Happy Halloween!

Had some fun this weekend. I was able to put on some really gross make-up and get out to a couple of Halloween parties. The first was a fun get-together at my apartment building where everyone met in the lobby for some drinks and a few treats, Saturday afternoon. Something in the wine made me sleepy, so I had a quick nap and then went out to another party hosted by Martha Dillman and Amanda Dyer, a couple of local radio announcers, who are both from Nova Scotia! They throw the the best parties. Great food, great company, great fun . I guess I am one of those people who believes Halloween is about being scarey ... and not just a costume event. Even the cab driver said I looked horrible! Woohoo : )

They're having fun eh...

Funny Stuff. Neil and Nolene are in Peru.... they're both busy with text messages as well. Yesterday I laughed when Nolene wrote: "How many Peruvians does it take to change a light bulb? .... Just Juan!"

Neil wrote: nmgillis nmgillis
made it to Lima! yesterdays hike to Laguna69 was killer, getting pumped for Machu Pichu. quick stop in Nazca tommorw then straight to Cuzco!

Keeping tabs on the Neil!

Actually, I am joking. Neil is keeping tabs on himself for me using that Twitter thingy. He and Nolene are traveling these days in South America. So Neil is sending out messages via Twitter so that he can keep in touch. I guess it's kind of cool and sure saves on the phone bill. I am saving the messages ... here they are in their raw form:

nmgillis nmgillis: awesome curry, great hospitality, good friends & an endless supply of rum! thanks for the great times @chilledperu wish i could stay longer!26 Oct Favorite Retweet Reply

» nmgillis nmgillis: good morning from Peru! border crossing went fairly easy, saw some amazing ancient ruins yesterday. they have a god named Crab-man! so cool.25 Oct Favorite Retweet Reply
swimmin´in the ocean, workin´on my sunburn, suckin´back cervezas.... life is so hard. where to next?16 Oct via web Favorite Retweet Reply

nmgillis nmgillis dear Latin America.. your music is not that good. after an 8hr bus ride with one CD playing ALL NIGHT LONG, give it a rest. for real.15 Oct Favorite Retweet Reply

» nmgillis nmgillis Breakfast in Baños - amazing! getting ready for a 12hr or so overnighter to the coast. what to do this afternoon? maybe hit the market? yup.14 Oct Favorite Retweet Reply

» nmgillis nmgillis first official south of the equator sunburn - check! great bike ride today, will be sore tommorw, thank gawd for thermal hot baths!13 Oct Favorite Retweet Reply

OCT.12,2010 - hey guys! just a quick note to let yà know that i made it down safe and sound! as for day one all i can say is the country is beautiful! flew into Quito late last night & Nolene picked me up at the airport (thank Gawd) and we stayed at this super neat hostel named the ´`Secret Garden¨... after a 3hr bus ride this morning we made it into Baños, a small touristy town with hot springs, mountains & waterfalls.. dinner and a couple beers tonight then off to do a 60km bike ride (down hill at least - c´mon now!) into another small town named Puyo. after a few days here we gonna make it to the coast then back then down to Peru for the 22nd or so.. so yes.. all is good, we are alive and awaiting more adventures... will send pics a lil later when we have time to upload them.. prob will be updated my flickr acct which has been lonely for the past few years... will be updating twiiter so keep an eye on that! twiiter.com/nmgillis twitter.com/nolsonline until then, Ciao! much love! talk soon!

Great television.

I have not been a big fan of television in recent years. Too much trash on TV. But I have spent the past few weeks totally absorbed in watching the last two complete seasons of a fabulous, award-winning political series called The West Wing. That is 44 one-hour episodes!
If you haven't seen it, buy the DVD. It's the best television of the last ten years. I am not much of a critic of acting, but I liked the actors. Martin Sheen was an excellent President of the United States. What was really good was the writing. It made me think. It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me cheer. It's one television program that I believe is better than reading a book.

Here's a good quote from the show:
"The problem with living outside the law is that you no longer have the protection of it."

Here's a funny sample of one scene:
Leo McGarry: We spent millions of dollars developing a pen that could write in space.
Do you know what the Russians did?
Josh Lyman: Used a pencil?
Leo McGarry: Used a pencil.

A hike in the woods and Neil's is heading to Peru

Fall is certainly settling in and it won't be long before old man winter arrives in Timmins. I took a nice walk through the forest today and was amazed at all the colors you can still see. It won't be long before everything is white. I am going to enjoy a nice big steak for dinner tonight so I figured one hour hike was just the thing to help my appetite. I am spoiling myself. Last night I had pickerel for dinner. (Thanks to Denise!) It was perfect.
Anyway, the hike was nice and I found lots of colorful things to photograph. I even found an old claimpost with a brass tag. There was moss growing on top of the post and I couldn't read any writing that would indicate the date. I figure it has to be more than half a century old because there hasn't been any claim staking in the Hersey area for more than 50 years. This was at Hawk Ridge, which is just north of the old Hollinger Mine tailings area, so I am guessing every claim around this area is patented and locked up by Goldcorp.








I had a quick chat with Jennifer today and she is well. I actually began my Christmas shopping so I had to check up on some stuff for her boys. Speaking of boys, my own son is off to South America these days. Neil met Nolene in Ecuador on Monday. Last e-mail I got said they were off cycling, staying in hostels and working their way towards Peru. He will be spending 30 days on vacation. Must be nice to be young and adventurous eh.

Grrrrreat Thanksgiving (grreat photos too)

I am thankful for much in my life.
I have the best family. And that’s not just my children, but all the fabulous people in my extended family. I am so pleased when I think of all the great people that shape and influence my life. It’s funny that it takes a while to fully appreciate them and the special way each person contributes to my world. But I am sure thankful.
Had a great conversation with Debra this weekend as she was hosting Thanksgiving for the Curtis clan in Cambridge. Her boys Alex and Scott were at the wedding in Mira. How nice is that. Both boys are now living on the East Coast, attending university.
Just got back home from the Alexander’s camp where we had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. As usual, the food was great and the company was perfect. Don and Denise were the perfect host and hostess. Christine and Victoria were there and so was Scott, Jennifer, Tyler and Nathan. It was a nice time considering that there was hunting, fishing and ATV quad-riding for the kids. Nathan and Scott went out Sunday morning and bagged two partridge. Tyler and Scott went out this morning and shot four more. I was able to catch a couple of pickerel! Truth be told, they came from Denise’s freezer, already filleted and ready for the frying pan.
One of the fun things we did this weekend was to have a silly shooting contest with two cases of warm pop. We shook the cans, set them up on a stump and then used pellet rifles to blow ‘em up. It was fun and I amazed at how good the kids are at shooting. Tyler, Nathan and Victoria are amazing sharp-shooters. And nothing blows up better than warm pop!