Steve & Holly stayed at a B&B in Wolfville last night but are playing at a church in Halifax tomorrow for the Easter Service so they had to go in today for a rehearsal. John managed to get hold of Jody today so we said we'd call and see him for a bit and since we were down that way, decided we could probably engineer it so that we could go and watch some of Steve & Holly's rehearsal too. So we went into Halifax and then down to the South Shore to find Jody's house. It's coming along nicely and he's done a fair bit to it since we visited last time. Most changed are his girls who are growing up really quickly. I think that kids changing so much is a scary measure of time. Steve & Holly's kids have changed a lot too! We had a nice visit with Jody, although Leanne wasn't there unfortunately, and then headed into the city again. John hasn't forgotten his way around Halifax that's for sure, so we found the church pretty easily and parked up and went in. We arrived just in time to watch the rehearsal of the Quintet that Steve and Holly play in. They sounded amazing and it was a pretty stirring sound along with the big old pipe organ in the church. I think the congregation are in for a treat tomorrow!!
We went off to get something to eat as we were really hungry by then. We had a sandwich at Timmy's in Bayers Lake (which seems to grow bigger each time we're here) and then headed home. Nathan's family have arrived from Cape Breton, so everyone is all over the place trying to catch up!
Later I iced the lamb cake that Judy had made and was going to do the Bunny cake (a family tradition) but Noah and Claire ended up doing it and a fine job they did too! Rather than the psycho bunny red eyes that I previously mocked Judy for, I did googly chocolate M&M eyes instead. ha ha!
Later on we went to Dooleys for a bit as Shelley and Nathan had gathered friends and family there for a few beers and some pool. We didn't stay too long but I had 1 bottle of Keith's and was kippered! I'm such a light weight. I so rarely drink these days I just can't handle it! We ran into Sobeys just before they closed at midnight to get a new bottle of water for the cooler and some special non-dairy ice cream for Owen, which as a bit of a scrabble and I felt pretty wobbly by then too! ha ha!
We got up and had a simple breakfast as the hotel. It wasn't exactly snazzy, but it did us a treat. There was (as there always is) a Tim Hortons close by so we had a cuppa to wake up first thing as John popped out to get us one, bless him. We headed over to Steve and Holly's and once everyone was ready we headed over to a maple syrup farm called Sugar Moon. We have been there before but that was in the autumn time. This time of year is the season for making syrup as the sap is running and it was going pretty well today! It was packed with people as lots of things are closed on Good Friday here (unlike at home - good for them I say) so we braved the queue and had a brief tour of the sugar shack where the sap is boiled down to make the maple syrup. The pancake house and restaurant was jammed to the rafters though and there was a two and a half hour wait for that so we didn't bother. The tour was really interesting though and I think that if there's a heaven, it would smell like the smell coming out of the evaporator in the sugar shack. It was gorgeous!
After we left Sugar Moon we headed out onto the high way and stopped for something to eat at Saltscapes which was nice. Steve, Holly and the Kids headed back home to get ready to follow us later to Kentville for all the Easter fun and games at John's parent's house. John and I had a really nice drive back to Kentville cross country and it was very pleasant indeed. The sun was out but it was still cold and in some places there was still plenty of snow on the ground still.
When we arrived back Shelley and Nathan had arrived with baby Morgan who is absolutely beautiful. Later Steve, Holly and the kids arrived and the house was bursting at the seams!
After a leisurely start we headed out to Truro to visit Steve, Holly & the Kids. Their new house is really lovely. Much better suited to their family with a room for each of the kids and 2 bathrooms. It's also got a lovely big back garden and a huge garage, so it's really a very nice place indeed. We had a nice supper with them and Holly's parents also came for supper too and it was lovely to see them as well. We stayed at The Comfort Inn in Truro which is out by the highway and it wasn't bad. We tried out Hotwire.com and got a pretty good rate there, so that worked out well.
We woke up this morning to a fresh coating of snow. Quite a lot has come down and it was still snowing when we woke up. I had a pretty lousy night's sleep last night. I was worried and angry about my glasses. John phoned the airport this morning and even called our optician at home to see if he could write down my prescription with a thought to maybe replacing my glasses here. They said they would fax details but wouldn't tell him over the phone as they didn't like the idea of it being written down wrong. We went to Wolfville to have a look in one of the opticians there but it seems like it's going to be expensive, so we thought better of it. I'll have to wait and see if the glasses can be retrieved from Air Canada and if we don't hear anything next week, I'll have to get our opticians to start work on some new ones for when we return home. What a pain!
While we were in Wolfville we had lunch at Tim Hortons and then called in to see John's friend who runs a really nice bike shop (and stove shop) in Wolfville (Valley Stove & Cycle) and I think that he's was in the same school year as Stephen. It was nice to see him again, if I thought it was going to be trouble free getting them home, I'd have been tempted to buy some bikes there as they have some really lovely stuff in there. John saw a fantastic cycle shirt, but they didn't have any in the right size, so we may get one ordered as they offered to send it on to us at home. On the way back we stopped and had a little look in a couple of the new shops in New Minas including a new pet store. They had 2 cats in there wandering around that were for sale. They were both extremely friendly and they made me miss Tiger. We bought him a catnip toy so hopefully we won't get into trouble for that!
