Something different to post...

Figured I'd post some good news for a change.

Some of you have already been told this great news, though probably not all the details...

After a summer of dismal unemployment, I finally broke out of the hopelessness barrier and was able to gain work once again. I'd almost forgotten the peace of mind that having a steady income brings. This summer has been so tight and stressful, not knowing how we were going to manage to pay our bills from week to week. Thankfully we had some meager savings, and - with the help of some generous family members - we were able to live through the summer months with enough food to feed us.  I won't name names here, but I would like to state, for the record, how eternally grateful we are for your assistance. And, if we can find the means, we will repay your kindness and generosity.

I'm actually starting my 3rd week working with them. Why, you may ask, have I waited so long to post the great news? Well, to begin with, I wanted to make sure that this job was real. That it wasn't just a temporary state and that we were indeed going to get paid for my time there. Why would I be so hesitant with such things? Well, some of you are well aware the long delays I've experienced with Sykes@Home on working with them. Between two classes being delayed/postponed, one class that bumped me for not having all my equipment in on day one, and another with some questionable ethics... I had begun to give up on this group actually being a legitimate employer. But, after all the delays and miss-communications,  they finally came through. Even my first day of training, I was still a questioning whether this job was real. My first indication of legitimacy was the computer they sent to me for use. I got it within my first week. The second was the immediacy of paying for my training. It was only the first week, but the direct deposit went through without any issues. Not only did they come through in giving me the opportunity to work from home, but I have one of the friendliest, funniest trainers going. She makes learning fun. I've begun to make friends with my class-mates and we're a pretty decently intelligent group. It's nice to hear the trainer talk about giving us time to relax because we're ahead of the course-work.

So, in a few weeks, I'm going to start taking Tier 1 calls for Rogers Wireless customers. The skills I am learning now, combined with what I had learned while working with OLS/HGS, I can easily say I know most lines of business that the communication's company carries. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the company has no faults, but their dedication to keeping Roger's jobs in Canada is something to be admired. So far, they've been one of the most understanding and dedicated companies I've worked for. I'm looking forward to getting on the phone to help out customers. My knowledge in their products and their systems can be of great benefit to the company. And, best of all, it's technical support. And I've always enjoyed working in that field.

Not only do I get to do a job I like. I get to do so from the comfort of my own home office. No more running out in the snow and rain to catch a bus. No more worrying about transit schedules and how long I have to wait till I can get home. Nothing beats hanging up my headset, turning off my AIB (work computer), and turning to my personal computer and logging in to one of my favorite games. The zero commute time has got to be the biggest and best perk to this job. No more packed lunches. No more boxed drinks. No more having to pay for coffee that might be cold by the time the order gets to me. I think more service companies should aim to provide tele-commuting jobs to their reps. I've always said that the worse part of working customer service, or any phone job, wasn't the work itself. It's not the sometimes irate customers, or the often-times crappy work hours. It was the hostile environment that is a call centre. It's the brown-nosing, back-stabbing, drama bubble burst of immature humanity that makes the job stressful. The hive of disease that 200+ people on one open floor can do to your body. The amounts of colds, flues, etc that I've had because of sick co-workers has caused me more time away from work than I can count. So.. with this reduced stress  of working from home, I can now do what I like to do: focus on my customer's issues and give them excellent service.

So, I had much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. I hope your year is going well... Next big adventure: Hal-Con!

Trying to break out of a shell I've held against others for too long.

I really need to get back to updating this blog more regularly. As I mentioned in a previous post, I think I lean too heavily on facebook and - while it's good to give quick updates and share some random thoughts, quotes, interests, news, etc... I'm starting to get the impression that it's missing some scope into what actually goes on with my life sometimes. A particularly recent heated conversation with my brother has led me to believe, that those who are not involved in my day-to-day life, really have no idea what's going on; and many have some miss-interpretations of my life and how/why of my transition.

First of all, I realize many of you are still confused and upset about my 'coming out'. I've spoken to some family and they are so many things wrong with what you are thinking, and I hope I can try with this blog to clarify things that can be lost in an emotional exchange.

I could be wrong, but I believe it has a lot to do with what most people believe is the definition of transgender. Transgender is an umbrella term referring to anyone who's behavior, thoughts, or traits differ from the societal expectations for their sex. This group includes cross-dressers, transsexuals, intersexuals, genderqueer, and bisexuals. There is no one text-book definition as to what makes a transgender person. It can be a very gray area. The traditional concept - as I quoted in an earlier post is that people transition for sexual reasons. These are hyper-feminine girly gay men that don't 'feel' right being gay. They rather live as a woman, so that they can have a 'normal' life as an heterosexual woman. Better known as transsexuals, this is only one definition of transgender women.

