Here we are, the first of a long series. One thing Simon asked that day was: "when is it going to be my last day of school"... and I am thinking... in 20 years or so??! So glad he doesn't know.
Here he is, as proud as possible.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Before September ends... Simon's first day of school
Here we are, the first of a long series. One thing Simon asked that day was: "when is it going to be my last day of school"... and I am thinking... in 20 years or so??! So glad he doesn't know.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
More Media exposure for the Westgate Jam
The recent article in the Calgary Real Estate news got expanded, and we got published in the "Neighbours" section of the Calgary Herald today.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Did you know ?
Is this a coincidence or what???
Une bonne année 1959, et pas seulement pour les grands crus de Bordeaux !
Joyeux Anniversaire Judy !
Judy's 5-0 Day...
Heading out to host Business Over Breakfast...
and spend a little time with Richard Dean and Joe Martin at Business over Breakfast before a meeting, a massage...home to answer happy mail...
(What say we do DISNEY for Karen's 50th? Gotta plan ahead!!)
Finishing THE day climbing and sharing brownies with fellow Sportrockers Ed, Jason and Maggie...
And dinner with JJ, Angela Dingle, Mike & Ellen Tanner, Courtney Fairchild, Bob Hawkins, Maggie & Guy Timberlake, Lawrie Hollingsworth, and Mike (with Joan, out of frame)Wangler...
and photographer Sam Jelinek
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Thanks, Mom!
What A Great Ride It's Been So Far...Glad you'll all be with me for Act Two!
I'm so grateful for the chance I've had for all of you to be in my life...all the things I've gotten to do, places to see...
But the best things of all are the love and caring of friends and family. Everything else is just stuff.
Looking forward to Toronto in early October...and to whenever the next liaison with Calgary
may be...Love,
Judy
Birthday milestone
Many Happy Returns of the day Judy!
Hope it's full of surprises
We'll mark the date when you're in town in a couple of weeks!
hugs and kisses
from all the woolley ones! - even a few hours early.
Hope it's full of surprises
We'll mark the date when you're in town in a couple of weeks!
hugs and kisses
from all the woolley ones! - even a few hours early.
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Mr. Hogan once again
Fiona's got the same teacher as last year and she'll do great. I love that the learning curve of how to make her click will be NULL and she'll be off to new adventures as of 2 minutes from now. She's sitting beside Chris - new neighbour and classmate on the bus. We'll hear all about it come 4 pm.
more wood due in a few minutes.
quick tea time!
project dining room
WE're back at the room, moussing so the mouses stay away. oh, and there's the heat loss benefit too.
Fiona's been a big helper
here you can see her new buddy from down the street - Christopher - peeking from the Queen room's vent!
And the wood arrived, and will keep arriving for another day and a half.
we'll have 5 rows by the time it all arrives - about a cord each row. Not sure how much we'll use this season, but we hope to have some left and not run out. The new wood stove will arrive once the floor is in. Have to call this am to see when the tiles arrive to get that done.
Monday, September 07, 2009
Labour All Over
(and now, making a rare reappearance on the blog...)
I joined in with a group of local climbers volunteering to do some trail maintenance at Great Falls park. (Will work for food: they fed us bagels beforehand, mini Clif bars on the go, and veggieburgers afterward.)
Swinging a pickaxe was a relaxing way to burn off energy and the people were great to spend time with. I may have met another couple of people I can climb with. Best of all, it was wonderful to just be out in the woods for the morning...it just feels like a cathedral to me.
Our work crew spent four hours re-shaping the grade of 30-foot stretch of trail to redirect runoff so that water bars (which slow trail erosion) would once again be able to do their job.
The tools are a Pulaski and a McLeod, both invented by midwestern firefighters to minimize the number of tools that had to be carried when being dropped into forest fires. McLeod tool is a combined rake/hoe that Wikipedia describes as a "Tough, solid raking tool widely used by wildland firefighters at the fireline. Doubles as a hoe or tamper for use in matted leaves and moving loose ground rubble."
