that we could eat everything that she made.
Sunday was the Wolford Family Reunion. On our way there we stopped at Ian and Tracy's to see them and the kids, three of which we had never seen. There were a lot of people at the reunion, most of which I had no clue who they were.
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| Grandpa with the youngest grandson, Max taken at the Reunion |
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| Grandpa & Grammy with "The Wolf Pack" |
L to R-Iris, Grammy, Lily holding Violet, Caden, Grandpa holding Oren. Max was taking a nap.
The Wolford reunion was a great success. It was quite overwhelming with so many people that I didn't know but I managed to meet a few new relatives.
From the reunion we made our way to Columbus to spend some time with Michelle and her family. Faith was at camp and I'm afraid my camera hardly came out while in Columbus. The photos I did take while we were at a little falls in the city turned out blurry.
We're both so glad that we can now travel to the U.S. when we want to and no, we aren't going to start RVing again.
Wednesday, 27 February 2013
Link to The Day From Hell
For those of you that don't know the saga of how all this happened, click here.
Monday, 25 February 2013
Immigration News
After over three years my immigration status in the U.S. has been resolved in my favour. Below is the message I received from my immigration lawyer this afternoon.
"Just received order reopening and terminating your case with prejudice to the Department. Congratulations!!! You won!!!"
And this is what he posted on Facebook to the general public.
Saturday, 22 December 2012
Sunday, 18 November 2012
New Toys!
Yesterday we blew the proverbial wad and went in to Ottawa to Gordon's friend, Leroy's house (he's an apple value added retailer) where I picked up my new 13" MacBook pro laptop (no retina display) and my new ipad (not the mini). The photos below I took off the web but my new menagerie of computers look just like it, well, except for the picture on the MacBook.
We spent nearly 3 hours with Leroy as he set both of the computers up for me. I can't believe I'm as good with getting them set up as I am. I remember years ago when I worked at Nortel having to get the IT guys to come and help with the simplest of problems. Mind you Nortel had a huge network which complicated things. Last night I got a bunch of things set up including Java so that I could access the RV-Dreams chatroom. I don't use it every night the way I used to but it's nice to go in and have a chat with the RVers. They were a part of my life for five years.
This morning Gordon did some backing up and I transferred files from my old MacBook (anyone want a 5 1/2 year old MacBook laptop). I got my ipod nano working, got the printer set up, got Adobe Flash installed and now I'm pretty much set!
We've decided that with our food problems we won't be doing any more traveling so decided to spend our 'travel' money on new toys. Gordon gets his new system in a week or so. I'll let him tell you about it then.
In the meantime, I've started a new blog where my plan is to take a Photo A Day. There might be some boring ones and ones with a lot of white in them (coming soon) but it will be what it will be! For anyone interested, click here.
We spent nearly 3 hours with Leroy as he set both of the computers up for me. I can't believe I'm as good with getting them set up as I am. I remember years ago when I worked at Nortel having to get the IT guys to come and help with the simplest of problems. Mind you Nortel had a huge network which complicated things. Last night I got a bunch of things set up including Java so that I could access the RV-Dreams chatroom. I don't use it every night the way I used to but it's nice to go in and have a chat with the RVers. They were a part of my life for five years.
This morning Gordon did some backing up and I transferred files from my old MacBook (anyone want a 5 1/2 year old MacBook laptop). I got my ipod nano working, got the printer set up, got Adobe Flash installed and now I'm pretty much set!
We've decided that with our food problems we won't be doing any more traveling so decided to spend our 'travel' money on new toys. Gordon gets his new system in a week or so. I'll let him tell you about it then.
In the meantime, I've started a new blog where my plan is to take a Photo A Day. There might be some boring ones and ones with a lot of white in them (coming soon) but it will be what it will be! For anyone interested, click here.
Monday, 5 November 2012
22nd Wedding Anniversary
Our anniversary started out bright and sunny so we took a morning drive to find some roads we hadn't been on. While we were out the clouds came in and all of a sudden, no sun! So we headed for home to have some lunch.
