PLANNING THE ANNUAL HALLOWEEN PARTY

Every year I throw a Halloween Party for Trinity to invite her friends to. It's always fun and every year we have a different theme.

Above shows a small amount of items I've purchased so far for this year's party.

Can you guess what the theme is?

I'll be sharring more as it gets closer to the date.

I'M GOING DOWN

It's true. I'm going down. No, not down into the ocean. Down in weight. It's Tues and that means it's Weight Watchers weigh in day for me.

I'm down another 2.6 lbs. That's a total of 18.6 lbs in 8 weeks. I'm pretty happy with that amount.

I have only one more week and then I'm joining the gym. I've made it a goal to join on the first of Oct.

I'm not looking forward to joining at all so I'm really trying to talk myself into this. I know I need to kick up my exercise and not just doing walking/hiking.

I hate to work out. I'm lazy. I admit it. So I'm going to come up with some kind of reward system to get me there. Not sure what yet.

Do you have any type of a reward system set up for you to stay on plan or exercise more often?

I know a nice weight loss should be reward enough for me but some how that just doesn't do it. Although it has been enough for me to get out and walk.

Maybe I'll get myself a nice fresh bunch of flowers for every week I reach my goal of working out. That would be nice to look at every day and know they are there because I did good.

Today is the first day of fall! Happy Fall to all of you! I love Fall. The weather is cooler, it means the holidays are just around the corner, time to change the decorations in the house and the crowds have all gone home.

However, it also means, candy, cookies, big dinners and all the wonderful fruits and veggies will be gone. So Fall can be hard when it comes to watching what one eats.

There will be great squash, apples, pears and nuts though. All good tastes and good for you.

So stick with me and we can get through the months ahead and come out like shinning stars.

ANNE OF GREEN GABLES

Our next stop on the cruise was to Prince Edward Island in Canada.

My choice of excursions lead me to a fun filled day all about Anne of Green Gables.

I knew I was going on this excursion, so before I left for my cruise, I watched the movie. I had heard about Anne of Green Gables all my life but I don't think I ever read one of the books or ever saw one of the movies before.

If you are like me and have not read or watched any of the Anne of Green Gables stories you must do so at once. It is very cute.

The bus picked us up at the pier and we had about a 40 minute ride to get to where we were to spend the day.

The views were so pretty. Around every corner there were sights that I've only seen in the movies. I believe Prince Edward Island has to be one of the prettiest places on earth.

Even as we drove through the neighborhoods, I noticed that every house was maintained perfectly. The houses were all different from each other, yet each one was just as lovely as the next.

The houses were all painted so nice and everyone had a garden that looked like they had just finished cleaning up. Not a thing was out of place.

As we pulled up to our stop, Anne, herself greeted us with a nice cold raspberry cordial.

If you know anything about the stories you will know that this is what Anne serves to her company. At first I was thinking it was a liquor but then I was thinking it couldn't be as this was a drink that kids drank.

I took a sip and it was actually like a raspberry soda. It was very very good and very refreshing.

After our cold drink we walked around inside this building that is really not much more then a gift shop. Anything and everything that had to do with Anne of Green Gable was in here.

We then walked outside. Just a little walk away was the house where Anne grew up.

Well in the story that is. In real life the author was raised here by her grandmother. Her mother had died when she was just a little girl and her father was unable to care for her so he gave her to her grandmother to raise.

A lot of her real life was mixed in with the stories she wrote.

Outside we got to do a horse drawn carriage ride around the grounds. It was fun. We rode around where they really would have back in the day.

Also, the grounds really made you feel like you were in the story as you were surrounded by the places she speaks about in the books.

The fields were so green and fresh smelling. A lake was off in the distance but very well within walking distance.

I could almost see Anne and her friends running around out there playing.

The house was small but you could tell there was a lot of love that had filled the walls inside.

The property is stilled owned by the authors family. They were there and showed us around.

This is a mirror that Lucy Montgomery (the author) used to look at as she ran downstairs to school every day.

It is at the top of the stairs landing. I almost felt as if you looked long enough maybe you could see her relextion stareing back at you.

These were some of the authors belongings. Now I don't know all the stories of Anne of Green Gables but I believe she talks about these items in one of the stories.

This is the view the author used to look out at and dream up her stories.

She talks about looking out this window in one of the stories also.

In the story she talks about "The Lake of Shimmering Waters" and this is the place that she was talking about.

Can't you just picture yourself sitting out here for hours with a nice cold drink and a book? I sure can.

Of course they have signs up everywhere telling you the spots that you are looking at so you know when you are a spot in one of the stories.

