You Call This Camp?

Carole, Louise and I are pleasantly tucked away at camp in Cornwallis Park, NS. The students won't arrive until Thursday night, so we have several days to prepare, decorate classrooms and get to know the other staff. Decorating classrooms and planning lessons are two of my favourite things, so it doesn't feel like work at all. The facilities here are great, we eat in the "Officer's Hall" (fancy & delicious), and Carole and I have a suite! Our suite consists of a kitchenette (stove, fridge, sink), a full bathroom with tub, a living room with a TV (70 channels!) and a bedroom with two queen beds and two closets. This is not the camp I remember from childhood! Not much else to report at the moment, just wanted to let everyone know that we're here and having a wonderful time. Hopefully I'll have pictures to prove it soon.

Father's Day

Going back a couple of weeks, here are some pictures from Father's Day. Dad and I walked down to the bandstand in the public gardens in Halifax to listen to a band in the park.
The music was pretty good and there was a great "small city" feel (compared to Toronto, Chicago, Glasgow, Taipei or Sydney). I'm definitely a city girl, but I think I might be able to get used to a small city.

Me and Dad (I got Dad to hold the camera because he has longer arms).

Carole had warned me about the Public Gardens; they have rules and they aren't afraid to enforce them! I mentioned it to Dad on the elevator on our way, and another woman piped in with a story just like Carole's. Apparently there is a mean old man who walks around and yells at people who dare to sit on the grass (or jog, I suppose).

My Special Skill

I'm pretty proud of myself. If I had to name my one superpower it would be discount travel planning, and my most recent find is quite impressive. I've always had the knack of finding great bargains: the grand opening of a Venetian hotel for Carole & her friends, discount Swiss rail tickets online or dirt cheap European flights (did you know you can travel from Spain to England for $10?) People have asked me how I do it, and I have to admit, most of my talent is just the willingness to put in hours of research. When Carole asked me to find her a flight from Halifax to Adana, Turkey, it took about six hours (Mom timed me) for me to finally be able to list three great options. If you were to try to buy a ticket on Expedia or TravelCuts, the price would be $2,865 one way (yikes!) I have found her three options on the same days each for under $1,000 CAD including all taxes. And whether she bought through Expedia or the budget airlines I suggest, she'll have three flights and the same amount of travel time. The only possible downside would be the luggage restrictions, but you can do a lot of shipping for the extra $1,865!

George's Island

I talked to Carole this morning, where China feels like 47 degrees Celsius with the humidity. I remember those hot days longing for a cool Nova Scotia afternoon, and now I'm finally here (I think it was a high of 18 degrees here in Halifax). I'm keeping busy sorting boxes of my possessions, scanning old snapshots, and planning for the fall. Of course, I'm also trying to take advantage of a month long vacation! Dad and I took a tour the other weekend to George's Island, a tiny island in Halifax harbour. It was the very first time they have opened it to the public! They sold a limited number of tickets and ran ferries over on Saturday and Sunday. We weren't sure if there would be much to see (it's a really small island), but it has a great military history during the war, and it was used as a quarantine station during the expulsion of the Acadians. I looked it up on Wikipedia an hour before we were supposed to leave, and was shocked to read, "Georges Island is known to local fisherman to have lots of blueberries and black garter snakes. Georges Island has the highest ratio of snakes per land area in the world." Panic. If I had read that earlier, I might not have agreed to go! I pictured tripping over piles of snakes and them slithering up inside my jeans. Thankfully, I think the crowds of people scared them away, and I didn't see any. This is the lighthouse on the island, and Halifax downtown in the background.
This is the front half of the island. The back half looks the same but without any buildings.
The ferry was packed, apparently George's Island is a pretty exciting prospect for Haligonians (yep, that's what they call them!)
The highlight for me was a tour of the underground tunnels, ammunition storage and giant canons. Guided by a costumed Cadet, of course. Just in case you were wondering, no shots were ever fired in anger (who would want to attack cute little Halifax?)
And that was our trip to George's Island! Now, even though you've missed this once-in-a-lifetime chance to visit the island, you know what it looks like.

A Vacation in a Vacation

I am back at my grandmother's house for a few days vacation. The picture above is Patches looking out on the hummingbird feeders and the barn, and below is the quilt in my favourite room, the yellow room.

The main reason I came to Mapleton was to pick up the car in the garage that Carole and I will need for the summer. And by sending me (I got a ride from Halifax with my cousin's family), Mom and Dad ensured that I would pay the bill for the brake repair when I took it in for a safety check (just kidding!) The only upside to waiting for them to replace the rotors and pads (and no, I don't know what those are) was eating lunch with Aunt Dorie at Pizza Delight.
I've also taken two days to go through my boxes which are being stored here (things like childhood treasures, souvenirs from my travels and old journals and pictures).

I was thrilled to find an antique poster I bought for Carole along the river in Paris (which we were both wondering where on earth it ended up) and to discover my oil paintings all hanging neatly in the back of closets (this is an original oil painting I brought back from Bali).

Some things I have been able to give up. Can anyone think of an occasion where I would actually need this suit? I think I'm going to keep the bottoms for PJs and turn the top into a fabulous bag.

