More from Tim

hey guys, still can't get the link to work, so here is another post

Well, we met up with Will and Jesse just fine. The first night we arrived in Venice it was kind of hard to organize a meeting spot, but we set something up for the next day. Turned out to be a really nice day. The girls went shopping, and me and Chris hung out with Will and Jesse all day, walking around until we met a little pub to hang out in. That night we caught a train to Zurich, where we got an absolutly amazing guest house, that included a tv and dvd player in our private room. Of course we had to watch Gladiator, being as we had recently been to Rome. We also went to a nearby town to watch Jaimie curl. After Zurich we returned back to Hiedelberg where we are going to spend the last few days of our trip staying at Jaimie's house. There is a Hockey game in Mannheim that we have tickets to on Tuesday, and Wednesday we head back home. *sigh* much too short of a trip, but definitly has given me a good idea of where I need to come back to.
Thanks again guys. I guess I'll see you in a few days
Tim

Hey, here we are at our presesntaion. In the picture with the 3 of us it's Diana, Marja, then me. Ton was sick that evening.

It went well and we felt that we did a pretty good job. I was very chatty and am thinking perhaps i should go into sales.

Am feeling mid-semester trauma. edgy, irritable. this weekend was good even thogh i had to work the overnight. i managed to get yardwork done(some of it), cleaned the house and Richard had a spa at home for me. He made a facemask(out of food--avocado, honey etc), plus a body and hair treatment. And we watched Harry Potter and 1 of the Lord of the Rings.

So, I feel better and less stressed.

despite a minor meltdown on Friday.

Sore Feet

I just got home from spending from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm teaching a beginner stained glass course. The place is on the second story of the swimming pool building, with only stairs as access- therefore lots of trips up and down packing glass (heavy) and other things that I think I need.
I move some stuff during the week as I was off on vacation, and most of the rest yesterday. I also thought of a bit more to pack last night, so packed it in this morning.
The trouble with packing in, is that you must haul all the stuff home again (and three days of packing in makes a lo-o-o-ong cleanup)
I can't thank my daughters enough for their help. Grace came up to be my assistant instructor this morning which was great, and Anne (who is visiting for a peaceful rest) made about 10 trips up and down the stairs helping me bring heavy boxes of glass home.
Thanks Grace and Anne.
I was also blessed by my good wife bringing me just-out-of-the-oven taco buns for lunch.
My feet are tired, but I am happy with the results-everyone seemed to have a good time and the evaluations were positive.
Anne was very insightful last night in suggesting that I limit the number of choices of thing st make to 5 or so- I had 30 or more patterns laid out. Seems people want to be told what to make , not to have to decide. (must be the psychology education)She also suggested, after hauling many pounds of glass down the stairs, that people don't need as much choice of coulr/texture as well.
I am doing another course in December, and will incorporate all the suggestions.

This is actually from Tim

I am not trying to take over Tim's identity. He has been having trouble posting so sent this via us. Also something has been wrong with our e-mail since the weekend so we just got this:

I have been trying to post something on here since I arrived, but the link that I have won't allow me to post anything. Anyway, I am in Rome now, after a week of frantic travelling. We started out in Heidelburg, where we met up with Jaimie, who is the brother of one of the girls I am travelling with. He works there for a Canadian company which means his flat is paid for, and it is huge, even by Canadian standards. This was good, because it allowed us all to crash there, rather than have to book a hostel. Jaimie took us out the first night we were there, and showed us all the night life of heidelburg, which was more fun that night than it was the next day. We were all impressed that cheryl, the resident 50 year old on our trip, kept up with all of us all night. Anyway, the next day we headed out to Lille, France to meet up with a couple of girls that we knew from high school. It was a very trying day, as I ended up being the one reading train schedules and trying to get us on every train on time. It took us all day, a few missed trains, and a 93 euro fee apiece, but we finally made it to Lille, only to find the place we had reserved was in the ghetto, and we were recommended not to leave it after dark. Lille was nice anyway, and we had a good time visiting with Jenn and Lanni, who are living in France on an exchange program with Red Deer College. The next day we headed out to Paris, and went to see the Eiffel tower that night which, I must admit, was pretty cool, and much better than I expected. Our hotel was right by a metro station, which was great as it was easy to get around. The next day we did a hop on hop off tour of the other sights, such as the Louvre the arc de triumphe etc.. which was great. That night we took a night train to Rome and spent the afternoon at the collusium and forum. This I was really excited for and they did not dissappoint. Today we spent the entire day at Vatican City and tommorrow morning we leave for Venice, where we meet up with Will and Jesse. I am sending this to Mom and Dad to send, so hopefully it makes it (This is my second try) and I will try to keep everyone posted on my remaining week.
Tim

Nervous

So, we go to the businessy meeting today and I feel nervous about it. I'm afarid that either a) people will just ignore us. b) be angry with us.

