After over 3 years, I'm starting this back up.

Pie

My youngest son was eating some of those little fruit shaped candies today. He called me over to show me the Banana Pie he made.

Roadside Attractions

Once a week I make a 170 km round trip to take my son to his music lesson. The route takes me through some farmland and some wilder places. It's not unusual to see deer, both bounding across the road ahead of me, and lying dead along the roadside. Other than that the drive is pretty uneventful.Yesterday we were driving along when a group of ravens took to the air. "Probably a deer", I thought to myself. Then I noticed that one of the ravens was a lot larger than the rest and had a white tail. "I think I just saw an eagle!", I said to my son. He looked all around, but he missed it. On the way home I kept an eye out for the road kill. Sure enough it was a deer, and sitting beside it was a bald eagle. Wow!A little closer to home I noticed a couple trucks and a bunch of cattle alongside the road. My first thought was that the cattle had gotten out of their fenced pasture. When we came up alongside, we realized that the cattle were being driven up the highway. In addition to the trucks, there were a couple people on ATVs herding the cattle along. They'd come from a couple kilometers if the evidence left on the highway is any indication. I've never seen that before either. I might have to start taking my camera on the drive.

(Originally posted on Facebook 9:34pm Wednesday, Oct 24, 2007 )

Cue that Disney Song!

A few weeks ago, I was looking at my brother’s Friends list on Facebook. Although they have never met each other, he and my friend Melanie have a mutual friend, but I don't know most of his Facebook friends. Anyway, this time I noticed a first name I recognized, although the last name was different. I went to check this person’s Friends list and sure enough, her parents were on her list so it had to be her. While I was looking to see if her parents, brother or hometown friends were on her list, I noticed a familiar face; one of the instructors that was coming to teach a class at the scrapbooking conference I was helping to organize. I mentally filed the information away.

A couple weeks later, I was taking the class at the scrapbooking convention, and the instructor mentioned that her friend Keira had driven up with her. “Is that Keira W?”, I asked. Sure enough, it was. We chatted a couple minutes there and then, and got together later that day for a longer visit. Of course, she was way more surprised to see me than I was to see her. Keira is more my sister’s age, but coming from a small town, we know a lot of the same people.

This happens to me a lot. In the past 15 years, there have been several people from my hometown move here. Years ago, I was shopping downtown and someone I didn’t recognize asked me if I was Michele Maiden name. It turned out that she is the younger sister of a girl I used to figure skate with, and her father was my home-room teacher for grade 7 or 8. We run into each other about every six months and get caught up on each other’s news.

Another time I was at my husband’s church and they had a new priest they were interviewing. They didn’t announce his name or anything, so I hadn’t a clue who he was. We sat near him a lunch and somehow, it came out that he was from my hometown. At that point I asked him who he was. Turned out he was the brother of a friend of my sister’s and I occasionally hung out with his older brother in high school. To make it weirder, my oldest son has the same first name as he does, and when I chose my younger son’s first name, his younger brother was the only other person I’d ever heard of with the same name. Anyway, he was hired as the rector and we got to be pretty good friends.

At the same church there was one parishoner that I thought looked familiar, but I thought it was just that she’d moved away for a while. It wasn’t until I’d known her for a few years that I discovered we’d both gone to the same university, at the same time, and we had taken some of the same courses. No wonder she looked familiar!

When I first moved here I started volunteering at the library. One day, the new director of the library system came to check out our branch. Several of the volunteers were invited to meet her. When we were introduced, I said I already knew her; I was Michele Maiden Name. I used to baby-sit for her. I drove one of my fellow volunteers crazy. Frequently I'd point out some item; a poster, or a magazine article, and say "I know that guy!" I'm sure she thought I was making things up. The day the director showed up was priceless.

Mark comes from a big city. He rarely has this happen to him. I come from a small town in the middle of nowhere, and it happens all the time. The only place he beats me is in Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, he's three degrees separated. I'm four degrees.

Christmas Update

Our baby, Cameron turned ten this year. (Wait, it gets worse.) Now that he’s old enough, he likes to hang out at the Youth Centre up the street and play Guitar Hero. He’s in his final year of Cubs, where he’s a sixer. He’s a downhill skier, and last winter he mastered the art of going up the T-bar. He started curling last winter and is steadily improving at the game. He and his brother attended a curling workshop in Bonnyville earlier this fall and met Brent McDonald and Carter Rycroft. Despite his fear of public speaking, he performed a poem in the Cold Lake Music Festival. Although he was registered in the wrong class for piano at the festival, but he rose to the occasion and played his piece with skill and self-confidence. He’s currently working towards the Grade 2 Royal Conservatory piano exam. Cameron has a wacky sense of humour. He’d be the class clown if he wasn’t homeschooled.

David is now 13, so we are also the parents of a teenager.
(I told you it gets worse). He hangs out at the Youth Center too, where he’s on the Steering Committee, and a volunteer DJ/Light Operator. He’s also a member of Teen Central, the city library’s teen advisory board. They have food at every meeting, plus he’s the only guy, you do the math. Actually he does a lot of volunteering with Teen Central, including making cotton candy at various events. Last winter, David decided that skiing was more fun than snowboarding, although the fact that he has skis but not snowboard gear, probably had something to do with the decision. He’s been curling for the past three seasons. Maybe in a few years you’ll be hearing about the McGuire Brothers rink. In June, his Scout troop went on a canoe trip along the Beaver River. He and some of his fellow Scouts earned their Flatwater Canoeing A certification from Paddle Canada. In the Music Festival in March, he earned the Woodwind Certificate of Excellence and performed in the final concert. He’s also preparing for a Royal Conservatory exam, on flute.

