Boxing Day

Another festive week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my home town. We have enjoyed another round of giving and receiving; and we now acknowledge even more blessings. We have been glad to spend time with our family here at home, and also to FaceTime with the crew who gathered at Erin's house in Regina. What a special blessing it is that Erin & Kristian now have a nice place to set up their home! We certainly rejoice with them. Eric/A and the boys have a nice place in PA as well, and both have work that is rewarding; we only wish their work places were closer to each other! Travis & Joanna, Gemma and Andrew have established themselves in the downstairs suite here, and that has been a double blessing for us as we not only have them close by, but we can hit the road whenever we wish! The weather has continued mild with above zero temperatures again this week, and some rain to wash the streets clean. We got a dusting of snow for a white Christmas at least. The markets have finally launched a Santa Claus rally, and even though they were only open 3.5 days, I managed to gain more than a full week's quota. The Junior World Hockey Championship is underway, and Canada dropped their opening game to the US—Go Canada, Go! There are a plague of college football games on the TV, but I'll only be following the playoff games and cheering for Oklahoma—Boomer Sooner, Boomer Sooner!  

And that's about it for this week! It will be the New Year before another weekend rolls around, so I'll take this opportunity to wish you all the best in 2016! 

Twas a week before Christmas!

Merry Christmas! 

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown! The promised snow has arrived and it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! We received a dump of slushy snow on Sunday afternoon and Monday, so it's been difficult on the streets as drivers fail to adjust quickly to the vastly changed driving conditions. I've been working on the steps and driveway most of the week, and it's gradually getting better. I think today's scraping has the steps in good condition. The rain, snow, and near freezing temperatures have conspired to leave the driveway in less desirable condition. We don't have an expectation for any sunny days in the near future, so we'll keep at it with scrapers and salt.  I have decided to cover some of my cedars against sun burn this winter, so I worked on that for a bit. I think I'll need some ropes to tie their white robes on—it looks like the clan is in my back yard! Wendy has been busy with shopping and Christmas baking. I'm enjoying omitting the former, and engaging the latter! The market has continued to be troubled. There was a buying frenzy around the US Fed Rate hike, but that died out into big losses Thursday and Friday. I had a very good week despite some pull back on Friday, however, I only have two holiday-shortened weeks left and much quota left to earn! A new face won the Canadian Open as John Epping beat Brad Gushue in the final. Rachel Homan won the women's Open, continuing her dominance. NFL is nearing the playoffs, but Peyton is not playing, so I haven't been watching. Jayhawks won big again today in university basketball and are ranked #2 in the young season. Riders are making a big splash as they hired the Grey Cup winning coach away from Edmonton, and fired about half their players! Can you say, "Rebuilding?"!

Eric/A and Haaken continue with life in PA. Liam has completed exams at Caronport. They are arranging Christmas and Kristian-care together, which has relieved us from another trip west—thanks guys! Erin suffered an infection of some kind in her finger. She had to get it lanced, and is now on antibiotics. We hope this will take care of the problem.

Trav and Joanna have been very busy—too busy with PuckShots, Bucket Decals, and the other aspects of Ulrich Design. They even got the old man into the harness briefly this week! Apparently, I didn't set them back too far! Gemma and Andrew have completed the term and are on break from school. They both came home with excellent report cards.

And that's about it for this week. Merry Christmas! 

Home Again!

We enjoyed a wonderful family reunion in Regina last week, closing it off with a celebration on Sunday as a morning of fellowship at Glen Elm was accented by a great Sunday dinner at 55 Laird, where we noted the engagement of our niece, Ashley, with Barry. Feeling suitably recovered from jet lag, we set out Monday morning for TBay, but we didn't make it. Plenty of fuel in the car, but I ran out of gas at Dryden, so we stopped there for the night, and completed the drive home on Tuesday. It is good to be back home, and we are enjoying catching up with the family here to complete the reunion cycle. The weather remains unseasonably warm and I managed to get the leaves cleaned up from the lawns, and watered-in the cedars. They are promising snow overnight, and winter must arrive soon. The markets were volatile this week with three very bad days around two good days. The action leaves the TSX down 4.7% this month, 12.6% for the year—sigh! I was down for the week, and with the US Fed rate story next week, and the holidays coming up, I am despairing of making quota for the year. My man, Kevin Koe, won the Canada Cup of curling on Sunday. This week is the Canadian Open, and Koe once again made the playoffs. He lost his semi-final game tonight, but it was another good showing. The hockey season is about 1/3 through, so I'm paying a bit of attention to the playoff races there. Basketball season has started, and I've watched three Jayhawk games since we got back—all wins! Rock Chalk. 

We caught up with Eric/A and the boys in Regina last weekend, as we were getting our recovery time at Erin & Kristian's. They are looking to have Christmas together in Regina, but we're planning to stay home for Christmas this year. Trav, Joanna, Gemma and Andrew are off to Minneapolis this weekend for a hockey tournament. We're hosting their other creatures here at home! 

And that's about enough for this week. 

The Voyage Home

Tuesday was a quiet day for us as we prepared ourselves for the departure from India after midnight, and the 14-hour flight to Toronto. There was some shopping, much resting, packing, and Carter was trying to work through a case of Delhi Belly. We boarded the flight as scheduled and flew ahead of the sun before finally arriving in TO about 5am Eastern. We cleared customs there, and prepared for the morning flight to Regina. That marked the end of our team travels, although Janelle and Carter still had to travel to Salmon Arm via Kelowna, and Tyler had to fly home to Yellowknife. We began the process of time zone adjustment at Erin's place in Regina, and plan to drive home next week. The first three nights have featured interrupted sleep, but we're gradually feeling more clear-headed during the day time. We're certainly appreciating a quiet, downstairs room here at Erin's. My eye has continued to improve, and now I remain only to complete the regimen of antibiotics. We drove over to Caronport to retrieve Liam on Thursday evening as he and Kristian both had dental appointments on Friday. Grandma took them to their appointments. Eric/A and Haaken arrived on Friday evening, so we are enjoying a reunion with them as well. Canada Cup of curling is on, occupying some of my awake hours! My guy, Kevin Koe, is in the final tomorrow. The markets have been troubled by various news stories all week, but ended with a bit of a rally on Friday, so I was at least in the green for the week. As I had called it, Edmonton won the Grey Cup; now, it's time for them to change their nickname in keeping with the times. 

And that's about all I remember from this week! 

Taj Mahal—My Eye!

Something got in my eye soon after our arrival back in Delhi, and I don't like it. Our friends here accommodated me by obtaining some eye drops to lubricate the problem, but that didn't seem to be easing the pain or leading to a solution. So, Wendy led me through some further steps! Her investigations did not find the speck in the upper outside quadrant of my left eye, and the redness continued to disgust the viewers, while the pain continued to dismay me. Finally, we found a clinic open with a doctor in attendance—yay! Nope, he was reluctant to even touch my eye let alone look in it! He did proffer a prescription for Ciproflaxin antibiotic eye drops. These, he assured me, would destroy the infection troubling my eye and its observers! Clearly, I was left to my own devices. Following the advice of a friend who had informed me that Q-tips were not to be used in ears, I obtained a Q-tip, and used it on the inside of my upper eyelid—man, was that uncomfortable! Then, I began dosing it with the Cipro, on the hour as recommended by the good doctor. Today, I have continued the treatments every second hour (I'm good at following some of my doctor's recommendations!), and it both looks and feels better this evening.However, I may have to get it looked into (If I can find someone who will actually look into it!) when I get back to Canada! 

And, as to that other little point—we visited the Taj Mahal, and the Agra Fort today. The Taj Mahal was duly spectacular, but I was actually more impressed with the fort. We found ourselves at a loss to get a picture that would do justice to the Fort, but here's one Wendy took of the Taj Mahal. 

