News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairies. We had a cold snap on the weekend, but the weather has returned to mild, and we're enjoying 16 degrees today. We took a road trip over to Mortlach on Thursday to visit with Robert & Marilyn Peterson—they send greetings to all who know them! Robert sent us home with some deer sausage, and we enjoyed that with eggs for our brunch today—yummy! Wendy finally went to the doctor about her knee, but did not get much of a diagnosis—the doctor prescribed some extra strength pain killers and sent her on her way. The markets are showing positive signs; I hope this is the start of an uptrend. At least I had a good week, and picked up two weeks' quota. As expected, Carey (AB) beat Krista McCarville in the Scotties final. I'm okay with that. Kansas won big in Texas midweek, and then closed out the schedule with a win over Iowa State today. Now, it's March Madness time, and they're ranked #1! The Brier started today; it's a star-studded field. There are so many high profile teams it's impossible to pick a favourite. I'll be cheering for Kevin Koe, along with the SK team (Laycock), and also hoping Jamie Koe of the NWT plays well. 

The Baileys are here this weekend. We are glad to have some time with them. We're taking advantage to hold an early celebration of Wendy's birthday. We picked up Liam from school on Thursday, so he could get to the orthodontist on Friday (Yay!), and to his LST training today. He is planning to go back to Tallinn, Estonia this summer. Nothing has been heard back concerning Haaken's application to Capilano. 

We're enjoying spending some precious time with Kristian and Erin while we're in Regina. Erin had a positive job assessment this week, and was awarded a raise as well. Well done! She also set us up so we can follow Kristian's school progress on-line. We're glad to be able to keep track. 

Trav & Joanna continue to keep the home fires burning, and the home dryer drying! Trav's team has moved into the playoffs. They ended the regular season in third place, so they play the sixth place team in the first round. Wendy and Joanna talked on the phone for almost three hours one morning this week, so we should be updated—I've heard nothing! 

And that's about it for this week. 

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairies. We continue to enjoy the favourable weather as winter avoids Regina this year. Friday was +14 when I grabbed a golf club and went for my afternoon walk. The week has gone well. Wendy has been busy as she completed several tasks in preparation for the weekend with the women (including Erica) at the Spa! She's in Moose Jaw this weekend, and reports to be enjoying it just fine!

Lookin' Good@Goofy Gala!

We're batching here at home, and struggling to keep body and soul together! The nice week of weather culminated in a BBQ supper tonight—thanks for the burn, Bern! The markets continue to be dismal, and with only one trading day left in the month, I feel I have no prospects to make quota this month. Fortunately, Friday was green, and I managed to make a weekly quota in just one day! I've been watching curling all week. Chelsey Carey of Alberta is in the final tomorrow, and tonight's semi-final saw TBay's Krista McCarville, beat Jones to advance to the final against Carey. Kansas played two good games, winning both to clinch the conference championship for the twelfth straight year. It is likely they will also be moved back to #1 ranking when those are announced later this weekend, and probably guaranteed a #1 seed in March Madness. 

The Baileys enjoyed the time in Paris and returned home to enjoy Spring! Paris was amazing; they report the highlights were Juno Beach, Disneyland Paris, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre, Versailles and the Eiffel Tower! Although, chocolat chaud, and le pain au chocolat were right up there as well! They also caught colds over there, but Haaken seems to have been hit the worst—he's still coughing up phlegm. They flew back in on Wednesday evening, and we were able to give them a break by driving to Saskatoon, and ferrying Liam down to Caronport for school! They had already had a long day, and were very tired, and very thankful—pas de problème! Now they're all back at work and school and checking travel deals for the next big adventure! Haaken is anxiously waiting for a positive response from Capilano University—we pray that may be so.

Erin and Kristian have both been ill during the week and missed both work and school. They seem much recovered now, and we're enjoying Friday night together. Today, they enjoyed swimming, Boston Pizza and movie time! 

Trav & Joanna along with Gemma and Andrew are holding down the fort at home. There were some internet issues there, but finally we got enough of Shaw's attention to get it fixed. Otherwise things are progressing fine there. Trav's team picked up another couple of wins as they tune up for the playoffs. 

And that's about enough for this week! 

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairie! They have no winter here. We've been enjoying above zero temperatures, although several days were cloudy. I have been suffering with gout all week in my right foot. It was brought on by a sweet dessert last weekend that contained high fructose corn syrup which seems to be my kryptonite! Thus I am unable to drink ordinary pop, and most sweet confections. I am able to enjoy the sweetness of honey and maple syrup, at least! I was to the doctor finally on Friday, hoping to get a prescription that would remove the uric acid from my system, but I ran into a Catch 22 that I've hit before. This doctor explained that using such was not approved during an attack because it caused increased pain. Then, if I return when I'm not having an attack, it's not prescribed because my uric acid levels are too low to warrant it! Sigh! Anyway, the pain is diminishing, and I have been able to get out for walks each day. Wendy slipped on the ice last weekend, and suffered bruises, scrapes and abrasions on her arms and legs. She's been hobbled all week, and is not fully recovered yet, but is much improved. The markets were closed on Monday, but ran nicely green on Tuesday through Thursday, and I was able to achieve some good gains. Sports have turned very busy with Scotties Curling on TV two or three times each day, Hockey surging into the trade deadline, trying to decide who will be buying and who will be selling. Basketball is driving toward March Madness, trying to get a favourable seeding. The Jayhawks scored two impressive wins this week, while some of their rivals fell back; they've been raised to #2 once again. The Scotties opened with upsets as the defending champs, and the highly ranked Ontario team, both lost. Alberta looks strong, and have the benefit of playing at home. 

The Baileys have been in France this week enjoying the cultural and historical richness of Paris and the WWII memorials. We look have been following their trip via FaceBook and look forward to hearing even more about it in person upon their return. 

Erin had Monday off (Family Day), so we enjoyed spending the day with her. Kristian had the whole week off from school, and we enjoyed having him with us. Grandma scored him a new pair of jeans as well, so it was a good week for him. He got all his homework done, and learned to play his recorder a bit better. Shawn's house sale fell through, and he's still looking. 

Trav and his team went through the tournament in Wisconsin undefeated to win the championship trophy. Now they're focused on completing the season strongly so they can get a bye in the first round of the playoffs. Joanna remains busy; Gemma and Andrew are back at school. We are so glad to have them all there taking care of the place. 

And that's about it for this week. 

News Update

Another week has passed and we have moved from the shore of Lake Superior to the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairie. The snow stopped in Thunder Bay, but the weather turned cold. Now they're promising to moderate the temperatures as we move into the new week. In the meantime, we drove out to Regina on Friday where they're still waiting for both snow and winter. I don't know where the snow stopped—the ditches were full west of Winnipeg, but suddenly, in the dark, we noticed there was no snow in the ditches, and it stayed that way the last hours into Regina. There is no snow and mild temperatures here as well. And we get to enjoy the warm hospitality of Bern, Alicia and Logon while we stay at Dad's place. The markets continued to be very bad the first four days of the week, but Friday turned green, and I was able to make a recovery back into the green. I'm no where near quota, but at least I'm green again. 

Al Kweyder Family

Our Syrian refugee family arrived on Friday. We have much work still to do, as we help them adjust and integrate into our country and community. A furnished house has been made available and we have attempted to get it cleaned and ready. 

The Jayhawks were upgraded to #6 in the rankings, and they may rise again after they put in good efforts in two big games this week. Early in the week, they avenged an earlier loss to #10West Virginia, and then today, they went into #3Oklahoma and got a road win over the Sooners. Rock Chalk! And they're back in first place, too! Curling continues with Brier representatives being named in the remaining provinces. My guy, Kevin Koe, is in the semi-final in Alberta. Steve Laycock won Saskatchewan for the third straight year. Jamie Koe is back from NWT. Pat Simmons will return as defending champion. Brad Jacobs is in the final back home in northern Ontario. The NHL is grabbing attention as teams start making trades to build for the playoffs, or to start a longer term process. 

Eric/A and boys are off to Paris. It has been a busy week getting everything ready and completing their three French classes as part of their preparation. It's a good thing they have Liam and his eight years of French Immersion! They did take time to install the new washer & dryer, so that's in place for their return. Haaken launched a web comic this week while he waits to hear about this application to Capilano University. They are all excited to get going on their adventure; we wish them an enjoyable and useful time in France. 

