She's Back!

I thought I'd start writing a few things down again. I still have trouble remembering how to get started but I think I have it now.
Michael, I just read about the surprise visit. The reason those of us who have European genes can't cope with these kind of surprises is, that we need to be in total control. When that isn't possible we panic. I know how you feel. It amazes me too how well things still work our even if we aren't in control. Uta is really good at ad-libbing, or at least it always looks like it. Maybe she is just good at taking control at the moment.
We have had unbelievable cold weather for more than 2 weeks, broke all kinds of records - one day it was even colder than both the North and the South Pole. Yesterday the weather finally broke and we have now minus single digits - at least for most of this week, then back to WINTER. We are getting ready to leave for the South and West at the beginning of February. A few more items to take care of first. Andy had his optometrist visit today - the one for after the cataract surgery. He is getting new glasses and they will be close to "average", according to the sales person. That means no more heavy/thick lenses, just some correction. They will be the lightest weight for him in many years. Once the new glasses arrive ( in 1 to 2 weeks) and we have gone to the doctor for our prescriptions for the next couple of months, we can start packing.
Karin has her own place now, we put up drapes in her living and dining room last week. She has made the place look quite nice and I wish I could report that all is well on that front but unfortunately the amicable separation is turning out less than hoped and it looks like she will have to help a lawyer get rich if Scott doesn't smarten up soon. We are trying to give her as much support as possible. Every other Friday the kids come here for the evening for pizza and a movie (or TV or Computer games) while Karin curls. She is a very busy girl with job, kids, and classes (she is studying for Certified General Accountant - one course at a time).
Curt and Andra are fine. We see them mostly just at soccer games and Andra drops in occasionally for something. Erin now has a job in a teen clothing store - part time after school. Meagan, the jock, spends her time at soccer or training. She now has a personal trainer as well to build up strength and muscle. Andra will again look after our house while we are gone. We have promised to return the favour in April when they are going to Vancouver for a soccer tournament (Curt coaches Meagan's team again)and then Erin will stay with us. She is not interested in soccer and doesn't want to miss school. She is an A+ student and very focused.
That's all for today.

Alaska - second part

So we sailed out of Vancouver at about 5 PM and spent the first night and the following day at sea. It was foggy, the mountains were mostly obscured by clouds. We don't even have any pictures of that first day, it was just not photo weather. Our first port of call was Juneau. We had booked a shore excursion from home a while back - a trip by float plane over the mountains and glaciers to a lodge pretty much in the middle of nowhere, for a salmon bake. The first thing we saw upon arrival was a sign warning that there were bears. Some young men were walking around with long poles and I wondered what that was about. They turned out to be the bear chasers, had a mother bear and two cubs up in a tree very close to the BBQ pit and kept them in the tree with these poles. Meanwhile the guests were all over the place, taking pictures and being the usual nuisance. Once the salmon was cooked on a big outdoor BBQ and everyone went inside to eat, the bears came out of the tree and helped themselves to the left-overs on the grates. Some paws got singed in the process but that didn't keep them away. They also eat the sand that is under part of the grates, that soaks up the drippings from the salmon. The lodge had a big picture window looking out to the pit, it beeing only a few meters away, we got some really good pictures. The only other wild life we saw there were thousands of mosquitoes. Several cans of bug spray waiting for us as we arrived at the lodge should have been a first clue. Anyway the food was wonderful and the trip in and out over the mountains and glaciers was unbelieveably beautiful. You don't get to see things like that anywhere else.
The ship moved on through the night, arriving in Skagway the next morning. Michael might remember that place - it was were we boarded the ferry when we came out of Inuvik, and were the captain invited Michael to steer the boat. We went on an all day land trip in Skagway, mostly by bus into the Yukon territories through some awesome country, along the trail of the gold rush, then back to catch a narrow gauge railway back to Skagway. Michael, do you remember the train from Whitehorse, Yukon to Skagway, Alaska --it was the way we travelled when we left Inuvik. I know it was a long time ago (1978), but I wonder how much of that you remember. The country is rugged, high mountains, tight valleys, everything either green or bare rock. The train travelled very slowly (2 1/2 hours for a 27 km stretch) because of all the tight curves and high elevation with wooden tressles. Often you could see the front or back end of the short train around the curves. The ship again travelled over night and we arrived in Glacier Bay the next day. It is a bay full of broken off ice, that "calves" off the glaciers that end at the waters edge. When the ice breaks off, it makes loud noise like gunshots. We saw a black bear family along the shore - not on the ice. Again we sailed overnight and arrived in Ketchikan in the morning. It is a nice little town, almost all of it built on pilings over the water, because the whole island is bedrock with only a couple of inches of soil covering it. Here we had booked a half day boat tour to a crab research station, where we learned how the crabs live and are caught, measured and released. Then the boat took us to a lodge were we had a crab feast, the freshest crab possible, and as much as we could eat. Andy managed 2 whole crabs, I am a lot slower at picking them apart and only managed one. For dessert it was cheesecake with freshly picked wild blueberries. We skipped supper on the ship that night. That was the last stop on the cruise, the next night, day and last night were at sea. The first part of that was only water with nothing to see, except we did see some whales, then when we got closer to Vancouver Island we sailed close enough to shore that we could see the bays and mountains. It was again quite cloudy and partially foggy. We arrived in Vancouver at 5 AM, were off the ship by 9 AM then spent the rest of the day with all the different stages to get home: customs, bus to airport, 4 hour wait for the first plane (Vancouver to Edmonton) another wait for the connection to Winnipeg, where we arrived around 9 PM. Alaska is really worth while to see, we are really glad we went. The ship wasn't as nice as the one to the Panama Canal, although it was still great. The food wasn't as good and neither was the service - but that is another story. We would go with them again - but only if they offered a destination we wanted and no other line was offering it. Well, that's it for this trip. Time to plan the next one.

