Catch up again...

Yes, I'm doing catch up again. Never ending! But, this time I am a week behind due to a trip home. Of course I'm super thankful that I was able to go home as it was for my Grandfather's funeral. I went home on Sat/Nov 6 and came back on Fri/Nov 12 so I had lots of time to spend with family. It was wonderful. My father comes from a family of 14 kids, 55 grandkids, and 64 great grandkids. So, there was a lot of catching up to be done!! 46 of the grandkids made it home so I really enjoyed the time with all my cousins. And since I went home by myself (Darryl did an amazing job all by himself for a week!!!), I was really able to truly catch up with lots of my family. No chasing around the kiddies!

We did manage to get some family pics....

Dad and 11 of his siblings.
(He's the handsome lad in the middle. Yellow shirt.)

Not to go into anything too sad...but I thought it was very nice. Because my grandfather was a veteran from World War 2, the military was part of the funeral. My father, being the oldest boy, was given the folded Canadian flag in honor of my grandfather. It was really nice. Something my father can keep in memory of his father.

Some of the grandkids and great grandkids...

Can you find me?

We did manage to have a wonderful kitchen party before we all left Nova Scotia. My uncle, Archie and his wife, Margie, hosted the party. My Grandfather loved to play cards so Archie and Margie had 3 tables set up in the kitchen for card playing. Came close, but I never won a game!! And the living room was where all the guitar playing and singing went on. A very late night but it was awesome!! Lots of laughs.
A great last farewell to Grandpa.

The day I left to go home was Shamus' first karate test. I'm glad I was able to make it. He has to have a "tip test" before he can go for each belt. His first belt is the blue belt so this test was the "blue tip" for his blue belt. It's basically like a quiz before the exam. Tells you what you need to work on before going for the actual belt. Shamus did really well and Darryl and I were very proud.

Shamus did get his Blue Tip.
A nice pic of Shamus, his sensei, Denis, and buddy, Matteo.

The weekend before I went home was Halloween. We went to Ottawa and celebrated with Duane and his gang. We took in a Halloween party and I really enjoyed all the costumes. I guess I kind of forgot how big Halloween is here since you don't see much of it in Australia. It was really fun!

Purdy and I.
The plug and socket. :) You get the idea, right?

You'll notice that there will be a lot of firemen/women at the party. And burnt people, water costumes, people dressed as curtains...etc... The people hosting the party, Lou and Paula, hosted the party last year but ended up fighting a fire at the end of the night. One of the candles caught fire on their curtains. Not the best end to the night but I guess it didn't discourage them as they threw the party again this year!!

Duane and Cathy.

Yes, that is Duane's fire hose.
Pull the axe and out pops the fire hose. He enjoyed entertaining people with that little trick most of the night.

This is Paula's china cabinet.
Normally full of china but for Halloween she goes crazy with decorating. I only took a couple of pictures but she had Halloween stuff EVERYWHERE in the house. Very impressive. Same as my sister, Cheryl's house.

I really liked the mummy hanging from the curtain rod.

The host, Cowboy Lou.

Hostess, Paula with Cathy.

My favorite costume of the night.
"The Exorcist."
Amazing, right? Love the eyes.

As the night went on, it got more and more interesting!

We had a great time. And now I'm getting excited for Christmas! Even Darryl is and normally there is no Christmas music allowed until December 1. But, we're both excited about a white Christmas. It better be!

Thanks to everyone for the wonderful comments and emails from my last post. Very thoughtful and sweet.
K, I think I'm caught up again.

It was a sad day today

It just was sad. My Grandfather passed away this morning and it is truly the end of an era. He was 91 years old. I understand that he wasn't 20 years old. He was old. But, for some reason, I thought he would live to be 120. The only nice part about it is that he wasn't sick for very long.

My Grandpa MacNeil was a World War 2 veteran and he told the best stories. Not usually about the war because they were horrible memories for him. But, sometimes, he would tell us about when he was young, or courting our grandmother (it only cost $0.25 to get into a dance back then but it was a lot because he had to pay for both of them). He would tell us about our home town and all the shops/general stores that used to be there. And about his training camp before war. And on the rare occasion he would tell us a war story. He was one of those people that when he spoke, you hung on each word. (My brother also has that gift.) I remember being in high school and the guys in my class would go visit my grandfather because he was so interesting to listen to. Even this summer when I was home, one of my old high school friends was "taking off" my grandfather and talking about how unique he was. It took Grampa forever to tell a story because he talked slow and would get side tracked with a different story!! But, that was all part of being Grampa. I think everyone in the family can "take off" how he talks! He was kind of like Sophia in the "Golden Girls" Remember how she would always say, "...Picture it. Sicily. 1943...."

