Saint Paddy's Day - The Original Survivor Series  Saturday March 18, 2006
 It is fair to say that most of us have survived the another March 17th. I have not yet heard of any casualties. When St-Patrick's falls on a Friday, there is a tendency to overdo 'things' as you know you have 2 days to recover. As you will see by these pictures, all religions and races were green for the day.

Potato Cakes - An Irish Tradition Tuesday March 14, 2006
As St Paddy's day approaches, many people are reminded of the huge part that the potato has played in the history of Ireland. The massive export of food was the trigger to the great famine of the mid 1800's (1845-1851) caused over a million deaths in Ireland and caused more than a million and a half others to leave seeking a better life in America, Britain, Australia and, of course, Canada. Potatoes have always been plentiful in Canada and the Irish still consider the potato 'king' of the vegetables. A Fitzmorris tradition is to get together a week or two before St-Patrick's day to whip up a batch of Irish potato cakes to be enjoyed on the 17th along with the other traditional foods. The potato cake is not a cake at all and is sometimes referred to fadge, slims or potato farls. This is not to be confused with Boxty which is basically just fried mashed potatoes. The recipe for potato cakes is very simple. Two ingredients if you don't count the butter in the frying pan. On Sunday, March 5th, the annual cake and count was held at Ron and Joan's. Here is a pictorial essay on how to make the potato cakes in case you want to try your hand at them for Friday. To learn more about potato cakes, simply click here.  

New Legion Link Saturday March 11, 2006
The Legion Br 185 hosted the St Anne's Veterans yesterday putting on a show and feeding them a free supper to boot. I have set up a link to some legion 185 news at the top of this page. Click on the Legion logo. The band Midnight Stage and Eileen Wilson as well as some special guest singers provided the entertainment. A crew of volunteers prepared the meal that was enjoyed by all before their bus trip back to Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue. 

New Executive Elected at Legion Br. 185 Saturday March 4, 2006
On Saturday morning March 4, 2006 a new executive committee was elected into power. It started with the election of a new president to replace the incumbent John Owens. The two nominees for president were Neil Macdonald and Darlene Morrissette. Darlene got the majority of the 58 votes in attendance. After that ballot the remainder of the executive position were filled in by acclamation as no one ran in opposition. Still to be filled are the two positions of Treasurer (since filled by John Owens) and Public Relations Chairman. Below is a picture of the new Branch 185 executive committee: Congratulations to all!

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Left to right: Tina Duncan (2nd VP) - Norm Hollis (1st VP) - Christopher Wheatley (District Command presiding over the election). Darlene Morrissette (President) - John Owens (Past-president), Brendan Hynes (Secretary), J.P. Godbout (Sergeant at arms) - Tom Murphy (Membership chairman).

Beware The Ides Of March Saturday March 4, 2006
The Ides of March came a dozen days early this year As Mike Nabozniak was feted for his 50 birthday. Due to his birthday falling too close to St. Patrick's day, it was decided to 'surprise' him a little bit early. Happy birthday Mike and enjoy these pictures of the event.

14 Year Old Girl Dies in Car Crash Tuesday February 28, 2006
Deux-Montagnes made the news today and there is surely some questions that will have to be answered. You can read the article here. The gas station in question is across (diagonally) the street from the Tartan Pub. The pub had been closed for quite a few hours by then. Apparently the chase started west of Two Mountains in Ste Marthe or St Joseph and but ended there in an parked van. It looks like the kids were not from Two-Mountains but somewhere west (St Joseph). The news is still sketchy. According to TVA, she was not driving. The victim has been identified as 14 year old Rachel Kim De Muylder.

