Travellers!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been somewhat cooler, but we've still managed to get out for our walks and bike rides. Spring construction projects in the area sometimes provide the extra impetus to wander over and supervise! This week, we're watching a neighbour's installation of a recycled asphalt driveway. We had not heard of that before, but with the reduced cost both to the environment and the pocketbook, we're interested in seeing how it turns out! Our own driveway is deteriorating over time with the uneven support of the muskeg under it, so we're thinking it will need repair or replacement some year soon. Our big project this year is the replacement of the furnace, so I've been collecting bids for that job.

Focaccia

I made my first batch of focaccia bread this week following Joanna's recipe—it turned out great, but it stuck to the pan a bit. Modified plans are in place for my next try!

Florida Travellers

Travis and Joanna, along with Erin and Kristian are off to Florida today. They met up in Toronto and arrived in Tampa Bay this afternoon. We have their cars in our driveway, and are caring for one dog (Minnie) for part of the time they're away. I have my outside lights working as planned on an automatic schedule matched with sunset times here. Wendy is still wanting an outlet added to the closet by the side entry—I have it planned! My back is doing great, I work my golf swing each day and have raised my walking/cycling goal to 20 km per week. I found the weight/twist exercises to raise some aches and discomfort, so I've reduced that until I meet with the physiotherapist next week. Wendy keeps very busy with her choral work, and we also have the Silver Sound choir rehearsals as we prepare for our Spring Concert on May 10th. The markets were dismal again this week with the USA economy leading the world. This strengthens the USA dollar which serves as a bit of a brake on the economy, but also lessens the likelihood of rate cuts—we market-players want rate cuts! The regular season in the NHL has come to an end, and sadly, the Penguins fell one game short of making the playoffs. Leafs enter their series against Boston with a lot of trepidation! My Oilers take on Los Angeles in their first round series. I'm sticking with the favourites in most series, but since there always seems to be an upset—why can't it be on behalf of the longsuffering Leaf fans?! So, that's my set: Canes, Leafs, Panthers, Rangers in the east. Jets, Oilers, Canucks, Stars in the west. The Blue Jays are doing just okay in the early season action of baseball. Starting pitching is looking good, hitting is not meeting my expectations! The Players' Championship ended on Sunday with Tirinzoni and Gushue winning the respective sides. Now, curling is into the off-season and already we're seeing some drama as one of the top teams in the world (#4-Bottcher) fired their skip and replaced him with Brad Jacobs from the #11 team! There are more brooms to fall on this story! 

Erica writes, "We received a large dump of snow this week and are now looking forward to second spring. We are hoping to make some progress on a garage. We have a quote and are waiting for a second. Other than that, it’s just been a busy week."

Erin and Kristian had a difficult week as Kristian's skin issues erupted and he needed a trip to Emergency followed up by a visit with his skin specialist. The new meds worked effectively, and his symptoms improved quickly. They were able to head out for a week in Florida beginning today. 

Travis has been enjoying extra Bucket Decal orders from Lacrosse an Baseball teams. This is good, but it was a bit of extra pressure getting things out the door so they were ready to take two weeks vacation in Florida. 

And that's enough for this week!