Wednesday, June 29

Yellowknife Treats

We enjoyed a great time in Yellowknife with friends and family. It was great to be re-acquainted with so many people. Three situations stand out in our hearts and minds. 

Simon and Lenore: This wonderful couple meant so much to our eighteen years in Yellowknife, and we were reminded of that during our time with them in their home and at the cabin. As is her wont, Lenore organized our days and filled them with activities of remembrance and of new adventure. It was a perfectly wonderful and exhausting time! We wouldn't have missed it! 
enjoying a wiener roast!
Willy: He heard we were in town, and that we were staying at Simon & Lenore's place. While we were enjoying most of the week at the cabin, he showed up at their house in town every day, hoping to catch us. Finally, on Thursday, we were there, and we enjoyed a reunion with him. We remarked to each other how special it was to know of the efforts he made to connect. Thank you. 

Tram: She has been a part of our lives for many years. She was a friend to Erica, and Erica was a bridesmaid at her wedding. Tram gave me the honour of walking her down the aisle. But we did not realize the impact she felt we had on her life. Well, she made it clear! She feted us graciously at home, on the lake and at a local eatery! It was heart-warming to be recipients of such largesse. 
at Tram's home!

Saturday, June 25


News Update

North of Sixty!
We spent most of the week on the shore, or surface, or under the surface of River Lake! On Thursday, we returned to the shore of Great Slave Lake, and also spent time on the shore of Range Lake. Now, we have begun the journey south, and are, this evening, in High Level. It has been a great week, of recalling memories and making new ones! We headed out to our cabin on River Lake on Sunday with Simon and Lenore. We enjoyed a daily smorgasbord of eating, paddleboarding, hiking, hot-tubbing, geocaching, canasta, crossword puzzles, siding, painting, fighting mosquitoes, fighting horseflies, and even occasionally sleeping. It was great! Thanks Simon & Lenore! After returning to YK, Tram hosted an event for us on Thursday evening. Thanks Tram! On Friday, we were reacquainted with the sands of time on the Yellowknife Golf Course. We dutifully slogged through nine holes, playing the back nine which hadn't been built the last time we were in YK. On Friday evening, we joined Cindy and crew as Joel assembled the new BBQ, and most of the rest developed cupcakes into a birthday celebration. There were still people we missed getting to spend time with, but it was time to head home, so turned our wheels southward. The markets were roiled all week over Brexit, and when they finally voted to leave the EU on Thursday, the markets really hit the dumper, so, I had another bad week on the investment front. Another football season has started, but the Riders have this week off. Go Riders, Go! The Jays are playing pretty well, and are tied for second place in their division, and currently are in a playoff position. 
SUP Wendy!
SUP Bill!

Liam spent a day in hospital this week due to stomach pain issues. The ER doctor ruled out an emergency situation, and referred them to the family doctor for further investigations. On Friday, Liam was recognized for being on the Honour Roll, and for his work in Fine Arts, and Ministry Involvement. Way to go, Liam! Haaken has been studying for his Driver's Licence learner's test this week. He plans to write on Monday—Good Luck! Eric had his first couple of church meetings as Elder in charge of Finances—must be some kind of a joke, surely! Erica has been participating in more client meetings, and will begin managing some projects in the next week. 

Kristian is completing a great year at school, and instructing us to get to Regina in time for that on next Wednesday afternoon! He needs to practice his golf more to get ready for the summer with Grandpa! 

Travis, Joanna, the crew, and the menagerie are thriving at home. They experienced a heavy rain and flood today in Thunder Bay, and noted some guys canoeing in the mall parking lot across the street. Gemma and Andrew are also finishing a successful school year, and looking toward their summer activities. 

And that's more than enough this week! 

Saturday, June 18

News Update

Another week has passed and we have journeyed to our next lake, and another favourite destination. We loved calling Yellowknife home for 18 years, and have really loved this brief return engagement! Simon & Lenore have hosted graciously and scheduled extravagantly. We close the week tired, very tired, but it's a good tired! We drove up to Manning on Monday, and completed the trip to YK on Tuesday. It was amazing to see and drive on the bridge over the Mackenzie River. We recalled how when we moved to YK in 1977, it was mostly viewed as a foolish dream, but here it was in reality. The bridge is roughly 1 km, and with the earth extensions from each bank, it crosses about 1.6 km of the river. 
Dehcho Bridge
Once we had crossed the bridge, we were on the lookout for Bison, and finally about 10 km from YK, we saw a cow and calf alongside the road. 
Bison Cow
She kept trying to block our view of the calf!
We've been able to visit the schools where I worked, and I was honoured to present the Technology Award kept in my honour at Range Lake North. The recipients had distinguished themselves in Web Page development in HTML5. 
Tech Award

We enjoyed hikes to Cameron Ramparts, and Cameron Falls. Simon & Lenore also introduced us to GeoCaching—what fun! The markets have been very bad this week as varied concerns from the US Fed decisions to the UK Brexit vote have kept investors worried. I hope I will start to catch up soon! The hockey season ended on Sunday with the Pittsburgh Penguins winning the Stanley Cup. We enjoyed that! The Blue Jays are playing better as well, and scrambling back into the playoff picture. 

