Today was a glorious sunny and blue sky day. Quite a bit cooler than we are used to though. (To think Nick was up on the garage roof Friday aft in shorts and bare chested priming the house). At least we do not have the snow that Calgary experienced. Turkey was in the oven by noon and the table set ready for guests to arrive. Thanks for the surprise visit Martha and the pumpkin present left at the front door. We have these pictures to thank you for. When I saw the turkey pic I knew right away it was you. The dinner was terrific. I cooked it with the Montreal Pepper spice and an apple stuffing and it is a keeper. Steve demolished the pumpkin pie made in his honor. Thanksgiving was stress-free and was enjoyed by all. How do you like Nick the new man sporting a beard? The Globe and Mail says that it is the look for the new millennium.

Nick has taken the week off work to toil at manual labour. We asked 4 house painters to do the job and they all refused because they did not want the hassle of scraping, sanding, tsp-ing and priming the surface prior to painting. I guess that is how things are expected these days. Anyway…. we are tackling the job ourselves treading carefully on the garage roof and clambering up high ladders. This is day 3 so far and we are no where near starting to prime and paint yet. We celebrated our days job yesterday with an all you can eat dinner at Barracuda’s. It was mussel night and nick had an order of all three flavours offered. (tomato sauce with Sambuca and feta, garlic and butter in white wine sauce, and a mild curry sauce). Did I mention that there were 24 mussels to each order……we’re going to call him mussel man now. I will post pics on the family album.

Ducana people are here this week to install some windows. They cut out an opening in the kitchen and put in a set of garden doors opening out into the back yard. They had a lot more work getting through the wall than anyone had expected. It seems that the brick mortar has cement mixed in with it and fought them every step of the way. I had to remove the plug under the window and more it to the side. Unfortunately the receptacle was in the middle of a run so we had to fish wire up, then over, the new opening and back down to another plug to complete the circuit. Lots of fun because there was stud spacers between each stud so we couldn’t just drop the wire down between the walls. They are working on the big living room window today. Check out this picture album page for images.

The boy’s were very anxious to get back to school. We all had a great summer with lots of happy memories for the summer of 2002. Brian grew and grew and grew! Peter is still waiting. Steve was a couch potato for 6wks when he had his cast on his foot. I don’t think anything will change now that he has it off. Nick is racing between Baseball tryouts, hockey earlybird tournaments, home errands and work seems to get in the way. We are enjoying the hot September sun and still swimming in our pool daily. Peter and Brian will be thirteen years old next week. yikes !!!!!! A household of teenagers. I may be planning a weekend getaway soon, very soon. Please browse the Bako photo album for updates.

The house is quiet now and I was left with instructions to “post our picture of our first day back.” Everyone was worried they wouldn’t be up in time for school but we all know it’s the second day they will wake up late! Laura starts her first year of high school today at CCI and Martha returns to the same class but different school room. It’s been a great summer with the girls home but now it’s time for all to get back to work :( I’ll close with this old Hebrew Proverb for educators… “A child is not a vessel to be filled, but a lamp to be lit”.

This afternoon Tom and Jackie left for Toronto in the truck. They took the last load of stuff for her apartment including her computer, comfy chair and a load of groceries. Jackie left me a voicemail to say bye bye (I balled). Her bedroom looks so bare and I miss her already. 
 They had to carry each box one by one by elevator to the 11th floor as there was no trolley. Then off to explore the neighbourhood. They walked along West Bloor to a fine Irish pub for supper and a brew. Tom is at Bako’s for the night, to visit and deliver the vacation CD of over 600 digital pictures :>).

Here is the latest for Jackie! 
 

Rosemary went to Chatham today to visit with Irene and Catherine. She is driving Catherine back tonite so we all get a visit, and Catherine is going to Toronto. We have been visiting daily to get the trip updates!? We need these updates ’cause it is our way of getting the “Scottish version” of taking a vacation ;-) 
 Hope to see the posts soon…

Look out Bowen Island here come the Gilliers, Bakos and McDonalds! 
 We will all be be staying at Doc Morgan’s for 7 relaxing days to celebrate the McDonald Family Reunion and Auntie Teeny’s 80th Birthday.  
 Forcast is low 80s to mid 70s. Yeah!  
 We are taking rain gear just in case! 
 Stay tuned for updates to the Family Blog :>)
Continue reading →

Peter went off to camp for the first time with his friend, Steve. They spent 2 glorious weeks on Lake Koshlong which is near Haliburton. It is a YMCA camp run out of Hamilton called Camp Wanakita. They were considered Intermediate campers and had lots of fun with kids their own age. They learned how to kayak, canoe, rapell down a cliff and scale a climbing wall. They also learned wilderness skills on a 3 day overnight canoe and tenting trip. The weather was great and the mosquitoes were hiding and not biting which is a real plus. They want to do it all again next year. We are all experiencing camp too with the daily renditions of the camp songs that are being repeated over and over again.
Continue reading →