I had made reservations for dinner for our 22nd anniversary at Gads Hill Place in Merrickville. They are are known for being quite accommodating for food problems. We haven't eaten out much lately mostly due to the problems I've been having with food. I'm getting tired of cooking! It's so nice to sit down to a meal that someone else has cooked and that doesn't happen for us any more.
When we arrived we found the waitress to be very knowledgeable. She had checked their menu and could tell us what was gluten free and dairy free or what they could adapt to make it so. I wound up with grilled scallops and shrimp on rice with braised cabbage. Different and very good. Gordon had a chicken breast in a tarragon sauce with rice and carrots. He's not much for sauces but said it was good.
It was cold when we came out of the restaurant. I need to buy warmer slacks 'cause it's not going to get much warmer till about April!
22nd anniversary is now over, on our way to 23!
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| Interesting shape to this old barn |
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| Redneck mailbox holder |
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| Nice farm on a hill near Athens, ON |
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| Our official 22nd Anniversary photo |
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| Interior of Gads Hill Place |
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| Our table |
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| Our dinners |
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| Gordon just getting ready to leave |
22nd anniversary is now over, on our way to 23!
Thursday, 25 October 2012
Settling Down for Cold Weather
We haven't had much going on such we got back from our PEI trip. We've gone out to take Fall foliage photos a few times. I didn't think it would be pretty this year because of our dry summer but it actually was quite beautiful.
On one of our trips we stopped at Kilborns at Newboro as Gordon has wanted at Tilley hat for a long time. I didn't know of anywhere around that sold them and as we were approaching Newboro there were all these signs for Tilley hats. This place is only about 30 minutes away from us so in we went and out he came with his new Tilley outback!
We had a late Thanksgiving at my sister's. Thanksgiving weekend, my niece, Danica couldn't make it home as she had something going on and my nephew, Nick was working so we all gathered at Margie and John's a week later. Of course my great nephew Jack also attended. He's growing into a little boy, not a baby any longer!
I had two appointments at the Riverside Hospital to have laser surgery done on my eyes, the right one first and a week later the left one so now that's over. Apparently some people eyes cloud over even after cataract surgery is done and the laser has to go in and clear it up. I remember my Mother having it done. It's quite a trek to the Riverside Hospital but thankfully we got it done before bad weather hit and both days were partly sunny and quite warm for this time of year. My doctor said it was lucky I had come in to see him when I did as if you wait too long the laser surgery is not successful. I had gone in to be checked for glaucoma which is being monitored closely but that's an entirely different problem.
The day after our return from PEI I went to see a naturopath as I had not been feeling well for a long time. My family doctor had recommended that I see one back in 2009 so I decided to follow her direction. The first thing she did was take me off dairy products and I felt better almost immediately but of course, with me, things aren't that easy. I've gone up and down over the past five weeks or so. She has tried me on supplements that appear to be giving me severe migraine like headaches so I took myself off them to see if I feel better. My energy level seems to be better. I'm hoping that I will continue to improve.
Danica started medical school in September and had her White Coat Ceremony on the 15th which was the day of my first laser eye surgery so we couldn't make the trip to Hamilton (some 6 hours away) to see her receive her first white coat. Her Mom & Dad and my sister, Betty and her husband (from Toronto) were able to go and photos were posted on Facebook but it wasn't the same as being there.
We also went with Margie and John to see the annual butterfly exhibit at Carleton University.
On one of our trips we stopped at Kilborns at Newboro as Gordon has wanted at Tilley hat for a long time. I didn't know of anywhere around that sold them and as we were approaching Newboro there were all these signs for Tilley hats. This place is only about 30 minutes away from us so in we went and out he came with his new Tilley outback!
So much more classy than a baseball hat! Now if he'd just smile!
