Monday, March 30, 2009

Life is a Sandbox

...or at least the sandbox is the best part when you're four and a half. As another blogger says in his blog: Play hard, have fun, share, and look out for the crap... Last weekend I managed to finish up Isabelle's sandbox. We went out on Sunday and got the sand at Lowe's and put the thing in the backyard. Isabelle was tickled pink. Here she is sizing it up before we put the sand in. As soon as the sand went in she was all over it. The six bags I got did just the trick. It covered the bottom with about six inches of clean play sand.

She must have played in it for four hours on Sunday and was in it again today. So far she's managed to keep the sand in the box for the most part but it will be interesting to see how contaminated it gets with all the other stuff in the backyard. This is a shot of the cover. It's bowed to keep the water off of it. It should hold a four year old but I tried to explain to Isabelle that dancing on it was not the best thing for it. We'll see what happens. (I did see footprints on it today when I went out to have a look.) Below is the tie down to keep the lid on in the wind. The rest of the weekend went pretty well. Saturday was the last of five days of rain so we hit a few places in town including The Open Book and the main branch of the Greenville County Library downtown on Heritage Green. We met some friends there and ended up going back to their place for an hour or so so Isabelle could play with the twins. All in all it was a good day. On Sunday Isabelle was fairly self-entertained with the above mentioned sandbox so Jane took in some quiet time and I puttered in the garage. I have signed up for the East Coast Canoe and Kayak Festival in Charleston in a few weeks and needed to sort out my kayaking gear. The festival looks like a great time with courses, camping, southern cooking, and lots of dealers and demos. There will also be some big names form the sea kayaking community there taking part and coaching. In January when I went on the paddling trip to Charleston I managed to tear a small hole in my (practically) brand new paddling jacket so I put in a little time trying to fix it. Tonight, if I have time, I'm going to finish sewing on the patch. I also have to replace the cuffs on my dry top. They have developed little tears after six or seven years of use. I've been meaning to do it for a while but never had the time. Wish me luck.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Digital Diary II and Random Thoughts

A while back I went through some pictures and posted some of the more interesting ones. Here are a few more.
On the first day of March we had snow. This is a neat shot of the sundial we took with us from Kentville. It came to us from Wolfville where Jane's grandparents had it out in the front yard.
I've always had a thing for sundials and this one is particularly interesting. It has an inscription on it. It reads:
45-05-33 N 64-20-42W Helen Marion Kingdon from her brother Frederick Anderson Dec. 1936

Below is a shot of where that would be today. It seems to be in Kenny's Farm Market's backyard. However my sources tell me it came from a house near what used to be 99 Main, where Jane' grandparents lived. The numbering system in Wolfville has since changed. Below is where Google Earth puts that in relation to Acadia University and my old apartment in Wolfville on Blomidon Terrace. The house at 99 Main is just a few houses west of the sundial's location.

Jane's mother says that Grumpy bought the sundial from Mr. Kingdon. The Anderson connection of the family is interesting too. People just seemed to live very interesting lives in those days. Here is a website that explains what Capt. Frederick Anderson was all about (if you are interested). You will need to scroll down when you get there. Now to the present. Just the other night I took a shot of the neighbor's Bradford Pear tree (maybe). It might be something else...the jury is still out. In fact if it is a Bradford Pear it is actually a Callery Pear. I could explain but I don't think too many people care. The point I'm trying to make is that everything seems to be in bloom here. It reminds me of apple blossom time in Nova Scotia. Enough about that. Below is another picture from the museum in Charlotte. Isabelle and I are enjoying the intricacies of the wave generator. It kind of takes me back to my master's degree at MUN. Oh how time flies. It's hard to believe that was almost 12 years ago! Most of the people I keep up with from those days have moved on to all sorts of interesting things. Rob and Michelle, along with the family, are even moving to England. Finally here is a picture of Isabelle in her Acadian costume. This was taken at the Montessori International Night that took place downtown a few weeks ago. She never did wear the bonnet and the rest of the outfit didn't last very long, but for a while she looked like little Evangeline herself.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Back Home

