Our Message Archive
November 2024
Monday November 11
Breakfast at Ingrid's
On Tuesday, our friend Nancy arrived for a visit. Ann went to pick her up at the airport in the early afternoon and then the three of us went for a late lunch at the Portland Street Diner. We then all stayed up too late watching the American election. Looking back in the archives of this page I see that I called the last American election a train wreck. If it was a train wreck what was this one? It is hard to believe that the American electorate could be so decisively behind Trump but facts are facts, despite what he might say. Still, it is hard to be to smugly Canadian as it looks as if we will be making the same mistake soon, though not with the same consequences for the world.
On Wednesday, Kim and Glen came over for for a fish chowder dinner. Ann and Glen then went to choir practice at the church while Kim and Nancy chatted and listened in on the regular Wednesday night Dave Brothers practice.
On Friday, we went for dinner at Kim and Glen's and then Ann, Nancy, Kim and Glen went to see Kelli Loder with Symphony Nova Scotia. I saw them (just Kelli, not Kelli plus symphony; modern pronouns can be confusing) at the Lunenburg Folk festival a couple of years ago and decided to give this one a miss, but I'm told it was a good show.
On Saturday, I dropped Ann off at Kim's (Nancy had stayed there overnight) and the three of them, plus Marg, headed off to Lunenburg for a girls-only weekend with Jocelyn and Ingrid. They had dinner at the Grand Banker Bar & Grill then went to see Logan Richard and David Myles at the Lunenburg Opera House. Afterwards they all went back to Ingrid's cottage, stayed up way too late chatting, then bunked down in various spots. On Sunday, they hung out at Ingrid's before driving home again in the afternoon.
This year's jack-o'-lantern
We were home for Hallowe'en this year so I carved a jack-o'-lantern and Ann doled out the candy. We had enough for 50 kids, less a few candy bars that mysteriously disappeared. When we ran out we turned off the lights and laid low for the rest of the evening, but I don't think that there were many kids that missed out. The pumpkin has since been turned into muffins, pie and pumpkin ravioli.
The biking season is now officially over though we will probably still be going on unofficial rides. The last Rambler ride, the traditional Porters Lake loop, was a week ago Saturday, the last Railers ride, from the Coke plant in Beechside to the Bike & Bean, was a week ago Thursday, and the last Roadents ride was last Wednesday. However, it looks as if I will probably be the Ramblers Ride Coordinator next year (that's the person who decides which rides we will ride) since no-one else is coming forward to do the job. To start preparing, yesterday, being a lovely fall day, I went to check out the state of the rail trails down the South Shore. I quickly determined that the trail between Queensland and Hubbards was not really suitable for bicycles at the moment as they have added a lot of sand to the surface making it too soft unless one has very wide tires. On the other hand, I had a very nice ride from Graves Island to the Gold River Bridge. On the way back I explored several of the side roads that lead to waterfront homes and cottages.
A week ago Friday, Ann picked up Heather, Paddy and Carol and drove them all down to Marilyn's place near Caledonia for an afternoon of Mahjong.
Today, the three of us walked down to the Dartmouth cenotaph for the Remembrance Day ceremony. It was a miserable wet day, though thankfully quite mild, so we beat a fairly hasty retreat after the main ceremony when they started laying wreaths, which always seems to go on forever. From where we were standing the announcer was impossible to hear and it was difficult to make out who was actually walking up, so there didn't seem to be much point in hanging around and getting wet.