Let’s go to Cape Breton

We are winding up our time in Cape Breton – the weather for the first part of our stay wasn’t the best but the last couple of days have been gorgeous. Mum and Dad were with us for a bit – which gave Dad a chance to go fishing. Isabelle wanted to try her hand at it after he came home with this trout: We also were here for the Whycocomagh Summer Festival which was lots of fun. This year the community really tried to revitalize the festival and did they ever succeed! With waterfront activities, a Teddy Bears Picnic, a parade and a fair at the campground, Isabelle has been talking about nothing else since. Hopefully, we will be back for next year’s festival. On the rainy days, Mom and I worked on the hardest jigsaw either of us had ever done – we even had to break her cardinal rule of not looking at the picture. It took a week but we finished it! Between rainy days last week, we managed to get to West Mabou Beach, Cheticamp and the Highland Village in Iona.  West Mabou is now a provincial park so there are more people there than when I was growing up but it is still a beautiful beach. Unfortunately, even the “warmest water north of the Carolinas” was pretty cold. We had a clear day for our drive to Cheticamp, but a little chilly. We had lunch at the Co-op Artisanale – fricot for Isabelle, chicken stew for me. Isabelle watched the ladies hooking rugs and even tried it but it was too fine for her, and me too.Fridays mornings in Iona they have a program for 5 to 10 year olds so Isabelle played some traditional games, learned a little Gaelic and visited the animals including Mira Jean the horse. She has also been taking a few pictures which she seems to enjoy and shows that I actually was there for some of our adventures! She also got to see the Malagawatch Church which she knows from the stories of the mice. Since Sunday we have had a houseguest. Dawn arrived and brought the sun so Monday we went to the Red Shoe Pub in Mabou and then back to West Mabou Beach. The beach was pretty windy but Maggie didn’t seem to mind having the wind in her ears. Tuesday, we went to Whale Cove Beach (I meant to go to Chimney Corner but missed the turn-off) and then to visit friends in Margaree. Although it was cool in the morning, the afternoon was warm and we had lots of sun. Dawn has a great camera so some of these pictures are from it.  Both Isabelle and Maggie have really enjoyed Dawn’s visit – as can be seen in the pictures!    Dawn was out early this morning taking some neat pictures of the house in Whycocomagh. I’m already looking forward to next year!

Girl’s Night Out

Since we are home in Nova Scotia, I thought I would see who we could see while we are home – funny, some of our favorite bands/singers don’t seem to have Greenville, SC on their tour schedules!

Anyway, Port Hawkesbury has a free concert series on Sunday nights called Granville Green and tonight Lennie Gallant was playing. I know Paul was disappointed that he would miss it but he promised Isabelle I would take her so off we went.

Andrew White from New Zealand opened. He was good but played perhaps a few too many instrumentals to hold Isabelle’s attention and she was ready for the main attraction. Lennie played for about two hours, I think. Songs from every album including his new one – “If We Had A Fire”. My memory isn’t good enough to give a set list but he played Peter’s Dream, Voulez-vous Danser, Pull of the Fundy Tide, Which Way Does the River Run, Man of Steel, Meet Me at the Oasis, I want to Save the World for You and 47 Angels. OK, I cheated a bit and looked at my CDs…

We stayed to the bitter end and Isabelle got him to sign the new CD for her. There were even fireworks in Mulgrave, across the Strait.

All in all, a good night, Isabelle fell asleep on the drive home. The only downside was that Maggie had to stay in the car – no dogs allowed at Granville Green :(

Isabelle

It came to my attention recently that I haven’t posted any pictures of Isabelle lately so here are a few shots from 2009.

Isabelle and Hayley, July 2009

Diving for sticks, Orchard Farms Pool, July 2009

 
Dinner in Folly Beach, June 2009

 
Folly Beach, June 2009

YMCA Soccer, May 2009

  
Artisphere, Downtown Greenville, May 2009

‘Skin the Cat’, Greenville Gymnastics, May 2009

  
At Home, April 2009

Smoky Mountains, April 2009

 
Birthday Party, Riverbend Equestrian Park, April 2009

 
Climbing Wall, Pump It Up, April 2009

New Phone Number

I thought it would be easy but it wasn’t. For the sake of a cheap dinner out a month and weaning the girl from her TV habit, we decided to drop cable TV and switch phone and internet carriers. I didn’t really have any issues with our carrier (although lots of people complain about Charter) but when our introductory offer expired and we were paying $35 more a month I agreed to drop cable  and join Netflix.

