This is Me - Off to College

I said I'd hoped it wouldn't be another two years before I did the next installment. Well, two years are long gone; it's been four years since I wrote This is Me - School Days.

This week I was reading an article about a man who had a DNA test done and found out that a longtime friend was actually a distant cousin. He wrote that often we wait and don't ask our older family members about their lives and then that history is lost. And that got me thinking again about writing my story.

I am the oldest of six children, while my father only went to Grade 8, my mother went to Teacher's College, and they always told us if we wanted to continue our education, they would find a way. Being their first child, my parents had bought an education policy for me, kind of like a Registered Education Savings Plan but not government sponsored. I also only graduated high school with a junior matriculation rather than a senior matriculation, so the military paid for my first year of university. There still wasn't a lot of money so to save on boarding costs, I went to live with my mother's parents. I only applied to Dalhousie University in Halifax where they lived mainly for that reason and because it had a good medical school and undergraduate science programs.  

Yes, like many people I thought I wanted to be a doctor. The first year, that wasn't a big deal as everyone had to take a very general course load. My high school teachers had told us that university was harder than high school, so I wasn't at all surprised that my marks dropped. I still got all B and C's except in my calculus class. I did fine first term but it seemed like I missed a semester over the Christmas holidays, and I was lost. Luckily, they were two half credit courses, so I got a half credit of calculus and failed the second half. The same thing happened in Linear Algebra, I got an A+ in the first half credit and was totally lost in the second course. But I had my math credit for my degree.

At the end of my first year, I went home, to a new home. My Dad had been posted from St Margaret's to Chatham, bases which were only about 17 km apart. When I left for university, they were still living in St Mag's but moved to a married quarter in Chatham shortly after I left. My first time seeing the new place was at Christmas. It worked out well for me that we had moved to Chatham as I could apply to be a lifeguard at the town pool. I got hired and that became my summer job during university. 

We had to return to Halifax a little earlier than expected as my grandfather passed away from pancreatic cancer. My second year, I took a number of biology credits, still leaning towards pre-med. Molecular Chemistry and Organic Biology did me in. At the end of my second year, I was only a half credit over having a failed year.  What it meant though was that I would need to do a fourth year to get all the credits I needed to graduate and med school was out of the picture. 

Third year, with the classes that I selected, I only had classes on Tuesday and Thursday during the first term. They were long days, I left for university probably around 8am and my labs ran from 7 to 10pm. But it gave me three days off a week for assignments, doing readings and working. I basically walked into the swim director's office at the YMCA and walked out with a job. Most lifeguards and swim instructors are students, and it was hard to find people who could work during the day. 

Early in my third year, my mother called one evening and said she was coming up to do some Christmas shopping, when she arrived, she asked my cousins and me if we had noticed anything about my grandmother.  One of the neighbours had called and told my Mum that my grandmother wasn't well. My grandmother was diagnosed with presenile dementia, the effects were like Alzheimer's, but the doctors said it came on too fast. Before I left to go home that summer, my grandmother had been moved to a nursing home and like my grandfather, she passed around the time I was to start my fourth year. My mother, her brothers and sisters decided they would keep the house in Halifax for a year to allow those of us living there to finish school or make other plans. At the time my grandmother passed, there was two of my cousins, my mother's youngest brother and sister and myself living at the house. 

I had a pretty easy fourth year academically as I just had a few credit requirements to complete. I took some geology courses that I quite enjoyed and some environmental science and ecology credits. I attended job fairs but there wasn't much out there for a just Bachelor of Science degree; most labs wanted either technologist's diplomas or Masters degrees. After I graduated, I went to the Canadian Forces recruiting office in Halifax; they were happy to accept me but told me I would have better luck getting in if I went to the recruiting office in Moncton, NB.

I enjoyed university; the one disappointing thing and it gets me every time I see a Kindergarten graduation, is that I didn't get to wear a mortarboard and flip the tassel at graduation. At Dalhousie, you are capped, they place the cap on the head of the graduate; only postgraduates wear the mortarboard.   A little thing but it bugs me to this day. 