Another stereotype is that transgender women trade one side of the binary for the other. They are women trapped in a male body That a transgender woman despises her lower 'parts' and anything to do with her previous masculinity. This leads to the 'end game' of gender surgery and going 'stealth', pretending they were never male to begin with.

Some people have argued that, because I had children, I can't be trans. Well, if you go on that belief, then men coming out as gay after years of 'being in the closet' can't have had children either. Not all of us despise the bodies we are born with, and some of us learn to cope very well with what we are given. The simple matter of my having children before transition is a combination of a few factors: One being that I prefer women, I love the female body, and - unlike many transsexual women - I enjoyed my sexuality in my youth. Because I love children, and because I love sex, this led to me having children of my own. I love my children dearly and wouldn't give them up for the world!

I've used a lot of terms to try to define who I am over the years: I'm a lesbian, I'm in touch with my feminine side, I'm a romantic... The best description of what I am would be bi-gender or Two Spirited. Two Spirited people have a greater understanding of both genders, as we toe the line between male and female.
How long have I know I've been female? Most people ask me. This is often a challenge or just merely curiosity. I've probably known for some time now is the only real answer I have. I could have been younger, but it was around 14 that I realized I really wasn't like the other guys in my class. I had a maturity level that was beyond theirs in so many ways. I didn't share their zeal for sports, or cars, or challenges of strength and male bravado... I even thought at one point that I could be gay. I found female clothing attractive and even comfortable. I was definitely a lot more feminine that most boys I knew. But looking at a locker room full of men, some of them naked incited no attraction or excitement. If anything, I found myself analyzing them for their artistic attractiveness or muscle build.
Growing up, I tried my best to act like one of the guys, tried to chase the 'pretty' girls, hang out with them... I was active. I love cycling, Frisbee, being outside, art, music, poetry, science fiction, fantasy... I found solace with the 'geek' crowd, as I just couldn't fit in with the 'popular' people. I found them too superficial. I soon found I was more attracted to tom-boyish girls. Not that I didn't like the 'pretty' girls, but I just couldn't find anything in common with them. I soon felt like I had two personalities. I was outgoing, affectionate and bubbly in public. In school I was more withdrawn, quiet, almost anti-social. I couldn't connect with many of my classmates. The few who had met me outside of school were friends with me, as they had met my 'other' side. I'm sure some of them couldn't understand why I was such a 'dweeb' in school.

Because I lacked the male aggressiveness, I was seen as a wimp through much of school. And I'm sure many family can attest of me being upset from the teasing bullying when I was younger. In reality, I knew that, due to my consistent physical activity, I was really strong, and I really, really, didn't like hurting people So I avoided physical confrontation - knowing that it would end with my opponent on the ground. I've always believed that an argument degrades if it lowers to a physical level and that I've lost once I've given in to the urge to hit someone - regardless of usually being the last one standing. But, to prove I could be male, I did the 'guy thing' near my late high school years. I got this pretty, little, bubbly girlfriend.She was more body than brains, and not really my type, but she fit the cheerleader profile that many guys in my class went for.

Something wonderful happened the summer between grades 11 & 12. I managed to get into a language program in northen Québec. My parents saw it as a means of cleaning up my horrible Acadien accent I'd developed. I saw it as a means of freedom. And it was more revealing that I ever thought possible. So, I'm 18, legal age, and I know absolutely no-one there. I had to make friends, which, as some of you know, is something that I can do rather easily. Because no-one there knew me, there was no social expectations on who I was or wasn't. I could be myself - truly be myself - for the first time in what felt like years. In there I discovered I wasn't just some 'looser', that I could be a fun loving, open and affection person, and people accepted me openly. Going back to Fredericton was hard! I had grown so much that summer, so when I discovered that some of my classmates may not be prepared for the 'new me', I shuttered myself again.

Then I went in to wrestling, to prove - in a less-violent manner - to many of my classmates that I was stronger than I looked (I was a lean 155 lb stick of 5'11"). Well, the experiment worked, I managed to make a few more friends in school than I had previous. By graduation I had slowly let more of 'me' creep in and it was okay. In the end, I would have to say that my teens weren't as horrible as some other stories I've heard. I was over all more independent, stronger willed and focused than some people I knew.

Some of you are wondering why I'm going into details that some of you already know. I guess you can say I'm doing this in part as therapy for myself - you learn more about yourself when you think back on what you've done....
But, in truth, I hid a lot from even the people I loved. As much of an open-book many people thought me to be, there were many pages you never saw. All the times I was quiet and withdrawn was because I couldn't find a way to express myself. The dreams of being a girl, transformation dreams where I would shed some if not all of my male body to trade for a female body. I tried to bring this up, but I was so confused I couldn't! How I could I go into details on something I had no definition for? So I buried it. Buried it really deep. It's part of what led to my moodiness and what drove me into art and music as a means of therapy. I could talk to the art, I could sing to the music, it wouldn't talk back and I could absorb some of the feeling from songs in knowing that I wasn't the only one feeling confused, lost, or wanting more.