Oh well, all we can do is what we can do. Present our info, ask for input, and hope for the best.

the weird thing about this project is finding resistance in strange places. From people you wouldn't normally expect. Politics is a strange game. And it is difficult to know how or why people respond the way they do.

And I did find some sweet deals for clothes. Value Village is where it's at! A Ralph Lauren silk shirt for $15, 2 pairs wool lined pants (Liz Claiborne, Jones New York), $15 each. A wool blazer(Jones New York) $10. I always feel like I've won when I shop at VV.

I find it difficult to shop in other clothing stores for that reason.

Am feeling slightly overwhelmed with meetings etc. I'm actually not terribly busy, but there's a lot of arranging etc. that gets wearing.

Tim? Tim? Tim?

Tim, where are you? We heard from Will that you are planning to meet in a couple of days. Come on, let us know what you have been doing.

The Cho Brothers - Theresa and Grace don't read unless you have seen the Sunday show

The Cho brothers should win the amazing race, they are the ones who have the most ethics. And I am so happy that Peter and Sara are off of the show, because they were the people who bugged me the most.

Went for supper last night in Providence with one of my colleagues from work. We were driving around looking for a place to park, when this giant rat (had to be a foot long, including the tail) ran in front of the car. It looked like something from a movie, just creepy. Made me happy that Alberta is rat free, and that I live there.

And I also want to put a plug in for the Marriott Hotel chain, they have just turned non smoking, all rooms. So if you have to travel and need a hotel, pick the Marriott.

Weekend in Rhode Island

It was very nice to spend the weekend in Rhode Island, the weather was pretty good, lots of sun, a little windy on Saturday, but Sunday was perfect.

I had planned to spend the day in Newport on Saturday, but that did not work out so well. I got a map, from the Shop and Save, but I have found the roads here are not marked that well. In the end I went to Pawtucket, and had lunch at Kips. If you follow the link you can see that it was won many wiener awards since 1999. They take only cash, no debit or credit cards. I did not go with the house special but ended up with a hot beef sandwich. The waitresses all called the people Hon, like in a movie.

After leaving Pawtucket, I went to Providence and took a long walk around there. There is a historic site, with a building which is supposed to represent what the house of the man who founded Rhode Island lived, his name was Roger Williams, and they created a small Kitchen Gardenas it would have been when he lived there.

A little further up the street is the First Baptist Church which is still used and has an active congregation. And across the street from the church was this very cool looking building
Providence Street. As I was wandering around near the Brown University Campus, I found a church that was holding an Antique and Artisan sale, so I stopped by and did a little shopping. They had some beautiful jewellery, and some great looking vintage things. I was a little tired after walking around so much so I stopped at the Cable Car Cinema and Café, to have a snack and read my book.

Sunday morning, I got up and drove to Newport. I drove through several different towns, which had the kinds of houses that’s you see in the movies, when people live in New England. I also saw 4 different Roadside diners, which looked very cool. To get to Newport you can either take a Ferry from Providence, or drive the whole way going over two different bridges, the last one is two miles long, and is over part of Narragansett Bay. It was sucha beautiful day I decided to just walk around Newport, with a quick stop to visit the Museum there. I was surprised to learn that Newport, was originally settled as an agricultural community, the sailing came later. It was also one of the first places in the US to support abolishment of slavery. I saw lots of differenthouses, and ended up at a graveyard. I really like this gravestone.

The scenery around RI, reminds me a lot of Nova Scotia. Saturday was very windy, so a lot of the leaves have fallen, but there is still colour around.

It is back to work today, and I am looking forward to coming home on Thursday, and hoping my luggage will not get lost. For those of you who were wondering, I only bought two new pairs of shoes, before my luggage was returned to me.

We scored a goal!!!

It's true, my hockey team scored a goal, and it only took three games to do it. Unfortunately, I wasn't at the game because I had to work, but Jovita came to the late show and told me. We still lost the game 20-1, but a goal is a big deal for us. She also said that we had 12 shots on goal, which is a new record for us, before the most we had was six.

The other exciting thing is that dad made pea soup yesterday and I am bringing some to work today in a thermos. I have never used a thermos and I am super excited about it. As an added bonus, the soup should warm me up after freezing in the theatre. My boss still hasn't gotten the heater fixed.