Yes, at the beginning of my fourth year, my family had moved again. My father wasn't posted but his release from the Forces was coming up so he took his move to his IPR (Intended Place of Residence) a year early so that my two youngest sisters wouldn't have just a single year in a new high school. So, in Moncton, I went into the recruiting office and did all the enrollment testing to join the Forces as a Direct Entry Officer. I also went to the YMCA in Moncton to apply for a job, I wasn't as lucky there as I had been in Halifax. This was around the end of May or early June of 1980, gawd that sounds like such a long time ago.  I didn't have much luck finding work with my degree but knew I was already accepted into the Forces. In late Nov, I got the message from the recruiting office that I was to report for basic officer training in Jan 1981, I was enrolled in the Forces on 6 Dec 1980, but that's a story for another day.

I promise it won't be four years before the next installment of This is Me. 

Camping Meal Preparations

Hard to believe on a day like today when it's barely above freezing that in less than a month, we'll be on our first camping trip. The first trip is to three Ontario provincial parks, and we'll only be gone just over a week. 

Our big trip is down to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. We just finished doing all the bookings and we'll be gone a month. It was an adventure booking the Nova Scotia provincial parks as they lock the web site for the 15 minutes prior to the time reservations open, then you're assigned a random number that is your place in line to get onto the web site. The first morning we tried to book a park, my sister got in right away, and I had a five-minute wait. As a result of that reservation system, we didn't get any of the sites we wanted but we did get into all the parks we'd hoped to, except one, so we had to change our itinerary a bit. 

So, I've been doing a bit of meal prep, it makes it easier when you have part of the meal done. So far, I have made savoury breakfast muffins and egg bites. The muffins tasted delicious both warm and cold, the egg bites on the other hand will need some added flavour, maybe hot sauce. The muffins have sausage, onions and cheese. The egg bites are made three ways, bacon and cheese, basil and tomato and mushroom and onion.

Savoury Muffins

Egg Bites

I've also prepared some evening meals. I made Donair meat; I still have to make the sauce.  I've also made the filling for Quesadillas. The Donair loaf doesn't look attractive but with all the spices it sure tastes good. With the Donair meat, we've found when camping that Donair pizzas are easier than making individual Donairs. We use Naan bread for the crust, the Donair sauce as pizza sauce then Donair meat, tomatoes, onions and mozzarella cheese for the toppings. I'm thinking maybe I'll make some pulled pork too. That makes an easy supper, you can either do tacos or sandwiches and pulled pork freezes well. 

Quesadilla filling

Donair loaf

We do eat quite well when we're camping. Not all our meals are elaborate, sometimes it is just hot dogs and chips. Occasionally, we do eat in restaurants, especially if the weather is bad, but if you do that very often it gets expensive. 

I'll need to get my camping grocery list put together soon so that I don't forget any of the key ingredients for the meals. I once forgot the shrimp to make a Shrimp Sambuca. 

I sure hope the weather warms up in the next few weeks. Camping is not as much fun if it's too cold.

Total Eclipse

As most in North America know, we had the opportunity to witness a solar eclipse this week. Where I live, I wasn't in the path of totality but was in the partial eclipse area. At first, I thought that's okay we'll see something right? Well yes and no, without glasses you won't see much at all, if you're close to totality the light will change, and the temperature will drop but you won't see much at all. I'm sure am glad that I drove down to see the totality. It was awesome!

I was going to go to a campground that's pretty much straight south of me on the St Lawrence River called Riverside-Cedar but they had it gated off right at the highway so you couldn't get into the entrance parking lot. I had left home with plenty of time, so I decided to drive somewhat further east to the Long Sault Parkway, thinking I'd be able to park along the parkway. Nope, they had that blocked off too, but you were allowed to park and walk in and onto the parkway. I got one of the last parking spots as before finding a spot I decided to walk the dogs and when I got back to get my chair and jacket they were turning people away.

Just a word about dogs as so many posts said to leave them at home and to even close the drapes or shades so they wouldn't get anxious. Teddy and Liam didn't even seem to notice. They laid relaxed by me most of the time. The only thing that got Teddy excited was going in the water and cookies. During the totality they did start to bark but only because another dog was barking. I think if your dog showed anxiety, it would be because you took them to a crowded, noisy location.

Not looking at the sun!