I found ways to cope with not being normal - though I've not to this day been able to figure out what normal is... I would joke that I felt like a round peg trying to fit into a square hole. Only the hole was big enough to me to fit into - I was just missing the corners.
Throughout my 20s, I continued to find excuses for my feminine traits of occasional non-masculine mannerisms. Over all, people left me alone. I was male-enough. I thank the fact I was in long term relationships to keep my out of the dating scene all those years. But it was slowly chipping away at me. Combined with having trouble keeping a steady job, depression was strongly settling in. I tried to keep it buried - like I did with so many other inconvenient emotions. I trooped on as best as I thought I could manage.
By my 30s I was loosing the fight. I was running out of excuses. When people asked me why I wasn't typically masculine in a very conservative Manitoba and I was running out of explanations, my depression got worse. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me! By this time I was over 310 lbs, I would huff and puff up a flight of stairs. I was so out of shape and out of energy, I really, really came close to calling it quits on life - though I doubt most people around me knew that.

My parents offered me, once again, to come home. They could see it wasn't working in Winnipeg. My sacrifice to stay out west so that I could be close to my kids from my first marriage was taking it's toll on me.
As I planned to leave the place I was living for 12 years, I discussed the changes with friends I had made on IRC.
  "Are you sure this is what you want to do" - well Winnipeg wasn't working out, why not?
  "Are you going to have to leave your older two as they live with your ex?"  - Yes, that's what was making the move so much harder on me.
I answered a lot of what ifs and how abouts and told them I was dead-set on moving back to the Maritimes.
"There comes a time when a guys gotta do what a guy's gotta do, and move on with life"  - I responded to the channel as a final closure to any more questions or arguments. Then the next line from one of my online friends caught me by surprise:
"Wait, wait, you're a guy?!" 
Well, that's what it says on my profile, picture included, but the question caught me off-guard. Why would she think otherwise? Looking back on some of our conversations over the past few months (gotta love log files), I noticed that a lot of what we talked about was girl-talk. Relationships, weather, fashion, art, poetry... She thought I was female...

I had that in the back of my head as I came back to the Maritimes nearly 3 months ahead of my wife and kids. The goal was to find a job and a place to stay for when they would join me after the school year ended. I moved to Halifax, closer to where my parents lived. The job prospects of the larger port city seemed like a better choice on getting settled. Soon after moving East, I came across a W5 documentary that I'd taped. The topic was transgender - a new topic for gender in the new millennium. I had a few friends in the Pride community at work, and they said it was really good. So I watched it, and watched it, and watched it again. Something sunk in.. something so similar to how I felt. Particularly the trans-woman and her wife.

From there I did a lot of research. Thank goodness for high-speed Internet. There is almost as much miss-information out there as there is valid information when it comes to the topic of transgender. Fortunately, more and more reputable and support sites are burying the older, unreliable ones, but it was still a lot of information to dig through.
During this time I started playing MMOs (Massive Multiplayer Online games). It started with public servers with NeverWinter Nights, then World of Warcraft, and others. With WoW, I started a social experiment. I created both male and female characters. I played both, didn't genderfy myself to other players out of character, and really got into the personalities of some of the characters I created.
Soon, I noticed that the friends and guild-mates I made online were addressing me in female pronouns, regardless of the character I was playing. I never encouraged or discouraged it, they chose from my online mannerisms that I was female in real life. The 'light bulb' moment came one night when I was playing my gnome mage. With this character I even performed an in-game marriage ceremony to my wife's character and we pretty much did everything together, rarely were the two characters apart. One night, while she was finishing up supper, I decided to dabble around with crafting and then role-play, I didn't want to go out adventuring without my wife's toon. But something was 'off'. Without my wife to bounce off of, the gnome character lacked depth and personality on his own, I had trouble playing him solo. One of my guild-mates suggested that I have a problem portraying a male persona.... and reading that comment was like hitting the brick wall of awareness.
"I think I'm a girl" I blurt out loud to my wife who had poked her head out of the kitchen to tell us supper was almost ready. "About time you figured that one out." she commented off-handedly and went back to plating supper... "What do you mean about time I figured that out?!" My horrible secret that I thought I had kept to myself all these years, and she had known - for a long time.

By the time I saw a therapist on the topic, I knew almost as much as he did on the subject. But did it apply to who I was? Well, 8 months of therapy later, it was decided that yes, it would work - without loosing my family.


