Boston, MA

Back again and this time the photos are from Boston.  We spent 2 days here and took the opportunity to see as much of the city as posssible.  Boston has a long history and Paul Revere who was a major player in the Revolutionary War lived in this house below.     This link will provide more information on this famous man whose was a Silversmith by profession.  http://paulreverehouse.org/ 

Boston offers many things to do and to see and as we always enjoy food and wine we took the opportunity to try out food in Little Italy.  The Bus Driver, Eric suggested that we check out Salem Street which we did and we were not disappointed.  We came across the restaurant in the 2 photos below and enjoyed a marvelous lunch   

Please note we are not red faced from the red wine but suffering from windburn  following our morning excursions around the city.  While walking around we happened upon a local skating rink and if you look closely you will see the beginners using plastic milk crates to help them stay on their feet.



Below is a photo of Boston's world renowned Aquarium which attracts huge crowds on a daily basis   

The whole area which makes up the docklands is very old and dates back to before the Boston Tea Party.  Boston itself is built on a huge amount of reclaimed land dating back to the time of the Great Boston Fire in 1872.  The resultant rubble left from this fire ended up becoming the land fill for this city.   

No visit to Boston would be complete without a trip to the famous Fenway Park, the home of the Red Sox.  The tour takes a couple of hours and Beverley who has no interest in the game of base ball found it a most interesting visit.  We got to sit in the green monster seats and learnt a good deal about Sox history.  

The history of the Sox and Fenway can be found at http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=bos


We found Boston to be very friendly and a great place to visit, next time we will stay longer.

Cheers
Ross and Bev

Portland, Maine

Hello again, we have just returned from a short visit to the USA and our first stop was Portland, Maine. Portland is a lovely city and a favouite place of ours to stay.  It is so pretty in the summer as well as very attractive in the winter.  

Having now lived in Canada for over 2 years we were very suprised just how cold it was in Portland. It was so cold we tossed our usual headgear and purchased the more glamerous hats which you will see in the 2 photos below.

When Beverley donned her now 'best hat ever" she said it provided warmth to her ears just like the heated seats in our Volvo to her behind. 

 

There are a number of great eating places in portland and below is one of its many pubs.

We had a great time in this lovely city which welcomes all with a smile and good cheer.

 

Our next entry will be about Boston.

Fondest wishes.

Bev and Ross

Vale Dr Maureen Reilly PhD

Dear Friends,

It is with great sadness that we write this blog as our much loved friend Dr Maureen Reilly passed away following a very painful battle with pancreatic cancer on 19 February.

We first met Maureen and her family in 1993 when Beverley was posted to Fort Sam Houston. From our first meeting we were welcomed into their family and over our many years of friendship we have shared many a Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner at the Reilly home. Maureen and Dennis were most welcoming to all and in particular to Australian Defence Force members who were posted to Fort Sam Houston. They welcomed us all. Maureen and Dennis travelled to Australia on two occasions where Maureen was a keynote speaker at the ADF Nursing Officers Nursing Conferences in Canberra.

Maureen served in the United States Nurse Corps for 8 years during which time she undertook her training to become a Nurse Anaesthetist. Following her discharge from the military she worked at the Veteran's Hospital in San Antonio, Texas for 15 years. She was awarded her PhD in 1999. She and her devoted husband Dennis celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary last year and you can see the smile on her face as she enjoyed the evening with great family and friends.

Her funeral was conducted on 23 February following which she was was provided with an Honour Guard at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.

You will see from the following photos how the ceremony unfolded when she arrived at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery .

Maureen will always be remembered for her smile and warmth. She has touched the lives of so many people and she has left a lasting legacy of caring.

It has been a privilege to be her friend and we miss her terribly but take some comfort in knowing she is finally at peace. She will remain in our hearts forever.

Ross and Bev

Australia Day Continued

Hi Again,

We hope you all had a great Australia Day. We celebrated on the 29th and followed up the next day with an Australia Day Skate. Back home preparations for the day generally include mowing the grass before everyone turns up - over here it is a little different but achieves the same aim.

Our friends all turned up ready to party and did themselves proud. Note Donna and Mike with appropriate headwear.

A top time was had by all and just like Australia, after a period of time the groups separated with the boys plus Barb staying in the kitchen to talk men's stuff and,

the girls moving to the sunroom to talk football or something similar.

At some stage during the evening a question was asked about Australia and with the only map to hand being a mouse pad, a geography lesson ensued and now everyone knows where Darwin is.

It was decided during the evening that we would enjoy the outdoors the next day with a skate or a walk in the snow. Kathy, Debbie and Bev all rugged up and kitted out with snowshoes ready to head off into the wilderness.

A top time was had by all and many forgotten muscles made their prescence known the following day.

We would like to finish this post with a great pic of our lovely next door neighbours Suzanne, James and young Evan.

Until next time stay safe and well.

Cheers Ross and Bev

Australia Day 2011

Hello to you all and we hope that you have a great Australia Day (our 3rd in Canada).  We are having friends over on 29 Jan to have a belated celebration.  So while all of our Australian famiy and friends will celebrate our National Day in the heat with the trademark flies and the not so trademark flood clean up, we in Fredericton will be having well below freezing temperatures and snow flurries.