Alaska

Andy and I returned from our Rocky Mountaineer and Alaska Cruise on Saturday (Aug. 25 2007). We flew from Winnipeg to Calgary on Aug. 15th, then from there to Banff by bus. After a tour of Banff and settling into our hotel, we had the afternoon and evening free to do what ever we wanted. We wandered around some, but the whole town of Banff (downtown) is a construction zone and hot and dusty. We turned in early, next day was going to be long. Next morning started at 5 AM; after breakfast and a transfer to the train by bus, we borded the Rocky Mountaineer for 9 o'clock departure. There were fifty-some people in our group, so it took a while. Did I ever mention, I hate bus tours with large groups? We travelled through some awesome scenery, took lots of pictures. The train is a tourist train, travels only in daytime, and we had our hosts (3 on the train and one more joined for the cruise) from our travel agency along to look after all the big and small problems - luggage, transfers, hotel etc. Breakfast and lunch were served at our seats by a very nice attendant, who was also the commentator for the 2 days. She had amazing knowledge of history and lots of stories and details. Also, she knew were the best places were for taking pictures, where to look for wildlife, osprey nests etc. By about 5 PM we arrived in Kamloops, were transfered by bus to our hotel then after a very short time were taken to a dinner and stage show. It was a buffet for about 400 people, probably the best I have seen - usually these things have cold, mediocre food, long line-ups and are generally messy. Not this one! The comedy show was about a train robbery in the interior of B. C. around the time of the gold rush. It was very enjoyable. Before the actual show started, Andy, along with several other people who were celebrating landmarks, were acknowledged. We were bussed back to the hotel after the show and went to bed, to be fresh for another early morning. So, back to the train, for the next leg - Vancouver. Now comes the camera story. All our luggage, except one small suitcase containing a change of clothes, wash bags and camera and a few items we needed, went by truck from Banff to Vancouver. In the morning we packed our little suitcase (how hard is that?) and left the hotel. When we got to the train Andy couldn't find the camera (the one we bought in China for the wedding - you remember the story). Panic of course. The tour's host phoned the hotel and asked them to check our room and they were going to send it right down - before the train left. However the train left and "no camera" for the second half of the Rockies. Everyone felt bad for these people who had lost their camera so early on the trip. So we took pictures with our brain. In Vancouver the same scenario, bus from train to hotel and still no camera. We had hoped it would catch up with us by then. So what do we do now? You can't go to Alaska without a camera and we leave in the morning! Two doors from the hotel was a London Drugs with a camera department so we bought a new one - thinking what if our camera turns up by the time we get back from the store. It didn't! Not until Andy opened the small suitcase and took out a bundle of clothes. There was the camera, it had got tangled up in the clothes when he packed and ended up in the suitcase without making a peep! It was never intended to be in the suitcase. After some discussion about returning the new one, we kept it. It has some features that the Kodak doesn't have. Andy wants to be able to take action pictures - read "soccer" and this one will do that. It also has a setting that takes out some of the shaking. Anyway, we now each have a camera, and that's ok too. So that is the camera story. The hardest part was to have to tell our host that all her efforts were in vain and to admit where we found it. So this is the end of the first part of our trip. Next day we were re-united with the rest of our luggage from Banff and were taken by bus to the cruise ship terminal and transfered onto the ship - Holland America - Oosterdam, arriving early afternoon, in time to partially unpack and go for our first dinner in the dining room. More next time.

