Feltham Rambles

"Back-to-back record surpluses, growing tourism and a boom in mineral development and the offshore oil sector have combined to make Newfoundland the Celtic Tiger of Canada".

Any "decent" home is now subject to a bidding war, and even run-down properties are selling quickly, Ms. Brophy said. New homes are selling as soon as the foundations are laid, she added.

"They will also pay a 6.5 percent super royalty -- which kicks in when oil prices are higher than $50 a a barrel -- on top of a 30 percent generic royalty. Crude prices were just under $90 a barrel on Monday".

Good ol' Canada, telling the world how to live their lives and pushing them to clean up their yards when ours is worst shape then the majority of the world.

"I personally find it interesting to hear Canada just a little while ago indicating it would not meet its commitments under the Kyoto protocol and now calling on developing countries to take binding reduction targets...”

Some interesting links on a couple of movements based in Vermont that are aiming to secede from the US, and operate as its own independent Republic. If you look at a map of North America, Vermont shares a large border with Quebec; perhaps it's time for Newfoundland/Labrador, Quebec and Vermont to have a round table and plan our escape!!! P.S. Cape Breton, you're also invited to the party ;)

We got slammed by our first storm of the winter season this past weekend, knocking out power to over 100,000 people on the island; some areas of the Bonavista Peninsula are still without power today. Dani and I made the best of the situation, and curled up under candle light reading tidbits to each other from a book of facts about Newfoundland. Then, yesterday we got another healthy dose of winter, setting the scene for my first snow shoveling experience in about five years.

This morning I stood and gazed out the back window of our house towards the southside hills of St. John’s and watched the sun rise over the snow covered mountains and couldn’t stop smiling. We live around 10km from the eastern most point of the continent, and there’s a subtle joy about being the first to experience the light of day in North America.

As I look outside the window from my office – which is about 300 meters from the ocean – the sun beaming onto the ever melting snow, I can honestly say that I can’t recall a time in my life where I’ve been happier. Sure, there are still the constant ups and downs, but, so many things have finally fallen into place, and the future is so bright… I gotta wear shades (sorry, couldn’t resist) I feel as though I truly know who I am better than ever, and have a commanding sense of what I need to do in the coming years to continue this wave of success – both personally, and professionally.

Lunch break will be coming soon, and I will make the three minute drive to my home and relax for an hour before returning refreshed to the office. It’s only been a little over two months since I left my previous environment; however, I am centuries away mentally. It’s scary when you do the math, that in just two short months, I have been able to enjoy 80 more hours of my life that I would have spent in a car commuting from the United States of Ontario into the United States of America.

I have contractors redoing the entire outside of the house, and am anxious to see how much (or more so, how little) they have done this morning when I return for lunch. I will post some photos of the outside and upstairs once its done, but, here are a couple of photos from the first floor of the new home…