Taj Mahal

Delhi-Closing the Week

QTUB Minar

We flew down to Delhi on Thursday, and plan to spend the remainder of the India trip based here. On Friday, we did a number of tours to sights around the city. The QUTB Minar (the tallest brick minaret in the world at 74 metres) and the ruins left from the Islamic period were very impressive. On the other time extreme, we toured the Lotus Temple which is of very recent vintage. It was also very impressive, and both places of worship remain in use. Then, we traveled to the India Gate, which is a remembrance of the war dead from the World War I time, and closed off with a viewing of the nearby Parliament Buildings. On Saturday, we endured a small tour of an unknown part of the city while our drivers tried to find the location of the India Social Institute. With the help of street vendors, they finally dropped us off close to our destination, and we walked the remainder. Once there we had a prolonged meeting with a group of Ray's friends from Manipur who are located here in Delhi. It was a good time! Throughout the last couple of days, I've been troubled with something in my left eye. None of the rest of the group wants to dig around in my eye, and Wendy seems able to find anything in there. It keeps irritating the eyeball, so I'm wandering around with a red eye that also alarms those unfortunate enough to see it! We hope to find a place of first aid that can get it cleaned out for me—soon!

Lotus Temple

Things seem to be progressing just fine on the home front; we were able to FaceTime with two of the children, but could only see the third! It kept saying it was 'connecting', but we didn't get to talk. We are looking forward to getting back there next week. The markets have continued to wobble their way forward, and I had a decent week, but remain short of quota and with only one day left in the trading month. My pick, Edmonton, takes on Ottawa in the Grey Cup tomorrow. We'll see if they can finish it off for me! 

And that's about it for another week. 

Chandigarh

We flew over to Delhi, and caught a flight up to Chandigarh on Monday. It was hard to know if we were still in India—the traffic lights were working, the drivers were (mostly) staying in their lanes, and the beeping was much diminished! Chandigarh was a planned city built by a team in response to the partition of India after it gained independence and Pakistan opted out. As a result, the traffic system is (I was going to say, "much more") organized, and getting around feels very efficient. There are traffic circles for most intersections on the arterial routes, and there are signs to explain where we are, and where we are going—what a concept! We are mostly on the wind down aspect of the trip, and we enjoyed several touristy destinations around town. We also got to meet many more of Ray's old friends and contacts from years gone by. We enjoyed the Rose Garden—even though it was not in season, there were lots of blossoms. We marvelled at the Rock Garden—one person's dream for turning trash and waste into an artifice. Some of us enjoyed the museums, but we only got started on checking out what was available there. Others spent much time and money shopping! It was a good time. Today, we flew down to Delhi once again. We will spend our last few India-days based here.

Another week in the books—Bagdogra

Bill in the Posies!

I scheduled Saturday as a day of rest and recovery for me. I have been fighting a head cold lately, and it finally appears to be breaking loose. So, after breakfast it was Tylenol Cold & Flu, and back to bed for me. The rest of the team has also been experiencing similar effects of being used up! Some are already on the mend, but most of us are less than 100%. Ray is much better; he's been gaining strength and energy toward this weekend. Next week, we begin to head west with a trip to Delhi. We shall see what adventures await us. 

It has been a good week in the markets although Friday had a bit of a downturn; still, I was able to gain more than double my weekly quota, so that provides some catch up. We don't hear so much about sports from home. CFL playoffs continue with the conference finals this weekend, and the Grey Cup match up will then be set. 

Internet provision here has been strange in that it drops off every so often, and then we have to get a new password. We have little slips of paper all over with expired passwords; it's hard to imagine who thought this was a good idea! When we do have connection the bandwidth is not great, however, we were able to get some FaceTime with Erica this evening, and that was a start at least!

And that's about it for this week! 

Bagdogra Part 2

Thursday and Friday were spent at Morningstar, another fledgling school focused on teaching English here in West Bengal. Here in the Darjeeling tea plantations, and near the border with Nepal, the Nepalese connections are strong. Upon our arrival, we were feted with scarves, garlands and bouquets—one after another after another! It was overwhelming. I believe I collected ten scarves, six or seven garlands—mostly of marigolds, and many bouquets. This is, apparently, their tradition for welcoming people! We felt very welcomed! This was accompanied by songs and dances under the hot sun until the shiny parts of my head were beginning to feel uncomfortable! On Thursday, we worked primarily with the children, and I also did some preparatory investigations on the teachers to focus my workshop which took place on Friday. Both sessions went well, and we hope will be of lasting benefit as this school plans to continue adding classes each year. It currently has three pre-school levels, and the first four classes of basic school. They have obtained registration from the district inspector of schools; this seems to be based on adequate facilities and adequate curricular match—progress! 

This completes are scheduled work with schools for this visit to India. We feel quite satisfied with our attempts in all localities except Chennai. We have continued to track the situation there, and it has not improved! The continuing rains led them to release water from a local reservoir, which in turn, caused further flooding, evacuations, power outages... We can only imagine the ravages of exposure and disease that still remain for them. The rains have not stopped yet, so who knows when clean up and recovery may begin! 

Bagdogra Part 1

We have enjoyed working with the first of our schools in this area. We were able to revise the schedule to get in two days of activities with the children, and still have occasion for a teachers' workshop. Both efforts went very well. The school enjoys high enrolment in the Nursery, Lower Kindergarten and Upper Kindergarten classes which bode well for the future. They are currently offering schooling through Class IV, and plan to continue expanding with one class per year until they reach Class X. Considerable development of labs and the like would be needed to complete a high school program, but it does remain a distant dream for the staff. They plan to add to the facility each year as they expand grade offerings, so their ambitions are high and commendable. The structures and program they have already is impressive. I know we are an encouragement to them, and I hope we have also provided some further tools to help them progress. 

Yesterday, we also paid a visit to Lenin Colony, a lepers colony near here. We met some of the families and entertained about twenty-five children. The children are all clear of leprosy, but we did note the ravages of the disease on some of the grownups. It was a humbling and gratifying experience to spend time with them. Tomorrow we move onto the second school in the area. 

Chennai in the Rear View Mirror

It has been a difficult and discouraging visit to Chennai, and we feel a certain sense of relief to see it behind us. When Ray fell ill, that was enough to put our program into turmoil, but it was considerably exacerbated by the rains. Thunderstorms continued to dump water on our heads, on the streets, into the parking lot of the hotel, into the hotel, into our rooms, into the elevator shaft—do you get the picture? Due to Ray's illness, he could not take the pulpit on Sunday morning, so that task fell to me. I was not expecting to face 800 to 1000 smiling faces! Fortunately, they remained smiling, and Emmanuel must have done a good job with the Tamil side since the message was well received! When we got back to the hotel, the parking lot was filling again, and by supper time it was coming in the front doors. We were hearing reports of flight cancellations, and the vehicle people were doing lots of hand-wringing about how long it might take to get to the airport in the morning, and jacking up the prices! To make a long story short, we have arrived in Bagdogra, India. It's a suburb of a bigger centre called Siliguri, and you may be able to find that one more easily. The longer version—it's been a long, tough day. We were up at 4:45 to attempt a run to the airport through the flooded streets of Chennai. The hotel was back to taking on water after another night of thunderstorms, so we had to wade into the water to get to the vehicle. The vehicle price had more than tripled, but we were stranded, and they knew it! We made the trip successfully, and were promptly informed that our flight was delayed, so we had an extended stay and they wouldn't even let us check-in until 8:30. After that things got better. The flight was about 1 hour late, but we had the same plane from Chennai to Kolkata to Bagdogra, so at least we didn't have to worry about connections. Once here, we have made connections with the school, and met with Naresh over the program at his school for tomorrow and Wednesday! It feels very good to see the prospects of a good program coming together. We feel very badly about how little of our program worked out in Chennai, and even though it's in the past now, we feel like there remains unfinished business there—another time, I hope! 

Saturday in Chennai

Saturday in Chennai went much better with drier weather. However, Ray has fallen ill as the head cold he has been battling, has gained control and extended into his chest. We have called the hotel doctor to check on him this afternoon. So, plans had to be cancelled, postponed and revised—same ol', same ol'! He has asked me to have some messages ready for tomorrow, so I'm busy with that this afternoon. We went for a tour this morning, sans Ray. We visited St. Thomas's Mount, which includes a shrine for St. Thomas. I climbed to the top in honour of my own brother Thomas since he's laid up with a partial knee replacement! After that we toured Little Mount which includes Thomas's hideout cave, and the spot where he was finally killed—just as well you weren't here for that, brother! We got in a brief stop at the Marina Beach, so we could wet our feet in the Bay of Bengal. Carter got a little bit more than his feet wet! I have been testing out my constitution with solid food today, and so far, so good! We have another day here in Chennai; Monday is travel day, and we're set to fly to Siliguri in northern India. We have two schools to work in there, and the teachers in one have already asked for a teachers' workshop as well, so I'm prepping for that. This week has been a bit disjointed as plans keep falling victim to changed circumstances, and that can get discouraging. 

