Tractors, clay pigeons, crackling, and e.i.e.i.oooh yeah

We took the car northward into Devonshire heading toward Bickington to visit Cousin Paul & his family for a tour of the farm. It turned into a super fun day. Once we reached the farm Paul took us out for a tour of his land. First stop was a look at the sheep in the nearby field we took a couple rounds in the farm truck. Things got exciting when Chloe took the wheel to try her hand at driving the truck. I'm not going to show those pics for fear of retribution from the intra-web.

Matt, Jo and Chloe jumped in one of the tractors and took it for a spin. Apparently its pretty must like a giant ride-em lawn mower. They even successfully mowed a new path through the field.


After the tractor ride, Paul setup the clay pidgeons and had Jack bring out the shotgun to take some shots. All of us took a shot at a couple pidgeons and even i hit a couple.

This took a while to post, so i'll do a second one with the rest of the great evening.

Its Christmas time in Hollis Cornwall..

My Auntie Tessa visited us in Padstow, along with Uncle Rod and Auntie Sarah. Tess, who lives on a farm, brought us a fresh, huge, massive, tasty turkey...named Oswald. We had a huge Christmas dinner in Cornwall which even included Christmas crackers and those silly paper crown hats. It was a really great way to share a bit of Christmas with those we don't see very often.

To finish off we had apple crumble with your choice of Custard, Cornish Clotted Cream, and Devonshire Double Cream. I decided to have all three. woof.

Cornish Clotted cream is the closest you can get to butter but still being cream. Its thick and creamy and thick and i can't believe its not butter because its actually cream. Gotta take it in small doses.

I hadn't had custard for a loooong time, but i used to eat it tons as a kid. It was really awesome to stuff it down my gullet again.

Probably a very inappropriate post...ahahahah f*ck it.

Here's a shot a trough urinal in a small pub in Padstow. We don't get those much in Canada. So I thought i'd take a pic.







Afterwards, i stumbled home with my brother and created this beautiful piece of post-dinner munchie goodness. Slice of bread covered with taramalata, a greek spread made out of smoked roe, with blue and cambazola cheese. topped with leftover ham yummyness. Healthy? Questionable. Tasty? hells yes!

Fish n' Chips all up in ma grill.

First Fish n' Chips of the trip. Really, really good. thin batter, perfectly cooked tender moist haddock with chips and mushy peas. Not a fan of mushy peas, but they were OK. I choked them down. Note the pints of Tribute, Cornish brew, smooth and tasty. Goes well with any fare. I'm a happy boy.

Spike? He's gonna kick your ass all over sweden....

This is Spike, in the middle. Hardcore skier. I've got a good feeling he'll whip your butt on the slopes with no effort at all. Just a shout out. He sent an open invitation to us to join him on a European ski trip that he runs every year. Hopefully within the next decade we can take him up on that offer.

Cheers spike. Also...Matt to left, John "Eat it Mike Phelps" Hilliers (Cuz in law) to the right.

|Vacatin BoozeTracker|

Padstow..Pimpin ain't easy.


Spirits: 22
Beer: 20
Wine: 22

Pimpin in Padstow - Am I even in England?

Wow. Padstow is nice..if you can't make out the writing in the sand it says "Tim in Padstow". It was some of the softest sand i've felt squish between my toes. You literally sank to your knees near the waters edge. It's seriously not something that comes to mind when I think of England.




We made our way here after spending Friday night in Tavistock with Becky & John and their kids Izzy & Grace. John took us down to the pub on our mission for Chinese take out. Somehow 15 pints of beer got in our way and we had to take them out. We decided 5 each would be the best way to take care of them. Especially since we had less than 2 hours. Good idea. It fueled our intense game of Ping Pong/Table Tennis later on in the evening. I'm friggin awesome at boozed table tennis.



We had a little Gilbert (My mom's side of the family) reunion at our cottage. One of the most interesting points of the night was a recreation of an old photo of the cousins. On the left is the original photo taken about 25 years ago.

From back left is Cousins Melanie, Paul, Caroline. From left front row is my brother Matthew, Cousin Becky with my sister Stephanie on her lap, then me. To the right is the recreation 25 years later. Same positions. Awesome.


o_o