A quick two weeks

July 17, 2010
I started this post on the 12th but didn't publish it so the date is wrong.

When I left off the Stained Glass wasn't finished and I was lamenting about how busy I was. As Christine pointed out I should look on the bright side. I second that, at least I'm around to do all this stuff. I got the stained glass window sodered but I still need to patina, putty and powder it. I may get that done this weekend.I think I will slap some paint on the frame then take sandpaper to it and make it look French Provincial. Not Great French Provincial by my French Provincial.

On Monday last I was in Stratford having dinner with the people I used to work with at Cooper Stantard Automotive. Most of them are working for other companies spread out over southwestern Ontario. Stephen Yu and his wife Louise Lui were home from China for a vacation. The boys are really grown. Derek is 15 and Darron is 11. I remember taking the gifts the office had bought to the hospital when Darron was born. Steve is working for Magna now and says he will be back in Canada in a few years. Gerry Feeney and Darlene were there too with their little one Chelsea who is now 4. Very cute and a bundle of energy once she got over being shy. I had General Tso's chicken and ate with chopsticks - I felt very proud of myself. It was nice to see Brenda, Jasminka, Wendy, Rick Petrie, John Seward, John Seed, Paul Kooren and all the others. Steve reminded us that we should get together more often.

They were having a discussion about mandatory retirement and I reminded them that I wasn't ready to retire. Many of them were suprised to learn that I will be 65 next month. Made me feel good. I guess I don't look too old.

I wrote my large essay for University this week. Two thousand words on Creation: The Bible versus Science. Got my mark back already. I got an 80. I had an 80 for the first essay but lost 5 marks for being late. Adding that up I have already passed the course (54) but the final worth 30 marks will bring that up to anywhere from 69 to 84. I am really studying this week.

Thursday night Fran and I went to see The Winters Tale at Tom Patterson Theater. Second time at that theater and both times it rained just as the play started and quit just before it ended. Last time it started again before I got home but this time it cleared so the ride home was great. The play itself was excellent. I had never heard of it before but the acting was wonderful and the seats are always good even though we don't pay a lot for them.

I got a really fabulous deal on Peter Pan tickets at Stratford so I am giving them to Stephanie's sons Carter and Lincoln(Glenna and Gerry's grandsons) as a birthday present. She and I will take them. I will give you a blow by blow of the reactions of a 3 year old and a six year old to the play after we have seen it.

I'm heading out in a few minutes to have lunch with Peggy. She is in town to bring Emma back from Thunder Bay.We are going to go over some of the details for the trip which is now less then 5 weeks away. The excitement is building and the internet is buzzing with things to do and places to see.

I can't be this busy can I?

I just realized how busy I have been this year and it is only 1/2 over. My only trip so far has been to the Dominican Republic in February with Peggy and Mike's relatives. On the Home front though I have been going to a lot of "cultural events" as Rosalind Russel and Alex Guiness would say in "A Majority of One"

In Toronto I have been to two Blue Jays ballgames, Cirque du Soleil and Mamma Mia. At Stratford so far Glenna's Mom and I have gone to As You Like it, Evita, Jacques Brel is alive and well, Kiss me Kate and The Tempest with Christopher Plummer. I also went to a reunion dinner with friends from Stratford when Dr. Graf visited from Germany. Oh and I finished two University courses over the winter.

The year is not over yet. I am taking a University course over the summer. I am going to Ireland with Peggy from August 19th to September 4th. I am going to the Bon Jovi and Kid Rock Concert in July. Fran (Glenna's mom) and I have tickets to The Winters Tale at Stratford next week. In August Shirley and I are going to the Rogers Cup Tennis qualifying matches and I have another reunion in Stratford as Steve Yu visits from China. This week the Canterbury Folk Festival is in Ingersoll for the weekend. I am almost finished my second stained glass project for the summer and then I have to start on the Butterfly.

In September I am signing up for two more University courses and that will complete my B.A. (based on my passing of course) and so I will graduate in the first week of June 2011.

No wonder I feel worn out somedays and the laundry seems to get behind. The Kitchen renovations are kind of on hold - the painting is done but the flooring, tile and crown moulding are still waiting to be finished. I will see what I can do once it cools off a little.

Wimbledon Weekend

It was a good weekend - Serena Williams and Rafa Nadal both won singles championships at Wimbledon. It was so hot here today that I was glad to stay indoors in the morning and watch the tennis.I have also been working on my piece of stained glass that fell apart as I was making it. It is 32 X 12 and will fit in a frame I have. Where I will put it is another question of course.

I had to go into London to buy another square foot of gluechip (looks like frost on a window) as I keep breaking pieces. That is what the frame around the outside is while all the rest of the glass is textured in some way. Once I have it soldered and patinaed and puttied and cleaned and framed I will put up another picture.