We're continuing to suffer through troubled stock markets as strong data out of the US has made investors anticipate a rate increase there, and troubled economies in the rest of the world have prompted them to worry about growth overall. The double whammy condemned me to a losing week, and I've fallen off the pace I've been trying to maintain. In sports, the Riders closed off the regular season with a win in OT. Way to finish Riders! The CFL is into the playoffs this weekend, and I'm picking Edmonton to win it all.

We have had better internet connectivity here, and we've managed to FaceTime with our children. They're doing fine, and we're reassured. Eric/A have Liam home for the weekend, and Greg visiting, so the whole family is together. Kristian has been sick a couple of days, but he's better now.

And that's the end of another week in India. 

Flooding in Chennai

We flew into Chennai (Another renamed city, as it used to be Madras) on Thursday. It was great to be greeted with flowers, warm smiles and handshakes, in 30 degree comfort! Thursday evening we paid a visit to a local orphanage (more flowers, warm smiles, handshakes) and enjoyed supper with a family here—good friends of Ray, and now our friends as well. Ray has put together plans for our weekend here, and like other Indian plans, it is subject to change! We awaken several times through the night to the crash of thunder, and the splash of rain. We patter to breakfast through the splash of wet hallways. Our hotel is not only surrounded by flood waters, it's flowing in through the front doors about an inch above floor level. Sandbags and towels are used to improvise a dam; staff are working frantically in a losing battle to keep the floors safe and dry. Ray informs us that today's plans are cancelled and that for now we are stranded in the hotel. It's a low-key day which is just as well for me as I'm down with Delhi Belly, and cannot wander away from safe access to a washroom! Several visitors brave the water to visit us here. One group took several hours to drive about 10km to the hotel. Another group was in transit for half the day to get to see us. We are honoured by their efforts. The rain stopped in the afternoon of Friday, and we're hoping our other weekend plans may go forward. The team has gone out for pizza supper, while I remain in my room. I think that I'm improving! 

Oh Kolkata!

Oh Kolkata! "That which we call a rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet." The name has been changed, but the City of Joy stills smells as much, and is vibrant with life. We got here in time for Diwali, the festival of lights. The official start this year is November 11th, so that means the tenth was Diwali Eve, so fireworks started that evening, continued all night, and then accelerated in intensity on the evening of the 11th. Talk about Remembrance Day? We thought we were in a war zone. Regulations being what they are, we sometimes found ourselves in the midst of a shower of falling sparklers. After our first evening visit with long time friends, Swami and Violet, this was a tourist stop. On Wednesday, we paid a sombre and humbling visit to the site of Mother Theresa's work. Her tomb is there, and her small room has been maintained as a shrine. Then, we made a disturbingly easy pivot to the world of KFC, ice cream and shopping. After we were shopped out (It happens more quickly for some!), we rode the subway to a station within a few km of the hotel, and then the six of us packed into one small Ambassador Cab for a memorable ride the rest of the way. This morning, we packed up and headed to the airport for our flight to Chennai. We've arrived to a rain-soaked city, and the discovery that November is the rainiest month of the year in this part of India. 

Good Bye to Imphal

We have completed our tour as far as Imphal is concerned. We are now in Kolkata a city of 15-20 million at about 9m above sea level, and 30 degrees above zero! On Sunday, Ray had the pulpit and I had the day off! We enjoyed our time with the Langol congregation, and several young people came back to the hotel to hang out with some of our team. Then, on Monday we toured Joshua's school, Brighter Academy. It is serving about 1000 children in Nursery through Class XII. I had a chance to discuss some aspects of the program with Joshua. It was good to learn about his approach, and have a chance to offer suggestions. In the afternoon, I headed for bed in an attempt at heading off a cold, and the remainder did some sightseeing, and also managed another school visit. I am sorry to have missed the school visit as the reports made it sound quite exemplary. Joshua and I had discussed it, as it is operated by another family member, and he would like to move his school figuratively and literally in that direction. It is located a bit out of town, on a larger tract of land and seems to have many upgrades over his current situation. Tuesday was travel day, so we packed up and flew about one hour south west to Kolkata. I'm feeling better, so the extra rest may be paying off! 

End of the week in Imphal

Another week has ended for us in India. It has been another full week of activities, but also filled  with rewarding experiences. Today, we worked with students from a couple of schools who attended to us on their day off. We enjoyed participating with them, and even took advantage of the occasion to practice some Manipuri—the local language. One of our hosts supplied the lessons, and we made an attempt. Our efforts were to their great amusement, but some admitted to understanding what we were trying to say! Communication is not so easy. It is one of the lessons we are trying to pass on from our time here. Even when using an interpreter, one is subject to the failure of understanding that occurs with a troubling degree of frequency. Did the interpreter understand me? What did the interpreter actually say? One is left to rely on the good faith of the participants to grant you a favourable intention if not an accurate message. As usual we found the students attentive and respectful. The demonstrated great athletic ability during our games break, and we were all struck with their artistry in interpretation of a pencil crayon activity. This was a new aspect of expression for us. 

Back to the more mundane, the markets have been mixed, but at least up a bit this week. I have returned some good gains and am near quota once again for both this month, and the year-to-date. The Riders complete their season tomorrow, and we will cheer that they can go out on a high note. The Jays are in the offseason and player movement is being considered. The Royals at least paid off my call with a World Series victory. 

The internet here has been very poor, and we haven't managed to chat with our children. We have heard from them in other ways, and all seems to be going well. It is heartening to feel that they are well-able to take care of issues that develop in their families even without our being near at hand, but parents always wish to know anyway! 

And that's the kind of week it has been. 

Tampak

We flew into Imphal on Thursday, and immediately started fielding requests from schools and other groups for attention. It is a bit daunting, and certainly encourages us to make maximum effort! Today, we drove out to Tampak, a rural community south and east of Imphal. Our local expert confidently asserted that we could make the trip in about 45 minutes. It is only 70km! However, Ray was not so sure; he felt double that would be optimistic! We left at 8am, and 2 hours later we arrived at the small village school. The children had been informed that the Canadians were coming, and had assembled at the school sometime before 7am. As usual for here, they were waiting quietly and respectfully on their benches in the classroom. The room serves as the educational centre for about 40 children under  the guidance of six staff members. So, it's like a one-room school of my childhood, but containing about 30 additional children, and 5 extra teachers! We worked with the whole group for some time, and then sent the younger ones out for games and sports while we focused our attention on the older students. Later, we switched the groups. It all went well, and we were quite impressed with the children's attention and quick learning both in the classroom and on the playground. Tampak is in a small village area, and this little school is providing the only opportunity for these children to get an education, so we were delighted to provide whatever encouragement we could. Construction has begun on new classrooms, and plans are in place for more. It was a great experience for us; I hope the staff and children benefit as well. 

Bye, bye Guwahati!

On Sunday morning I was privileged to speak at Bread of Life Church. It was with a translator, and I found it hard to maintain the flow of the message. Sunday afternoon, we packed our bags for storage and for the trip to Kaziranga National Park and Wildlife Refuge. As soon as breakfast was over on Monday morning, we packed into the vehicle and headed toward Kaziranga. It is about 200 km, but the vagaries of travel in India turned that into a five-hour drive. It was four-lane for the first half, but still it was impossible to make good time. Thankfully, the driver knew of the lodge we had booked, as I failed to see any road signs pointing to it, and it was several back lane roads off the highway. The lodge appeared Olde English in style, and we estimated it had been built before the turn of the century, the 19th century! There was a great hall adorned with various animal and historical artifacts; that was enjoyable; we took our meals in that room. The rooms were of the era as well. Our room was on the ground floor, and we could see the ground between the floor boards. We were called at 5:30am for our game drive. We boarded elephants for the occasion; that was pretty special. The mahout sat on the neck with one barefoot on the top of each ear. Three of us rode behind him. We had a great time and managed to see several of the one-horned Assam rhinos. We also saw buffalo. After breakfast we stopped by a shop to view the goods produced on the handloom by an acquaintance of Ray's. I enjoyed watching the loom in action. After lunch we drove back to Guwahati. On Wednesday, we had our final set of classes with the schools in Guwahati. That seemed to go well, and there were many heart-tugging good-byes as we realized we would be leaving Guwahati the next morning. Now we're off to Imphal, where the prospects are for cooler weather as we gain elevation from 55m in Guwahati to 785m in Imphal. 

