Topanga

Chasing Blue on Fox TV out of Austin, TX

2010-08-24T13:41:00.002-03:00

My daughter, Maggie's band, Chasing Blue.

Winter in Wonderland

2010-01-07T12:19:00.002-04:00

Looking out my backdoor earlier this week.

Brag brag brag.

2009-10-06T15:48:00.003-03:00

My daughter's band down in Nashville this past weekend at the IBMA Showcase.
Chasing Blue

Old Man Luedecke

2009-09-27T10:20:00.004-03:00

Every fall for the past 5 years my town hold a great folk festival called "Deep Roots" which is growing bigger and stronger every year. This performer is Old Man Luedecke who recently won a Juno (Canada's answer to a Grammy) for "Best Roots Traditional Solo Album of the Year." His music is like a cup of hot cocoa wrapped up in a warm blanket to me. These clips are of him playing at the Wolfville Farmer's Market on September 26th.

Gingerbread man from Shrek

2009-09-21T08:51:00.004-03:00

I think Jenea was referring to this guy:

A gentleman of impeccable taste, no doubt, as given witness to by the loss of his legs and a hungry looking fellow behind him.

Now somebody with the same idea I have altered the image to give the hungry fellow a "Hannibal Lecter" look.

"I do wish we could chat longer, but... I'm having an old friend for dinner. Bye. "

It just Occurred To Me

2009-09-19T12:33:00.002-03:00

Does it send the wrong message to my dog that her treats are shaped like people?

What would do you if....

2009-09-15T14:28:00.000-03:00

.. the makers of spam managed to actually use the name of somebody you knew in real life on one of their emails? Imagine the coincidence if I actually knew Audrie Phung!

From the "WTH" File

2009-09-10T20:01:00.000-03:00

My husband and I just got home from a short vacation in Bermuda. JetBlue was having a seat-sale and since we were in Boston we decided we'd buy some cheap tickets to Bermuda. While we were there we took the ferry on Sept. 4th to the Dockyard where there was a cruise ship docked. The cruise ship was called the "Norwegian Dawn" and it was out of New York.

I took a couple of quick snapshots with my pocket camera as the ferry went past the cruise ship. It was only on closer inspection that I discovered the cruise ship's dirty little secrets:

A well endowed man in his boxer briefs.

But the "piece de resistance" is this shot of two women standing on their balcony with their inflatable doll propped up in the corner behind them. Feeling secure that their boy-toy is hidden from the chamber-maids as they make up the room but completely oblivious to the fact that their 'giddy-up' flotation device is visible to everyone on shore.

Hurricane.. Round 2

2009-08-27T15:17:00.000-03:00

This time we're having a showdown with Danny.

Make haste Danny-boy. We're got a flight to Boston on Sunday morning and a Red Sox game to take in that afternoon. You need to get out of our way.

Hurricane Bill

2009-08-22T09:34:00.001-03:00

I feel Bill's hot, moist breath on the back of my neck.

New England Trip

2009-06-12T16:15:00.001-03:00

We recently drove from Nova Scotia to visit our daughter who goes to school in Boston. While the weather wasn't the greatest the scenery couldn't be beat. We took the back roads and saw parts of Maine and Massachusetts off the beaten track. But we did our share or touristy things too.

To be honest I have no idea where this was taken. Somewhere on Highway 1 in Maine.

I took this one by sticking the camera out the car's sunroof.

This is Camden, Maine. Location for things like Peyton Place and the opening for the soap, Passions.

Behind Camden there's a knobular mountain with a campground at the bottom and a park at the top. You have to pay to drive to the top and the sign at the gate lets it be known that tourists are getting gouged. They don't seem ashamed at all that tourists have to pay more than the locals and when we drove up to the gate the lady took one look at us and knew we weren't locals. Isn't that some kind of "profiling"? Anyhow, this structure was up there.

We spent the first night in Freeport, Maine at the Hampton Inn. Incredibly thin walls! We had to switch rooms because our first room's neighbour was hacking and coughing so much we couldn't hear our TV. If you go to Freeport, eat at the China Inn restaurant and have the shrimp with cashews dish. It's so incredibly good!! All the food there is delicious.

Just outside Freeport there's the Desert of Maine. It's a big patch of glacial silt left beind by the last ice age. Very cool. The sand is so fine it's like flour.

We stopped in at the Clay Hill Farms. It's a restaurant in Ogunquit, Maine. They have incredible gardens and birdhouses there. Beautiful spot.

The beach at Ogunquit is also beautiful. Too bad it wasn't a warmer day.

Next we went to Raven Hill Orchard in East Waterboro, Maine where we saw a terrific bluegrass band called "The Goodtime String Band". They were there to help open the season at the orchard. They sell all sort of fresh things there. It's an organic farm.

This goat was very friendly and seemed to say "Please take me with you"

We wandered around aimless without a hotel reservation and we happened upon this spot... The Colony Hotel in Kennebunkport, Maine. It required that we stay there!!

It was just down the road from Bush Sr's house.