Erin and Kristian had a favourable report from the optometrist on Monday, but the vision in his right eye remains somewhat weak. However, nothing was considered in the way of glasses so I guess it's within tolerances, although his left eye is certainly stronger. Erin got a new set of knives for her kitchen, as Kristian showed new aptitude and interest in cooking, and assisted in making homemade soup! Shawn bought a house; we look forward to checking it out. 

Travis is off this weekend with his hockey team to a tournament in Wisconsin. That last we heard they were in the semi-finals. Joanna, Gemma and Andrew are holding things down in frigid TBay. They will be taking care of things back home for the next month or so, as we sojourn in the west. 

And that's about it for this week! 

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather continues to be nice with single digits of frost only, and little in the way of new snow. As usual, the streets and roads remain slushy in the salt treatments they use here, and the driveway was able to burn off in the sunshine despite the below zero temperatures. Wendy continues to work on the shower selection, but we're not prepared to open that can of worms in light of our imminent departure for the west. The markets have been down again this week, and even more so on the US side as we seem to be back in the "good news is bad news" phase. We haven't had good news in Canada, as the energy sector continues to fall despite some improvement in oil price. I have been working on some new investment plays to deal with our troubled situation, and finally moved from paper plays to actual investment on Friday, and there's always some initial excitement on a new play. We've had news that our refugee family has been identified. We look forward to their arrival in Thunder Bay. The focus this week was to collect clothing now that we know the make up of the family—dad, mom and four children. We had a memorial for Adam on Tuesday evening—that was the young man from our congregation who was killed in La Loche. It's another weekend with lots of curling as the provincial playoffs for men is underway. As expected, the Jayhawks were dropped and now sit #7 in the country. They won their games this week, and looked pretty good for the first half of the game today against TCU. It's Super Bowl weekend, and since my guy, Peyton Manning, is there, I'll be monitoring that, but his team is actually given no chance to beat Carolina. Hockey is beginning to heat up as we're into the last half of the regular season and playoff races are attracting attention. 

The Baileys have had a quiet week. They have been completing preparations for their trip to France, and completing assignments at work. Liam is advising that only twelve weeks remain until something happens! Inquiring minds wonder what that might be! Liam turned 16 this week, and Haaken hits 19 tomorrow. The family celebrated last weekend when Liam was home. Eric took the air hockey table to work which cleared off some space in the basement. Their laundromat posted new hours which makes it more difficult to use, so they're now contemplating the purchase of a washer/dryer combo of their own. 

Erin, Kristian and Sadie have also enjoyed a quiet week. Kristian has had lots of homework, but he's managed to keep it completed on time. His eyes have improved, so they're looking forward to his appointment with the optometrist on Monday. They are continuing to learn how their house operates through the first winter there, but all seems to be going well. 

Travis, Joanna, Gemma and Andrew have continued with their usual activities. Joanna was hired on a contract basis as a phlebotomist. Congratulations! We'll now wait to see how much time they'll be asking of her. She keeps plenty busy without this new job, but it is her training and she wanted to keep her foot in that door. Trav's team has been busy with both league hockey and a tournament. They continue to pressure the front runners in the league, but haven't yet made up for their poor start to the season. 

And that's about it for this week. 

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. We've had several dumps of snow, so we've been busy on the driveway. Wendy helps out with that. It's above zero again this weekend and water is running on the streets and driveways. The markets have remained volatile, but it appears they may have turned the corner as gains were achieved this week. I had an excellent week, and almost made quota for the month; this is gratifying as the TSX is down 1.5%. The US indices also seem to have turned upward, but remain further in the red to this point. In basketball, my Jayhawks lost in Iowa early in the week, but returned home to beat Kentucky this evening. Their mediocre work last week dropped them to #4 in the rankings, and they may drop again after this week's efforts. Rock Chalk boys! I've been watching the Junior Curling championships this weekend. It'll be BC vs NS in the women's final, and MB vs N.Ont in the men's final; both games are set for tomorrow. 

Liam is home for the weekend. Friday was a school holiday, so they picked him up on Thursday. He's been having issues with an ingrown toenail, so they made use of the bonus day to get that operated on—these folks know how to have fun! This weekend features a celebration of the boys' birthdays with movies, pizza and crazy cake—that's more like it! Liam turns 16 on Thursday, and Haaken turns 19 next Sunday. Amazing how they're aging so quickly while the rest of us remain the same! Haaken continues with work around the house while he is applying for jobs and following up with potential employers. We pray something will come through soon. 

Erin and Kristian have had a good week. Erin's pushing has moved the school forward toward a new FM system for Kristian's hearing. Kristian had a good week in school. Sadie got her hair cut and styled! Kristian got his hair trimmed as well! 

Travis & Joanna remain very busy with work, and Joanna has received an invitation to apply on some contract work. She's somewhat interested. Gemma and Andrew are in the transition phase between semesters with exams and new course work to consider. Gemma made a nice batch of cinnamon buns, and both have helped out on the driveway clearing. 

That's about it for his week. 

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather was cold over the weekend, but has moderated to just single digits below zero, and the driveway has burned off in the sunshine. We got the renovated washroom ready in time for Travis and Joanna's return from the Dominican Republic, but there will be more work there once the new shower stall arrives. It's looking better anyway, and the new, insulated floor surely helps. I replaced the bad ABS joint, so that part is good now. Wendy primed the drywall, and we'll paint the whole thing once it's completed with the new shower. The markets have remained volatile, but I had an excellent week, and have moved into the green for the month, although the index remains down 4.8%. North America won the Continental Cup of curling, but it was close. The Jayhawks played two more subpar games this week, but won one of them. However, they've been dropped to #3, so I hope that encourages them to work harder! Women's provincial curling championships are on; I'm tracking results as well as watching a few of the games. 

Haaken continues to apply for jobs and call back to potential employers about his status. We do pray for job for him, although now there is the complication of a planned family trip in three weeks. Eric has been able to end the bus commute, as they got their CRV back on Thursday from its deer inflicted damages. Eric/A are in Saskatoon this weekend as they've begun French classes in preparation for the trip. Liam continues at school, but expects to rejoin the family next weekend. They continue with their downsizing efforts. Next in line is to eliminate Partylite and Tupperware! They are also finalizing plans for the trip to Paris. A small recovery in the loonie may allow them some savings on the exchange!

Erin has been working over some options for improving Kristian's hearing experience. She's pressing the school to upgrade their FM system, so Kristian can receive sound directly through his hearing aids. Otherwise things continue well as they experience their first winter in their first owned home. Erin now has a blood pressure machine, so she can monitor her BP at home. Kristian got to go skating and sledding this week; he had a great week in school with no extra homework because he was doing so well. 

Travis and Joanna returned on Tuesday evening. They really enjoyed the time at Punta Cana, and had clearly been absorbing a few rays while there. Now, they're back to business. Gemma and Andrew are in exam time for the end of semester 1. They both do well at school. 

And that's about enough for this week. 

News Update

Winter has come to our home on the shore of Lake Superior. We've had a good dump of snow, and I've been clearing the driveway on Thursday and Friday. We've been working all week on a renovation of the downstairs bathroom. I have the plumbing done, although I may buy a replacement for one joint where the glue set up before I had it at the angle I wanted. We got the new flooring down for most of the room, except under the shower, since we're still waiting for the new shower stall to arrive. I got the first coat of mud on the drywall this evening. The markets have continued their downward slide although I did get my first two green days of the year. Still, not making any gains, but at least I've stopped the bleeding. The opinions of the experts are not encouraging. All indices are down over 7% already this month. I've reduced my investments, but if this continues, I will reduce further next week. Brad Jacobs and Jennifer Jones won their respective Skins championships last weekend. This week it's the Continental Cup in Las Vegas. Kevin Koe, Pat Simmons are representing North America on the Men's side, while Jennifer Jones and Rachel Homan are on the Women's team. To this point, the World Teams are leading, but the big points are tomorrow, and nothing has been decided yet. The Jayhawks played two mediocre games after their big triple overtime win over the Sooners. They lost earlier this week, and made a better effort to win today. Still it seems certain they will lose their #1 status when the new rankings are announced tomorrow. Rock Chalk Jayhawks!

