Dinner with Martin

This evening Lori and I met up with Martin, who is spending a couple of days in Ottawa. We went to a really nice French restaurant for dinner near our condo, called Le Panache. Afterwards we went back to the condo and Martin showed us pictures from his trip to New Zealand.

He is an excellent photographer and his pictures of the flora and fauna and scenery of New Zealand were awesome. You can see these pictures on his blog (link added to the "Family Blogs" section).

Back to the Farm

I went back to the Ottawa Experimental Farm and Arboretum today, to see if I could see the lady painter with the bike again and give her an autographed copy of her photo, but she was not there - it was a bit cold to be painting. I also wanted to see the Photo Exhibition of Trees by Richard Hinchcliff that ended today. It must have taken a lot of skill, patience and perseverance to get such beautiful pictures.

I cannot hope to match his expertise, and the day was kind of dull and grey, but above are my attempts.

I am not Blogworthy

I have been accused by certain people (who shall be nameless, but she lives in Texas) that I do not post often enough.

Well, I wake up every day thinking, what can I do today that I can post on my blog, and without any kids of my own here, I do not have the juicy material and pictures afforded to others.

To paraphrase an old Seinfeld episode, I am not Blogworthy. However, I will do my best to post at least once every week, even if it is only a rant like this.

I do like to get all your news (L & Y), so keep up the good work.

Thanksgiving at The Old Schoolhouse

Lori and I celebrated Thanksgiving at The Old Schoolhuse, in Ormsby, about 45 km and an hour away from our cottage. The Old Schoolhouse was built in 1921 and was used till 1964.

I would love to read more about what it was like to teach (and be taught) in a one room Schoolhouse, so if any of you know of any good books on this subject (besides Lori's favourite, The Little House on the Prairie) please let me know.

We had the traditional turkey dinner, with all the trimmings, and Lori chose pumpkin pie and I had the carrot cake (of course).

September Birthday Celebrations for the Vancouver Clan

Back row: Avery, Cheryl, Charissa, Willie, Camille, Mum
Front row: Rob, Glenn, Bailey

My sister Camille sent me this great photo of her Vancouver Clan celebrating four September Birthdays - Charissa's (on the 7th), Mum (17th), Bailey (21st) and Willie (26th).

Missing from this photo by only a few days is Charissa's brand new addition to the Clan - Liam Russell Fergusson, born October 4th at 4:58 am (an early riser not like some of the Crawford clan), weighing in at 7lb 4oz. Congratulations to Charissa and Rob!!

Flying to Bancroft and Paudash Lake

I was staying behind in Ottawa to deliver my Project Management Workshop a couple of Saturdays ago, so my colleague Bob, who belongs to a flying club, offered to fly me back to Bancroft to see Lori the next day.

Lori met us at the Bancroft airport, and to my surprise took up Bob's offer to fly her around our cottage and lake. As you can see, she was not nervous at all . .

and once airborne, really enjoyed the flight . .

and seeing the lake and our cottage from the air.

This picture gives you a good view of the island that our cottage is on. As you can see, the island is connected by a small causeway to the mainland. Our cottage is where the "x" is.