End of an Era

Hi again, now the upsetting news.

Over the last decade and a half we have been blessed to share our lives with our much loved dogs who were truly part of our family.  As many of you will know, Lester our oldest Maltese became part of our family in February 1995 just after Beverley returned from Rwanda.  Some 18 months later Murphy joined the family and following the death of Ross's mother, Herbie joined us.  Lester died 5 years ago and Murphy and Herb became world travellers when, like their parents they travelled to Canada.  Sadly Herbie passed away one year ago on 7 November following a heroic effort but succumbed to an overwhelming infection.

Murphy who at 14 1/2 years of age had outlived her brothers.  Sadly however, on 2 November we said our final goodbyes to our much loved Murphy who was suffering from worsening congestive cardiac failure.  It was a difficult decision to make but it was the right one.  Hopefully she is at peace and back in touch with Lester and Herbie.

Murphy aged 14 years

Herbie aged 10 years

Lester aged 11 years

Murphy  and Herbie in Canada 2009

We were so fortunate to have had them in our lives and we are better people because of them.

Love Bev and Ross

   

Halloween

Hi again, sorry it has been so long since our last post but we have had a lot going on.

We celebrated our second Halloween in Canada with our lovely friends and we added another Australian to the mix.  Bronson is the 3 rd cousin of Beverley who joined us on this occasion.  Bronson had been travelling around the USA and came to stay with us for a couple of weeks before returning to OZ.  Bronson was a delight and provided great humor to us all.  He is sitting on the right hand side of Ross and Murphy.  As you can see the kitchen is the favourite place in the house and our friends made a special effort to get into the swing of things.   Kathy is Princess Leah.  

In the photos below you will see all the gang including Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf,  the glamorous Witch dressed in Black who is accompanied by Daniel Boon and the fabulous lady in Red.

A great day was had by all.

Look after yourselves and treasure all around you and each and every day.

Love Bev and Ross

Hunting Season

Hi again,

In keeping with the seasonal changes here in New Brunswick, Ross has finally given in to the temptation of the great Canadian tradition of hunting ("when it gets too cold to go fishing you go hunting"). Having gone to the obligatory firearms safety course and been cleared by the RCMP he is now the proud holder of a Canadian firearms possession and acquisition licence and a new rifle.

On the way to the quaint village of McAdam to purchase said new rifle (Stevens model 200 in .223 cal for those who are interested) we passed a beaver hutch and thought you may be interested to see how large they can be.

The trip also gave us some great fall scenery.

Having joined a local gun club we made our first visit to their range to shoot and sight in the rifle and the scenery even at the range entrance was spectacular.

The range trip was partially successful in that we managed to set up a zeroing target and get some rounds down range but it got so cold that it was impossible with frozen fingers to make the adjustments or eventually even to load the weapon.

 Even Murphy the ever faithfull "gun dog" decided that it was much warmer in the car.

So until our next update stay happy, safe and well.

Love to all,

Bev, Ross and Murphy

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving in Canada was celebrated over the weekend 9-11 October and it is a time to share with family and friends.  So in the spirit of the day we were joined by Jacqueline and John our lovely friends who live closer to the city than we do.  It was also an opportunity to have an early birthday cake for Jacqueline who will celerbrate her birthday on 23 October but as she will be in the United Kingdom at this time it was a good way to see her and John before departing on 14 October.    

The cake was a walnut cake and Jacqueline still had enough buff to blow the candles out.  We all had a great evening and we are looking forward to hearing of Jacqueline's travels on her return.

Huff, buff and the candles are out - Good effort Jacqueline.

On Monday of the Thanksgiving weekend we spent the day with Debbie and George having a pleasant drive around different parts of New Brunswick.  We had intended to have a picnic however, it was so windy we returned home and had a late lunch of curried prawns and rice.

As you can see from the smiles on the faces at the table we had a happy time.

On 31 October Halloween will be celebrated and we are having a get together here at home.  So next update will be about Halloween.

On 27 October, Bronson, Bev's 3rd cousin will be arriving for a visit and on 3 November, Joy and Adam will be joing us for a couple of weeks.  One has to ask the question - is Beaver Dam ready for 5 Australian's at once?

Best wishes to all.