Liam is home this weekend. He's playing drums for the worship team! Baileys are also making some final plans for their Paris trip. Part of those plans is hoping for the exchange rate to improve over the next few weeks, but their financial advisor advises that that's not going to happen! Haaken has submitted his application for Capilano University. He is putting the finishing touches on his portfolio as well. He continues to apply for work and make follow up calls on resumes he's distributed, but nothing has come through yet. Tonight, they are enjoying The Martian in 3D. Later, they may enjoy a non-festive showing of Die Hard in honour of Alan Rickman.

Kristian has experienced both ups and downs at school! We're cheering for more ups! Erin is back in good health, but intervention continues on her blood pressure medication. Sadie seems to be having a solid week!

Trav & Joanna started the week with more photo shoots of the hockey teams in Nipigon. They're narrowly missed getting stranded by the bridge failure there. On Tuesday morning, they left for a week in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. They seem to be having a great time there! Gemma and Andrew are keeping us company here in the frozen north!

And that's about it for this week. 

News Update

The first week of a new year has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has continued very mild (most days above freezing) with some snow and showers to add to the mix. It has turned colder today, -10, so now it's icy on the vehicles and driveway. The streets that haven't had much traffic are likewise slippery. Wendy has been busy with puzzles, and I try to locate an occasional piece! We've had a terrible, no good, very bad week on the markets. It's been the worst opening week ever recorded, and I suffered along with the indices. According to my definition (short term average falling below long term average) the TSX has been in a bear market since last June, and now others who use the -20% definition have joined my analysis. Anyway, it's been hard to make money in the current circumstances. However, there were strong economic indicators both sides of the border as jobs data were positive, although some pundits question the quality of jobs created here. However, it seems the main issues are elsewhere, where softness in China meshes with softness in the rest of Asia and Europe and leaves investors feeling negative. The World Juniors had an exciting conclusion as the host country Finland beat Russia in overtime to win Gold. The NFL season has moved into the playoffs and my guy (Peyton Manning) is back at the controls, so I'll be following that. The Jayhawks were awarded #1 seed after their win last Saturday, but were sorely tested before beating the Sooners in triple overtime on Monday night—it was fun to watch!. They travelled to Lubbock and beat TCU tonight in a poorly played game—still a win! This weekend is the Skins game in curling, so I've been enjoying that. Sweeting and Jones are in the women's final. Gushue will face Jacobs on the men's side. 

Eric/A and the boys are still basking in the after-glow of the Force Awakens! Their FaceBook entries continue to be dominated with references to the movie and expectations of the next one! We really enjoyed it as well. Erica had some extra excitement this week as she hit a deer on her way to work—some repairs may be needed to the bumper and grill. The deer ran away—should be charged with leaving the scene! Otherwise they're involved in a version of Spring Cleaning—they're searching, sorting, and discarding stuff! Since it's still Winter, we'll call it, "Searching for the Camera!" 

Erin has experienced much improvement in her infected finger, and it appears to be well. She is also being treated for high blood pressure, and more work remains to be done there. I told her that high BP is an inherited disease and she thought I meant because Wendy has high BP, but I corrected her understanding—we get it from our children! Since she was working with Kristian on his math, she was quick to agree! 

Travis and Joanna are busily engaged in the Puckshots business again. They had eleven teams scheduled for photographs this week to raise their total to ninety-three this season. I noticed one cute piece of photographic magic that Trav uses to provide better-than-expected service to these teams. Why should a picture lose value just because one guy is not wearing skates?! 

And that's about it for this week! 

The Year/Week that Was

Another year/week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. It has been another year of adventure with my best friend, Wendy. We began the year with two months on Vancouver Island,  where we were hosting Haaken as he finished his high school program. We took a tour to visit family and friends in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas in the early Spring. We spent most of the summer in Regina providing day care and golf practice for Kristian—that was a pleasure! For October and November we joined a team for a mission to India where we enjoyed working in the schools and congregations connected to Ray McMillan's work there. After another short sojourn on the prairies, we closed out the year in the comfort of our house on Lake Superior. We have spent the week leading up to the new year making great efforts to clean up the turkey and baking leftovers! I've enjoyed too much of both! The weather has remained unseasonably warm, but we did get a little snow at least. The Santa Claus rally in the markets ended way too soon as Wednesday and Thursday suffered deep losses and I barely had any gains for the month. World Junior Hockey has completed the preliminary round and moved into the playoffs. Our guys did not perform well, but we made the playoffs. However, we lost today to Finland, so we're out of the tournament. The US college football playoff began yesterday, but my Sooners lost out, and my interest died with them! The Jayhawks have completed their preseason schedule and enter the regular season ranked #2 in the country—I guess that means they will try harder! They did today, opening conference play with a win over Baylor. 

News from the family in Saskatchewan has been slim as they're busy enjoying the festive season as well as getting back to work. We wish them all well in the new year. The weather has been nice there also, so they've been able to get outdoors to play in the snow and enjoy the scenery. Trav, Joanna, Gemma and Andrew are managing some relaxing, but also have some photoshoots and hockey card orders to complete.

And that's about it for this time. 

Money Management 2015

Happy New Year! 

2015 was a year many in the investment community will wish to forget. All North American indices struggled, and most were down. The TSX, which I invest in, suffered the most (-11.1%), and only the Nasdaq was in the green, gaining 5.7% for the year. The broadest index, the S&P500 was pretty much flat (-0.7%), so that gives the clearest definition of how things went. There were opportunities, especially for those who play the markets both ways, and also for little guys like me who can manage their buys and sells more nimbly. In the final summation, I did well, not quite up to quota, but at least managing to cover the payouts we have planned for our retirement needs. It helps that both of us qualified for our OAS this year, hitting the magic 65 for the government to begin paying us! That lowers our needs from the investments, and we've finally begun building up our TFSAs once again. Big thanks are due to Wendy, as she does the work to maintain our household budget, and keep us on track with our expenditures. It has also been great to have my brother to chat with every day; we are able to bounce ideas off each other even though we invest in different markets. And, of course, it always leaves us with someone else to blame!! 

We are well blessed financially, and it remains my assignment to continue to try to learn better ways to manage and invest the accounts. I hope for positive markets in 2016. 

Boxing Day

Another festive week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my home town. We have enjoyed another round of giving and receiving; and we now acknowledge even more blessings. We have been glad to spend time with our family here at home, and also to FaceTime with the crew who gathered at Erin's house in Regina. What a special blessing it is that Erin & Kristian now have a nice place to set up their home! We certainly rejoice with them. Eric/A and the boys have a nice place in PA as well, and both have work that is rewarding; we only wish their work places were closer to each other! Travis & Joanna, Gemma and Andrew have established themselves in the downstairs suite here, and that has been a double blessing for us as we not only have them close by, but we can hit the road whenever we wish! The weather has continued mild with above zero temperatures again this week, and some rain to wash the streets clean. We got a dusting of snow for a white Christmas at least. The markets have finally launched a Santa Claus rally, and even though they were only open 3.5 days, I managed to gain more than a full week's quota. The Junior World Hockey Championship is underway, and Canada dropped their opening game to the US—Go Canada, Go! There are a plague of college football games on the TV, but I'll only be following the playoff games and cheering for Oklahoma—Boomer Sooner, Boomer Sooner!  

And that's about it for this week! It will be the New Year before another weekend rolls around, so I'll take this opportunity to wish you all the best in 2016! 

Twas a week before Christmas!

Merry Christmas! 

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown! The promised snow has arrived and it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! We received a dump of slushy snow on Sunday afternoon and Monday, so it's been difficult on the streets as drivers fail to adjust quickly to the vastly changed driving conditions. I've been working on the steps and driveway most of the week, and it's gradually getting better. I think today's scraping has the steps in good condition. The rain, snow, and near freezing temperatures have conspired to leave the driveway in less desirable condition. We don't have an expectation for any sunny days in the near future, so we'll keep at it with scrapers and salt.  I have decided to cover some of my cedars against sun burn this winter, so I worked on that for a bit. I think I'll need some ropes to tie their white robes on—it looks like the clan is in my back yard! Wendy has been busy with shopping and Christmas baking. I'm enjoying omitting the former, and engaging the latter! The market has continued to be troubled. There was a buying frenzy around the US Fed Rate hike, but that died out into big losses Thursday and Friday. I had a very good week despite some pull back on Friday, however, I only have two holiday-shortened weeks left and much quota left to earn! A new face won the Canadian Open as John Epping beat Brad Gushue in the final. Rachel Homan won the women's Open, continuing her dominance. NFL is nearing the playoffs, but Peyton is not playing, so I haven't been watching. Jayhawks won big again today in university basketball and are ranked #2 in the young season. Riders are making a big splash as they hired the Grey Cup winning coach away from Edmonton, and fired about half their players! Can you say, "Rebuilding?"!