Saturday Off!

Today was a day off for the team. I have not been feeling well for a couple of days, so I took advantage of the occasion to sleep. I did get up for a late breakfast, but then I went back to bed, and finally arose at 3PM. I feel better, but tonight will be the test on how things actually are; if I'm able to sleep tonight, it will convince me that the rest was indeed warranted. 

Last evening, we had a Friday-night-out adventure with the team. We caught the city bus to downtown Guwahati to the Pizza Hut! Take your usual Pizza Hut, remove the beef, add spices, add more spices, add jalapeños and you'll start to approximate an Indian Pizza Hut! We enjoyed it all the same. Then, on the way back the buses were packed, so we opted for India's venerable vehicle option—the Tuk Tuk! It was actually a very nice ride, although the nearness to other vehicles was a bit much. 

Wendy ventured off with a group to the Science Centre here in Guwahati today while I remained in bed; she found it quite interesting. Our plans have changed; we are looking forward to visiting Manipur. It was originally on the schedule, then was removed and now is back on. Angie's enthusiastic response to going there makes us all look forward to it. Other than that, I have been preparing myself for another guest pulpit tomorrow morning.

The markets have enjoyed a good month, up 1.5%, for the first green month since April. Sadly, Friday's sell-off kept me from making quota for the month, but even coming close was nice! Baseball continues with the World Series, and I'm cheering for the Royals. World Cup of Rugby has the final today; I'm cheering for the All-Blacks from New Zealand, so I was pleased to see them prevail over the Aussies. Hockey is starting to gather attention in the young season especially with the great start enjoyed by Montreal. Riders continue to play out the season with today's game against Calgary, but the first place Stamps laid a licking on them, sigh. We tried FaceTime with our children, but only connected with one of them. It was good to talk with Erica, although the connection was flakey. Later on we connected with Erin, and also managed to text with Travis.

And that's about it for this week. 

Oct 28-30

We are back in Guwahati, and I'm trying to catch up! Wednesday, we spent our last day in Shillong. It was a time of more visiting with Ray's contacts from days gone by, and we hope we provided them some encouragement. We certainly enjoyed meeting with them, having more tea, and some excellent meals! On Thursday morning we packed up, and embarked on the same twisty four-lane highway, but this time we were descending and the driver was running the 20 click hairpins at speed while we hoped the door latches would hold! We arrived safely all the same! It would have been a fun ride on a motorcycle! Once back, I worked to complete preparations for a teachers' workshop that was set for Friday. Friday morning, we breakfasted a bit earlier to be ready for an 8:00 departure. Then, we sat and waited for the driver to come. He showed up about 9:00, not the usual reliability we've come to expect from him. Running late, and discovering we had the wrong schedule for school meshed fairly well together; we spent some time observing in the classes, and then held the workshop only one hour later than initially planned. I was pleased with their participation and reactions, but I've been there, so I don't expect much to change after a single lesson. They did ask for more; that was encouraging. I am trying to organize another session for next week. Ray has also reorganized our itinerary, so we will spend fewer days in Chennai, and will get to Manipur after all. We're looking forward to the continuing adventure! 

October 25-27

The last three days have been a bit hit and miss on the internet side, but I'm trying to catch up! Sunday morning, I was the guest speaker at City View Church. The translator must have done a good job because I got a favourable review! In the evening, we packed up for our departure to Shillong in the morning. We were able to leave much of our teaching supplies and extra clothing at the hotel in Guwahati, so that lightened our load. We drove up to Shillong on Monday and enjoyed tea and later supper with friends of Ray in Shillong. The trip was a tortuous four-hour climb, but the air is clear and clean; the sky is blue, and the temperature is a moderate 25 degrees. We are relishing the comfortable circumstances. On Tuesday, we took a sight-seeing tour of the area even further south of Shillong. There were many waterfalls to view and zip-lines to consider. One of our crew took a ride on the zip-lines; the rest of us cheered! Wendy considered, but demurred. We got back to Shillong in time for supper out at a restaurant. It's been an enjoyable three days. We have one more day here, then we head back to the heat and smog of Guwahati. 

Saturday, um, School!

Yes, it's true we spent today in school, and the children, although technically still on holiday, were present in even larger numbers. Since we had a adopted presentations and activities more visual than verbal this time, we felt the outcomes were more satisfactory. I hope they were! Following the afternoon program, we were invited to tea, and enjoyed spending the time with these gracious and thankful people. The community of parents expressed their appreciation by inviting us to a sports and cultural day which is set for November 1st. We have agreed to accept this invitation. 

Later this evening (or this morning back in Canada), we made use of the wifi connection in the lobby to try FaceTime. It worked very well, and we were able to talk to Erin and Kristian. However, we failed to make a connection to Erica and Travis. We shall try again another time. We also try to follow our favourite sports teams, but they seem to be playing though the night! The Blue Jays ended their season today, losing out to Kansas City in six games in the American League Championships. The Riders had a great start against Edmonton, leading 20-3 at one point, but faltered to lose 35-24. We got an update from Eric/A. They enjoyed a relatively quiet week. This weekend Erica is enjoying a ladies' retreat with the church group in PA. She's sworn to secrecy about the actual activities. (What happens at ladies' retreat stays at ladies' retreat) however, she did divulge that there are no classes or homework and that the only scheduled activities are meals. These ladies know how to do a retreat! Eric was asked to help fill in last minute for the Pastor this Sunday. That is very cool! Haaken checked out the college and career group this week. He also attended a drop in art session. He still needs to find work and we hope an opportunity comes soon. Liam finished his first term, but until they figure out the online reporting thing, we will not know how well he did. 

And that's the end of an adventurous week! 

TGIF

In this case, it's not such a big deal for it to be Friday! After spending the day at our second school, we get to return there tomorrow! These students seem somewhat less mature academically, although they tried desperately to get by without a translator. I think we needed a translator. Many small ones seemed completely uncomprehending of our instructions. However, they did pick up cues (and instructions) from their friends, so maybe whatever small grasp they had of our English was supported and enhanced in this way. At least they exhibited the total respect we have come to expect through our experiences in Zambia and now in India. Picture the whole class standing when some strange man walks into the room, chiming a greeting of, "Good morning, sir," and remaining standing until I tell them they may sit down, at which point, they chorus, "Thank you, sir!" Yeah, I know, if your school experiences have been in Canada, you may find that hard to picture! 

Thursday School Work

We've enjoyed a second and final day at the first school. It has been a pleasure to work with these children and staff. After sessions today, we were invited to a nearby home for tea; it turned out to be a full meal deal! It certainly feels good to be appreciated, so, despite lips and tongues burning from the residual heat of the Indian cuisine, we are grateful for the recognition. Tomorrow and Saturday we plan to work in a second school in Guwahati before moving on to Shillong next week. 

Into the Schools

We have passed an excellent day in Guwahati. It was our first day in the schools, and we enjoyed meeting the children and the staff. The children behaved wonderfully. (Apparently respect is not earned, it is learned—but, you have to teach it!) There were some snafus so we have some notes for improvement in our handling of materials and scheduling. It was a daunting task trying to prepare lessons for an audience we had such little knowledge of, but they surpassed our expectations, and we found that all material was eagerly devoured. The headteacher has asked us to prepare additional lessons to improve the teaching bag of tricks for her teachers—that is also very encouraging to us.

Tuesday in Guwahati

It has been a long and tiring day. I was up at 5am to follow the Canadian election results. Later, Ray and I climbed a mountain, and enjoyed watching and listening as school leaders met together for the first time. They reported on the situation in their schools and noted their plans for the future and the challenges facing them. Ray challenged them to embrace a larger vision for their schools and their students. They began the discussion and planning to achieve something bigger. It was very interesting for me to be able to observe these activities.

