A 'Meet-Up' With Blog Buddies

A couple of months ago a blogger friend, Stew Adams from 'A Brighter Side Of The Grave",

contacted us and told us he and his husband, Ed, would be in Halifax on June 13th.

This is our first 'meet-up' with someone from the blog world......

Can you see something peeking out from around that piece of land?

This was about 8:30 A.M last Thursday morning in the parking lot at the Park

 facing out towards the mouth of the harbour.

This looked like it could be the ship we were looking out for...

even the Cormorant on the rock noticed it!

The cruise ship approached very slowly and I understood why.....traffic in the harbour.

Sophie knew something was up as I caught her in the rear-view mirror.

She senses things you know.

Yes, this was the ship! The Carnival Glory as it was passing McNab's Island.

These two guys above were the 'greeting' band that played a few tune as the ship docked.

Here's a sample above:

It took a while to unload 3000 tourists, so we waited in the reception area of the pier.

Then we went up onto the roof to get a better view as the ship was moving closer to the pier.

You can actually see this if you look closely at the above video.

Lots to photograph up there, right Ron?!

We headed back down when we thought most passengers were on shore by now.

And sure enough we saw Stew and Ed heading towards us.

Good thing they looked exactly like their photos on the blog!!

Sophie let them shake her paw as she could see that they really were excited to meet her!

She knew they left their dog, Pugsley, back home in Michigan.

So we headed to the park for a long walk and a chance to become acquainted with these guys

who were very far from home.

Stew and Ed are in the funeral business and Stew's blog is full of very discreet stories

of their adventures and the people they meet.

At one of the British forts at Point Pleasant Park.

So quite naturally I thought it would be appropriate to make a stop at Halifax's oldest cemetery.

There are over 10,000 people buried here....it's not that big.

The 'boys' were very interested in what was here 
and they found out from the tour guide below (in blue)
that a grave of the man who burned  the White House was here!!
His name was Major General Robert Ross, (click) a British officer.

We were very happy that there just happened to be a 'guide' there that day. 

He was very informative and explained to us the different insignia on the 

tombstones.

Myself, Stew and Ed at this huge epitaph at the entrance to the Old Burying Ground.

All the grave yard exploring and the walk in the park took us to our favourite

Greek restaurant in Halifax, The Blue Olive.

We were all so hungry that it didn't even occur to me to take

photos of the appetizers and main course!

But I did manage to get these dessert shots which were wonderful.

And when the owner, Jimmy, stopped by the table to see us,

whom we have known for a few years now,

he said the desserts were 'on the house'!!

So with full bellies we were ready to continue the tour of our fair city.

And where else!? Since Halifax was in close proximity to the location of the sinking 
of the Titanic, over 100 graves mark the final resting place for some of the 
victims of this tragic event of April 15, 1912.

Including the 'Leonardo DiCaprio' character, J.Dawson.

I think Ron and I are the only two people we know 

that didn't see this movie.

Ed was in his 'element' and was off exploring this grave yard

for a while.

As you can see, he was having a ball looking 

for fancy letter insignia spelling out HALIFAX.

And he did it!!

Here is the tomb of the 'unknown child' who was 

finally identified in 2008.

Seeing all these tombstones with the exact same date of death was

overwhelming and difficult to get one's head around.

It really brought home this tragedy that effected so many people.

Needless to say, after the sombre grave yard tour, it was time to have some fun!

And of course Sophie is an expert in this field! She and Stew had a ball on 

the grass in front of the Dingle Tower.

If this looks like the lions that are in Trafalgar Square in London,

then you are close to being correct, as this and its mate are 

modeled after the ones there.

Sophie and I stayed behind as Ron, Stew and Ed walked up the more than 100 steps

of this tower to see the view from above.

So as Sophie and I waited for the boys to return, 
I had a chance to think about how good it was
to meet real, actual blog people and I discovered that they are
not a figment of my imagination! 

And I couldn't have been more happy to meet Stew and Ed
who are very down-to-earth people and ones that 
have a zest for life and a deep appreciation
for living in this wonderful world we all share.