Family Ramblings

By today I have recovered from jet lag and time change or whatever and am thinking of the reasons it's good to be h0ome - #1 - my cat - when she heard us come in she came down the hall nagging nonstop - this went on for 2 days whenever she was awake, really she was so miffed with me, you'd have thought she was human. Then she forgave me and got all purry and kissy faced and threw over Lisa once more. Lisa had to be content with identity theft only! So she took all the good hotel toiletries I brought home.
#2 - the Wensinks - not only did they meet me but had stocked up on food for me for the week and a chicken supper for when I got here - what great guys!
#3 - my own bed - the whole time we were in Halifax I still felt like I was on the train - that last night was like sleeping on a roller coaster!
#4 - return to autumn, it is really beautiful here now - not as spectactular as the east - more golds and yellows but lots of patches of reds, russets and oranges
The bad stuff - a for sale sign on my neighbors lawn (Lindfa and Ken) - if it had been the yahoo on the other side, I'd have been happy but will miss Linda and all.
Lisa has been walking on air since her entry into the bigt time role of politician - thought her interview was good. She has some kind of thing to go to in connection with her project so we went shopping to find her a business outfit to wear-after all politicians don't go out in Tshirts and jeans! Well, back to work here - hi to the rambling Ferrey boys - hope its meeting your expectations Tim
grandma and momFamily Ramblings

I'm famous

Not really, but here's the link.

To our local newspaper story.

Tell me do I sound like an idiot?

Truthfully. I can take it.

jittery

I think I was just interviewed by a reporter about our political action project.

Did not clue into this until I heard him typing and he asked at end of convo about calling back for any clarification/ questions. He did ask at beginning of conversation if he could do a story on it. I said yes, that would be wonderful, not realizing that he was doing an interview on the phone, not just background information.

I sure hope that I did not say anything ridiculous, alienating, etc. Another group member directed him to me as she feels really uncomforatble with that kind of thing. Though I reassured her that she would do fine. she always sounds intelligent.

I sure hope that I did.

Also, this paper agreed to run our pamphlet for gratis! we did a pamphlet on harm reduction. The other local paper sounded interested too, so we'll see if they do too. We asked if they'd pay for it as well, the publisher said she'd be interested in carrying it, but didn't say whether they'd pay for the actual pamphlet, so i asked in the letter.

Why not?

Went to a prof's house for our seminar last night. There were about 20 of us. I love this particualr prof. She's incredibly to the point, dry humour, interesting. We had caeser salad and beef dip. I wish all our classes could be done over supper! Plus her house is nice. Full of art and eclectic. she has the same cocktail shaker that Mom and Dad have/had.

I want to be her when I grow up.

I plan to go see The Departed again this weekend. Matinee!

Though I ahve a test on Monday, on nutrition. though really it all seems kind of like review to me. The prof is good (she's not the one whose house we went to for supper).

OK, must study. do not want to. Still on edge from interview.

feeling a little flat, as is my bed

I changed the comments so they pop up in a separate window instead. Do you all like this better, or worse? I can change it back. Also opened up comments because Steph was complaining that she couldn't talk to us any more. If we get any more comment spam I will turn on word verification and that should help.

I am so jealous of the boys, wandering around Europe. The post-vacation slump has hit hard (and it doesn't help that work is insane at the moment). How many more months before I can save up to go somewhere else?!

I think I will buy a bed this month. Sleeping on an air mattress is beginning to pall, as I have to pump it up every night. It's a little ironic that buying a mattress is so exhausting...

but dad will be happy to know that I bargained with the guy at Sleep Country. (Did NOT ask for the "good guy price", though. I do have some standards).

tim's travels

A few weeks ago Geoff and I ran into Cheryl Boutin. She used to be one of Anne's Brownie leaders, a very nice person. Anyway, she said to us, "So what is your son like?" "Which one?" we asked. We were immediately on our guard when she replied that Tim was the one she was referring to. However, we relaxed whe we found out that one of Cheryl's daughters was planning this trip with Tim and a couple of others. Cheryl said that she had been at a funeral (someone lots of people in town knew, he was only 50 and died suddenly), and realized that she couldn't keep putting things off and the time to travel was now. So she decided to go with her daughter, Tim and the others. She has a son living in Germany and Tim thought she was going to stay with him but when they met on Sunday to discuss plans she said, "Are we going to Rome?" So she is planning to do the whole thing. Good for her. Actually her husband died suddenly a couple of years ago, too. He had a heart attack in the doctor's office.

leaving

Well, off I go. We're leaving to Calgary anytime now, after which the next stop is Frankfurt. Pretty excited, and a little nervous, but less so than I was a couple of days ago. We're hoping to meet up with Will at some point along the way, which will be awesome! I'll do my best to keep everyone in the loop as to how things are going via family ramblings, but I make no promises as to how frequent my posts will indeed be. I'll also try to include some juicy details for Lisa.
Anyway, more to follow (in theory)

laughed

I laughed at Mom's gay lads and young things post too!