Things are a little more like normal around here these days. I am back at the office, at least for a week or two, and the last of our company has gone off to their adventures. This week was a little rough. I'm still not over my cold and I had a few big events at the office and at the plant in Spartanburg. This weekend we went to an event at the Carolina First Center. The India Association of Greater Greenville had a Day in India. It was a festival of food, music, dance, and culture. The girl's got traditional henna tattoos (just small ones) and we ate way too much good food. We found out about it through Isabelle's school. She enjoyed herself and met lots of her schoolmates there. It was great to see the traditional clothing and bright colours. Another new experience for us this weekend was Smoke on the Water. This is a pretty popular restaurant downtown on Augusta road. The place is known for its meats, particularly barbecue. I had a combination plate with ribs, brisket and pulled pork. Jane had the prime rib dinner and shared her crab cake side with Isabelle, along with some mashed potatoes. I think they both enjoyed it. Isabelle had the rest for lunch today. One of the nice things about it was the sides. Each meal came with sides selected from a pretty extensive list. It included: baked beans, spinach casserole, and a baked potato cake with onions and bacon. There were more but you'll have to look at the menu. This place also has four barbecue sauces on the table. There is the traditional tomato based sauce, the mustard sauce, the spicy vinegar based sauce, and the sweet molasses based sauce. All were good but I especially like the mustard sauce. All in all a very good dining experience. The service was good although a little slow. The last big event this weekend was a visit to Furman University. It is located a few miles north of Greenville on some very lovely property. The campus is new by most standards having been built in the 50s. We all enjoyed a walk around the lake and the beautiful weather. It seems like a very active campus with lots of people running, walking, and generally moving about. And one other thing. Isabelle has been getting pretty grimy playing in the sand in the backyard. Jane thinks a sandbox would be order. Well, we left ours in Kentville with a friend and they seem to be ridiculously expensive here. So, Papa to the rescue. I went out to Lowe's and think I can make on for about half the market price. It will be out of wood though and not one of those fancy plastic ones. A few hours today has pretty much got it finished. Now I just need to go out an buy some sand.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Home to Nova Scotia

Well the trip home last week went well. There was only a little snow while I was there and generally I had a good visit with lots of people despite getting another cold. There was a good time had with my parents and showing Taryn around my home town. I stopped in to see some family including my grandmother, aunts and uncles, and my niece and nephew. I also enjoyed seeing everyone in the Valley both in and outside of work, although sometimes it was hard to get anything done. After the week of work I spent a night at Taryn's in Kentville and spent some quality time with the Hound. Maggie would be jealous (as she sits on the couch next to me snoring). Macy hasn't gotten any bigger since I left but she's just as loud and has all the usual habits of a moderately nervous hound. Here she is napping in the sun, something she didn't seem to do very much of on the French Shore-too much going on I think. Taryn was hosting movie night at her place the night I was there so some of the locals from the old neighborhood were there too. It was nice to see them and meet some new friends. I think I surprised Pete and Sandi the most. Pete even went out to get some celebratory rum for the occasion. The rum always did taste better in Nova Scotia-must be the cold sea air. While I was home I ate more lobster than I usually eat in a whole season. I also took Taryn out to the pound for a tour. The owner, Lucien-Paul was great. He gave us lots of time and answered all of Taryn's questions. We even got to see a few blue, green, and rust coloured lobsters. Here is the pound. Everything on the left is lobster crates, sometimes stacked four or five deep and full of lobster. Taryn was very curious about the whole process. Here she is asking about water temperature, circulating pumps, molting, and the finer points of keeping the crustaceans alive while Lucien-Paul gets out his big ones... That bad boy was over 12 pounds. Taryn didn't hesitate one bit. She grabbed that thing like he was a long lost cousin. If you want to see what comes next you'll have to go to her Blog. I promised I'd let her post the really good picture. As you can see below the claws alone were about 8 inches long. In the end the trip home to SC was uneventful. I spent my last night in Halifax with Peter and Elizabeth. We ate more lobster that was hardly a day off the boat and had a very quick visit to see Jane's grandmother. Before I knew it I was back in the sunny south again and getting hugs from the girls. If you are in Nova Scotia and you're wondering why I didn't get to see you I apologize. Hopefully next time won't be as crazy.

International Night, A Wet Weekend, and Snow!

Isabelle's school is very outgoing sometimes. They have a very diverse group of students from all over the world. I suspect that the Montessori school tends to attract a very diverse clientele. Friday a few weeks ago was International Night at the school. Actually it wasn't at the school, it was downtown at FYI. FYI stands for Furman YMCA Interactive. It is a very neat location downtown that usually operates as a sort of drop in center for teens. On this night it was packed with families from India, the Philippines, Mexico, China, Ireland, Finland, and off course Canada and the United States, plus some that I am forgetting. There were decorations, and activities for the kids, as well as a great pot-luck meal. We had all sorts of great things. Our contribution was a Rappie Pie Grandmere and Pappi helped make (OK they made pretty much made the whole thing) before they left. About half of it was gone when it came time to leave. The rest was leftovers for the weekend. Costumes were in order as well. Some were very ornate and others simpler. Isabelle wore one her grandmother made. It was a traditional Acadian costume. I've done a little more work on Isabelle's kayak but nothing worth showing. The frame is together and sanded. As soon as I finish the coaming I'll be ready to skin it. Hopefully it will be ready for our trip to Folly Beach in a few months. Here are some shots of the snow as promissed earlier.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Snow!!!