Eric/A and Haaken continue with life in PA. Liam has completed exams at Caronport. They are arranging Christmas and Kristian-care together, which has relieved us from another trip west—thanks guys! Erin suffered an infection of some kind in her finger. She had to get it lanced, and is now on antibiotics. We hope this will take care of the problem.

Trav and Joanna have been very busy—too busy with PuckShots, Bucket Decals, and the other aspects of Ulrich Design. They even got the old man into the harness briefly this week! Apparently, I didn't set them back too far! Gemma and Andrew have completed the term and are on break from school. They both came home with excellent report cards.

And that's about it for this week. Merry Christmas! 

Home Again!

We enjoyed a wonderful family reunion in Regina last week, closing it off with a celebration on Sunday as a morning of fellowship at Glen Elm was accented by a great Sunday dinner at 55 Laird, where we noted the engagement of our niece, Ashley, with Barry. Feeling suitably recovered from jet lag, we set out Monday morning for TBay, but we didn't make it. Plenty of fuel in the car, but I ran out of gas at Dryden, so we stopped there for the night, and completed the drive home on Tuesday. It is good to be back home, and we are enjoying catching up with the family here to complete the reunion cycle. The weather remains unseasonably warm and I managed to get the leaves cleaned up from the lawns, and watered-in the cedars. They are promising snow overnight, and winter must arrive soon. The markets were volatile this week with three very bad days around two good days. The action leaves the TSX down 4.7% this month, 12.6% for the year—sigh! I was down for the week, and with the US Fed rate story next week, and the holidays coming up, I am despairing of making quota for the year. My man, Kevin Koe, won the Canada Cup of curling on Sunday. This week is the Canadian Open, and Koe once again made the playoffs. He lost his semi-final game tonight, but it was another good showing. The hockey season is about 1/3 through, so I'm paying a bit of attention to the playoff races there. Basketball season has started, and I've watched three Jayhawk games since we got back—all wins! Rock Chalk. 

We caught up with Eric/A and the boys in Regina last weekend, as we were getting our recovery time at Erin & Kristian's. They are looking to have Christmas together in Regina, but we're planning to stay home for Christmas this year. Trav, Joanna, Gemma and Andrew are off to Minneapolis this weekend for a hockey tournament. We're hosting their other creatures here at home! 

And that's about enough for this week. 

The Voyage Home

Tuesday was a quiet day for us as we prepared ourselves for the departure from India after midnight, and the 14-hour flight to Toronto. There was some shopping, much resting, packing, and Carter was trying to work through a case of Delhi Belly. We boarded the flight as scheduled and flew ahead of the sun before finally arriving in TO about 5am Eastern. We cleared customs there, and prepared for the morning flight to Regina. That marked the end of our team travels, although Janelle and Carter still had to travel to Salmon Arm via Kelowna, and Tyler had to fly home to Yellowknife. We began the process of time zone adjustment at Erin's place in Regina, and plan to drive home next week. The first three nights have featured interrupted sleep, but we're gradually feeling more clear-headed during the day time. We're certainly appreciating a quiet, downstairs room here at Erin's. My eye has continued to improve, and now I remain only to complete the regimen of antibiotics. We drove over to Caronport to retrieve Liam on Thursday evening as he and Kristian both had dental appointments on Friday. Grandma took them to their appointments. Eric/A and Haaken arrived on Friday evening, so we are enjoying a reunion with them as well. Canada Cup of curling is on, occupying some of my awake hours! My guy, Kevin Koe, is in the final tomorrow. The markets have been troubled by various news stories all week, but ended with a bit of a rally on Friday, so I was at least in the green for the week. As I had called it, Edmonton won the Grey Cup; now, it's time for them to change their nickname in keeping with the times. 

And that's about all I remember from this week! 

Taj Mahal—My Eye!

Something got in my eye soon after our arrival back in Delhi, and I don't like it. Our friends here accommodated me by obtaining some eye drops to lubricate the problem, but that didn't seem to be easing the pain or leading to a solution. So, Wendy led me through some further steps! Her investigations did not find the speck in the upper outside quadrant of my left eye, and the redness continued to disgust the viewers, while the pain continued to dismay me. Finally, we found a clinic open with a doctor in attendance—yay! Nope, he was reluctant to even touch my eye let alone look in it! He did proffer a prescription for Ciproflaxin antibiotic eye drops. These, he assured me, would destroy the infection troubling my eye and its observers! Clearly, I was left to my own devices. Following the advice of a friend who had informed me that Q-tips were not to be used in ears, I obtained a Q-tip, and used it on the inside of my upper eyelid—man, was that uncomfortable! Then, I began dosing it with the Cipro, on the hour as recommended by the good doctor. Today, I have continued the treatments every second hour (I'm good at following some of my doctor's recommendations!), and it both looks and feels better this evening.However, I may have to get it looked into (If I can find someone who will actually look into it!) when I get back to Canada! 

And, as to that other little point—we visited the Taj Mahal, and the Agra Fort today. The Taj Mahal was duly spectacular, but I was actually more impressed with the fort. We found ourselves at a loss to get a picture that would do justice to the Fort, but here's one Wendy took of the Taj Mahal. 

Taj Mahal

Delhi-Closing the Week

QTUB Minar

We flew down to Delhi on Thursday, and plan to spend the remainder of the India trip based here. On Friday, we did a number of tours to sights around the city. The QUTB Minar (the tallest brick minaret in the world at 74 metres) and the ruins left from the Islamic period were very impressive. On the other time extreme, we toured the Lotus Temple which is of very recent vintage. It was also very impressive, and both places of worship remain in use. Then, we traveled to the India Gate, which is a remembrance of the war dead from the World War I time, and closed off with a viewing of the nearby Parliament Buildings. On Saturday, we endured a small tour of an unknown part of the city while our drivers tried to find the location of the India Social Institute. With the help of street vendors, they finally dropped us off close to our destination, and we walked the remainder. Once there we had a prolonged meeting with a group of Ray's friends from Manipur who are located here in Delhi. It was a good time! Throughout the last couple of days, I've been troubled with something in my left eye. None of the rest of the group wants to dig around in my eye, and Wendy seems able to find anything in there. It keeps irritating the eyeball, so I'm wandering around with a red eye that also alarms those unfortunate enough to see it! We hope to find a place of first aid that can get it cleaned out for me—soon!

Lotus Temple

Things seem to be progressing just fine on the home front; we were able to FaceTime with two of the children, but could only see the third! It kept saying it was 'connecting', but we didn't get to talk. We are looking forward to getting back there next week. The markets have continued to wobble their way forward, and I had a decent week, but remain short of quota and with only one day left in the trading month. My pick, Edmonton, takes on Ottawa in the Grey Cup tomorrow. We'll see if they can finish it off for me! 

And that's about it for another week. 

Chandigarh

We flew over to Delhi, and caught a flight up to Chandigarh on Monday. It was hard to know if we were still in India—the traffic lights were working, the drivers were (mostly) staying in their lanes, and the beeping was much diminished! Chandigarh was a planned city built by a team in response to the partition of India after it gained independence and Pakistan opted out. As a result, the traffic system is (I was going to say, "much more") organized, and getting around feels very efficient. There are traffic circles for most intersections on the arterial routes, and there are signs to explain where we are, and where we are going—what a concept! We are mostly on the wind down aspect of the trip, and we enjoyed several touristy destinations around town. We also got to meet many more of Ray's old friends and contacts from years gone by. We enjoyed the Rose Garden—even though it was not in season, there were lots of blossoms. We marvelled at the Rock Garden—one person's dream for turning trash and waste into an artifice. Some of us enjoyed the museums, but we only got started on checking out what was available there. Others spent much time and money shopping! It was a good time. Today, we flew down to Delhi once again. We will spend our last few India-days based here.

