The change of the colours

Hi all,

from the time between this blog and the last you’ll probably can guess that I’m not spending much time behind the computer, aside from work and old homework then. Time has come however to give you a little update how life’s going here. The biggest change around here are the colours of life, which became very bright in many ways. With fall entring the country the many leave trees aournd here gradually started to change their colours which is just marvelous to see, especially when they’re combined with a low and yellow fall sun. Unlike in the Netherlands, falls have often many dry days around here, making it perfect to enjoy the colours when cycling home and in the weekend. Temperatures changes however are as subtile as I am, each day can be totally different from the other days, making it though to decide how many layers to wear when cycling. This week I actually started to use gloves and a long sleeve jacket, as my arms were frozen when I arrived at work. Cycling up the hill is rather comfy with nowadays temperatures, keeps the body nice and warm. Down the hill, especially the Portland Hill that steeply drops 50m in altitude, is rather freezing, forcing me even to slow down to remain warm. On the innerside of me it’s spring, with flours flourishing everywhere, making a colourfull carpet of life. Work is going very well, the people and cats I’m living with are great and I’m deeply in love, where did I deserve this all. Anyway, time to tell you about what keeps me busy during the weekends ;).
The weekend after camping in Keji was all about Kathryn’s birthday :), meaning getting up early on Saturday morning to go downtown to do some gift shopping. I ended up buying a nice handmade necklace in the Sawade teashop, after having a inspiring chat with the asian owner of the shop. She told me about what brought her to Canada, what kind of Asian culture heritats she brought with and what kind of materials she uses for making necklaces. Being in downtown gave me the opportunity to visit the farmers market at the Keith Alexander’s Brewery, to do the necesarry vegetable shopping for coming week.
That evening we went to downtown to meet up with Kathryn’s friends for a nice diner at a place called the “Castle”. After the diner we took James and his girlfriend Jennifer for a night out in downtown. That night resulted in a good long sleep in the next morning, though it was more afternoon when we woke up. Later that afternoon we went to Kathryn’s granny, as she had prepared a delicious birthday dinner. To end the day there were off course the presents to be unrapped.
The weekend after I took the bike out on Saturday to explore the Saltmarsh Trail, which starts just a stone throw awy from were I’m living. As the trail runs, as you could have bet, straight through the marshes, it’s really flat to bike on, allowing for great cycling speeds. The track was orginally build as a rail road, connecting the towns on the eastern shore with Dartmouth, nowadays it’s become part of the Trans Canada Trail. After the saltmarshes the trail continues all the way upto Lawrencetown Beach and beyond. After a short break to view the waves pounding the beach, I climbed a small hill on the left hand side of the beach. From up there the view was simply stunning, looking over the ocean, Lawrencetown Lake and Porters Lake. I think the pictures at picasa will say even more then the words I’m putting down now. On the way back I really hammered it, just for the sake of doing it. That took out all my breath even before I was home, as the cycling of the past week was still in the legs. Luckily, in that sense then, Sunday was a rainy day, forcing us to stay inside and just relax.
Last weekend Kathryn and I went to Taylor Head Provincial Park, which is a hour and a half away from Cole Harbour. The drive over to begin with was just stunning, as the winding road was sided with beautiful coloured leave trees, making it a pure joy to drive. The hike around Taylor Head was rather challeging, not due to steep inclines, but the many tree roots, big stones and mud pools on the tracks. I should have brought the boots for the hike. On the way up, we found a really curious squirrel, which first ran up a tree, to climb it down again to observe those strange creatures looking at him. On the head we had a nice lunch on the rocks, shielded from the chilly fall wind that raged of the cliffs. After the lunch we continued the loop, this time on the windy side of the head, making us feel the real fall temperatures. On one of the rocks along the route we held a funny photoshoot against the reflecting sunlight. We couldn’t spend to much time standing still though with the wind blazing through the clothes. Our efforts were however rewarded, as we spotted a young dear and her/his mum from upclose. On the drive home, we took a moment to watch the sunset, setting over Cole Harbour Lake.
Well folks, that’s all for now, I hope you enjoyed reading it again and thanks for all your reactions so far.

Bye bye,
Erik

Pictures @:
http://picasaweb.google.ca/E.A.J.Vroegrijk/UploadWeek080910?authkey=Gv1sRgCNTNrbW0yoCJDQ#