Kingswood
A Bit of a Vacay
The family has arrived. With four guests in our house
for the past five days and two more on the way to
join us tomorrow, we've been having a fun, busy time.
We had planned to go to the Hopewell Rocks on the Bay
of Fundy today but the weather has gotten in the way.
So it's a quiet day for catching up on sleep and
nosing around Fredericton, I guess.
We went whale watching on Tuesday, down in St.
Andrews by the Sea. This was my second experience
with the whales and trip two was just as fantastic as
trip one. Our first visit, we went out on the zodiac,
which was very exciting. This time, we went out on
the catamaran of Quoddy Link Marine, a more sedate
trip but just as great. We saw lots of amazing
things, including minke and finback whales close up
(within 20 feet of the boat), harbour porpoises,
harbour seals, grey seals and black guillemots.
Really quite amazing.
Of course taking pictures of whales is not as
easy as you might think, given their massive size.
Sometimes, all you get is their spray but, at other
times, you're lucky enough to get much of the back
and the fin. We all had a blast on the trip and it
might just happen that some of us go again when the
other members of the family arrive.
Other adventures so far include bowling at Kingswood, the place where I play golf. We never did solve the mystery of the candlestick pins but had a lot of fun trying. We've wandered Fredericton and have plans to visit the beach at Mactaquac as well as Kings Landing at some point during the visit.
On a birding note, Patti came across a little fellow nestled in the grass under our dining room window. It would seem he knocked himself loopy by flying into the glass. We scooped him up to keep him safe from predators and then placed him in a box with food, water and some cedar leaves to give him time to recover. We're happy to report that the little guy enjoyed a brief stay in our bird hotel and then, his wits recovered, flew off into the world again. Nice to see a happy ending.
Now if I could only make a definite ID on the kind of bird he is. I know, pathetic that I can't figure it out with such a clear picture! If anyone out there can help me, I'd very much appreciate it. I've taken a quick look through my various books but I'm not getting anywhere. He's got a little yellow patch on his upper back, yellow on his chest and white patches on his wings. Otherwise, he seems to be black/grey/olive all over. And he's tiny, no more than four inches. Help!!!
Other adventures so far include bowling at Kingswood, the place where I play golf. We never did solve the mystery of the candlestick pins but had a lot of fun trying. We've wandered Fredericton and have plans to visit the beach at Mactaquac as well as Kings Landing at some point during the visit.
On a birding note, Patti came across a little fellow nestled in the grass under our dining room window. It would seem he knocked himself loopy by flying into the glass. We scooped him up to keep him safe from predators and then placed him in a box with food, water and some cedar leaves to give him time to recover. We're happy to report that the little guy enjoyed a brief stay in our bird hotel and then, his wits recovered, flew off into the world again. Nice to see a happy ending.
Now if I could only make a definite ID on the kind of bird he is. I know, pathetic that I can't figure it out with such a clear picture! If anyone out there can help me, I'd very much appreciate it. I've taken a quick look through my various books but I'm not getting anywhere. He's got a little yellow patch on his upper back, yellow on his chest and white patches on his wings. Otherwise, he seems to be black/grey/olive all over. And he's tiny, no more than four inches. Help!!!
Life Gets In The Way
25/07/10 07:02 Filed in: Writing
Okay, okay. So I'm not living up to my promises. In
my last post, I said I planned to "push through" and
get my novel submission ready and sent off to the
publisher. I really intended to as well but life just
got in the way.
First, work heated up something fierce. Crazy busy. So busy that, even though I am off on vacation this coming week, I had to book both Monday and Wednesday mornings with meetings. Tuesday I'm going whale watching at St. Andrews by the Sea with family and friends -- a lovely break, to be sure.
Second, golf jumped to the fore with a day in Moncton playing the revered Fox Creek course last Friday (I shot a 124, a miracle in my mind considering the course) and, if the rain stops, Kingswood this morning.
And third, bi-focals. Arrived last Thursday. A real improvement for my vision but, man, do they ever take getting used to!!! I spent yesterday battling bouts of dizziness from the in-and-out focus of these things. I mean, they're great and I'm sure I'll adjust but right now it's hard. I already gave up on the bi-focal contact lenses, which made me dizzy, gave me headaches and hurt my eyes.
