The Great Escape...

Halloween gives us a chance to act like someone else (or at least look like someone else) maybe someone inside of us we wish we could be, maybe someone we are glad we are not– either way it is a great escape (also a good holiday for those in need of Candy).

I think it's good for people to be able to step away from their everyday roles, for short periods, if only to appreciate what they've got, and see that even though the grass may look greener on the other side, the lawn still needs mowing.

I have always loved getting dressed up, and spending tons of my childhood @ the Pacey’s there was no lack of things to dress up as. Peter has heaps of cool things to dress up as. Simon and I would often be police officers, bank robbers, Pirates or hobos or something simple – this may have led me, as an adult to become a huge fan of Halloween – I loved getting outfitted as a super hero, the Flash (As the flash I enjoyed running around downtown, asking people if they needed anything done quickly, only a few got the joke but I was having fun.) , Superman, Wolverine, Robin, Batman – Nic and I have also had some good costumes: The mummies, The Flintstones (the Jackmans were the Rubbles) and this year we were an awesome Witch and a Warlock (Which is a non-Unionized Wizard).

Halloween is a worldwide costume party, or in Australia I guess it would be a Fancy Dress Party? They say that for that day the line between the dead and the living is blurred, so we get dressed up so we don't notice all the ghouls walking around the streets? I don't know - I'm still trying to get rid of the 73 mini bars that didn't get passed out.

Sophie also got into the spirit and was a very scary Dragon - Hope everyone enjoyed their night off, and don't eat all your candy at one sitting...

It was a cold and Windy day...

"We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing. "
George Bernard Shaw

I saw this quote earlier this week - I agree - and we're still playing - today we beat the Saint John Trojans 26-7 in a scrappy game. we were up 21-0 at half and we played some solid defence in the second half, in fact we we're actually down to 13 players vs. 15 players for awhile.

Anyways bottom line we won, 3-peated as NB Champs and are headed back to Caledonia again.

Looks like it will be a rematch of the 2005 Caledonia - as the Valley Bulldogs won in Nova Scotia.

So we're headed down to The Valley, another date with Sweet Lady Caledonia. I can't wait...

The Foreign Prophet…

Dad always said that people would listen and act on the advice of a Foreign Prophet, more readily than they would on the very same advice given by someone familiar to them. I’ve seen many examples of this over the years, such as Rugby Coaches with Accents. They are given instant credibility, while someone you’ve grown up with will have to prove to you that they know something. It’s funny sometimes how the same message said with an accent can have such a different impact. Maybe people assume that since you're not from there you can bring a new outlook to their situation, or you have more knowledge.

So along those lines, this past week, I was running the roads with Nic and Sophie on an Esteem Team Tour– which started in Springhill, led me through River Hebert (pronounced Hibbert), Oxford, North River, Scotsburn, Westville, back to Truro, Stellerton, Thorburn and ended up in East Pictou. It was a great experience and over the 10 presentations I was able to talk to almost 1900 kids.

My message was simple – Set Goals, set them high and then work on a plan to achieve them – I met some fantastic principals and teachers and I visited some great schools – I asked them to share a dream with me, then to work on how to make that dream a reality, and before you know it, they had a goal. A goal is just a dream with a plan afterall. All week I worked on a goal, standing on a exercize ball and completing 5 passes with a volunteer, by Thursday afternoon , I had increased and surpassed my goal, and was able to complete 20 passes before I fell down. While I was trying to entertain the Youth of Nova Scotia - Nicki was entertaining one fussy munchkin (who recently discovered she had arms) back in our Hotel room.

All week we stayed at the Comfort Inns in Amhurst and New Glasgow, nice hotels, awesome continental breakfasts. On Wednesday Morning (6:30 am) while I was eating my Breakfast in the lobby, this guy walked in looking for a hotel room – They told him that they didn’t have any and that he could check back at 11 am – I looked at one of the other people in the lobby and we both said “Wasn’t that JD Fortune?” and it was – the lead singer of INXS couldn’t get a room at the comfort inn, but we had one. I guess that you’re only ever as famous as you are in your hometown.