Another lovely supper courtesy of my Mom-in-Law and then John's Uncle Alan called in to see us so we had a nice chat and catch up. John's contacted a few of his buddies too, so hopefully we're on track for getting round to see a few people. I can't believe a week has almost gone already. It's a shocker!
We had a bit of a lazy morning (again) and Francis called in to see us today which was lovely. She looks really well and hopefully we'll get to go and visit her in her apartment before the holiday is over. She seems quite happy there and there are lots of people to socialise with play cards and things so she seems pretty content there. I think she probably misses the old house but she doesn't have any worries about maintenance and stuff at the apartments.
Later we went hunting for Eagles. Well, not actual hunting, just to see if we could see some. We have seen them driving around and they are really amazing looking birds. I have seen a couple of other really big birds of prey around and about but we always seem to be on the highway when we see them, so it's not exactly ideal to try and stop to get a better look. We decided to drive around Sheffield Mills to see if we could see some. There are places where they feed them around there during the winter months apparently, although I'm not sure they would still be doing that now. We decided to investigate. We saw 3 or 4 on our travels but they were too far away, too high or we couldn't really stop to get near to them. Still lovely to see them, but it was a bit of a failed mission. We drove down to Scotts Harbour too which is really beautiful but pretty weathered at this time of year. They have put a car park in now for the trail out to Cape Split, so that's good. I'd like to do that one day, but it's a 3 mile hike and the same back again and it's not quite the weather for it. Plus it said on the sign that you should still wear hunter's orange until 31st March, so I'm not keen on taking any chances with that!!
SLIDESHOW: Bald eagles at Sheffield Mills | The Chronicle Herald
We stopped by Sobeys on the way home. John saw some breakfast cereal he wanted me to see. I had thought about getting some for my brother but it was $10.50 a packet and the packs aren't very big AT ALL. It proclaims to be the best breakfast cereal in the world and I should bloody well think so if they are charging that much for it!!!
We all went out to the Old Orchard Inn for supper which was really lovely. I had "English Style" fish and chips. Well, there was nothing English about them. They were gorgeous fish and chips though but, as usual, there was far, far too much food on the plate! A veritable mountain of fries. Decided to turn in early tonight and do some reading but to my horror have discovered that my glasses are now where I was expecting to find them int eh carry on luggage. I haven't used them since I've been here, so I think that I have left them on the plane coming over. We checked and double checked so all I can think is that they might have fallen on the floor and slid under the seat in front of me or something like that. John phoned Air Canada and talked to some Indian dude. The language gap was more of a chasm. When he gave our address at home, the guy read Buckinghamshire back as Buckingham Palace!!! If we lived there I wouldn't be worried about a pair of bloomin' glasses now would I! Sad. So, we'll see if they have been handed in but I"m not feeling very hopeful and am extremely pee'd off with myself. What a Muppet I am!
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| Teeny Tiny Hockey Skates |
Didn't do too much today. John and I had a look around the shops in New Minas and had a bit of a drive around. We had a mooch in the sports shops and Zellers again. There wasn't much left at all in Zellers and the Mall in New Minas is a bit of a ghost town these days. We're gutted (although it's probably just as well) because Pretzel Maker has gone. No treats in the Mall then. It seems that Zellers is closing for good on 31st so with that to add to the list of shops that have disappeared, it's uncertain what will happen there. We spotted a Sony Walkman which was half price and 8Gb which we bought for John. Converting it back it worked out at about £36 so later John went back with his Mom and bought another one for me! Nice! No iTunes required! Bonus!!! We had a look in Canadian Tire which was funny. It amuses me the broad range of stuff that's there.
In the evening after supper (Corned beef and cabbage) we had a game of Crockenole which is something I haven't heard of before. It's a really good game and Judy was on form with comments such as "shit in your hat" which is a new one. We scoffed a load of M&M's and Hersheys "Kishes" (as my Mum would say) and had a really good laugh playing the game. Sadly, crockenole is probably a bit too big to bring home!
Had a bit of an easy morning and then John drove us into Halifax for a Bridal shower. Tom stayed at home as he wanted to go for a walk and chill out. I don't think that was a bad idea as a shower is no place for a chap, although John stuck around for a while and took some photos because everyone was pleased to see him. Cynthia was the hostess with the mostess as usual. Anne Marie made a fab cake and we talked a bit about how she had gone about that. It was a spice cake and it was really delicious! Sticking to a diet here is mission impossible! It was fun, there were games and things and it was nice to see people I haven't seen since Shelley's Wedding or even my shower before! Hard for me to remember who everyone is though I must admit. Steve, Holly and the kids arrived (shocking how much the kids have grown up) and so the boys all went off into Halifax to escape the shower and have a bit of an adventure. They all had a go on the ferry and were allowed to go up into the bridge (I suppose you'd call it) and watch the ferry steered across the harbour. Pretty cool.
After the shower we went to a Chinese restaurant with Steve, Holly and the kids. Chinese food here isn't as nice as at home. It was OK though but John and I both felt a bit bloated afterwards. Deep fried stuff I suppose, more diet friendly food... not!
When we got home we settled in for the evening. Tom had been for a long walk and John plotted it out on the Google Pedometer and he had walked the best part of 10 miles! Wow!!!!
