Jessica has made the cover of HERE

Take a peek at Jessica's first "cover shot" (She's the one with the Dreadlocks). Here is a province wide, weekly Urban newspaper. A talented friend of Jessica's, John Houdin, took the picture for the paper. Her look is hippy and I think that came across. So serious, but gorgeous.
We also attended a show at The Cellar on Saturday night where Jessica's band, Gordon Gets Lost, put on a great show. Such great talent in such a small family.
Take a peek at the inside of the paper for her interview - HERE

Keltie's audition - part 2

Keltie had her audition this morning. For her reflections on the event check out her Blog. From her Mom's point of view, she looked so confident and professional. I am so proud of the way she managed the stress of the situation. The only drawback is that we have to wait until they audition the rest of the country before she hears about the next step.

Keltie has an Audition!!

Tomorrow is a big day for our DD, Keltie. She has an audition for the National Theatre School. Acting and theatre have been a life long passion for her and I just know that they will be amazed by her talent. Break a leg sweetie, - Give 'em hell!!

Some pictures from Daytona Bike Week

Her chest reads "Here's looking at you" with mirrors on her nipples. Classy, eh?
This lovely young lady was serving beer to all those thirsty bikers. In truth, she could have been serving warm, dirty water, and they would still buy.
Just one example of the great bikes that were on display. Rob and I drove over for Saturday afternoon, just to look around and have lunch on the beach. It was a great day.

Back from Vacation

Rob and I are back from vacation and are having some difficulty getting "back into the groove". Eating out at resturants and sitting around the pool was wonderful and a week was not quite enough. Anyway, it's back to the grind and, lets face it, Spring is just around the corner, I hope.
I have started another Blog, to highlight my passion for yarns and needlework. Check it out at Ragged Point Yarn and Other Stories.

We are still here in Sunny FLA! but Keltie has "pet problems"

We are still enjoying the sunshine here is Orlando. The weather has been amazing, the sunshine perfect and the temperature just right. Rob and Jackie were on Course at Simcom for most of the week so I have found myself a job to keep me busy. I am busy with my new job - Poolside Chair Inspector. It's a very demanding position requiring constant attention to sunscreen application, sun strength and angle, chair comfort and turn over. It's a tough job but someone has to do it. The following day I did try another job as Evaluator of the Afternoon Nap program and I am happy to report that this activity in highly under rated and I will recommend that it become part of our everyday work period (20 minute maximum)

Got an email from Keltie yesterday and she had a bit of a rough morning. Instead of relaying the circumstances I will just copy the email:

Hey Mom and Dad!
I'm so happy your having fun! Both of you deserve this away time together so badly!Anne Darrah wrote:

"...I know the animals will be happy with you there...."

I have a feeling the animals miss you though. Let me tell you a little story about how I came to call in sick for work today although I am not ill at all(though I am a little wearied out ).

First off I'll spoil the story for you by telling you the ending - everything is ok now.

5am - Outlaw wakes me up to let him out to pee. This is the first time he's woken me up this week. Usually I have to nudge him to wake him up around 7:30 when I get up. (In hind sight I wonder if he knew something was going to happen?) I figured it was bound to happen at some point this week so I let him out side to pee and he comes right back inside and I go right back to sleep.

7:30am - the alarm goes off and I get up and go out to the living room to nudge Outlaw outside for a bit and I go to open the front door...the door knob won't move...it will lock and unlock but the door latch itself is firm in place and not going anywhere. So after fidgeting with the front door knob and fidgeting with outlaw and rugs to get outlaw out the back door and a few calls to Norm Outlaw finally goes out the back door.

Problem solved? not quite. When Outlaw tries to get back up on the back deck one of his back legs doesn't make it. He bugs out and runs around to the front door as if to say "it's the front door or no door". Obviously I have to convince him differently since the front door is not an option. I create a step up to the back deck with the Rubbermaid container with his food in it...he's still not going for it. That's when I notice his front paw, the side nail must have caught on something because it was bleeding. So I panic as is my way and call the vet. They tell me to put pressure on it and if it doesn't stop bleeding to bring him in.

