Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Finland


Postcard from Finland from AriS

Description: none

Spain - Olot La Garrotxa

es-43909
Postcard from TITO from Spain

Description: Malagrida square

Playoff time

Well, round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs starts tomorrow and for some reason this year I can't help but thinking of a certain Canucks playoff run 15(!) years ago. I was away at boarding school on an Island in the Pacific where most people had no idea about hockey and couldn't figure out why I was so excited about it...I spent the first half of the playoffs cheering for the Canucks all alone.

We had some strict rules surrounding television viewing which included no TV between the hours of 8:00 pm and 9:30 pm and 10:00 pm and 5:00 ish pm. Being a few hours behind the west coast this meant that a lot of the Canucks games where during class time, especially once they started playing on the East Coast. And since TV time was limited and there was only one TV in the dorm, I had to get creative on how I was going to watch these games.

It turned out I was in luck! The son of the teacher who lived at the end of my hallway watched hockey! All I had to do was convince him to watch the Vancouver games. Now, he seemed so old to me then...I'm thinking he was, oh, 24 at the most, but when you're 16...Anyway, long story short, many afternoons I could be found in their living room watching hockey while other students got help with school work in the dining room or made long distance phone calls from the phone in the kitchen.

It was a relief to get home not only have clear and easy access to the Canucks games, but also have a whole family (not to mention friends) who would cheer along with me! That I was a hockey fan was a source of great amusement to some of my boarding school friends. It just made me more Canadian than they already thought I was. One friend in particular tried to claim that since it is the NATIONAL Hockey League, all those Canadian teams, past and present, must actually belong to the USA. My counter - since Lord Stanley gave the Stanley Cup with instructions it should be presented to the top team in Canada, cities like New York, Boston, Detroit and Chicago must have ceded from the Union to join Canada.

No such bantering this year, but I'm happy to be in a hockey friendly place with people to cheer with me...and maybe, just maybe we'll have even more to cheer about than we did in 1994!

Monday, April 27, 2009

More Cherry Blossoms

Well, we went out on our walk today and there were even more beautiful blossoms to be seen.

bonneted j
J isn't too excited to look today, but she did get a bonnet!

cherry blossoms
cherry blossoms

Canada - Ontario - Our Cabana

ca-59298
Postcard from Ontario from insightful-ear

Description: This one came from Ontario from a fellow Guider who had visited Our Cabana in Mexico a few years ago.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Rockets and Giants and how that impacts our household!

Last night we took Baby J to a hockey game. A Vancouver Giants-Kelowna Rockets playoff game to be more specific...

j and mommy
J is pretty good at games. She doesn't cry and she eventually sleeps - she even likes to cheer sometimes! (See below) What J doesn't know is that Mommy and Daddy cheer for two different teams when the Giants and Rockets meet.

j and daddy
Daddy is trying to impress on J the importance of choosing a team to cheer for...she looks confused in her Rockets t-shirt with the Giants towel.

cheering
Here she is, cheering. She really does cheer...she waves her little arms and legs and squeals along with the crowd! I guess right now it's okay if she cheers for both teams!

faceoff
Interestingly, part way through the game the Easter Bunny put in a delayed appearance and brought J this little Easter gift. I guess she might have to wear it to next Saturday's game...we'll see!

100 things I have or haven't done...

I've bolded the ones I've done. I've italicized the ones I'd like to do. The others I'm either undecided or pretty sure I don't think I will ever do.

