Monday, June 30, 2008

from the houseboat!

I'm sure most of you will read this in your turn when you borrow Anne's or Jude's computers!  Mrs. Robinson is playing right now, as Lisa and Richard begin to clean up from a wonderful supper of ribs, pasta salad, spinach salad, and a great desert of chocolate mousse with strawberries!

Saturday, June 28, 2008

See you tomorrow!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Weekend in TO

it went by quickly, I was planning on working for part of it, but could not bring myself to open my lap top. Saturday morning I walked from my hotel to the Royal Ontario Museum, took about half an hour. It was not really warm, and I passed by the Ontario Legislature. The museum was really good, and not too crowded, another bonus. After the museum, I took a walk down Bloor street, with all the chichi shops. I stopped at a Winners, picked up a few things and then waltzed into Holt Renfrew with my Winners bag proudly displayed, thinking ha, I got it for less. sunday morning I met my friend Siobhan for breakfast, in an area called the Beaches. I took the streecar there, I really like the public transit here, it is very frequent and does not take long to go any where I want to get to. Siobhan lives in the beaches area, and also gre up there, so we walked along the beach to her house, and she drove me back to the hotel, and gave me a tour of the area. Rminded me of driving with Dad, as he gave the visitors the tour in the Dodge.

My birthday was fine, pretty low key, and thank you to everyone who emailed, texted and posted on my wall, it is lovely to be remembered. We had a team dinner (IBM project team and the client resources) so I had dinner out on my Bday, paid for by the client and IBM.

I am getting very excited about travelling to Rocky, Kelowna and the Shushwap, can't believe we get on the boat in less than a week. Sad to hear that Tim and Sam won't make it, but we will have to sing extra loud to make up for the smaller numbers.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

One week

So, i have done my duty so far as exercising goes, but still need to clean the house. How many virtuous things can I do in a day? Still, i have to clean as house is disgusting me.
I only work one more shift, then am off for many days. Thank you holidays.
I saw an article on Mull today in the paper, then started looking at vacation ideas for Scotland.
All this to avoid housework. If I were in school, the house would be clean so that I could avoid studying. Actually, I still have the course I'm doing on mental health, but it is honestly super easy. Last test I didn't study and got a v.g. + grade. I would prefer a course that has more that I actually didn't already know.
Last set of shifts was ok, I got out of working in icu, which was grand, but then spent next 2 days doing adolescent crisis beds. It went fine, but it was the 1st time those beds have been used, and I felt somewhat like a guest in someone else's home, that is not particularly welcome. It is a political thing as the kid I was with was acute care, but the unit is tertiary care, and apparently there is controversy about mixing the two. whatever. My opinion is do whatever is in the best interest of the kid. Who was fine to be with, except that spending 12 hours with the same person 1:1 is tiring and gets dull. From my perspective. And I missed going to the charge nurse workshop that I was registered for because no one else was able to work there. Perhaps time to do more training?
This entry is not particularly uplifting is it?
And somewhat whiny.
I sure am looking forward to boating and seeing everyone! And singing!
Weather right now has been cloudy off and on, but warm, and is supposed to get warmer and sunnier as week progresses.
Since Tim and Sam can't come (too bad), Theresa and Geoff have offered to do their breakfast. We can pick up/bring the sundries we'll need. (we as in whoever is in Kelowna before we go).
Richard has the time off, and has saved email saying that, just in case. If they put him on the schedule, he should just not look ahead on the schedule and not answer the phone.
OK, am going to clean now.
Theresa, I'm glad your eye is OK.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Flying trip to the city

All was good at my eye doctor visit. He said I had a little bit of separating at the edge of my retina but nothing to worry about. I can't think of any other body parts that need to be checked so I hope I am done with the doctors.
We had a good time. Thank you Chez Jude. We filled the plant bottles and turned off the water as per our instructions.
Went for a new job celebration supper with Allison - Thai food. Delicious food and a good visit.
Then we went today and wore out the credit card. New shoes all around plus other nice but not exactly necessary things.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Went to Calgary to get Anne yesterday. She was the last person to come out of customs and she came out without her luggage. It wasn't lost, though, everyone knew where it was. It was on the way to Vancouver. It seems that the luggage handlers took some Vancouver bound luggage out of the plane, realized their mistake, put it back and were just going to take out the rest of the Calgary luggage, when an executive from GlobeSpan who was on the plane told the pilot to just leave because he wanted to get to Vancouver. So off they went with some travellers' luggage. GlobeSpan then informed all the people without their bags that they would have to pick them up at the airport and no, GS would not pay to deliver it to anyone's home.
So Anne had a high school reunion to go to, and nothing to wear except what she had on. However, we stopped at Winners in Red Deer and found a dress and bought underwear.
The luggage came today, but we had to pay for it. Geoff has fired off some e-mails so we will see if we can get our delivery money back.
But it is great to see Anne, and we had fun shopping. Much better than when she and I were younger.
Went to Lou Soppit's 80th birthday party today! 80! He acts like he is 40. I have never seen anyone with so much energy.
Finally got out into the yard today. It didn't actually rain until after supper. Got the bedding plants planted. They have been sitting on the deck for 3 weeks waiting for their pots.
I gently mentioned once that Geoff doesn't really need his whole greenhouse and half of that space would make a nice summer sitting area. After some thought, he decided to take half down. Today he said, "I hate me," as he was trying to pull out all the extra nails he always puts in things he builds.

