What 40 looks like

So here's Sister Sarah, the birthday girl, at the end of a busy fun day with Shadow giving her some loving!

Walls of rum

You know how much Gord and I like dark rum?

I find the liquor stores in Halifax have an amazing selection.

So after supper, we stopped in to pick up some that we can't find in Toronto.

There were three (yes, three!!) walls of rum!

Birthday supper

To celebrate Sister Sarah's birthday, we had supper at The Dragon Buffet King Restaurant.

Sarah and Joey

Winter surfin'

They were surfing in Lawrencetown Beach as we drove by!

Keep in mind that there is lots of snow on the ground and the temperatures are below freezing. Brrrrr!

It reminded me of Driving Minnie's Piano: Memoirs of the Surfing Life in Nova Scotia by Lesley Choyce which I read last year. He lives down that way and surfs. Maybe it was him!

Fisherman's Reserve

Heading back to Halifax, Sister Sarah and I stopped in at Fishermen's Reserve in Seaforth. There are fishing huts there ... deserted now but active in the summer.

There are homeless kitties living there. We brought a bag of cat food to feed them (people are encouraged to).

There were just a couple kitties hanging around when we arrived ... but that soon changed once the kitties realized that we had lots of kibble for them.

If you are ever in the area, please stop in and feed the kitties.

West Jeddore

Sister Sarah and I took a drive to West Jeddore (about an hour away) after lunch. We lived there about 35 years ago.

It's a rural area and there was a beach across the road in front of the property.

Sarah (the house we lived in is behind her on the hill)

Sarah

Teena

Sarah

Teena

Sarah

Teena

It was a lot colder on this beach than the one we were on a couple weeks ago!

Lunch

Sister Sarah and I started our day with lunch at Rogue's Roost (downtown Halifax). Good wings, disinterested service.

Then we took a drive to the Waterfront and bought a couple teeshirts.

Teena

Sarah

Furry company

I woke up this morning and I wasn't alone.

Sunny was at the end of my bed. What a handsome boy!

Happy birthday, Sister Sarah

Sister Sarah is 40 today!

Go on over and wish her a happy birthday!

Celtic Corner, Dartmouth, NS

For supper, we went a pub across from the theatre that Joey likes called the Celtic Corner.

There was a fiddler and a pianist playing Celtic tunes.

And while we were there in walked Donna and Torin!

It was fun to spend the next couple of hours catching up with Donna as I haven't seen her in about ten years.

Joey, Donna, Sarah and Torin

Donna and Toren are going to spend the summer in Stratford. Gord and I usually go see a couple of plays during the Stratford Festival so I hope to catch up with them there!

"Stan Rogers: A Matter of Heart", Dartmouth, NS

Sister Sarah, Joey and I saw Stan Rogers: A Matter of Heart this afternoon at Alderney Landing in Dartmouth.

A Matter of Heart is a theatrical celebration of the songs and stories of Canadian Music Legend Stan Rogers. Featuring over 35 of his best loved songs, A Matter of Heart is sure to please young and old diehard fans and a new generation.

It was a lovely collection and stories of Stan Rogers.

While reading the playbill, I noticed that the Stage Manager was Donna MacMillan ... my ex sister-in-law! So during the intermission, I asked to see her. Sister Sarah and I spent a few minutes with her and her fiance, Torin (the Production Manager).

Teena, Donna and Torin

After the show, we posed next to Elizabeth the Mermaid.

Sarah and Joey

Sarah and Teena

Sister Sarah's Birthday Party

Sister Sarah was throwing herself a 40th birthday party tonight (her birthday is Monday) at a bar called the Red Fox. She celebrated my 40th birthday with me so I thought I should do the same!

But I didn't tell her I was coming! Hee hee hee!

I flew down to Halifax (a two hour flight) and arrived about noon. Her party started at 6:00. So I had a lot of time to kill. I had lunch. I saw Be Kind Rewind (it sucked!).

When I showed up about 6:20, there were quite a few people already there, even though it was storming.

Sarah having her first of four shooters. Go, Sis, go!

She had a very yummy cake!

Sarah and her husband, Joey

Joey and Sarah

Teena and Sarah

There was a good band called Da Rock from Newfoundland

Jerry and Annette (who came up from Sydney) and Jennifer

Linda and David

Joey and Sarah

Karen, Sarah and Joey dancing

The birthday girl is getting silly!

Sarah and Joey dancing

Sarah and her friend, Karen

Joey and Sarah at home

Book ~ "Murder 101" - Maggie Barbieri (2007)

From Amazon.com ~ Alison Bergeron, newly divorced English professor at St. Thomas College, is having a difficult time. Someone stole her car, so she has to walk to the train station for the commute to work. Once there, she finds two homicide detectives waiting in her office to ask why the body of one of her students is in the trunk of her car. Trying to remove herself from the list of suspects is not easy. She also has to deal with the distraught family of the dead student, bail her ex-husband out of jail, and grade final exams for her Shakespeare class. For some reason, those boring exams are the object of a great deal of attention. As if that weren't enough, one of the homicide detectives, Bobby Crawford, is taking a romantic interest in Alison, and the pompous college president may decide that her involvement in the case is bad for the school's reputation. This is an entertaining debut and a series to follow for fans of gentle academic mysteries.

This wasn't a bad book but it certainly wasn't a great book.

I found Alison extremely wimpy at times ... she faints and barfs non-stop. Yet off she goes putting herself in danger at others. The extremes are too much. And her ex-husband, Ray, is a dog yet she still helps him when he gets arrested and she has the patience, after all he had done to her in the marriage (which she continuously whines about), to be nice and polite to him. And her best friend, Max, is just annoying!

And the ending (solving the murder) was pretty blah.

I would read another in this series but I wouldn't go looking for it.