renovations continue

We emerged from hibernation this summer with the task of building a new nest (pictures eventually...). In the midst of that process, we've been getting our musical muscles limbered back up. We've played a veritable smorgasbord of weddings and anniversaries. There's something great about playing the soundtrack to some good friends' greatest promise.

Anyway, the nest-building continues, with glee!

S.

corn and apples and sunshine and weekends

This weekend we've been pretty lucky. A few drives out of our home town of Winkler... once to Winnipeg, and once to Morden. The Corn and Apple festival is a fun place.

Nothing else to report really...

Well, there's lots to report, mostly of a "this is what we've done to the house" nature, and so I won't bore you with it... perhaps someday I'll summarize what we've all done, but for now you can rest easy knowing that we've been sleeping in the basement for that last month while we renovate the bedrooms upstairs. And it will be a while before we start sleeping above ground... but we're getting a lot closer every day!

slackers?

We haven't been hibernating as of late.  It's been more of a nest-building effort.  This is the nest:

There's a bit of work to be done.  I'l post details some time when I feel up to it.

S.

 

Las Vegas

Judith and I had a wonderful break celebrating a cousin's wedding in Las Vegas last weekend. There is nothing to get you back to life as a wonderful wedding, and visiting with family in a new setting, and 3 days of manufactured distopian fantasy in the form of 25 ridiculous hotels strung out like so many cubic zirconias along a 6 lane grid-locked highway beside the airport. These hotels had some pretty amazing features.

Birthday and Flood

I crossed the ol' annual milestone last weekend, and had a lovely day to
celebrate it, with wanderings and conversationings, and finally feasting.

Just the other day, Judith and I headed out with some friends to Glenlea
Manitoba, where the waters of the Red River keep on rising. It was
amazing to see the water covering the fields where crops are supposed to
grow. And seeing the iconic row of hydro poles marching through a lake
instead of across a grassy field. It called for Chinese food, which we
therefore ate at Delicious Vegetarian Restaurant. Recommend the eggplant
in black bean sauce.

That's your update of the moment. Hope you enjoyed!
S.

Failure

I've been practicing to get my Class 3 driver's license, with the hope that I'll be able to haul some equipment around the province this summer as part of my day-job.

Unfortunately, I failed. You know, I've always hated tests. They make me very nervous, and afraid of being stupid. It only gets worse now when it's a test for work rather than for school. And the last few tests I did for school went ok, though I hated them. Now I've gone and done a test, which I hated, and I failed it, which only makes it worse. A lot worse.

At least I didn't break anything...

S.

The end is extremely ... nigh!

With just some marking and submitting of final grades left to complete, Judith's life as a sessional professor is drawing to a close. It's been a wonderful experience, full of hard work and, in the end, triumph over what at times seemed like insurmountable obstacles.

We are still coming down from the high that was the Other Brothers CD release show - what an inspiring night. Inspiring enough that I signed up to drive out to Winkler on Monday night after work to play back-up on a few songs at their Winkler release. And that was a great time also.

And finally, I started training today in the fine art of operating a truck and trailer. By this time next week, if all goes according to plan, I will be allowed to drive commercial vehicles and trucks with a gross vehicle weight of... lots. I did jump a curb early on in my first trip, to which my mentor (in more ways than trailer pulling) responded, "well, now you've failed the test." It turns out that there is a bit of learning required before the test.

That's all for now.
S.