Kelly Date March 28, 2010

Well, as hypothesized in my last blog it has been a busy week

and I've not accomplished much other than work. I went for coffee with Jason, attended the International Banquet, and went for several walks with the pooch but that's about it. The upside is that I did get a lot done and I'm going shopping with John to buy gear tomorrow morning.

That is always fun and we'll be able to get through a few things on the agenda for the Haida Gwaii trip. I guess the one great thing I was able to do was submit my research proposal for committee review. That gets me a lot closer to being finished my first year at Acadia as I will defend it on April 6th. So, yes I'm getting there slow but sure.

The International Banquet was quite nice and I was able to take some great shots of some of the participants in the traditional

clothing.

They are so colourful and some of the entertainment included traditional dances from Mauritius and I think Africa, but I'm not sure. Overall, it was great and I sat with a couple of young gentlemen at the back of the room. Herbie is from the Bahamas and Victor is from China.

On Sunday I went to Hannigan's park again to walk with Finnigan and took a couple of really nice photos of the sun reflecting in the water. The top picture

on the right is an example. Some of them turned exceptionally nice actually and I like it more for the fact that it is a different approach to taking a sunset picture. Rather unique. The rest of the pictures are from the banquet to share with you some of the great outfits that were worn. Most of the people are from China, Japan, Pakistan, and Korea.

I hope you have a great week and I'll hopefully be on time with my blog next week as well. I still can't believe I'm going to be leaving for the Haida Gwaii so soon. It will be fun to describe my next adventures for you and take photos in such an amazing place to share with you. Should be fun.

Kelly Date March 22, 2010

Hellowings from Wolfville. My apologies for not doing the blog last night. I know, I missed last Sunday as well and now this one. Wait, I can explain lol. Last weekend I was in Halifax with Stella-Marie (Rose's sister) and this weekend I was playing catchup for having missed last weekend. I was really pushing to get the most recent draft of my research proposal finished as I have to hand it over to Alan Warner, the other prof, by this coming Friday. Yikes! Would you believe the "proposal defence" has been set for April 6th. I am sure it will be fine. Apparently, John (supervising prof) will drill me with questions that may come up so I am prepared on all fronts. Should be fun. But on to the good news!!!!!

Would you believe I'm going to be doing my research in the Haida Gwaii for two months beginning May 10. I will be located in the Haida community of Skidegate and working out of the Haida Heritage Centre there. In exchange for doing the research, I will be helping them with some of the planning for their local and regional tours, which will be hugely fun and fits so well with my personal interests it's hard to believe it has all worked out so incredibly well.

I leave Wolfville on May 4th and go to Nanaimo for five days and then depart for the Haida Gwaii on the 9th. I plan on taking the ferry up to Skidegate, which entails a five hour bus ride to Port Hardy on the north end of Vancouver Island. From there I will take a twenty-hour ferry ride to Prince Rupert, where I will have to wait for five hours before catching the seven hour ferry ride over to Skidegate. It will be such an incredible time of year though to make this trip I'm sure it will be awesome. John, who has guided in the area in the past, says the chance of whale sightings at that time of year is very good.

So I may have some incredible pictures to share with you at some point. I bought a backpack in Halifax while I was there - a rather large one as I have to do the "liven like a turtle" thing for the entire time I'm away. Everything I need has to go into that bag including all the equipment I will need to complete my research. I have some serious planning to get ready for this adventure. Oh my god I am so excited about this. The Haida Gwaii is considered "the trip of a lifetime" by some of the most well know travel reviewers and I get to spend two months there. Wow, wow, wow.

Okay, now about the trip to Halifax......

I have been to Halifax before, but I had not really had a chance to look around that much. So Stella-Marie (right), took me around a few of the sights including that of the Halifax Explosion and the early armaments around the harbour entrance. "The Bells" (lower right) is a beautiful memorial to the people who died during the explosion and all those who lost their homes and loved ones. Some of the pictures are amazing as the site around the blast area was total devastated. There wasn't a standing house for many many blocks. The park at the entrance to the harbour was amazing and it was interesting because Hurricane Bill took out probably 75% of the trees a fews years ago. Even though it is quite open now it is a beautiful park and Mr. Finnigan certainly had no complaints. The picture to the upper left is of Black Rock Beach which I thought was particularly lovely.

