Dad--The CoverBoy

[Kate:]

Dad was on the cover of the technology section of the Saint John Telegraph-Journal. I mean, not just like a crappy little sub article, but like, the huge one! And there's a really big picture of him. He didn't even tell me! I was reading through it, and I found one part that says as follows: "My daughter, Kate, is the best. She's kind and has a great sense of humor. And to celebrate our house being sold, I'm raising her allowance to $50 a week." I was really ecstatic when I read that section. I'm kidding. You know that, though. Hopefully.

I guess the more important fact is that we sold the house. It's completely done, but that's all I really know. So yeah, we're happy and we celebrated by having cake and playing music. This kind of happened when I was hanging out with Krista on our third sleepover! Of course we accomplished another Nancy Drew interactive computer game (Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon).

We're hitting Zellers, the Canadian K-Mart/Wal-Mart, now. TTYL!

LOVE, Kate

The Drones

[Erik:]

The home we rent has a large, unfinished basement that runs the whole length of the house. It was quite empty for weeks when we first moved here--our regular readers may recall that our household goods took approximately one-and-a-half geologic epochs to get here. Now it is chock full of said household goods--the stuff that we don't need immediately (ever?), that can wait until we move into a more permanent home.

In one corner of this basement is a big ol' woodstove (a Wood Chief). Our landlords, when they were still in residence here, would burn it on weekends--Mr. Landlord is very handy and would work on furniture projects on his workbench while the stove was ablaze. When we moved in, they told us to feel free to use it as a backup heat source, and to use up all their wood (and there were probably a good 3 to 3.5 cords of excellent dry firewood down here, very generous of them).

Mr. Landlord had also cut two vents into the living room floor, so some of the heat would go up there. Now, not long after we got here, I was looking around in the basement, stroking the old beard (always a catalyst for musing), and I thought, "Hey...if I hung a couple tarps from the rafters, I could make a little 12' x 12' room around the stove. It's a small house, so an extra Room of Leisure would be a plus, and the contained space would warm up nicely. In fact, it would push much more heat up through the vents, too--sweet!" [Cognitive note: I did not actually think those words, but rather some imaginative-conceptual-image thingies. But those don't make for good narrative. If I do ever start thinking in deliberate sentences, and I begin my sentences with, "In fact," then I will slap myself. Carry on...]

So, I did just that, wayyy back in January. The tarps I got were perfect: just the right size, blue on one side and silver on the other. I made silver the interior, so as to reflect the light. Oh, yeah, furnishings: one floor-lamp, one table lamp on this square table the landlords left down here, two camp chairs, and a leftover rectangle of beige carpet that covers most of the concrete floor in one half of the room. Behold The Drones (as seen from without):

















And look at all those boxes--not looking forward to another move, oy. I'm down in The Drones right now with Stella, who is sulking over the arrival of That New [insert stream of feline invective] Kitty (see Kate's previous blog entry, and surely more entries to come). Oh well, we knew she was going to have a cow, whaddaya do? Stella and Lily will never be fast friends, but I hope we can get to "forced peace" before long.

The Drones, by the bye, takes its name from Bertie Worcester's gentlemen's club in the P. G. Wodehouse books about Jeeves and Worcester. It is a Place of Repose from the World, where all one needs is a warm fire, a cat, the Globe & Mail, and maybe a pint of suds. (Or a glass of wine and a cozy mystery, if you happen to be the blogger's wife. That's a real sub-genre, by the way--"cozy" mysteries. I keep thinking Kimm has read them all, but she keeps finding more.)

Erik relaxing, "where time comes dropping slow":

















We tend to fire up The Drones mainly on snowy nights. And funny thing, those seemed to be declining, and then...well, we've had something of a chilly resurgence in April so far, with snowfall both weekends. I wrote in an earlier entry about Sheila's Brush being a snowstorm around St. Patrick's Day, so I don't know what these post-Easter snowfalls are...Sheila's Carpet-beating??

None of this snow is lasting, though, as the days are all above freezing, now. Friends and family in the South are having all kinds of fun teasing us--"It's in the low 80s today, the azaleas are out," yadda yadda. 'Sokay, come August there will be days when I say, "It's in the upper 70s today, how y'all making out with 98?"

Here's a small album with some more Drones pics, plus other photos I never got around to posting from my b-day in March:

The Drones; Erik's b-day in March

And Now for Something Completely Different: a Bird-Feeder the Size of a Tree:

















(It sometimes goes on rampages around the metropolis.)