We donned our Mambo shirts for the occassion but it is worth noting that while it is 21C inside the house it is minus 24C outside with snow falling to add to the 30+cm already on the ground. We feel fortunate to have experienced this winter wonderland for two years now.

This may well be our last Australia Day in the snow and we will really miss the white winters.

Please have a great national day and stay safe.

Love Bev and Ross

  

Pond Hockey

Hi All,

Our pond has become so popular as a pond hockey venue that we thought that you should see a short snippet of the evolution of the site.

First is a shot of the pond in summer that I am sure most of the regular readers are familiar with.

This photo shows our fantastic young next door neighbours Suzanne and James who early in 2010 started clearing the snow off the frozen pond but due to many difficulties with weather nobody got to skate on it.

But this year the weather has been more favourable and a team of youngsters ( younger than us anyway) led by across the road neighbour Andrew Pyne took on the challenge to clear the snow, attempted to scrape the ice smooth and make use of it.

After much work the team managed not only to smooth the ice but start to improve it by scraping and flooding with water overnight to provide an improved playing surface.

Andrew (with a significant amount of help from dad Doug) has been the lead in the work and is seen here watering down.

The surface continues to improve and is flooded after use most days.

Then on Friday mother nature decided to take a hand and dumped 20+ cm of snow on the area in what from our Aussie point of view can only be described as close to a white out.

Not to be daunted our team arrived on Saturday complete with snow blower to begin restoration. As you can see a significant amount of snow had to be moved.

By Sunday morning, after what can only be described as a heroic effort by Doug and Andrew on Saturday the pond was back to playable standard and this shot was taken only two hours ago.

 

All the youngsters and some of the not so young appear to enjoy the pond and we are so pleased to be able to help facilitate all the fun. 

Tonight (Sunday 23rd) we have a wind chill warning for tonight and tomorrow morning of lower than -38C  so there is not much doubt that the surface will stay solid.

We wish all the best to our friends and family at home who are caught up in the flood crisis or its consequences.

Please stay safe and well.

Love Bev and Ross

Connecticut Visit & Wedding

Welcome to 2011.

Fom 29 December 2010 to 3 January 2011 we had the opportunity to travel to Connecticut to attend the wedding of Jessica and Christopher which we will talk about later in this update.  The trip to Connecticut from Fredericton is about an 8 -10 hour drive particularly at this time of the year with falls of snow which can render the roads inaccessable.  We were fortunate that we had good weather with sun and no snow falls to worry about.

We took the oppportunity to overnight in Freeport, Maine which is rich in history, nature, the arts, and the home to numerous shopping outlets.  For more information on Freeport have a look at http://www.freeportusa.com/ 

From Freeport to Middleton, Connecticut it is a short drive of 3 hours, so after booking in to the Crown Plaza we were off exploring.  As many of you will know Ross has a passion for trains so one of the first areas we visited was Essex Train station which in the summer months conducts combined river and train trips.  When you live in a country that really has a winter with lots of snow many of the activities are seasonal such as river trips. 



Essex is a pretty little town and is located on the coast, the following two photos show what the harbour looks like as it starts to freeze and what a beach looks like with snow on the ground.  This is something that we never see in Australia.

On New Years day we travelled to the Mohegan Sun Casino and donated $30.00 to the Casino's coffers.  The building is amazing and it was well worth paying a visit.  To see more of this Native American casino have a look at  http://www.mohegansun.com/

The reason for the visit to Middleton was to attend the wedding of Jessica and Christopher.  Christopher is the son of our dear friends Regina and Jim Hess whom we visited in Georgia last year.  Justin, their other son is married to Lizzy, the daughter of our great friends Maureen and Dennis who live in San Antonio, Texas.    The wedding service was conducted at St. Pius X Church, Middleton and you will see just how beautifully the church was decorated.  

We donned on our Sunday best for the occassion.

The bride and groom looked outstanding and there was great joy as we wish them every happiness for a long, happy and loving life together. 

The wedding reception was held at The Wadsworth Mansion at Long Hill Estate.  This is an amazing old home and to see more of this impressive venue have a look at http://www.wadsworthmansion.com/ . The band that provided music at the reception was called Shaded Soul and was one of the best bands we have ever heard. Their website is worth a look and is at http://www.shadedsoulband.com/
              

In lieu of wedding favours, a donation was made for The Matthew Freeman Project: Pens and Papers for Peace.  The website is http://www.freemanproject.org/ This donation was to honor the memory of their brother in law Captain Matthew Freeman who was married to Theresa, Christopher's sister.  Matthew was

killed in Afganistan in 2010. 

The wedding was a great opportunity to spend quality time with our dear friends Regina, Jim and Justin and some of their extended family.  We also got to meet Jessica's family who were very gracious and made us feel right at home which is the way of our American friends.

Until our next update we wish you a happy new year, may it be filled with good fellowship, good health and laughter.

Love Ross and Bev