Saturday Morning at Home

The sun is shining the sky looks clear, a good weekend in Edmonton. The good thing with the rain, my plants did not dryout and they are looking very nice on the balcony.

I was going back and forth (in my mind) over going to the re-union in July, that means I will not be home for a month. but then I thought it might be quite awhile before there is another one, so I booked the flight from TO to Vancouver. I will stay overnight at a hotel around the airport and then meet up with the Mom and the Medicine Hat Robins. Rhonda and John have rented a log house, and they are graciously sharing with us. Some of the others will be camping on the property. I am looking forward to seeing the cousins and spending the weekend with them. Then fly back to TO on the Sunday.

Mom, I was thinking about you and Dad all day yesterday.

I will staying over in TO, this weekend, since I will be coming home on the next Wednesday, so I can go to see the last Ferrey graduate from High School in Rocky. Hard to believe that cute little girl, with the big blue eyes and white blonde hair is old enough to be graduating and to be going to University in the fall. The upside to staying over in TO, is that I might be able to go to the Shoe Museum, that will make it all worthwhile.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Winning All Around

Well done to all of you!
Grace for rugby award
Allison for permanency with pension
Sam for top quality marks
Anne for becoming a doctor
Will for becoming our ace in the hole, should the doctor miss something

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Rain rain go away

Haven't posted lately because we are finalizing the plans for our ark. Better get busy on the building or we will be swept away by the flood. We're selling berths; anyone interested?
We went with Grace to Colour Night last night, the high school sports awards. Usually they let the parents know if their kid is getting an award but we didn't hear anything so it was a surprise when Grace got the Coaches Award for rugby. It was a nice evening, better than I thought it would be. Anne, Brian Trevelyn was the guest speaker and did a very good job.
Anne will be home Friday! Yay! I am taking Friday off to get her, a day off will be welcome. And I also get next Monday off because I have to go see an eye specialist in Edmonton. As Dad said, never go to the doctor, they just find more things wrong.

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Librarians Build

My birthday was excellent. One of the reasons was that I was part of the Habitat for Humanity - Women Build group that my friend Pam from work organized. I was both STRONG and a GOOD PLANNER. We had to carry bathtubs between houses (and get them down tricky tight staircases), install windows, and break up chunks of concrete to get ready for landscaping. Several times I was asked to "bring in the muscle" to pull out a window that THREE people at once couldn't get out....although I think it was more the spot I pulled from than my brute strength. The little church ladies who brought us hotdogs for lunch sang Happy Birthday to me, and gave me two kinds of cake.

It was a really satisfying day, and my muscles aren't even sore anymore!



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Was going to do this earlier, but didn't get to it

Mom asked me to post something to say what the Dr said last Friday. Basically she doesn't know what it could be, and is setting up an appt to see and Ear Nose and throat specialist, but have not heard back on when yet. She is also sending me for pulmonary tests, because my chest is still sore. I expect to feel better any day now. My voice is getting better, I still sound like Minnie Mouse, but not all the time.

We had a meeting this week, of the whole project team, and the guy who was leading it was a Tintin clone, except he was not wearing the knee length trousers, but he had the whole flip in the front of his hair, and the facial features. I kept looking around for Captain Haddock.

My cooking partner and I are deciding on what would be a good thing to serve for breakfast, but so far have not had any brain waves, good thing we have more time to think.

Less than a month


Yay.
FYI, We are going to make ribs again. And was thinking of yogurt and granola etc for breakfast. And here's another photo seeing as we are talking of food

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

bday?

Grace tells me that today is Allison's birthday. I thought it was June 6. Well, whichever day, Happy Birthday!

Monday, June 02, 2008

Hanging up my cleats

I just got home from my last Rebels rugby game ever. If we would have won we would go to provincials, but instead we got fairly slaughtered. I think the score was around 40-12, but we were just happy to get those two tries. Of course Jovita scored both of them. I was very close to getting one. I was across the try line and everything, but it doesn't count unless you touch the ball down in a controlled manner on the ground. There were so many people around me I just couldn't get it down. That was fairly disappointing. But there was a scrum at the five meter line because of that, and Jo scored her first one off of that. So I guess I did help.

There are only three weeks of school left! I am excited for it to be over, but I don't want it to be because that means exams. I have a lot of studying ahead of me.

