Welcome to Our Web Page
When this web page began more than twenty years ago, it described most of the activities of our whole family. Now that most of our children have flown the coop, it is mostly about what Ann and I (Dave) have been up to. I update it most weekends. We save all the messages over the past year in an Archive along with links to what we were doing ten and twenty years ago.
You can click on the pictures above to get a bit more information about each of us.
Sunday January 5
A belated Merry Christmas and
a Happy New
Year!!
David reading his nephews a story
We hope that you, like us, have had a very pleasant holiday season. Due to the snow storm the week before and the cold weather since, we had the first white Christmas here in many years. We had our traditional Christmas Eve gathering starting with the Grumpy Innkeeper at the church. The whole family was here this year plus Carl and Roxanne. The usual festive fare was on offer including salmon with Hollandaise, sushi, tourtière, salad, trifle and many types of cookies and and other nibblies. Of course, we played Town, River, Mountain with the usual good-natured bickering over the categories, though Ann missed out as she was keeping Andrew and Alex occupied. Roxanne tried to sneak Sadie's Bloomers through as the name of a fiddle tune but was caught out. Later in the evening, when waiting for the dishwasher to finish, I wrote a tune and called it Sadie's Bloomers so she won't have the same problem next year.
Christmas Day was very relaxing with Katy, Ben, Andrew and Alex staying put at Mona's. Morgan and I made Eggs Benedict for breakfast after which we opened presents. In the afternoon I roasted a turkey which we followed with a bûche Noël from Gourmandises Avenue. After dinner we played Town, River, Mountain again so that Ann could take part.
On Boxing Day, Katy and the boys came over for lunch (plenty of leftovers) after which we exchanged presents. I helped Alex build his Lego steamroller and then Ann, myself, Andrew and Alex then played Fire Engine Rescue and Funny Faces (Alex's new games).
On Friday, Ann and I went skating at the Emera Oval, had lunch at the Glitter Bean Café, then met Ingrid for the rehearsal of The Messiah at St. James Church. That meant being part of the choir preparing for a performance later that afternoon. Ann and I weren't quite sure what to expect but quickly found out that the singing expertise required was rather more than we had. I would have been completely lost if the guy next to me had not been quite competent. However, it was still fun and it is expected that some of the participants will be out of their depth.
Saturday was my 70th birthday. I was treated to waffles for breakfast along with presents. In the late afternoon we had a small gathering of close friends and neighbours. The plan was to have a few musicians present but only Chapman and James from the Dave Brothers were able to attend. Nevertheless, we had fun playing some tunes, eating pizza and drinking beer.
The next morning, I was up at 4:30am to take Morgan and James to the airport. They left Halifax on time but were unable to land in Ottawa due to fog and ended up in Toronto booked on a flight late in the evening. Ann's sister Martha, who lives about 10 minutes from the airport, came and picked them up and let them hang out at her house for the day.
Alex is Christened
Meanwhile, back in Dartmouth, the rest of us were at Grace United for Alex's Christening. He and Andrew were perfectly behaved and we all had cake afterwards in the church gym. After we got home, Ann and I went to Kevin and Linda's for an hour or two of puzzling. They had printed the Globe & Mail's mammoth crossword which we all cooperated in completing. There were also jig-saw puzzles but we stuck to the crossword.
On New Year's Eve, Ann and I went to Dave and Donna's in the late afternoon for a gaming party with some of our cycling friends. We chatted, played Code Names and Taboo, and ate the various dishes that we had all brought until about 10pm after which we all dispersed. At home again, we watched the CBC countdown to the New Year before going to bed.
On Thursday, Katy, Andrew and Alex came for another visit. We played Fireman Engine Rescue and then Ann, Katy, Alex and I went for a walk around the neighbourhood ending up at the playground at Crichton Park School where we met Valerie. Hot chocolates all around when we got home.
Yesterday, Ann went to the lunch for the church ladies at the Palladium restaurant in Cole Harbour. She has organized this for several years now, with a pandemic hiatus. This year 26 attended and a good time was had by all.
Today we have spent putting most of the Christmas decorations away until next year.