Arrivals

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. We enjoyed above zero temperatures early in the week and the driveway melted and dried off. It has turned cold again this weekend, but we're promised above zero weather again next week. No new snow has arrived, so my snowblower has remained on the sidelines. It's the season of advent, but also of holidays and family coming home to celebrate. We have already enjoyed some Christmas parties with the various groups we are part of, and we look forward to more family times here this year. However, we will miss out on connections with our Saskatchewan family. The USA is already experiencing the beginning of the Musk/Trump chaos as they conspired to interfere in the feverish legislative activity to fund the government down there. We have plenty of sound and fury in government ourselves, but at least we don't have unelected billionaires trying to govern via text messaging! Combined with the FED rate setting program, there were an abundance of things to bother the markets, and we have now endured three weeks of difficult markets with only the Nasdaq in the green for the month. My guy, #27-Koe, not only made the curling playoffs in Swift Current, he went on to beat #4-Jacobs for the championship. As a result, his world ranking has improved to #15. My gal, #5-Einarson, did not make the playoffs which were won by #8-Schwaller from Switzerland. My hockey teams are thriving at present, although only Oilers won today. Football is into the playoffs with the favoured teams have an easy time of it today. #5-Horns beat #12-Clemson fairly easily, but it was closer than I expected. In basketball, #8-Jayhawks won this week, but play again tomorrow before the new rankings will be voted.

Gingerbread Village

Erica writes, "The season festivities continue. We have celebrated more with friends and coworkers. My office has been doing festive things every day this week including making gingerbread houses on Friday.  I was up in La Ronge for three days so I missed part of it, but we still had fun. Liam arrived on Thursday and as I type this we are in Saskatoon waiting for Haaken’s plane to land. Greg and Kiersten arrive on Sunday. It will be a very full house—how wonderful! Eric finished grading papers for his class and now he just needs to finish grading the final exam. He has next semester off, which will be a nice break. I got my stitches out this week. My right hand is feeling pretty good. It is noticeably more free of stiffness than my left hand."

Lego Projects

Erin has been sick most of the week and even missed several days of work. She's hoping to recover over the weekend. Kristian got his new lego kit, and, moments later, had it built and added to his collection. He also installed a Christmas tree on the cat tree. 

Christmas on the Cat Tree

Marigold visting Kali

Travis and Joanna remain very busy as they try to get as much product out before Christmas as possible. Still, Travis flew down to Ottawa to bring home his newest dog—a pretty little Pomeranian named Marigold. Joanna has had extra time at work trying to fill orders there as well. And Gemma & Jonas came home this week—busy times. 

Gemma meets Marigold

And that's enough for this week. 

Frozen

Blowing Snow!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The temperatures dropped into frigid values midweek, in the minus twenties, but, thankfully we recovered to melting temperatures this weekend, and Wendy was able to get out for a walk with Cali today. I had an infected toe last week, but a course of antibiotics and regular cleaning and dressing have it pretty nearly healed over. Wendy keeps busy with her music; I have had my final preparation for the Cantata scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. Otherwise, we have hunkered down with the little dog while winter moved in outdoors, and were thankful for a warm, comfortable place to live. We got a dump of fresh snow early in the week, but the snowblower was up to the assignment. Yesterday, we had a volunteer opportunity, packing Christmas shipments at the Children's Aid Society. The markets are running in troubled fashion as they try to weigh the strength of the economy against what the FED might do next week. Pundits assure us that the FED will cut 0.25%, but I'm taking a wait and see approach. The curling event this week is in Swift Current and enough international teams have declined the invitation to allow #27-Koe in—they're doing well so far. #4-Einarson has missed the playoffs on the women's side. In hockey, all of my teams are doing a bit better. Leafs and Oilers are solidly in playoff positions, and Pens are close. Bowl season has begun in football, but Longhorns' loss last week dropped them down to #5, so they will play Clemson in the first round. #10-Kansas was dropped further than I expected in the new rankings in basketball, but they responded with a strong win today. 

