Tomorrow we head into BC -will see the grandkids soon

The pictures say it all. I'm so excited to see my new grand daughter ... as well as my beautiful little Shaya. Oh yeah, and Jill and Wayne as well.

Annnd.. maybe a couple of rounds of golf.

Life is good!

Bill and Pat.. wonderful WONDERFUL friends.

Julie and I have spent the past two nites with our great friends, Bill and Pat, here in Edmonton. I haven't told them how very much I care for them. They looked after me when I was in and out of the hospital last year, they opened their homes and their hearts to me and made me feel like I was one of the family. I totally feel like I am at home when I am visiting these two wonderful friends. They are in the midst of major changes in their lives with a move coming up this fall to Nova Scotia with retirement just around the corner. We figured that tonite was probably our "last supper" here on 97A Ave in Edmonton. Next time it will be lobster overlooking the Bay of Fundy (which isn't all that bad!!).

We love you guys and appreciate all that you have done for me. Life Is Wonderful!

Edmonton- arts, culture, botany, rain - NO Gold (yet)!

Well, we've been in Edmonton for 3 days not and it rains, and it rains, and it rains. So, we decided to get our cultural needs filled and visited the Edmonton Art Gallery (wonderful), the Muttart Gardens (wonderful - see photos) and, well, the golf will come. I got to spend some time with Jesse and I must say that he is really looking good and if he ever figures out what he wants to be when he grows up (gulp - he takes after his Dad!!), he is going to be OK. He's working for a roofing company now and seems to have fit in very well with his team.


We leave tomorrow. We have really enjoyed our visit here. Bill and Pat ALWAYS make us feel at home.

Life is Good!

Manitoba with mixed emotions.

We got to Manitoba on Thursday nite. Took a very interesting trip through the Whiteshell. We saw some beautiful scenery with lakes and rivers and some wild animals. A bear and a couple of fawns. We also stopped in at a historical spot called the Bannock Point Petroforms which is a sacred Aboriginal site that has a variety of rock formations that tell stories of the past. This site is still actively used for educational and healing ceremonies.

It was kind of interesting that at this point we have visited both Thunder Bay as well as Pinewa in the past 2 days and my very great friends (Bob and Jolene Willacy) were each raised in these towns - seperately of course as Bob grew up in Pinewa and Jo was raised in TBay... Figure the odds that this would happen that I would be in their home towns within two days of each other.

We headed down to Victoria Beach and spent a lovely day with big brother Dennis and Landa. It's always so nice to see them and spend time as well. The mixed emotions of this trip hit the next day on our trip to Lundar to visit Mom. Saturday was the date set for the funeral of my cousin Ray Peterson who succumbed to H1N1 a couple of days before Xmas. So sad to lose such a great person and he was relatively young as he died in his early 60's. The nice part of this visit was the fact that I got to see a lot of old friends and relatives that I have not seen for as much as 30 years and this (touching base with old time friends and relatives) is kind of a goal of mine over the next few years.

The next day, Sunday we hit for Erickson to cut the grass at my house and get ready for continuing west. Took a lovely picture of the canola fields west of Erickson. The colours are beautiful, the road is smooth, and I'm travelling with my best buddy... Life is Good!

Holiday time. North shore of Lake Superior to Manitoba

So on Thursday we left Duluth on a beautiful sunny day and drove up the north shore of Lake Superior to Thunder "fuddeling" Bay. The lake was perfectly calm and we stopped a few times to take photos. One very nice spot was Nanaboujou where we stopped at a beautiful old resort hotel for lunch. This hotel was built by some of the rich folks in the early 1900's such as Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey and others. We continued on from Thunder Bay and spent the night in Dryden which is quite a nice little city.

The next morning we took off for Manitoba... almost to BC????

Rylie Brooke Latimer...

Yahoo.... another beautiful grand daughter born on July 2nd. Rylie Brooke was born on Saturday and I can't wait to get out to Vancouver Island to see my newest grand kiddo.... Glad to hear Shaya is happy and proud of her little sister.

Congratulations to Wayne and Jill and Shaya... she is a beauty...

Life is GrrreaaaaaAAAAATTT

holidays have officially started!

Driving out from Erickson on June 23rd to Winnipeg to catch a flight to Yellowknife the next day. It was raining a bit.. as usual and I was struck by the huge impact the continuous rain has had on the poor farmers of Manitoba. I stopped at one spot between Gladstone and the #1 Highway and took a couple of fotos that said it all. Looked like Lake Manitoba across the fields and there is no way this will dry up in time to save crops.

The next morning, I flew out of Winnipeg and of course, never took my camera out of my truck so I had 5 days in Yellowknife.. really nice glorious sunny days but no photos. I saw a lot of friends.. played the sand covered golf course (won 9 skins on one hole the first day there) and had a great time attending my friend Surly Bob's wedding to the most wonderful lady you could imagine (waaayyyy too good for Bob).. Deborah...

I stayed with Chris and Ev.. who took off to Edmonton to attend Fred's retirement party from Norterra.. so Popeye and I bonded over a couple of days. I saw scads of people during my visit and had a wonderful time.. but I must say that I felt good to be leaving after 5 days.. In spite of a lot of good friends and memories, I haven't found "home" yet.

Flying back into Winnipeg on the 29th, I was again struck by the magnitude of the water laying across the fields as we approached our landing into Winnipeg. So very sad for the farmers.

Upon landing in the city, I decided to drive out and stay with mom overnite. May not see her for a couple of months so probably a good move. The next nite I drove into Winnipeg to attend a retirement party for my cute little sister. Russell and Dorothy are now both officially retired and ...damn.. no photos of the party. Anyways, a good time was had by all and after I left, I had planned to stay over nite, but anxious to see Julie and get her moved to Duluth so off I went for Zumbrota. I arrived at 730AM and promptly went to bed for a few hours. Over the next few days, Julie and I packed up all her stuff and moved it to Duluth where I know she will be sooooooooo happy. It's a great city and so pretty. More on this to follow but my next post will feature photos and information on my second beautiful grand daughter ...

Life is Good!