Another week in the books—Bagdogra

Bill in the Posies!

I scheduled Saturday as a day of rest and recovery for me. I have been fighting a head cold lately, and it finally appears to be breaking loose. So, after breakfast it was Tylenol Cold & Flu, and back to bed for me. The rest of the team has also been experiencing similar effects of being used up! Some are already on the mend, but most of us are less than 100%. Ray is much better; he's been gaining strength and energy toward this weekend. Next week, we begin to head west with a trip to Delhi. We shall see what adventures await us. 

It has been a good week in the markets although Friday had a bit of a downturn; still, I was able to gain more than double my weekly quota, so that provides some catch up. We don't hear so much about sports from home. CFL playoffs continue with the conference finals this weekend, and the Grey Cup match up will then be set. 

Internet provision here has been strange in that it drops off every so often, and then we have to get a new password. We have little slips of paper all over with expired passwords; it's hard to imagine who thought this was a good idea! When we do have connection the bandwidth is not great, however, we were able to get some FaceTime with Erica this evening, and that was a start at least!

And that's about it for this week! 

Bagdogra Part 2

Thursday and Friday were spent at Morningstar, another fledgling school focused on teaching English here in West Bengal. Here in the Darjeeling tea plantations, and near the border with Nepal, the Nepalese connections are strong. Upon our arrival, we were feted with scarves, garlands and bouquets—one after another after another! It was overwhelming. I believe I collected ten scarves, six or seven garlands—mostly of marigolds, and many bouquets. This is, apparently, their tradition for welcoming people! We felt very welcomed! This was accompanied by songs and dances under the hot sun until the shiny parts of my head were beginning to feel uncomfortable! On Thursday, we worked primarily with the children, and I also did some preparatory investigations on the teachers to focus my workshop which took place on Friday. Both sessions went well, and we hope will be of lasting benefit as this school plans to continue adding classes each year. It currently has three pre-school levels, and the first four classes of basic school. They have obtained registration from the district inspector of schools; this seems to be based on adequate facilities and adequate curricular match—progress! 

This completes are scheduled work with schools for this visit to India. We feel quite satisfied with our attempts in all localities except Chennai. We have continued to track the situation there, and it has not improved! The continuing rains led them to release water from a local reservoir, which in turn, caused further flooding, evacuations, power outages... We can only imagine the ravages of exposure and disease that still remain for them. The rains have not stopped yet, so who knows when clean up and recovery may begin! 

Bagdogra Part 1

We have enjoyed working with the first of our schools in this area. We were able to revise the schedule to get in two days of activities with the children, and still have occasion for a teachers' workshop. Both efforts went very well. The school enjoys high enrolment in the Nursery, Lower Kindergarten and Upper Kindergarten classes which bode well for the future. They are currently offering schooling through Class IV, and plan to continue expanding with one class per year until they reach Class X. Considerable development of labs and the like would be needed to complete a high school program, but it does remain a distant dream for the staff. They plan to add to the facility each year as they expand grade offerings, so their ambitions are high and commendable. The structures and program they have already is impressive. I know we are an encouragement to them, and I hope we have also provided some further tools to help them progress. 

Yesterday, we also paid a visit to Lenin Colony, a lepers colony near here. We met some of the families and entertained about twenty-five children. The children are all clear of leprosy, but we did note the ravages of the disease on some of the grownups. It was a humbling and gratifying experience to spend time with them. Tomorrow we move onto the second school in the area. 

Chennai in the Rear View Mirror

It has been a difficult and discouraging visit to Chennai, and we feel a certain sense of relief to see it behind us. When Ray fell ill, that was enough to put our program into turmoil, but it was considerably exacerbated by the rains. Thunderstorms continued to dump water on our heads, on the streets, into the parking lot of the hotel, into the hotel, into our rooms, into the elevator shaft—do you get the picture? Due to Ray's illness, he could not take the pulpit on Sunday morning, so that task fell to me. I was not expecting to face 800 to 1000 smiling faces! Fortunately, they remained smiling, and Emmanuel must have done a good job with the Tamil side since the message was well received! When we got back to the hotel, the parking lot was filling again, and by supper time it was coming in the front doors. We were hearing reports of flight cancellations, and the vehicle people were doing lots of hand-wringing about how long it might take to get to the airport in the morning, and jacking up the prices! To make a long story short, we have arrived in Bagdogra, India. It's a suburb of a bigger centre called Siliguri, and you may be able to find that one more easily. The longer version—it's been a long, tough day. We were up at 4:45 to attempt a run to the airport through the flooded streets of Chennai. The hotel was back to taking on water after another night of thunderstorms, so we had to wade into the water to get to the vehicle. The vehicle price had more than tripled, but we were stranded, and they knew it! We made the trip successfully, and were promptly informed that our flight was delayed, so we had an extended stay and they wouldn't even let us check-in until 8:30. After that things got better. The flight was about 1 hour late, but we had the same plane from Chennai to Kolkata to Bagdogra, so at least we didn't have to worry about connections. Once here, we have made connections with the school, and met with Naresh over the program at his school for tomorrow and Wednesday! It feels very good to see the prospects of a good program coming together. We feel very badly about how little of our program worked out in Chennai, and even though it's in the past now, we feel like there remains unfinished business there—another time, I hope! 

Saturday in Chennai

Saturday in Chennai went much better with drier weather. However, Ray has fallen ill as the head cold he has been battling, has gained control and extended into his chest. We have called the hotel doctor to check on him this afternoon. So, plans had to be cancelled, postponed and revised—same ol', same ol'! He has asked me to have some messages ready for tomorrow, so I'm busy with that this afternoon. We went for a tour this morning, sans Ray. We visited St. Thomas's Mount, which includes a shrine for St. Thomas. I climbed to the top in honour of my own brother Thomas since he's laid up with a partial knee replacement! After that we toured Little Mount which includes Thomas's hideout cave, and the spot where he was finally killed—just as well you weren't here for that, brother! We got in a brief stop at the Marina Beach, so we could wet our feet in the Bay of Bengal. Carter got a little bit more than his feet wet! I have been testing out my constitution with solid food today, and so far, so good! We have another day here in Chennai; Monday is travel day, and we're set to fly to Siliguri in northern India. We have two schools to work in there, and the teachers in one have already asked for a teachers' workshop as well, so I'm prepping for that. This week has been a bit disjointed as plans keep falling victim to changed circumstances, and that can get discouraging. 

We're continuing to suffer through troubled stock markets as strong data out of the US has made investors anticipate a rate increase there, and troubled economies in the rest of the world have prompted them to worry about growth overall. The double whammy condemned me to a losing week, and I've fallen off the pace I've been trying to maintain. In sports, the Riders closed off the regular season with a win in OT. Way to finish Riders! The CFL is into the playoffs this weekend, and I'm picking Edmonton to win it all.

We have had better internet connectivity here, and we've managed to FaceTime with our children. They're doing fine, and we're reassured. Eric/A have Liam home for the weekend, and Greg visiting, so the whole family is together. Kristian has been sick a couple of days, but he's better now.

And that's the end of another week in India. 

Flooding in Chennai

We flew into Chennai (Another renamed city, as it used to be Madras) on Thursday. It was great to be greeted with flowers, warm smiles and handshakes, in 30 degree comfort! Thursday evening we paid a visit to a local orphanage (more flowers, warm smiles, handshakes) and enjoyed supper with a family here—good friends of Ray, and now our friends as well. Ray has put together plans for our weekend here, and like other Indian plans, it is subject to change! We awaken several times through the night to the crash of thunder, and the splash of rain. We patter to breakfast through the splash of wet hallways. Our hotel is not only surrounded by flood waters, it's flowing in through the front doors about an inch above floor level. Sandbags and towels are used to improvise a dam; staff are working frantically in a losing battle to keep the floors safe and dry. Ray informs us that today's plans are cancelled and that for now we are stranded in the hotel. It's a low-key day which is just as well for me as I'm down with Delhi Belly, and cannot wander away from safe access to a washroom! Several visitors brave the water to visit us here. One group took several hours to drive about 10km to the hotel. Another group was in transit for half the day to get to see us. We are honoured by their efforts. The rain stopped in the afternoon of Friday, and we're hoping our other weekend plans may go forward. The team has gone out for pizza supper, while I remain in my room. I think that I'm improving! 