I know my transition came suddenly for so many of you. Many people didn't find out that I was transitioning till I was about to start hormones, which was 2 years into my actual transition. But this is something that I've held buried for so many agonizing years... Like many trans-women, I did live a double-life for first part.. Some for work reasons, some for societal necessity. But after 6 months on hormones, I couldn't take it anymore. I've been happily living as a woman full time for over 2 and a half years now.
This is where I go back to my being Two-spirited:
I don't have plans for gender 'corrective' surgery. There is a reason why I have 4 children. I've always enjoyed that part of my sexuality. As long as it all still works down there, I don't see a need to change things. This doesn't make me any less trans, in fact it's perfectly normal. Not every trans-woman feels the need to trade one side of the binary for the other. I'm actually rather happy in this middle zone that I'm in. My need for transition has always been societal. I needed to be female so that people would stop asking me why I was so weird, emotional and feminine. As I've been trying to tell some of you. I am where I've wanted to be.. a mix of both genders. It doesn't make me any less a woman. I certainly have no problems being seen as female wherever I go.
Am I done my transition? Mostly. There are a few things I would like to do - if I had the funds:
 - Some hair removal on my face and belly. The rest of my body hair has shifted to being typical for a woman, so there's no need to change what I have.
- Orchidectomy, Better known as castration. I've gone 11 years since my vasectomy wanting to get rid of these offending nuggets, it would also mean not having to take those disgusting-tasting anti-androgen pills.

I could probably add other minor facial tweaks that aren't rally that necessary anymore. After 3 years on hormones, my body's feminized fine that I don't need any serious body modifications that some trans-folk feel they need to have.

Some of you have argued that I should have thought of my children before transition. Well, to be blunt, I thought it would be better for them to have me like this than not having a father at all. For all those who are so against 'what I've done', you have no idea how close I was to suicide! Had I not transitioned, I would not be here today. It honestly had bee reduced to a matter of life or eventual death, which choice would you have taken?
For the record, my children are adapting to my transition better than most of you who think it's still a problem. So, I will ask you to quit telling me my children are miserable. I speak to all my children, and we have an honest communication between us. Quit feeding them garbage and confusing them. Quit projecting your own insecurities as theirs. It's hurtful, confusing, and mean. I speak with them. And when I find out you are lying for whatever reason, it breaks what trust we have with you. If they have questions, I can answer their questions better than any of you can - not only is it my body and my life that's being affected; I doubt many of you have done anywhere close to the scope of research that I've done into transgender issues.

I apologize that the end of this rather long blog has taken on a negative tone. There's been enough hostility and negativity lately, I felt I needed to get this out. I've spent enough nights crying, thank you. And yes, I cry. I laugh, I'm wonderfully emotional as any other woman would be. That's the joys of the hormone therapy.

Loosing touch with old friends can sometimes be a bad thing.

 Since the start of my transition, I'd lost touch with most of my friends in Winnipeg - unsure how to explain the changes in my life. After awhile, life gets busy and trying to reach them slipped my mind completely - seeing as I barely use my old facebook or e-mail accounts.

Well, Laura mentioned the possibility of being able to visit Winnipeg next summer. Something we haven't done in a good 3-4 years. Not wanting to break the news at the last minute, or surprising them, I decided to contact my friends out West now to give them time to absorb the fact that my gender has changed over the past few years and that I am now living as a woman.
I found out, sadly, that one of my best friends back West passed away back in October. The shock is still a bit hard to absorb, the tears are still welling in my eyes. It will hang over me now, because of my inability to tell everyone who I now am, I've lost a friend without being able to say goodbye! I'm so sorry John, you will be missed by us so dearly. This is going to take some time to get over...

So, for my Trans friends out there, try not to exclude those who are dearest to you - for fear you may lose them. There's a good chance you will anyway. This is not a regret you want to live with, coming from personal experience.

Time to get this out in the open

I'm going to try to catch up on my blog - though I'm sure, by now, people have stopped following it.
I had dropped off Blogger, preferring to spend more of my time on facebook rather than posting my musings here. I posted this on my original facebook profile back in July 2010. I've brought some information up to date since it's original posting, but most of the original message is as it was posted nearly 2 years ago. A lot has happened in the past 2 years, more than I can put in this one post I think.

Some of you may have noticed that, as Dranem, I've not been very active on facebook for awhile now. I've actually have been fairly active online, just not with my male facebook profile that many of you are connected with. Some of you already know, or may be suspecting, but I've not completely come out and discussed the issue openly to everyone. Locally, there's not hiding what my lifestyle is currently like. But, to a good deal of my distant friends & family, I kept putting it off trying to find the right moment to say it, or the right way to say it. In the end I've come to realize there's no real right way to say it without surprising or shocking at least some of you.

