Dolly Parton

Hello there. Another beautiful day here today. I think it may be a little cooler but the sky is blue and the sun is shining.

So we went to see Dolly at the Metro Center last night. She is quite the performer. She sang straight for an hour and a half once she started at 9:00 p.m. Her opening act was a band from New Brunswick , not that great really.

I guess what stands out about Dolly is her size. She is very tiny and looks exactly like a Barbie doll. She has big breasts, a very tiny waist and super skinny legs. If she removed her five inch heels I would guess that she would stand five feet or a little under at the most. Her voice is as good as always. She sang a lot of her old hits from the 70's and 80's along with some sixties remakes that she has done on her new album coming out in October.

Ralph and I went to San's apartment and picked her up for supper. We walked along the waterfront after supper and before the concert and took these two pictures. The lobsters are placed all over the waterfront and other places around Halifax this summer. This one is a bagpipes playing one. Each one is different.

Saturday Thoughts

Saturday morning and a beautiful day it is going to be. 27 degrees with that nice little ocean breeze that we get here in Nova Scotia. Ralph and I are getting geared up to go see Dolly. If Ralph is asked where our seats are he says that we are so close he will be able to see her two b....I mean, eyes very clearly. Funny, funny.

I must say that I am a woman of broad tastes. Two months ago I was at Dalhousie with San listening to a feminist, Marilyn Waring, speak about the way that the world chooses to decide what accounts for productive work in the global economy- almost all of the work done by women such as maintaining the home, child care and gathering food is excluded- and now I am going to see a woman who personifies how most men would like to see their women. I think however that Dolly has taken these particular assets and used them to her great advantage. If you've got it, flaunt it and make some money at the same time.

I will update you on the show tomorrow. We are going to go downtown early and pick up San then have supper at TGIFridays and do a little slot machine gambling before the concert.

I hear that more and more people are reading this blog. I hope you find something of interest on it. I heard briefly on the t.v. this morning about a man in the States who has left his well-paying job and started a web site called "just be nice.com". Here is the address www.justbenice.com. You can go there and see for yourself whether he is just using this to make more money or if he is truly trying to change himself and maybe make the world a little better place to be.

Stay tuned tomorrow for an update on Dolly and remember, "Never make the same mistake twice or you'll never get around to all of them".

Forest Gump at work

Check out the hunk on the ride -on lawn mower. Doesn't he look like Tom Hanks as Forest Gump? He drives the thing like a toy. I think he is just a big kid. In fact, I know he is just a big kid.

It is a beautiful evening here today. San, Jake and I were sitting on the front step watching Ralph mow. They are giving another nice day for tomorrow. So far August has been a lovely month.

Look out Martha Stewart

I have been wanting to cover my old coffee table in the Family Room for a while so with San's help here it is. Didn't she do a great job? Here is the before and after.

Going to move San over to her new apartment today. I'm sure that Ralph and I will suffer from empty nest syndrome for a few days again. Oh well, we always have Jake.

Belated Birthday Post

For those who are faithful and consistent readers of my blog (all two of you), I apologize for the delay in updates. Either I have been too busy too post or my life is so boring that there is absolutely nothing to write about. Actually I guess it is a little of both.

See the pretty flowers. They were delivered to me at work on Tuesday from my hubby for my birthday. They are very nice. I prefer the mixture to just roses. Don't you?

Heard some exciting news this week. Shelburne may be in the running for a ferry to Boston. Wouldn't that be great. Imagine I could drive for two hours and be in Boston. Two hours to Shelburne and then sitting on the ferry for the rest of the trip. I hope that it actually happens and that it is not too expensive. With the price of gas here in Halifax at $1.12 a litre it will be nice not to have to drive the car for any distance.

Am going to start doing a new craft. Making my own greeting cards. Went to Color your World today and they gave me 18 wallpaper sample books that I will use for the cardmaking.

Finished my English course this week. Four more courses and I will be able to graduate University this May. Better late than never wouldn't you say.

