News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairies. I enjoyed having a family barbecue on Sunday for Fathers' Day, and my children were generous as usual—thanks! The weather started and ended the weekly nicely, but we had some cool, showery weather in the middle. I got out for a round of golf with Dale on Tuesday. It was 18 holes on an executive course, and my leg handled it fine. My game was not so great, +18, but I'm satisfied for now. We plan to play a full course this coming Monday. I came down with a cold on Wednesday, and am still suffering head congestion and coughing today. Wendy continues to nurse her tender back, but that hasn't slowed her down much. She has been shopping for new lighting fixtures for Erin's kitchen and dining room, so I was consigned to install those. They look good, and really make the flavour more homey and intimate in contrast to the industrial fixtures the builders had installed. Next in line is to repaint the main floor; Wendy and Erin are busy with swatches trying to choose the perfect level of grey to apply to those walls. The markets have continued to whipsaw, and I was down nearly $1000 one day, but I had a good week overall, and am back on quota for the month. The TSX even managed to sneak into the green for the year with a tidy gain on Friday. The CFL season has begun; I am expecting better things of the Riders. It wasn't a good start, and I lay most of the blame on the coaching staff for a 1-point loss to Montreal. The Jays continue to struggle below .500 in baseball. They've tried 9 times this season to get to .500, and failed each time—sigh! 

Apple Pie a la Liam

The Baileys were down here last weekend; it was nice to catch up with them all. They got some good news this week as Haaken was accepted into Victoria College of Art. In fact, it appears he had been accepted back in April, but the email was lost in cyberspace. Haaken sent a follow up email and found out he was in! After a few days of consideration, he has decided to go for it! So off to Victoria he will go. Gramma Bailey came to visit for a week. In honour of this occasion, Liam made a wonderful dinner of homemade spaghetti, and gluten-free apple pie from scratch. It was very, very good and now he is assigned cook duty for the rest of the summer! Liam and Erica got to see the new doctor this week. She is rumoured to be very thorough so we are hoping she will have a positive impact on our health.

Erin and Kristian are hosting us well here in Regina. Kristian is closing out the school year with a variety of special activities from swim day, to assemblies, to sports day. Today, he enjoyed a birthday party for Astrid at the Science Centre. They had lots of chemistry activities and topped it off with cake and the ice cream they had just made! 

Travis, Joanna and crew are holding down the fort back in TBay. We chat with them from time to time, but it's not the same as being there with them. 

And that's about it for this week. 

News Update

Another week has passed and we have relocated to the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairie. We left on Monday morning, driving both vehicles and got as far as Winnipeg where we enjoyed the hospitality of Mike & Peggy. Wendy was driving the Sorento, and reports that the comfort of the well-known seats was agreeable to her tender back, so she experienced no pain. We enjoyed a day of rest on Tuesday. On Wednesday morning, I ventured on my first golf game of the year with Tom, Mike and Dean. We suffered through rain showers on two holes, but eventually completed 9 holes, although Tom's attempted recovery from a cold encouraged him to call an early break so as not to suffer a relapse. I was pleased to complete the half-round although my golfing was poor. I was getting some complaints from my leg by the eighth hole, but I'm going to keep trying. I did finally make one par, and scored 47. Wednesday afternoon, we headed for Brandon. We stopped for coffee in Portage where we enjoyed a visit with Dave & Anita, old friends from Yellowknife. We got to Charlie & Bonnie's in Brandon late, and proceeded to stay up later, finally hitting the hay at 3am. So, we slept in a bit, enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, and then continued to Regina where we settled in with Erin & Kristian. It is great to spend some time with them. This weekend featured the 100th Anniversary celebrations of the congregation here. We've enjoyed catching up with many friends (all old now!), and meeting some of their children and grandchildren! We've also enjoyed having time with our own children and grandchildren. What a great time! The markets have been terrible, no good and bad! TSX has pulled back into the red for the year once again, and I suffered losses this week as well. Pittsburg Penguins finished off Nashville in six games to repeat as Stanley Cup Champions—I was glad to see that! The Jays continue to struggle, and are not making headway in the standings. The Riders played their final preseason game, suffering a severe beating at the hands of the BC Lions. Now that the real season begins, they will need to play better—Go Riders, Go!

The Bailey's are also in Regina this weekend for the Church of Christ's 100th anniversary celebration. Erica and Haaken were born in Regina so it's a special homecoming for them! They have closed conditions on their house. The home inspection came back with a few items they need to take care of ASAP, but they are all things they knew about, so no big surprises. They have discovered that the banks have become much more strict since their last mortgage. Last time they even let them borrow the down payment—no problem. This time they had to provide two years income history, proof they have RRSPs for the down payment, and they even wanted the cash to be in the bank account before approval. It sure seemed like a big deal for a $95K house purchase! But they got final approval on Friday and were able to sign off on the conditions—Phew! Just two weeks until possession date for the house and two weeks after that Eric and Erica head to Germany for her first lipedema surgery. They are praying that everything goes well on both fronts and they welcome your prayers, too!

Erin, Kristian and Sadie were happy to welcome our arrival. We brought a new bicycle for Kristian, and he is eager to give it a try. Sadie is glad to have someone around to give her regular walks and frequent treats! Erin has agree to give the Keto diet a try while we're here and see how it goes for her.

