April: Showers & Spring?

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather is still sub-optimal and certainly sub-expectations! Official Spring has arrived, and the weatherman has completely ignored the date! However, the forecast predicts massive melting in the next week complete with the proverbial showers. We have some concern over flooding both here and in Manitoba. I even returned to the shop today and started ramping up my thinking toward some outdoor projects. Elsewhere the news is not encouraging. Putin continues to savage Ukraine while issuing contradictory press releases, and complaining about Ukraine hitting back! (You can't make this up!) Yet another covid variant is causing a new wave of infections in the few provinces still recording and reporting cases. Hospitals are filling up with the unvaccinated, once again. The markets remain volatile, and while I finally got a green month, I was red for the quarter, sigh! Wendy has kept busy with her Barbershop Choir group. There seems to be an inordinate amount of business issues to clean up, but arranging meetings to deal with them is problematic and time-consuming. She found a new recipe for Keto Brownies, and I've been enjoying too much of that! I made a batch of Keto Bread, and another of Keto Cornbread which supplement our breakfasts. In the world of sports, we were glad to see our Women win the Bronze Medal over Sweden. The Swiss won a third straight championship going unbeaten! The NHL is down to about a dozen games left in the regular season and my three teams are in playoff contention. Baseball is ending Spring Training; regular season begins next week. Let's go Blue Jays! March Madness has taken us to the Final Four, and my Jayhawks played solidly, sometimes spectacularly to qualify as the only #1 team left. They beat Villanova soundly in the semi-final tonight, and now only North Carolina stands in our way! Rock Chalk Jay Hawk! Today, the World Men's Curling championship began in Las Vegas. Brad Gushue is representing us, and opened with wins over Czechia and Norway. 

Erica writes, "The snow is still here. Usually, by now, we are pulled into a false spring, believing the snow is behind us before winter takes one last shot. This year we can’t even fool ourselves into thinking spring is coming. We had a few days of melting, but it turned to sub-zero temperatures again and all that was accomplished was to turn the snow to water then to ice. Eric is batching it this weekend as I join the ladies at the ladies retreat in Moose Jaw. I have the pleasure of leading the music, enjoying the speakers and the pool. Our group of ladies took the opportunity to enjoy the Little Chicago Connection themed escape room on Friday night and we are dressing up in 20’s themed dresses for the gala. (That is the 1920’s not the 2020’s)

Ladies from the Roarin' 20's!

I also had a chance to meet Liam for coffee, which was nice. He has found a summer job and hopes this will lead to more long term employment. Greg and Haaken are doing well and we have plans to see both of them this month."

Erin is trying to arrange another session of driver training for Kristian to prepare him and give him confidence for his driver's test. His curling is over for the season, but he's had a good introduction and is looking forward to curling again in the Fall. 

Travis and Joanna keep very busy, but the business is paying off, too. That's a good thing. The hockey season has turned out better than expected, and they have thrived on that. Gemma is continuing her search for her next educational opportunity. At this point, it appears University of Victoria is the most likely answer. If so, we'll certainly miss her here, but would consider moving to live with her there!! 

And that's enough for this week.