We were also all able to go visit Uncle Jimmy in the hospital - he's having an Operation this afternooon and my thoughts are with him in Halifax - Sophie got to see her Great Uncle, while in truth so did I.


The Loyalists play the Trojans tomorrow – Should be a Dandy game, Kick off is at 2pm – Rain or Snow…

Tear it down, Build it Bigger…

I associate this expression with “if it doesn’t Kill you, It will make you stronger”, Both are great expressions that would seem to be rooted in Biology – If you overuse a muscle, it will tear and regenerate itself into a stronger bigger muscle (I’m no Biologist, But my Mother is…) – The same way that you can go through some seemingly horrible event, and you’ll be a stronger person for having survived it.

I was thinking about this yesterday sitting on the Physio Table, with current running through my knee and awaiting ultrasound – I have been in these tiny rooms a lot, because I’ve torn myself down lots of times and counted on people like Gary Keeling to put me physically back together – kinda Humpty Dumpty like. I was thinking how easy it can be to tear ourselves down, and how much determination (and outside help) it can take to build ourselves bigger.

We have all gone through turmoil, faced and overcame challenges, raised ourselves above the mess and moved on to the next challenge. That’s simply called life, the problems arise when people get stuck, when they’ve used themselves all up getting through the challenge, and have nothing left for the rebuilding phase.That's where even the strong need someone to lean on, to help them through, to caryy them if it's needed. Mind you there is a lot of power in failure, let me re-word that, there is a lot of power that can be taken away from a failure. Failure forces us to question, which forces us to find an answer which gives us power over the future, as we now have knowledge about how we failed and conversely what we’ll need to do to succeed – there’s the power of failure for you.

"Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men." - JFK

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best, if he wins, knows the thrills of high achievement, and, if he fails, at least fails daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." - JFK

Right now, two very important people in my life sit in hospital beds, both are in the process of building it bigger, The body can only quit when the mind will let it, and I doubt either of these two men have even heard the word quit. All of our thoughts and Prayers are with them, because everybody no matter how strong can use a few prayers.

Get well soon Jimmy and Bill.

It Doesn't Matter Who's Got The Light If You're Not On The Corner...

This is an expression that Dad borrowed from Doug and The Slugs – when I was young I thought it was talking about a flashlight, but later I figured out that it was talking about lighting a cigarette – either way the message(s) is(are) the same.

One way to look at this would be the old “To each their own” sort of message – where something that has no bearing on your situation, isn’t worth your worry

or spun more positively – where half the battle is just showing up, that we should all Endeavour to be on that metaphorical corner, so that we can all concern ourselves with who brought the flashlight, and where that light is leading us. Maybe we should all strive to be the one with the light, leading the way, lending a hand, but if we think that this role is beyond ourselves we should at least be there, living life to the fullest – waiting for direction. Maybe if we aren't open to a new idea, we'll miss out on something, I strongly dislike missing out on things...

If you don’t Like Martinis, Try Anchovies…

I was thinking the other day how much harder it is to be something than it is to be nothing, which seems like a deep thought – I think the really hard part is figuring out what it actually is that you want to be, and have the conviction, courage and self-belief to actually do it. “People don’t do what they believe in, they do what’s most convenient then they repent” – Bob Dylan mused on this in Brownville Girl – It always strikes a chord with me and pops into my mind when people complain about their situations. Things can almost always get worse, so worse in fact that you’d gladly go back to situation that you had complained about, considering where you are now.

For instance Gas dropped to $0.88 this past week and people were all so very happy – I remember last year when people would have been outraged to pay $0.88 – that was before we paid $1.25 a litre – now we’d gladly pay anything under a dollar – it doesn’t take that long to appreciate things when they hit you in the pocket book.

I think (or at least I hope) that everybody eventually would like to be something (maybe something more), or at least recognize and appreciate the things they already are.

The reason that this comes on the heels of Thanksgiving is not co-incidental, I was reflecting on this very thought through the chaos that is Thanksgiving Dinner – The whole world seems very crazy at the moment – Nuclear Testing in Korea, Amish Shootings, and the Fact that Canada is at WAR in Afghanistan – I was simply sitting there appreciating the chaos, surrounded by loved ones and great food - enjoying some loud time together.