Oh Kolkata!

Oh Kolkata! "That which we call a rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet." The name has been changed, but the City of Joy stills smells as much, and is vibrant with life. We got here in time for Diwali, the festival of lights. The official start this year is November 11th, so that means the tenth was Diwali Eve, so fireworks started that evening, continued all night, and then accelerated in intensity on the evening of the 11th. Talk about Remembrance Day? We thought we were in a war zone. Regulations being what they are, we sometimes found ourselves in the midst of a shower of falling sparklers. After our first evening visit with long time friends, Swami and Violet, this was a tourist stop. On Wednesday, we paid a sombre and humbling visit to the site of Mother Theresa's work. Her tomb is there, and her small room has been maintained as a shrine. Then, we made a disturbingly easy pivot to the world of KFC, ice cream and shopping. After we were shopped out (It happens more quickly for some!), we rode the subway to a station within a few km of the hotel, and then the six of us packed into one small Ambassador Cab for a memorable ride the rest of the way. This morning, we packed up and headed to the airport for our flight to Chennai. We've arrived to a rain-soaked city, and the discovery that November is the rainiest month of the year in this part of India. 

Good Bye to Imphal

We have completed our tour as far as Imphal is concerned. We are now in Kolkata a city of 15-20 million at about 9m above sea level, and 30 degrees above zero! On Sunday, Ray had the pulpit and I had the day off! We enjoyed our time with the Langol congregation, and several young people came back to the hotel to hang out with some of our team. Then, on Monday we toured Joshua's school, Brighter Academy. It is serving about 1000 children in Nursery through Class XII. I had a chance to discuss some aspects of the program with Joshua. It was good to learn about his approach, and have a chance to offer suggestions. In the afternoon, I headed for bed in an attempt at heading off a cold, and the remainder did some sightseeing, and also managed another school visit. I am sorry to have missed the school visit as the reports made it sound quite exemplary. Joshua and I had discussed it, as it is operated by another family member, and he would like to move his school figuratively and literally in that direction. It is located a bit out of town, on a larger tract of land and seems to have many upgrades over his current situation. Tuesday was travel day, so we packed up and flew about one hour south west to Kolkata. I'm feeling better, so the extra rest may be paying off! 

End of the week in Imphal

Another week has ended for us in India. It has been another full week of activities, but also filled  with rewarding experiences. Today, we worked with students from a couple of schools who attended to us on their day off. We enjoyed participating with them, and even took advantage of the occasion to practice some Manipuri—the local language. One of our hosts supplied the lessons, and we made an attempt. Our efforts were to their great amusement, but some admitted to understanding what we were trying to say! Communication is not so easy. It is one of the lessons we are trying to pass on from our time here. Even when using an interpreter, one is subject to the failure of understanding that occurs with a troubling degree of frequency. Did the interpreter understand me? What did the interpreter actually say? One is left to rely on the good faith of the participants to grant you a favourable intention if not an accurate message. As usual we found the students attentive and respectful. The demonstrated great athletic ability during our games break, and we were all struck with their artistry in interpretation of a pencil crayon activity. This was a new aspect of expression for us. 

Back to the more mundane, the markets have been mixed, but at least up a bit this week. I have returned some good gains and am near quota once again for both this month, and the year-to-date. The Riders complete their season tomorrow, and we will cheer that they can go out on a high note. The Jays are in the offseason and player movement is being considered. The Royals at least paid off my call with a World Series victory. 

The internet here has been very poor, and we haven't managed to chat with our children. We have heard from them in other ways, and all seems to be going well. It is heartening to feel that they are well-able to take care of issues that develop in their families even without our being near at hand, but parents always wish to know anyway! 

And that's the kind of week it has been. 

Tampak

We flew into Imphal on Thursday, and immediately started fielding requests from schools and other groups for attention. It is a bit daunting, and certainly encourages us to make maximum effort! Today, we drove out to Tampak, a rural community south and east of Imphal. Our local expert confidently asserted that we could make the trip in about 45 minutes. It is only 70km! However, Ray was not so sure; he felt double that would be optimistic! We left at 8am, and 2 hours later we arrived at the small village school. The children had been informed that the Canadians were coming, and had assembled at the school sometime before 7am. As usual for here, they were waiting quietly and respectfully on their benches in the classroom. The room serves as the educational centre for about 40 children under  the guidance of six staff members. So, it's like a one-room school of my childhood, but containing about 30 additional children, and 5 extra teachers! We worked with the whole group for some time, and then sent the younger ones out for games and sports while we focused our attention on the older students. Later, we switched the groups. It all went well, and we were quite impressed with the children's attention and quick learning both in the classroom and on the playground. Tampak is in a small village area, and this little school is providing the only opportunity for these children to get an education, so we were delighted to provide whatever encouragement we could. Construction has begun on new classrooms, and plans are in place for more. It was a great experience for us; I hope the staff and children benefit as well. 

Bye, bye Guwahati!

On Sunday morning I was privileged to speak at Bread of Life Church. It was with a translator, and I found it hard to maintain the flow of the message. Sunday afternoon, we packed our bags for storage and for the trip to Kaziranga National Park and Wildlife Refuge. As soon as breakfast was over on Monday morning, we packed into the vehicle and headed toward Kaziranga. It is about 200 km, but the vagaries of travel in India turned that into a five-hour drive. It was four-lane for the first half, but still it was impossible to make good time. Thankfully, the driver knew of the lodge we had booked, as I failed to see any road signs pointing to it, and it was several back lane roads off the highway. The lodge appeared Olde English in style, and we estimated it had been built before the turn of the century, the 19th century! There was a great hall adorned with various animal and historical artifacts; that was enjoyable; we took our meals in that room. The rooms were of the era as well. Our room was on the ground floor, and we could see the ground between the floor boards. We were called at 5:30am for our game drive. We boarded elephants for the occasion; that was pretty special. The mahout sat on the neck with one barefoot on the top of each ear. Three of us rode behind him. We had a great time and managed to see several of the one-horned Assam rhinos. We also saw buffalo. After breakfast we stopped by a shop to view the goods produced on the handloom by an acquaintance of Ray's. I enjoyed watching the loom in action. After lunch we drove back to Guwahati. On Wednesday, we had our final set of classes with the schools in Guwahati. That seemed to go well, and there were many heart-tugging good-byes as we realized we would be leaving Guwahati the next morning. Now we're off to Imphal, where the prospects are for cooler weather as we gain elevation from 55m in Guwahati to 785m in Imphal. 

Saturday Off!

Today was a day off for the team. I have not been feeling well for a couple of days, so I took advantage of the occasion to sleep. I did get up for a late breakfast, but then I went back to bed, and finally arose at 3PM. I feel better, but tonight will be the test on how things actually are; if I'm able to sleep tonight, it will convince me that the rest was indeed warranted. 

Last evening, we had a Friday-night-out adventure with the team. We caught the city bus to downtown Guwahati to the Pizza Hut! Take your usual Pizza Hut, remove the beef, add spices, add more spices, add jalapeños and you'll start to approximate an Indian Pizza Hut! We enjoyed it all the same. Then, on the way back the buses were packed, so we opted for India's venerable vehicle option—the Tuk Tuk! It was actually a very nice ride, although the nearness to other vehicles was a bit much. 

Wendy ventured off with a group to the Science Centre here in Guwahati today while I remained in bed; she found it quite interesting. Our plans have changed; we are looking forward to visiting Manipur. It was originally on the schedule, then was removed and now is back on. Angie's enthusiastic response to going there makes us all look forward to it. Other than that, I have been preparing myself for another guest pulpit tomorrow morning.

The markets have enjoyed a good month, up 1.5%, for the first green month since April. Sadly, Friday's sell-off kept me from making quota for the month, but even coming close was nice! Baseball continues with the World Series, and I'm cheering for the Royals. World Cup of Rugby has the final today; I'm cheering for the All-Blacks from New Zealand, so I was pleased to see them prevail over the Aussies. Hockey is starting to gather attention in the young season especially with the great start enjoyed by Montreal. Riders continue to play out the season with today's game against Calgary, but the first place Stamps laid a licking on them, sigh. We tried FaceTime with our children, but only connected with one of them. It was good to talk with Erica, although the connection was flakey. Later on we connected with Erin, and also managed to text with Travis.