Travis, Joanna and crew are holding down the fort in TBay. They operate the office out of our basement, so that part of our home care works out well. They will also be maintaining the yard and watering the indoor plants. Thanks guys! Gemma and Andrew are already getting quite a few hours at their summer jobs—good work by two responsible people. We're proud of them. Before we left, we enjoyed a night out for dinner with them on Sunday evening to honour Joanna's birthday.

And that's about it for this week. 

News Update

We've enjoyed another week of beautiful weather here on Lake Superior in my hometown. Well, enjoyed may not be a word Wendy would choose—she's been suffering with back pains all week. Chiropractic treatments, painkillers and Epsom salt baths have brought some relief, but she's still no where close to par, and she only has vacuuming to blame! I've managed to get the yard ready to turn over to Travis and crew—they're looking forward to it! I was able to practice golf a few times, but still no play. My leg is feeling a bit better, so I keep looking forward with hope. We're heading to Regina next week, so perhaps some of my golf buddies there will carry me around. The markets were pretty much flat for the week, but I got some great payoffs, so I am ahead of quota, and I feel blessed. NHL playoff final series is near the conclusion and the Pens lead 3-2 in games, so it will end soon. The Jays continue to struggle under .500, so improvement is needed! The Riders started the CFL season with their first preseason game. They played their first pre-season game tonight, held the lead until under two minutes left—then kicked a late FG to tie it up! We'll see what Don, my Rider-Expert, says when I see him next weekend!

Headline news from the Baileys: they bought a house! They got a cute 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom house in Prince Albert. It is an older home, built in 1912, but it appears to have good bones. They will need to put some money and sweat into it, but in the end they feel it will work for them and doesn't require a huge mortgage. You can click on this link to see more details. Liam created an animation this week. He is using a drawing program to draw and animate on his computer. If they could only figure out how to get it saved as a video file, they could share it online, and we could all enjoy it!

Erin's Tomato Tree!

Erin and Kristian are closing out the school year, and things are going well. Sadie gets worried during thunderstorms. Erin got a tomato tree from Shawn. It's already producing, but she has nowhere to plant it!

Trav and Joanna are now getting quite a few photo-shoots for baseball teams. Trav is over here in the office most days designing and printing. Gemma and Andrew are also doing well in their work and school. Their classes end this week and then it's exam time.

And that's enough for this week. 

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has continued to be great, and I've managed some yard work and golf practice. Trav let me try out their new battery-powered lawnmower and it worked great! I completed both lawns with power to spare. I had really intended to try some golfing this week, but my leg was not feeling up to it when the opportunity arose, so I was limited to some golf practice only. We were back at the doctor on Thursday. She updated us on the angiogram results. It seems there are as many as five areas of blood clotting/blockages in my left leg. It is unclear whether these have amalgamated. Circulation in general has improved somewhat, but remains substandard and especially so for the lower leg. Clearly the Rivaroxaban did not do the job it was expected to do of dissolving all the clots, but it does seem to have done the job of keeping me safe from other damage that may come from such clots. She has extended my prescription for Rivaroxaban and is referring me to Dr. Lise Mozzon, an internist and haematology specialist to investigate the situation further. We finally completed all the hoops at the bank and lawyers, and picked up our Santa Fe on Wednesday. We're enjoying the new features. Wendy has been busy with cleaning and reorganizing, but seems to have aggravated her back, so that has slowed her down the last few days. We are continuing the lo-cal diet, and pretty much enjoying it. No pie or ice cream, but plenty tasty all the same. I managed to get some more drywalling done in the kitchenette, and we picked up the set of cupboards, but the countertop had been constructed too short, so it will have to be redone. The markets continue to struggle, and with the loss of 1.6% in May, the TSX is only up 1% for the year. However, I've been blessed with monthly quotas for all months except April so far this year, so I am thankful. Weakening US jobs data and Trump's protectionist rhetoric have rattled our markets. Baseball plays on into a third month, and the Jays have improved—yay Jays! Stanley Cup playoffs have reached the final series. Pittsburgh won the first two games, but Nashville fought back with a home victory tonight.

Liam is enjoying improved health after his blood upgrade; we hope he's on a sustained upswing now. The Baileys continue to investigate realty in PA. They've found nothing that ticks all the boxes, but there are more options. Haaken continues with his art and his volunteering.

Erin and Kristian are preparing for summer plans as they work through the final month of this school year. We'll try to fit ourselves in as well as we can. Kristian had his sports day this week. We enjoyed it with him last year; he got sunburned on his own this time! With the nicer weather they've been able to get out walking and roller-blading this week. Sounds like it fits in with Erin's new active life style as well.

Trav & Joanna have embarked on the Baseball photography season. We expect their introduction to these teams will expand their business with this sport as well. Bucket Decals continues to get orders from forward-looking hockey teams; it's good to have the business! Gemma and Andrew are both completing the school year, but have also begun work on summer jobs as time permits. This week Trav & Joanna bought sod, and extended their lawns. Now that they have their fancy dancy lawnmower, I guess they can handle it!

And that's about enough for this week.