I’m thankful for all of it- Nicki, Sophie, My Parents, Sisters, Brothers, my family, my friends, Max and Simon, Rugby, Red Wine, cold Coors Light, my job, X Box, Hot Turkey Sandwiches, warm fall days, Snowy Winter nights, grand parents, long hugs, all those people that have touched my life, Aches and Pains, the places I’ve been, the amazing things I’ve seen, My Physio, all my scars, my teachers, Chicken-a-la-King, the Mini Rugby Kids, raking leaves, Vacation, Waterfalls, Rare Steak, Wings at the Rogue, Mowing the Lawn etc… I could go on and on – but these are the things that came to my mind the quickest. I'm thankful for the good and the bad - because that's why I'm who I am, where I am - so being a goal oriented forward looking person, it was nice to be in that moment and enjoy what the now. Like Turkey and Gravy.

As for "If you don’t Like Martinis, Try Anchovies…"Dad said this to me yesterday, while we were discussing Capelin (Tiny Fish from Newfie) and how they didn’t taste very good – he used this expression and indicated that after anchovies anything would taste good - he makes a good point, he usually does...

Bèja - Du...

This is a new one - Dad said it on Sunday - it deals with Something that has never happened before - These events are very rare - there is a "nothing new under the sun" attitude that exists in this day and age - and most things in our everyday lives have been done somewhere by someone before. Kinda like the opposite of Deja-Vu.

Not this time - The Loyalists won the Aliant Championship in Newfoundland - it was awesome.

Some other big news - My cousin Brian and his lovely wife Tracey had a little Boy Joey Donahue, he weighs 7lb. 2 oz and is doing great.

A couple of Loyalists had birthdays yesterday - "Slippery When Wet" turned 32 and David Calder turned 23ish.

Meghan and Simon came over for some Roast Beast, Portabello Rizotto and Aspergi last night and to spend some time with Sophie. It was a good night. Meghan and the Lady Loylists are off to the Rock this weekend to Play the Dogs and Swilers - good luck ladies.

Loyalists - Atlantic Champs

For the first time in the history of the Aliant Atlantic League, the home team did not find themselves on the winning end of a championship match. The Fredericton Loyalists bucked the Atlantic Aliant League trend and defeated the Saint John’s Swilers at their home field by a score of 31-19. The match was the Loyalists toughest game of the season, marked by hard hitting and wide-open play.

The Swilers pressed the Loyalists for the first ten minutes of the match, but the loyalists managed to stifle what seemed to be endless attacks and finally gained momentum of their own with an opportune try by Malcolm Reeves. From this point on Fredericton managed to play some of their most inspired rugby of the season and maintained the game’s momentum until late in the match when Saint John’s managed to cross the line to even the gap.

Scoring for the Loyalists on the afternoon were Chris Aaen, who rumbled through after an exciting series of play. Simon Pacey and Chris Hunter also scored for Fredericton with Scott MacAfee converting all four tries and adding a penalty kick to round out the score.

Fredericton was able to set up the Aliant League Championship match by defeating an upstart Mount Pearl Dogs the day before. Under typical Newfoundland wind and rain, the Loyalists gained a hard fought 33-10 win and a much needed bonus point to set up the Championship game versus the Swilers.

Fredericton coach Keith McAlpine was both humbled and elated with the result “I am just amazed at how the guys played today, and cannot tell you how exciting it is to win this cup on Newfoundland soil for the first time. The guys are battered and bruised, but not one of them is complaining right now. What a team effort.”

Fredericton now regroups for a shot at the historic Caledonia Cup, the symbol of Maritime bragging rights. The cup goes through Saint John, which means there is still some high end rugby to play in New Brunswick during the month of October.

This Rocks...

Just a quick update from Newfieland - The Loyalists beat the Dogs yesterday 33-10 - The dogs were up 10-7 at half - but we played well and the scrum took over in the second half - we've set ourselves up for a Championship final today against the swilers at 2pm newfie time. I'll post a score as soon as I can get back to the computer.

This is the longest i've been away from my girls in a long time and I miss them like crazy - I'll be coming home soon babies.