Ferry to Grand Manan

Welcome Back!

This time I'm highlighting some photos from the Ferry to Grand Manan. You have to catch the ferry at Black's Harbour, which is a small town about 40mins from Saint John, NB. When we got there, we found out that the ferry was delayed as the one ferry was getting repaired and they didn't know when it would be fixed. That left one ferry doing all the traffic...which was maddening...we had about a 2hr wait. Luckily it was low-tide, so we went out and explored and the girls and Cindy and Les were collecting rocks, porcelain, bottles, etc. Keturah found a cool coke bottle, which must have been there for years.

When we finally got on the ferry it was getting dark, I think it was around 7:30. It also started raining along the way too, which is the first time it's ever done that for us...I'm sure it happens alot, but not in the 6 trips there did we have to deal with it! :-)

The first photo below is a photo of a fishing boat heading into the harbour. I love seeing the fishing boats...I always feel like I'm at home when I see one!:-) A few photos of the lighthouses along the way and some photos of the sky...It was amazing before the rain started and we had to go inside! The last photo is that of Swallowtail Lighthouse, which is when you know you've arrived when you see that. It was about 9pm when we got there, so the photo isn't the best...tripod was in the van somewhere!

Well, another week went speeding by this week...I finished the Informational Design course and started Adobe Fireworks..it's going good so far...It's another software program...Mmmm how many can my brain hold...:-)

On Friday, my day off, I went to my bestie's house, Melissa S. She's a web designer and was giving me a lot of information...I'm glad I took my notepad to make notes...it was like being in school, only we got to go to Boston Pizza for lunch! :-) While I was in Belleville, I got my car looked at and it might not be as bad as I thought, it's just a valve that it needs..thank goodness...It will get fixed next week when the part comes in!

Enjoy your week!

Grand Falls, New Brunswick

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This week I'm highlighting some photos of the falls in Grand Falls, NB. This is a small town in New Brunswick with tourism centered around the falls. This year, it was really disappointing. I think a combination of the generating station and dry weather made the falls almost non-existent! The view of the rocks and valleys, still make it an interesting place to visit, but, boy were we shocked to see almost no water! I think a lot of people who stopped were disappointed... The last photo I included below is one I took in 2012 of the exact same falls...what a difference a couple of years make!

Well, this week went by fast again..I  keep saying that, but its oh so true! School was good...I finished the Dreamweaver course, finished a Fundamentals of Typography course and started an Information Design Course. It's all about setting up websites and the pre-planning that should go into creating a website...interesting so far!

Keturah had an information session for the Vet Tech program at Algonquin College in Ottawa and went up on the train on Thursday. She also had to write the HOAE test on Friday, so I went up on Friday to pick her up, but also to drive her to the test...While she did that, I went and got our passports renewed..wow, it was crazy busy...everyone's planning to travel I guess. We may or may not need ours...We may go away again on March Break...not sure yet...Brooke might go away on reading week, but Keturah is for sure going on a trip to Europe with her school in May, so, she definitely needed hers...We stayed for dinner with our friends and then headed home..it was a long day...

We went to check out some cars yesterday...mine is starting to act up again...warning lights coming on and off, so it might be time to get a newer one, as I don't want to get stranded along the side of the road! :-)

 The falls in 2012!

Napanee Conservation Park

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This time I'm including the last of the heron photos taken on a sunny day in August at the Napanee Conservation area (waterfall park)! The last couple of shots are of a old building at the top of the waterfall (it's part of the old mill that used to be there) and one of the waterfall. If you look close, you can see the heron at the bottom. 

I'm not sure what I'll highlight next time..probably get into the vacation shots from Grand Manan..I only have a couple thousand of them to go thru.... :-)

Boy, it was sure hard to get back into the routine this week...I did not like getting up at 6:15am again! I slept til 9:15 today to catch up! :-) It would help if I slept through the night, but since that doesn't happen very often, I guess I'll just have to catch up when I can! :-)

School went well and fast this week...finished a couple of website assignments using Dreamweaver and started taking some courses at home to use WordPress... I'm told that web designers use it more than Dreamweaver and its not covered in my Web Design Program. I will be writing the exam for DW this week and then onto the next course! I can't believe how fast it is going and how much I've been learning AND that I'm still loving it!

Have a great week!

Happy New Year!

