What's New...Happy New Year, 2001 is coming!

12/30/00: Here's hoping that you had a wonderful holiday season. We had a nice Christmas. We spent part of Christmas Day at a friend's house and met some neat people there. John and I made some freshly baked pretzels to bring. There was plenty of food and we played some games. A nice day was had by all.

In other news, John and I have both been working pretty hard. It's year end at work and we are still short-staffed so I apologize for not updating sooner. John has been extra busy with his work too so visit his Cumberland Games site for all the latest news on the front.

Be good, be careful and have a Happy New Year one and all! See you next year.

What's New...It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

12/03/00: Christmas tree, decorations, lots of lights...yeah, I do believe it's starting to look like Christmas in the Ross apartment. We set up our tree on Thanksgiving weekend but never had much time for decorations until this weekend. We have strung popcorn, put up lights and decorated most of the tree already. Maybe a little tinsel (or icicles as they call it down here)! We will also decorate our windows and patio. Soon, we will have the smell of freshly baked pretzels. We might even look into some sort of diabetic egg nog recipie. However, here's John's favorite egg nog, the one we cannot possibly have anymore. Now where's the snow? Oh yeah, this is Texas :) No snow here.

Then, we start walking around Austin looking at the pretty lights. Downtown has been decorated since the weekend before the presidential election. And now, lights are appearing in many residential areas. For anyone living in the area, don't forget that the Zilker Park Trail of Lights runs from Dec 10-23, 2000. Also don't forget to head to 37th Street. If you enter 37th Street from Guadalupe this time of year, you cannot help but see the amazing light displays. Neighbours string tons of lights between houses, lightpoles and anywhere there is room for more lights. Since this draws much attention, you might think about parking your car somewhere and walking. You will get a better view that way. It is a sight to be seen. John and I will be heading up sometime soon.

Well, we hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday season. If you don't hear from me soon, do not be alarmed. We are about to have a year-end at work and we are severly short handed. I am thinking I might just move my bed into one of the spare offices :)

Take care!

What's New...walks, books and cold cold Austin!

11/14/00: Well, John and I have been doing plenty of walking lately. We have walked upwards of 40 blocks in a day. John is really loving the cold weather and of course, I am not but I still love walking with my sweetie.  It is good for us and fun too.

This past Saturday, we went to the 2000 Texas Book Festival. We went to just one panel, the one with Sandra Brown. She was on a panel about page turners along with three other gentlemen. They were all very interesting but if anyone knows me, she is the main reason I was there. After we left the Capital building, we got caught up in a crowd of election crazies. In ducking away from that crowd, we ended up walking towards the book festival tents behind none other than Ms. Brown herself. When she stopped in front of us to get instructions about where she was supposed to sign books, John said something about us being Sandra Brown Groupies. She just laughed and said that Sandra Brown didn't know where she was supposed to be. I didn't say anything for fear of sounding stupid. I know I did last year when I met her for the first time. It was nice to see her again:) And there were plenty of other people at the festival which is good for Texas libraries.

Well, our 3rd Wedding Anniversary is coming up on the 22nd. WOW! Three whole years married to my best friend. They have been the best 3 years of my life. :) And of course, the US Thanksgiving is soon, not to mention Christmas being right around the corner. So there is plenty to keep us busy.

We hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving and great holiday season. Take care and I will be back soon!

What's New...Rain, Rain and more Rain!

11/04/00: Rain, you heard it here, tons of rain! Austin goes through long periods of drought only to be followed by heavy rains that last for days and cause flash floods and all sorts of craziness. Well, it started Thursday and boy was it raining hard. Poor John got soaked going about 6 feet into a building when he got off his bus. He was still pretty wet and cold a couple of hours later when I got off work. Let's hope he doesn't suffer any ill effects from that day.

The 2000 Texas Book Festival is next weekend, the 10th, 11th and 12th of November! I will be looking for any readings by one of my favorite authors, Sandra Brown. I found her very interesting last year and of course many of you already have heard me brag about how I met her and how nice she is.