That's similiar to Grampa. Except for Grampa it was, "Wellllll, you knowww (pause). Back thennn we had to do it this wayyy. (pause.) But, you knowwww, (pause) it worked better that wayyyy." Followed by a cough and then a little spit of tobacco. He was unique!!

Grampa was toughest on his own family as he was a heavy drinker and this caused them to go without many things. But, as he got older, I think he tried to be extra kind to the grandkids. He was never cross with us and always enjoyed playing crib with us. Even when we were painfully slow!! He called slow card players, "Pop bottles."

He lived with us one winter. I was about 12. Dad's family was trying to get him off the booze and I guess this was the best way to keep an eye on him. It was pretty funny because he shared a room with my brother and he used to keep Duane awake at night because he was playing crib in his sleep! He loved crib.

But, he never stopped drinking (they gave him 2 shots of rum each day at the hospital!!) and he never stopped smoking. He rolled his own cigarettes which meant there was no filter. He was a tough man. Worked in the woods until he was in his 70's. Just very healthy and strong. We figured that if he ever did stop drinking and smoking he wouldn't last a month! But, it did eventually catch up with him and his is gone today.

I am very lucky to have had him in my life for so long.

He's stories will be greatly missed. He's smile will be greatly missed. And I'll always remember his perfect army style brush cut that he forever had. (full head of hair to the end!) I always loved rubbing the top of his head. His hair was so soft.

Please think of him on Remembrance Day as we now have one less veteran.

You will be greatly missed. I will forever treasure your memories in my heart.

The joys of Autumn

Ahh, we now have Breagha learning the ways of the camera!! She doesn't quite have it all figured out yet but she is enjoying it!


And we have definitely enjoyed our first autumn in a couple of years. There have been some chilly days but that is all part of living in Canada. And we did chose to come back so we can't complain!

A big reason why we decided to come back to Montreal was because we have family in Ottawa. We have been making a few trips to visit Darryl's sister and my brother. Thanks for always putting up with us guys!

...the kiddies enjoying some scooter time with cousin Calli...

Last month we went to Ottawa and I joined my sister-in-law, Cathy, and niece, Hanna Rose, in the "Run for the Cure". It was Hanna Rose that wanted to do it and hats off to her. She was 9 years old at the time (turned 10 last week!!) and I think it's wonderful that she wanted to do a race that supports such a great cause. And she did a terrific job!
Our Prime Minister's wife, Laureen Harper, was the spokesperson and there were also a cancer survivor who spoke. It was a really nice morning and a nice run along the Ottawa River.

...just getting ready at the Start line...
I was very proud to watch Hanna Rose run the race and I was so glad that I could be part of it.

Duane and Cathy have a trampoline at their place. And it isn't just fun for the kids! Darryl and I also enjoy it!

Another perk to being close to family is that we get to spend the holidays together!!
We went to Darryl's sisters for Thanksgiving and it was wonderful. Catching up with the family, lots of yummy food, and some tasty wine!

It's hard to believe that cousin Rory will be 3 soon! He was only a couple of weeks old when we left!! He's a cutie!

Again, it isn't just for the kids!! Darryl enjoyed jumping in the leaves too!

And poor cousin Justine is under the leaves somewhere. Shamus and Breagha enjoyed chasing everyone with the leaves but especially Justine!!

We've made a few trips to Ottawa since we settled in Montreal and last weekend was no exception. We headed out after Shamus' karate class and enjoyed Halloween at Duane's place. We had a super time dressing up but were very surprised to see the snow! And quite a bit of snow. Shamus and Breagha were super pumped and the cousins all enjoyed the first snowfall. The parents did not share the same excitement. It's too early! It won't last and it was nice to see Shamus and Breagha in "awww" as the snow fell from the sky.

Halloween pics are coming up!