Living and Learning in Guwahati

Our trip to India has begun. We flew from Regina on Saturday morning, made a brief stop in Calgary and then flew threw the time zones of night to Frankfort. Local time in Frankfort on our arrival was about 8am Sunday morning, but it was only Saturday midnight back in Regina. We delayed in Frankfort Airport for about five hours; then, we flew through several more time zones to Delhi. The Frankfort airport is not a pleasant place to spend any time. I found it shockingly poorly designed. There was only one place to get lunch, and it wasn't much, but, it was through security into a gate area we weren't using. We exited there only to go through security again into the gate area we were using for departure to India. According to staff, there were no other places to eat in that large airport complex, and especially none outside of security. We arrived in Delhi about 00:45, but getting our luggage, changing money and finding transport to the hotel took some hours, so we finally checked into our rooms about 3:20am. Breakfast at 7am, was closely followed by packing our bags, and returning to the airport as we completed the trip to our first working location at Guwahati. I think we are now in the real India. We were treated to spectacular views of the Himalayas as we flew across northern India today. We checked in to our new hotel—it is very nice, and caught a couple of hours of sleep this afternoon. I'm sure it will take some days before we reset to the India time zone, and even more before we adjust to India time! Wendy's phone remained on Regina time, so she was quite concerned to be a half hour later than what I tried to tell her was real time! When I checked it our and noted it said 7pm, when I knew it was 6:30am, I was at least able to figure out what was happening. While in India, we will be 11.5 hours ahead of Regina time. 

Passage to India!

Another week has passed and depending on when we cross the pertinent time zone, we are ending the week on our way from Calgary to Frankfort. We have enjoyed an extra week in Regina, but left this morning heading west to Calgary and then north over the Arctic toward Germany. The next leg, from Frankfort, takes us across the middle east with expected arrival in Delhi about midnight Sunday night (local time). That is 11.5 hours ahead of Regina (CST). I hope to post to this blog regularly while we're in India, but only distribute via email on the weekends, so, if you wish to check in on us, please access the blog address.  Standard operating procedures call for us to travel on Mondays, and then work at schools etc. throughout the week, but what little I've learned so far indicates that standard operating procedures do not apply to India anymore than they did to Zambia! The week has been busy, especially for Wendy who took advantage of the extra days to do even more preparations and shopping! The markets have been a bit better, but the TSX seems to have become unsettled early in anticipation of the election on Monday. Still I had a good week and managed a bit of recovery. India has only one time zone, and it's on the half-hour, like Newfoundland! They do not practice daylight savings adjustments either (like Saskatchewan), so initially the TSX will be opening at midnight, and after our time change it will move to 11pm. The Blue Jays staged a heart-stopping comeback from two games down to Texas, winning three straight to move on to the League championships against Kansas City. That started last night with a loss and dropped another one this afternoon (despite leading 3-0 to the bottom of the 7th) because our manager can figure out when to change the pitcher! C'mon Jays! The Riders are playing out the string on the regular season. They have traded off some players thus affording an extended tryout for some younger prospects. 

We are leaving our children, and their families behind, so I doubt that we'll have much to report on their activities over the next six weeks. We look forward to each contact with them while we're away, and also to reconnecting with them in December. We were glad to have Eric/A and the boys visit us in Regina last weekend. They have enjoyed a quiet week in PA. 

We're very thankful for the care Erin and Kristian provided while we stayed with them in Regina. This included a wonderful time of Thanksgiving with Eric/A, Haaken and Liam on Monday. Each morning, before heading off to school, Kristian ensured that we had a wake-up call and snuggles—so precious! Sadie took me for a walk each morning; it's been good! 

Trav, Joanna, Gemma and Andrew called last evening. Another grandma is up from southern Ontario and staying with them just now, so at least that side of the business is being attended to! 

And that's about enough for this week! 

Happy Thanksgiving

Another week has passed and we have travelled from the shore of Lake Superior to the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairie. We drove over on Wednesday, as we were preparing to leave on Monday for six weeks in India. Alas, plans have changed. I am told that often happens with plans one makes for India! We shall endeavour to remain flexible. The new plan is for us to remain in Regina for some additional time while some of our group waits for their visas, and then depart next Saturday. This also calls for us to return from India on December 2nd, so our time there remains the same, although schedules are being adjusted. We have enjoyed another week of beautiful weather, and I was able to get out golfing a couple of more times. Yesterday, I was golfing with Kristian here in Regina—that was extra special! The markets have recovered a bit, and I've been able to make some buys and achieve some gains. I made quota this week for a change! We cleaned up a few more jobs around the home place before we left. Our changed schedule means we will have more adjustments to make this week to items we had scheduled for our return. We are not assured of our internet connections in India, so be patient waiting for updates while we're over there. India is currently nine and a half hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time. They do not adjust for daylight saving time, so there will be an another hour added when we fall back to standard time. Wendy has continued to push forward with plans and development of lesson material for the India trip. On Thursday, she was back to the doctor for manipulation of her arthritic fingers—ouch! The Jays are in the divisional playoffs against Texas. I was lamenting that I would miss watching them in the playoffs, but it appears they may be solving that issue for me—they're down 2-0 in the best of five playoff! It could be over as early as tomorrow evening. C'mon Blue Jays, let's play ball! The Riders lost last evening to Hamilton which assures them of missing the playoffs. Now they can get on with the task of rebuilding the team! 

Liam had a lengthy week of classes—NOT! Counting two PD Days, he started the Thanksgiving long weekend after class on Wednesday! Liam and Erica stayed overnight in Saskatoon with Chris and Shelley. Liam got a chance to connect with their youngest son, Trevor. Then, on Friday he jammed with the youth pastor in PA—not a bad way to start a five day holiday! Haaken has met some people with Autism Services. He's hoping they will provide some support as he works to obtain employment. Eric had Monday off as a mental health day—an official mental health day, not one of those days when you call in sick because you can find the energy to drag yourself out of bed! What a concept!

Erin and Kristian have had a good week. Then, we arrived on Wednesday night, so they've turn over to being hosts! We're enjoying that! She has also saved a few jobs around the place, so, I'm trying to take care of those while we're here. Kristian took me golfing on Friday as he had a day off school. That was another good time. Erin is lamenting the performance of the Jays along with me, but where there's life, there's hope, so we are hoping for a better result tomorrow! We're expecting the Baileys to arrive tomorrow, and to enjoy Thanksgiving with them on Monday. 

Trav and Joanna returned on Monday evening from their sojourn in southern Ontario. They feel like they've made a lot of contacts and things are going well for Bucket Decals, so they expect PuckShots will gradually build a customer base there as well. Gemma and Andrew went with me to the airport to welcome them home on Monday evening. Now, they're back in charge of the estate! Keep eating those tomatoes! 

And that's about it for this week. 

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior, in my hometown. The weather has been comfortable, but we finally got a frost on Thursday night that took out my tomato plants. Now, we have three flats of tomatoes trying to ripen indoors! I haven't been covering them as we are planning to head out next week anyway, so this has allowed me to clean up the garden area. I'm watering down the cedars this weekend. Wendy has me back on some renovations in the house. I installed the new faucet and toilet in the downstairs bathroom—another great upgrade. She has continued lesson development for the India trip, and those are pretty close to ready. I'm expecting there will be a need for many revisions once we see what our students are like! On Friday, we got word that her order of some teaching stuff for India was in at the border store, so we drove down, enjoyed supper at the casino, and picked up the parcel. The markets continued their downward trend through the end of the month. The TSX is now down 9% so far this year. For the second month in a row, I failed to make quota, and am now behind quota for the year as well. The selling has reduced my buy-in to under 5%, so I'm hoping to make some buys in the next week rather than hold so much in cash while we're away. The Riders put up a good game last Sunday, and we beat Montreal quite comfortably. This evening they played in BC; it was not a good effort; it was not close. Time for the airlift; let's find some prospects for next year! The Blue Jays clinched the division championship this week, and now move on to the playoffs. Let's go Blue Jays! Let's play ball! 

Eric had a fun week at work; he travelled to Watrous and later to Big River before settling back at the office. Eric and Erica enjoyed a 3 km hike on Sunday. They didn't enjoy the 104-step stairway at the end of the hike, but they survived! Haaken continues to look for work. This weekend, they are visiting the McLeods and Baileys in Saskatoon and enjoying a visit with Sheena and Aura who flew out from BC for a visit. 

