Passages

Another week has passed and we have returned to the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. We opened the week in Regina, comfortably ensconced in Erin’s basement. On Monday, we celebrated the life of Don on Monday with a choir of enthusiastic singers providing great support for the family. On Tuesday, I managed a repair on a light fixture at Erin’s. Then, we enjoyed our traditional Western Pizza supper at Erin’s—yummy! Dave and Lynn joined us for that one. Liam drove over on Wednesday for a games night, during which Wendy and I decimated Liam and Kristian!! On Thursday, we drove over to Winnipeg. We enjoyed a visit with Bill & Angie in Brandon, and with Manas & Navie in Winnipeg. While leaving their place we had an accident as I slid into the vehicle in front of us while trying to stop at an intersection—that was unfortunate! Then, we continued on to Tom & Mariette’s for a delicious supper and a restful night—thanks folks! On Friday, we completed the trip home, arriving here about 6pm. It was a good trip, but it’s also good to be home! The markets continued their manic ways as the Melon Felon continues his mania. This week he invaded Venezuela and captured their president and his wife, and brought them to the USA where they’re being charged with various crimes. The real story is that he wants to control Venezuela’s oil, and sell it for his own profit! [you are quite correct, this is not normal behaviour] Of course this has roiled the price of oil, as Trump announced that USA oil companies had put forward $100 billion to help him with this. However, this story also fell apart as he met with a bunch of petroleum company executives on Friday, who informed him that there were no billions forthcoming, and that Venezuela was “uninvestable”.  Meanwhile the USA economy continues to suffer under his regime and jobs growth has been stunted compared to what Biden put up. Some think this will force the FED to cut lending rates even further, and the markets love that idea. In the world of sports, my #22-Jayhawks dropped in the rankings, and split their games this week—things are not going great! Many provinces are holding curling playdowns in preparations for the Brier and Scotties. The Grand Slam event this week is in Steinbach. True to form the international teams continue to show impressive quality. Two of our women’s teams qualified for the playoffs, and it will be my gal #10-Einarson playing #2-Tirinzoni in the final. None of our men’s teams qualified for the playoffs. It will be two Scottish teams in the final tomorrow, with #11-Waddell playing #5-Whyte. In hockey, my teams are doing a bit better. Pens and Oilers are in solid playoff positions just now. 

Erica writes, “We started the week celebrating Don Elsaesser’s life in Regina, and reconnecting with family. I spent the next two days in meetings in Saskatoon while Eric took care of things back home. Mystery Train had a gig on Friday night at the Army & Navy and we had a strong attendance of dancers right up to our last song at 11:30. It was a lot of fun. Life moves on. Also, I finished my latest Department Q book—book 10 in the series. It appears to be the end of the series.”

Erin took a day off, so we enjoyed spending the extra time with her. Then, she hosted the traditional Western Pizza Meal with Uncle Dave and Lynn. That was a good time. On Thursday, we left on our long drive home. Kristian applied for work at Taylor Toyota, and had an interview after we left on Thursday. He was offered a job there, and has accepted. He is scheduled to begin on Monday, washing and detailing cars. We’re happy to see this step forward for him. 

Travis and Joanna have been taking very good care of our little Kali while we were away—thanks guys! Still, she was excited to greet us on our return. 

Home again!

And that’s about enough for this week.