USA Wyder Captain Aces Par 3 Saturday January 21, 2006
I am a little late in reporting but I needed more info. Wyder Cup Captain Wobbit Wall  carded his first hole-in-one on the 4th hole - Glenn Eagle Golf Course in Naples. Fred Wall reports: "We were playing the back tee's and Wobbit was the last to hit in the foursome. The distance? I think it was 161 yards and he use a 5 iron. Ball *Slazenger "Raw Distance" and no he did not buy a round @ club house. You need ask him to explain why not.
From the tee box a bunker blocked the hole and we could only see the top half of flag. The group on the third tee watched it roll in, when we did
not react, they realized we could not see the hole and confirmed the hole in one.
Playing with Robert that day were Fred Wall, Bob Coll and Roger Cloutier. I am waiting for Robert's reason why he did not buy the round at the clubhouse. My guess is that he achieved this feat at 8am and therefore the bar was not opened when he finished the round. The same happened for my only hole in one at Glendale in August 2000. Here is my card from that day. Glen Eagle, Glen Dale, is that just a coincidence?

Scott Finally Caddies Through Weekend Saturday February 25, 2006
If you have keeping up with Scott Martin this week, you will know that he managed to get a bag for the week Chrysler Classic of Tucson. Not just any bag. His man Mark Brooks, shot -8 on Friday to temporary tie for the lead. At the end of the day, he was only 3 shots off the pace and Scott finally works on the weekend for the first time in 9 months. Go to Scott's page for an update after the -8 round and a great insider's look at the life and times of a PGA tour caddie. Good luck on the weekend Scott.

Last Chance to Be Part of LTHC Lore Saturday February 25, 2006
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, the LTHC hockey team is making its final pilgrimage to Boston to try a bring the North American Cup back home where it belongs. There are a few spots left on the bus (and in the hotel) for anyone adventurous enough to experience Boston the way the LTHC has done in the last 31 years. Check the LTHC link for more info and mark March 24 for Final Destination 32.

Reality Check! Saturday February 18, 2006
WTF. Back home after a week with a low of plus 23º. Landed this morning to a balmy minus 23º and a 'bit' of wind to boot. This is when you really ask yourself why we live in this frozen tundra. The flight home was a little bumpy, over an hour late which made us the last of quite a few planes to land and pass Canadian customs. Since we were in the back of the plane and did a pit stop on top of that, we ended up almost at the end of the line at immigration. I didn't know you weren't supposed to take pictures but this will give you an idea of what we went through. In short, planned arrival 7:05, actual arrival at gate 8:10, past the last customs station 9:15. Considering the line up at customs and only 9 agents, it wasn't that bad. I just couldn't imagine how long it would take if this volume of people were in line going into one of the islands. All in all we had a great week in the Dominican and here are a few pictures to prove it. Now it's back to reality and a good 6 weeks left of winter and at least 10 weeks to golf season.

Still Going Great Thursday February 16, 2006
The weather here has been great. Not a speck of rain for two days and the fairways are getting harder. This means we can finally reach some greens in regulation. Finally (almost) conquered the front nine (even par after 7). Scott's page has been updated with the latest news from the Nissan Open, where Tiger is trying to make it 3 for 3. I heard that the weather up there is warm but a minus -20 is awaiting us Saturday as we have no winter jackets, gloves or boots. Hope the car is warm.

Forget the pictures Tuesday February 14, 2006
Paradise lost? The internet is pretty fast in this Internet Caffé as they call it, but the pc's are a little slow. I tried to edit some pictures to include them here but the response time was so bad that I couldn't resize my pictures from 8.2 meg to something I could post.  Sometime on Saturday I will post a slide show of our trip. Today's golf round will be referred to as the Valentine's day massacre. My worst 9 hole score in my memory with an 11 on #2 as the highlight. I managed to break 100 anyway so all was not lost. Still 3 more days in this 32 degree heat. I am not sure if we can stand it anymore. Only 1 of the 7 bars in the hotel is air conditioned, so we will survive. Goodbye for now as we now have to restart our post afternoon nap drinking.   

Another Day in Paradise? Monday February 13, 2006
It's not really paradise. But it's a Monday and I am not at work or shovelling snow. It rained overnight so the fairways weren't rolling. I will try to post some pictures tomorrow but that would be stretching the powers of the Dominican PC's. Came very close to an eagle today, and a lizard and an angel fish and green hornets.   