Erin and Kristian have had a good week. Erin has relished the successful season for the Blue Jays. Kristian is enjoying his birthday present. The school reports confirm that he is progressing well at school. He seems to be settling into a nice routine for home as well. It is a comfort. 

Joanna is working with Lorraine to open up the market in southern Ontario, but it's slow developing. Travis has flown down there as well. We don't hear of business developments, but attendance at the Ti-Cat football game, and the Maple Leaf hockey game were enjoyed! Gemma and Andrew remain here with us! 

That's about it for this week. 

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been cooler with some rain, but we're enjoying sunny weather this weekend. I think Wendy has completed her weeding program, and things look much better in the yard. We donated our old ski boat to Teen Challenge, and they were here to haul it away on Wednesday. We surely enjoyed a lot of trips to the cabin and a lot of skiing with that boat. We have continued our preparation for India, and have now chosen themes and developed materials for most of the situations. We learned of the passing of an important friend of our lives—we extend condolences to the McMillan families and relatives on the passing of their matriarch. The markets have continued to the red; the TSX is now down 8.6% YTD. I am thankful to have some good gains this year, but that didn't happen this week, and I've now fallen into red for this month as well, sigh! I continue to hope things may bottom out and manage to establish a bit of an uptrend before we head off for six weeks in India! I won't be following things very closely during that excursion. The Jays continue to play well; they clinched a playoff berth yesterday, and continue to work toward a division championship. The Riders are set to host Montreal tomorrow—Go Riders, Go! Pre-season hockey is underway as well, and everyone is a contender at this point in the season! 

Eric/A and Haaken carry on with life and work in Prince Albert. This weekend they enjoyed exploring in Prince Albert National Park. 

Erin and Kristian have had a quiet week in Regina after the birthday festivities subsided. We received an update on his school work; that looked very good! Good work, Kristian! Erin is a big time Blue Jays fan, so she's delighting in their play, and in the prospects of post-season play. 

Joanna has flown down to Burlington to assist the PuckShots efforts to break into the market down there courtesy of Lorraine. It's tough sledding! Travis has been busy with the scouting for his new team. Now, the draft is over and tomorrow afternoon the practice sessions begin to build the team. Gemma is happy to see that a young man named Matthew has been drafted to the team! Andrew had a tough week fighting off a cold. 

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather continues to be beautiful, even unseasonably warm and we've even resorted to the air conditioning on occasion. We had a thunderstorm one night with a good downpour of rain. Wendy has been very busy weeding in the back yard and it's looking much better, but there remains more work to do. I've cleared the thistles from behind the back fence, and readied the boat for donation to Teen Challenge. I've also re-engaged the battle with the ground hog who seems to have taken up residence while we were away. The neighbours trapped one and moved it out of town, and we were hoping this one would leave of his own accord, but so far he's not taking NO for an answer! I've also been working on repairs in the house. I managed to replace the faucet in the kitchen sink, and then installed a garburator and redid the drain pipes—big improvement there! The markets have continued to struggle while we waited for the Fed decision, and then tried to figure out how they would react to it! I had a small gain for the week, and am just short of quota for the month so far. We've made some progress on the lesson preparation for India. Technology allows us to coordinate with the remainder of the team despite that they're spread from Regina to Salmon Arm to Yellowknife. The Riders played Ottawa this evening, and enjoyed having Kevin Glenn back at quarterback, but they still lost, sigh! It was another close one, just 3 points, but rats! The Blue Jays have opened a bit of a lead in their division, but lost today; that didn't help.

Li-Luigi!

Liam came home for the weekend. He said he's home to visit, but there are suspicions that he's just there for Comic-Con in Saskatoon. His costume may have increased that speculation! At least he's having a good time in high school so far. Erica returned from her trip early Friday morning. This is just in time to host friends from Kenora! Eric continues with work; Haaken continues to look for work. 

Erin and Kristian had a big week since it was Kristian's birthday week! I don't quite get it, but it seems that these days a tenth birthday qualifies for a full week of celebration. He is delighted with his big gift of an Xbox, and shared the experience with his friends on Friday evening and night! 

Trav & Joanna continue to be very busy. Hockey season has begun for Trav, and he's been scouting the prospects in training camp for his new team. They have also extended their team photography business moving into other sports this Fall. Gemma and Andrew maintain the usual school schedule and an active social life, so we don't see much of them. 

And that's the kind of week it's been. 

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been beautiful, and we're enjoying that. We've managed to get some things done in the yard, but there remains a lot to do and little time to do it! We're feeling pressured by the list of things we would like to take care of before we leave for India. We're not scheduled to return from India until the end of November, and we could have snow here by then. The markets have remained troubled. The TSX is down another 2.7% this month, so I'm finding it a real challenge to find good investments. Wendy and I have been working on material to use on the India trip. We plan to deliver some classes for children in the schools, and Ray has also assigned me to speak on several occasions. On Thursday, I visited the dentist to get two teeth repaired that I had chipped off over the summer—expensive and painful, and painfully expensive! The Riders won the Labour Day classic over Winnipeg—yay Riders! Today, they played the return engagement in Winnipeg, called the Banjo Bowl—it didn't go well! The Jays continue to play well, and have opened a nice lead in their division. Today they won a double-header over the Yankees to extend their lead. 

Erica is away on a vacation trip to the US west coast, and seems to be enjoying herself very much. Eric and Haaken are holding down the fort at home in PA and not enjoying it quite as much! Liam is at school in Caronport. 

Erin & Kristian are enjoying life, work and school in Regina. Erin visited with the staff at school who work with Kristian, and she's encouraged that he is starting into a good year there. 

Travis and Joanna continue to operate on a very busy schedule. Gemma and Andrew are well into another year of school; this is Andrew's first year of high school. It seems to be going well for the whole crew. 

And that's about enough for this week! 

News Update

Another week has passed, and it finds us back on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown—it's good to be home! The week has gone well. The weather has been great, until it turned to rain today; so, we left! We packed up, and left early this morning; we drove east and arrived just after midnight. We'll worry about unpacking tomorrow. The markets have tossed and turned all week, and took a final turn downward on Friday as Goldilocks failed to come through. The US economic and job data was too hot with GDP strong and unemployment dropping to 5.1%. Investors there decided the Fed would raise rates this month, so, they decided to sell. Here our economic data was too cold, as we entered another recession, and unemployment rose to 7.0%. Investors here decided to sell as well! Friday was not a good day on the markets! However, I had a great week despite my low buy in, and managed to cover quota for the week, and recover a couple of weeks of August where I had failed to make quota earlier! Wendy and I continued with work on Erin's place, and completed the assigned tasks for this time! The Riders failed again in their game with Ottawa. So, they finally made some changes, dumping head coach and general manager. We'll see the new look Riders tomorrow against Winnipeg—go Riders, go! The Jays continue to thrive and are in first place in their division. August fundraising data for our India mission sees me looking at in-law support! I see funding from a father-in-law, two brothers-in-law, and three sisters-in-law! It's more than a bit curious don't you think? I'm suspicious they're trying to get rid of me!! Actually, we are humbled and very appreciative of your sponsoring us. Thank you, thank you! We have about half of our funding in place already. 

Eric/A and Liam brought Haaken home last weekend and combined that with a family trip! Once special event was a visit of the Ghost Town at Three Valley Gap. The arrived back to Prince Albert at 5am Sunday. Travels continued to be the watchword this week as Eric took Liam back to school at Caronport on Tuesday! Liam was not excited about school, but seems to be enjoying friends and is looking forward to voice and drum lessons. Eric has submitted his forms to be registered as a Marriage and Family Therapist. His required hours have been completed, so we hope the process goes smoothly. Erica left on Friday for a holiday trip to the US with some girlfriends. She is looking forward to a real break during which she is no on call! 

Erin and Kristian have had a busy week with school start up added to the daily agenda. Kristian seems to be enjoying his new class, and especially that his best friend, Owen, is in his class. Kristian has his first male teacher; we're all hopeful about how things will develop. Of course, they have been hosting us all week, but now that we're gone, Erin can begin developing a new list of errands for us to work on next time! 