We had a late Thanksgiving at my sister's. Thanksgiving weekend, my niece, Danica couldn't make it home as she had something going on and my nephew, Nick was working so we all gathered at Margie and John's a week later. Of course my great nephew Jack also attended. He's growing into a little boy, not a baby any longer!
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| Nana & Jack |
The day after our return from PEI I went to see a naturopath as I had not been feeling well for a long time. My family doctor had recommended that I see one back in 2009 so I decided to follow her direction. The first thing she did was take me off dairy products and I felt better almost immediately but of course, with me, things aren't that easy. I've gone up and down over the past five weeks or so. She has tried me on supplements that appear to be giving me severe migraine like headaches so I took myself off them to see if I feel better. My energy level seems to be better. I'm hoping that I will continue to improve.
Danica started medical school in September and had her White Coat Ceremony on the 15th which was the day of my first laser eye surgery so we couldn't make the trip to Hamilton (some 6 hours away) to see her receive her first white coat. Her Mom & Dad and my sister, Betty and her husband (from Toronto) were able to go and photos were posted on Facebook but it wasn't the same as being there.
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| Danica with her proud parents |
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| And with her godmother, Betty |
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| Receiving her white coat |
We also went with Margie and John to see the annual butterfly exhibit at Carleton University.
Nothing is planned in the near future and with the leaves falling it's going to be a new season here, what my husband calls 'Drab' so probably not many photos either. We do have an anniversary coming up shortly so maybe a photo will be posted then!
Monday, 17 September 2012
Last Half of our Trip to PEI
11 Sep
My walk down to our beach.
We headed up to North Cape this morning. I wanted to get some photos of it while it was sunny however they were bringing seaweed up from the beach and the stench was too much so didn't get many photos. I also wanted to look at the gift shop.
In the afternoon we visited Gordon's photography friend, Rosemary who lives just down the road from the motel.
Here's our motel
For sunset we traveled about an hour south to West Point to have a look at a lighthouse. Most of the lighthouses on the island are now decommissioned so Gordon was disappointed with that.
12 Sep
We headed out early this morning for Summerside and Borden-Carleton. More tracking down of lighthouses, looking at gift shops, lunch at Subway and some grocery shopping. We each got a PEI baseball cap. We also got another look at the Confederation Bridge from a different perspective.
Both of us were tired when we got home so just relaxed for the evening.
13 Sep
The tide was out when I walked down to the ocean (it's actually the Gulf of St. Lawrence on this side) so I got to walk a bit more on the beach. It was a beautiful sunny day, no humidity.
It was a laid back day. Did some laundry at the motel in the afternoon, sat outside for a while and read. Drove up to Seacow Pond Harbour and took some boat photos, looked at the windmills and some barns. Out for sunset.
Just generally did what a vacation is for!
At sunset we went back to Stompin' Tom Connors Road to the beach.
14 Sep
I had my last walk down to our beach area this morning. I picked up a little beach rock to bring home with me.
Our last full day here on the island. I have mixed feelings about leaving. We didn't see the whole island as planned, just too far to travel nor did we go to Nova Scotia but what we did see was fantastic and we might be back. We didn't do much all day but went to North Cape for sunset.
15 Sep
We left around 6 a.m. Atlantic time, returned via the Confederation Bridge again and made it to Edmundston around 2 p.m. with a stop to photograph the longest covered bridge in the world at Hartland, NB. It had started to rain just before we arrived there but managed to stop or nearly stop so we could take some photos.
We decided to stay at the same hotel in Edmundston that we stayed at on our way to PEI as it has a small (very small) kitchen. Gordon went out to photograph butterflies while I unpacked the coolers. Traveling with food is such a pain!
We had sun, cloud and rain but it was warm and humid.
We spent a quiet night getting ready for the longest leg of our return journey.
16 Sep
Happy Birthday to Gordon! One reason we decided to go this week is because it encompassed both of our birthdays. So this was a trip for us!