New Feline Resident

[Kate (The Best One):]

We just brought home Lily! I'm so excited. She's our new furry friend that we picked up minutes ago. She's so pretty--there's a sprinkle of black on her head but other than that she's pure white. Mom and I (Sheehan's at school, dad's at work) were able to sneak her in without Stella seeing--but you can tell Stella knows somethings going on. So here's the name stuff: At first I really didn't like Lily. I mean, come on, it's so normal for a cat! We could have chosen something funny, or my favorite name, 'Bridgette'. The family had been arguing over names for hours. I liked Lilly Pulitzer okay, but finally, after much controversy, we decided on "Liliana Poutine Moore" (Lily). For the Americans who haven't heard of poutine, it's French fries with cheese curds and gravy on top. Talk about Heart Attack Platter!! Anyway, dad lets me call her Lilly Pulitzer. I love cat accessories shopping. I found this really cute electric pink pet carrier, but a)it was for a dog, b)mom hated it, c)Sheehan really hated it, and d)if dad had been at the store at that time I knew he would have loathed it. Anyway, we got her snacks and a toy, too. Since she was spayed yesterday, I haven't been able to give her the toy yet. Alright, I'm going to go kiss her again.

Kate

[Sheehan:]

It's April 5, and Kate and I are on a snow day. Didn't think I'd ever say that! So now our Easter weekend is five days long, which is fantastic. I'm playing poker at a friend's house tomorrow, and I have a movie night to go to Sunday night.
Grandma and grandpa are leaving this morning for Boston--they fly out on Friday. We had a great time with them this weekend. We did a lot of wandering downtown, and yesterday we went to the Beaverbrook Gallery, which has some amazing art, including a couple of pieces by Dali. Was that sentence a run-on? Maybe it was just awkward. Anydangways, the pictures are on page three of the Freddy album.

À bientôt, -S

1st Sleepover in this Country!!

[Kate:]

Hello, everyone! Sorry I haven't posted in a while. You can't really say I've been busy, but...
School is going well. I'm really regretting the fact that I didn't accept the dance with Tommy, though...anyway. On Saturday I had a sleepover with my friend, Krista. She's the first person I've found that is obsessed with Nancy Drew games, and my first sleepover in this country. It was fun, and we stayed up till 3:30 or 4 (am, of course). Not that anyone keeps up with it, but I made a record by completing an entire Nancy Drew game in one day. And it was the hardest. If you go on Amazon, you'll come across these old men who play them posting comments that they're their worst guilty pleasures. Well, okay, 30 isn't old, but still. And my substitute (they call it supply) teacher for social studies plays then with his wife. So I don't feel so bad. I've found a lot more people play them here, though. And Nancy's American. But who cares? I'm American. Wait, that makes no sense...Well, I'll just stop confusing myself.

I got my first manicure last weekend in this cute apricot/salmon colo(u)r, and today I won a free lipstick at Yves Rocher. Maybe not Yves St. Laurent, but hey. It's a Yves. Fortunately, of course, my metaphysical truth has not been strictly confined to material objects (A Girl Like Moi), so let's change the subject from stuff to church. It is going well, but unfortunately there are already two guys that like me (I do NOT like them back) and a guy that I can't quite tell, both I'd give a 3.5, and the last either a 5 or 6. Uh, sorry dad, I'll change the subject. Everything else in church is nice. I like the preaching style, and the causalness is very similar to TVCF (our church in NC), in a great way, of course. But I was attached to TVCF so it's a little hard to let go. This is like, very close to that in many ways so I do like it. Well, off to watch Gil Mayo! (New investigating show my family has fallen in love with. I always make hot chocolate to pass around, it's fun)

Love,

Kate

This post gets sappy

[Erik:]

As mentioned in my last post, we had planned, on the way back from Houlton, to go to a sapping and syrup-making demonstration at Kings Landing Historical Settlement ("Sugar Bush Weekend" was the official name of the event). We got held up crossing back into Canada, and that was annoying--they told us that Kimm and the kids each needed their own visitor documentation, in addition to my work permit. Mind you, (a) this was exactly contrary to what we had been told before--we specifically asked if they needed papers when the whole family crossed for the first time (together) on January 23rd, and we were told "no," and (b) we have been across the int'l border at least three other times since then, no worries. So, this was a drag, but we got it all worked out, and got to Kings Landing a little later than we had planned.

Once at the settlement, we first sat down to a wonderful "breakfast for lunch," which they were serving all day. Bacon, sausage, eggs, toast, but the pièce de résistance, of course, was a stack of pancakes with syrup just boiled that morning. MMMMMMmmmm...

After we ate, we wandered outside to see the boiling cauldrons of syrup and a demonstration on making maple "candy-on-the-snow," as it's called. We also saw (and tasted) the raw sap from one of the tapped sugar maples--very thin and faintly sweet. As I said to Kimm, it's amazing that someone said, two centuries ago, "Heyyy, we could boil this and make a thick syrup, maybe some candy, who knows?" (Except they probably said it in French, as Quebec has the longest history of maple syrup production.)