I got confirmed on Sunday. That was neat. The bishop was really nice and everyone made a big deal out of it. A bigger deal than was necessary in my opinion. There was a big ham lunch after with ice cream cake, and the church gave me a new big Bible. For one morning, I was a superstar.

Sunday, June 01, 2008

Will's Wild (And Wonderful) West Coast Week

I know that I'll always be an Alberta boy at heart, but I'm sure enjoying the Coast! I think I managed to get more good West Coast experiences into this week than any in recent memory. It all began on Monday, when I got to go out sailing on a ship! Not a boat, mind you, not a ferry, but a proper ship, with masts and sails and the whole deal. It's built to a 17th century design- that kind of ship. S.A.L.T.S. (Sail and Life Training Society) is a Christian group based in Victoria that takes kids out sailing. Sometimes classes go, and you can sign up for five day trips, or in the summer ten days. They take you out, teach you to sail, that sort of thing. Anyway, every now and then they have an open house, in the form of four hours out on the water, for the local pastors in Victoria. Kathy, the curate at the Cathedral, heard about this, and since two people from a church could go, signed her and me up. In the end, she was sick, and not able to go, but I didn't let that stop me!
We boarded from the docks by Warf Street, which is downtown, but not the inner harbour. There was a crew of five, and about twenty passengers, including some kids. When we got free of the harbour, they had us all help putting up the sail (which consisted of lots of pulling on some ropes) and then, since it's a two master, the other sail. They had us divided into watches, and my watch was on duty for the first part. It wasn't really anything- some of us kept a look out at the front for obstacles in the water, and one person steered. We took turns steering, I got to try it! It was very cool - I felt quite like Jack Aubrey! We were out for about three and a half hours, there wasn't too much wind, so we didn't go very far, or very fast. It was pretty cool though!

The other part of the West Coast Week was hiking the Juan de Fuca trail, which I just got back from. The JDF is a bit like the West Coast Trail, but easier. It's a trail that links a series of beaches. I went with my buddies Jeff and Kirk. Kirk does a lot of hiking, but Jeff and I don't so instead of doing the whole trail, we decided to hike into one of the beaches, and then do a day hike.
The trail head is about an hour outside Victoria. We were going to stay at Bear Beach, which is about eight kilometers along the trail - it's the third beach along. I borrowed a lot of gear from Kirk, which was pretty cool of him to let me, and used my backpack again- first time since Europe! The first two klicks were pretty easy- a gentle downslope to Mystic Beach. After that, it's six to Bear, and it's harder- lots of up and down, tree roots, that sort of thing. At the very end, to get down to Bear, there is a long stair case. The trail itself is pretty cool - the government keeps it in good shape, and there are stairs at the steepest places. In some places, there are stairs carved into fallen logs. We made good time to Bear, only three hours, with our packs on. There are camping sites just off the beach, with metal storage lockers to keep your food in. We had to pack in everything, of course, including food, so we ate lots of crackers with cream cheese or jam. For supper, we had bought dehydrated meals from MEC. It was just after noon by the time we got to Bear Beach, and we spent the afternoon exploring the beach, walking up the river by the camp, and relaxing. Jeff and I realized that we had forgotten to bring any cards, so we made some out of bark from a fallen tree. We also made a crib board. That night we had a fire on the beach, and we were sitting there, roasting marshmallows (three each per night) when all of a sudden Jeff jumps up and yells "Bear!" I looked up, and there were two black bears twenty feet away along the beach! We all jumped up -out of instinct really- and as soon as we did that, one of them took off running one way down the beach, and the other went the other way. Somewhat nervously we checked our camp, but it remained bear free. After that we made sure to put away all our food in the storage lockers!
The next day (Saturday) we planned to do a day hike. The next beach was twelve kilometers away, over what Kirk assured us was the hardest part of the trail. He wasn't wrong. It was all up and down, up one huge hill, and down the other side, across a creek, and all over again. Over the whole day, I think there was maybe half a kilometer of flatish ground. We didn't make it to the beach - we had to turn back to make sure we got back with lots of daylight left. Coming back was just as hard - up and down, endlessly. I was pretty grateful that we had left our packs behind! In total, we walked 19 kilometers that day- there and back. I figure that 19 with no packs is about the same as 12 with packs. My knees were getting pretty sore by the end of the day, and they stiffened up when I stopped moving.
This morning we were hiking back out of Bear to the trailhead. All those gentle downhill slopes on the way there were now not so gentle up hill slopes, and my knees reminded me every time I came to a set of stairs. We made it out in about two and a half hours. It was really tiring when we were hiking, but really fun too. The trail was mostly through the forest - cedar- and every now and then you would get a look out at the ocean. You could see Washington directly across, and to the west was just open ocean. There were lots of big trees down in the forest, partially the regular cycle, and partially from the bad storms a couple years ago. Some of the roots turned on their side were twice as tall as me!

And now I'm home, and sore and stiff, and really happy that we did it.