Mark is still (!) working at the LOX facility on the base. In September, he spent 3 weeks in California learning how to operate a liquid oxygen/liquid nitrogen generating system. It wasn’t all work, he went to Huntington Beach, toured a winery, caught an Angels game, and visited Universal Studios. Between the trip to California, air shows, and LOX escort duties, he spent less than 2.5 months at home between June and September. At least he’s not been deployed to “an undisclosed desert location”, yet. Mark just started his third year as a volunteer with the CSPS (Canadian Ski Patrol System) at Kinosoo Ridge. He’s an assistant patrol leader this year. He patrolled at least one day almost every weekend last winter. This fall, he stepped down as Troop Scouter for the Medley Scouts, although he’s still a leader. He also volunteers at the Youth Centre as a chaperone and for the MFRC, and helps coach curling. In his spare time he likes to make wine.

I started a fantastic new job, part-time circulation clerk at the local public library, in March. I'm like a kid in a candy store! I turned my love of rubber stamping into a business, and became a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator in June, or as a friend said, went from user to pusher. I still play alto saxophone in the 4 Wing Band. There weren’t any big trips or recording sessions this year, but the band played their final concert in support of the Great Escape Memorial Project, in June at the Vic Juba Theatre, in Lloydminster. I didn’t ski quite as much as the guys did last winter but still spent a fair amount of time out at the Ridge where I skied every run except the Terrain Park at least once, including The Bowl and didn’t fall, ever. I'm feeling a little old though. I attended my high school reunion this summer. It was great to see so many of my high school friends, not so great to realize it’s been 25 years since graduation.

Piper took her first major trip this year, to Fort Smith with the rest of the family. She proved to be a great traveller, and reacted to all the strangers very calmly. She got a nasty surprise when she drank some water at the Salt Flats. She’s very much a comfort-loving dog; we are forever kicking her off our beds or the couch. She hates loud noises like thunder and the smoke detector. Funny thing though, jets don’t bother her.

Today was Camp Day at my former place of work. Our location invited local VIPs and groups to participate behind the counter. I had planned to volunteer on behalf of the MFRC, but apparently I was the only one who was able to go. Instead, I joined my current coworkers as they did a shift. I started out on the front counter, doing coffee, but I got shifted over to Soup and Sandwich. The staffer there pretty much treated me like I'd never left, she did the stuff like getting bagels and buns ready to bake, and let me do the sandwiches, "Call me if you need me". It was funny to talk to some of my former coworkers who think I'm crazy to like my new job.

I rode my bike home from work today, for the first time. I've had the bike for 16 years, and it still had the original tires on it. Mark put new ones on for me over the weekend. It still needs to have the brakes and gears fixed, but at least it's rideable now.
I actually drove the car in to work because of the Camp Day thing, then Mark rode my bike into town, left it at the Library, then walked over to get the car so he could use it.
I caught my pant leg in the gears, and tore them, and my bag was too heavy, but all in all the ride was fine. I've used Mark's bike a couple times in the past month, but my bike is way more comfortable.

Squid's youth group had a year-end barbeque out at the lake. Mark was supposed to work late, so I figured I'd grab a picnic for Hamster and me, and we'd hang out at the beach, too. I dropped off the boys and was on my way to get our picnic when Mark called. He was home from work and wanted me to pick him up. So back home I went, got some food, then back to the park. The boys splashed around in the water, but it was too cold to swim. I saw a grouse with a bunch of chicks, a pair of geese with 4 or 5 goslings, a muskrat, a beaver, and oodles of ducks.

Even more books

What Your Clothes Say About You, Trinny Woodall & Susannah Constantine
What Not to Wear For Every Occasion, Trinny Woodall & Susannah Constantine
Kidnapped, Jan Burke
The Night Lawyer, Michelle Spring
The Journal of Mortifying Moments, Robyn Harding
Gallows Thief, Bernard Cornwell
The Cat’s Meow, Emily Carmichael
Chasing Rainbow, Sue Civil-Brown
Amazing Gracie, A Dog’s Tale, Dan Dye & Mark Beckloff
Paid In Blood, Mel Odom
The Perfect Fake, Barbara Parker

I don't read all the time...

but close:
Dating Can Be Murder, Jennifer Apodaca
Batteries Required, Jennifer Apodaca
Dying to Meet You, Jennifer Apodaca
Laced, Carol Higgins Clark
Design on a Crime, Ginny Aiken
Decorating Schemes, Ginny Aiken
Interior Motives, Ginny Aiken
Pen Pals, Olivia Goldsmith
Twelve Sharp, Janet Evanovich
Naked, David Sedaris
The Fourth Bear, Jasper Fford

In other news, Squid's camp this weekend at Ft. Edmonton was cut short due to Snow! and High Winds! that wrecked one of the tents!
Mr. Freeze and I are going to a party with his ski patrol buddies and their SOs tonight, but I expect a call from Squid at some point asking for a ride home.