Dinner at Stella-Marie's was wonderful both evenings. Her fellow, Blair (picture to left with Finnigan), cooked and we cleaned, which seemed like the perfect arrangement. The first night we had pork and the 2nd scallops. Totally awesome meals for which all the praise goes to the chef. One fun thing Stella-Marie and I did that I got a kick out of was to get pick out a pack for my trip to Haida Gwaii. Actually, I was quite glad to have her along as she tried on most of the pack

s as well and had a ton of great suggestions for what did and didn't work.

Thanks to Stella, I probably got the best backpack possible and I'm sure it will hold all the gear and equipment I have to drag with me to Skidegate. The rest of the trip (a whole two days) was spent hanging out chatting, eating, and drinking. All in all it was a great trip and I was glad to have met Rose's sister. Maybe she can come my way next time and I can take her out to Blomidon Point.

Y'all have a great and I'll do my best to be more timely next week. Actually, I probably won't have much to say anyway as all I'll be doing this week is working. I have so much to get done before I leave. Yikes!

(Halifax Narrows: Site of the Halifax Explosion) I think it was 1914 - somewhere around there.

Kelly Date March 7, 2010

What did Kelly do this past week you might ask?????? I worked - a lot and had little time for playing. However, I did get a lot done and actually got out of "Dodge" yesterday and found a nice beach to walk along with Mr. Finnigan. My intention was to get out and enjoy the wonderful warm spring weather and take some photos, but this all went terribly wrong.

My first stop was a beautiful acreage overlooking the Bay of Fundy and I pulled over to the side of the roadway and hopped out to walk around the field a bit. Of course, I dragged my camera out and got all set up to snap some pics ... only to discover I had left the battery in the charger which was back at home still in the wall socket. Argh!

So, Mr. Finnigan and I continued our journey and enjoyed a peaceful walk without the distraction of the camera. We walked all the way to the end of Starr Point and sat working on a sand castle. It was actually a rather pathetic looking sand castle, but I had fun.

Unfortunately, that means I have no new pictures to show this week, but I will make a huge effort to make up for it this coming week. It should be good though as I'm going to Halifax to hang out with Rose's sister Stella-Marie and I'm looking forward to seeing some of the sights with someone who has lived here most of their lives. I'll get the 'insider track' this way and will pass along the details when I get back. We might even be bad lol. Ha, how bad can two girls with no men around possibly be you might ask???? I will be sure to report back next week.....

Have a great, fantastic, awesome, and wonderful week.

Kelly

PS: The picture at the top is Peggy's Cove, taken with Chelsey in February. Damn cold month - brrrrrrrrr

Kelly Date February 28, 2010

What a fun week I had! A bit busy but I managed to get some down time in and get out and enjoy myself. I had a meeting with John on Saturday morning so we decided to meet at the Wolfville Community Market.

They hold it indoors during the winter, but it is always fun as there are so many people who come out to buy food and wine. There are other things of course like jewellery and painted silk scarves and hats and such, but the wine and food seems to be the draw. Of course there is music as well and they have different

artists perform every week.

In the summer the market is held every saturday right downtown and the performers do their thing in the outdoor pavilion. It is quite a lot of fun actually. I've included a few pictures for your pleasure and would have to confess to trying out two cookies and fresh sushi. Wow, it was fantastic. I just might have to go next week as well ha.

There was one table in particular that I thought

was nice. The lady had set out a number of very pretty necklaces and broaches and earrings that she makes herself. The best part was that the tables she used were so striking. Beautiful scarves and bold colours made it a must see table. I didn't buy anything, but was very tempted. Another fun table was a women selling fall produce. She looked like she was enjoying herself immensely and kindly agreed to let me take her photograph.

The rest of my week was mostly work but I did get out for coffee a couple of times and I'm very happy with what I managed to get accomplished. I was even able to get a lead on some communities I might be able to visit this summer and I might just end up back on the west coast again. Cool.

Oh yes, the Canadian men's hockey team won the gold medal against the USA. Freakin yes! Way to go Canada woop woop! I was so pleased to see them win. We lose so often it makes victory particularly sweet lol. What a great game and the US team was amazing. But we won - oh yea! Ha, you have a great week and try and stay out of trouble. Me

Kelly Date February 21, 2010

Hello and greetings from the icy land of Nova Scotia! Actually it's not that cold, but I need to complain about something heh. I went for run with Mr. Finnigan tonight and had to cut it short as it was so slippery with snow and ice. So, I came back home and was having such a good time I danced to music in the living room for about an hour.