March 1st and we get our first major snow. Had about 6 inches all together. It was very pretty and made for some neat pictures (I'll get to those soon I hope). I made it into work this morning but the drive was bordering on treacherous. It wasn't so much the roads, they weren't that bad by Nova Scotia standards, but the other drivers were crazy. A trip that usually takes me twenty-five minutes took a good forty minutes, mostly because of following others. The locals seem to either drive way too slow (although I can sympathize a little) or they were flying around as if trying to justify the four wheel drive super-duper SUVs they all drive down here. As I hit the road there was still lots of snow and ice on the road. Since they don't have snow plows here they just let Mother Nature look after things. The ice was mainly from things being packed down by the other drivers because it didn't get that far below freezing. I saw at least peeled out of his subdivision and slammed his new Jetta into a small snowbank). Some were just left outside of subdivisions and on hills. There were also a large number of trees down-some in the road as well. When I did finally get to work there were only four of us there out of about 35. Two Canadians, a New Yorker, and one from Colorado. I ended up leaving a little early to see the damage and get a little time in with Isabelle as I'm off on business trip later this week.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Electric Squirrels?

It seems like it has been a long time since I put anything out here. We've had some company for the last two weeks as my parents have been here to visit and help out. Jane had a Stamp show in Texas last week and I had some prior commitments with work so Grandmere and Pappi did some shuttling and such to keep Isabelle at school, gymnastics, and swimming lessons. They also wanted to get away from the cold and snow in Nova Scotia. Wouldn't you know it, it got cold enough here while they were here that there could have been snow. In the end we did see some but only in Maggie Valley up in North Carolina on a sightseeing trip. The visit was nice but I'm sure they'll be glad to get back. I think my sister in Carleton and her family will have missed them most. Getting them here was an adventure. Initially on the eve of their departure their flight from Halifax to Washington was cancelled so I got them rerouted through Chicago with the help of a very pleasant United Airlines agent who sounded like he was a retired football lineman (he had a big voice). The next morning I find out that the new flight wasn't going to go so we switched them to another flight through Boston to arrive in Charlotte, North Carolina a day late. In the end it gave Jane and I a chance to see Charlotte. We have heard different things about Charlotte but found the downtown to be easy to get to, clean, and quite pretty. In the end we went to the children's museum, called Discovery Place, while we waited for the flight to arrive and had a nice day of it. (Sorry-no good pictures of the museum.) The visit was full of the usual activities. We went to the Georgia Aquarium, drove into the mountains, ate out a few times at the local barbecue joint, and hit some of the local flea markets. I think my dad enjoyed the flea markets the most. My mom did manage a little shopping for herself and liked the big department stores we have here. Here is another picture of the aquarium. It was interesting to see scuba divers in some of the exhibits. They must have been doing some spring cleaning. This picture was at Centennial Olympic Park. It is one of the legacies from the 96 Olympics held in Atlanta. As you can see the weather was nice that day. The park is somewhere we need to explore a little more. They have lots of activities and interseting things going there year-round. They even had a skating park there at Christmas. The whole area reminds me of the Halifax Commons but busier and without the ball fields. The space is very nice and very pedestrian friendly. Back in Grennville County, I drive by Southside Park every day on the way in to school. Isabelle likes to go there so we try to get out every once in a while. This day we went with one of our neighbors and one of the girls who live on the cul-de-sac. Isabelle had a pretty good time. Now to the squirrel. Service is everything here. You see it in the restaurants, the bank, and at most places where you have to deal with someone to pay a bill or get information. In general they do a great job. The electric company here is also service oriented. When was the last time you got a notice in the mail saying why the power was out on a certain day? Here they send out a card, a "Why we were out card," to explain what happened and how they dealt with it. We've had a few in our time here and for the most part it seems the local animals are mostly to blame. Here is an example: For my part I want to know who found the squirrel and what shape was he in? Did anyone try to resuscitate him or was it a lost cause? Anyway, it's nice to get the note.