Saturday, February 23

News Update

Monday is Family Day in Ontario, so we enjoy having Eric/A and the boys staying over. Sylvia and Trav have us all over for Finnish pancake breakfast so that is great, and Rauni is also there, so a complete Family occasion! Then Eric/A and the boys head back to Kenora and we complete our packing for departure southward on Tuesday morning.

When we get to the border, we pick up my new MacBook that is waiting for us there. I can hardly wait to get my hands on it! We continue on down to Minneapolis, to the Mall of America where there is an Apple store, so I use their wifi signal to get going on my laptop, check email, etc. I also get to drool over some of the other goodies they have on display. Wendy goes shopping at Legoland; we enjoy supper at Bubba Gumps, and then we get a motel for the night.

It's a cold morning on Wednesday, but we get mobile and drive through the day down to Lawrence, KS, where we catch up with our friend, Marti, and camp out with her and her mother. They are both suffering with illness, but gradually getting better. We enjoy the break there for Thursday, and then on Friday continue on to Stillwater, OK to catch up with more friends from Zambia days, Jack & Joann. It is great to reminisce, plan and dream over Zambia and our interests there.

On Saturday, we carry on to Dallas where two of my brothers live with their families. We move in at Viggo & Nancy's for the start of our time there. We look forward to time spent with them over most of next week.

Saturday, February 16

News Update

A cold week comes to an end here on the shore of Lake Superior. It struggled to make single digits below zero each day, although this weekend, we're back into melting on the streets.

It has been a busy week of work as I have redone the budget to accommodate an additional $40,000 money bomb from the Ministry of Education. But that is completed now, and various others are now delegated to spend the bonus money, so I am able to head off on holidays next week.

We have planned a month-long trip down to Texas and back through Saskatchewan. We are looking forward to spending time with our families and with our dear friends from Zambia who are enrolled in University at Abilene. Finally, I look forward to enjoying the Brier—our national men's curling championship in Winnipeg. I received tickets to the event as a Christmas present! What generous children I have!

Kristian continues with his eye treatments. Medical reports are positive, but we still remain concerned. He started his first trial at the university day care, and seemed to enjoy it a great deal. The only unpleasant part was when Erin arrived to take him home!

Wendy has been busy, cleaning the house so we can leave?! and finishing up the financial year end for the church, as she does the books there.

It's a long weekend here in Ontario, so we're enjoying having Eric/A and the boys with us. And that's about it for this week.

Saturday, February 9

News Update

A fine week of weather helps us enjoy another week on the shore of Lake Superior. Other areas were not so fortunate, as tornadoes ravaged our American friends, and blizzards closed down Toronto.

I am back on Noroxin, an antibiotic that my oncologist hopes will improve the health of my prostate and allow the efficacy of PSA tests. Thus on Friday, I also returned to the lab for more blood work. We'll see how that turns out! My ankle is improving apace, and my fracture physician allowed as how it was looking good when I checked in with him this week—not even an excuse slip to get me out of dance class!

It's been a busy week of work, as we enjoy our annual conference on Wednesday through Friday. I have workshops on two of the days. The workshops go well, and I am also glad to get a new MacBook as my payback! Another workshop I have organized does not go so well as my presenter can't get out of Toronto due to the blizzard, and there is quite a scramble to set up computer connections so she can provide the workshop remotely. In the end, that workshop is also called a success thanks to dedicated people going the extra mile and the technological wizardry of some of my friends here in the NSRA.

Wendy keeps busy with home and Kristian. Erin has good news as she will be fully funded for the university day care through my tax dollars! (It's nice to notice the benefit on occasion!) This also provides considerable relief as we look toward our anticipated month-long trip scheduled to begin on the 19th.

And that's about it for this week.

Saturday, February 2

News Update

Another week passes on the shore of Lake Superior. We started with warm weather and showers; we ended with warm weather and flurries, but there was a spot of cold weather in the middle. Fortunately, we missed out on two storm systems that went by and hammered eastern Canada.

I drove up to Nakina on Tuesday to work with the school and board there. That finished, I drove back on Wednesday afternoon. The remainder of the week, I've been working on preparations for our annual conference next week as I'm teaching four sessions.

The cold spell left the streets and roads icy and our driveway was a sheet of ice. Then we got a little snow and getting around was difficult with the ice underneath. Thankfully, that has melted away this weekend.

Wendy has picked up a little extra babysitting, but that goes all right. Her scrabble games are going great guns! I've got back to doing a bit of the taping and mudding on the renovations downstairs when my ankle allows it. Actually, the healing is going pretty well, and ibuprofen takes care of the rest!

Erin has continued with her regular schedule at work, so it's pretty much same ol', same ol'!

That's about it for this week.