HI MOM!!!

So I am home dogsitting...Jake and I are having a great time, he is currently keeping my feet warm here in the basement! Truthfully, it is nice to take a break from the craziness of downtown and from this week. My practice opens Monday and there is so much to do I am happy to step away from it for a day. Mom wanted some pictures of the house since the only ones she has are from the wintertime or before we had grass! Jake and I liked how the sun was coming through the trees after we got back from our walk so grabbed the digital camera and there we are.

Also note that I switched some of Mom's settings for her little diary and anyone (not just people with a blog) can comment now, a much better way to hear from our family all over Canada.

My love to everyone, especially Ethel, I am sending good energy to Ontario!

XOXO Sandra

Sunday Thoughts

It was a truly gorgeous September day today. Blue skies, sun and everything looked so colorful. I went out on the back deck to take a picture because with the sun shining through the trees it all looked so pretty.

Ralph mowed today, he says for the last time and then later on he put lime on the lawn as it is supposed to rain tomorrow to work it down into the grass.

Jake is lying on the floor here beside me, he has been right beside either me or Ralph all day. I haven't been feeling so well today, I think that it is a cold coming on. Should be okay to go to work tomorrow.

"Autumn, the year's last, loveliest smile." ~ William Bryant

Gorgeous Fall Day

You know, September and October are truly great times of the year here in good old Nova Scotia. It is warm in the daytime and cool at night for sleeping. The sun shines, the grass is green and the leaves start to turn all of those beautiful colours. What more could a person ask for?

Another week, another hurricane in the news. Isn't it time for this hurricane season to soon give up the ghost? Enough is enough.

Panic here on Tuesday when rumour had it that gas was going up to $1.78 a litre. Everyone was rushing out to fill up their tanks and it turned out to be just that, a rumour only. In the afternoon I called Carol at the station in Truro and asked her if the prices were really rising and she said that they had heard nothing from Ultramar about raising prices so I told everyone at work that it was probably not true and it wasn't. Ralph and I are still quite concerned about the cost of oil and realize that it is going to be a lot more expensive to stay warm this winter especially if we have as long as and as cold as a winter as we did last year. Oh well, we will just have to take what comes.

I will end this blog today by saying that my thoughts and best wishes go to Ethel in the hospital and I am sure she knows that we are all thinking of her and wishing only the best for her.

Dr. Murphy

Great News! Sandra got her results back today from the NPLEX (Naturopathic Medicine Board Exams) and she PASSED! Now she can legally practice anywhere in Canada. Good thing she passed don't you think since she has her office practically ready to go. Ralph and I are very proud of her and now she is well and truly on her way to her new career - and hopefully can start bringing some money in, haha.

Check out Tricia's blog to see how she and Joe enjoyed their trip to Montreal and Ottawa for the Pearl Jam concerts.

It has been super busy at work for the last two weeks but in my old age I have finally figured something out. I don't have to finish everything in one day. I do not have to return every phone call and email the same day that I get it either. There are only so many hours in a day.

Did anyone see the new t.v. show last night called "My name is Earl". Check it out sometime, it had Sandra, Ralph and I in stitches.

I'll leave you with this thought, "Since light travels faster than sound, people appear brighter before you hear them speak".

Batten Down the Hatches for Ophelia

So, it seems like everyone here in Halifax this weekend is getting ready for Ophelia, the tropical storm to hit. After hurricane Juan hit almost two years ago (September 30th, 2003) I think we are all a little shell-shocked. Ralph and I stopped for groceries on the way home from work yesterday and the Tantallon Sobey's was crazy. The checkout lady said that it had been that way all day. The worst of the rain and wind is expected to hit the South Shore. I will call Mom later to see if she has everything nailed down.

Check out Tricia's blog tomorrow as she will probably update it then on her trip this week. She and Joe went to Montreal on Thursday and Ottawa on Friday to attend the Pearl Jam concerts.

Joe's brother Tony who is training for the R.C.M.P. has got his first posting and it is Cochrane, Alberta which I am told is not far from Calgary.

I am on my way out the door to the Dartmouth campus of our College to go and proctor an exam for one of our Machinist apprentices. Here is another picture of Jake and his new friend Glen.

Jake's visitors

Before we get to Jake and his visitors I just have to say that it is days like yesterday and today that make me wonder why I have not retired already. September at a school is crazy!!! Everybody wants everything yesterday. I was in at work at 6:30 a.m. and worked two hours overtime. One and a half hours overtime yesterday. Oh well, this is always the worst week. It will calm down next week.

