I’m back in New Brunswick for work this week. Actually, as I write this, I’m in Nova Scotia on the farm — I flew down early to spend a few days here with my family and meet my brother’s new puppy, Polly.

We’ve packed in lots of cribbage (on the new board we got my dad for Christmas) and eating. I even got a bonus visit from brother #1 and his family who were skiing not far away — they came for dinner on Saturday night, and then drove back. That was the good. The bad was me totally wiping out on the snow-covered ice between the two houses one night; luckily no major injuries to me, nor to the bottle of wine I was carrying, apart from a slightly-tweaked knee…but that knee has been 10% tweaked since I was a kid anyway. (Thanks a lot, Osgood-Schlatter disease.)

I was also supposed to see my old friend Adam this time around, but the timing didn’t work out. Next time though.

In the next few hours I’ll head to Moncton to avoid the storm that’s meant to hit overnight. I can’t remember my crib record whilst here so I’m just going to go ahead and declare myself the champion.