Also at Theresa's comment from the post, about taking over Mom's identity.

I think we should share our post with the rest of the world so that they can see how amusing our family is.

We really are very witty.

lots of travellers

We were pleasantly surprised by a visit from Barb this weekend. I thought we might see her a bit later in October as she was going on a chocolate tour and said she would swing by here later in the month. But the tour got cancelled, she wasn't going to come out, then decided she could ask her daughter-in-law for one more ticket this fall. ( Cleo works for an airline and gets free plane tickets for relatives.) It was great to see her, we always have a nice visit, and she did quite a bit of visiting around too.
Tim leaves tomorrow. I have to laugh to think he is travelling with Cheryl Boutin, she's my age or maybe a bit younger. Will, if you are reading this, I am sending some books if Tim has room, so make sure you meet up. They are good books. We had a good-bye supper on Sunday when Barb was here.
Mom and Anne, sounds like you are good travelling companions. It was great you could spend time together. I want to hear about Green Gables.
Grace had another hockey game this weekend with similar results to the first one. How's the shopping, Jude?

Family Ramblings

So , here I am home again and after a day rested up. My plane got in at 8 PM Kelowna time which seemed great til you translated it to N>S> time which was midnite - the flight took 9 hrs including a 2 hr, stopover in Calgary and unfortuneatly I had the middle seat all the way - that is not a relaxing spot! However, the trip was great - Anne is a very good travelling companion and very noncomplaining even if our part of the train must have seemed like an old age home on wheels to her, she was the only person on it under 70 I think.The fall colors from Sudbury on were abso9lutely wonderfull and the service was very good. We were on coach from Toronto to Montreal which was not as comfortable and did no have a dome car but were surrounded by several Gay lads on there way to Montreal for a long weekend party and really were very amu7sing and who talked to Anne about young things. As an aside over half of the people on the train were either Americans or Europeans - more Canadians should use and appreciate it! We had great weather at first in Halifax and Anne hooked up with a number of friends which certainly made her evenings more interesting.
PEI was ver beautiful but our trip was cut back by a change in ferry schedule that we overlooked but meant we had a few hours in Pictou and were able to explore a tall ship that was reproduced there and open to nosy folk. The 1st Scottish settlers had come there on the original and its hard to believe how they sttod it. We drove up to see th Singing Sands beach but it was blocked off as they are still repairing after Hurricane Juan in 2004. We did do Confederation Hall and the Leg in Charlottetown as well as a Cathederal that was spectacular. It started raining in Green Gables but we did it anyway then returned to NS via the confederation bridge- wow! That is one long bridge over 20 ks I think it took 20 mins at least to cross it.Anyway am really glad I went and it was wonderful to spend that time with Anne, who should be happy to know that they did not charge for the phone calls at the hotel and that Sun. was a lovely warm sunny day after she left so I took another turn around the public gardens and bravely took the Airporter instead of a cab!
Anyway so much for now.Family Ramblings

Luggage Update

Still none, Air Canada says they are still searching, had to go shopping and buy new shoes (amount other stuff).

'fro: Forms: 19- 'fro, fro. Also with capital initial

How I love the OED word of the day.
-----------------------------------------
'fro, n.2 DRAFT ENTRY June 2005

colloq. (orig. and chiefly U.S.).

Brit. /fr/, U.S. /fro/ Forms: 19- 'fro, fro. Also with capital initial. [Shortened < AFRO n.]

An Afro hairstyle or any style of hair reminiscent of an Afro; a frizzy or bushy hairstyle.

1970 Time 14 Dec. 40/1 The first sergeant..don't like no black man with a 'Fro. 1974 V. FERDINAND Blk Love Song #1 iii, in J. V. Hatch & T. Shine Black Theater U.S.A. 870/1 That's a nice looking fro baby and yo legs is nice too. 1982 J. M. DEL VECCHIO 13th Valley ix. 130 He pulled out his hair pick and fluffed up his 'fro. 1995 Daughters of Sarah Winter 25/2 She was plump and frizzy-haired (‘It's a 'fro!’), and wore spiked heels. 2003 Village Voice (N.Y.) 2 Apr. 68/1 A distinguished gentleman sporting a clean white apron and gray hair rising in a low-altitude 'fro parted in the middle.