I Found the Internet in the Dominican! Sunday February 12, 2006
I am sitting in an internet cafe in Juan Dolio after shooting an 80 on Guavaberry from the Blue tees with my new driver. Beautiful weather here except that we had a little storm after golf. What a good excuse to have a nap. I got to get back to my cold El Presidente and get ready for another round of golf tomorrow. I will keep you posted.........

This could be the last update until February 18 Friday February 9, 2006
You probably won't see any action on my website except for Scott's page in the next week. I am off to the Dominican Republic for a golf trip. If by some miracle I get internet access in our hotel, I will definitely keep you posted. I just don't think it will be available because I am used to things down there. It may have changed in the past couple of years. I might be pleasantly surprised though. Scotty's page however will probably be updated and hopefully with good news from Pebble Beach. He is caddying for Brett Quickly who is doing pretty good this year. His uncle, Dana, did well last week on the senior tour so it could be a good thing. I, on the other hand will be on a golf course where someone at work gave me only one piece of advice; 'Bring lots of balls'. I usually bring way too many balls down there but I won't take any chances. I just hope that hope that my armored golf bag gets by the weigh in at the airport counter. Apparently they have new weight limitations on airplanes. As some of you know, my travel golf bag doesn't meet the guidelines so 3 dozen balls won't help the situation. Hasta luego!

Lean Clean Machine at Holy Family Variety Pub Night Saturday February 4, 2006
The organizers of the third annual Holy Family Pub Night promised to run a tight ship to deliver a fast paced night of entertainment. They delivered! The acts followed each other with minimum set up time and the show was always ahead of schedule. Harry Brooks kept announcing the acts and Glen and Bill Morris and Danny Dore the stage and moving at super sonic speed. The final result was a show that finished on time allowing for a good jam session after the official program was complete. Click on the picture for a slide show.

Wow! 20,000 Visits In Just Over a Year Thursday February 2, 2006
On this Groundhog Day, my friend Mike pointed out that I reached the 20,000th visit today. He won my 1000th visit prize which is still displayed under the counter. I want to thank all readers and now the loyal readers of Scott's page which he has been updating regularly. Scott sure has an interesting career as a caddie on the PGA tour. I also want to apologize for the lack of updates of my pages in the last few days. I have been trying to produce my Pub Night video for Saturday and I am having many technical difficulties. While this is going on, I can't use my regular PC and I don't have all the right stuff on my laptop. Just to give you an idea of video editing software, once you have laid down your tracks and titles and are ready to burn a DVD, that process can take anywhere from 2 to 10 hours of processing time. You can't touch your PC during this time or the process could fail. Right now it's failing all the time and I don't know why. So I do have a reason for my lack of updates.
Unfortunately, there will be another drought from February 10th to 18th, as I make my way down to the Dominican Republic for a week of golf with Ronnie P. and any other two guys with $2099. We booked today and there are still some spots open on the plane. It sounds expensive but it includes unlimited golf and cart and the hotel is all inclusive. Check out the Hotel and the golf course. Anyone that's been to the DR, will know that I won't be doing any updating to my website from there although maybe I will be surprised by the Hilton facilities.
You probably noticed my new front page. Many of you commented on the picture of city hall but I have been waiting to post this new one for Super Bowl XL weekend. The wood sculpture was carved by Robert Raymond (a/k/a Bobby Ray) and he presented it to me on SOMD Grey Cup Day in November. A lot of work went into that piece and I have it proudly hanging on my 'sports' wall in my basement. Bob did it from a picture of me with my rubber football head which is seen here worn by Gary Mac in the dressing room at Molson Stadium for the 2004 SOMD Grey Cup.
Something in the previous sentence reminded that I have to post the weigh-ins for February 1. Slim provided his number before the all inclusive trip to the DR instead of after which is a good idea. With only 3 checkpoints left before June 1st, it's getting down to the wire. I hope I can resist the midnight buffets on our trip because my numbers will not look as good as they did last month. For those unfamiliar to this challenge, just click Weigh-in in the top menu.