And that's about it for this week. 

Oct 28-30

We are back in Guwahati, and I'm trying to catch up! Wednesday, we spent our last day in Shillong. It was a time of more visiting with Ray's contacts from days gone by, and we hope we provided them some encouragement. We certainly enjoyed meeting with them, having more tea, and some excellent meals! On Thursday morning we packed up, and embarked on the same twisty four-lane highway, but this time we were descending and the driver was running the 20 click hairpins at speed while we hoped the door latches would hold! We arrived safely all the same! It would have been a fun ride on a motorcycle! Once back, I worked to complete preparations for a teachers' workshop that was set for Friday. Friday morning, we breakfasted a bit earlier to be ready for an 8:00 departure. Then, we sat and waited for the driver to come. He showed up about 9:00, not the usual reliability we've come to expect from him. Running late, and discovering we had the wrong schedule for school meshed fairly well together; we spent some time observing in the classes, and then held the workshop only one hour later than initially planned. I was pleased with their participation and reactions, but I've been there, so I don't expect much to change after a single lesson. They did ask for more; that was encouraging. I am trying to organize another session for next week. Ray has also reorganized our itinerary, so we will spend fewer days in Chennai, and will get to Manipur after all. We're looking forward to the continuing adventure! 

October 25-27

The last three days have been a bit hit and miss on the internet side, but I'm trying to catch up! Sunday morning, I was the guest speaker at City View Church. The translator must have done a good job because I got a favourable review! In the evening, we packed up for our departure to Shillong in the morning. We were able to leave much of our teaching supplies and extra clothing at the hotel in Guwahati, so that lightened our load. We drove up to Shillong on Monday and enjoyed tea and later supper with friends of Ray in Shillong. The trip was a tortuous four-hour climb, but the air is clear and clean; the sky is blue, and the temperature is a moderate 25 degrees. We are relishing the comfortable circumstances. On Tuesday, we took a sight-seeing tour of the area even further south of Shillong. There were many waterfalls to view and zip-lines to consider. One of our crew took a ride on the zip-lines; the rest of us cheered! Wendy considered, but demurred. We got back to Shillong in time for supper out at a restaurant. It's been an enjoyable three days. We have one more day here, then we head back to the heat and smog of Guwahati. 

Saturday, um, School!

Yes, it's true we spent today in school, and the children, although technically still on holiday, were present in even larger numbers. Since we had a adopted presentations and activities more visual than verbal this time, we felt the outcomes were more satisfactory. I hope they were! Following the afternoon program, we were invited to tea, and enjoyed spending the time with these gracious and thankful people. The community of parents expressed their appreciation by inviting us to a sports and cultural day which is set for November 1st. We have agreed to accept this invitation. 

Later this evening (or this morning back in Canada), we made use of the wifi connection in the lobby to try FaceTime. It worked very well, and we were able to talk to Erin and Kristian. However, we failed to make a connection to Erica and Travis. We shall try again another time. We also try to follow our favourite sports teams, but they seem to be playing though the night! The Blue Jays ended their season today, losing out to Kansas City in six games in the American League Championships. The Riders had a great start against Edmonton, leading 20-3 at one point, but faltered to lose 35-24. We got an update from Eric/A. They enjoyed a relatively quiet week. This weekend Erica is enjoying a ladies' retreat with the church group in PA. She's sworn to secrecy about the actual activities. (What happens at ladies' retreat stays at ladies' retreat) however, she did divulge that there are no classes or homework and that the only scheduled activities are meals. These ladies know how to do a retreat! Eric was asked to help fill in last minute for the Pastor this Sunday. That is very cool! Haaken checked out the college and career group this week. He also attended a drop in art session. He still needs to find work and we hope an opportunity comes soon. Liam finished his first term, but until they figure out the online reporting thing, we will not know how well he did. 

And that's the end of an adventurous week! 

TGIF

In this case, it's not such a big deal for it to be Friday! After spending the day at our second school, we get to return there tomorrow! These students seem somewhat less mature academically, although they tried desperately to get by without a translator. I think we needed a translator. Many small ones seemed completely uncomprehending of our instructions. However, they did pick up cues (and instructions) from their friends, so maybe whatever small grasp they had of our English was supported and enhanced in this way. At least they exhibited the total respect we have come to expect through our experiences in Zambia and now in India. Picture the whole class standing when some strange man walks into the room, chiming a greeting of, "Good morning, sir," and remaining standing until I tell them they may sit down, at which point, they chorus, "Thank you, sir!" Yeah, I know, if your school experiences have been in Canada, you may find that hard to picture! 

Thursday School Work

We've enjoyed a second and final day at the first school. It has been a pleasure to work with these children and staff. After sessions today, we were invited to a nearby home for tea; it turned out to be a full meal deal! It certainly feels good to be appreciated, so, despite lips and tongues burning from the residual heat of the Indian cuisine, we are grateful for the recognition. Tomorrow and Saturday we plan to work in a second school in Guwahati before moving on to Shillong next week. 

Into the Schools

We have passed an excellent day in Guwahati. It was our first day in the schools, and we enjoyed meeting the children and the staff. The children behaved wonderfully. (Apparently respect is not earned, it is learned—but, you have to teach it!) There were some snafus so we have some notes for improvement in our handling of materials and scheduling. It was a daunting task trying to prepare lessons for an audience we had such little knowledge of, but they surpassed our expectations, and we found that all material was eagerly devoured. The headteacher has asked us to prepare additional lessons to improve the teaching bag of tricks for her teachers—that is also very encouraging to us.

Tuesday in Guwahati

It has been a long and tiring day. I was up at 5am to follow the Canadian election results. Later, Ray and I climbed a mountain, and enjoyed watching and listening as school leaders met together for the first time. They reported on the situation in their schools and noted their plans for the future and the challenges facing them. Ray challenged them to embrace a larger vision for their schools and their students. They began the discussion and planning to achieve something bigger. It was very interesting for me to be able to observe these activities.

Living and Learning in Guwahati

Our trip to India has begun. We flew from Regina on Saturday morning, made a brief stop in Calgary and then flew threw the time zones of night to Frankfort. Local time in Frankfort on our arrival was about 8am Sunday morning, but it was only Saturday midnight back in Regina. We delayed in Frankfort Airport for about five hours; then, we flew through several more time zones to Delhi. The Frankfort airport is not a pleasant place to spend any time. I found it shockingly poorly designed. There was only one place to get lunch, and it wasn't much, but, it was through security into a gate area we weren't using. We exited there only to go through security again into the gate area we were using for departure to India. According to staff, there were no other places to eat in that large airport complex, and especially none outside of security. We arrived in Delhi about 00:45, but getting our luggage, changing money and finding transport to the hotel took some hours, so we finally checked into our rooms about 3:20am. Breakfast at 7am, was closely followed by packing our bags, and returning to the airport as we completed the trip to our first working location at Guwahati. I think we are now in the real India. We were treated to spectacular views of the Himalayas as we flew across northern India today. We checked in to our new hotel—it is very nice, and caught a couple of hours of sleep this afternoon. I'm sure it will take some days before we reset to the India time zone, and even more before we adjust to India time! Wendy's phone remained on Regina time, so she was quite concerned to be a half hour later than what I tried to tell her was real time! When I checked it our and noted it said 7pm, when I knew it was 6:30am, I was at least able to figure out what was happening. While in India, we will be 11.5 hours ahead of Regina time. 

Passage to India!

Another week has passed and depending on when we cross the pertinent time zone, we are ending the week on our way from Calgary to Frankfort. We have enjoyed an extra week in Regina, but left this morning heading west to Calgary and then north over the Arctic toward Germany. The next leg, from Frankfort, takes us across the middle east with expected arrival in Delhi about midnight Sunday night (local time). That is 11.5 hours ahead of Regina (CST). I hope to post to this blog regularly while we're in India, but only distribute via email on the weekends, so, if you wish to check in on us, please access the blog address.  Standard operating procedures call for us to travel on Mondays, and then work at schools etc. throughout the week, but what little I've learned so far indicates that standard operating procedures do not apply to India anymore than they did to Zambia! The week has been busy, especially for Wendy who took advantage of the extra days to do even more preparations and shopping! The markets have been a bit better, but the TSX seems to have become unsettled early in anticipation of the election on Monday. Still I had a good week and managed a bit of recovery. India has only one time zone, and it's on the half-hour, like Newfoundland! They do not practice daylight savings adjustments either (like Saskatchewan), so initially the TSX will be opening at midnight, and after our time change it will move to 11pm. The Blue Jays staged a heart-stopping comeback from two games down to Texas, winning three straight to move on to the League championships against Kansas City. That started last night with a loss and dropped another one this afternoon (despite leading 3-0 to the bottom of the 7th) because our manager can figure out when to change the pitcher! C'mon Jays! The Riders are playing out the string on the regular season. They have traded off some players thus affording an extended tryout for some younger prospects. 