We left our hotel around 6:15 a.m. but turned the clock back an hour due to Atlantic time so we arrived home around 2:00 p.m. I'm still unpacking. Packing and unpacking are two of my least favourite jobs. Thankfully we had an uneventful trip back and it was mostly sunny and nice (once the sun came up) for the whole trip.
Here's some scenery on our way through Quebec.
My walk down to our beach.
We headed up to North Cape this morning. I wanted to get some photos of it while it was sunny however they were bringing seaweed up from the beach and the stench was too much so didn't get many photos. I also wanted to look at the gift shop.
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| Who called this meeting anyway? |
In the afternoon we visited Gordon's photography friend, Rosemary who lives just down the road from the motel.
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| Bluejay in her yard. There were a lot of them! |
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| Island's End Motel (with me taking the photo) |
For sunset we traveled about an hour south to West Point to have a look at a lighthouse. Most of the lighthouses on the island are now decommissioned so Gordon was disappointed with that.
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| This lighthouse is now privately owned and has been made into an Inn. |
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| Sunset from Hwy 14 on the way back from West Point Lighthouse |
12 Sep
We headed out early this morning for Summerside and Borden-Carleton. More tracking down of lighthouses, looking at gift shops, lunch at Subway and some grocery shopping. We each got a PEI baseball cap. We also got another look at the Confederation Bridge from a different perspective.
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| Zinnias at the downtown boardwalk in Summerside |
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| Indian Head lighthouse at Summerside |
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| Blue jay along the boardwalk |
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| Nice feature in Summerside. It goes for a long way. |
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| Seacow Head Lighthouse |
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| Confederation Bridge from Seacow Head |
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| Old shingled school near McCallum's Point |
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| Anne of Green Gables statue at Borden-Carleton |
13 Sep
The tide was out when I walked down to the ocean (it's actually the Gulf of St. Lawrence on this side) so I got to walk a bit more on the beach. It was a beautiful sunny day, no humidity.
It was a laid back day. Did some laundry at the motel in the afternoon, sat outside for a while and read. Drove up to Seacow Pond Harbour and took some boat photos, looked at the windmills and some barns. Out for sunset.
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| Seacow Pond Harbour about a mile from us |
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| Fisherman looking out to sea (with me) |
At sunset we went back to Stompin' Tom Connors Road to the beach.
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| Lobster traps |
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| Heron at dusk |
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| Steps to the beach |
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| Sunset from the beach |
14 Sep
I had my last walk down to our beach area this morning. I picked up a little beach rock to bring home with me.
Our last full day here on the island. I have mixed feelings about leaving. We didn't see the whole island as planned, just too far to travel nor did we go to Nova Scotia but what we did see was fantastic and we might be back. We didn't do much all day but went to North Cape for sunset.
15 Sep
We left around 6 a.m. Atlantic time, returned via the Confederation Bridge again and made it to Edmundston around 2 p.m. with a stop to photograph the longest covered bridge in the world at Hartland, NB. It had started to rain just before we arrived there but managed to stop or nearly stop so we could take some photos.
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| Here we go back over the Confederation Bridge again |
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| Hartland Bridge still in use |
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| It is loooong! |
We decided to stay at the same hotel in Edmundston that we stayed at on our way to PEI as it has a small (very small) kitchen. Gordon went out to photograph butterflies while I unpacked the coolers. Traveling with food is such a pain!
We had sun, cloud and rain but it was warm and humid.
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| Cloudy skies did give way to rain |
We spent a quiet night getting ready for the longest leg of our return journey.
16 Sep
Happy Birthday to Gordon! One reason we decided to go this week is because it encompassed both of our birthdays. So this was a trip for us!
We left our hotel around 6:15 a.m. but turned the clock back an hour due to Atlantic time so we arrived home around 2:00 p.m. I'm still unpacking. Packing and unpacking are two of my least favourite jobs. Thankfully we had an uneventful trip back and it was mostly sunny and nice (once the sun came up) for the whole trip.
Here's some scenery on our way through Quebec.
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