Lincoln, Rhode Island

I am staying at the Marriott, which is just down the road from Woonsocket. Yesterday was a bit trying, lineups everywhere I went. I thought that at 6:00 am on a Sunday, the airport would be empty, not so, there are a LOT of people traveling then. The flight to Toronto was late leaving, but on time boarding, so lots of time sitting in the non moving plane, but still arrived on time, which was great, since I was in a middle seat. Luckily my plane narcolepsy kicked in, and slept most of the way. When I arrived at the transfer belt for luggage, waited for two hours, still no luggage. The Air Canada people were nice about it, and escorted me to the US customs line, so I could bump the other people in line and go through quickly, but there were no other people on line, so I did not get any dirty looks. The homeland security guy, was also very nice, and I got through there in record time, and had no problem making my flight. My luggage is still MIA, but should be here today, if not then I am going shopping!! And you know how I love that, and it will be on Amex, because if you travel and put your ticket on an Amex card, and it is lost, they reimburse you if you need to buy things.

But enough of that. When we were landing in Providence the sun was just starting to set, and I had a great view of the city, the trees here are just starting to change, so there was lots of green, interspersed with some beautiful red and gold. I was thinking of Mom and Anne, because those colours would have been all over Nova Scotia too, in the last week. It is a beautiful sunny day today, and I am looking forward to spending the weekend here, just have to get that work stuff over with!!

Sticky toffee pudding

So, you must all see The Departed!!!! Most excellent!! In fact I believe that I will see it again. Acting was super, including Leonardo discovery(?!), Jack Nicholson was great, Matt Damon was good. Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlburg were funny. Lots of violence, however wasn't gratuitous, it fit the movie.

Fantastic! Richard thought it was fabulous too! And Marianne, whom we went with.

Richard is in the middle of dropping off car at repair place(we need a new starter, they say they will fix tomorrow) and I arranged for him to be picked up by car rental place at Starbucks. They won't drive into town as the intown place is closed on Sundays and only airport location is open.

I did some yard work, cleaned the house--Richard vacuumed. It was a productive day. Though somewhat aggravating

Recipe is as follows:
Sticky Toffee Sauce

90 mls butter 250 mls brown sugar
10 mls cinnamon 30 mls. orange juice
30 mls. rum 45 mls whipping cream (I used skim milk and seemed fine to me)

In a saucepan, melt together butter and brown sugar over medium. Heat, stirring occasionally bubbling, add cinnamon, oj, rum. Return to simmer, stirring. Remove from heat and stir in cream. Spoon 30 mls into each ramekin (or 240 mls in to bottom of corning ware) reserve rest to serve with pudding.

Pudding
425 mls pitted dates chopped coarsely (about 280 grams)
500 mls orange juice 5 mls baking soda
550 mls flour 2 mls. Cinnamon
2 mls ground ginger 2 mls. salt
90 mls butter 175 mls brown sugar
3 eggs boiling water


grease and flour 8 (140 g) ramekins. I used just a corning ware dish---I think it was 2 or 1.5 litres and it worked fine.
Simmer dates with oj, uncovered for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda. Let cool while preparing rest of batter.
Sift together dry ingredients except sugar.
In separate bowl cream sugar and butter. Add eggs to this 1 at a time.
Add flour mixture alternately with dates to sugar and butter mixture, starting and ending with flour mixture. Stir well after each addition.

Spoon into dishes.

Place into larger dish gffff(that's Sebastian stepping on keyboard), filled with enough boiling water to reach up at least 1 cm on side of dish(es).

Bake at 175(350) for 30-40 minutes I think I needed 1 hour with using larger dish. Or until knife inserted comes out clean.

Serve with sauce.

Very tasty, plus high fibre!

Safely Back Home

Got back from the Maritimes... to a disgusting rainy grey day. Not that it wasn't grey and rainy over there, but here it's rainy with the necessity of having to work tomorrow. Oh well.

I got on the flight and found to my horror that I was seated next to two super-sized people and their squalling infant. Seriously, the guy was taking up his seat and half of mine. I wanted to put the armrest down but couldn't because part of him was sitting in front of it - and no matter what I did or how far I moved over I was always touching him. Ew.

And then, in a stroke of luck, the cabin crew moved me back to sit with a bunch of (cute) WestJet pilots who had flown the plane out and were now flying back. Apparently they decided to give the Large Family three seats to themselves (probably a good idea - they seemed to have a lot of baby stuff as well). Dodged that bullet!

Grandma got up to say goodbye to me, which was very sweet considering it was 4.45 am. That's the most time I've spent with her since I was about ten and it was great. She is so good to travel with... it was an awesome holiday.

further question

I made sticky toffee pudding.

It was delicious.

What's your favorite dessert?

Autumn harvest

Not very much new here. It has been a beautiful week. Sunny, 20. Will be cooling off soon.