For a very long time I've battled with, well, myself. I've tried to 'fit in' for the longest time, and never quiet getting there. While in Winnipeg, my depression had reached an all point low. I was 300 lbs, out of shape and had over all given up on a lot of things. I had come to believe I had failed as a male in society, I had to do something.... so I moved back to the Maritimes.
This seemed to help refresh my mind to some degree. I got a bike, started cycling, changed some of my eating habits, and started loosing a lot of weight. With the shedding of the fat, something else that I'd been keeping dormant starting getting stronger. I began to notice my mannerisms getting more and more effeminate, and found I was having a harder time to suppress them like I used to - and yes, there's a lot of things about me that I would keep from others. So I started doing some research, started speaking to some medical professionals, trying to figure out what was wrong with me.
Well, I finally managed to see a provincially funded therapist, not having $125/hr for a private one. After a few sessions and a lot of me talking and answering questions, the specialist confirmed something that had been slowly getting stronger in my mind: I wasn't really male. Oh sure, physically I am, I'm decently strong, and fairly fit now that I'm back down to a decent weight, but mentally I don't THINK like a guy does. I've discovered the condition is called Gender Identity Dysphoria. Where my mind gender doesn't fit my physical one. Looking back on things, I can locate traces of my femininity back to my early teens. Before the term Transgender became commonplace, there was the term Transexual. I had seen transexuals as gay guys who wanted to be women so that they could no longer be seen as gay. And well, not being gay, having no interest in men sexually, I couldn't be transexual. I've fought for years to suppressing my emotions and feelings. I've tried to do what everyone told me, to be 'a good man' and live up to people's expectations. Looking at other guys and trying my best to mimic their actions and their mannerisms and succeeding to some degree or another, but never quite getting it. It all felt like an act, fake, not natural, like I was putting on a show for others. I hated not being able to be myself.
I believed Transexualism as being a kink. It's a sexual thing. A person feeling the need to be female so that they can enjoy an heterosexual life as society imposes on us. But for me, this is more of a case where I feel more like a girl. I understand women more then men, and have generally had more female friends. I've never really been into 'guy things' and really don't understand the male need to prove oneself. Over the years people have seen this as a lack of competitive spirit, but in truth I just don't have a fickle ego and the need to prove who I am. In my early 20s, I used to get hit on by gays all the time. They would read my feminine side and hope that I would be gay. Many offered to guide me out of the closet, and thought I was just lying to myself, but I never found men attractive. To the comment of one guy who insisted I was way to femme to be straight, I finally told him that if I was homosexual to any degree, that I was a lesbian trapped in a male body - because I don't even look at women the same way most men do. For years I knew I was a geek: I never fit into the 'in crowd' at school, I was not into sports or cars, I was not a 'manly' person. I'm poetic, artistic, and have come to call myself a modern-day bard. But I wasn't gay, so I strove to make sure that people knew that I loved women so that they would at least not accuse me of being gay. This helped in some degree, but there was still something missing.

So, for the past 4 years now, I've been working on my transition to better understand myself. I've found that I'm a lot more female than I thought since I've started dropping my male-learned mannerisms. Though I still need to work on my voice and my facial features, most of the rest of me is quite female. Since my coming out, the people I've met have no trouble seeing me as female, and have a hard time believing I was able to 'pull it off' as a male for as long as I did. And while there are some remnants, I'm finding I am finally enjoying being myself for a change as a woman. I don't need to hide who I am, or pretend to be someone I'm not. Physically, I've found that I fit women's clothing better than men's as my hips are now nearly 6" wider than my waist. So, to help the rest of me get to where I'm going - or something like that - I've been taking hormones to further feminize my body. Being over 25, I realize I'll probably never look like a natural woman. But with just enough makeup right (I rarely wear alot), the right clothes, I am more often than not accepted for a woman now. I still feel I need help with my voice, and have had some speech therapy. Some people will most likely appreciate this, as they find I don't talk loud enough to begin with, so this will help me in more ways than one.

This will probably take some of you a while longer to absorb all this. If it's taken me over a year to sort myself out, I don't expect everyone to suddenly treat me like a woman tomorrow.

I'm open to any questions you may have and will try to answer them as best as I can. Any outright hate messages will be ignored. I realize this will probably be a shock some of you, but you don't have to take your insecurities out on me because of it. Just know, that I'm happy with the woman I'm discovering. I feel more confident and more sure about myself for the first time in longer than I can remember. I hope some of you can find it in your hearts to accept my happiness. Otherwise, I'm sorry, but I'm not hiding myself for the rest of you any longer.

Still here.

Wow... talk about loosing track of things. Oddly enough it's C100's In-studio Chat that has drawn me back to my blog.

What to say in one post to catch up with a good 2 years of no posts? Is anyone still following this?