We then wandered around the settlement and spent awhile at the mill (watching a lovely half-frozen waterfall), and then it was time for the place to close. I don't feel like making a Proper post today, fie on me, so I'll just link to my Picasa album and you can see the pictures (I'll add a little more in the captions). Voila:

20070324_KingsLanding

Straight outta Compton Houlton

[Erik:]

Some things don't easily forward in the mails from the States to Canada; other things (many magazine subscriptions) could be continued here, but at an added cost; some companies won't ship to Canada, period. For these reasons, we maintain a P.O. box in Houlton, Maine. Houlton is within spitting distance of the international border, right at the northern terminus of I-95, the great Eastern Seaboard conveyor. And it's really not that far from us--75ish miles / 125ish km, a nice hour and 15 minutes' drive along the upper St. John river valley. So, we generally head down that way about once a month to check the mail and putter about. Yesterday was such a day, with additional fun in mind--on the way home, we would stop by Kings Landing, a colonial history re-enactment site, where they were having "Sugar Bush Weekend," demonstrating the whole process of maple sapping and syrup-making. I have givene that it's own separate post. First, a little on Houlton.

Houlton is the county seat of Aroostook County, which is a simply immense, as counties go--it takes up much of northern Maine and is 6829 mi² (17,686 km²). [Virginia family: that's Shenandoah County * 13.3] Sheehan can tell you all about the Aroostook War in the 1830s, having studied it recently (I had forgotten it completely, if I ever knew it at all).

The town strikes me as the northern equivalent of southern mill towns--same semi-gritty feel, same downtown district struggling to hang on, although this one seems just slightly more vibrant than many of its cousins I've seen in the south. That's likely because there are no nearby larger towns with malls (Fredericton would be closest, and on the U.S. side, Bangor is two hours from Houlton).

So, rather than a large mall with a JC Penny's and a monsterplex cinema, Houlton has a small "JC Penny Catalog Merchant" storefront--


















--and the two-screen Temple Theatre (so named because it's in the old Masonic Building).






























And while the ambiance might be a bit depressed in the main(e), there are decidedly non-gritty aspects of Houlton. The pretty Meduxnekeag River (sounds almost like "me DUCK'S in a keg" ...!!) flows right through town, and there are quite a few lovely homes to be found.

We especially like this one:
















Note the outcropping on the right--that would've been the barn, originally (now obviously renovated as living space). Barns up this-a-way are often joined directly to the house, so you don't have to go outside into 57 feet of snow and -89° temps on a January evening. Kimm also says to note the covered plant in the lower left. This is a common practice with certain kinds of more delicate shrubbery.











We had a funny surprise when we learned the name of the public library in Houlton:

















For readers who might not know, our family previously lived in Cary, NC, a suburb of Raleigh (and we frequently walked to the Cary Public Library there). Turns out there's also a Cary, ME, about 10 minutes from Houlton. Odder still, it sits right on US-1...yes, the same US-1 that runs through Cary, NC. And there endeth any similarities, as this Cary du nord is a wee hamlet of 217 souls.

For a few more shots of Houlton, see this web album:

20070324_Houlton

Sheila's Brush

[Erik:]

I learned a new folklore tidbit from Newfoundland the other day. It was Friday, and although we had recently had temps in the 40s F (and people were buzzing about the coming spring), they were forecasting a late snowstorm. A colleague at work who had lived for over 20 years in Newfoundland told me this was "Sheila's Brush." I asked her why, and she wasn't sure--it was simply what they called a late "gotcha" kind of storm, usually in March.

So, I looked it up online. In fact, it was the perfect term to use: Shelia's Brush is a snowstorm that falls right around St. Patty's Day. In legend, Sheila was associated with St. Patrick--his wife, or his mother, or his sister, depending on your source. "Shelia's Brush" is supposed to be ol' Sheila dusting the last of the snow off her broom. (And truth be told, this didn't really turn out to be enough of a snowfall to qualify, I think--usually it means a pretty formidable storm; this one brought us only 8 or 10 cm).

The main accumulation was Friday night into Saturday morning; then we got a brief reprise Sunday afternoon. Here are Kate and Sheehan working on creative endeavors as today's snow picked up in intensity:



















Pictured with them is an anorexic snow maiden wrought by Sheehan. Kate made an...errrr...interesting thing. The back-story was something about our cat, Stella, going tubing in the snow and running into a tree. To me, it looks more like the progeny of a yeti and a guanaco.

The kids also dug out an excellent cave in a snowbank across the street. Here I am standing outside the entrance, to give you scale of the door (Sheehan is lying inside):
































And here are the diggers, in repose:



















To see more pics from today, check out this album:

18-Mar

Sorry I have not been adding many posts of late. I'm pretty under the gun as I get settled in at work--lots going on, and I won't bore you with the details, here. Then Sheehan and I both got whacked with the flu, as I've mentioned earlier in this blog--it lasted the better part of three weeks and was a doozy.