I spent the rest of the day doing my month end report and doing some work on my next university project. I downloaded all the figures from work and then crunched the numbers at home. I am trying to get a few hours banked because I only have 1 weeks holidays left and I am taking two weeks and 1 day when Peggy and I go to Ireland.

I'm up to 5 Kiva loans - 1 in Togo, 2 in the Phillipines, one in Peru and one in Cambodia. I think my favorite is the man and his wife in Cambodia. He is a fisherman and his wife is a farmer and she wanted to borrow $100.00 to buy fertilizer for her crops. Four of us leant her the money. The two of them are supposed to be in their early thirties but they look like they are in their early twenties. This could be a mistranslation as sometimes I wonder about who is translating. My Lumber lady in the Phillipines is starting to pay me back and I should get 3 payments on August 1st. This is a lot of fun.

Anyway other then that the most exciting thing I did this weekend was the laundry. I would like to get the rest of the window put together and sodered by Thursday and then I will go into Edwards Glass and finish it. I probably won't blog again until then.

Fireflies and Fireworks

Up until last week at Joanne's birthday party I had never seen a firefly in Ontario. Someone said that there were fireflies in New Brunswick when we were camping but I wasn't sure I was seeing fireflies or just some reflections. Last week they were definitely fireflies in Judy's backyard. Well now I have fireflies as well.

Tonight I was treated to two fabulous backyard fireworks displays and there were fireflies on my back patio. I started hearing bangs around 9:30 pm and wondered where they were coming from. Because the High school is next door we can get weird echos. I took the garbage (Lobster and corn on the cob for supper) out so that the kitchen wouldn't stink in the morning and saw that it was someone out the back of my patio. I took up my position with wine glass in hand. Standing out on the patio after dark was different and all of a sudden I saw blinking lights and realized that I have fireflies too I just never noticed them. The neighbours had a great fireworks display. It must have been several people who pooled their money because it went on for more then 40 minutes. Multiple colors and whiz-bangers and whistlers and roman candles and the ones that go up and turn into little lights like bugs running in all directions. All of a sudden there was an eruption around the corner of the building and I could see the lights reflecting but not the real explosions. Another neighbour had started a second display. I grabbed a chair and went around to the west side of the building and lined myself up to watch both shows. They were interesting as two shows and every once in awhile they would have a fireworks duel. It was a lot of fun to watch. I have been to smaller displays that were organized by towns.

Robin is gone - Bunny is here

I had a happy Canada Day. Mostly relaxed but there were some neighbourhood fireworks around that I saw. Spent the early evening doing some of the stained glass. It is coming along nicely.

I spent part of the morning at Stratford Hospital - got a cortisone shot for my shoulder. Hopefully that will help and I can lose some of this pain. The doctor says I should have some physio as well. I'll see what I can fit in.

Came home and started working on month-end report for the hospital construction. When I put my head up I saw a bunny in the back yard. Messy back yard leaves lots of weeds for him to eat. Caught a picture out the sliding glass door.

The bad news for the day is that I have three robins eggs but no robin. They appear to have abandoned the nest. I think the weekly grass cutting that the condo does disturbed them. It is a shame. I think I will see if a science teacher wants the nest and eggs.

Ireland is only 7 weeks off. I am looking at transportation and trying to decide if we should buy our train and bus tickets before we leave Canada or once we arrive in Dublin. Peggy is going to arrange all the information we have gathered but I will probably print out the bus schedules for all the places and take them with us.

I have to start planning clothes and stuff for the trip. You need to take enough but you hate to take too much. I packed the right amount for Italy and overpacked for Spain so this is going to be iffy. We are going for a longer time but we have been warned that we may not be able to get laundry done. Well we could always buy new underwear and socks along the way. I have gained weight so I have to check that clothes fit. I guess I could lose weight but I don't think you can count on that.

July is looking almost as busy as June was. I have another paper due in Science and Religion, Dinner with Stratford friends on July 12th - Steve Yu is in from China, Rock concert on the 20th - Bon Jovi and Kid Rock, and final exam on July 26th evening. I expect we will go to at least one more production at Stratford. My Stained Glass is coming along but I will need at least another night or too at Edwards Glass to finish it off and then I have to sand and paint the antique frame I have. I am also trying to get some of my pictures together and framed or in albums.

Cirque Du Soleil

Spent last night at Cirque at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. Should have Googled before I went. I took Glenna for her birthday and thought she had been to the center before. Neither one of us had. We got lost trying to find where it was and how to get there. I refused to pay $25.00 to park. Found a space for $15.00 just west of Front and York but then we wandered around wondering where we were going.

We found it and found the seats - good seats! The only people in front of us were the people in floor seats and my boss and his wife. We spent a few minutes discussing work then settled down to watch the show. It was great. Clowns, trapeze artists, contortionists, tumblers and fire twirlers. The light shows, the comedy and the music were all great. I'm glad we went even though the ride there and back was long.