Thank god I watch the news! If it wasn't for that I would've missed one of most historical moments of New Brunswick: the opening of the River Causeway. After a little research I found the Petitcodiac Riverkeeper website that was counting down the hours and the minutes for this much awaited grand opening! I had a hour an 35 minutes to get my butt to the chocolate river!

What a magical moment. As I got there at 1pm, there were maybe a few dozens of people but as the time approached more and more gathered to either shake their heads or shake hands! It was a little cool, maybe 9 Celsius and cloudy with very shy sun rays. Environment Canada called for a 60% chance of rain and luckily we only got a few drops not even enough to open my umbrella. As usual a few flocks of birds were there as if they knew what was about to happen.

CBC, CTV and Rogers were there among other medias. As we waited for the tide to come down a little, they took turns in interviewing spectators and protesters. A small plane flew by as well as a helicopter making it feel even more like an important moment. People gathered with their kids, their pets, with or without an opinion. Only a few Policemen were there and walked around chatting with people.

Surprisingly protesters were not aggressive but walked around with their signs. Some to protest because the government will be spending millions for the construction of a bridge while they'd rather the money be spent on health care and more important issues to them. Others were there to protest because of the water level that could reach an old dump site and that it could pollute the water. Some who live along the artificial lake that was created when they built the causeway, are afraid that their property value could drop by as much as 40%. This woman who used to go kayaking on the lake says she will not be able to anymore. One woman said that the tides we saw would no longer be. It will be a river, a simple river that flows to the sea like it's supposed to.

A lot of people are afraid of what might happen after the gates are open. It is human nature to be afraid and create scenarios. This time, humans give back to the river and nature will heal its wounds. Nature endures much worst than the opening of the causeway! Fishes won't die and birds won't become extinct because they opened the gate... and as for pollution... no need to open the causeway to pollute the oceans!

The birds really looked like they were enjoying the show! As soon as the first gate opened and the water started to flow one seagull dove into the water. After all the gates were opened the seagulls all flew in a big circle, creating a big ball! It was an awesome and wonderful moment and it brought tears to my eyes. It was like fireworks made of birds!

I hope all goes well and that protesters prayers for catastrophes and disasters are not answered. May the river flow

The snow is still falling and we've already been out twice to shovel the snow off the steps and down the back to the fish pond! It isn't stopping! We were expecting a big snow storm but it is looking worse than expected. In New Brunswick there was a huge storm surge in Port Elgin near SackVille where we had been looking for a home to buy.

Moncton was hit too and we had been spending all day between shovelling duty on the MLS looking for homes to buy in Moncton, keeping an eye on the snow fall and hoping there would be no floods in the neighborhoods we were interested in! This NorEaster is brining up to 60 cm of snow and at least we're not in Montreal where the streets are probably a disaster area...out here in the Eastern Townships all of this accumulation of snow is just plain beautiful!

The snow was piled high against the front and back door and the pond in the backyard looked like two deep valleys in the snow, we could just barely see the pond because of the pond heaters we had put in. Once we got the snow shovelled away from the ponds we could see our poor little goldfish looking up at us wondering what all the rucous was about! Their little pond and benches looks like some sort of Nunavut paradise!

DD started in the front of the house and I started in the back with the two new shovels I bought...good timing! We didn't have anything like this last year or even the year before so this looks like a record snowfall for 2010! JJ Towing was across the street hauling cars out of the ditch and we were hoping our driveway would get cleared because 48 inches of snow wouldn't be easy to drive over tomorrow when it's back to work!

This may be the biggest storm of the season or maybe the worst snowstorm of the decade but us here in Eastern Canada will do what we do best...hunker down in our pyjama's with a hot cup of cocoa and curl up on the la-z-boy with our kittens!

Let it snow let it snow let it snow!!!