Had a staff meeting where I created a lot of waves. Asked Why it was that we had not addressed the sacred cow of only keyworkers and managers having bankers hours. Surprisingly, it went over better than I would have thought. Also suggested that society pay for class 4 driver's license, look at modifying orientation to better suit indivdual new staff's needs (like if hiring a 4th year nursing student, do you really need to go over how to do personal care, wouldn't time be better spent on other areas?). Finally said that I thought it wrong that we were biased in our training of men, they can't work overnights or do personal care for women (most people onstaff agreed with this). I was non-stop, went home with a headache and feeling that creating change is wearing. Still, given the present difficulty in recruitment and retainment it is wise to think of ways in which we can attract and keep people. It's not just about wages.

The meeting also lasted 4 hours! That's what it was scheduled for, it wasn't due to me and my fight for the underpriviledged.

Ba ba baaa. It's Politically Charged Nursing Student!

Went jogging again today. was going to do yardwork, but that doesn't seem to be happening. I will do a final review of my essay and article critique. i feel pleased with both.

Had to work last night and also again tonight. Sigh. But we're going to see the new Martin Scorsese film tonight. Avengers. It looks promising.

Mom comes back tomorrow! I hope that she and Anne had a good time! It'll be nice to see her again!

Oh yes, am also doing flu shots for Interior Health employees. It's good practice in giving deltoid intramuscular injections. Though when the woman called to set up times and when info/training seesion would be she said, "Now, dont' rush and feel stressed about it. If there's 40 people lined up, don't think about them all, just cncentrate on one at a time. they can always come back. It shoudl be fun for you' Eek. though i do get continuing education hours and a certificate.

Richard is at a study group this afternon and tomorrow afternoon.

I feel ilke a massage widow. Probably like what a nurse widower felt like.

Assessing Where I'm At

So, my first week and a bit on the job has gone well. I am meeting with tons of people, talking to them about what they want me to do. Information is falling into place. I feel like I have some big picture and some clear understanding of what things I do next. Whoa!

We went to see George and Kay the other week when Mom was in town. It was fun and hilarious, as per usual. Predictably, the "shaking Allison" story came up, as did some rude comments about immigrants, and the phrase, "How green was my valley." Mom thought George looked happier & healthier than he did in the summer. We had delicious beef stew and suggested that we should come over and do more tape recording of George & his stories! I like this idea.

My friend Todd is doing a performance [art piece] this Friday & Saturday night -- he is excited but nervous. He is usually so focused on being the organizer of art things, that I think he doesn't do enough art himself. I am excited for him!

Generally: energy up (though occasionally acting like hyperactive little beagle), interest in moving things forward, eating whole grains!

Pictures

Trees in Autumn I am trying to see if I can link to my flickr account and see the pictures.

Montreal to Rocky

Montreal was fun, we did not have a lot of spare time, but managed to get out and eat at an Iranian Restaurant. It was along Ste Catherine’s, which was close to the hotel. The food tasted a bit like Greek food, I had a stew that had barberries (which tasted kind of like cranberries. The leaves are starting to change in Montreal and from the office I had a great view of Mont Royal, and every day there were more trees turning colour. I was quite surprised at the amount of English spoken there, I did not have to use my high school French at all. I was also surprised at how much I could understand.

After a quick run to the Italian bakery on Saturday morning, I drove to Rocky. We went to see Graces’s first hockey game of the season, unfortunately they lost. But the game was entertaining. And on Sunday, it was time for the big turkey dinner, Theresa outdid herself again, turkey, cabbage rolls and 3 different kinds of pie, yummy. It seemed quiet, compared to other years, but it was a good visit with Theresa, Geoff, Grace. Sam and Tim. After I got home on Monday, I looked out the window, and there are no leaves left on the trees on my street. That seems very early, but maybe I am just not remembering quite right.

way too much Maritime fun

Halifax is so fun! I am pulling double shifts: Grandma and I do stuff all day, and then she goes to bed like an intelligent person and I do stuff all night. We have been having a great time. Yesterday we went on a whale-watching tour and did not actually see any wildlife (though Grandma saw two cormorants and a helicopter) but the boat ride through the harbour was still fun. We are off to Prince Edward Island in about ten minutes.

Morose

I'm at Mom's writing my essay and spending time with Clem. Who, by the way, has actually been sitting on my lap and purring. I suppose that if stuck with just me, she will deign to like me.
My essay is making me morose. Focussing intensely on someone else's suffering would do that I suppose.

we had a great time yesterday up at Al and Joyce's cabin. It was beautiful out, sunny, blue sky and lake, yellow leaves on the trees contrasting with the green of the conifers.