The next thing that surprised me is that the sun is so bright, you never actually see the moon. When the eclipse started, that is when there was just a little bite out of the sun, I hadn't seen the moon at all. Even with the glasses all you see is a black shape in front of the sun. It's no wonder that primitive people thought perhaps the world was ending. As we got closer to totality, the light changed, and it started getting cool. I was glad to have the jacket to put on over my fleece.  Birds that had been warbling away, were now quiet. 

With just my cell phone camera I couldn't get any good shots. I tried with the glasses held up to the lens but all I got was a less brilliant sun. This shot was taken when we were getting pretty close to totality over 90%.

I hoped I would get a picture of the corona but even then, the cell phone camera just doesn't cut it. And I was so awed at the totality that I didn't think of zooming in or trying video. Totality was so cool, everyone cheered or oohed and awed. Not sure I saw Bailey's Beads, but I did see the Diamond Ring. That was spectacular. It's shortly after that you have to start wearing the glasses again. In the first picture below, you can just make out the moon if you enlarge the photo.

Cell phone picture of totality

Sunset in the afternoon, looking towards the Southeast

These next pictures were taken by a friend, who is a photographer and has good camera equipment. She was somewhere further east of where I was but like me was very close to the St Lawrence River.

It was magical, eerie, fantastic all at the same time, no picture you see will give you the same impression as being there. If you ever have the chance to see a total eclipse, it is certainly well worth the trip. 

Seventh Heaven

Teddy turned seven years old yesterday. He's now been with me longer than anyone else. For those who don't know, Teddy belonged to a friend's cousin but sadly there was allergy issues, so he moved around to various family members. He was living with my friends when I lost Beckett, and they contacted me to see if I would take Teddy. At first, I said no, but about a month later, I changed my mind. Teddy came on a trial on 9 Mar 2020 and then COVID lockdowns hit, and Teddy stayed. He probably would have anyway. We celebrated his third birthday in lockdown. 

I made peanutbutter oat cakes for Teddy's birthday. The batter for this recipe is very dry so the cakes crumbled quite a bit. If I was to make them again, I would add yogurt to the batter to moisten it up. The cakes are topped with yogurt and bacon.

Of course, Teddy also got presents for his birthday. I had to go up to the pet store for wet dog food and one of Teddy's favourite things was on sale. 

We did the table pictures first, then Teddy and Liam each got a pupcake. Afterwards, Teddy got to open his gifts.

Teddy was pretty cooperative about looking at the camera, so I didn't have a whole bunch of outtakes. 

Then it was time to try out the favourite toy, a big Chuckit ball. Teddy came with a smaller one of these balls and he loves them. And of course, Liam loves it too. 

I think Teddy had a good birthday. I hope he thinks he's in seventh heaven. I always wonder if he misses his people. Happy Birthday Teddy, here's to many more.

Alba Gu Bràth

This year's big trip is to Scotland at the end of August.  It's a self-driving trip beginning and ending in Edinburgh. Both of my father's parents were born in Scotland. My grandfather at 7 Thistle Street in Kirkintilloch which is outside of Glasgow. You can street view the address, if you like. My grandmother was born on a farm called Clachaig in Kilmory on the Isle of Arran. We'll spend two nights on Arran so hopefully we'll get to stop by this farm. I tried contacting the Arran Museum as they have a genealogical centre but my emails bounced back; I also tried contacting the farm but haven't had a reply. 

Last week we bought Explorer Passes from Historic Scotland, the passes get us admission to Stirling Castle, Edinburgh Castle and Urquhart Castle, all places we were planning to go to anyway.  We also booked our tickets for Stirling Castle as they are timed entrances.

During Easter, a post popped up on my FaceBook feed that the RCMP Pipes and Drums would be attending the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. I clicked on the link in the post, and it was the Tattoo website.  The Tattoo will be on when we arrive, so I checked out the website and there still were plenty of tickets. They weren't cheap, but then we thought it's a once in a lifetime opportunity, so we went ahead and bought tickets for the night after we arrive. I couldn't get the ones I wanted as the website won't let you leave a single seat, but the ones I got should be fine.  

Royal Edinburgh Tattoo 2023 - Far Side of the World

There's something about pipes that just stirs the soul; but maybe you need to be Scottish.  Anyway, I sure hope it doesn't rain as you can see from the video it is outdoors and they've never cancelled for weather, just COVID.