Overview

Day 1 - 575 km.  We stopped early so we didn't have to go through Montreal at rush hour or in the dark.
Day 2 - 832 km.  An enjoyable day with a few scenic detours.
Day 3 - 327 km.  The picture below is a New Brunswick highway at rush hour.

Trip total - 1734 km.

Tori lives off residence in an older house with 3 others.  Two friends are in the middle of moving into the basement.  And all the students in town are moving out because they are leaving for the summer, finished school for good or moving onto new digs.  The streets are lined with garbage (treasure as Tori terms it).  They have scored 5 or 6 tvs, a foosball table, a mattress and miscellaneous little items.  Their quest for a working bbq was not productive.  Their living room is packed with belongings from a friend moving across the road today.  It was a little too crowded for my comfort.  And people wandering out all the time.  I am glad to be home and glad she is enjoying herself.

Below a picture of Tori and Bonnie Blue.  She has always called the vehicle that.  I hope they have many safe adventures together.

In less than 2 weeks I have had 5 houseguests on 4 different occasions.  I am so tired of making beds.  I have driven a lot more than normal - twice to the airport and to the east coast.  When I wake up in the morning my first thoughts are more jumbled than normal.  Usually it starts with "Who slept over last night? Do I need to put on my housecoat before leaving the bedroom?  Do I need to make breakfast for a crowd?"  Then it progresses to "Am I in my own bed or at a hotel?"  I am hoping for a "normal" week at work and home.  Because next weekend both of our mothers are coming!

Cornwall, ON to Woodstock, NB

We have driven this highway many times because we lived near Fredericton. However, most of our trips were high speed, single day drives.  We would get up at 4, get the kids in the car and drive 16 hours to our hometown, stopping only for gas, meals and bathroom breaks.  We rarely stopped and did touristy things.  Today we detoured to Grand Falls.  It is the biggest waterfalls east of Niagara Falls.  The water certainly did rage and roll but it is not much of a drop.

Next we took a side trip to Perth/Andover.  Much of the low lying parts of the town flooded a month ago.  We didn't see much damage to homes and businesses, just occasional piles of debris, but look at what the ice jam did to the guard rails!

You may remember that I have mixed feelings about GPSs.  They are occasionally very useful but definitely don't replace a map and a sense of direction.  Below you can see that I am capable of driving on water.  I am thinking of giving classes and teaching this useful skill to others.

We're on a Road Trip!

We just bought my Dad's Santa Fe and that left us with an extra vehicle.  The Escape is a 2003 with about 260,000 km but hopefully has a little life left in her.  If we kept it in our driveway when Connor gets his licence in a few months he would be considered the driver.  There is no way I am paying for a new almost 17 year old driver so we offered the vehicle to Tori.  She jumped at the chance after 3 years of being without a car at university.  And I was in the best position to accompany her back to Mount Alison where she will be working for the summer.  In October I drove from the West Coast to home with Caitlin, now I get to go to the east coast with Tori.  In 6 months and 2 days I will have seen both coasts of our incredible country.  That's a lot of miles for someone who rarely leaves town.

Observations from day one of our eastern adventure.
1.  I am very glad I do not live in Toronto.  I am very glad that my parents moved from there 43 years ago.
2.  I am very glad I do not live in Kingston.  We met friends there for lunch today.  There are way too many stop lights in Kingston.  They are not co-ordinated.  We had to stop at 9 out of 10.  That is not right.  And to make matters even worse, almost all of the traffic lights are at the top of hills.  The Escape is standard.  I hate stopping on a hill in heavy traffic.

We are in a motel in Cornwall which is virtually empty.  We went to the fitness room (has anyone ever been to a fitness room with operational equipment?) and the pool.  We ate supper in our room from our cooler.  Tori is a vegan so we had tuna and chickpea salad and granola bars.

On to Montreal.  I can hardly wait.

