Sunday-Monday June 9-10, 2013

Sunday-Monday June 9-10, 2013  update #478

Early Sunday morning Jill and I met with old friends Norm & Alice Bilodeau from Legal for breakfast.  We hadn’t seen them in a few years so it was very nice that they made the special trip in to see us.  They were married in 1971 like I was and Norm was one of my Best Men.

Jill and I then stopped to pick up some baby gifts for Heather’s and Leah’s babies before heading back to Jill’s to pack up.   Jill and Danai headed for cheerleading practice while I finished up then quickly delivered the gift to Bea Rankin for her grand-daughter.

When I joined the girls at the cheer practice I was immediately amazed at the intricacy of the modern cheers groups and the immense strength in these young ladies.   I had watched my daughter Jill get thrown around in High School and when she was an Edmonton Eskimo cheerleader many years ago but had never really watched so many repetitive moves and lifts as I had in this practice.  Jill said Danai comes home just exhausted after a practice and I don’t doubt that one bit!!  Time after time they have to bend and lift and hold and throw, then hold and catch the falling “top” girl who isn’t necessarily much lighter than them.  The immense trust between the teammates is obvious.  Danai is a real jock, only 13, very strong, and in the top five in track & field in her age group in the province!  We are very proud of her accomplishments.  These young girls vary in age, but they are doing much more complicated routines that Jill did in her day, and Jill has a Duo World-Champion trophy in her case.

Sadly I had to leave but for a good reason as I was headed to spend another day with Todd, Janet, Tyson and baby Sofie.  We had a delicious steak supper and tried to watch TV but wind and rain kept interfering with their Telus satellite signal.  Finally we just hooked up the Nintendo and switched to NetFlix.

Todd had disappeared while we were watching the action movie  “Special Forces” and it became apparent later where he was.   He was in a spare bedroom putting together a futon they had bought so I would have a place to spend the night.  How very nice it was.

Monday morning I helped Todd bring his Yukon over to a mechanic to get repairs started on a rear leaf spring.  Todd has a couple of days off so he is hoping they can accomplish the task before he has to return to work.

I hit the road at 10:30 and arrived in Calgary at 1pm and went to Superstore for some grocery supplies.   I hurried because I had an appointment to meet my friend Janice at A&W for coffee.   This is the nice lady who helped me out with the use of her car in January.  She is presently unemployed so I hope she catches a good break soon.

Next on the agenda was to meet Mom and I arrived early.   I stopped in the parking lot to watch the antics of a squirrel and was surprised to see Mom step out on her patio to check if it was me, and it was only 2:30…  I checked in at the desk and spotted a beautiful bouquet with an unusual orange flower so the camera went to work on that and a rose.    I didn’t realize they were fake silk until I processed the photos.

Mom had also planted a couple of geraniums in her plastic swan planters courtesy of my sister Leonie.   Thanks Leonie!   That is something that Mom takes pride in every year, showing off her geraniums and getting them photographed.

Across the hall from Mom’s is the Garden Room where the ladies work on jigsaw puzzles, and some of them are exceptionally beautiful.  I sure loved the farm scene with the John Deere that brings back memories.

Mom wanted to see photos of the wedding on May 25 so I took her up to the computer room only to find that it is now moved over to the Library room.   Then we didn’t know the password and neither did the supervisor in that room so she let us use her laptop.   Another resident even came and enjoyed the show until Mom hinted strongly that it was time to make a pitstop. 

When we headed back to the room I soon begged off with my anxiety to get home and rest a little because I knew I had many chores awaiting me.   First I stopped to gas up and was dismayed to see that gas prices were increased again, compounding my price for the mid-grade octane.

My first stop was at the mailbox where I was pleasantly surprised to find my 3 packages of camera accessories had arrived.  I will play with those tomorrow.

I sorted out my dirty clothes for laundry tomorrow as well before tackling today’s emails and our Eleggant Hooks orders.  There were 4 orders stacked up including one very large order that needed clarification from Bella and some label printing.  It is a good thing that I have hauled along my external hard drive so I have access to all these unusual items.  It took some time but they are all ready to go now.

I also had another parcel notice for a fourth item that had me mystified until I heard the messages on the phone.  This will be Mark Anderson’s passport so he can sleep a little easier now.

I downloaded my latest batch of photos to the computer here then fired up the laptop to transfer all the Edmonton photos to the external hard drive.

I had another quick meal of nuked smokies with mustard, one of my favourites.  That is one thing I miss in Ecuador is a really good sausage.

It will be an early night tonight!

That was today’s excitement.   Cheers, Al

Please see all new photos at http://souvenircuenca.blogspot.com/