Today's Tool Tips:
The Pulaski combines an axe and a mattock in one head, similar to that of the cutter mattock...and is ideal for constructing firebreaks, as it can be used to both dig soil and chop wood. It is also well adapted for trail construction, gardening, excavation, digging holes in root-bound or hard soil. The invention of the pulaski is widely credited to Ed Pulaski, a ranger with the United States Forest Service, in 1911, who saved the lives of a crew of 45 firefighters during the disastrous August 1910 wildfires in Idaho. His invention may have been a direct result of the disaster, as he saw the need for better firefighting tools. The pulaski came into wide use by the Forest Service after 1913, and in 1920 the Forest Service began contracting for the tool to be commercially manufactured.
Sunday JJ and I took a couple hours to go cycling from our place over a path that opened in early summer and now lets you cycle across the Wilson Bridge to National Harbour (what's there? Besides the Gaylord where Lorne and Corinne stayed? The Gelato place, of course!)
Today was going to climb outside, but overcast with forecast rain isn't so great, so spent some time updating Flickr online photos for slideshow for birthday party, and will get out to yoga. Quiet day.
Friday, September 04, 2009
I always wanted one
Fiona finally has a bike that is the right size for her
She got to riding a two wheeler this spring but has been battling with one that was too small.
We pulled this SCHWINN out of the barn. It had been there for about 9 years - from the dump bike pile way back then. We cleaned it up and it came out nice! even the seat- complete with coloured flower power daisies was in great shape Butterfly handle bars and a banana seat. Fiona says its OUR bike - and I get to ride it too.
That's not child labour ....
Finally back online. Found missing password.
We're into reno mode as August turned to Sept, and we passed the 16th anniversary mark.
We targeted walls - removing the old pantry and gutting the dining room.
Removing the walls connecting that area really opened things up.
Tonight, Glenn and our buddy Mike put up the new support beam (the old one was really decor and didn't do much of anything) pretty much where the wall between Fiona's room and the spare room are - but on the main floor.
I'm MOOOOSing up the seams where the wall meets the studs and then lots of pink, vapor barrier and drywall.
The new wood stove should be here by the time mom comes we hope.
it all depends on floor tiles arriving.
We're into reno mode as August turned to Sept, and we passed the 16th anniversary mark.
We targeted walls - removing the old pantry and gutting the dining room.
Removing the walls connecting that area really opened things up.
Tonight, Glenn and our buddy Mike put up the new support beam (the old one was really decor and didn't do much of anything) pretty much where the wall between Fiona's room and the spare room are - but on the main floor.
I'm MOOOOSing up the seams where the wall meets the studs and then lots of pink, vapor barrier and drywall.
The new wood stove should be here by the time mom comes we hope.
it all depends on floor tiles arriving.
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
More Child Labour
Putting the kids to work...
Corinne was NOT going to let Chloe get paint on her clothes.
A couple of action vids. apologies to those on dial-up.
Wednesday Morning in Sorrento..
What happended to Tuesday? They say time flies when you're having fun, and I"ll tell you all, time is just flying sooooo quickly.
I've dumped the 2 GB card from the camera to the laptop 3 times so far, adn we're only half way done. The classes are great: Ivan's great. Yesterday, I wore my T-Shirt with his album cover on the back. I asked him to sign it, and he was flabbergasted. 'Cause he didn't release shirts like that!
It finally rained last night. about 2 hours worth, on an off, from a sprinkle to a torrent, with the winds to boot. The air was FINALLY clear and quite breathable yesterday evening. Unfortunately, this morning, it's back to smokey, and the forecast is again for 30 degrees in the BC interior.
I was up until 2:00 am on Monday night jamming, and then up again at 6:45 for breakfast. Then Monday started the Tae Chi classes. I did them Monday and Tueday, and we learned the first 8 moves, or so. It's interesting, but takes a good deal of "unlearning" from my Tae Kwon Do training. the class is going on right now, as I type, but I decided to do this, instead.
