Posts from — May 2009

Our sister in-law Judy graduated today with her Masters in Business Administration from UNBC in Prince George. You really have to give her a lot of credit to go back to school at the age of 55 to get her Masters Degree. It is certainly something we (her entire family) are all very proud of her accomplishment and hard work to achieve this life milestone. It is definitely not something that we would ever think of doing at our age of 55. All the same a “BIG CONGRATULATIONS” to her. This event also provided the opportunity for a mini family gathering at their home on the North Nechako River, what a beautiful spot they have with landscaped gardens, a couple streams, ponds and at least three waterfalls. Attending the ceremony were her Husband – Dean, Daughter – Sabrina, her Mom and Dad – Betty and Afton, In-Laws – Murray and Joan and of course Brenda and I. Unfortunately Judy’s son – Blake was unable to attend the event as he was busy working hard in Fernie B.C. We all missed you Blake. Pictures below are from the commencement ceremonies and pictures taken in their garden area.

Last fall we signed up as volunteers for Western Canada Theatre Company which includes ushering at Sagebrush Theatre and the Pavilion Theatre. We have seen some good plays, some not so good plays, a variety of entertainers including the Symphony. It’s been great and we have certainly got to see a lot more culture and entertainment than we would have normally taken in. Well last night at the Pavilion Theatre we volunteered to work an “All Ages Concert”. We headed out expecting to have an evening that included a variety of local talent and the audience made up mostly of Mom’s, Dad’s and other family members. Well were we wrong. From the moment we showed up something didn’t quite look like your average evening of entertainment. There wasn’t the usual group hanging around the various areas of the theatre. There was however an interesting mix of hair styles, hair colors, clothing styles and the evenings entertainment was tuning up and the volume was similar to a Boeing 747 during take-off. Amanda was the Guest Services Director and she filled us in on the evenings events; this included 5 Bands performing. The music was Punk, Punk/Rock, Heavy Metal, Yelling, Screaming and it was extremely loud. I took the opportunity to step inside the theatre area and listen to one of the local bands. The lead singer introduced the song and said it was something to do about Police and the fact that we all hated them…… the lyrics went something like this; Bleep you you bleeping, bleep, bleep we think we are a bleeping, bleep off and need to be bleeped so we can bleep your bleeping, bleep, bleep, bleep. This was followed up with words that were sung so loud that I couldn’t completely understand them but it sounded like; @#$%&^%$#@!^&* and finally &^%$#@!!#@^^&&** be free from your &*^%^&*()()(*&^%%$$##%^&*oppression. Or something like that. A rough rendition of this song is posted on YouTube //www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIzw084VQ-U&feature=response_watch. Overall everyone was very polite and it was certainly a life experience………. L&B

Last night we were honored and our presence was graced by Lindsay’s sister Rheanna; or as she is better known “Rana” or Rana Banana”. She is a great gal, very friendly and always a source of many laughs. Prior to coming out to Calgary we invited Rana for a Sunday night dinner and it was good to get together with her and get caught up on what’s happening in her life. A while back Rana sent us an e-mail about the fact that there were no pictures of her on our web site Sillylog.com. So attached are a few pictures of Rana, Lindsay and then a group photo. We also had some good laughs when Rana and Lindsay tried on their high school graduation dresses. Finally, a Warning; if Rana comes to your house for a visit, any family, friends, cats, dogs or other pictures on your refrigerator will be edited and rearranged so that her picture is in center stage position. Evidence of this crafty maneuver is below in the last picture posted. Thanks for the visit Rana.

Saturday morning right after the Better Husbands Tour we headed off to Calgary for a visit with Jeff, Lindsay and Willow. The drive out was really good, very little traffic, the usual road construction and weather was not too bad. Most times we stop in Golden and The Golden Bakery downtown for a lunch; if you ever driving through Golden we suggest this little bakery for a very good and reasonably priced lunch. Once we arrived we had time for a quick visit and then we walked over to a nearby sports bar for dinner and to watch some of the Pittsburgh-Washington hockey game. Then we headed back home to settle in and watch the Canucks-Blackhawks; a bit of a disappointment.

Sunday morning we did some shopping and then headed off to Baker Park for a picnic and a game of full contact Bocce’. After that we headed back home to work in the garden and get ready for “Rana’s Visit”. More in the next post

This past week was my annual golfing adventure; “The Better Husbands Tour”. It’s a long story how the tour got this name, but trust me you really don’t have to be a better husband to get on the tour. But you do have to have a understanding better wife. Anyways, this is the 13th year for the tour and this year there was 30 guys; in the past there has been as many as 48. The tour started last Sunday at Osoyoos Desert Course, Monday we played Inkameep, Tuesday back to Osoyoos Park/Meadows, Wednesday and Thursday at Fairview and we finished Friday at Tobiano. Between golf rounds we drank a few beers, played some poker, sang some guitar songs had a group dinner and then drank a few more beers. My golf game was not at it’s top but i did manage to win a couple bucks. All in all it was a great week.

Last Tuesday we headed out early for a real quick overnight visit to Princeton. Picked up a coffee and Tim Bits at Tim Horton’s and we hit the road. We were checking the calendar and realized that we needed to take the opportunity for a quick visit and a grand-kid fix since it will not be till June when we get to see them next. Oh Ya! We also had a good visit with the parents.

Sage had a real busy day scheduled. She was off at Pre-school when we arrived however she got home just before lunch. After a delicious lunch that Tamara made there was a few moments to play and have some quiet time and then she was off to her Highland Dance Class. Now, that was the funniest and cutest thing you could ever imagine. A group of about 12 little girls all learning to dance and the instructors doing their best to help them learn. They were practising for a dance recital at the end of May.

After dance class it was back home to quickly change into Baseball gear for her first Tee-Ball game. Sage did real well learning how to throw the ball, hit the ball on the tee-stand and how to run the bases. When it was her turn to run the bases she had no problem running from home base to first base as her coach was at first base. When it was her turn to run to second base she started off towards second base, but there was another dad there helping out and she did not know him and I was at third base urging her to run fast, well she saw me and immediately took a left turn and headed straight from first to third right across the pitchers mound.

At both dance and tee-ball Conrad was busy trying to escape from Mom, Dad and grandparents. He is getting steadier on his feet each day and will break into a fast toddle/run as best he can to escape.

Well, we have been busy and have not updated our Blog for a while. So a brief re-cap since the last post.

Our good friends Fred and Barbara from North Vancouver came for a weekend visit. It is always great to have them visit. We spent the weekend exploring the local events in Kamloops. From the Farmers Market, to an Artists exhibit at St. Andrews on the Square, a coffee downtown at Zack’s and then we went for a bike ride to the North Shore to walk through the Home Show. We drank some very nice red and white wine that they brought us; and had a great dinner on Saturday night. This was also the start of our planning for next May and the Bike and Barge trip to Holland we plan to take together. Fred and Barb are getting ready for their June sightseeing and bike trip to Prague CZ, Germany and France, it was fun going over the maps, reviewing their upcoming travel plans and learning from their previous travel experiences.