I quickly realize that he is in pain and really worked up and he is not letting me anywhere near that paw. So I call the vet and tell them that I'm coming down in 10-15 minutes depending on how long it takes for me to get the dog in the car. so I get the towels laid out in the back seat of the car and I open the door for outlaw to get in. He was eager to get in, I have a feeling that he knew this was the voyage to fix his paw, all he needed was a little backend lift and he was in. So I take him down to the vet and with the help from on of the people there and a few mats we get Outlaw in the room and we wait for the vet. 39$ later Outlaw comes out with all freshly clipped nails and a bandage around his paw where his nail broke. I just have to keep an eye in it for swelling over the next four days, if there's swelling I just take the bandage off. If there's no swelling I take the bandage off after four days.

I put Outlaw back into the car...he just hops right up...no help needed at all. Once we're back up at the house I left Outlaw in the car until I can find a way for him to get inside. Eventually I discovered that put a runner at the end of the garage and He doesn't seem to have a problem with the garage floor...well at least no problem when there's no car in the garage. I got him up the garage steps and into the house through the mud room! He's now calm and relaxing in the living room.

So now I've decided that he pretty much gets to stay inside all day until Norm comes out here around 430pm to see if he can fix the door...I mean Outlaw would have been inside all day if I had gone to work anyways and at this point I'm so drained that I couldn't fathom going to work. Through all of this I called Norm numerous times to see what I should do(note to self I have to buy him something as a thank you...maybe some beer?) and he was good support to have there.

So I have a feeling that Outlaw will be happy to have competent people in the house again when you guys get back. And I would imagine the cats aren't too happy with me since I had them holed up in the mud room when I was trying to get Outlaw out the back door and they were holed up in your room while I got Outlaw in through the garage the were meowing a lot but I think they're over it.

11am - Things are doing ok here now. And hopefully Norm will be able to fix the door knob on the front door this evening.

Love you lots! I'm hoping this story made you laugh because looking back on I'm laughing pretty hard myself.

Keltie
All is now well, Norm fixed the door (what would we do without that Man!!)

We are going to Old Town to meet with George and Linda, old friends from Saint John. He is a retired pilot so I am sure there will be lots of aviation talk....that means I can sneek away to shop !!

I'm in Florida!!

I am in sunny Orlando for a week of sun and doing nothin' much. Rob is here on his annual refresher course and I tagged along to provide some diversion....actually I came just to be a mooch. Great flight down. You meet the most interesting people when you fly.
In the Fredericton airport, the flight was delayed for an hour and I struck up a conversation with a lady who had driven up from Saint John to put her daughter's friend on a flight back to the states. It turns out that she works as a nurse at the Regional hospital. Anyway, we talked back and forth and when I realized that she worked on OB/Gyn I asked if she knew Diane Jarvis(MacCullum). She started to laugh and said that she was just thinking how much I reminded her of Diane. I explained that Di and I went way back and it was the highest compliment to hear that we have similar mannerisms.
When landing in Boston, a lady named Marjorie Atkinson from Freddy was in a wheelchair and asked to put her suitcase on the trolly that I was pushing. She was catching the same flight as I was hoping to get on ( I was on stand by) so we stuck together. We had a great chat and I found out that her father owned Harvey Studios in Fredericton and SJ and she and her husband, Ted had run it for many years. She was very interested in Rob's interest in photography, especially doing Black and White prints in his own dark room. She went on to tell me how she did all the hand tinting of the prints and how it took days to complete these. She still has some glass negatives and has offered to show Rob some of her treasures when we get back home. She was a wealth of knowledge, the type that may be lost if we don't learn from our knowledgable seniors. She was a treat to listen to.
I helped Marjorie get a wheelchair to get on this flight and helped out at the gate. Even though I was #4 on the list for a seat, the ticket agent thanked me for my helped and assured me that she would get me a good seat. I replied that any seat would be good. A couple of minutes later, she brought me over a boarding pass, before the others on the list. I guess being helpful pays off sometimes.
Anyway, Rob is coming down on a later flight so I'm just putting in time relaxing in the hotel lobby. Wow, it's great to relax. I'll keep you all posted and hopfully post some pictures.

