On the Road Again

I took my summer vacation early this year. In early June I flew to Prince George to visit friends and to help celebrate the fiftieth wedding anniversary of dear friends Allan and Grace Solotwinski. Both Al and Grace worked for Scott in PG. Scott and family were able to attend the festivities so I
represented our family. It was a great five days.

Just 9 days later, I flew to Hamilton to visit with family. One of the events was an engagement party for nephew David and his fiancee, Stacy. A great time was had by all. We managed a trip to the outlet mall in Buffalo, lunch with long time friend Bev, dinners with family and a dinner out for Marie's birthday.





One of the highlights of my trip was meeting my new grand nephews Logan, on the left and Chase on the right, twin sons of Amber and Scott 9 weeks old. The other highlight was meeting my grand niece Mackenzie, daughter of Steve and Jenn who was 1 week old.




We planned a sibling and spouses vacation for 2009 ands got it booked. HURRAY!!!! It was a wonderful week but home still looks good. The door is always open for guests at anytime. Come experience the west. Until next time, enjoy your summer.

Vacationing in the South

The end of February saw West Jet and me off to Orlando, FL to be met by friends Sue, Ralph and June from Saint John, NB. We stayed with friends of Ralph and Sue's in Port Orange, Fl for 2 days before we journeyed to Port Canaveral to begin our Disney Cruise. The Tokar's home in Port Orange was beautiful. The community was called 'Spruce Creek Fly-In' and everyones' back yard was a hanger that housed their plane and other toys ( RV's, motorcycles and golf carts for getting around the community). Quite the place! While there we did some shopping and ate out as Floridians tend to do.

Saturday morning we headed off to Port Canaveral to board our ship. It was equipped with 3 pools, 2 movie theatres, 4 dining rooms and a fantastic spa that Sue and I took advantage of most days. Our cabin was on Deck 7 with a veranda. Great accommodations. We were at sea from Saturday afternoon until Tuesday noon when we docked in St. Maarten. We had experienced some engine problems over those last days and arrived late so our snorkeling adventure was cancelled but that made more time for shopping . Engine repaired, horns blasted to signal our departure at 7:30pm. Next stop, the island of St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands in the city of Charlotte Amalie. Terry and I had been there in 1985 when we did our sailing trip with folks from Saint John. The shopping was as great as I remembered. Again horns blasted - the tune of 'When you wish upon a star' - and we were off to Castaway Cay, Disney's own island. Over the week we had experienced some very strong winds and that was no different on Friday morning as we tried to dock at Castaway Cay. The captain made 4 attempts over 4 hours to dock the ship but the winds were across the deck and we were just a great big sail to be pushed around. He made a wise decision to abort any more attempts and sailed on. The staff were excellent about rearranging programs and activities to accommodate the guests. After this disappointment, Guest Services was flooded with complaints and threats of lawsuits because we didn't dock on the island. In my eyes, they would have had reason to sue if we'd gone on the rocks and everyone had to be taken off in the tenders. Boy, some people just don't think. When we woke on Saturday morning, it was check in time with US customs on the ship and then our last breakfast. It was a great time and the food was fantastic.

After debarking, we drove back to Spruce Creek Fly-In to relax. Sunday Sue, June and I went to the huge in-door flea market in Daytona Beach. On our return, I then proceeded to finish my packing and we were off to Orlando to put me on my plane home. Scott was kind enough to meet me at midnight and bring me back to Galbraith Dr. I had a wonderful time and enjoyed all aspects of the trip but I was also glad to see home.

Looks Like I Will Breathe Again

A week ago today, I went to the Throat specialist again complaining about my shortness of breath and wheezing. It was getting worse. After an examination, he decided that he would schedule me for day surgery in a cancellation spot for yesterday. Surgery was for 10:15 and my arrival was 7:15 at the Peter Lougheed Hospital in the northeast of Calgary. The long and short of it is that I am breathing much better and quieter. He said the larynx was about 8mm, which wasn't really that bad, but lasered it out to 13mm which will close some with healing. He hope it will stay open enough to make my breathing good for a long time. On discharge, Scott picked me up and tried to get the nurses to order voice rest for a week, to no avail although I was very quiet because my throat was sore and raspy and still is but improving. I stayed at Scott's for the night and I'm now home and doing fine. Thanks to all for your thoughts. I'm up and running again, in better voice and ready to give orders. This is all caused from yelling at my boys in their youthful day. Ha ha.

Spread Eagle

For Xmas, I gave each of the girls a sewing basket with eveything they'd need to sew a garment and I'd give them lessons to complete the job. Daimhin decided that we should have 'Sewing Saturdays' on Saturdays that nothing else was going on. This morning was the first 'Sewing Saturday'.

I headed over to Scott's to arrive at 10:00 am. Upon arrival, I was thinking about the teaching task ahead and not watching my footing. The next thing I knew I was spread eagle on my stomach on the sidewalk with the wind knocked out of me. My glasses were off, my purse was somewhere on the sidewalk and I was crying. There was a small patch of ice on the sidewalk as I turned to go to the front door and my foot briefly made contact with it. Boommmm! I was afraid to move for a few minutes but then realized no one would hear me if a yelled so I better try to get up. I began to move and realized that I seemed to be intact. When Scott opened to door, he wanted to know what was wrong. I told him and that I just needed to take a moment to settle myself. He left me and went to salt the patch of ice.

I am quite stiff all over but no broken bones or any serious hurts or sprains. Thank God. We carried on with Sewing Saturday and the girls got their garments cut out and ready to sew on the next SS. This is one time that I'm glad there is no picture to post on the blog.

I shall survive to make life interesting for all of you.

I'll Try Again

As you can see, I'm having some problems finding my way around this blicketty blank blog site.

I had a wonderful birthday with Scott, Siobhan and girls. Chinese food for dinner and we watched 'Hairspray' in the evening.

On Wednesday I headed out to purchase material for 3 baby quilts - 2 for Amber and Scott's expected twins and 1 for Steve and Jen's June arrival. After purchasing the material, my eyes wandered to the machine section. The picture below is a Janome Memory Craft fully computerized sewing machine and IT IS MINE. I am so excited. My Singer machine is 50 years old and doesn't do all the things that make quilting easier and more exciting. I had enough trouble getting a picture blogged the first time so I'm not going to try again to include it in this post. I spent 4 hours yesterday playing with my new toy and getting a feel for what it can do. If you want to contact me, I'll answer you from my work room from now on.

A Happy Birthday for Me

Gramms is 70 today!!!

Happy Birthday Gramma!!!