Well, I now work for the Conseil scolaire acadien as a janitor for one of their schools. It's been an interesting shift in things from the security guard work I've been doing for nearly a year now.

It's almost the end of school, with the High School done their classes, yesterday's big clean up was the overflowing garbages from them cleaning out their lockers. Today shouldn't be so bad, but Friday the junior high will dumping their lockers....

Feeling a Little Burnt

I write this the day after, feeling sore, tired (going on 38 hours awake now), and very much sunburnt. But, oddly enough, I can tell you it was worth it!

This is the second year that we've competed in the Clam Harbour Beach Sandcastle/Scupture Competition. Or better known as Sandcastle Day to most. Each year, with a little help from HRM, the Lake Charlotte locals have hosted this event that has grown in popularity to an International level... Not only were there a lot of Haligonians there, but people from other provinces, the US and from abroad. The competition attracts professional sculptors, amateurs and people who just want to enjoy the beach.
Entering the competition is cheap enough, but you have to get there early to claim a good spot. For me, we headed to the beach soon as I got off work. My mother, wife and the kids were already there and setting up a spot by the time my dad and I joined them. This year, my daughter is over 12, so we entered as the whole family, instead of just the kids' division. Just as well, my Dad and I did most of the work. ;)
It took us 5 hours to carve out our impressive fort, and it wasn't easy! We hadn't quite packed the sand hard enough, it was a hot and dry day, we didn't add enough water, so we weren't able to add some of the details we had hoped - for fear of the whole thing crumbling. As it is I had to replace the 'lighthouse tower' as it collasped on me when I tried to add some detailing.

Now that all this confusion is over, I'm looking forward to our trip to Winnipeg tomorrow - where I'll be able to relax a little for a week.

Busy Summer...

Boy, what a week?! I think it was a week, okay I think it's more like two weeks..... I've done so much things and have had so little sleep, I have no idea how much time has passed... but here we are the first week of August already! Wow! Where did the summer go?!

I've divided the pictures up into the various events: Going to the beach, and making sandcastles; touring the Ovens and Lunenberg after visiting my grandmother on the south shore; going to Upper Clements Park... It was a lot of pictures to catch up on!

The kids have been having a blast! And I can't believe summer is almost over! In a couple of weeks we'll be flying back to Winnipeg - all together. Kart and I have some family issues we need to get resolved, and the kids are going back to their mother.

Kids and Sail Ships

From the "Kids can be so Cute" department: One of the COOL things about Nova Scotia is the fog we get... At least that was the unanimous statement from my older to kids - who spend most of the year living in the Prairies with their mother. You don't see fog like we get here in Manitoba... fog so thick, you can barely see 10 feet in front of you. The funny thing is... This isn't their first trip to the Maritimes, so why it's suddenly so cool.. well kids will be kids. :)

Summer's been relatively mild this year. Although more sunny days would generally be preferred by most.. coming from someone who sleeps during the daytime, I'm not going to complain too loudly. It's nice to be able to sleep comfortably. We haven't spent much time at the beach, and with the sea water averaging 14°C, it's not exactly warm to bathe in. The frigid waters don't seem to be affecting the surfers much, they can be seen in large numbers any day there's a decent surf.

The kids are making up for their lack of beach time at my mother's... where they're staying for some time while they take swimming at the Porter's Lake Aquatic Club. So I get a bit of a break from having so many feet around the house, and the kids get to swim in the lake's cool waters... Porter's Lake is a tidal body of water, meaning that a portion of the lake is salt water.. and nearly as cold as the ocean that's feeding it. Outside of beach time, my parents have a nice big yard so the kids can vent the extra energy that young bodies tend to have in excess - and I can get rest during the day on the nights I work.
This week's trip out to my parents' is going to be a solo run - provided it doesn't rain as the forecast is predicting. I was able to make the trip in 3 hours last year... lets see if I keep that up.

Monday was a blast! Without the kids underfoot, the wife and I had the opportunity to spend some much needed time together. Sure we do a fair bit as a family, but there's only so much one can do with munchkins in tow. The youngest is still in preschool, so we dropped him off, and spend the day in downtown Halifax. A nice quiet early lunch at a bistro, and then it was off to watch the Parade of Sails. Most of the tall ships left port this week, so all the ships paraded up and down the harbour. One doesn't get the chance to see so many sailing ships, small and large float by and give a show. Even more beautiful when seen from the deck of a boat only a stones throw off George's Island. It was beautiful, and revived my desire to get out at sea and experience it... maybe next year. This year my parents want to do a wale watching tour.

I know not everyone gets excited seeing a schooner under full sail. But for those who long for the Age of Sail, I have a load of pictures to add to Friday's collection.. now the challenge is to sort them down to only two photo albums.

