Well, I didn't blog my holiday on a day to day basis, but here are a few photos and some of the highlights.
First of all, food. I ate too much, of course, and now have some extra pounds on, in addition to the pounds I gained while writing the comps. Let's see: there was caribou sausage, seal sausage, fish tongues, fish cheeks and other varieties of cod, salt turbot, lobsters, seal flippers, moose(?), crab, mussels and a bunch of other delicious stuff I've forgotten. And blueberries: my sister Sharon and her husband Paul picked lots. Here are the results of one of several trips, and the baking that ensued.
Another haul has been slated for blueberry wine. The early and plentiful blueberries and dogberries (mountain ash to the rest of the world) are supposed to be a sign of a hard winter, as are the large buds on some of the trees.
Next, the kids, my great-niece and -nephews.
Jacob (five and a half) learned to his delight that pigeons will eat from you hand if you hold it steady. (The seed was actually meant for the park ducks, but the pigeons know a good opportunity when they see one.) Note the cool yellow-dyed bangs from his "ready-for-school" haircut. Jacob started French-immersion kindergarten last week, and, by all accounts, loves it.
Laurel (three and a half), his sister, is bright and articulate, and will probably give him a run for his money in a few years.
And Jack, their cousin (three and a half), is "all boy", and heavily into dinosaurs at the moment, and the Ninja Turtles. He goes to "ninja school" (a.k.a. kiddie tae kwon do).
They're all great kids, and lots of fun to talk to and play with at that age.
The rest of the family (well, a few of them, anyway). My mom is shortly moving into a great assisted living facility, and is looking forward to the change. They help out with the physical needs of seniors like her (she's 85); her mind is still as sharp as ever (she wiped out my brother in poker while I was there). Here she is with her three children.
My sister and her husband have put a huge extension onto their house, and will finish the inside over the next winter or so. Paul likes to build things, and was working on the new deck while I was there - notice the classy rails.
The main living area is about double in size - great for family visiting and bunking - and there's a basement now, too. Yet it still has a comfortable cottage/cabin feel to it, despite the mod cons - lots of nature around, trees, lake and so on.
What I did while I was there (beside eating): goof off, mostly, and just relax. Barge cruising and swimming in the pond (Newfoundlanders call a lake a pond).
Having fun with family. Making pipe cleaner insects and paper bats with glowing eyes to hang along a trial in the woods after dark for the kids to find with flashlights (my sister's idea - the kids loved it).
And just sitting around the fire outside late into the night telling jokes, and other stuff.
All in all, a great holiday.