The Joy of Skype

It took me a long time to decide, but I am now the user of Skype.
You might ask, Dear Reader, what took me so long?

Skype is a universal, free, telephone and video program, used by many of our friends, and often adopted by TV news journalists who aren't able to use a camera crew or even an iPhone to file their stories.
Many families have used it for years, allowing members from all around the world to check out new babies, children, etc. One of our friends, who has a first grandchild (named: Colin), living in Toronto, even used Skype each evening

Place Names Guide … for C-F-As

Today, class, we will be providing some help for those who will be visiting Nova Scotia during the Christmas / New Year's holidays.

Place names in this province can present a real minefield for those who are not familiar with local pronunciation.
To save folks from being labeled as C-F-As (“Come From Away's”), we present this handy guide, which, at best, is a good start.

Dumping Day

Pop Quiz: Do you the meaning of Dumping Day?'
Throughout much of Nova Scotia, it refers to the day lobster traps are 'dumped' into the water in a race to get to the most coveted locales across fishing grounds. That event occurred yesterday, in fishing ports in Areas 33 and 34:

all the way from Digby around to Cole Harbour, near Halifax.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada had delayed the start by 24 hours because high winds would have made it dangerous for thousands of boats to leave port with high deck loads of traps.

"Lest We Forget"

Remembrance Day, 2012

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
-- From Laurence Binyon's poem, For the Fallen

The Detective Sidekick

We both read a lot of mysteries around here, and devour the stories of many mysteries on television.

You know the plot: detective -- police or 'private eye' -- looks at the event, gathers and studies the evidence and solves the crime.
But, I ask you, Dear Reader, Where would we be without the'sidekick'?
I present three here, and others will follow.
Of course, we begin with Dr. John Watson, who wrote about the exploits of Sherlock Holmes.

Fall Colours

There are many great rewards from living in Nova Scotia: you were always within “smelling distance” of salty or fresh water, you can choose without penalty to follow a slower pace of life, and you have those beautiful Fall Colours all around you.

The Cabot Trail in Northern Cape Breton is legendary around the world for showing spectacular colours at this time of year; friends have assured us that the vistas along the Trail were just as spectacular this year.
My wife and I have just returned from our “33rd Anniversary Tour” around Western Nova Scotia (Well, rock bands can name their tours, why can't we?),

THE Goal

It was the only goal that mattered.

As CBC News told the story this morning, "40 years after Paul Henderson's famous goal in Game 8 of the Summit Series, many still remember exactly where they were."
I can ... and I'll tell you later.
It was the perfect cap to a surprisingly hard 7-game hockey series, between the best from Canada and the best from the U-S-S-R.
The series had been a long time in the making.
For more years than Canadians wanted to remember,