And now, on top of work, the Mother of all Distractions: it's NCAA Tourney time! If you know me at all, you know that in the evenings/weekends I'm currently parked on the couch watching the hoops drama unfold (and this year, for the first time in my house, it's in glorious high definition! [singing] Heaven, I'm in heaven...) Sure, my bracket is already burnt to a crisp (thanks a LOT, UNLV. And USC. And Tennessee. And...you get the idea.) But I love it all the same. (And the Heels are still in it, come on Carolina!)

More when I can swing it. I'll try to get Kimm posting, as well (she says she plans to). She can tell you about the rug-hooking groups she's joined, and the ceilidh ("KAY-lee") we went to on Patty's day.

[Sheehan:]

So we just got back from our March Break dealio, and I'm guessing you'd like pictures. It went like this:

It was too cold to go sledding at Mactaquac Thursday, so we started looking for B&Bs.

We decided to go into St. Andrew's without plans. Ate at an inn, stayed at a hotel. A lot of stuff closed till Summer.

Drove through St. Stephen's on Friday, stopping to tour the Ganong Chocolate Factory.

Drove into Maine at Calais (pronounced 'callous'), then down into Eastport.

Eastport was boring, so we turned around, ate at Calais, went back into Canada, and stayed the night at a B&B in St. John.

This morning, after hitting up the St. John market (tres cool), we went home.

I've realized two things about this place:
1. We'll have a lot more to do in the Summer when everything opens, and you can go outside.
2. This province is EMPTY. Everything's on the coast. Look at this map. The interior is deserted.

Dad and I are going to see 300 tonight. I've heard lot's of action, not so epic, but that's OK with me.

'Til next time.

Halifax pic

[Erik:]

Ugh, I was doing muchly much better, cold-wise, to the extent that I thought I was over it. And now I am suddenly developing a dry cough. Which is exactly the trajectory Sheehan has followed, two days ahead of me. He was mostly down and out for our brief Halifax excursion, poor guy. I'm hoping it won't wipe me out the way it has done with him, because I'm hosting a meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday for folks from all over Canada.

Anyway, the trip to H-fax was fun, albeit brief. Good to see it in a different season (we were there previously in autumn, a few years ago). Below is a merged 3-in-1 picture of the harbo(u)r from the roof of our hotel (click on it for larger image). Sheehan will post more pics from the weekend, later.

Coin(s) of the Realm(s)

[Erik:]

Howdy all, been awhile since I posted--busy busy busy at work. Now I'm sidelined with the cold/flu bug that everyone seems to be getting (and as all parents know, "middle/high school" = "viral/bacterial factory"). I'm between lapses of consciousness just now, so I reckon I'll crank out a post. And what I thought I'd write about is hard currency.

I read in the NYT a week ago that the U.S. Treasury is issuing a new dollar coin--or rather, a whole new series of them, cycling through the presidents over the next few years.



This is cool in and of itself, but I wonder if they think it will finally take hold as a replacement for the $1 bill? If that's the plan, then this would be what, "take five" or something? It's a good idea, really. A day after the NYT piece, I saw a related article in the Globe and Mail (a national Canadian paper); it had a good summary of why coins are more sensible than paper for low-currency amounts (and I've seen these same arguments from our past attempts at a dollar coin):

It costs about 20 cents (U.S.) to make a dollar coin but they last for 30 years or more. The $1 notes cost only four cents apiece but they have to be replaced every 21 months.

-- and --

"We [in the vending-machine industry] estimate that we lose at least $600-million in sales every year because of poor-quality dollar bills,"

...quoth some vending-machine industry High Up [aside: "Exec in the Vending Machine Industry" appears high on my list of "Most Incredibly Boring Ways to Make Lots of Money."].

The vending argument doesn't interest me as much as the longevity point. As the G&M article mentions, it has been estimated that switching to a dollar coin would save the ol' U.S. gummint roughly $0.5B per annum, and that's not chump change. We'll see if this one takes off. In any case, I want one of those Washington dollars (so, everyone who reads this, please send one along...) Next time we're over the border in Maine, I will have to see if I can track one down.

Up here, the lowest paper bill you'll find is $5. The $1 coin was introduced in the late '80s and soon became popularly known as a loonie, since the reverse depicts a loon. Or maybe they thought Elizabeth II (shown on the obverse) was a nutter...

Nearly a decade later, in '96, the Canadian mint issued the $2 coin, and it was only natural for it to become, colloquially, the toonie. (Loonies and toonies, *rimshot*; I think they should spell it "twoonie." Two knees?)