Travis, Joanna and Minnie greeted us on our arrival. It was good to see them again after three months. We are looking forward to catching up on all the Thunder Bay events starting tomorrow! 

And that's enough for this week! 

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairie. The weather has returned to hot, so we've been glad of air-conditioned spaces to live. The congregation in Gravelbourg couldn't find anyone qualified to fill their pulpit on Sunday, so we got to enjoy a trip out there and I was able to address a few thoughts their way. It was good to be back where I was born, and among folks with whom I share such sweet memories. We returned via Ogema and managed to catch up with more family there. It was a special journey. Then we moved over to Erin's as she had some errands for us to work on. The markets have finally relented and paid back a bit of all the losses I've been experiencing lately. I've sold some more holdings, but if we can move forward next week, I will be ready to start buying in again. I got in a golf outing on Friday with Dale, Buck and Mic; it was a lot of fun, but the golf was not so great. I managed 44-49—93. After opening with a birdie, it was pretty much downhill. The Riders play tomorrow afternoon, and we will be cheering for them to break the losing streak—go Riders, go! The Jays are just flying and have moved into first place in their division. It's been a long time since they've been in a playoff race. 

Eric/A and Liam left midweek to drive out to Vancouver and collect Haaken as he completed his summer courses. They visited Eric's family in Victoria briefly; his dad is doing much better and has returned home. They are now on their way back, arriving in Hanna, AB at last notification. There was a lot of construction work and slow traffic on the TransCanada, but the trip is going well. 

We've moved over to Erin's basement suite—what an upgrade from her old three-story walk-up non-air-conditioned apartment! We're enjoying the difference! We've been working on some projects here to improve her new place. Wendy has upgraded the storage and allowed the place more living area. I repaired a sink drain downstairs that was leaking, then I added a garburator and a front screen door. Of course renovations never seem to be perfectly straight-forward, so there were many trips to the hardware store for extra materials. We've been glad to enjoy the company of Erin and Kristian, along with several visits from Shawn, Astrid and Liam. It's been a good week. 

We've had a few chats, texts and phone calls back to Thunder Bay as we check up on things there, and give advance warning of our impending return! They continue to keep busy, and are considering extending their PuckShots franchise by opening up in Burlington. We wish them well. 

And that's about enough for this week! 

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairie. The weather has been pleasant, even cool today, and we've had a few showers. That has provided a nice break, however, it's also a reminder that summer is waning. I've been out to practice golf a couple of times; Kristian came along once, so that was fun. The markets have been selling off, and all N.American indices are now in the red for the year, with the TSX down 7.9% YTD. I have suffered big losses this month as well, and two more of my holdings have touched their stops, so I've been trying to sell. As it is, I'm reduced to about one third in the market. I'll be watching for opportunities to buy when things turn upward. We have been occupied this week with construction of a front deck on the house here. That was our major production for this week. Next week I have a few jobs to work on at Erin's new place. She wants a garburator installed, and a plumbing leak repaired. We'll see how that goes. The Riders have been practicing for almost two weeks in preparation for this afternoon's game against Calgary. It was not enough, as they suffered a three-point loss! But, hey, Tom Higgins was let go in Montreal; perhaps we can get a new head coach! The Jays have continued to play well, and are pushing the Yankees for first place in the division. 

Eric/A and Liam have also enjoyed the break in the weather, although it has made it almost too cool to ride to work, so Erica even drove the CRV on Friday. Liam has relaxed, slept, eaten and chilled out! He's also done further consideration of sword-construction! One more week and he's back to school. Haaken is enjoying his classes; he has one more week as well, then it's back to looking for work! Eric wrote an article on the use of games in therapy. Once it's been published, I'll pass along the link. Eric/A and Liam are visiting in Regina this weekend and staying at Erin's. It's good to spend some time with them. 

Erin and Kristian have had a good week. Kristian has been back to the eye doctor who has noted some improvement, and changed the program of medications. Kristian has been shopping for decorations for his room, and also for back-to-school stuff. This weekend, they're hosting Eric/A and Liam, and having a good time! 

Travis, Joanna, Gemma and Andrew are enjoying the season in TBay. Business continues to keep them busy—I guess that's what it is supposed to do! We are looking forward to getting back there ourselves in another week or so. 

And that's about it for this week. 

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairie. The weather has been very hot, but they're promising us a break this weekend. It's been a great week for me. I travelled down with Dale to Kenosee Lake on Monday. We met up with Dave and Mic, and enjoying golfing the renovated course there. The course is much improved; I enjoyed better play as well scoring 88. On Wednesday, we drove over to Moose Jaw where we connected with Elvin & Grace who drove us out to Shamrock Park for Wednesday Wings! Many farmers along the way are already combining. Old Wives lake is higher than I've ever seen, and the old road along the lake is impassable. We checked out the old farm site and enjoyed seeing the trees that the old-timers still call Ulrich's Trees. We did not go over to the Sorensen farm sites as Elvin informed us the slough is so high the road into the lower house is covered. The dam is underwater there as well, and no one has lived there for the last three years. We enjoyed three batches of wings at the Park, but not the hoards of mosquitoes! The markets went crazy early in the week as China devalued their currency, and investors around the world sold off stocks. Fortunately, by Thursday, folks were back in a buying mode and I managed to almost break even on the week. The Riders have this week off, so we hope they'll be well prepared for their next game. The Jays have been playing great, running up an 11-game winning streak and moving into first place coming into a big weekend series with the Yankees. The Yanks have won the first two games to reclaim first place, but the Jays seem to have the team to remain in contention the rest of the way. We've begun an election campaign, and I'm tired of all the ads already! Election Day is October 19th, so we'll have to vote before we fly to India.

Eric/A and Liam have had the same heat wave as the rest of us, which means, in their three-story town house, it's been very hot. One day the thermostat was all the way over to the right, so they abandoned the house and went for a car ride to cool off. Eric is working on another article. This is one he was asked to write by a gaming magazine on the use of board games in therapy. Liam pulled weeds this week. The yard is maintained by the property manager, but that appears to be limited to a half-hearted mowing of the lawn. An abundant crop of thistles had sprung up—thanks Liam! They harvested the first of their tiny garden. They have two Charlie-Brown-Christmas-tree-like tomato plants, each sporting one tomato. They were tasty, so they hope the plants will produce more. Otherwise, Haaken continues his courses in North Vancouver (only two weeks left) and Liam continues relaxing!

Kristian was troubled with illness over the weekend, and, as is often the case, this exacerbated his eye issues. So, he was back to the eye doctor, and new therapies are being applied. His eye looks and sees much better by the end of the week. They are certainly enjoying the air-conditioned comfort of their new place. They joined us last evening at Candy Cane Park, for a celebration of Ashley and Kresten's birthdays. Shawn and the children were there as well; it was good to see them again. 

Travis & Joanna welcomed the children home from southern Ontario. Welcome home Gemma and Andrew! It has not been as hot in Thunder Bay, but they've been seeing the 30s as well. They continue to be busy with work, and now with back-to-school preparations, as they continue to enjoy their summer. 

And that's about enough for this week.

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairies. The weather has remained lovely with a few showers to keep the lawns and gardens growing. I got out golfing with Dale on Tuesday, but I played inconsistently and was quite disappointed in that. We played at the Murray, an easier course, but I only managed 93. We were scheduled to play at Kenosee on Friday, but weather issues inclined us to postpone that until Monday. The course there has been rebuilt, so I'm looking forward to seeing what they've done. The markets have continued to be mostly red, and I had a losing week as well. Apparently all economic news has to reflect the Goldilocks metric—not too hot, not too cold! This week our jobs numbers were too cold and the US numbers were too hot, so investors sold stocks, sigh! Wendy has been trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to get Kristian back on the summer learning curriculum; that program will continue! Dad has completed his antibiotic regime, and seems to be feeling much better, although he still remains with some junk to cough up! The Jays have been on a run, and have moved into play-off position and are challenging for first place in their division. The Riders continue to struggle, but played a spirited game in Toronto this evening. Indisciplined play produced penalties that took 3 TDs off the board, but they persevered throughout only to fall short when their last second pass fell incomplete in the end zone.

Eric/A enjoyed a VIP movie experience. It was incredible—leather seats, ordering food from your seat... Very cool! Liam met up with his friend in Saskatoon to go to Dragon Ball Z the movie. For this he made his own costume of one of the movie characters. Fun times! Haaken is enjoying his new classes.