The day we were there was just beautiful. The sun was shinning and a slight breeze blowing. The lake was shimmering just the way she described it.

This is the house of Lucy's aunt and uncle. She would spend a lot of youth here. She wrote about this place too.

She loved going here and often talked about how it was one of the happiest places in the world.

She loved it so much she had her wedding in real life here. She did not get married until after her grandmother had died as she felt the need to stay home with her and take care of her. After all, her grandmother had given up her life to take care of Lucy.

This is where Lucy would sleep when she spent the night. This is the house she used as the inspiration for most of her stories. So in the books/movies this is where Anne of Green Gables slept.

In the books/movies Anne of Green Gables talks about walking down a path that she calls Lovers Lane. This is the actual path she was talking about.

I just had to walk down there myself. It was so pretty and peaceful. Also, great exercise.

The Scary Forest is also a place in the books/movies. This is the actually forest.

I can see how one would be scared and see shadows and scary things as you walked through here at night.

The author would really walk through this forest as she walked from her house with her grandmother to her aunt and uncle's house. She knew these woods like the back of her hands.

It was such a wonderful day I didn't want it to end. But, our time was up and we had to head back to the ship.

On the bus I sat next to this wonderful lady. Turns out she lives in San Diego, about an hour from me. She also had written a book on entertaining and table setting. She gave two classes on the ship the next two days.

She gave me an autographed copy of her book when I went to her class and asked me to email her when I got home so we could get together and have lunch or just spend the day together.

What a small world. Here I was on the East Coast in another country and I just happen to meet a lady that lives near me.

I bought several Anne of Green Gables items for Trinity. I got her a book, a doll, a cook book, stickers and even some of the raspberry cordial. She loved them.

As she was reading the book it dawned on her that the doll was the girl in the book. It was the first time she learned about Anne of Green Gables. Someday I hope to bring her to Price Edward Island so she can take in all the beauty for herself and make the story come to life.

Fortress of Louisbourg in Sydney Canada

Fortress of Louisbourg is a wonderful place to walk around. It is in Sydney Canada.

When you go there it is like stepping back into 1744 durning the French settlement in Canada.

Everyone is dressed in period clothes and reenacts what life was like back then.

When we first walked up to the buildings I noticed this guy sitting in the window.

He did not look down at us. He just sat there cleaning his weapons as he would have back in 1744
.

The cannons are still set up as they were back then.

It was fun to look around and know that this place is not just some make believe place but, it is really a spot from history.

While it is now a tourist spot, there were hardly any people there and that gave us a feeling of what it would have really been like durning a normal day there.

I felt like this guy was really keeping an eye out and protecting us. Against what? Well I don't really know. But I felt safe.

These are the actual buildings from 1744, the town. There are homes, pubs, the bakery, black smith, meeting halls and everything that had back then.

It was very cute and as you walked down the streets you felt like you would have known everyone that lived there. I could picture people walking and stopping to say hi to their neighbors.

Oh look! Here comes a nice lady now. Let's stop and talk to her.

She was happy to tell you about her day. The only thing is, her day is in 1744 so she had no knowledge of the present time today.

The church was very pretty. As I looked around I could picture families sitting in here together as they all prayed for safety, health and happiness for them and their loved ones. Much like today.

The items inside the church were just beautiful.

This is where they confessed their sins. Oh if only these walls could talk. I bet there would be some very interesting stories.

If you notice, there is only a curtain that blocks you from the outside. I wondered how many people would stand there and listen to what the person inside was saying.

Oh my, would that be a sin you would have to confess?

This is where the Captain lived. He had the best house. Notice how they only had a spoon at each setting.

They did not use forks yet. Just spoons. If you needed a knife you would just pull the one out of your pocket, cut your meet, wipe it off on your napkin and put it back in your pocket.

This knife would also be used to cut everything else they needed to cut. Inside and outside.

How would you like to have use a knife that someone had just used to cut a branch off a tree or took tar off their shoe?

This is a normal size room for the rest of the officers. Just a bed, desk and chair.

Though they did have a fireplace in the room. This was a real luxury in those days. It would get very very cold durning the winter nights.

Looks like this guy is off to work or perhaps just going home to his lovely wife.

Of course they had to have a jail. I would have hated to have to stay in this one. The floor is just dirt and rocks. No place to sit or lay. No place to even go to the bathroom except to dig a hole.

This is the big gate that would greet people as they came in from the sea.

Yes this looks like a normal house. Well, it was at one time. But for years they claim this is a haunted house and no one would live inside for more then a few days before they packed up and moved.