A Busy Week

Our granchildren, Trevor and Rachel, left for home today. It was a busy time and we are not used to this much commotion. The kids were good most of the time, spent hours watching TV and even more playing children's games on the computer. One day we went to the museeum but Rachel soon got bored and became a bit of a nuisance. When she couldn't get her way she crawled into a hole in the bat cave and pouted, but that got her nowhere. We went home soon after that episode, it was just too long for her. We did see lots of interesting stuff though: prairie wildlife including buffalos, Indian villages, a replica of a sailing ship (pretty small for having come across the Atlantic Ocean), lots of Indian and Eskimo clothing, etc, etc. Food was an issue for Rachel as well, she is the most picky eater I have ever known, even the brand of Soya sauce matters, it's either the right brand or nothing. She would eat nothing but buns and tomatoes if she could get away with it. We finally settled on bread or toast and either peanut butter or Nutella for breakfast for both, and for supper I confered with them about what we would have. We had spaghetti and meatballs, bbq'd chicken breast (which Rachel wouldn't eat because Andy tried to teach her how to cut them herself), Pizza of their choice, and pyrogies( Ukrainian dumplings) with sour cream. Trevor is much easier, he likes most things.

We are leaving for Alaska in 3 days so I have things to get ready for that. Andy and I both went shopping today, I got 2 pairs of shoes (sandals) and Andy got several pairs of pants and shirts. Now I have to shorten the pants a bit, but first they need to be shrunk by washing them, so I can tell how much shorter they need to be. Then we will be ready to pack. Tomorrow night (Sunday)we are invited to Karin's for supper, Monday night Andy has an executive meeting for the condo that we live in, and Tuesday evening we leave for the airport. Almost time to panic because I want to clean my house before we go! Andra will come to check our house while we are away. We will be back Aug. 25th. with lots of new tales.

Joan, thanks for your interesting blog. I love to hear what you do every day. It is not quite as nice as talking to you in person but at the moment it is the best we can do. I have no special wish for "our" baby's name. One of my older grandchildren (Erin) and her mom thought "Emma" would be nice, but I think it is only up to you and Michael what you name your baby. Having both a Chinese name and an English name is a good idea - maybe it could be something that sounds similar (like what Nick and Wendy did), that would make it easier for both sides of the family as well as for the baby when he/she grows up. When Michael was born we chose his name because it is similar in all Western languages - and so it would be easy for him in Canada, and equally easy for his grandparents in Germany, who spoke no English - only German. But we also chose the name because we liked it.

On the weather scene, it is still sunny and hot with lots of thunderstorms. Parts of Manitoba had hail to wipe out some of the crops. So far we have been spared in our part of Winnipeg.

My next entry will be after we get back from Alaska. Take good care of each other, and stay cool. Mom.

Welcome Joan!