For anyone wondering how the tutoring is going for Literacy Austin...well it was called on account of rain this week! However, my student and I seem to be making progress and establishing some trust. I usually worry about what to teach and then when I meet with her, I feel like I do ok. So maybe I am not the best teacher but there is plenty of help available at Dave's ESL Cafe for people looking for ideas. Check his site out if you are interested in finding out more about English as a Second Language.

New pictures are posted so check those out and that's it for now. Be good and be careful!

What's New...Hockey...we saw hockey!

10/22/00: Hockey!! We saw hockey!! Last night we went to an Austin Ice Bats game. It was a spirited game and the Bats walked away with a victory. John and I loved the game! It was a great game, especially for a hockey-starved Newfie! And I was not the only Newfie at the game. While we were outside getting our tickets, a lady walked up with a shirt proclaiming herself to be a Newfie too. I had to speak to her of course. She moved away from Newfoundland over 30 years ago and has been living in Texas for the past 15. Well, if you want to find another Newfie, just go see a hockey game, I guess:)) In addition to the Bats, I have been following both the St. John's Maple Leafs and the Toronto Maple Leafs since their season started too. For great Leaf daily coverage, check out Penaltybox.com.

Don't forget about the upcoming 2000 Texas Book Festival! It will be happening in November. And once again, one of my favorite authors, Sandra Brown, will be there. I met her last year end. She was a very classy lady. Check out my pictures page to see how happy I was to have met her.

Hallowe'en is coming up soon. What are you doing to celebrate? Look out for all the ghosts and goblins. And whatever you do, be careful!

Well, be good and check back soon!

What's New...Texas Book Festival !

10/10/00: I finally found out about the 2000 Texas Book Festival! This is an event which is held at the State Capital Building here in Austin and benefits the Texas Public Library System. There are always celebrities available for readings and book signings. Last year I got to meet one of my favorite authors, Sandra Brown!

Hockey season has started again. I will be trying again to keep track of the St. John's Maple Leafs and the Toronto Maple Leafs from afar. It's always exciting on the Leafs Mailing List this time of year so if you like the Leafs, give it a try.

As to page updates, I have been doing some link checking and adding behind the scenes so have a look around and see what you think.

Take care and see you soon!

What's New...Cooler Weather, Cool Canuck Award, and tons of cool stuff!

10/6/00: Well, due to a cold front moving in, Austin is expecting much cooler weather this weekend. And rain. The high on Saturday is supposed to be in the 50's (50 farenheit would be10 celcius for my Canadian friends)! Compared to the much higher temperatures in the past couple of months, will this mean the beginning of...autumn??

So what's a cool canuck award? It's actually an award that links to a directory of all other cool canuck award winner so that the more cool canuck awards they give away, the better a directory of cool Canadian Websites available. Give them a try. Someone was kind enough to nominate my site so here's my award :)

And then there's my cool husband. John has been making more sparks set, check out his page to see what's available. He also has t-shirts and mugs available for the new game he is working on. These are available on CafePress, a great site which is well worth checking out. Not to mention a new recipie which is diabetic friendly on his page. All in all, a whole bunch of cool things which are worth seeing.

What's New...Happy October!

10/1/00: Happy October. Boy am I behind on updates. But September was a busy month. Ok, so when am I not busy? But that's beside the point.

First of all, work was crazy. I have, however, been promoted to a new position which involves lots more work. Hence, don't get worried if you don't hear from me much.

September brought cooler weather for the most part so John and I have taken advantage of the weather to do more walking and exploring Austin. Cool, of course, being a relative term here. If I still lived in Newfoundland, these temperatures would be hot for summer but here in Texas, it's cooling off.