Her sister, brother and his partner were there. we played horseshoesd. I seem to have found a sport(?) that I do well in. Who knew?

And we played several games of Cranium. the best ones were me havsing to imitate Monica Lewinsky and Richard doign Dances with Wolves. Supper was super. However, i was supposed to make potatoes. Decided to try out a new recipe. Of course, you are never supposed to do this when doing it for others. I ws going to make roasted potatoed and garlic, then mash them. Then I left potatoes in oven too long. Oops.

Richard had to make a quick trip to Safeway to pick up potatoes, which then were made into simple mashed potatoes. Which turned out. though we ended up being a bit late up to the cabin as a result of slight culinary changes. we got back at 1230 last night. Good time had by all.

I shoudl try Cold FX, I've heard it works. this cold ended up being a very minor type, really only a scratchy throat and one night of not sleeping great as a result.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Lisa masquerading as Mom

Thanksgiving

Hope you are all having a good Thanksgiving. It was quiet here yesterday but nice. Jude is here for the weekend and Tim came over for turkey. Now we get to eat leftovers! I almost like them more than the main meal.
Grace had her first hockey game on Saturday in Innisfail so the travelling around central Alberta has begun. They lost. She probably doesn't want me to mention the score or the shots on goal for and against. Let's just say they have some building to do.
We stopped at Costco in Red Deer on the way because they had hardwood flooring on sale. We're going to do the dining room and hallway to the stairs. It worked out to around $3/sq. ft. We were glad to have Jude there to help haul all those boxes of wood. She can be quite helpful.
The weather is beautiful. It was supposed to snow on Friday night, but there was only some rain and the sun has been shining all weekend.
Started my new job last week and it is going OK so far. Some things went wrong with the billing system but not because of what I did. I don't mind working with other people's mistakes, I just hate it when I do things wrong.
Now a lovely day off ahead of me. I think I'll get out into the yard when the sun comes around, we still have carrots and potatoes in the ground.
Lisa, Geoff says you should be taking Cold FX. Mom and Anne, are you going to get a turkey supper?

Thanksgiving

Hope you are all having a good Thanksgiving. It was quiet here yesterday but nice. Jude is here for the weekend and Tim came over for turkey. Now we get to eat leftovers! I almost like them more than the main meal.
Grace had her first hockey game on Saturday in Innisfail so the travelling around central Alberta has begun. They lost. She probably doesn't want me to mention the score or the shots on goal for and against. Let's just say they have some building to do.
We stopped at Costco in Red Deer on the way because they had hardwood flooring on sale. We're going to do the dining room and hallway to the stairs. It worked out to around $3/sq. ft. We were glad to have Jude there to help haul all those boxes of wood. She can be quite helpful.
The weather is beautiful. It was supposed to snow on Friday night, but there was only some rain and the sun has been shining all weekend.
Started my new job last week and it is going OK so far. Some things went wrong with the billing system but not because of what I did. I don't mind working with other people's mistakes, I just hate it when I do things wrong.
Now a lovely day off ahead of me. I think I'll get out into the yard when the sun comes around, we still have carrots and potatoes in the ground.
Lisa, Geoff says you should be taking Cold FX. Mom and Anne, are you going to get a turkey supper?

Halifax!

Grandma and I are in Halifax! The train ride was amazing - oh the scenery. However, after three nights on a very lurchy train I will be happy enough to sleep in a bed that stays still tonight.

The train ride went well, mostly, though some of the train-chefs had great difficulty with the concept of "puree". However, Grandma managed all right and I ate like a queen, being served three-course meals every few hours.

However, internet is limited here... will post more tomorrow, hopefully, either on my blog or this one.

Family Ramblings

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

cold

I have my 3rd cold since end of August.