Speaking as a Yank, I find these "big coins" take some getting used to. I mean, when I'm walking around in the States, and I hear and feel a handful of change jingling in my pocket, odds are good Ive got something like $1.86 in there. Play the same scene up here, and I might have $12.86. You wouldn't think so just to hear me say it, but I'm telling you, it takes time to adjust--you're at a store buying something that costs $7 or $8, and you start to think, $#^@#!, I've only got some pocket change...but it's plenty. A friend of mine in Raleigh regularly drops all of his loose change into a large jar; when it's full, it goes toward "fun" purchases. If you did that here, your jarful would buy you a Nintendo Wii (now watch Sheehan scramble to find a jar).

I was going to end the post here, but Kimm asked me to add a bit about the newly minted Breast Cancer Awareness quarter in Canada; she got one today. I hadn't heard about these until now; well played, Canada.


Note: yeah, I know the coin images look ucky with their white backgrounds. No Photoshop on this ThinkPad, and I'm feeling too blah to go spritz 'em up on my other box.

[End of numismatic rambling.]
[You can wake up now.]

Halifax Tomorrow and SoBe Cabana Boys!

I have checked and they do have cabana boys in SoBe, so I look forward to staying at the Loews Miami Beach hotel and being spritzed with Evian spritzes by a beach-side pool. :) (Comment from previous post) Anyway...so I guess I'll just have to stock up on instant tan so I won't look like I've just seen a ghost. Wow, how could I not have thought about how pale I was going to be before I agreed to come here? Wait a sec, I never agreed...

I can't wait! We're going to Halifax tomorrow! That's about as close to the greatness of being in SoBe as I can get so far north here. Mom says since we're staying two nights to only pack two outfits...LOL, mom, you're so funny. Do you know who you're talking to?? JK. Anyway...our hotel doesn't have a pool! Only a hot-tub and a sauna *pouty face*. But I'll be able to bring out the flip-flops--I've only been able to do that twice with Youth Blast (talks about it on another post). That's about it...what else has been going on in my life? Well, just conquered Nancy Drew game Message in a Haunted Mansion. Oh, BTW, I found out today that I'm not the only one obsessed with playing Nancy Drew on the computer! This other girl I know has played all but one of them! I'm going to let her borrow it. Gosh, I sound like such a nerd (no offense, dad, I mean, nerds are great and all...JK!!). Well, besides that my life's been pretty same ol'. TTYL, I guess, gonna go pack!!

Love,
Kate

We're Going to Halifax!

Ugh, I'm getting tired of snow! But it was nice to get out and do a 3-mile walk. I can actually say I'm getting used to the climate. So now, when I move to SoBe (for all of you not in the know [JK] that's South Beach) I'm going to be like, dying in the heat. I really don't want to look like an out-of-towner! And I still have 5 more years to accustom to literally freezing temperatures! Maybe I'll turn my room temp to like, 500 so I won't look like I'm melting with heat there. Okay, enough about 2012.

There's not much to say, really--last Thursday was a snow day and Friday I was sick. Blah. But that day I also learned that I'm taking off next Friday (which is now this Friday) to go to Halifax, Nova Scotia. I love that place. The harbor (sorry, "harbour" *rolls eyes*) is really beautiful. Especially at night, when all of the lights are twinkling and reflecting on the water. Too bad it has to be in Canada. JK, Canadians. I always (okay, for the past two years) have said Halifax is like New York but without the crime and without the litter. Plus they have this really yummy candy store, used bookstore, and mall I love. I know, I'm not a regular there but those kinds of things from October 2004 I can remember from. Well, enough about Halifax.

Yesterday we went to Maine, which was okay but we didn't get south enough where all of the shopping is. And the beaches were all south, so I was pretty disappointed that we didn't get to go, but it was pretty. We mainly just walked down and went to the post office.

Every Saturday since two Saturdays ago I go with my new friend Lauren to this "Youth Blast" thing @ Fredericton Indoor Pool. We just swim around, and they have this fun water slide and swinging rope you can go on. And they also have this 30-person hot tub, but of course they had to keep it pretty cool, like 95 or something. That is, Fahrenheit. I'm am not getting used to Celsius and I never will. Or the metric system, blah. But if I'm going to be living in the Bahamas (or anywhere else in the world for that matter) I'd better start practicing my milliliters. EW. Well, have to go clean my room (which still isn't done from two Friday's ago). I've been doing more decorating than cleaning. I have a little table set up all nice, and my bed has lights wrapped all around it, but my floors a mess.

TTYL!
Kate

PS: No boys asked me out on V'day, I was very dismayed. My outfit wasn't that bad. Sorry I had to say that, but I want boys to be in every one of my labels.

PPS: I love it when y'all comment, so keep doing it.

PPPS: Or is it PPSS? Or PSSS? Anyway, be sure to look @ the pictures from the link below in Sheehan's post. They have pics of the drive from Maine, the sledding hill and mostly from the walk we took today.

Seems all I hear these days is, "Sheehan, get up a new blog entry!" So here we are.