We are leaving our children, and their families behind, so I doubt that we'll have much to report on their activities over the next six weeks. We look forward to each contact with them while we're away, and also to reconnecting with them in December. We were glad to have Eric/A and the boys visit us in Regina last weekend. They have enjoyed a quiet week in PA. 

We're very thankful for the care Erin and Kristian provided while we stayed with them in Regina. This included a wonderful time of Thanksgiving with Eric/A, Haaken and Liam on Monday. Each morning, before heading off to school, Kristian ensured that we had a wake-up call and snuggles—so precious! Sadie took me for a walk each morning; it's been good! 

Trav, Joanna, Gemma and Andrew called last evening. Another grandma is up from southern Ontario and staying with them just now, so at least that side of the business is being attended to! 

And that's about enough for this week! 

Happy Thanksgiving

Another week has passed and we have travelled from the shore of Lake Superior to the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairie. We drove over on Wednesday, as we were preparing to leave on Monday for six weeks in India. Alas, plans have changed. I am told that often happens with plans one makes for India! We shall endeavour to remain flexible. The new plan is for us to remain in Regina for some additional time while some of our group waits for their visas, and then depart next Saturday. This also calls for us to return from India on December 2nd, so our time there remains the same, although schedules are being adjusted. We have enjoyed another week of beautiful weather, and I was able to get out golfing a couple of more times. Yesterday, I was golfing with Kristian here in Regina—that was extra special! The markets have recovered a bit, and I've been able to make some buys and achieve some gains. I made quota this week for a change! We cleaned up a few more jobs around the home place before we left. Our changed schedule means we will have more adjustments to make this week to items we had scheduled for our return. We are not assured of our internet connections in India, so be patient waiting for updates while we're over there. India is currently nine and a half hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time. They do not adjust for daylight saving time, so there will be an another hour added when we fall back to standard time. Wendy has continued to push forward with plans and development of lesson material for the India trip. On Thursday, she was back to the doctor for manipulation of her arthritic fingers—ouch! The Jays are in the divisional playoffs against Texas. I was lamenting that I would miss watching them in the playoffs, but it appears they may be solving that issue for me—they're down 2-0 in the best of five playoff! It could be over as early as tomorrow evening. C'mon Blue Jays, let's play ball! The Riders lost last evening to Hamilton which assures them of missing the playoffs. Now they can get on with the task of rebuilding the team! 

Liam had a lengthy week of classes—NOT! Counting two PD Days, he started the Thanksgiving long weekend after class on Wednesday! Liam and Erica stayed overnight in Saskatoon with Chris and Shelley. Liam got a chance to connect with their youngest son, Trevor. Then, on Friday he jammed with the youth pastor in PA—not a bad way to start a five day holiday! Haaken has met some people with Autism Services. He's hoping they will provide some support as he works to obtain employment. Eric had Monday off as a mental health day—an official mental health day, not one of those days when you call in sick because you can find the energy to drag yourself out of bed! What a concept!

Erin and Kristian have had a good week. Then, we arrived on Wednesday night, so they've turn over to being hosts! We're enjoying that! She has also saved a few jobs around the place, so, I'm trying to take care of those while we're here. Kristian took me golfing on Friday as he had a day off school. That was another good time. Erin is lamenting the performance of the Jays along with me, but where there's life, there's hope, so we are hoping for a better result tomorrow! We're expecting the Baileys to arrive tomorrow, and to enjoy Thanksgiving with them on Monday. 

Trav and Joanna returned on Monday evening from their sojourn in southern Ontario. They feel like they've made a lot of contacts and things are going well for Bucket Decals, so they expect PuckShots will gradually build a customer base there as well. Gemma and Andrew went with me to the airport to welcome them home on Monday evening. Now, they're back in charge of the estate! Keep eating those tomatoes! 

And that's about it for this week. 

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior, in my hometown. The weather has been comfortable, but we finally got a frost on Thursday night that took out my tomato plants. Now, we have three flats of tomatoes trying to ripen indoors! I haven't been covering them as we are planning to head out next week anyway, so this has allowed me to clean up the garden area. I'm watering down the cedars this weekend. Wendy has me back on some renovations in the house. I installed the new faucet and toilet in the downstairs bathroom—another great upgrade. She has continued lesson development for the India trip, and those are pretty close to ready. I'm expecting there will be a need for many revisions once we see what our students are like! On Friday, we got word that her order of some teaching stuff for India was in at the border store, so we drove down, enjoyed supper at the casino, and picked up the parcel. The markets continued their downward trend through the end of the month. The TSX is now down 9% so far this year. For the second month in a row, I failed to make quota, and am now behind quota for the year as well. The selling has reduced my buy-in to under 5%, so I'm hoping to make some buys in the next week rather than hold so much in cash while we're away. The Riders put up a good game last Sunday, and we beat Montreal quite comfortably. This evening they played in BC; it was not a good effort; it was not close. Time for the airlift; let's find some prospects for next year! The Blue Jays clinched the division championship this week, and now move on to the playoffs. Let's go Blue Jays! Let's play ball! 

Eric had a fun week at work; he travelled to Watrous and later to Big River before settling back at the office. Eric and Erica enjoyed a 3 km hike on Sunday. They didn't enjoy the 104-step stairway at the end of the hike, but they survived! Haaken continues to look for work. This weekend, they are visiting the McLeods and Baileys in Saskatoon and enjoying a visit with Sheena and Aura who flew out from BC for a visit. 

Erin and Kristian have had a good week. Erin has relished the successful season for the Blue Jays. Kristian is enjoying his birthday present. The school reports confirm that he is progressing well at school. He seems to be settling into a nice routine for home as well. It is a comfort. 

Joanna is working with Lorraine to open up the market in southern Ontario, but it's slow developing. Travis has flown down there as well. We don't hear of business developments, but attendance at the Ti-Cat football game, and the Maple Leaf hockey game were enjoyed! Gemma and Andrew remain here with us! 

That's about it for this week. 

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been cooler with some rain, but we're enjoying sunny weather this weekend. I think Wendy has completed her weeding program, and things look much better in the yard. We donated our old ski boat to Teen Challenge, and they were here to haul it away on Wednesday. We surely enjoyed a lot of trips to the cabin and a lot of skiing with that boat. We have continued our preparation for India, and have now chosen themes and developed materials for most of the situations. We learned of the passing of an important friend of our lives—we extend condolences to the McMillan families and relatives on the passing of their matriarch. The markets have continued to the red; the TSX is now down 8.6% YTD. I am thankful to have some good gains this year, but that didn't happen this week, and I've now fallen into red for this month as well, sigh! I continue to hope things may bottom out and manage to establish a bit of an uptrend before we head off for six weeks in India! I won't be following things very closely during that excursion. The Jays continue to play well; they clinched a playoff berth yesterday, and continue to work toward a division championship. The Riders are set to host Montreal tomorrow—Go Riders, Go! Pre-season hockey is underway as well, and everyone is a contender at this point in the season! 

Eric/A and Haaken carry on with life and work in Prince Albert. This weekend they enjoyed exploring in Prince Albert National Park. 

Erin and Kristian have had a quiet week in Regina after the birthday festivities subsided. We received an update on his school work; that looked very good! Good work, Kristian! Erin is a big time Blue Jays fan, so she's delighting in their play, and in the prospects of post-season play. 

Joanna has flown down to Burlington to assist the PuckShots efforts to break into the market down there courtesy of Lorraine. It's tough sledding! Travis has been busy with the scouting for his new team. Now, the draft is over and tomorrow afternoon the practice sessions begin to build the team. Gemma is happy to see that a young man named Matthew has been drafted to the team! Andrew had a tough week fighting off a cold.