They say the spirit of the lady of the house still lives inside and would often show up and tell the new residence to get out as it was her house not theirs.

It's funny to think about ghosts being around even in the 1700's but hey, I guess they would have been.

Every home would also have a garden. Not just for beauty but also to grow necessary food.

I learned that people did not eat potatoes way back when. They would feed them to the pigs but wouldn't eat them themselves.

Everyone would also have animals running around. At first I thought how cute. Then it dawned on me that those poor animals were food.

This was a modern kitchen. It's hard to see but there is a chicken cooking over the fire.

I wonder if they always ate burned food back then. I know if I had to cook over an open fire like that I would burn everything.

The kitchen was always a nice warm place to be in the winter. However, in the summer time it was dreadful.

This lady was kind enough to show us how they made coffee back then. It's not like today at all.

They had to roast the coffee beans before grinding them up. The coffee didn't really taste the way it does today.

Next door the baker was baking bread. There were three kinds of bread. One was white bread that the higher ups would eat. Then came a mixture of white and wheat bread for the middle class and then whole wheat for the poorer people.

Funny how now days we know that they poor people actually got the healthy bread. Back then they had no idea that whole grains were better for you.

You could buy a loaf of bread for two dollars if you liked. I did. It is nothing like the bread we have today. It is very very heavy, dry and hard to chew.

This is the area where they would fix the cannons and other equipment they had.

If one needed water they would have to bring their buckets to this well. Now it's just a wishing well but back in the 1700's it was a life source of fresh water.

They still raise animals here. However, they no longer eat these animals.

The sheep herder just led these sheep back into their pen. It was so cute to watch this man running and all the sheep following him.

It was a wonderful day walking around, seeing what life was really like over 250 years ago.

I think this is a wonder place to go and I was very pleased I got to walk around and experience it.

It was so pretty there. I think I would have enjoyed living there if I were alive in 1744.

Oh and for you history buffs, this place was never once attacked by the enemy. Things remained quiet for this little town.

PLEASE HELP THE ANIMALS

I am going to do this 5K walk for the animals. If you live near by and want to join me I would love it!

However, if you can't make it but you still would like to help out the animals you can always sponsor me.

I've decided I will match any donation I get from anyone who wishes to sponsor me.

If you would like to sponsor me you can email me at jk51958@yahoo.com and I can give you my address to send the check or if you prefer I will give you my paypal account and you can make the payment that way.

I think this is a great way we can all help the animals as a group. Please think about it. If you would like to have me walk in honor of one of your fur babies please let me know. I would be happy to do so.

To get more information on this 5K and how you can help please click
http://www.orangecountyspca.org/walk2009.htm

If you do not feel comfortable sending your money to me but you would still like to help you can donate directly to The Orange County SPCA on their web site.

The only thing different about sponsor me is that I will match your donation dollar for dollar so the animals will get twice as much money for your donation.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this.

LOST AGAIN!

I'm down another 2.8 lbs! I'm so happy that every week I'm seeing the scales get lower and lower.

I've lost a total of 16 lbs now. I think I may have finally gotten through to myself about this being a life long way of eating for me.

I can't tell you how many different diets I've been on. I've been on just about every kind of crazy diet out there. I even went 6 months without having one bite of real food. Just liquids. It was called Optifast. Do you remember that?

Sure I lost weight but as soon as I started to eat real food again I gained it all back, plus some.

But now, I know that I can really eat anything I want. It's just the amount of what I eat and also how much exercise I get in.

When I was on vacation for two weeks I ate a lot of stuff I would have thought would have made me gained. Things like 3 pieces of cheesecake, 7 cookies, 5 candy bars, two bags of chips, popcorn four times, bread with butter, waffles with whipped cream, pizza and two pieces of chocolate that was left on bed every night.

So when I got on the scale last week I just knew the numbers would have gone up. So I was really surprised to see not only did the numbers not go up but they went down.

This week I thought maybe the gain would show up. Sometimes it takes awhile for weight gain to show up.

Yet, again there was a lower number. I know it's all about the amount of exercise I got. Well, I should say movement. I never once felt like I was exercising. In fact, I hate that word.

I much prefer to say I'm walking or moving rather then exercising.

My sister, Maureen, has lost 19 lbs! I'm so happy for her. At first we were side by side on our weight loss. Then I went on vacation and she continued to follow the plan as she should have. So she lost more.

I can't help but think "I wish I would have been better on vacation" but I know that isn't true. I'm happy with my loss. I'm happy that I didn't once feel deprived while I was gone.

I'm really happy I learned first hand that moving more lets you have a few meals you would normally think you couldn't have.