Today we went on a three mile walk, around the experimental (alien) farm, and down along the road. It was pretty uneventful, but we took some pictures anyway (they're at the end of the album). I think we'll go out sledding tonight, maybe. I want to take pictures of the Garrison Square ice rink, but I keep forgetting my camera.

School's alright. Not a lot of people knew I was new because I started at the beginning of the semester, but we just got a lot of my classes switched around so now I'm kind of an exotic import. So my schedule is 1) English 111, 2) Modern History 111, 3) Advanced CAD, 4) Physics 111, and 5) Graphic Art. English and history are pretty good. CAD bores me senseless, but I got stuck with it. Can't say on physics yet, because my teacher's been out sick, and art's pretty chill.

I like the town alright. Smaller than Cary, but more city and less senseless suburbia. After school we usually go sledding or downtown. There are some good restaurants, cafes, etc. Someone asked me if I get sick of the snow, but really, you don't notice unless you're in it. Plus we're indoors so much. Sometimes I'll have a little "Hey look at the snow!" moment, but then I realize it's always there.

At this point I'm out of things to say. I like email better, because I feel like I have an audience. But if I don't write these, I don't get dinner. So that's all folks, tune in next week.

-Sheehan

Finding My Glasses, Reese Witherspoon's Work-Out

Hey everyone!! Well, our "house" is finally starting to look like a real house--the boxes are being cleared away, and stuff is tidying up. Oh, and no, I'm not one of those quote-over-users, I did that because I will never actually call anywhere other than American my "house" or "home". I know. Drama Queen.

Well...I was so enthused on Sunday to find a really cute boy playing guitar at church--I thought that maybe he was a ninth grader or so. My hopes were flying high that he was SOMEwhere in my age range, when Sheehan went on FaceBook and found him. He's a Senior in high school. I practically cried. I mean, my cute-boys-at-church-for-once hope was completely shattered.

BUT FANTASTIC NEWS!! My glasses were found! THANKS Bethany!! (And congratulations on winning the cooking competition with your "Destroying My Mother's Kitchen" cake!) And they're already being sent up here. Not the cake, I mean the glasses. Sooo...going to the gym. (Isn't it funny that me and Reese Witherspoon do the exact same workout?? 20 mins. on the bike thing and then the strength room. We must be sisters. JK!) Ciao for Now!!

Love,
Kate

A Nice Little Saturday

"Well, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday...we're going to go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I don't know...I don't know if we'll have enough time." --Frank the Tank

Yesterday, Kimm and I celebrated our 17th anniversary, and although we did not spend it in any Big Box stores, we did put together a pretty nice little Saturday. Our household goods finally arrived, Friday [cue sound of deafening applause], so the house is in complete disarray as you may well imagine. Looks like a box-and-furniture bomb went off. But we let it go, Saturday, for a day of family fun. It went a little like this:

First, we had breakfast at the W. W. Boyce Farmers' Market, downtown. This is a really impressive market for a town with a pop. of only 50K. Take a typical farmers' market (like the one we were used to in Raleigh), blend in some London-style market (thinking here of Portabello Road or Covent Garden) and then scale it down, obviously, to a smaller size. In other words, a great mix of foodstuffs and artisans' goods. In the winter, it's limited to a large indoor space in two parts, with only a few hardy food vendors outside. But later in the year, as the weather warms, more and more stalls show up in the surrounding parking lots, and the market doubles in size. We love the breakfast they serve in a little cafe right in the middle of the building, on a raised platform. The Market will probably get its own entire entry later on, so more detail to come.

After breakfast, we caught a free shuttle bus to the day's main event: Winter Fest! Or, officially, "Aliant Winterfest NB 2007!" This is a winter carnival still going on (through Sunday). The organizers created a large hill for ice slides (you really rip along on those, let me tell you), two snow labyrinths (one was at least eight feet tall, the other only four feet, for smaller kids), and a number of ice sculptures. There were pony rides for kids and horse-drawn sleigh rides for all.

There were also dog sled rides for kids 13 and under, but the line was very long. Kate and I waited in it for awhile, but then the dogs got a union break, so the staff handed out cards as placeholders. By the time the dogs were back in action, we decided to pass, but they were definitely fun to watch. (And to listen to, as well. The teams were rotated, and the furry guys stuck over on the sidelines would get very worked up about having to wait. One would take up a howl, and a dozen others would join in, "We want to ru-u-u-u-nnn, arrrooooo!")

We spent around four hours at the fest, and it was very novel to be immersed in a carnival of a wintry kind--we tried our best not to gawk at things that are commonplace to lifelong northerners. Two examples: babies being pushed/pulled in "sled prams," rather than strollers or wagons; and a woman on cross-country skis who had her husky (or malamute? I can't tell) pull her along. Who says you need a sled or a whole team?