T.G.I.F.

A beautiful sunny Friday afternoon after work, what more could a person ask for. Well I know one thing that we could ask for. Lower gas prices! They are now at $1.09 per litre for self-serve here in Halifax. Soon we will have to start walking to work. I took these two pictures on Wednesday. One is of my new office at Bayers Lake. My desk is on the right. The other is what I see when I turn the corner to pick Jake up from his daycare. That is Jake on the far left with the blond lady.

Quote for the day:
"Never exaggerate your faults. Your friends will attend to that."

Taking Jake for a swim

Well, we are sure having some beautiful weather here in the Halifax area. It is however starting to get muggy tonight but I will not complain about mugginess as it could peeve off my readers from Ontario.

Took Jake to the lake last night. It is just a street away from our house. Ralph went in with him and I took the digital. It is a really nice lake. Tricia loved swimming in it when she was home last week. That's it for tonight.

Back to Work

First day back at work after two weeks vacation. Boy, did the day go by slowly. Peter Jennings died today from lung cancer. He was only 67. I remember when that age would have seemed old to me but as it each year goes by it seems to be younger and younger.

Ralph and I are looking for a cottage to buy in Nova Scotia, on a lake and with a bathroom. If anyone knows of anyone selling in their neck of the woods would you let us know. We would prefer that it be no more than 3 hours from Halifax.

That's it for now. Will log again soon. Oh, by the way I have finished the latest Harry Potter. For some reason I found it easier to read and by that I seemed to remember the different character's names better and who they were. Good book. If you haven't read Harry I would recommend them.

Oh, no vacation is over

Got back from two days down in Baccaro. The drive back in Ralph's truck was a little lighter than going down as we took down a piano to Velvet and a T.V. to my Mom. Jake was glad to be rescued from the kennel once we got back as he has been there for two days. We were glad to hear from San who is writing her NPLEX s(Naturpathic Licensing Exams) in Toronto. She thinks that they went okay and that the two months of study paid off. She will be back on the 10th. Chris, my nephew will be coming to Halifax on Thursday, the 11th to have his physical and do the express test which is the next step in joining the Forces.

I go back to work on Monday. I cannot believe that two weeks have gone so fast. How come they do not go as fast when you are at work?

Another day in the life of the Murphys

So, today is the day that we have been anxiously awaiting. San left for Toronto yesterday to spend the week writing her licensing exams in Naturpathic Medicine. As most of you know she has been home here studying for two months in preparation for this. She just called me to say that the first day went great, and once the three tomorrow are over she will feel that she is out of the woods. By the way, she landed at Pearson yesterday morning at 8:00 a.m., way before the crash of the Air France jet.

Ralph and I are heading out to my home tomorrow for a couple of days. Will update when I get back.

The Ovens Park

Ralph and I drove to the Ovens provincial park today. All these years we've lived here in Nova Scotia and we had never been there. The park is located just beyond Lunenburg. It is very pretty along there. There is a path in the park that you walk along the cliffs and can look over at several lookoff points and see the caves (ovens) that are situated there. We took some pictures but I will have to scan them before I can put them on here as they were taken with our "ordinary" camera not the digital.

One interesting side note. They are filming a movie here in Halifax with Tom Selleck and they were setting up a scene at the Ovens today that will be shot tomorrow. It will be a car going over a cliff. I was speaking with one of the producers and he said that they have to have the car stripped (of any pollutants) and after the shoot they are responible for removing it from the ocean. Well, that is it for my update for today.

One more thing, I was working on an assignment for my English class and one stumped me. Tricia got it for me. The assignment was called "Christmas Carol jargon" and here is an example. What is "Listen, the foretelling spirits harmonize." It is Hark, the Herald Angels Sing. Here is the one I could not get. Email me if you know this one "The thing manifested itself a the onset of a transparent intense darkness" and how about this "Valentino, the roseate proboscis wapiti".

Later,