I'm also learning to be aware more. I'm aware of my portions now. Before I thought I was doing good when I had a bowl of cereal. Now I know I was eating almost enough for 3. So now, I measure.

I'm also trying to be more aware of why I eat. Am I really hungry or am I bored, sad, depressed or even happy.

I know I'm going to make it this time. I just know it. It feels different this time. Not like just another diet. This is for life. A new way of eating and looking at things like never before.

I hope you guys are still on track with your healthy living too. Let me know.

I have so much to share with you guys but things are crazy here. We are getting our hard wood floors in so things are nuts. Plus, I leave tomorrow for four days. I'm dog sitting for a friend of mine.

So things may be slow around here. I'm hoping by next week to get back on track.

I'll pop in as often as I can until then. When I do get back on track things I wanted to share with you will include things like...the rest of my vacation, Halloween things, another Party that is in the planning and the final look at all the work on the house that got done.

HALIFAX ~ THE TITANIC TOUR

Our next stop was one I had been really forward to. It was Halifax in Nova Scotia.

Halifax played a big part in the recovery of the Titanic when she sunk in 1912.

I felt a bit strange the night before we got here because I couldn't help but wonder if we were traveling right over the area where the Titanic sank that long, dark and cold night.


Halifax sent their boat out knowing they were not going on a rescue mission. They were going on a recovery journey. All the living bodies had already been picked up.

Only the bodies of those who died were still left out at sea.

It was a long and hard process trying to identify all the bodies they found. The time the bodies had spent in the ocean had changed the way the people looked. Plus the suction of the ship going down had torn away many of their clothes.



Since the majority of the bodies were buried in Halifax, they also felt having a museum set up with some of the artifacts they found was a good idea.

My tour in Halifax was all about the Titanic and the people on board the ship that fearful night.

In the museum they have the one and only wood deck chair that was recovered from the Titanic.

I couldn't help but wonder if anyone had held onto this chair in an attempt to survive as it floated in the dark sea.

This is one of the cabinets from a first class room.

It made me think about how I had just unpacked my belongings a few nights before and how excited I was to start my trip. Had the person using this cabinet felt the same way as I did?

Some of the silverware that was recovered is also here.

Again, knowing how most people look forward to the evening dinner on our ship and eating all that great food, made me think about who could have been the last person who used these.

Everyone knows the beautiful staircase that was on the Titanic. If not, they had this picture up so you could see how pretty it was.

I find it strange that on most of the cruises I've been on, they use a back drop of these stairs when they take the pictures on formal night.

The staircase had broken up and parts of it was recovered and is on display.

These little child's shoes gives a reminder that not all woman and children made it on the life boats.

It is not known for sure who the shoes belonged to but they are believed to be from a little boy who is buried in the grave site marked Unknown child.

The coroners report listed body number 4 was a boy about two years old with brown shoes. This was the only baby recovered with brown shoes.

As the bodies were removed from the sea, each body was given a number that coincided with the number of bodies removed. So the first body out of the water was given the number 1. The 10th body removed would be given the number 10 and so on.

These shoes belonged to body number 4.

This was a light from a 2nd class cabin.

I almost gasped when I saw this because I have been looking everywhere for one like it for my bathroom. Then there it was. Only all the money in the world couldn't buy this one.

So if you should ever find one like this for sale please let me know.

These gloves are believed to have belonged to Charles Hays from Montreal as they were recovered with his body.

Even in death, the bodies were treated differently depending on the Class they traveled in.

First class passengers, were removed from the sea and placed in a wooden casket. The 2nd class passengers were placed in placed in canvas bags. The 3rd class passengers were just placed on ice as they did not have enough canvas bags for them.

There were 306 bodies that were recovered. For unknown reasons 116 of them were buried at sea. They were placed in a canvas bag along with a piece of iron to weight the body down. Their clothes and jewelry were left on the bodies.

The bodies are buried in three Halifax graveyards. The White Star Line bought large plots and paid for one size of gravestones. The inscription on the gravestone included the person's name (if known), the date of the sinking and the number that was assigned to the body.

Larger stones or extra wording had to be provided by the families at an additional cost.

We only went to one of the cemeteries, The Fairview Lawn Cemetery.

There are 121 Titanic victims buried here. The graves are lined up in a way that forms a shape of the bow of the ship. The White Star Line had commissioned to have it done this way.

Between the top of the 1st row and 4th row a gap had been left. Some suggest it is to represent the gash that the iceberg had made in the side of the Titanic. There is no documentation that would support this.

