Barry with P. K. Subban of the Montreal Canadiens

A couple of weeks ago on August 28, I got the chance to meet P. K. Subban, one of my heroes from my favourite hockey team the Montreal Canadiens.

Cheryl's good friend Maria Kennedy and her husband, Ben who live here in Toronto are involved in the tv and movie industry. They are currently doing a show for TVOKids called Now You Know. The first season starts this month and they are presently filming year 2. It's a kids show that uses two puppets, Howie and Baboo, to answer questions for kids. The answer to each question is explained by a special guest. For example, Canadian astronaut, Chris Hadfield was the special guest to answer the question, "Why to the moon change it's shape?" It was Hadfield's second stint on the show. Each episode is 10 minutes long but takes 2 - 4 hours to tape.

Maria invited us along to the episode whose question was, "Why do skates glide on ice?" The special guest for this show was none other than P. K. Subban of my beloved Habs. So we were there at the Vaughn IcePlex before the 8:00am scheduled taping. The cameras were all setup and ready to go on the cold ice surface. P. K. arrived a little late but once there he quickly became his usual self and according, to Ben, P. K. was the model guest. They all had a great time during the shoot which lasted for over two hours.

We did get some pictures taken with him during the break and we got to meet the puppeteers as well as the other member of the crew taking part in the shoot. They were finding it very cold and some were wrapped in blankets to keep warm on the cool ice surface.

Below are some photos of the camera setup as well as of us, P. K., the puppets and the crew. It was a fun morning. As well we got to meet P. K.'s mom and sister who were there as well. Kameron, who works as one of P. K.'s publicists took a photo of myself and P.K. which he posted to P. K's Instagram account. Check it out if you have Instagram.

Below are some of the photos taken that day by myself, Gladys and Cheryl.

L to R: Maria, Gladys, Cheryl, Ben, Barry 

Me with Don Waters, Cheryl's co-worker and his 

kids Aliyah, Connor and Noah - Bit early in the 

morning for them!

 Cheryl, P. K. and me.

This one is for all you Habs fans! 

This one is for all the Bruin and Leaf fans!

P. K. getting acquainted with the puppets.

Here's me with P. K.'s mom Maria. 

This is P. K.'s sister Natasha. I wonder 

who's the celebrity here!!!

 The show is taping here.

P. K. learning his lines! 

Shot from outside the glass.

Marty Selnick with Baboo. 

P. K. Skating around the set. 

 Ben, the director, giving instructions.

Howie sneaking up on me there! 

P. K. in his Habs jersey. He couldn't wear it during

the shoot because of copyright infringement.

 More taping here!

 P. K. with some of his lines.

 Pic of the whole crew!

 P. K. taking a snapshot.

Of course, my autographed hat!

Thank You For All Your Support

On behalf of Gladys and myself, we would like to say a big thank you for all your support during the past couple of years since Cheryl got sick. We thank you for being there for us with your time, thought and prayers.

Cheryl is doing very well at the moment with no pain and just a little discomfort. She has a CT Scan scheduled for September 22 and a full body MRI on September 28. Once we get the results from those scans we should know whether the radiation and treatment worked. The signs are good and we are hoping for a good report.

So please keep up those thoughts and prayers. I will be in touch either through here, text, emails or phone calls. We hope all is well with all you guys out there. As well we hope that you had a lovely and relaxing summer once it made it's appearance. Well, at least for those on the mainland - on the Rock I think it lasted for a week in August. We were just fortunate enough to be home for that week from Aug 14 - 21.

I am going to try and start this little blog up again. Not sure how long I will continue or not but I will start. If you have any information or photos to pass along feel free to send them to me.

Cheers to all.

Barry

Bakeapple Picking in Lamaline, NL

Hey there:
      For all you folks from the Lamaline area who may have memories of picking bakeapples over the years these photos may bring back a few memories. I recently took an excursion to Lamaline to pick a few of the delicious berries and did manage to get a couple of gallons. Normally my trip would take me to the Middle Ridge area but these days I don't think I would have much trouble walking the hour hike into the ridge but after picking for several hours I'm not so sure about the hike back out. So this year I spent my time in the area of the Table Rock near Broad Pond as well as behind Piercey Woods.
      While there I took some photos which you may recognize but I must tell you things have changed in my memory at least.
       Enjoy.
Cheers
Barry

As you can see I did manage to get a few. I actually filled the bucket and got about 2 gallons.

The Table Rock near Broad Pond.

Piercey Woods

Piercey Bridge

Closer view of Piercey Bridge

Piercey Brook below the bridge

Here the pit at Piercey Brook.

See Piercey Pond in the distance.

Looking in over the Middle Ridge from Piercey Brook. Too far to walk.

Broad Pond

Big Rocky Pond

Rocky Pond Brook to the left heading to Lamaline.

Rocky Pond Brook to the right heading to Lamaline.

Lamaline Road Sign

Old dump area at Pennie's Hill

Morgan's Island and Green Island

Green Island

The Meadow - Freeman's House

Another view of the Meadow.

Lamaline East from Pennie's Hill

Island Bridge

Back Cove Lamaline

Barasway in Lamaline

Barasway from Meadow Bridge

Remnants of Stacey House in Lamaline

Cousins House in Lamaline East

St. Mary's Church, Lamaline

Centre Hill Hike in Sunnyside, NL

Hey there:

     After our tour of the GBS at Bull Arm Site Gladys and I went on a 4 hour hike to Centre Hill in Sunnyside, NL which is near the Bull Arm Site.

     Centre Hill is the highest point of land in eastern Newfoundland with an elevation of 384 metres of 1150 feet. The last 400 metres of the climb are the most strenuous. The hike itself takes 2 hours to reach Centre Hill and then 2 hours to come back out. For us it took us a little over 2 hours to get there but it was much easier coming back as it was down hill most of the way.

     There is quite a bit of board walk across some of the marshes but is quite a nice hike. We did see one moose and if you look closely at the photo below you can see the moose on the left edge.

    If you would like to see some more information on the Centre Hill Hike you can check out the website address below.

     http://www.trucesoundfestival.ca/ckfinder/userfiles/files/centerhill.pdf

    Enjoy.

Cheers.

Barry

We are off on the hike.

On the bridge about 15 minutes in.

Here's some of the board walk across a marsh.

You can see the water of Trinity Bay in the background.

Still a long ways to go.

See the moose - little dot on the left middle of the photo. He is there. :-)

Break time.

Centre Hill is in the background - about an hour away.

Across another marsh.

Into the boreal forest - sure is warm.

Another hill to climb.

Time for another break.

Near the top where you can see ponds as well as the bay.

Taking a break before the final ascent.

A place to rest and have a lunch before heading up on the final ascent.

Heading back down.

Gladys bringing a rock to help shore up a tight spot to cross on the marsh.

Resting for some refreshment before we make our final descent.

Gladys racing towards the finish.

Back on the bridge at the bottom again.