Kennebunkport's cool. They made old fishing shacks into trendy little stores.

Next we went to Salem, MA. We stayed at another historical hotel called The Hawthorne Hotel. Not quite as fancy as the Colony, it was still pretty nice.

I think we're hooked on the old hotels. The rooms are so different from normal hotels.
Salem is a tourist trapped extraordinaire. We had spent our budget of touristy fun money on other things so we didn't get to go into the House of Seven Gables.

..but we did splurge on the wax museum. I'm still not sure why.

It was pouring down rain when we took a day trip to Gloucester but we had to see the Fisherman's Memorial since it's been in so many TV shows and movies. Captains Courageous, The Perfect Storm, and who could forget when Endora cast a spell on Darrin Stephens and put him in this statue on the TV show "Bewitched"?

Next we drove to Rockport, MA. Even in the pouring rain Rockport is one of the most colourful places I've ever been.

Our last stop on the road to Boston was Marblehead where the streets are windy and the houses sit right on them. Someday we'll go back to Rockport and Marblehead on sunny day.

We've been to Boston so many times now I didn't take many pictures but our daughter took us to the Rose Garden near where she lives out near Fenway. The sun came out and it was lovely.

Grand Sirenis Resort, Mayan Riviera, Mexico

2009-05-19T09:41:00.000-03:00

Back in January 2008 we took a little trip to Mexico to the Grand Sirenis Beach Resort on the Mayan Riviera.
It was a last minute trip just to get away from the Canadian winter. The resort was pretty good. I would say it was well run, well appointed with pretty much anything you could need but the word I could best use to describe its decor would be 'minimalist'. The lobby and common areas were very cavernous, stony and without much variety in texture. But this might make a lot of sense on the Yucatán Peninsula where hurricanes like to frequent. The wind and water could go right through the building without causing too much damage (I suppose).

It is a wide spread resort with many of these buildings. The main lobby and dining room were off in another direction, across a sort of swampy jungle area. It was a fair walk to get there and if you were in the building at the far end, you wanted to make sure you had everything you needed for a day at the beach before leaving your room because that was quite a walk too.

What do Canadians do when they travel? They build an "inukshuk", an Inuit cairn that says "Now the people will know we were here." This one is made out of coral.

The beach was pretty good and there was a reef further out within swimming distance. It was great for snorkeling.

There were giant holes in the bathroom wall. There's the bathtub. There's the hole. There's the bed. There's my husband.

From the other direction through the hole you can see the toilet which, although was in a little stall, was only guarded by a loosely swing opaque glass door which was not really quite private enough. Shower is next to the toilet with the same sort of opaque glass door. Down the hall there where you see my daughter making a hasty retreat is the door leading into the bathroom. There was a lock on the door to the bathroom in spite of that huge gaping hole.

Various scenes from Nova Scotia

2009-04-08T15:57:00.000-03:00

Blue Rocks, Nova Scotia.

This is where "Delores Claiborne" was filmed.

Chester, Nova Scotia

Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia

Freedom 55. This dory has retired.

Peggy's Cove.

It's Continuing Mission, To Explore Strange New Worlds...

2008-12-07T11:24:00.000-04:00

One of our favourite ornaments.
It will be 15 years old this Christmas.

Lower St. Lawrence River

2008-09-21T13:08:00.001-03:00

Boston

2008-09-08T20:09:00.000-03:00

I like Boston. If I had to live in a city I'd likely chose Boston. This is the Prudential Center from our hotel room this past weekend. We were on the 21 floor of the Sheraton. There was still a whole lot of the Pru above us.

I like the way the light and shadow plays on this zoomed shot.

All Things Lost

2008-07-20T20:28:00.001-03:00

I have had "The Numbers" taped to my computer monitor since Season 2. I fear that removing them will result in dire consequences.

Strawberries!!

2008-07-08T20:25:00.000-03:00

I have now successfully jammed or frozen 32 quart boxes of strawberries! Yea!!

In The World of Flowers, One Bunch Rises to The Top

2008-07-05T20:57:00.001-03:00

For no explicable reason, one branch of our rose bush has grown freakishly taller than the rest.

Spoooky!!

This Is Not A Duck

2008-06-23T11:59:00.000-03:00

It's a Great Blue Heron. That's the St. Lawrence River he's standing in.

Gone Fishin'

2008-06-14T21:58:00.001-03:00

In Keeping With the Duck Theme

2008-06-04T19:29:00.000-03:00

These cool ducks landed in our pool for a nice refreshing bath this morning. They were brave as anything. A couple of guys were working in the yard when they came in and alerted me to it. They stuck around for about 30 minutes and then took off again.

Duck Duck ..... GOOSE!!!

2008-05-19T20:07:00.000-03:00

Humans like to think we're better than the 'wild kingdom'. We like to think we're civilized... domesticated.. that we think on a higher plane of consiousness and have formed a society based on respect and fairness.