Love Bev, Ross and Murphy      

Cornhill Nursery

A couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity to spend a lovely day out with our friends Debbie and George at the Cornhill Nursery which is located  near Sussex N.B. and is known for its organic produce.  For more information on this very attractive property have a look at http://www.cornhillnursery.com/

There were lots of activities provided on the day we visited such as apple juice pressing which can be seen in the photo below to horse drawn carriage rides, a live band as well as presentations on how to grow grapes. 

The nursery covers many acres and as the weather was just perfect on the day you can see just how beautiful the surrounding flora.

As Thanksgiving was to be celebrated the following weekend a trip to the Big Pumpkin was in order and as can be seen from the two photos below they really know how to grow pumpkins in this area. The fact that halloween is not far away is also a factor.

On our return home it was time for Murphy to stretch her legs so she was delighted to walk in some of the sod we had planted during the summer.

It will not be too many more weeks until the ride-on mower will hybernate for the winter but at present the grass is still green and the fall leaves are a picture.

So best wishes to all.

Love Bev, Ross and Murphy

Apple picking

With the onset of harvest season here in New Brunswick we had the opportunity to have a day out with Debbie and George our great friends who suggested we go apple picking following which we would have a picnic.


Throughout the summer months over this side of the country, fruit picking for personal consumption is a very popular past time as it is an opportunity to enjoy the sunny weather and to choose the produce for onself. While Ross as a young boy had experienced fruit picking Beverley as a city girl never had. So the White/Wright household really enjoyed the time spent wandering around this very well kept orchard. As can be seen in the couple of photos below the property sports a nice homestead with a beautiful vista to a lake.

The farm also produces blueberries,

and rasberries.

The farm also had a great collection of vintage machinery and the John Deere ride on mower must be one of the originals.

Following the less than strenuous apple picking and a good walk around the property we drove to a local provincial park on the St John river for a picnic lunch.

It is a lovely area and even boasts the New Brunswick version of Bondi Beach.

We celebrate our second Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend and have our friends Jacqueline and John coming over for dinner.

Stay safe,

Ross, Bev & Murphy

Labour Day Weekend

Labour Day is celebrated over the weekend 4-6 September in North America but we started the previous week by having Donna and Michael Gallant over for Sunday lunch. They had been on holidays the day that Canada Day was celebrated so this opportunity to have lunch together gave us time to catch up since we spent a lovely evening with them at their home earlier this year. Donna is a Registered Nurse who works in the Nursing Faculty at the University of New Brunswick where Nursng Degrees are undertaken in this Province. Michael is an optical professional who is involved with contact lens requirements. Michael comes from an Acadian background and he and Donna introduced us to some delicious Acadian food when we were at there home previously.

So fast forward to Sunday 5 Sep when we were invited to Jacqueline and John's home which is about a 20 minute drive from where we live. Jacqueline and John have a couple of statues of dogs in their yard and as you can see from the photo below Murphy had to check the statues out to see if they were real. So after a good sniff she moved on.

The day before we went to Jacqueline and John's Hurricane Earle had arrived from the USA. Fortunately as we are about a 3 hour drive from the coast all Fredericton received was some much needed rain and by Sunday the weather was perfect which allowed us to enjoy time sitting out on the deck.
Jacqueline and John have a loverly home and from their back deck one gets a great view of the St John River which becomes solid ice in the winter months.

Still out on the deck Chef John prepares to cook the largest steaks we had seen for sometime. So Texas is not the only place in North America where one gets the opportunity to eat a great steak.


The day was spent with lovely friends and was full of fun, laughter, good food and wine.

Labour Day itself was on the Monday and our socialising continued and this time it was with our 'dodgy neighbours' Debbie and George who joined us for a late breakfast. We had grapefruit from theUSA to start. This was followed by Eggs Benedict with home made Hollindaise sauce. It took the 3 of us to make sure the sauce turned out well.

Following the eggs we had individual fruit platters which featured rockmellon (cantalope) from Nova Scotia, kiwi fruit from New Zealand, mango from Mexico, star fruit and passionfruit from Peru and strawberries from California. It all tasted great except the star fruit which was for decoration purposes only.

Well from all of us here have a great day and stay happy safe and well.

Love Bev and Ross.