The graveyard is large and as you walk through it you notice what appears to be a normal looking graveyard with head stones of all shapes and sizes.

Since bodies are no longer being buried here it is referred to as a graveyard rather then a cemetery.

That is a fact I never knew. I thought they meant the same thing but they don't.

As we walked up to the Titanic area it clearly become a different site. I can't explain the feeling that came over me as we first walked up to the graves.

I felt the need to have a moment to myself. I was so over come with emotion as I saw name after name and I knew these people were like me, on a cruise and happy. Only they never made it to their destination.

You can see the tour group in this photo. Our guide was giving facts and information but I couldn't even listen to him for a few minutes. I had to let it all sink in.

I did notice that some headstones only had the date and body number. I knew that meant they never did find out who that person was. How sad.

I made my way back to the group and listened to the stories of the people who were buried there.

Most of the people who died were men. That was because woman and children were first on the boats. Most of the jewelry was not recovered because the woman would have either left her items on the ship as she thought they would be back before day light, or because she handed her items to her husband as she felt they would be safer there. Only the men never made it on a life boat.

John Shea was the 11th body recovered. The only known information about his was that he was 39 years old, a 1st Class Saloon Steward. He had dark hair, light moustache and lived in Southampton.

Body number 241 was an unidentified male. Probably a Steward about 20 years old with black hair. He was wearing a Steward's uniform.

At first he was thought to have been one of the passengers as he had a calling card of Mr. Stephen W. Blackwell in his pocket. However, Mr. Blackwell was later verified that the body was not Mr. Blackwell.

This grave really tugged at my heart strings. Alam Paulson was only 29 years old and the mother of four children. They were 3rd class passengers and were heading to New York to meet up with her husband who had gone before them to set up a home.

She was seen on the ship with her children before the ship sunk. She was singing and playing the harmonica to them to keep them calm.

They all went down. At first it was thought that the little boy in the unmarked grave was her son, years after their death the little boy was dug up and DNA testing was done on him. It was found he was not her son.

You can see several little gifts that people who visited the grave had left at her headstone. The gifts are thought to be for her children who were never recovered.

This is the grave site of the unknown child. They dedicated this grave to all the unknown children who died that day.

Again, toys were left behind after visitors had been there.

Mr. J. Bruce Ismay is the man who was the President of White Star Line.

Do you remember his character in the movie the Titanic? He quickly jumped on the last life boat even though many people were still left on board. It was he who had the extra life boats removed before the Titanic first sailed.

Mr. Isman paid to have Mr. Freeman's headstone larger. Mr. Freeman was the Chief Deck Stewart, age 43. Dark hair, fair moustache, blue suit, light overcoat over his pajamas.

Many people saw Mr. Freeman helping others to safety and willing giving up his life for others.

It is said Mr. Freeman saw Mr. Isman get on the life boat, leaving so many behind.

Most people believe Mr. Isman paid for the large headstone out of guilt. However, Mr. Isman made sure he received credit for paying for the headstone as he had it inscribed at the bottom "Erected by Mr. J. Bruce Ismay to commemorate a long and faithful service.

Some of the families had beautiful sayings inscribed on the headstones.

When the movie Titanic was made the director claimed that the names of the main characters were made up.

However, if you remember Leo DiCaprio played the part of Jack Dawson.

Here you see the grave marked with the name J. Dawson.

Many young girls go to this grave and believe it that of Jack Dawson.

The real name of the Mr. Dawson that is buried here is Joseph Dawson, not Jack.

Most of those on the ship that died were young. This man, George Dean was 19.

We had to leave much to quickly for me. I didn't have a chance to read every name on all the headstones.

As we walked away I looked back I wondered if I would ever be back to learn more about all these people.

Oh, one last thing I forgot to share with you is that even today they are still trying to verify who is in the unmarked graves. Sometimes, not often, but sometimes they do find out who is there.

They then add the name of the person to the headstone. Only it is not on the top. It is listed on the face of the headstone. This way they can keep the look of the top of the headstone as it was at the time of burial.

Some bodies were shipped home. Mostly those in first class as the other classes could not afford to pay to have the bodies sent home. White Star Line would only pay to have the bodies buried in Halifax.

Some people were buried in the Jewish cemetery and some were buried in the Catholic cemetery. Since they didn't know what religion most people were they buried them in Fairview which was non denominational.

The Captain went down with the ship. His body was never recovered.

While the day was one of sadness I am so happy I was able to go on this tour. I learned a lot. I also purchased several books to bring home so I can learn more.

I'm not sure why but the Titanic has always held a special place in my heart. Now more so then ever.