We have also been busy with our tutoring for Literacy Austin. My student has been doing well, I think. We have been meeting twice a week and I think I may actually be ok at this tutoring thing. Sometimes, communication is difficult since she doesn't speak English very well, but she does read well so we have been doing ok.

I have had several requests for more Newfoundland pictures once again. I wish I had more pictures from home. Most of the ones have already been on the pictures page before but I have to recycle since there have been requests.

Take care and have a happy and safe October!

What's New...Happy Labour Day Weekend!

9/1/00: Happy Labour Day Weekend everyone. Be careful if driving and have fun.

This weekend marks the 14th anniversary of our favorite game shop in Austin, Dragon's Lair. Why not drop by their site to see what activities are planned (on their calandar) or better still, drop by the store and see for yourself! You may even see John and I there sometime this weekend.

We have graduated from our tutor training with Literacy Austin. Our final class was this week and we have both met our students already. This should be interesting but challenging since we are both teaching English as a second language to students who do not speak a whole lot of English. We will keep you posted.

I have added a couple of new pictures so check them out if you have time. And hopefully, I will be back soon!

Take care and be good!

What's New...Hot summer days!

8/24/00: It's been so hot and we have been pretty busy so it's been a while since the last update. I mentioned a while back that the Hot Sauce Festival was coming up. Well, this coming weekend is the one! Drop by Waterloo Park on Sunday, August 27th if you are in the Austin Area! But bring cold water too! Because the samples are as hot as the weather! :)

What's been keeping us so busy...work, parties, and Literacy Austin. Both John and I have been busy as per normal with work. He's been working on his new Cumberland Games projects as well as some other stuff, so check out his page. I have been extra busy with work since we are short-handed and about to become even more so. Our comptroller is retiring and we have had a couple of parties (one at work and one at his family gathering)! Boy will we miss you Bill!!! And as I mentioned before, John and I are learning about being Literacy tutors. We were given our first assignments this week. We have to meet our students, have one more class and then we start tutoring. Wish us luck!!

So if you don't hear from us real often in the coming weeks, don't worry! We are probably just busy but we will still do updates as often as possible. Oh and look for new pictures soon. I finally got some new ones developed...now where did we put that scanner??:)

Hope to see you soon! Take care!

What's New...helping with Literacy!

8/5/00: John and I are going to become Literacy volunteers. We will start training to be tutors at Literacy Austin this coming Monday. Since we both love to read and this organization needs volunteers to help other people learn how, we are going to help and doing it together with my sweetie will make it more rewarding.

So have you seen "X-Men" yet? We both really enjoyed it so much that we have seen it again since my last update. It's just one of those movies I can see time and time again.

Ir you haven't visited John's Page lately, you probably don't know about his new venture, Cumberland Games and Diversions. He is already offering a new freebie to see the type of things he will be doing. So, if you want to see the type of projects that he works so hard on, you should have a look.

Well, I am off to do some housework. Have a great day and talk to you all soon! :~)

What's New...X-Men!

7/25/00: John and I are feeling much better (aside from my throat still hurting a little)! Thanks for all your kind wishes.

What was that, "X-Men"? WOW!!!! I never read the comics but the movie still impressed me! We have seen it several times each. I have gone 3 times with John and he went alone one other time. It was the double feature on his birthday, last Saturday (the 15th for any of you who missed it)! The link above is to the official site but you need a lot of power and updated software to see it. For anyone like me, who cannot tell all the site has to offer, why not check out this link to the Internet Movie Database page for "X-Men"! This page is a great way of telling who has a part in the movie and there are pictures and plot summaries as well as so much more. If you are unfamiliar with the IMDB, check it out! It's a great site with so much info on actors, writers, directors and all your favorite movies!

As to the new GURPS campaign, some of the other players have played but we haven't had a session with all of us yet. I cannot wait to hear about thier adventures. If they had as much fun as we did, it should make for a fun story.

