Ogri Becomes A Big Boy

While on Prince Edward Island, our little Og had his first birthday. Pictured here is our handsome boy after a birthday swim. We can't believe that we have had him this long and he is still living and thriving! We are stunned that we are coping under the huge responsibility of being dog parents and can't even begin to comprehend what it must be like for all of you out there who are real parents!

Prince Edward Island

A chance meeting in Wolfville, NS with a couple from PEI (Tim & Carrie) led to a wonderful evening spent in their company at their summer home at Grand Tracadie Beach, PEI.

A big open beach, warm sea water, and a swimming dog equals hours of beach fun. Ogri must have been very impressive in Wolfville because Tim had already put his name down for a Spinone Italiano at an Ontario breeder. They gave Ogri the run of their stunning home and Tim was excited to take him out for 'walkies'.

PEI is small, spotlessly clean and is a haven for cyclists with its 280 km railbed Confederation trail which crosses the province. Charlie hopes to return there one day to cycle the trail - Tina needs to start getting in shape now!

LUNENBURG

As some of you may already know, we fell in love with Lunenburg. It is a small town, an hour south of Halifax. It is such a beautiful little town that is so well preserved in its coastal history that it has been granted UNESCO World Heritage status.

We went there first with Arno but couldn't resist going back after he left. While there, we almost bought a 120 year old house in the old town but given the maintenance usually associated with such old structures,we decided againgst the purchase . Instead, we invested in both sides of a yet to be built semi-detached home in a new subdivision of town. It should be ready by Mar '08 and it will be about six years before we will be moving out that way. But already, we are excited about our future plans of becoming Maritimers.

Tall Ships 2007

Civilian and military sailing ships came to Halifax in July 2007. The weather was fabulous, 200-250 000 people a day on the Halifax harbour front and few assholes!

We were lucky enough that this was our second time seeing the Tall Ships. We saw them two years ago on the west coast, again with Arno.

Almost all ships were immaculately turned out, however, the Indian navy should have hidden their copious bags of onions ( they were stacked on top of the bridge!).

We visited the Maritime Museum, which was excellent. It was full of memorabilia including bits of the Titanic and information on the 1917 Halifax Explosion.

Charlie and Arno, went around the military museum at the citadel but wished that they could have had more time, while Tina fit in some shopping.

It being Arno's last night and being Og-free (Ogri was at the Pampered Paws Bed and Breakfast for a couple of days- lucky bugger), we partied it up at the Lower Deck Tavern, a infamous Halifax establishment and must for all visitors. We were well impressed with the inclusivity of East Coast pub entertainment, with a wild international crowd with ages from 18 to 80, all enjoying themselves.

Sad to see Arno go, but dropped the old bugger off at the airport the next day. There was a screw up with the planes and we think his take off was delayed by about 12 hours...but he did finally arrive home...to return another day. This won't be his last trip to Canada.

Success

Arno, by this stage, is calling the bar staff "NURSE!" in a loud voice and is getting quite merry.

Tacky Tourists - Nova Scotian Style

You can't go south of Halifax without going to Peggy's Cove, can you? We diligently trundled to the picturesque Peggy's Cove and mingled with the other tacky tourists to take the obligatory lighthouse photos.

Glover Crosses the Atlantic Once Again

Charlie's best buddy from the Old Country, Arno Glover, came to Halifax for his fifth visit to Canada but his first to the East Coast to join our adventures for two weeks of tomfoolery and boyishness. The carefully cultivated pack of three (from Ogri's perspective) was disrupted and now became a pack of four. Ogri's relegation to fourth place resulted in the famous tent pissing incident and Ogri's occupation of the camper from which he refused to leave ( this after Arno took Ogri for early morning walkies due to jet lag).

There will be more of our exploits with Arno in further updates.

Cape Breton Ceilidh

We camped at the Municipal site in the township of present day Louisbourg, across the campsite was the Louisbourg Playhouse. Luckily, a ceilidh was available the night we were there. A ceilidh is a gaelic word meaning a gathering for entertainment. And by God, we were entertained! What a show, it was called Lyrics and Laughter and was put on by a group of very talented young performers playing traditional Cape Breton music and light-hearted skits in between the musical interludes. Fiddles, stepdancing, bodhrains, mandolins, all this and tea and oatcakes to boot!

Does Atlantic Canada CBC have new presenters?

We made a pilgrimage to CBC St John's while in Newfoundland. We went there with the intentions of blagging a CBC sticker from the impoverished mother corporation. Instead, we spent an hour and a half with their enthusiastic PR person who gave us a fabulous guided tour which took us through both radio and television operations with copious introductions to staff including CBC TV news anchors. We are pictured here on the news set. Had we got to CBC half an hour earlier, we could have had breakfast with the president, John Rabinovich who was there to tour the refurbished facility.

The weather got better as our day to leave the Rock approached. We saw St John's in the sun, had some good hiking and actually saw more than 200 feet from Cabot Tower on Signal Hill. Armed with our CBC pens and flashlights, we headed to Argentia in daylight for the 14 hour trip back to mainland Canada.

Maritime Marine, where little works in the terminals, had a lonely TV in an upstairs lounge with one channel. To our glee, Tina discovered said TV five minutes before Coronation Street so we were able to get our first Corrie fix in three weeks. Needless to say, and unfortunately, we were the only ones there enthralled by the programming.