Eric writes, "It's been busy: Monday, Erica had band practice, Tuesday, she had a Women of Rotary meeting. Wednesday and Thursday, she was in Saskatoon and on Friday, we had another office Christmas party. Today, she and the neighbour have been shopping. I had meetings Monday and Tuesday. On Thursday, I supervised the final exam for my class. Today, I wrapped some gifts and rested as I have not been feeling well. Tomorrow, life gets busy again with church, the Rotary Christmas brunch followed by the PACMA Christmas party and a jam session. Busy! Fun, but busy!"

Kristian assures us that not much new is happening in Regina. He located a Lego set on line. He has made the purchase, and is awaiting the delivery. Erin is off to an office Christmas party this evening, but otherwise the week has been mundane. 

Travis and Joanna continue to recover from their illness, and to catch up on work. They have pumped out an amazing amount of product on the PuckShots side recently. Last evening, we enjoyed getting over for Pizza and Cards evening with the dogs. Cali and the boys had a busy time and all slept soundly afterwards. They have purchased another dog, Marigold, who should be delivered next week. 

Coming soon: Marigold

And that's enough for this week! 

Concerts!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. Winter continues to move in; this week we received a bit more snow, not really enough for the snowblower, but I wanted to give it a try anyway! Last night, we got more snow, but now it is above zero and has been raining all morning, so this became be quite a mess by the time the rain ended and I finally got at it. I'm pretty sure the snowblower did not like pumping out that slushy stuff! We had our Silver Sound concert on Sunday. Wendy is singing tenor in the top left of the choir, I am in the centre of the top right area. We enjoy this choir a great deal, and plan to rejoin in January aiming toward a Mothers' Day weekend concert. Wendy had another concert on Wednesday evening with the Sweet Adelines choir—you can see her in the third row, right side.

Sweet Adelines Xmas Concert

She has another set for next Monday, and I am continuing to practice for the Cantata which is scheduled for Dec 15th. The market indices set new records again this week as some of Trump's more egregious cabinet choices are being rejected by the Senate, so folks are encouraged. The big economic fears centre around his rhetoric on deportation, tariffs and deconstruction of the civil service. I continue with my "wait and see" approach. In the world of sports, the Grand Slam of Curling ended with both #1 teams prevailing. Homan is having another phenomenal season on the women's side, and that Mouat team from Scotland is just amazing as well. In the NHL, the Leafs have ascended to first place in their division, Oilers and Pens have moved into a playoff position, so we keep cheering and hoping. My #1-Jayhawks suffered their first loss of the basketball season, so they may get dropped when the new rankings are published. In football, #2-Texas played #5-Georgia in the conference championship game this afternoon and acquitted themselves well, but lost in overtime. I still expect them to be highly placed in the college football playoffs. I won't be surprised if they win it all, but they've got to open up their playbook in the scoring zone—cannot continue to settle for FGs. 

...and presents under the tree...

Erica writes, "I had carpal tunnel surgery on Wednesday. Now, I have to figure out how to do everything left-handed while my right hand heals. Thank goodness for voice to text applications. Eric taught his final class of the semester and now he’s busy marking papers. We are slowly getting the house ready for company as all three boys and one girl will be home for Christmas."

Erin and Kristian continue to wait and cope in Regina. The wintry blast has been severe in Saskatchewan so far this season, with very cold temperatures as well as several blizzards. This weekend the weather has turned nice, the sun is shining, and the snow is melting—vive la différence! Earlier in the week, she suffered RAV4 failure as the battery inexplicably died. At least it's eligible for replacement under warranty, but it is a reminder of how much these modern vehicles and their computers rely on a very well functioning battery! We had a similar failure with ours where it just suddenly would not do anything, not even shift into neutral for towing! Kristian is completing his drug trial, but has signed up for a continuation of the treatments, so he'll remain in the trial for some extended time. Still nothing on the employment front for him. 

Travis and Joanna continue to recover, albeit slowly. As a result, we haven't been seeing them as neither they nor we wish to have us participate in this virus. They do summon the energy to get the boys out for walks from time to time. They are also needing to reserve some energy for the photo shoots that continue to be booked. Get well, guys! Gemma continues with an adventurous and educational posting on Vancouver Island. 

And that's enough for this week.