Well, July is getting close to being over and it's hot as heck here in Austin. I am sure that means it will soon be time for the "Hot Sauce Festival". We will be looking forward to that and we vow to wear hats this time. Trust me, when you are standing in 100 degree weather, eating hot & spicy food and not wearing a hat....well that's just plain stupid. But hey, I am from Newfoundland, where it never gets that hot so I had no idea. But anyhow, if you are in the Austin area, drop on by Waterloo Park on the day of the Festival and wave if you see us:)

There are a couple of new pictures up! Take care and hope to see you all again real soon.

What's New...my John is sick!

6/25/00: John had been getting prepared for his new GURPS campaign, which was to start last Sunday. However, a virus has left him down and out. He finally started to feel like he was on the mend over the last couple of days. Unfortunately, when he woke up early this morning, he was without a voice. Thus, the campaign will have to be postponed once again. He feels really bad about cancelling the games, but trust me, if he could run the game, he would. I just hope my sweetie gets all better soon. Drop him a line to wish him well, if you get a chance. I know he would love to hear from you.

In homepage information, I have been doing a few updates to various sections of my page. You may not notice most of it, little things that were in need of fixing, like spelling and grammar. However, the one thing you should notice is my updated pictures page. I have finally put up some new ones. For the person who was disappointed that there weren't any pictures of me...there is one now. For the person who requested a picture of Port Au Basques, I am still looking. I know I have a couple here somewhere. Keep checking back!

Well, I should go and look after my sick husband. Here's hoping that you are all well. See you soon!

What's New...we are both sick!

7/7/00: Both John and I are sick now. He has had a virus for about 3 weeks. It finally seemed to be on the mend. Then, something hit me. And now, John is not feeling too great again. I had to leave work early yesterday and I think it would be smart if I stayed home again today. (They don't like it when I bring my germs to work)!

We finally got to start the new GURPS campaign but because of the couple of delays, there weren't many people around for the first game. In fact, the only two players were Lazaro and Mason (that's me)! These two characters saw action from the get go and it should prove to be an interesting game once some more of the characters show up. I cannot say too much since some of the characters may read this and know what to expect. More later on the game!

We have not been out much lately but we did get to see The Sound of Music on the Big Screen last Monday. There is a theatre here in Austin, The Paramount, that shows old classics. This was one that I had seen many times, but never in a theatre. John was nice enough to take me. It was great to see one of my favorites up there.

Well, I am going to rest some more. Take care and hope to see you all soon.

What's New...Not much News!

6/16/00: Well, there isn't much in the way of news. But since it's been almost a month, I thought I should at least say something! John and I had a wonderful visit with our friend Tim from Virginia. He really likes Austin so now we just need to convince him to come back and go bat-watching. While he was here, we made plans to do that but the weather would not cooperate. Would you believe it rained for two days straight his last weekend here which is when we were planning to go. We did, however, get to spend some time with Tim's brother and his wife and child since they live close to Austin. (The baby is a cutie, let me tell you)! Tim and John wandered all over Austin while I was working, visiting all sorts of places, especially a few of our favorite boostores like "Half Price Books" (all four of the Austin locations) and "Adventures in Crime and Space" as well as the best game shop in town, "Dragon's Lair".

Since Tim left on Sunday, John has been getting prepared for his new GURPS campaign which will start this coming weekend. I will be playing too so look for updates on how the game progresses. My character is a goon, and I have no idea how I will play a goon, but time shall tell.

I have been receiving some requests lately for pictures of particular places in Newfoundland. Most of the pictures that I post on my page are ones taken by John or me. Unfortunately, we have not been to all the places in Newfoundland that I would like. I am going to go back and search up some of my older photos because I know I have missed some. Oh and for the person who wanted to see a picture of me...it has happened on a very rare occasion but keep watching so you don't miss it if it should happen again :) I don't have time to do a pictures page update this time around but soon, I promise!

Take care all and see you soon!

What's New...Pictures from home!

5/19/00: Well, I finally scanned a couple of new pictures from our trip to Newfoundland in March. I have added them to my picture page. Check them out.

