A final picture from Canada

Jane and Anne - my sister and me



I have been back now for a few days and am readjusted to the time change. It is only four hours from Nova Scotia so half as bad as California. My garden looks beautiful. Pictures later. Jane Frances arrives tomorrow and we go to Poland on Friday.

Home at last

It finally happened. I arrived back on British soil yesterday morning. I came home and collapsed into bed for the afternoon. I have come back to beautiful weather and no problems or disasters at the homestead with one possible exception. There is something wrong with my computer. It is very slow and keeps popping up error messages. This is not normal behaviour for a Mac. On the bright side, my garden is looking fantastic.

There was a Festival meeting last evening. I staggered along and tried to take minutes. I will write them this morning and hope my scribblings make sense. Fortunately, I have excellent fellow committee members upon whom I can call to help me fill the gaps.

Getting closer

So far the flight for tonight is still scheduled and I even have a boarding pass in my hand (printed from the web). This being stranded thing has passed its sell by date and I'm tired of being positive. If I don't fly home tonight, that glass that is half full is going to be emptied out and refilled with wine!!

The weather here has improved and I took a long walk yesterday afternoon. I will do the same today before we leave for the two hour drive to the airport.

Hopes Dashed again

The flight I would have had tonight has been cancelled. However, I am now booked for tomorrow night, getting in on Thursday. I live in hope. I'm going to take a long walk now and Jane and I will go to a film tonight.

More pics

Gate of Heaven Cemetary
My family have one central headstone and flat stones for each of the five people buried there. Three of the flat stones were taken up, cleaned and polished. This is one of them. It was my grandfather's stone


However, two stones were nowhere to be seen until Jane found a snow scraper in her car and started digging. We found the missing two, one of which is below. It was my grandmother's stone.





This is the Halifax Citadel. This was the fortress from which the city defended itself 250 or more years ago.


This picture was taken inside the Citadel. Maybe it was a warning to me of how things would be for me in a week's time!

Update 2

I have no idea when I will be home. I have my rezzie for Tuesday but it is not looking good. So I guess I will have to occupy myself writing the great American novel.

I have posted some pictures below (with captions). Needless to say, I have lots more which I will put up in due course. We came back from Halifax yesterday. I spent Friday night in Chezzetcook with Fred. I was in a little strip mall near his house in the country and I went in to order a sandwich. I mentioned to the young girl making the sandwich that I'm from England but I'm stranded in Nova Scotia because of the volcano. She looked blank and said, "Do we have a volcano?" I explained that the volcano was in Iceland but was spewing ash all over northern Europe so planes can't fly. Blank look continues as she says, "Is that like global warming?" I gave up.

Some Pics

My sister Jane - organizing the bevvies


My nephew Mike Lennox with wife Carrie and son Cooper


Me at a party with a cute guy who isn't married but, wouldn't you know it, he's a priest


My grandparent's home in Halifax

Update

Okay! Here I am in Chezzetcook with my brother. I was able to rebook yesterday on a flight that leaves Halifax on Tuesday night, getting to London on Wednesday morning. I really really hope they are flying by then because I have been put in a seat in first class, i.e. lying down on a bed for the overnight flight. But I have been watching the news and it doesn't look good. I may be here for days and days but; as I said in my last blog, at least I'm not in an airport on a camp bed or worse.

This continues to be a wonderful trip/holiday. My sibs are coming through with flying colours but I bet they will be very glad to see the back of me.

Volcano Day

Other countries have snow days. I'm having a volcano day. Yuk. I am supposed to fly out of Halifax tonight but it doesn't look good. I can't get through on the phone to find out about my flight so god knows when I will get back to England. On the bright side, at least I'm not sitting in an airport. I'm with Jane and Fred and Theresa who are doing a great job of cheering me up and calming me down. I will update when I know something.

Continuing

So what have we been doing besides yakking and eating and drinking? Mostly fun things. I’m taking Jane and her two best friends out for a lobster meal tonight. Oh boy; can’t wait. They are somewhat ho hum about lobster (living in the Maritimes) but I love it.

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of George’s death and we drove down to Halifax for a memorial mass at the church where he had been head honcho for several years. The Jesuit who took over from him had us for dinner before the mass. Fred and Theresa came as well and many people who were George’s flock. As far as I can tell about these things, it was a great success. I think he would have been pleased.

On Saturday evening we went to a surprise birthday party for one of Jane’s friends. There were about a dozen people and the sense of friendship and good will was heart warming. These people have known each other for years; raised their families and done all those good things. One setback on the activity schedule was our trip to Magnetic Hill. This is a weird place where you put your car in neutral and it goes uphill by itself (I think). It was closed so I wasn’t able to be amazed and impressed.

Before we left Halifax today, Jane drove me around all the old places that were my stomping ground as a teenager. The house we lived in is now a carpark. I knew this had happened but it was still a jolt to see SUV’s where my bedroom used to be. We went past the house that my grandfather built in 1920. Not only is it still there but it has been well looked after over the years. Tomorrow I say goodbye to Moncton and we go to Windsor to stay with Fred and Theresa for a couple of days before I fly back on Friday night. On the way to Windsor we are going to stop at Gate of Heaven Cemetary to visit our mother’s grave on the family plot (more tombstones!)

There are lots of pictures but Janes system is different so they will have to wait until I get back.

Pics

Here are some pics from Goshen (see below). The two churches and the one remaining farmhouse and then one of the tombstones. More later

New Brunswick

I arrived in Halifax last Tuesday and my little brother picked me up at the airport and drove me to Moncton. My little brother is 60 which is beyond belief for me. Now I am on day 5 of my Canadian holiday and loving every minute. Jane and I get up in the morning when we feel like it, drink coffee, read the newspaper and talk. We get dressed and talk some more. We go here and there, talking all the way. It is so great to be with someone who has the same childhood history and a better memory. We went out to a tiny little place in the country called Goshen. Some of our great grandparents lived and farmed around there but they were buried in another place ten miles away called Mechanic Settlement so we had to go there to find the gravestones. And there they were. Jane has some family history stuff and these people had families of 7 to 15 children. They originally came from Ireland around the time of the famine. We had such a good day that we thought we would take a trip to Ireland maybe next year for some more tombstones. We’re not great family historians but we do like a few bevies and Irish pubs so it could all work quite well.

Canada

Tomorrow morning bright and early I'm off to Halifax and then to Moncton for ten days with my sister. Needless to say, I'm very much looking forward to it. It is almost three years since I have seen her during which time her husband died, I was officially divorced and our brother died. We have a lot to catch up on.

I spent Easter in Brighton with the Williams family. Harry continues to be superb. I would post a picture but I can't work out how to do it.