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I hope everyone had a great holiday if you managed to be off over the holidays! We had a pretty good holiday...none of us were sick at all, so that was a plus...my tummy felt a bit wonky on New Year's Eve, but we didn't have plans to go anywhere anyway, so the three of us just stayed home and played cards, while Brooke went out to party with friends! Ahh..to be young again and able to stay up past 10! :-)

Well, we were pretty busy over the holidays and only stayed home a couple of days. We had a nice Christmas dinner with my family on Christmas day, then went to Ottawa on Boxing Day for the weekend to visit friends..had lots of fun, but stayed up too late! We had another great dinner/visit with Kevin's family yesterday!

Brooke catches her train back to Waterloo tomorrow and we all head back to our respective schools on Monday! I'm actually looking forward to it!! I've been going over my notes and taking some related online courses here too.

Ok...now onto the photos...I'm including more shots of the heron that were taken at the Napanee Conservation Park at the bottom of the waterfall, where the heron hangs out to catch fish. I managed to get one photo of him below with his catch in his mouth---I love those shots!

I just noticed that my pageviews for this blog are up to a whopping 10,000! Thank you to everyone who returns to check out my photos..it's very much appreciated. I can't believe I've been updating this blog since 2008...More to come in 2015!

Happy New Year!

Napanee Conservation Park, Pt. 2

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This time I'm highlighting the Great Blue Heron who is usually always found at the waterfall at the Napanee Conservation Park during the summer months. I'll have a couple more weeks of photos of him as well! I always take well over 100 of the heron when I see him, knowing that I'll likely be happy with less than 20 of those! :-) Glad it's digital and not the old film cameras or I probably wouldn't shoot that many!

Wow, this week went by fairly fast again. I finished a course on Color Theory and yep, it was a bit boring..not as interesting as I thought it would be! I started Adobe Dreamweaver, which is a website builder, which is supposed to save me time from writing all that HTML and CSS code...The first couple of chapters have been kind of confusing, so I hope to go over those during the holidays, so it becomes a bit clearer! 

Well, I was off on Friday again and spent the day with my friends...Lynn and Melissa...we met for coffee and after Lynn left, Melissa and I spent the rest of the day together! She's a web designer as well, so was giving me lots of advice, which was super awesome! 

Saturday was my birthday and we went out for a nice Italian dinner and my bestest friend since Grade 9 and her hubby came and surprised me by joining us for dinner! Was such a nice dinner/visit. We are going to go visit them in Ottawa after Christmas! I'm so blessed to have such great family and friends!!

Well, I'm almost ready for Xmas, just a couple more things to pick up and then a couple of things to wrap and I'm good to go! I hope to get my haircut too before Christmas, so I might do that tomorrow!

I likely will not post before Christmas, so I'd like to wish all my blog visitors a very Merry Christmas! 

Napanee Conservation Park

Welcome Back!

This time I have photos from the Napanee Conservation Park, or the "waterfall park" as we affectionately call it!

We walk there quite often as it's a nice size for our little Zeek to walk!

This time I'm highlighting photos of: a waterlily, a very small turtle, some florals/weeds :-) and a couple of shots of the Great Blue Heron...he's the main reason I take my camera with me! I love the walk, but love it even better if I see him (and I have my camera!)

Well, this week went by quite fast again. I felt better on Monday, thank goodness! I finished my HTML course this week and the final assignment was to create a webpage using only HTML and CSS, so if you want to check it out, you'll find it at:

http://smaracle.co.nf/index.html

You'll probably notice that its the same colour scheme as my blog...well, that's because I love a black-background and red and white and grey accents look awesome on it! I can't believe it turned out that well, considering it's all done by hand--no templates! :-)

Not much else is new...off on Friday and did some shopping and errands--the usual...also stopped to visit with Lynn and Dave!

We are having a Christmas potluck lunch at school on Tuesday, Brooke comes home on Wednesday and Thursday will be my last day of school and I'll be off for 2 weeks! Yay! Looking forward to the break, although I will miss school!

Have a great weekend! I'm off to the movies to see Penguins of Madagascar!

More Florals

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This week I'm adding a few more floral and scenic shots from the Erinsville Lion's Park, near Napanee. These were taken back in July on a hot and sunny day. Zeek liked the park, probably because it was small and not a lot of walking!

This week went by fast...I've been busy with HTML/CSS and its quite challenging...putting it all together and typing all that code and hoping that it works! :-)

I've been fighting a cold the last few days and have felt so tired with a sore throat and headache, but no cold yet..hopefully I'll win and it will go somewhere else! 

I managed to get out yesterday and do some more Christmas shopping...almost done! Keturah and I went to a Christmas craft show in Tyendinaga, which was pretty cool...got caught up with old friends too!

Hopefully some homework and do some more packing/cleaning of the basement tonight and tomorrow---if I can stay awake! :-)

Enjoy your weekend!