Once we were all festivated out, we shuttled back into town, stopped by a combo coffee shop and newsstand that we like, bought some groceries at the wonderfully-named Victory Meat Market (sounds very Soviet..."Meat for Victory, Comrades!") and headed home. After a little rest, the kids amazingly decided they had not yet met their snow-play quota for the day, and they set out for a quick sledding jaunt on a road around the corner (an additional motivator here was the need to test drive a wonderful runner sled given to us in NC by members of our church). They only had a short interval before it was time for youth group, but the test drive proved a success. And I ambled along to give a demonstration on how to sled and smoke a cigar at the same time (obviously not an overly steep incline, eh?)

Oh, and the backdrop of said sledding, I should add, was the "Experimental Farm" that abuts the property we're renting. This is a government research station properly called "The Potato Research Centre." But Kimm and Sheehan quickly decided that the gov't is not fooling anyone, it's really about alien investigation. We call it Area 51-and-a-half. See for yourself--here are their nefarious hatcheries. More on the Pod People Farm in future posts.

Sheehan drove himself and sister to youth group, and Kimm and I went for dinner at the Lunar Rogue pub, then strolled around town and watched the skaters at Officers' Square (are you starting to gather that winter does not much confine people to the indoors, here?)

Here's an album, via Picasa, which includes more pictures from the day (23 pics in all):

10-Feb

Hey everyone. Don't have time for a real entry tonight. I've been keeping people whose email addresses I have as updated as possible, but I guess I'll switch over to this. Dad just wanted me to go ahead and get pictures up. Here are Trip/NYC pictures, and here are general Freddy pictures. Check back every now and then, I'll be adding to the Freddy album.
So I'm going to bed, I'll get up an update on school, plus more pictures, this weekend.
-S

Kate's NYC Adventure

I think the trip up here was better than actually being here. Ahem, just kidding, daddy. Anyway, the trip up here was fantastic. I actually barely complained and barely had to pee! A definate feat in my opinion. Anyway, so it was all great, but the best part was New York City! It really was one of my favorite experiences. After the train pretty early in the morning, we entered the station (Grand Central) which is actually like a nice shop itself. There were bakeries and everything, it was so nice.

Then I stepped into Manhatten! The building were so tall, they like, swallowed you up. We walked around a little but my mom went home to my great aunt and uncles (where we were staying) because she knew she'd get a panick attack. I went to Zara and H&M, which Melissa recommended, but only bought something from Zara--a little purple cami, for four dollars! I'm a bargain shopper everywhere, even in NYC! I also bought something at Macy's, a really cute silk-ish leopard-print shirt, for only 6 dollars--it used to be almost forty. That's about as far as my shopping spree goes, though!! But surprisingly, even for me, that was only a little part of my fascination.

We did get to go into Prada and other really nice stores, and of COURSE Tiffany's! I was walking where Audrey Hepburn walked! If the security guards hadn't looked so evil, I would have kissed the floor. :) Prada and Gucci seemed kind of empty--no one was there, and they didn't even have racks of clothes. At Prada, I actually had an adventure. Like, action-packed...sort of. Anyway. Sheehan and I wanted to go to the top floor, but were tired of walking so much (I mean, come on, we had a ten mile trek around the city) so headed to the elevator. We got in, and hit the store number. All was well until we were about a foot away from the floor. The elevator was going soooo slow, and it took almost two minutes of me hypervenalating with claustrophobia. Okay, so that's a little bit of an exaggeration...so anyway. At least the elevators were see-through. We finally got out and found a "Out of Order" sign on the elevator--the sign from our entrance had fallen off! So that's my Prada adventure.

I went into Burberry, too, and the Apple store. It was soooo much fun walking around New York though. Time Square was my favorite part, with the lights flashing everywhere--it was especially gorgeous at night. We had lunch at this cafe where celebrities would sign their pictures and have them hung up on the wall because the cafe was so famous (though I forgot what it was called) and dad talked me into splitting a pistrami sandwhich (dad's saying from the other room "the size of a small dog)--official New Yorker food--with him. And I discovered that I LOVE that borscht!! It's this pink beet soup. I had it hot. So anyway. Later at night we got a cab to NYU and looked around a little there. Then we went over to Chinatown and had dessert.

I miss New York so much!! It felt like my home, though some people were a little rude. I actually saw this woman and man get in a real fight, though. He was yelling at her, and if we hadn't crossed the street, I bet I would have seen him hit her or shove her or something. It was really scary. Well, that's about it for my NYC adventure!!

We also stopped by other places on the way up like Portland, Maine, which was really beautiful. There was this slanted concrete path where you could walk down by the ocean. Waves crashed against the rocky shore, and huge Victorian houses were positioned just a few feet away. Even though I'm definately more of a fan of sandy beaches, this was gorgeous!! My hair was flying all over, and my breath was like, taken away.