What is it about this photo that is familiar with our society? Is the individual's self-proclaimed right to take something which does not belong to him? Is it the cold disregard to the discomfort his actions has caused in the other? Maybe it's the blatant sexual harassment in the workplace that's familiar? Or perhaps the female's shock at the sudden intrusion on her personal space and the attack which has left her sore, indignant and in obvious mental anguish? Her lack of ability to protect herself from a much larger and stronger opponent has made her vulnerable to such attacks. There is little she can do to prevent such an occurrence from happening in a world where she is weaker and smaller yet has something others desire. She is surrounded by those who justify simply waddling up to her and taking what they rationalize as being theirs simply because they think they have a stronger and more desperate need for it than she does.

How different are we, really?

Here's Something You Don't See Every Day

2008-05-09T13:49:00.001-03:00

Well, actually this is something you never see in Canada. A fallout shelter. I spotted this one at Faneuil Hall Market Place during a visit to Boston earlier this week. I suppose it's some sort of throwback from the Cold War, when people even had bomb shelters buried in their own backyards. I wonder if this place is being maintained and if it still has fully stocked shelves of food and supplies? Or maybe there's some rusty and suspiciously puffy tins of rotting army rations on the shelves. Even the Twinkies would be stale after all this time!! If you look closely at the sign you'll see the shelter offers safety for a mere 100 souls. As I surveyed the area I noticed there were a few more than 100 people lingering about. After all this time is somebody in that building trained in selecting which people get to enter the fallout shelter? Would it be a case of women and children? Let the men stay outside to vapourize in the searing flash of a nuclear fission? So, think about it; there's a nuclear war raging on outside and inside the world's fallout shelters huddle as many women and children as they can hold. The vast majority of people to survive a nuclear attack would be women and children. So after the war, then what? The women and children crawl out of the hole, all bleary-eyed and pale, looking out on a brave new world where the cities have been flattened around them and the soil is practically glowing in radioactivity. What would you do?

If I were there during a nuclear attack, I think I would forgo the option to enter the shelter. It's not that I have a death wish or anything. I very much enjoy life and look forward to a bright and happy future. But I wouldn't want to live through a nuclear war and the ensuing consequences following. Instant vapourization is preferable.

Nowadays I notice that people place their faith in much more simple means; plastic sheets and duct tape. Yea, that'll do it. Safety in plastic wrap. I realize people worry less about a huge nuclear attack these days and instead are more worried about dirty bombs and biological attacks. I'm not exactly sure how effective plastic and duct tape would be at preventing these threats from entering your homes but plastic does keep the meat at the supermarket fresh and clean even during cold and flu season when people are hacking and sneezing over the meat counter, so surely it would work to keep people safe, right? If Will Smith had used plastic sheets to wrap his house up in the movie "I Am Legend" would he still be alive now? Maybe the flesh eating mutants wouldn't have been able to sniff him down if his house was encased in plastic. Now that's something to think about!

I remember a while back there was a TV commercial for some brand of plastic wrap where they had wrapped giant chunks of meat in one brand of plastic wrap and another chunk in the competitor's brand. They then placed both neatly plastic wrapped chunks of meat in a tiger's cage and filmed the action. One chunk of meat was apparently untouched because the tiger couldn't smell the meat through the plastic. However, the tiger hoed right in to the other plastic wrapped meat, devouring it with careless abandonment. In small print, beneath the tiger chewing into the plastic wrapped meat was printed a disclaimer that stated something to the effect of "No plastic was consumed by the tiger". Now, maybe you had to see this commercial to appreciate it but I think most people know what a tiger looks like when he's eating a hunk of raw meat. Nobody is going to walk up to it and say "Excuse me. Allow me to remove the plastic wrapper from your delicious rump roast" and manage to walk away without looking like Roy Horn. That tiger on the commercial ate that plastic wrap. But that's the beauty of plastic and that's why we have faith that it will protect us if we duct tape it over our windows and doors. The versatility and strength of duct tape is world renown and if a tiger can ingest plastic and later poop it out without it being damaged beyond a few teeth marks, think how wonderful a job it'll do at keeping us safe against all manner of attack! If it can survive the bowels of a tiger it can survive pretty much anything. So have faith, America! At 3:00am, when that phone rings 3M and the Dow Chemical Company will be there to answer the call!

briiing... briiing... briiing.. click

2008-04-04T19:50:00.000-03:00

Hi! You have reached Topanga's blog. I'm not here right now so please leave a message at the beep and maybe I'll get back to you.

BEEEEEEEEP!

I Wont Blog So Don't Ask Me

2008-03-05T10:54:00.000-04:00

I wont Blog
So don't ask me
I wont Blog
So don't Ask Me
I won't blog, Blogger, with you
My mind won't let my hands blog the way they should do .

Simply said, I don't have a lot to say. It works out well because I know life's too short to spend reading some stranger's "musings". Believe me, when I have something to say that's actually worth hearing, I'll make plenty sure you hear it. For now, live your life and for God's sake, go outside and get some exercise and fresh air. You've got this greenish pallor from spending too much time on the computer.