September 23rd Update

I can't talk about the beginning of the school year quite yet. The reason I have been avoiding this 'Blog' is that I just don't want to talk about it. All I will say for now is that during the first 13.5 days of actual school (days with students in class), I have had a bad cold for 5-6 of those days, a stiff neck for 1-2 of those days, and I took half a day off yesterday because I was nauseous and had a sore stomach - and I will blame it all on stress - not a virus, no bacterial infection, but STRESS!!!!

OK - back to my real reason for writing.

We have had a warmer than normal September here and have enjoyed some outdoor activities, such as going out to the firing range and taking a drive on a couple of occasions. Our first drive out of town was spectacular! I can't post any pictures of that trip right now because we didn't have the digital camera at the time, but the leaves were gorgeous and we found a few nice spots to explore. We came across one spot where the road ended at a small lake. We took out our lunch and ate at the water's edge. After lunch I explored the shoreline and found a few interesting invertebrates swimming in the water and 'hanging out' under rocks. These all indicated good water quality! (We are really curious to know if there are any fish there!) We will have to get back out there and drop a line in the water before it freezes.

A few nights ago we drove out to the Environment Canada Meterological Station. This is where weather balloons are released and where the temperature and other related information is recorded. I managed to do some berry picking while we were there. The people here call them cranberries, but they are not like the cranberries in Ontario. I believe, in the south, these are referred to as partridgeberries or lingonberries. Either way, I made Maple Apple Oatmeal Muffins this afternoon and added some cranberries to some of the muffins and they were great!!!! Here are some pictures of the berry picking excursion and the final product.

The other reason for this destination was to take some pictures using our new digital camera. The view was great and we got some great shots of both the scenery and the vegetation. I loved the colours of the leaves in some of the photographs - still green on one tree, with another right beside it already having turned yellow. I especially loved the contrasting colour of the rosehips (the large red berries seen in a few pictures). Still there were others with shades of oranges and reds. It was nice to get out of the apartment and away from work, if only to remind us of the beauty that exists in this place. Sometimes we just need a little reminder!