OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD

It has been a very long day. We picked up our friends at 7:10 and proceeded by school bus to an old factory in Kitchener. There we unpacked these special shoe boxes that have come in from all over the country, inspected them, added some content then labelled girl/boy and age range, taped it shut and sent it on its way. I figure there were over 200 volunteers working this shift and during the course of the day, we processed 11,000 packages for children in the third world. This week, they are sending 50,000 of these boxes to children in Haiti. It is our second year of volunteering for the charity ... retirement is grand!

KEN ASTON'S WOODCARVING

First Game of Season

It was Aiden's first hockey game of the season. They were skunked 6 nuthin by the Orono team. This being the first game, our kids are not used to playing full ice together so I expect to see the team do better as the season progresses. Aiden played left wing and had about 4 breakaways and shots on net. Their goally was huge and played well.
Aiden is so much faster than last year - his skating and playing has really improved. Both Wenda and I really enjoyed the game and we are looking forward to the next one in a week. Click here to see more pics of Aiden playing.

Christmas Elves at Work

Cuddle Time

Sometimes I go with Wenda to pick up the kids from nursery school. Lexy likes to interact shall we say at that time ... cuddles, horsey ride, back-flips anything that a 3 year old can think of. She is never short of things to talk about.

I've Published Another Book

My first couple books were engagement books and this one is another from my photography business. It is a wedding album for Susan and Patrick, whose wedding I photographed this fall. You can click on the pages to turn them electronically to the next page. It can be a bit slow for a page to appear but it will eventually. My good friend Philip Palmer was my assistant throughout the wedding and I appreciate his assistance.
You can click on the full screen icon near the bottom but it does not make it much bigger.

Allan Kirby Photography by allankirby.com | Make Your Own Book

Blue Jello Tongue

My goodness but Quinten seems to be suffering from the dreaded "Blue Tongue Disease" as well. After eating blue jello, both kids were sporting these new fangled tongues. It has been a long day today, and tomorrow, is the Newcastle Santa Parade - I am on the committee so I will be busy working safety and moving with the parade. Is retirement supposed to be this hectic?

Dreaded Blue Tongue

We went out to Boston Pizza with the grandkids after attending Aiden's Registration mass.

DRILL BABY DRILL

Oh my God, look what started drillin behind my back yard. We've had this vacant lot behind us all along, and now the times they are a changing. These guys are doing core samples. They drill down about 3 feet then they put a metal rod with a 2 foot hollow tube threaded on the bottom. The pile driver mechanism punches the tube down a couple feet further. The rod is then extracted, and the tube is removed and split in half for the Geologist to assess. 

Oddly enough, he takes samples of the clay from the bottom of the core sample, holds it to his nose, then places it in a zip-lock bag. This process is repeated dozens of times all over the property.

It seems someone is buying the property with the aim of constructing some new buildings in the downtown core. Core samples of the soil are needed to determine what kind and size of foundation is needed to support the new structures. The 5 million dollar Shoppers Drug Mart at the heart and core of our town is just about all bricked, windows are in, and they are working on the inside.  Our sweet little sleepy village is caught in those times that are a changing.

Beginning Skater

The mighty 'Q' is off doing his best on the ice this weekend. He is still at the stage of short little steps, but he is still very competitive. Week on week we some signs of progress. Last week he could not move backwards and it was frustrating. This week, he wiggled that but enough to move about 10 feet backward. After 50 minutes on the ice, he is just soaked ... the little guy has had quite a workout.

New Barcode

You may not have seen this new type of barcode yet but it will be quite common soon. It is thousands of times more powerful than the barcode we are used to.  You can use your smartphone to buy all kinds of products that have this barcode - just point your smartphone camera at it and the purchase is done.  

Floor Hockey Kids

Aiden's hockey team had an hour on the ice, then went for another 2 and a half hours indoors. That is a long day for Papa but I enjoy watching him have fun with his teammates. The coaches are great and the parents are very supportive. So it has been a short respite between soccer and hockey. 

Quinten n Me Hangin Out

The grandkids grow up so fast, and their features change so fast when they are young so I try every once in a while to document the changes. Yesterday, I picked the little guy up at Nursery School and we just hung out together until the rest of the tribe arrived. Just 2 guys hangin out, then later we played a bit of street hockey and soccer together. 

Ho Ho Ho

After working on Santa's sleigh for the annual nighttime parade, I was lucky enough to get to greet the old gent himself - He was very appreciative and figures the sleigh will work just fine this Christmas.

Santa's Workshop

This is what retirement is all about. I am on the committee for the Newcastle Santa Parade this year and one of the duties is to help Santa get his magic sleigh all ready for the parade. Since it is a nighttime parade, lots of bright Christmas lights are in order. So after all was said and done, we closed the door to the Sleigh depot at the North Pole, plugged it in and admired our handiwork. Santa will be so pleased.