That's all for now, I'll try to get the pictures of my trip with Dad to St. George's island up when I get back to Halifax.

Cookie Twins

This morning I read Carole's blog post on cookies. Mom thought it was funny that we both blogged about the same thing at the same time. Carole can't read my blog, and she had no way of knowing I was blogging about Styrofoam cookies in China. I'll have to check with Carole when she posted... it would be spooky if it was the same minute!

Baking

A few days ago I decided I wanted to bake. And, because I don't have much to blog about at the moment, here are some pictures! Warning: stop reading now if you're craving cookies and stuck in a country where the cookies could pass for Styrofoam. I have a very lazy approach to baking and cooking. If it has more than five ingredients or takes more than an hour to prepare, I just don't think it's worth it. I was thrilled to find two recipes that sounded like they had been created just for me.
1. Pumpkin Spice Cookies
2. Cake balls
And these are the only three ingredients you need for both recipes: pumpkin, icing and spice cake mix.
First, you mix the pumpkin with the cake mix...
and lick the spatula, of course.
I put half the dough in a cake pan to bake and the other half into cookies.
After the cake cooled, I crumbled it and mixed in icing. And, yes, it did look exactly the same as the dough before it was cooked, but it tasted better.
I froze the icing dough overnight then rolled it into balls. And I decided to do it in the living room watching Northanger Abbey so I wouldn't get bored. The blanket was Mom's idea to keep the rug clean.
The finished product! Pumpkin Spice cookies with a bit of cream cheese icing.
And Cake Balls (also with a bit of cream cheese icing on top).

An Exciting Sunday Afternoon

Yesterday Dad and I dropped Mom off for her motorcycle ride with the Bentley. It was some kind of seniors contest for the ride in the Bentley, and Mom just volunteered to take the bike ride.
Dad and I had lunch and walked around the harbourfront. Is anyone else a big fan of Theodore Tugboat? I never realized the show was actually based in Halifax, because I watched it in Toronto, Scotland and even Australia! They have Theodore Too in the harbour for sightseeing tours.
We went to watch ten clipper ships come in from a round the world race. Each boat represented one of the stops of the race.
My favourites: Nova Scotia, Western Australia and Glasgow!

Quite the Day

Yesterday I spent two hours in the dentist chair. Two hours for a cleaning and check by the dentist. And it cost $230, but I try not to think about that. I figure if I finally get up the nerve to actually get to the dentist, it's worth the money. It's strange, though, to spend money for two hours of uncomfort, pain and guilt. Does anyone else have the same problem with the dentist? I think the thing I hate the most is that I already know the lecture they are going to give me. This dental hygienist was really good at the guilt trip. I really believe if I don't start flossing, all of my teeth are going to fall out! After I survived the dentist, I checked online and found that I had been accepted to the University of Alberta. Which is very exciting because it's quite a competitive program, and it was my first choice. Now I have to choose between going to Alberta or staying in Halifax for the program at Mount Saint Vincent. I have a few weeks to decide, and I'll let you know!
Here are the pictures from the other day. This is the view of Halifax from Fisherman's Cove.
Me at the Rainbow Haven provincial park. I though it was a beautiful beach, but it was freezing outside! I think I'll visit again when it warms up.
Some people seemed to think it was the perfect day for the beach.
The other half of the beach.

The Clan Symbol

Mom, Dad and I took a drive around the area yesterday. We drove through Dartmouth and stopped at Fisherman's Cove, which has been developed into a cute little area for tourists. As much they don't like when I bring them souvenirs, my parents really like browsing through souvenir shops (as long as I don't buy anything)! There was a lot of tartan and Scottish paraphernalia, and Mom reminded me to look for the Gilroy clan. Sure enough, I found MacGillivray on cute little kilt pins. When I took a closer look, though, I had to laugh.
All the other clans had a motto in Gaelic or Latin combined with aggressive images of swords and flaming things. The MacGillivray clan looks like this:
So that's where the compulsive love of cats comes from!

Back in Nova Scotia

Ahh, life is good in Halifax. I wouldn't want to rub it in for any currently displaced Canadians (Carole and Jill!) but there's something magical about a country where you can get a Tim Hortons coffee for $1.30. And of course, I love the manners, the pleases and thank yous, the way people smile and say hello to strangers (okay, maybe that's a bit weird) and hold the door open for you! Speaking of which, Mom took this when I came back from the airport.
The first night I was back in Canada, I went with my parents to a performance of the Northwood Players at the local seniors centre. I think the picture says it all (and, yes, I was the only person under 50 there).
My first weekend home we went to visit my Grandmother. We also visited my Aunt Ev, the baking maven. We even got to take this strawberry rhubarb pie home when it came out of the oven. So delicious.
I had to sort through some of my boxes. All of my possessions are currently in cardboard boxes; neatly packed and labeled. I opened five boxes I shipped from Taiwan and did some show'n'tell for the family.
Mom, Grammie and I in Mapleton
Friends and family out for lunch after church.
My favourite food, hands down: Garlic fingers with cheese. I've missed you, Pizza Delight!
(You're getting hungry now, right?)