I'll get to the novel submission soon. Phillip Gold must see the light of day! In the meantime, life will have to be dealt with before I can do anything of the sort.
First, work heated up something fierce. Crazy busy. So busy that, even though I am off on vacation this coming week, I had to book both Monday and Wednesday mornings with meetings. Tuesday I'm going whale watching at St. Andrews by the Sea with family and friends -- a lovely break, to be sure.
Second, golf jumped to the fore with a day in Moncton playing the revered Fox Creek course last Friday (I shot a 124, a miracle in my mind considering the course) and, if the rain stops, Kingswood this morning.
And third, bi-focals. Arrived last Thursday. A real improvement for my vision but, man, do they ever take getting used to!!! I spent yesterday battling bouts of dizziness from the in-and-out focus of these things. I mean, they're great and I'm sure I'll adjust but right now it's hard. I already gave up on the bi-focal contact lenses, which made me dizzy, gave me headaches and hurt my eyes.
I'll get to the novel submission soon. Phillip Gold must see the light of day! In the meantime, life will have to be dealt with before I can do anything of the sort.
Everything But The Letter
Yes, this past week I've done just about everything
but the cover letter for my novel submission. First I
was knocked out by the blood tests. Then work heated
up a lot. Later in the week, I played golf a couple
of times and then, just to wind things up, Patti and
I walked home from our local Canadian Tire with a new
10-foot ladder, perfect for cleaning our eaves
troughs, replacing light bulbs in our car port and
getting to dead branches high in trees.
Tonight, I fly out to Ottawa for a week-long course. On top of participating in the mediation training, I'll also get a chance to see my brother and his family and, if possible, spend some time each evening on my novel submission. With luck, I'll complete first drafts of my cover letter and biographical statement this week. If I'm really focused, I'll also do a revision of the draft synopsis of The Silent Goodbye, my latest Phillip Gold novel. I sure hope it sells!
I played the Gage Golf Course in the lovely town of Oromocto, NB on Friday with some friends from work, people with whom I had not yet played. I would like to say I put on a good show for them but I didn't: 123 over 18 holes. Terrible. The Gage course is much longer than my home course and the grass on the fairways is deeper and thicker. It took me a while to get used to the density of the grass and, let's face it, when every third shot you hit is terrible, a longer course is a scary place. Anyway, I got through. I don't know if they'll ever want to play golf with me again.
Thankfully, I settled down and played 18 decent holes at my home course, the Kingswood executive, Saturday morning. I wasn't great but I was steady and, after working out a few kinks, played pretty well.
This morning, I tackled the clogged eaves and then cut away some of the branches that were contributing to the clogging. The experience convinced me that we really need to get a professional arborist in here. And soon.
I won't be able to blog while I'm away but will catch up on all my writing progress next weekend.
Tonight, I fly out to Ottawa for a week-long course. On top of participating in the mediation training, I'll also get a chance to see my brother and his family and, if possible, spend some time each evening on my novel submission. With luck, I'll complete first drafts of my cover letter and biographical statement this week. If I'm really focused, I'll also do a revision of the draft synopsis of The Silent Goodbye, my latest Phillip Gold novel. I sure hope it sells!
I played the Gage Golf Course in the lovely town of Oromocto, NB on Friday with some friends from work, people with whom I had not yet played. I would like to say I put on a good show for them but I didn't: 123 over 18 holes. Terrible. The Gage course is much longer than my home course and the grass on the fairways is deeper and thicker. It took me a while to get used to the density of the grass and, let's face it, when every third shot you hit is terrible, a longer course is a scary place. Anyway, I got through. I don't know if they'll ever want to play golf with me again.
Thankfully, I settled down and played 18 decent holes at my home course, the Kingswood executive, Saturday morning. I wasn't great but I was steady and, after working out a few kinks, played pretty well.
This morning, I tackled the clogged eaves and then cut away some of the branches that were contributing to the clogging. The experience convinced me that we really need to get a professional arborist in here. And soon.
I won't be able to blog while I'm away but will catch up on all my writing progress next weekend.