Tall Ship Festival

The great sail ships are visiting the Halifax Harbour this week. While Halifax is home to a handful of sail ships, getting so many sailing ships in one harbour at a time is cause for celebration... there's not many of them left in the world.

While the media says that 50 ships are in the harbour this week, only about half of them were docked for viewing today as the family got together to climb on them and check them all out. Some great ships were with us today... The Bounty - of of the oldest sailing ships still in service - paid us a visit.

I'll try to get out Sunday for the Parade of Sail when the ships will set out in - hopefully - full sail.

I got a load of pictures, I'll load them on facebook soon as I sort them down to 1 album. Here's a teaser for starts.

Weekend Cycling Adventure

Having Saturday and Sunday off, I decided to take a shot at kicking our summer cycling into gear!
My two older munchkins and I headed out for my parents' place... it's a good 45km ride between where we live in Dartmouth and where my parents live in Porter's Lake. I did 6 such runs last summer.... this weekend was this summer's first.

Saturday started out foggy, but soon before noon, the fog burned off and the day was spectacular. It took us about 6 1/2 hours to do the trip there.. the kids were exhausted and we were gratefully to take showers to cool off and wash the sweat, dirt and salt from our bodies. The whole family got together for supper, but we stayed the night while my wife and the younger boys got a drive home.

This morning we set out at 9:45 and finally showed up home at 3:30.... all told a bit better time coming home. I think We have to owe it to the fact that it was cool and cloudy most of the day, so heat wasn't as much of an issue.. we even got drizzled on after leaving the trail and hitting Caldwell Road. The rain was brief, so we it did well to cool us off while not being a problem.

I took about 30 odd pictures which I'll load onto Facebook.. and maybe my Yahoo 360 if I can muster getting to that tonight.

Feeling the Sizzle.

Summer feels like its finally here... the mercury today climbed to 25°C, but with the humidity it feels a lot warmer. We've had weather hovering around this level for the past few days. Though a bit stuffy it's nice to actually FEEL summer, and not the cold miserable season we had last year.

I've been biking to work for about a month now, still a bit hard on the legs, and I need to take the time soon to get my bike re-tuned as it seems a bit 'off'. Some days are more enjoyable to cycle than others, and I always have my camera with me - just in case I can find something nice.

My youngest had his pre-school graduation on Friday. In September, he officially starts Kindergarten.. though they call it 'Primary' in this province for some reason. It never surprises me how fast kids grow up... My youngest starting Kindergarten, my oldest is starting High-School, the other two are nearing their years at their current levels: Last year of elementary for Chip, and so forth... Makes one feel old some days....

Here's an image of summer... a lilac bush outside of the back the college where my son's pre-school is... isn't it beautiful? And it smells so nice in the morning as we pass it!

Happy Easter! ... At least I think it's Easter..

I woke up for work this evening to greet a winter wonderland... I thought this was suppose to be Spring!? Well I'll be bringing my camera with me tonight to take a few pictures. I took a few pictures from my living room window, a couple on the way to work (sorry for the fuzziness) and some this morning on the way home.

I still can't believe it's Easter Sunday with all this wet white stuff on the ground. Once you get out of the wind, it's actually quite mild - if the weather continues - the snow won't last long... typical to what it's been like all winter here

The one advantage is that this is wonderful snowman building weather, so I'll probably have a few more pictures to add once we get back from my parent's place...

Nature is a Basketball.

This is my thought for the day: Nature is a basketball... at least that's what it seems like here in the Maritimes.
I got out of work this morning to find it snowing.. and everything was being dusted by wet snowflakes and being covered in sticky white powder. I took a few pictures on my walk up the street to home, and one downtown after dropping the munchkin off at pre-school.
What was to be a beautiful ending of winter (as 9pm tonight signals the first day of Spring), turned wet and mushy. The snow slowly turned to freezing rain, now I look out my living room window as cold drizzle slowly melts away what little (4 cm) snow fell last night and early this morning. It's not suppose to stop drizzling till sometime tomorrow when nature is fully satisfied that it has - yet again - blasted most traces of winter from the ground. While most people out here have been whining and complaining of what little of the white stuff we have received... I have been lamenting the lack of proper snowfall - mainly cause my poor small strawberry patch may not have survived the winter. Anyway, I did take a few pictures while as mementos of what little of winter we've had so far.. for soon the flowers will be budding and we'll be into April and it's dismal wet weather.

Don't Forget Your Cleats

That was the topic this morning as I got off of work... 1/4" of ice from freezing rain after a small snowfall covered every surface it could find! Icicles dangled from signs, people had to chip an ice shield surrounding their cars, and - outside of major roads - the streets were sheets of ice that would make any rink proud!