Brrrrr it is soooo cold.

Winter is chugging along here though there is not much snow, in Fredericton at least. Rob and I were in Saint John yesterday and we had a snow storm sneek up on us and really made the driving difficult.
My aunt, Doll (Doris Jane), died on the weekend and yesterday was the funeral. It was the first time my Dad was out of the house in six months or more. He did amazing for 92 years young but I am sure that the wild drive home took a couple of days off his life (it sure did mine). Backing out of the driveway after the reception, the truck slide into another truck bumper and did only minor damage (I thought Rob would cry right there on the spot). We continued on down a very steep, winding road and if not for my dear Hubby's superior driving skills, would have ended up wrapped around a tree. As it was, the ABS system screaming, we made it down the hill and continued on to deliver Dad home. He may now be like the ground hog and not stick his head outside for at least 8 weeks or more. By the time we reached Fredericton, there was no snow and the sky was clear. Oh, Maritime weather.....if you don't like it, just wait a few minutes and it will change.

Keltie's Directorial Debut

Keltie's play debuts this week! We are so excited for her. As you can see from the poster, it is a racey play about Lysistrata, whose attempt to stop war takes the form of getting all the women to refuse sexual favours for their men. What a wonderful concept! As you can imagine, there are lots of humourous situations and howdy jokes. Sounds like great fun.
This is the first play that she co-directed and she has learned much from the experience. (Mainly, how difficult directing it!) I will keep you up to date with how things go. Check back for more live pictures. 

New Year's Eve at the Back Nine

What at a good lookin' group! Here we are celebrating New Years'05. What else can you ask for... good food, good drinks and good friends.
Stephen and Cheryl Smith, Paul and Diane Hawkins, Rob, Norm and Trish Seely, myself and Keltie. We followed dinner with a chilly walk back to Seely's to ring in the New Year.

Rob and I were home by 1:30 am...does that mean we're getting old?

Most of this group came to our place for Brunch on the 1st. Good way to begin 2006. 

Heather and Lauren at the annual Keyes' Skating party. This is Lauren's 3rd year joining us in the fun. What a couple of cuties! 

Annual Keyes' Skating party

On December 27th, we travelled to Saint John to join my sister's family for the annual Keyes Family Skating Party at Harbour Station. There was a super turn out with most of the children and grandchildren there. There was a sea of tiny, wobbly skaters among some wobbly, bigger skaters as well, myself included. Rob got a new pair of skates for Christmas but didn't get them sharpened in time so he wasn't at his best. As for myself, this is usually my only skating opportunity of the year, so I has tentative at best. I had borrowed Jess's hockey skates and have to admit they were pretty comfortable.
Connie and Sean extend an invitation to all then treat us to Vitos pizza in the lounge following the skate. I hate to admit that this is one of the few chances throughtout the year that I get to see many of the family. Upcoming big news - Connie Anne and Jamie are expecting in the spring and ......it's TWINS. This will be the 3rd set of twin grandchildren for Connie and Sean. We wish them all the best.

Christopher and Ed

Here is Christopher in his new Goalie gear. Another "great one" in the making. Ed's a very proud Daddy. 

Boxing Day

The whole family went to Al and Norma's on Boxing day and had a wonderful time eating, playing games and just getting up to date with all the cousins we hadn't seen in a few months. Everyone is doing great.
Rob and I collected information from all the family members and made up a crossword puzzle with everyone's answers included. It was alot of fun, (except for a couple of technical problems that resulted in some answers being misspelled). It was wonderful to see everyone.