Along the way, we have enjoyed sending messages back to our children featuring our adventures in YK. After all, Erica was only three when we moved there, and the other two were born there. It has been great to share the adventure with them once again. Travis & Joanna shared back the arrival of our new sofa! As predicted, it covers our pictures! 
I understand it sleeps three humans with ease! 
And that's about enough for this week! 

Saturday, June 11

News Update

Ashley crowns Barry!
Another week has passed, and we have journeyed from the shore of Lake Superior to the shore of Lake Wascana. The main purpose of our trip was to be present for the wedding of our niece Ashley and her chosen man, Barry. We celebrated that occasion today, in Regina. We have completed most of the work on the living room, and cleaned things up in anticipation of being away for a month. It's looking much better already, and renovations continue. We still need to complete the work on the downstairs bathroom once we find a suitable shower unit, so the effect of a house taking care of all your extra time and money continues! I visited my oncologist on Tuesday morning, and we exchanged our usual pleasantries: "That feels pretty good." "No, it doesn't!" My PSA levels held around 11, so we continue our watching and monitoring. We drove to Brandon on Tuesday afternoon to visit with Bonnie and Charlie. They were full of questions about the situation in India; they are planning a trip there with Bob Parker. We hope we didn't just overwhelm them! We continued to Regina on Wednesday and moved into the downstairs bedroom at Erin's. Then, with the Baileys' arrival on Friday night, we've moved over to Dave's for the weekend. The markets took a vicious downturn this week, and my portfolio suffered as well. I was getting close to being on quota for the year to date, and now I've fallen back once again, sigh! I enjoyed a round of golf on Friday at Tor Hill with Dale and Mark. My driving was much improved with my two-glove approach, but the rest of the game was as shaky as ever—46-46-92. Wendy took part in a mammoth day of wedding decorations and flower arranging on Friday. It all looked great! Stanley Cup playoffs continue. I was hoping the Penguins would finish it off Thursday night, but they ran into a hot goaltender, so the series continues with the next game on Sunday night in San Jose. 

The Baileys are back in Regina this weekend for Ashley's wedding. They plan to build in some cousin-bonding time in the form of shopping for sharp duds for Kristian! Liam has entered the land of politics by running for and winning a place on student council at school as grade 11 representative for next school year. Congratulations! Liam had computer issues; he couriered his laptop over to Regina and I took it in to the computer tech here who had done good work on my laptop last year. We haven't heard about any solutions yet. Otherwise, they've had a quiet week, but it was nice to have some time with them this weekend. 

Erin & Kristian have been busy with hosting family this week. We moved in on Wednesday, and then the Baileys moved in on Friday. Kristian had a sports day on Friday at school, so Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed getting a chance to watch some of that. I delivered Kristian's golf cart which I had rebuilt to accommodate the height of his golf bag. He was immediately ready to go golfing! 

Trav, Joanna and crew are taking care of things at home. They are anticipating the arrival of Joanna's mom, and also awaiting the delivery of our new sofa to fill up some of the space that is now our living room. We plan for it to sit in front of those pictures against the end wall, so those may need to get raised and fastened to the wall! 

And that's about it for this week. 

Saturday, June 4

News Update

Livingroom Hardwood is installed! 
Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been rainy, and I've struggled to find a date to water my dandelions! I finally got that done on Wednesday, and they're exhibiting the wonderful signs of expiring! We have continued to work on renovations, trying to get the main floor in livable condition before our planned departure next Tuesday. I have managed to get the hardwood laid, and it looks great. It started raining Friday night, thus my outdoor sawing program failed, and the installation of baseboard has been delayed. The markets have been whipsawed with news this week, especially on Friday, when the USjobs report surprised investors negatively, and the markets sold off. Still, I managed to have a great month of May, and have also managed to make my weekly quota to start off June in only three days. (Even the blind pig finds the odd turnip!) My gout treatment program is going well, and I have moved onto phase two. I am now taking both Colchicine and Allopurinol. It's hay fever season, so I am also on Reactine. Something has been contributing to fatigue the last few days, and I've been running out of energy in the early afternoon. I hope that passes soon. The Stanley Cup finals are underway, and the Penguins have won the first two games at home. Today, they faced the challenge of playing in San Jose, and that did not turn out so well! The Blue Jays are doing well lately. They have played eleven straight games against Boston and New York and have won eight of them! 

The Baileys have had a good week, despite an unfounded and endless supply of worries about tomorrow! This weekend they are back in Regina for LST Training, and a visit with Erin and Kristian. They are thankful for the support of family and friends in their fundraising program! Haaken continues to look for work. He has a lead on a part time job putting flyers into newspapers. We hope that pans out. Erica enjoyed her first week of not commuting to Saskatoon! It's also been a week of dusting the cobwebs off parts of her CA training that she hasn't used in a while. There have been some slow chugging, but she's getting back into the auditing framework! Eric enjoyed a quiet and good week, more so because Erica has been working close to home.

Erin and Kristian are hosting the Baileys this week, so she has a houseful. When she finds time, she is enjoying the new found success the Blue Jays are demonstrating. 

Travis and Joanna are off for yet another honeymoon trip this weekend, so we're watching over the children and varmints! Wendy is in grandma-taxi mode. It's all going well. Puckshots is busy with team photos for baseball, so that makes for good business. Trav got great news—he's been selected to coach a Midget A hockey team in the next season. He really enjoys that work and does a great job of it; we're glad for this vote of confidence. 

And that's about it for this week!