I wish I had some sort of spikes on my shoes as I tried to first half walk, half skate down to the bus from work. Then struggle to get up the hill to get home. In the end I beat the bus by less than 10 minutes walking from the mall - which was nearly a half hour from when I left the terminal. I've added a few pictures which I took when I got home... wish I would have had the camera with me on my walk though.. with the warm weather we had today, the ice is all melted now...

This winter has been strange: It'll be warm, it'll get cold, it might snow.. but it warms up again and it all melts. The result has left many with never-ending series of colds, flus, and such... myself I've lost a lot of time from work this season.

Brrr.. I take it back! Honest!

Here I was, not a few days ago boasting that it was warm and green here in the Maritimes...
Well, Jack Frost decided that he had heard enough it seems.. this week we got hit with wet snow followed by the mercury dropping down to 30 below with the windchill. It's been a very chilly week for all those who had settled in with the expectation of a mild winter.

I would say that it is nice to finally enjoy some winter sports only what snow fell is little more than a layer of hard ice - thanks to the sudden drop in temperature.

Tomorow the temperatures are suppose to climb back up to near the freezing point, so they promise it's going to get better... in the mean time, it's good to be able to curl up with a hot cup of coffee.

Winter wonderland?

Well, here we are in the middle of January, and there's NO SNOW! I can't get over it!... I don't know whether to be overjoyed at the balmy weather (being able to wear sweaters and sneakers outside) or worried that this is a sign of other things.... As it is I'm sure some farmers, who depend on at least a moderate snow coverage, are worried about some of their crops.
As it is, we've had maybe 3 days so far with some snow on the ground, and we get the occasional flury.. but then the temperature rises 10 degrees above freezing and it all goes away again.

Monday, when I get the Christmas pictures online, I do have some small memoirs of what little snow we've had... as it stands the ground is bare with still some green grass.. I've even seen confused insects flitter by on days when the temperatures reach temperatures we normally only see in April or May.

Happy New Year!

Well, we just got home from our bus trip up to New Brunswick and boy is the cat happy to see us!

It was nice getting to meet more of my wife's family, and we got to enjoy snow while we were there.... not much mind you, but we did get snow.
By the way, I'm not to be held responsible for the snow that seems to have followed us home!

I have a couple of days off just after the new year, between installing new software, I'll see about getting the Christmas photos up on my website.

1 Week Left!!!!

Well, one week left till the big day.... at least for most of us.

As the commercial industry braces for the big crunch of shoppers cramming the stores with last minute shopping, I'm pretty much sitting back in the comfort that - what shopping I did this year - is all done... the last of it was ordered today and will be shipping out.

It actually doesn't feel much like Christmas to me this year.... our snow has all melted, we don't have any decorations set up here at home yet, and cause of my night job, I haven't gone to stores much this year... having gotten most of my gifts online.
We did help my parents get their live tree on Saturday, and mom's started decorating her home. When my dad gets back from BC this week, it'll be a mad rush to get the rest of the house decorated for the holiday.
I guess the reason we haven't bothered decorating the apartment is that we won't be here much for the holiday... with spending Christmas day at mom's, and then going to New Brunswick to spend time with my wife's side of the family till New Year, there's not much reason to set up decorations here. At least I'm playing my Christmas tune collection as I compose my blogs.

Most of us are sitting here wondering if we're going to have a white Christmas this year. While the temperature is dropping to it's norm (just below freezing) for this time of year, they're announcing a clear week - meaning no snow in the immediate forecast.

Oh well, at least i got the shot in last week when we DID have snow on the ground. It's all gone now... You know, I don't ask much from Winter, I just want a white Christmas.. the rest of the season can do whatever it wants..

Merry Christmas to all my online friends and family, may this season find you in good spirits.

First Snow Fall

For the past couple of weeks now, I've been boasting to my online friends that winter has so far missed the Maritimes.

Well, this picture of our back lot as of 5:30pm would seem to indicate otherwise. Now lets see if the snow will stick around for more than a day.

It's not a pretty picture, I'll see if I can take a more scenic shot tonight or tomorrow morning as I head out for work in a few hours.

Kids are so cute: A a couple of hours after this picture, the plow came by and cleared the back parking lot. He suddenly exclaimed: "Oh no, they broke it! It's all gone!" It had us in stitches, it was so precious!

Photo Gallery Catchup.

Ok, I've started catching up with my photo gallery on my website.
I've got the fall pictures in.... working in reverse as there were fewer fall pictures that summer pictures to deal with. ;o)

For those who've visited my picture gallery before, I have reworked the layout a bit - which I think helps for consistency as well as makes it a little more attractive. With the gallery rework done, I'll have more time for summer photo pages. As it's almost 6 am, I'll start work on the summer photos tomorrow. Here's a teaser from the fall pictures.