Adventures in Veganism

Tori has been home for a few weeks. She eats vegan most of the time so we have been making a lot of dietary adjustments to accommodate her and hopefully improve our health as well. We have been feasting on Spicy Black Bean Patties with Lime Hummus, vegan pizza with cheese made from yeast flakes and soy milk and experimenting with egg substitutes. Products like Tahini and Salba are stocked in our pantry with Wheatgrass, Spelt flour and Dulce.

Tonight I planned Red Lentil Curry with Sweet Potatoes and Spinach. The recipe called for 1 can Rotel. On my way home from work, I stopped at the grocery store and asked for help finding the Rotel. The grocery manager was sure he had seen it, maybe it was a cheese. The health/organic manager said she had been a vegan for 19 years and had no idea what it was. I figured we could make the recipe and substitute something so I went home. And looked it up

Hmm ... maybe next time I will look up the strange names before I head to the store.

What I've been up to - part 1

While you were knitting crazy hats, I was knitting mittens.

This is all Tori's fault. When asked what she wanted for Christmas, she replied she wanted me to make her mitts. So I did. Apparently mittens on strings are back so I fastened ribbons to them.

The above pair was done in her favourite colours but didn't really match her cape (or any other winter wear) so I made her a pair of flip mitts too. I was working like crazy on these and managed to finish them one hour after we dropped her at the airport. Canada Post must love me this year since I am sending parcels coast to coast regularly.

Then I took a break and did this puzzle that my parents gave me for Christmas. It was the hardest one I have done for a long time. Too bad Susan wasn't around to help put in a piece or two.

Connor really liked the colour of the first pair I did and asked for mitts with fingers. So I made him mitts with fingers (some of you may know them as gloves).

I have made many other items over the last month and I will share them with you shortly.

Stay tuned!

Bogs

In the fall of 2009 I found myself in need of new winter boots and I wanted new rubber boots too. After a little searching I discovered Bogs. They are made of neoprene and rubber so they are waterproof and warm well below zero. I love them. I have worn them to work and horseback riding, walking the dogs and shovelling snow and they slip on fast to pick Connor up at work. They come in 4 different heights from ankle to rider's. I love the funky choice of colours. Except for men's - they only get black or camouflage. I bought Tori a pair when I bought mine - they are great for the wet winters the Maritimes get. Kevin got his very recently. Shown below are mine, Tori's and Kevin's.
So now I really only need one pair of boots. The problem is I would like a different height and a different colour. Oh well. If anyone is looking for new footwear look for Bogs.

What we found at the Beach

Tori is demonstrating to Connor and I how to find microscopic sealife in the tidal pools.

She has always had amazing eyesight. When I went on hikes with her classes the teacher would ask "Who can find a _______________? Tori was always the first. Eventually she would be asked to give the other kids a chance. The first picture is a hermit crab. The second a regular crab that was half the size of her pinky nail.

After all that fresh air we needed lunch. Look where we ate! It was excellent - both the food and the service.
After lunch we went to a beach north of Amherst and had a nice swim. It took us longer to find the beach than we actually swam but we had the whole beach to ourselves. I guess everyone else had problems with the directions and lack of signs too. A few seals joined us but kept their distance. Connor has a waterproof camera but didn't bring it so blame him for the lack of pictures.

Exploring

Sackville is only 10 or 15 minutes from Nova Scotia so we went there on a day trip. When we got there it was low tide so we went to the nearest "beach" to explore tide pools. I love, love, love exploring tide pools. We went to Joggins Fossil Cliffs. None of us are into fossils but it was close. I actually didn't even look at the cliffs - just the ground. I nevertheless found a few fossils. I have no idea what the first one could be - snakeskin? fishscales? The second one is obviously a section of a petrified tree.

The waves were quite angry.

This is one of the many coal seams in the area.

The colorful one plays pirate.

The Trip to Sackville

The long drive to Sackville to take Tori to Mount Allison University was uneventful.

Very uneventful.
Maybe even boring. 
Yup, most definitely boring.

 
The highlight was another visit with our good friends the Sylvester's in Kingston. Laurie fed us lunch (again). Thanks Laurie.

