Holiday Weekend

I decided to semi-retire this year. I now work only 30 hours a week. six and a half from Monday to Thurday and four hours on Friday. Medically I need a little more time off. I have to see a heart specialist as I am short of breath and my doctor wants it checked out. I keep telling people I am getting old but none of them seem to believe me. I believe I will fully retire in 2014 when the hospital I am working on is completed but you never know, I could decide to go earlier. 

Because of my working hours I get Thursday afternoon off this week plus Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Thursday afternoon I plan to help Frances get her photos from the iPod to the computer. We took loads of pictures in the last couple of weeks of the Orchid Show in London and Clara Boogerd's Birthday. Frances is Clara's Greatgrandmother. Friday morning we are going out to Sweaburg for pancakes and sausage at the annual 4H Maple syrup breakfast. I was quite surprised to see that Jakeman's maple products are sold in US Airports. I am hoping that the trilliums are blooming as there is a small Trillium Provincial Park across the road from Jakeman's. If things work out on Saturday I am going to a Mosque in London for an International Food and Shopping fair. I hope that Frances can come. I love to take a look at other cultures and this should be interesting.

I sent cards to the Ukraine, Estonia and Malaysia this week - I won't show you them until they either arrive or expire.
Cards that arrived at their destination this week were a whale , a bicycle and a very large train.

Large Train Card

Mouth Painted Bicycle

Whale card

A couple of cards expired this week. Too bad I liked them both and would like them on my wall.

Annandale House Tillsonburg

London Ont. Covant Garden Market



I will let you know how the weekend goes and if I got any Easter eggs.  I did buy Hot Cross Buns --- they are a must in my family for celebrating Easter weekend.

Week before Easter

We got a little silly on the Postcrossing forum last week. We mailed cards to each other with short addresses to test the pos office. All the address had was a) Unit or street number b) Postal code c) Country.
Well the Post Office is doing its job. Gran7 (Eileen) got hers today in England and I got 2 cards one from her and one from Nyassa



From Gran7



From Nyassa



A few weeks ago I entered a lottery asking for tips on how to study for exams. I wrote a paragraph about taking frequent breaks, getting enough rest, making point form notes etc. Well I didn't win but the organisers were so astonished that I had just finished University that they sent me a card anyway. It arrived today. Here is the front and back with the addresses removed.

The weekend began quietly crossword puzzles and coffee. A good laugh as we discovered that there is no such word as CAS and the answer to ______  in cat was C as in cat not CAS in cat.

On Sunday I went to a birthday party for one year old Clara Boogard, got my hair cut and colored and went to dinner with friends. Now that the hair was cut I got my passport pictures done.  Here is the beautiful results. Looks more like a mug shot.

Spring and new Postcards

Spring has arrived and so has the snow. Winter doesn't want to go away. We have had some snow everyday. Last weekend Frances and I went to the Orchid show in London. They were beautiful but there weren't enough of them.  They had some on sale but none of them really grabbed me so I came home empty handed.

I have been hanging out in Postcrossing Forum lately and I have won some Lotteries and done some swaps.  Some of the lotteries and swaps have come as signed cards. I can't remail these so they will never be on my postcard wall. I decided this was a good place to put them so others could see these neat postcards.




Swap - Cheeses of Italy



Lottery win: Diaoyutai State Guest House Beijing



Lottery win: Southeast Asia flags and Map

 



Coin Swap and the nice lady sent me a postcard as well



A little catch up

I haven't been here for awhile. Everytime I went to blog I either had writer's block or I was too busy to sit down and actually post something.
I had a great time in Portugal though I did fall down a hill and cut my nose and my knee. Strained my ankle but I drank losts of Port to make up for it.
Since then I went to California for Thanksgiving. Spent a quiet time there but I did get to walk across the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge. Kind of windy but the view was spectacular.  Next time I'm down I want to go to Alcatraz.
I went to Thunder Bay for Christmas. It is nice to spend time with family. Peggy and Mike (Sister and Brother-in-law) and I get along really well, so the visits to Thunder Bay are very relaxing.
Bill and Winnie came to visit in January. They are always interesting to have around. I think Bill can give a synopsis of every movie he has ever seen. He just has to remember the name of it. So he asks Winnie with the vaguest of clues and eventually they both remember. I sent him home with some Tim Horton's Latte T-Discs for his Tassimo.

I'm going to post some postcards that haven't made it to the sender. Some have expired and some are very late. I really like these postcards and feel bad that I can't share them on my postcard wall on www.postcrossing.com because they haven't been registered yet.



Art from the MOMA





A Roy Lichtenstein from the MOMA




Roadside Tourist Attraction




Cute Puppy




Middlesex County Courthouse




Thunder Bay Friendship Garden