I had to ditch a workshop on "10 essential Dobro Licks" yesterday, in favour of the "Make your 1-5 come alive" bass workshop. A hard choice, but you do what you must. I think Ivan will re-perform the key licks for me so I can at least get them on video.
Last night, after the instructor concert, I went to the Slow Pitch jam (inside) and then the Old Tyme Jam (in the snack tent). I played until 12:45. Then decided I had stayed up too late the night before. and was on my way to bed. When I hear some more folks back at the old tyme tent.
And then I got the bass out again and played until 2:00. It's so amazing....
Gotta get to class in 4 Minutes!!!!
more later.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Back to School
It was back to school today for Benjamin (grade 8) and Natalie (grade 5). Benjamin is really happy to be seeing his friends again, and has some fantastic classes (yoga, ethics and -- can you believe it -- Lego Robotics!!) He has teachers that he knows and loves for the core classes, which will make those classes as good as they can be. Natalie is in a class without any of her best buds, so she was a little sad, but there are still lots of nice kids in the class. And since her teacher is new to the school (but NOT to teaching, thank heavens!) they didn't give her any of the trouble makers. I think it will be a great year for both!
The Monday Report from Sorrento
Where Did sunday go? whew. The camp progresses wonderfully. The smoke from the fires was pretty severe today; I understand they did a controlled burn on Mount Martin, just south of us, so that didn't make it any easier. But the ash wasnt' too bad.
I learned that there are about 140 students at camp this week. Compare this to the normal 220, and last weeks 270. The early school year start totally shifted things around for the participants. On the postitive side, there's never any lineups at dinner.
Tonight was the "band scramble" where you put your name in the hat, and they build random bands, and give you 15 minutes to come up with an arrangement - then you go on stage and play. We had 2 mandolins, 2 guitars, 1 banjo, 1 violin, and 1 bass (me). We did "Blue Rigde Cabin home", which is the ONLY song I've ever received instruction in singing harmony on. So that was fun. There's a video, I'll post it when I know how to.
I didnt' tell you that on Friday evening, just after arriving, I had my bass sitting on the festival stage while I was talking with a friend I had met last year, and I heard a sad "POP" sound from the bass. Turns out one of the seams around the face let go. So I brought it to the camp luthier, who, in a matter of 4 hours, glued it, clamped it, adjusted the tailpiece, and re-tuned it. All for $40, and it sound better than it has yet. That's cool.
The Actual dobro class is very good. Ivan Rosenberg is an awesome teacher, and he's teaching fundamental stuff that will build the basic vocabulary of playing. I'm enjoying it very much, and learning a ton.
There's more jamming tonight, and I'm ready!
dave.
I learned that there are about 140 students at camp this week. Compare this to the normal 220, and last weeks 270. The early school year start totally shifted things around for the participants. On the postitive side, there's never any lineups at dinner.
Tonight was the "band scramble" where you put your name in the hat, and they build random bands, and give you 15 minutes to come up with an arrangement - then you go on stage and play. We had 2 mandolins, 2 guitars, 1 banjo, 1 violin, and 1 bass (me). We did "Blue Rigde Cabin home", which is the ONLY song I've ever received instruction in singing harmony on. So that was fun. There's a video, I'll post it when I know how to.
I didnt' tell you that on Friday evening, just after arriving, I had my bass sitting on the festival stage while I was talking with a friend I had met last year, and I heard a sad "POP" sound from the bass. Turns out one of the seams around the face let go. So I brought it to the camp luthier, who, in a matter of 4 hours, glued it, clamped it, adjusted the tailpiece, and re-tuned it. All for $40, and it sound better than it has yet. That's cool.
The Actual dobro class is very good. Ivan Rosenberg is an awesome teacher, and he's teaching fundamental stuff that will build the basic vocabulary of playing. I'm enjoying it very much, and learning a ton.
There's more jamming tonight, and I'm ready!
dave.