Hallowe'en

Standard weekend in Saint-Georges, at a party.

Beth has been entered in a competition for the best costume! See how good hers is :)

Haunted House

Last night we went to the Haunted House in Saint-Come. It was pretty fun, and seemed also to be entirely populated by my students, who would jump out at us, shout boo, then take off their masks crying, "Jennifer, Jennifer!" Pretty hilarious. 

Pumpkin cookies

I decided to get into the spirit of Hallowe'en and carved a pumpkin, so with the innards of my pumpkin, I made these lovely pumpkin cookies! (They taste much better than they look!)

recipe from here

Jack O'Lantern

Can't believe I've never done this before! I'm pretty delighted with how it's turned out to be honest. I want to do another one, with a cooler design.

This week

           

present from Aaron;our house decked out for Hallowe'en; breakfast in a diner on Nahant Island; sunset in Saint-Georges; the xx; Victoria Sponge for my initiation

Raphael

Boston Day 2 cont. - Salem

In the evening we decided to go to the Hallowe'en capital of the world - Salem! I would have loved to go to the witches museum, but another time I guess. We went to the carnival and to a Haunted House instead. Well, when in Rome and all!

Boston Day 2 cont. - the Prudential Tower and Harvard

The day cleared up much better than Friday had, so we finally got to go up the Prudential Tower. It was a perfect day for the view, and we got a good view of the boat race that was taking place in the Charles River.

After spending a while wandering about on the 50th floor, we decided to head to Harvard on a rather packed subway. I was actually a bit disappointed about how scruffy Harvard looked, they need to get the leaf-blowers out I think!

Boston Day 2 - Tea Party Museum and Quincy Market

We went to the Boston Tea Party Museum, a recently opened attraction where they give you a semi re-enactment of one of the defining moments of pre-revolutionary America. It was pretty ace, and I think it's safe to say Eilidh and I were on the sides of the Americans by the end of the tour. Fie indeed!

Next stop on our tour of Boston was Quincy Market for lunch, and a watch of some juggling acts.

Boston Day 1

 After a fairly eventful journey (police convoy anyone?) to Nahant island, aka chez Linda, our bold hostess with the mostest, we got into bed and pretty much passed out. We woke up to a very dreich Boston, thick fog and all. The joys of the Atlantic coast.

First stop of the day was to take a Duck Tour, which was really interesting. There was surprisingly little quacking involved however, much to my disappointment.

The next stop on our tour was the Prudential tower... a plan that we quickly sacked off due to the rain and cloud combination. Instead, we did as all girls do and went shopping. Because that's inside, right? The main shopping street in Boston is Newbury Street. It's lovely because it doesn't look like shops, it looks like houses and then, oh, look, there's H&M or whatever.

a rather soggy Newbury Street

Last stop of the day was the Cheers pub for dinner, before heading back to Linda's.

Lac Etchemin

I persuaded everyone to come up to Lac Etchemin with me today, since the weather forecast was the better of the two weekend days. In other words, not rainy. Didn't think about the wind chill though. It just goes right through you here, and it's so humid and the moment which certainly does not help.

It's really pretty up there, definitely a more pleasant experience than our trip to Lac Megantic! However, I was a bit disappointed that there were no obvious walks at Etchemin. We didn't spend very long there honestly, but it was nice to get out I guess!

fun and games

I had a bit of an errand running day on Friday. I guess not every day can be super exciting! I joined the library, and as you can see had my photo taken, which I did not expect! You can see my scar quite clearly. I don't mind, obviously. It's fading so fast. I wish I'd taken more pictures of it early on after my operation (though I'm sure I looked pretty rough at that point). Just for comparison's sake. By the time I leave here it's probably going to be almost invisible.

I also bought some hand cream, since my hands are already all dry and cracked to the point where there was blood the other day. It's not even that cold yet! (Though it is pretty cold due to the humidity.)

I also took Dyxie to the garage to get her brakes checked - they are officially ok :) safe driving :)

skullss

Loving our new wine glasses! And Anna's Hallowe'en face!

en velo

After we'd cleaned up, Beth and I decided to get out and do some exercise, so we cycled to Notre-Dame-des-Pins.

the aftermath

Dun dun dun.
Actually, it took surprisingly little time to tidy up the results of our party. All done by 11am, who'd've thunk it?!
Pascal came by around half 4 and was delighted with the cleanliness of the house (he doesn't suspect a thing... probably for the best).

Thanksgiving

We decided to embrace North American culture and throw a Thanksgiving party over the weekend. It didn't get off to the best start however, as we ended up in A&E for 4 hours on Saturday morning, because I had developed an abscess. (It's all ok now, thanks to the wonderful discovery of penicillin!)

Anyway, people started to arrive, and we had, em, a few drinks (well, I didn't due to the antibiotics, but the others did)....

This photo isn't even in focus it turns out, but here is the remains of Saturday night.

We played a few games and then went out to La Chambre Noire, the much-talked about (amongst us at least) nightclub in Saint-Georges. Many hats were worn.

On Sunday, those of us not feeling the effects of the night before too heavily went for a little walk around Saint-Georges to see the few picturesque sights that it has to offer. We also found a playground.

Harry also spent some time emptying out the boot of his car: it had filled up with a mixture of water, beer and something else that I've forgotten due to a rusty patch above on of his wheels. Honestly, our house looked like we were holding a rubbish car competition.

The rest of Sunday was mostly devoted to cooking our delicious roast - turned out pretty well considering how small the kitchen is and how many people were being catered for!