This coming weekend will be a special weekend back home as it is May 24th weekend. The actual holiday is to celebrate Victoria Day but most people just refer to it as May 24th. The holiday is held on the Monday before the 24th and in Newfoundland, that often makes for a COLD kickoff to the summer camping season. Have fun folks.

Here in the US, the official kick off to summer is next weekend which is Memorial Day weekend. Again, camping is a big part of it, but here in Texas, we don't have to worry about snow:) We will have the first long weekend since the Christmas season at work so I am definitely looking forward to that part. John and I haven't made any camping plans but we will see John's friend Tim around that time. Tim is going to be visiting from Virginia.

Well, no matter what you do on either holiday weekend, be careful and drive safely!

What's New...Hockey is over for the season for me...not that there's much of a season living this far south:(

5/11/00: The Toronto Maple Leafs bowed out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs to the New Jersey Devils. They couldn't seem to offer much offence in the series and only had 6 shots on goal in the final heartbreaking game. There is a lot of talk on the Maple Leafs Mailing list about the sad state of hockey these days. If you have an opinion, you can either join said mailing list or go to PenaltyBox.com for the discussion boards.

John and I have been doing plenty of walking lately. The benefits have been two-fold. We are both getting exercise and we are seeing so much more of the beautiful city of Austin. It's been pretty warm most of the time. It's better to walk a lot now before it gets too hot. And on really hot days, there are plenty of indoor places like malls and such for walking too.

We are looking forward to a visit from John's friend Tim from Virgina real soon. Tim visited Austin last year and had a great time. Now that we have seen so much more of the city, it will be fun to show him some of the things we missed the last time. See you soon Tim.

And see you all again soon too! Take care!

What's New...Toronto Maple Leafs win the first round of the Playoffs in game 6!

4/25/00: The Toronto Maple Leafs pulled off the win in game 6 to move on to the next round of the playoffs. They defeated the Ottawa Senators in Ottawa last night. Veterans and goaltending have been the news of the series. Toronto goalie, Curtis Joseph, waded through some troubled waters in a couple of games, so much so that he might have been suspended for an accidental knock-down of a ref. Fortunately, he just got a penalty as the tape was reviewed and proved that it was not intentional. He rebounded to play very well in the series. Wendal Clark, who sat out part of the series, played last night and scored a goal. It was nice to know that the former Leaf captain was doing well, instead of sitting in the press box. Next game is against the New Jersey Devils starting this coming Thursday night in Toronto. GO LEAFS GO!!!!!

In other news, John and I spent an enjoyable weekend filled with tons of walking. We spent Friday evening and most of Sunday walking, walking and then some more walking. There was the usual book store visits in between. And some 100 degree weather to add some spice. Yes, it looks as if Easter brought summer instead of spring:)

We hope you all had a nice Easter. Check out John's page as he put up an Easter surprise for you gamer types:) Talk to you all soon!

What's New...Toronto Maple Leafs in Playoffs but the St. John's Maple Leafs are not so lucky!

3/26/00: The Toronto Maple Leafs ended their regular season on a bright note. Not only did they reach 100 points for the first time in franchise history, they also won their first division title in a very long time (hint: I was not born the last time they did this)! The Big Leafs will face the Ottawa Senators in the first round of the playoffs. This "War of Ontario" should make for an interesting series. Good luck guys, bring home that Stanley Cup.

The St. John's Maple Leafs did not do very well at all this season, however. The Baby Leafs knew a few weeks before the end of the season that it was all over for them. But just to make things interesting, they waited until the very last game to determine that they would finish absolutely last in the whole AHL. They didn't have a very good year and injuries multiplied any problems they were having. Better luck next year guys!!

Other than hockey, things have been going well for John and I. We have both been pretty busy playing catch up since our vacation. I still haven't added many new pictures from our trip. Soon...I promise:) See you all later!