Erin and Kristian are enjoying their new home. More developments continued throughout the week. There still remain some curtains and other ornamentation to purchase and install, but overall, it is coming along very well. 

Trav & Joanna enjoyed a trip to Minneapolis this week. Gemma and Andrew are returning from southern Ontario this weekend—time to settle back into life at home. 

And that's about enough for this week.

News Update

It's been a full week on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairie. We were blessed with a large amount of rainfall on Monday and Tuesday, so the lawns are greening and growing again. The garden here is producing daily toward our meals, and it's great to enjoy the full flavour of the fresh vegies. On Wednesday we completed Erin's move by emptying the trailer load into her new place. Wendy has been busy most of the week cleaning up at the apartment, and Erin got checked out of there on Friday, and it appears she will get the full refund of her damage deposit—thanks Mom! The Riders played on Sunday (we attended, thanks to our children), and again on Friday night. Not only did they lose both, but they lost their second quarterback in the Sunday game, so we were down to third string and fourth string for the Friday night game in Edmonton! The Jays have picked up a few high profile performers at the trade deadline, so hopes are renewed for a playoff push in baseball. The markets finally turned around on Tuesday, and I had some days of recovery that allowed me to complete July on quota for both the month and the year to date. Thursday was extra special as I celebrated my sixty-fifth birthday with phone calls, cards, FBook posts and a special supper featuring steak and an ice cream cake. I was royally spoiled, and enjoyed it immensely. Now I'm looking foward to my first OAS cheque which, Wendy tells me, I can use to upgrade to an iPhone6. I got out for some golf practice this morning, but it was very hot, so I cut it short. Dad has been down with a cough, but after a visit to the doctor and a prescription of antibiotics, he's feeling some better.

Eric & Liam visited Regina on Wednesday for Liam's orthodontist appointment. They stayed for a meal, but Liam was suffering from his braces adjustment, so only Eric got to enjoy the benefits of that, but at least they got to check out Erin's new condo. Eric/A checked out an apartment in Rosthern. They thought it might be nice to live halfway between PA  and Saskatoon. However, after viewing the place, they decided to stay put in PA for another year. They are reorganizing the apartment which includes designing floor plans on Excel! (Do not let an accountant manage your floor plan! Hopefully this project is done by the end of the weekend. Liam is also getting into the reorganizing mood and is doing up his room. He is also working on his armour. Haaken finished his first two classes: Drawing for Animation, and Animation Principles and Timing Next week he starts his second pair of classes: Design Basics for Animation, and Digital Animation and Design. He continues to enjoy his classes and is happy to be in Vancouver. Erica took a quick trip to Regina on Friday evening for leftover ice cream cake and to check out Erin's new digs. She headed back Saturday afternoon as she's on for worship leading tomorrow in Prince Albert, and was really looking forward to that. 

Erin has been consumed with the move all week. She took possession of her new place on Monday. Bernard and I picked up her furniture between the showers on Tuesday. I redid the wiring, plumbing and venting of the laundry room, so we could set up the washer, dryer and freezer more efficiently. Then, on Wednesday, we emptied the trailer load of household goods into the new place, and she began unpacking and arranging the condo. She continues to work on that this weekend even as she enjoyed her first house-guest, her sister, Erica! Kristian loves his new room with his new-to-him bed and furniture. Sadie appears a bit lost in the new place, but has established a favoured spot on the new sofa!

Trav & Joanna continue to be empty-nesting in Thunder Bay as the children are in southern Ontario. Next week, they're off to Minneapolis for a vacation-only trip, and then Gemma and Andrew will be back. They got some big Stickerz orders already this summer as a result of their advertising program, so that is also keeping them busy. And there's always the yard and garden calling for some attention as well. We enjoyed a nice FaceTime chat with them on Thursday evening. 

And that's about enough for this week.

News Update

Another week has passed and we have returned to the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairie. We left Fairmont, on the shore of the Columbia River, on Monday. We drove to Airdrie where we enjoyed a refreshing visit with David & Shirley. Thanks folks! We reminisced over many shared years and adventures—some of which we remembered, others we made up! It was good to see Shirley has been recovering well from her heart-event. On Tuesday we completed the trip to Regina, where Bern, Alicia and Dad are making us feel at home. The weather has been nice; we've enjoyed a few showers, but we still need much more rain. I've managed to get out and practice golf several times. The markets have continued to be terrible, and that has caught up to me as I dropped about three weeks worth of earnings with the TSX dropping for six straight days. Some holdings are just about down to my stops. The Open finished on Monday, with a three-man playoff, and as I said, Zack Johnson was my pick! (Zack-Dustin, what's in a name?!) The Riders continue their search for some consistent play, and the fans are putting pressure on management to demonstrate that they are doing something! They play again tomorrow; we'll be watching! Go Riders, Go! The Jays are playing about the same, and sitting just outside of playoff contention. 

Eric/A and Liam have returned to Prince Albert after enjoying the term of house-sitting in Saskatoon. Eric returned from his trip to Victoria and reported that his dad has improved, but is still not doing well. Eric is getting into his new job. He's enjoying it and doing well. He has been applying to a variety of insurance companies to get on the EAP provider lists. Liam has returned from Estonia and is working on a new project. He's making armour out of foam pads. He would also like to make a wooden sword, but has come up short in finding the necessary assistance—know anyone with a workshop?! His report card arrived this week. It is great to see that he is on the honour roll—way to go, Liam! Haaken continues to enjoy his courses at Capilano. He travelled over to the Island last weekend and enjoyed a visit with Eric and the Bailey family in Victoria. This weekend, they drove down to Regina to visit family and assist with Erin's move. 

Erin has been busily fretting and preparing for the big move to her new digs. Today, the crew ascended on her third floor walk-up, and packed most of her stuff into Bern's trailer. Now she will need to clean out the remainder and prepare the apartment for handover to Boardwalk. She gets possession of the new place on Monday, and we'll probably be moving all the stuff in there on Tuesday. Kristian was with us at Fairmont, and spent the days with us this week as well. He and Grandma continue to pursue academic studies and reading each day. 

Trav & Joanna continue to enjoy a busy summer in TBay. They have moved on from the Alumni event, and have begun a series of Training with a Pro events. This week the stars were Carter Hutton,  along with the pictured Burtozzo and Murray. 

Training with Pros
Todd Burtozzo, Matt Murray

Gemma and Andrew are visiting friends and relatives in southern Ontario. 

And that's about it for this week. 

News Update

Another week has passed, but we are far from the middle of the prairie on the shore of the Columbia River in the shade of the Kootenays. We're enjoying our week at Fairmont Hot Springs. I have been able to get in some golf practice everyday. Kristian takes it easy on me some days with golf, but other days is running my legs off playing catch, or tennis. Admittedly, it doesn't take much to run my legs off these days! Wendy has come golfing with us twice, so that was a nice treat. They have one par-3 course here with the larger 8-inch holes—that makes putting out a lot easier! The weather has been great, with several nice showers we could wish for our friends and family back in Saskatchewan. I have continued to work the markets a bit each day, and finally managed to get another buy. It's been a good week of recovery in the wake of some resolution to the problems in Greece. The Riders have continued their losing way, dropping another game to BC last night. They did show some signs of defensive life in the 4th quarter, so if they can play that way all game long, they will enjoy some success yet—go Riders, go! The Jays have begun the second half, and will  also need an improved effort to move into playoff contention. This weekend, I'm enjoying watching a compelling Open from the Old Course, and cheering for Dustin Johnson. 

Eric's dad is having medical difficulties, so Eric has flown out to Victoria to be with him. Liam has returned from a great adventure and mission to Estonia. Welcome home! Haaken is doing well in his summer course at Capilano. 

Erin is busy packing up the apartment in preparation for her move. She has also purchased some new furniture for the new townhouse. It is exciting times for Erin and Kristian as they look forward to leaving the apartment and moving into their own home. 

Trav & Joanna are basking in the success of the hockey showcase—the pics have turned out great, and are being well-received. Otherwise, the summer-life is unfolding well on the shore of Lake Superior. They also enjoyed an outing down to Grand Marais. 

And that's about it for this week.