I haven't done that for a while. Huey Lewis is always fun and I like a lot of the older rock songs like Fame and some of the newer stuff by Los Lonely Boys. Mr. Finnigan was looking at me like I was insane. Ha, this is okay. (He has insider information.)

I have been so busy this past week, but for the life of me can't remember what I did. It was fun and there were some definite highlights - me having fun. I've got a crazy week ahead of me as well as I'm supposed to have my thesis proposal on John's desk by Friday. Yikes! He went over it with me on Thursday and I have a lot to do, but the good news is that it's doable. But, things are looking good and I am smiling.

I have no pics at all to share with you this week so will put a couple up from various places I've been. So, this is short I know, but I've run out of data. I spent the whole weekend scrounging up 'data' for some work I'm doing and I'm filled to the brim with useless information.

So it's off to tv land for me for a while and then to sleep. I'll very much be looking forward to my walk tomorrow night after I finish up the work I have to do. Catch'n ya'll later dahlings.....

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY ! ! !

I had a great week with my daughter, Chelsey, who was visiting from Oshawa, Ontario. She arrived on Tuesday morning and we had a fantastic week sightseeing and touring around Nova Scotia. I think her favourite place was Peggy's Cove, which is just south of Halifax and she was able to touch the Atlantic Ocean - a first for her.

I had never been there either and it was surprisingly barren, but absolutely beautiful. There were almost no trees and at this time of year the wind was howling and it was dreadfully cold. Yikes - very very cold in deed lol. The picture (top left) is one of my favourite scenery pics of her time here with me. I have several of her as well and have scattered them throughout.

Mr. Finnigan was a great big ball of excited fluff when he saw her coming to the car. He hadn't seen her for over a year and didn't let her out of his sight the whole time she was with us. What else did we do; we went for a couple of long walks, swimming, ate out with a good friend, and spent a lot of time just yakking.

One of the most fun things we did was go to get our cards read by a local lady here. We had a blast as she was quite funny. Our 1/2 hour appointment turned into 3 1/2 hours, but she was such a doll and had much to share with us. She even gave us a ride back to my place as it was cold and dark by the time we had finished. Oh, the future for Chelsey is that she will 'make the right decision' and apparently I am to "see something of Europe soon'. Ha. we had a blast and got into fits of giggles half way through.

We spent some time in Halifax as well and she managed to get some shopping done here in New Minas. Apparently, 'Bench' apparel is the thing to have and she actually found a store here with a good sale and sizes that

fit her. She is quite petite. She purchased a coat and a jacket and moaned all the way back home that she had spent too much lol.

Ah well, she looks fabulous dahling!

So on Saturday, I had the unhappy job of driving her back to Halifax to catch her flight back home to Oshawa. Mr. Finnigan and I are going to miss all the excitement. As for Valentine's Day I got one lovely email from Randy and sent off a few of my own. So, to all those out there reading this a happy happy day to you and yours. Have a wonderful week!

Kelly Date February 7, 2010

Okay, I know. I'm late. Ha. I'm often late. Don't like to be; try to avoid it; but seems to be a natural part of life. Short story - get over it lol. I am.

I'm late for no reason other than trying to finish up a couple of pieces of work and getting ready for a visit from my daughter. Chelsey arrives tomorrow and I have to pick her up at the airport just north west of Halifax. We'll spend the day over in Halifax and do a bit of touring so she gets a sense of the place. The harbour will be nice regardless of the weather and she can say "Been there, done that."

Would have to admit to being quite sad the last few days. I miss Randy terribly and am seriously doubting the wisdom of the trip to Las Vegas. As much fun as it was it is hard to say good bye again. One can only 'suck it up' so often. Aw, well this is the deal and I will keep my eyes on the goal. Argh, questionable goal that it is.

Thank god, Chelsey will be here tomorrow. I think we can both do with some cheering up. We have plans to go shopping, attend a presentation on Dafur at the school, go to the pub, and swimming. Should be fun. We'll take lots of picks and give you a better idea of things next week. She's here until Saturday so it will be a busy week. New stuff advisory for the next posting.

Have a great week wherever you may be......