What's New...we are back from our vacation in Newfoundland!

3/26/00: Well, after two full and busy weeks in Newfoundland, we are back to warm sunny weather in Austin. Not that it was anywhere near warm in Newfoundland. We had a snow storm last weekend which saw 43 cm hit the St. John's area. (That's approximately 17 inches for the American readers)! John loved it and even helped shovel. It was not much warmer than 3 or 4 degrees celcius the whole time (less than 40 degrees farenheit)!

We spent the entire two weeks visiting old friends, co-workers and family. We even had time for a St. John's Maple Leafs game. We had lots of fun looking through book stores and even bought books for my niece and nephew who cannot get enough to read. John and I were able to have some seafood, which included "cod tongues" and yes, that is exactly what it sounds like.

Now we are back and need to get back to work. I know that it will take quite a lot of time for both of us to catch up. I have updated my pictures page but check back because not all of the vacation pictures have been developed or scanned yet.

Take care and see you soon!

What's New: Next week...!

2/29/00: Next week, we leave for Newfoundland. I am excited and I cannot wait to see everyone. It's been over 2 years since I saw my family and friends. John and I are going to have a great time. We may evern get to see some snow??? Not that there is much in St. John's right now. They get some and it disappears within days. Not bad for the "Great White North". eh:)

Well, I have added some Newfoundland pictures on my pictures page, so that you guys can see some of what we will see next week.

Meanwhile, here in Austin, spring has sprung (or summer if you were used to Newfoundland summers)! We had a wonderful weekend, flying kites and walking in Zilker Park, visiting the largest flea market I have ever seen, and just enjoying being together, like we always do.

I hope you all have a happy March. I know we will. Talk to you all later:)))

What's New?? We saw snow!

2/4/00: Snow, but not in Austin. Last weekend, John and I attended "Eclipse 2000" in Columbia, Missouri. We had a wonderful cold weekend with 3 inches of snow. John loved it and even though I am not a snow lover, it was kind of nice after two whole years of none at all. It doesn't snow very often in Austin, like once in the past 10 years or so:) John was the gaming guest of honor at the convention. We met some nice people and had a nice trip. We were even in St. Louis airport around the time the Superbowl started. For those of you who haven't heard, the St. Louis Rams won!

Other than that, not much in the way of news. We are still excited about visiting home (Newfoundland) next month. Valentine's Day is next week, so we will probably be mushy, but that's normal:) Take care and I will be back soon!

What's New?? We are going home!

1/16/2000:Well Happy New Year seems to be in order since the last time I updated was before Christmas. I hope the Y2K did not hit you too hard! It seems that wasn't as big a problem as some people feared, thank goodness:) We hope you all had a happy holiday season. John and I had a nice quiet time.

What's new...We are going home!!! Yes, I do mean Newfoundland! Finally, John and I will get a chance to visit my home province of Newfoundland. We have not been there in over two years, not since I left home to move to the US back in October of 1997. I couldn't leave the country because of my immigration status until my last interview back in August of 1999 and now that I can, we will:) We leave Austin on March 9th and will be gone for two whole weeks. We cannot wait since John has barely seen my home and we haven't seen any of my family or friends in all that time.

Speaking of going places, John has been invited to "Eclipse 2000" in Columbia, Missouri. I get to go to this one too. We will be flying to Missouri on the 27th of January and spending the weekend gaming and all that fun stuff. We hope to see you there.

Oh, I have updated my pictures page again. Have a look since there is a really nice picture of my husband there:)

Finally, I would like to make mention of a special link here. If you are a hockey fan like me, the place to check daily for news and updates is Rick Couchman's "The Penalty Box". I had linked to it before but when it moved, I lost the link. Rick keeps an up to date page with tons of information, links, and even a monthly giveaway. Check it out because he has put a lot of work into the page and it shows.

Well, take care and I hope to hear from you soon...don't forget to sign my guestbook:)