That's it for now!

Love, Kate

Kate's Life in IceLand

BY KATE

Hello all! I miss everyone so much. I hope you all are doing well where the temperature doesn't reach -30!! Yup. You read right. So if anyone is feeling sympathy, fax me hot chocolate. :) Not like I haven't had much of that lately...so anyway.

Here is my normal schedule: Get up for school at 7:15. (I know. Much better than the previous 6:15) Leave the house at 8:00. Arrive home from school at 3:30. (Okay, so not SO much better than the previous time) Then it's all free from there, because I usually don't have any homework. 4 days out of 7, I end up sledding with Sheehan. We didn't have enough room to pack our toboggan so we went to the store and bought this blue sled--it looked a little like a snowboard, but you sit on it. That didn't work, because the only great sledding hill was all packed down, and you needed powder for this. So then we go out and buy this circular one, about the size of a hoolahoop and it has much more cushion and everything. So that worked, like, so much better. But then mom and Sheehan were out and they bought two of these cheap looking sleds that can roll up--they're like a 3 foot slip of plastic--for two dollars each. Yeah, so I was like, okay whatever. But I tried them anyway and they worked the best. So yes. In case you're not the best mathmetician, we've bough four sleds in the past two weeks. Wow. Totaling a price of $25. And then at home, we have two sleds so...we have six sleds. Yes.

Anyway...so how is school for me? Good. I have six periods. Even though I don't like it here, school is a lot better than RCMS. The only thing is, I have to take French. But basically, I don't get graded. I was asked out by someone for the fourth time yesterday and declined someone for the fourth time yesterday. I mean, all of the guys were different, not the same all four times. Anyway, so there are all of these cute guys, and like, all of the ugly ones have asked me out so far. I mean, they're probably great people, but...

So. My hands are getting cramped from writing and I need to work on my Science project. And I'm sure you have all heard the news about our van being held up so no need to talk about that.

LYL,
Kate

The Big Move

A family shifts northward by 1,141 miles / 1,848 kilometers / 10 degrees 11 minutes

Hello, Friends and Family. Welcome to a new voice (well, four new voices) crying out in the blogosphere: Dispatches from the Great White North. This is intended as a family journal for Erik, Kimm, Sheehan, and Kate, as we blog about life in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Most of you will know the backstory, already, but for anyone else who wanders by, I will summarize:

In December 2006 I accepted a position as the Director of the Electronic Text Centre at the University of New Brunswick. That's in Canada, by the way, and has nothing to do with New Brunswick, NJ, thank goodness! [Aside to my father and aunts: this is not to slander the state of your birth, but rather a certain part of that state. Woodbury it ain't!] So, in early January I came to Canada ahead of the family. My attendance was required at a meeting in Calgary (perhaps more on that trip in a later entry), after which I came to lovely Fredericton on Jan. 10 to establish a beachhead for the Moore invasion. Funny thing, it had been a very mild winter by their standards, and then, about the time I got here, it became bitterly cold...and hasn't let up since (above freezing for maybe an hour, one day, since that time). Even the lifelong natives are impressed with this cold snap. (Fear not, you will be hearing all about the weather--I'm sure we'll quickly make that a main category on this blog.)

On 18 Jan, in a rented Grand Caravan, I drove down to Cary, NC in two long days. The first leg, from Fredericton to Philly, was especially long: 750 mi/1200 km; on paper it should take around 12 hours. Ah, but paper cannot account for the Malevolence that is the Garden State Parking Lot Parkway, where I camped out for a wee spell (it took over two hours to go ~40 miles). Yet another reason to impugn Noith Joisey.

I took a day off in Cary to help load up the "must have" stuff (clothes, pots and pans, I suppose the cat qualifies), to finalize last minute things, and to be Happily Not Driving for a day, and then we all set off for the GWN together on Sunday, Jan. 21. The halfway point between Cary and Fredericton is very close to some of Kimm's relatives who live 45 mins. north of NYC. They had kindly agreed to put us up for two nights, and we took a day off to explore Manhattan. Unfortunately, Kimm was not feeling so well that day, so she opted out. But the kids and I had a fantastic time wandering around midtown, then Central Park, more midtown, and finally way down in Chinatown. I may write more about it, but I bet the kids would like to post about it, too.

We arrived in Fredericton late on Tuesday night (Jan. 23), and although that's only 15 days ago, it feels like seven weeks. I'll wrap up this post for now, but plenty more will be forthcoming as we settle in.

Oh, and folks, let me just tell you: bringing along a mentally stunted, highly strung kitty in a minivan on a 1,141 mile trip is "a whole nuther tale" altogether...

[P.S. The Moore fam would like to give enormous thanks to our friends and family in NY, PA, and NoVA who housed and nourished us on our trek. BobKimmyGregBetinaRodPris, you're wonderful!]