Now to get to Jake and his visitors. An old high school friend of San's came over to the house today with her two dogs, Glen, a Golden and Snooze a yellow Lab. They were here all afternoon and San said that they had a ball together. Here is a picture of them all. Glen is as big as Jake, even a little bigger I think.

Jake is now upstairs, stretched out on the cold ceramic tiles in the kitchen. I think that he is pooped out.

Sunday Ramblings

Not a lot has been going on here on the East Coast in the last few days so don't have much to say. Ralph left for Ottawa today and San is out staying with me and Jake. With me taking classes after work someone needs to be here to let Jake out as I leave the house at 6:45 a.m. and I don't get home until after class at 7:30 p.m. Too long for even a big dog like Jake to be left inside.

Ralph and I stopped in to see the QE2 Dream Home just up the street. For $100.00 you can buy a ticket and win it or another house or cars etc. Check it out at QE2homelottery.com. I didn't particularly care for the house and I'm not just saying that because I would have no chance of winning it. I did not like the layout at all. The dining room was at the front of the house, you would have had to go through the hallway to get to it from the kitchen or through the living room. The table for the kitchen was also not in the kitchen proper but away from it in another area. Anyways check it out and you will see what I mean. The one we saw was the one on Equine Lane.

Talked to Flo and George on Friday night. Apparently it was only 9 degrees there on Friday. I guess fall has come. I cannot believe that summer is already over. Anyways tata for now, and remember
"Time is not measured by the breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away".

First Day of School

I always think of September as the New Year. Everything starts its' new cycle at this time of year. Don't you agree? The kids start school, people are back at work after summer vacation, the exercise and craft classes start again, the cycle starts up.

Here is a picture of Logan and Hunter starting back to school (for those in the family who have trouble remembering the generations, these are Adam and Mary Ann's children, Marg's grandchildren). I also started school this week. I am a bit older than Logan and Hunter but nevertheless it was my first day and I was a bit nervous . I will graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in May if I complete two courses this Fall and two after Christmas successfully. I think that I will hold the distinction of being the oldest person in the family to achieve an undergraduate degree but please feel free to let me know if this is not true.

Take care everyone and it is so great to know that so many of the family are reading this blog. If there is anything that you would like me to post let me know by email and I will post it here. Tricia has a blog also and Joe (her husband) too. Here are their links.
Tricia's address is : http://home.cogeco.ca/~patty-faye. Her husband Joe's blog is :
http://www.astro.gueensu.ca/~macmilla/.

I must warn you. Tricia does not update her blog as often as her mother and Joe does not update his for a long time. In other words check mine if you want to find out what is going on.

Ta ta for now,

Me

Labour Day, 2005

The last long weekend of the summer. Where did the summer go? Here in Nova Scotia we did not start to have summer until July so really we have only had two months. So far the weather in September has been spectacular so maybe it will last until November. Wouldn't that be nice. Maybe our summer is changing to be the months of July, August, September and October.

Martha Jean Murphy celebrated her 89th birthday yesterday in South Branch with family and friends in attendance at her house for a potluck. There was lots of good food and good people. There was a lot of laughter coming from the sunporch and I think that a lot of it was started by Marlene Peterson. I don't know what her and Carol were up to but it sure kept Jean and everyone else in stitches. Here is a picture of everyone in attendance. As you can see there was a good turnout. Next year on her 90th there will be even more people.

Peggy's Cove September 3, 2005

Sandra, Velvet, Donna and I took a little trip to Peggy's Cove yesterday. It was a beautiful day out there and perfect for taking pictures. It was not too hot or too cold and the tourists were not bad. Velvet had never been there before so she really liked it. San took all of the pictures so here are a couple.

We also went to the Swiss Air monument which is just down the road from the turnoff to Peggy's. There were some flowers on the monument as Friday was the seventh anniversary of the crash.

Friday night, September 2nd

Sorry to anyone who checks this blog regularly as I haven't updated for awhile. It has been a difficult week. I certainly have nothing to complain about though compared to the people in the Gulf states of the U.S. The high price of gasoline- $1.38 a litre here in Halfax today- and the fact that it has been really busy at work is nothing compared to what some of them have been facing.

I find that it all gets me down sometimes and it is very hard to see the good in the world. I guess we must remember that the "world is full of suffering but it is also full of the ability to overcome it".

I am very disappointed in how the U.S. government has handled the crisis in New Orleans. I wonder if things would have been different if the stranded people had had more money or a different color skin. I really wish that I did not have to wonder about that.

For those of you who liked Rosie O'Donnell, she has a blog. It is rosie.com. Check it out.