The initial arrangements seemed easy but Thursday when I called to find out where our new modem was ATT said they hadn’t sent it because Charter hadn’t released our old phone number – Charter claimed ATT hadn’t asked for it. A good 2 hours on the phone and long story short, our cable and internet has been turned off and ATT wouldn’t be able to get us up and running with the same phone number until the 29th. I need my internet! So we agreed to get a new number which we are told will work Friday but when I asked when we would get the modem they couldn’t get one to us until the 29th! So we went out tonight and bought our own modem – now the question is will it work?? Another question…when the girl is sassy, what can I do since there is no TV to take away, or blame it on!

I have e-mailed a a bunch of people our new number, if I missed you, my apologies, send me an e-mail and I will send it to you.

Furman and Sandburg

While my parents were here last month, we took a day trip to Hendersonville, NC. We picked Isabelle up at school and had a picnic at Furman University. Furman has a beautiful campus – the university is about the same size as Mount Allison. At lunch, we were joined by ducks, swans and turtles and what mum believes was Furman’s own loch ness monster. We have a fuzzy video of something flipping around the middle of the lake but we are still not sure what it was. After Furman we drove north and stopped at Carl Sandburg NHS. The Sandburgs lived at Connemara from 1945 until his death in 1967. Mrs. Sandburg raised goats so the farm is a little like Ross Farm. Their daughter planted a garden which the NPS continues to plant from her plan. The tulip trees were in bloom as well as several other flowering shrubs. I think the timing for our visit was perfect, the weather was sunny but not too warm and were pretty much had the place to ourselves.Also, there were several kids at the goat farm, these two were a few weeks old but there was another who was only a few days old. They were all very friendly and quite used to having people around.From Connemara, we went into Hendersonville, poked around the shops, had ice cream at Marble Slab Creamery and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon. Hendersonville has lots of galleries, antique shops as well as a neat book store, toy store and another Mast General Store. There is always something neat to see.

A Few Pictures of Savannah

Isabelle and I recently went to Savannah, Georgia for a long weekend with my parents while Paul was away on a business trip. Maggie had a holiday at a nearby by boarding kennel (she had a wonderful time by all accounts).

Savannah was great! We stayed in the historic district which was designed in 1733 with 24 squares of which 22 remain intact. The historic district was very walkable and we sure put on the miles, even Isabelle was a trooper with all the walking.

Here are a few details from around the historic district.

Back to Normal?

After the trauma of last week, Maggie is recovering well although her weight was lower today than last week – but she didn’t really get her appetite back until the weekend. Today, the vet renewed some prescriptions, added glucosamine to her regimen, gave her a 3 year rabies shot and checked her thyroid function so she is good to go for another year on that front.

We had a fairly busy weekend – Isabelle went to Parents’ Night Out at the Y on Friday night so we went of for Mexican with a couple of Paul’s co-workers. Parents’ Night Out is great – we drop her off at 6 and can pick her up as late as 10. On Friday there were about 60 kids – fewer than usual with the flu fears. They play outside and in the gym, eat pizza, do crafts and generally wear themselves out. The Y has it 2 Fridays a month and it is free with our membership – definitely cheaper than a sitter!

Saturday Isabelle had soccer in the morning – she did much better than last week and seemed to have more fun – most of the time.

Sunday, we went to an event at the school Isabelle will go to next year. She will be attending the Ecole Francaise Bilingue which is run by Michelin and meets the requirements of both the South Carolinian and French education systems. As the name suggests, her days will be divided half and half in French and English. We learned on Sunday that there will be 6 or 7 students in her class.

We arrived around 10 to watch the youngest students sing Frere Jacques in 7 languages. The performances continued with skits, scenes from Ionesco and Moliere and some dance and music performances. I kept thinking of my two high school French teachers hoping what I learned 20 years ago will magically come back in the next few months so I can help Isabelle!

At noon, there was a potluck lunch – I took quiche, like many others, I am going to have to find new recipes! There were also salads and couscous, bread and cheese, cold meats etc – need I say, everything was homemade. Also homemade were the sweets, which were sold to raise money for the PTA – there was creme caramel, tartes, cookies, cakes – again, I am going to have to step up my game!

After lunch was playtime. Each child was given a card with a list of activities. Once all the activities were completed, they could claim a prize. Some of the activities were new to me – there was one where the child was blindfolded and has to follow instructions to cut a hanging candy off a string and another where they had to walk backwards through a path using a mirror to guide them. Isabelle had  lots of fun meeting some of her future classmates and teachers. I am not sure who is looking forward to starting school more.