A new record. Unbelieveable

Unmotivated

I have other things I should be doing, like exercise, schoolwork, laundry, organizing, but instead am sitting here.
Mom went off her her trip on Tuesday and was looking forward to it quite a bit. Especially since she arranged a bunch of stuff over the internet! 21st century Grandma. We are planning on meeting Allison in Newfoundland when she goes for librarian conference in May! Just before my RN exam. I'm excited as I've wanted to go there for a long time. Ever since I read The Shipping News.
I have 2 long scratches on my forearm as I trimmed the cats nails yesterday. All is OK until I get to Sebastian's right front paw, at that point he hisses at me, growls, and does anything he can to escape. They look kind of red, I hope he didn't give me some sort of bacteria clinging to his nails.
In other, school news, I have studied for exam tomorrow which is mostly about globalization, social determinants of health and change theories(don't ask about change theories, it's extreeeemmmmly dull). I feel that the fact that I listen to CBC should pass me in this class and feel annoyed that I have to prove in a test that I get this stuff. I like the class, just don't want the test.
Also, have done more on essay! Still ahven't gotten to the most difficult part of it, but I'm enjoying writing it. Finally, project is going fine. we all alternate between feeling like we don't know what we're doing and it all won't make any difference anyway, to believing that we're on the right track and are making progress. This happened last semester too, community projects are wearing. Being in 4th year makes it feel a bit more wearing though. Like on one hand just wanting to finish, on the other being much more comfortable with the entire concept of learning. It's strange.
Hmmm, what else? Worked an overnight shift again last Friday, so slept a lot on the weekend. we were supposed to go to a party on Saturday, but I ran out of energy. Richard made me a delicious supper---roasted vegetables, tomato soup, pork chops with garlic sauce, roasted potatoes, and orange creme caramel for dessert! Plus made Dutch apple pannekoeks for breakfast on Sunday.
Spoiled. Plus he had to do a project for school and give me a relaxation massage on Friday.
He is liking school for the most part and getting used to it. Except his musculoskeletal class, which he finds difficult. I think he may be getting used to that class now. He was not very happy about his test mark, but he can throw out one exam mark, so that makes it better.
I seem to ahve let go of my need to micromanage his schoolwork. I told him after the first week that if I asked what he needed to do for homework/school that night to tell me not to ask. I just end up taking it on. Thank goodness we didn't have children, what would I be now? unbearable, that's what.
We may go up to some friend's cabin for Thanksgiving. The one we went to with Mom and Al when Al was in town. Just for the day on Sun or Sat. I have to work Fri evening and Mon evening. It'll be beautiful up there.

Karna Pics

We have posted our pictures from Karna. Go to Jesse's blog at jdavidrobertson.livejournal.com and find the pictures link on the right hand side. I realized today when I was captioning them that we a) didn't take as many as I had thought and b) forgot to take many of the actual town, insted going wild over the surrounding scenery. Still, the scenery is great!

Karna

Well, I was going to post about Karna, but looks like Mom beat me to the punch! It was really neat to go there, and very easy to get to, providing you're in Europe! It was a really beautiful town, and very lively. I don't know what I expected- maybe that after Grandpa and Uncle George left people would lose hope? I guess not.

We are in Budapest for a while, and if anyone remembers the atrocities that Jesse passes off as witticsms, you can imagine the jokes that I'm putting up with.

Woonsocket

Woonsocket

Is the name of a city in Rhode Island (which is not an island at all), and where I spent last week. It was kind of a last minute trip, found out on Wednesday that I was leaving on Sunday. The flights there were OK, from Edmonton to Toronto, on a big Airbus, 320, then from Toronto to providence was a little Beechcraft, 18 passengers, two crew, the pilot and first officer. So the first officer doubled as the flight attendant. This plane had a bathroom, at the back, two seats in each row, so I had a window and an aisle seat. But I was seated over the hump, and so had no room under the seat in front of me to put my stuff. The First Officer /Flight attendant was very nice and stored it up at the front of the plane, with the crew stuff.

Once I landed I collected my stuff, found the car rental place, hopped into my RAV4 and was on the road to Woonsocket. On the map it looked very straight forward, a couple of different hiways and I should be there in half an hour or so. An hour later I am still looking for Woonsocket, it is starting to rain like crazy, and I am wondering if I will have to sleep in my vehicle. In my defense, I followed all the road signs, pointing to Woonsocket, I just could not seem to find the Holiday Inn. I decided I would do one more turn, and then drive for 5 minutes, and if I could not find it, try and find a phone, and call the hotel. I guess that was all I needed, because two minutes later, I found my hotel, and I was so relieved.

In the daylight Woonsocket seems like a pretty city, lots of old houses, it is inland so no ocean views. I asked at the front desk how to find the office, and the lady gave me the following directions, turn left as I leave the hotel, drive for awhile, go through some lights, and then she was not sure how many, then turn left, and I should be where I want to go. Great I thought, this should be easy, but it wasn’t. I had the address of building, and I turned on Social street, looking for the right number, only to find, they don’t rely show the numbers, at least not where I could see them. So it took circling around anumber of times, before I decided to go into a parking lot, to see if I could see numbers if I walked a bit, and found the office, not that it had a number on it, but at least the company logo was on it.

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful, worked long hours, so did not see much other than the hotel, and office. When I go back in a couple of weeks, hopefully will see more, because I plan on staying over a weekend.

Tomorrow, I am off to Montreal for a few days, will miss Mom in Edmonton. And will be leaving there before Mom and Anne get there so won’t connect there either. Oh well everything does not always work out.