It's a short one (That's what she said)

     No apologies for the length, that's not my style.  I'll just give you the best I've got this week, like always, and hope you come away satisfied... 

     It's a labor of love this blog, but as you are aware, if you are a regular reader, once I've made a commitment, I don't generally shirk from it.  I've never missed a Tuesday deadline in the almost 2 year history of this blog, and I'm not going to start now, however, this one might be shorter than the usual posts, just not a lot of time on my plate this week.  I had to start this week by traveling to Ottawa on Sunday, so that I could fly into Halifax.  I take the 4 hour drive so that I can take a direct flight and avoid customs after landing, plus it eliminates the 2 hour pre-

flight requirement for traveling internationally, well because I'm not.  I'm driving internationally and flying in country.  Unfortunately that meant I missed church on Sunday.  I don't like that. I mean, I like that they serve snacks and drinks on the plane, mid-flight, church could use that, but I don't like to miss church.   Like I said earlier, once I've made a commitment, I don't generally shirk from it, and church is both a commitment and something that I need and enjoy. Worse yet, when I went to leave I had accidentally left my lights on in the car and consequently had to leave my wife with a car with a dead battery and I took hers (Thanks Honey!).   I actually drove to Ottawa Ontario, flew to Halifax, Nova Scotia and drove to Moncton New Brunswick, so technically in a few hours I was in one US State and 3 Canadian Provinces and I missed church. Do you ever get the feeling that you are traveling, but either not going anywhere, or surely headed in the wrong direction?  Yeah, me too, but nevertheless that was Sunday the start to my week.

     I'd love to tell you about the beautiful city of Moncton, but by the time I got done traveling there, I had enough time to work out at the Hampton, and then eat at a local chain restaurant. Sometimes traveling is like that, some of the best cities look like the inside of an exercise room to me.   I saw signs for moose on the way there, but no actual ones (my two friends Daphne and Andrea just said, "Big Deal, we see them all the time").  I do know that

the city lies near the geographic center of the Maritimes in Canada so they nicknamed it "The Hub City".  Before I traveled there I had only heard of it once and that was while watching an episode of the Twilight Zone entitled "The Odyssey of Flight 33" where a plane goes back in time and Moncton is one of the airports that they try to repeatedly contact.  I've also heard the story of how they named the city after a British Colonel who took over the fort there, but due to a clerical error mis-named the city (His name was Monckton).  For future reference, if you are ever thinking of naming a city after me, it's spelled "OnGion", and I'd appreciate it if you get it right.  I worked a food show the next day there and drove the 2.5 hours back to Halifax that night.  Next time I'll spend more time there.  While at the show, I discovered that I had customers in a Province that I didn't even know on Prince Edward Island.  They finished a bridge over to there about 15 years ago, which makes it a lot easier to get products there.  They were nice folks that I met and it's no wonder that PEI is nicknamed "The Gentle Island".

     This am I am working in Halifax NS, and hope to see some more of this city. I've been here a half dozen times now and it is very pretty, although, if you've been to Northern Maine, it looks a lot like that.  The area is known for a historical event from WWI especially, and that was, it had the largest explosion in it's harbour, on the planet up until the first A-bomb was detonated.  A munitions ship ran into an aid ship in the narrow part of the harbour

The 1100 lb anchor shaft from the Mont Blanc

and the explosion that followed blew up the northern part of the town and killed 2000 residents.  An anchor shaft from the munitions ship, the Mont Blanc, was found almost 2.5 miles away from the explosion and is still there today.  It weighs over 1100 lbs.  The next day they had a blizzard and surrounding cities rushed to their aid.  The city of Boston MA helped so much, that to this day, Halifax still sends a Christmas tree to the Boston Commons each year to say thanks.  They repaid the favor on 9-11 by taking in 40 planes that had nowhere to go after we locked the country down.   Nice folks up here too. I'm not going to say anything more on this city as it's cool enough to rate it's own future blog, but that is where I'll be today.

     I'll finish this week with a simple thank you for your continued readership.  Last week's blog had 548 views, but interestingly enough not a single comment (on the blog itself).  Sometimes that function gets wonky, so I never truly know how folks feel about a particular blog or whether all the hits are accidental.    I went out Friday night in Canandaigua and was approached by 2 faithful readers (Thanks Val and Deb!), and they mentioned that week's blog and their appreciation for my efforts each week.  That answered my burning question of that week, and put a little spring in my step for the rest of the night.  Keep reading please, even if I do phone it in once in a while.