Joan has now joined the family bloggers. Welcome Joan. Now that you have started, this is what I would like from you: details of what fills your days - and not only when you feel "not so good", but everything you did and things you saw outside your home. Remember, we don't get to see those things every day. Have you and Michael decided on the baby's name yet? Have you seen any exciting things you want your baby to have? What are your hopes and dreams for the new little person?
Now here is what we did in the last few days. Yesterday we travelled to Kenora, a small town in Ontario about 200 km from Winnipeg. We went with another couple (we met them on our cruise to the Panama Canal) to bottle our&their wine. Kenora has a u-brew place that we have been using since I came to Winnipeg. For some reason Manitoba doesn't allow u-brews, however it is ok to go out of province and bring the wine back. We each bottled 90 bottles, their poor Toyota Rav RV was almost dragging. It was cool and dark from clouds when we left at 8AM but by noon it was hot and muggy again, the way it has been for the last 2 weeks. We were back in Winnipeg before 4PM and invited out friends to stay for a BBQ supper of steak, large bourbon shrimp, and potato salad and coleslaw which I made the day before. It was a fun evening for all of us.
Today we were invited to a farewell luncheon for a girl that worked with Andy for CISIP. Even though he has been retired for more that 2 years, he is still included in some of their "does". They worked for a frustratingly mini-managed organization located in Ottawa, but the office here in Winnipeg had great cameraderie, maybe because the job was so frustrating. After the luncheon we ran some errants before coming home to our nice cool home. It was really hot again, but very windy today. We spent part of the afternoon putting shrink caps on our newly bottled wine and now it is nicely "filed" away in the basement. Supper consisted of left-overs: potato salad, coleslaw and cold barbequed chicken from a couple of days ago. Now Andy is watching a football game - Toronto/Montreal - on TV. I usually just watch the last half hour. That's enough for me. I need to get back to my sewing - Barb sent me a pattern for a baby bunting bag that I want to attempt.
This weekend is a "long" weekend. Karin's kids are coming on Monday to spend a week with us. Also on Monday Andra has invited us to a BBQ in honour of Andy's 65th birthday. It is on Aug. 4th. On that day just Andy and I are going to a special restaurant for dinner. We don't do presents but we do celebrate by going out.
All of the above may not sound very exciting to you, but you wanted to know about what we do, so there it is.

Trip to the country

A neighbour invited me to go to Stonewall for lunch today, a small town about an hour out of Winnipeg. Beautiful sunny day, not as hot as it has been, we could even eat lunch on the terrace. The attraction for me was that there was supposed to be quilt store there, for her it was a craft and gift store and a scrap booking store. So we had a nice lunch, in an old house with a tea room, nice tea cups everywhere. I wasn't impressed with the gift store, but then that's not really my thing anyway. The scrap book place was so crammed full of stuff, it wasn't fun to shop so we left there and walked to ....you guessed it....the quilt shop. Wow, with all the quilt shops I have seen, this one is by far the nicest, lots of inventory and really well displayed, and so much variety. I had to buy something just because it was such a wonderful store, so I bought a cutter blade, and a few fat quarters for gifts. I also picked up a brochure for a 3 day retreat in Sept. in a monestery in another small town not far from Winnipeg. I am really interested in going to that to finally meet some other quilters from this area. Andy doesn't object so it might happen if I get myself in gear and decide.
We got back from Stonewall just in time for me to change my clothes and leave again with Andy, pick up Andra and drive into town to meet Curt for supper. The boys went to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers football game, while Andra and I went clothes shopping and then home.
So now I am home and Andy is still at the game.
Not quite as exciting as your monsoon weather, but a good day anyway.

Got It!!!!

Well, I finally got it. It seems I have 2 blog acccounts, one of them being a google account with nothing on it. It's likely because I typed by Gmail account somewhere when it should have been the shaw account. So, Michael, you and I were looking at 2 different things last night, and that's why we didn't see the same thing. Now I know how to get into the correct one. The next question is how to get rid of the other one. (It was also the one I was making profile changes to, that you couldn't see).
I am off to a lunch date today, with a neighbour. Some country craft (maybe quilting) store and restaurant in a small town about an hour away. If I get back in time, Andra's family and Andy and I will go out for supper before the "guys" go to the football game. Otherwise they will have to go without me. My life is so tough!!! Gotta get ready to go.