Kevin's shirt says "PADDLE FASTER - I hear banjo music". Just in case you cared.

Before we went

On Sunday we had a family gathering/farewell to Tori/celebration of August birthdays at the beautiful Springwater Park in Barrie. We don't go there nearly often enough. Springwater has lots of natural beauty, hiking/biking trails and a small wildlife exhibit. And there are several large playgrounds too. Something for the whole family. In the middle of dinner there was a bit of water fight.

Tori got the worst of it.
Our good friend Linda made this cake. It is hard to see here but there is a line drawn from Wasaga Beach to Sackville with the mileage and the balloons are for all the August birthdays in our family. It was a huge cake and there is still lots in the freezer.

Hair

I have always had long hair.  Okay, I got it cut ear length when I was 13 and shoulder length when the twins were born but otherwise I have always had long hair.  Recently I got a trim and for the first time in remembrance my hair was now shorter than both girls.  But no more.  Tori got her hair cut and asked me to blog it.  So here are the before and after shots. 

Before people told her they reminded them of Kate Hudson.  After someone told her she looked like Lulu (you know the singer from To Sir With Love).  Most of her peers said "who"?  But Tori is very retro and thought that was cool.  She still loves the cut.  And I have the longest hair in the house again!

Family Day Activities

The first thing I did to celebrate the holiday was an exciting and productive trip to the laundromat.  After recovering from that thrill I took Connor and a friend cross-country skiing.  I am recovering from a cold and wasn't sure how much I was going to be able to do today but didn't want to waste such a beautiful day inside.  I was aiming to do about 6 km but we probably did 8 or 9 km in about an hour and a half.  The trails were icy but still pretty good.   The Nordic Centre is only 2 blocks from our house and I am ashamed to say I only make it 4 or 5 times a year - most of those for free with the school.   We came back home to put on proper boots and I got Tori up (at 1:50!) and took the 3 of them to McDonalds for lunch.  Then Tori took the boys back to do more skiing and I stayed home to start supper.  They did another 9 km and when they dropped Marcus off it was close to 6 and he was absolutely wasted.  So sorry we forgot to take a camera.  To make it a perfect family day I would like to finish it off with a family game night but Caitlin is still at work and Kevin is helping Connor iron his Air Cadet uniform for an inspection tomorrow night so maybe I will play solitaire!

Update on Connor and Tori

Connor's throat started bothering him more last night.  I think he has thrush now but they don't usually treat it so I will just keep an eye on it.  He hasn't managed to have breakfast and be dressed before 11 yet -that should make tomorrow interesting.  We have to leave the house between 8 and 9 am (depending on weather) to make it to Alec's grad.  I am not sure he will be up to going which will be very sad for him.

Tori's team updated their blog last night.  They made it safely and spent yesterday distributing shoeboxes and helping in a dental clinic and a vision clinic.  It is 42 degrees in Paraguay.  I don't know if I could handle that any better than our cold, snowy winter.  Somewhere in between would be nice.  

Tori's Commencement

Yesterday was Tori's Grade 12 commencement.  She is a very dedicated student  and only missed being an Ontario Scholar by a few decimal points.  She received an award for volunteer service in addition to her Extended French Certificate so we are understandably proud of her.  She is doing her "victory lap" and plans on university in the fall as soon as she can decide which program and which facility.  Below she is "resting on her laurels".

Prom Night

After weeks of changed plans, arguing about whether or not she could borrow my truck, where she was allowed to go and with whom and what time she had to be home prom night is finally here! After appointments for her nails, hair and make-up here is our little princess Victoria.


Not quite so regal in this picture!

She asked us to the park to take pictures of her and her friends and it was interesting to see the attire. Formal gowns with flip-flops and suits with t-shirts and running shoes. I can barely remember our prom. I remember what I wore (because I have a picture) and that we went to Casa Loma but nothing else. It is so funny to look back and see the things you put so much emphasis on in high school and how trivial they seem now. Oh well. Here's to happy memories anyway!