  1. Started your own blog
  2. Slept under the stars
  3. Played in a band - if the school band counts!
  4. Visited Hawaii
  5. Watched a meteor shower
  6. Given more than you can afford to charity
  7. Been to Disneyland/world
  8. Climbed a mountain
  9. Held a praying mantis
  10. Sang a solo
  11. Bungee jumped
  12. Visited Paris
  13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
  14. Taught yourself an art from scratch - does knitting count
  15. Adopted a child
  16. Had food poisoning
  17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
  18. Grown your own vegetables
  19. Seen the Mona Lisa at the Louvre
  20. Slept on an overnight train
  21. Had a pillow fight
  22. Hitch hiked
  23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
  24. Built a snow fort
  25. Held a lamb
  26. Gone skinny dipping
  27. Run a Marathon
  28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
  29. Seen a total eclipse
  30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
  31. Hit a home run - in t-ball maybe....
  32. Been on a cruise
  33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
  34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
  35. Seen an Amish community
  36. Taught yourself a new language
  37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
  38. Visited the Leaning Tower of Pisa
  39. Gone rock climbing
  40. Seen Michelangelo’s David - we saw the fake David - the line up for the Galleria dell'Accademia was about five hours long and we only had two days in Florence. But the fake David is in Florence
  41. Sung karaoke
  42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
  43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
  44. Visited Africa
  45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
  46. Been transported in an ambulance
  47. Had your portrait painted
  48. Gone deep sea fishing
  49. Visited the Sistine Chapel
  50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
  51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
  52. Kissed in the rain
  53. Played in the mud
  54. Gone to a drive-in theater
  55. Been in a movie
  56. Visited the Great Wall of China
  57. Started a business
  58. Taken a martial arts class
  59. Visited Russia
  60. Served at a soup kitchen
  61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies - Girl *GUIDE* cookies
  62. Gone whale watching
  63. Gotten flowers for no reason
  64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
  65. Gone sky diving
  66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
  67. Bounced a check
  68. Flown in a helicopter
  69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
  70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
  71. Eaten Caviar
  72. Pieced a quilt
  73. Stood in Times Square
  74. Toured the Everglades
  75. Been fired from a job
  76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
  77. Broken a bone - this goes with the ambulance ride up there....
  78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
  79. Visited the Grand Canyon
  80. Published a book
  81. Visited the Vatican
  82. Bought a brand new car
  83. Walked in Jerusalem
  84. Had your picture in the newspaper
  85. Read the entire Bible
  86. Visited the White House
  87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
  88. Had chickenpox
  89. Saved someone’s life
  90. Sat on a jury
  91. Collected Employment Insurance
  92. Met someone famous
  93. Joined a book club
  94. Lost a loved one
  95. Had a baby
  96. Visited the Alamo
  97. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
  98. Been involved in a law suit
  99. Owned a cell phone
  100. Been stung by a bee

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Spring has sprung

Spring is here...Baby J and I went for a wander today and checked out the sunshine and beautiful flowers. It's amazing how much easier it is to get our of bed when the weather is nice!! I've actually been getting up before J some mornings!

baby j checking out the flowersBaby J checking out the pretty flowers (gotta get this kid a sun hat!)

cherry blossomscherry blossoms

cherry blossomscherry blossoms

flowers
daffodil
magnolia
flowers
flowers

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Oh Billy Bob Thornton

So, on Wednesday there was the now infamous Billy Bob Thornton and the Boxcutters interview on CBC Radio's Q. I just caught the tail end of it and the interview that followed where Jian seemed shell shocked and his next interviewee kept telling him he'd been great and it would have been awesome if he'd asked BBT about Angelina.

Anyway, on Thursday I was listening to Q and of course they were talking about it. I live in a baby bubble right now and I don't think I saw the news or used the computer on Wednesday. Well, as Baby J was napping, I wnet and found the video of the interview to see for myself.

WOW! I don't envy Jian at all...but I do think he handled it well.

And Billy Bob Thornton, well, whatever!

And then today, well, today they announced that after being booed in Toronto on Thursday night, Friday and Saturday nights of their tour had been cancelled. Officially it's because someone had the flu, but I think maybe BBT might have taken exception to the gravy cat calls and the unfriendly reception he received. I wonder how much longer BBT will be a member of the Boxcutters. The rest of the band didn't look too happy with him during the interview.

Monday, April 06, 2009

Terremoto in L'Aquila

Eighteen months ago we were in L'Aquila.

The square looked like this:

l'aquila piazza duomo
And the hillside looked like this:

l'aquila
And now, well, it doesn't look like that. We heard last night there was a massive six point something earthquake (or terremoto) and 60,000-70,000 people are now homeless. I keep see the pretty little streets in my mind when they show the horrible shots of rubble and destruction.

What a sad thing to have happen.

Sunday, April 05, 2009

And so it begins...

We've finally started the making-our-place-feel-like-ours process.

This weekend Alex cleared out the little storage room off our deck and I patched and painted it. Next weekend we're hoping to install a compact deep freeze and some shelves. It looks so much better in there already, it's amazing!

And on Tuesday someone is coming to measure and quote for new blinds for our windows. Because ALL the blinds in our house suck! I can't wait to sleep in a dark room again! And I can't wait to get rid of the hideous orange drapes that are in Baby J's room so that her room will be dark enough for nap time!

And then, then it's on to painting the whole house. We've got a painter coming to do the ceilings and then we'll do the rest...yay!!

It's taken us eight months to get started, but I'm hoping we'll be done before I go back to work in five months!

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

It's April...and this is not a joke

Dear Mother Nature,

I'm not kidding, it's snowing today. Are you playing some kind of cruel joke on us? Yesterday the sun was out and while the wind meant that it was a bit chilly, it was beautiful. And today, before I even got out of bed and opened the blinds, I KNEW it was a grey day. I didn't think there would be snow on and off. At least, unlike last April when it snowed, it's not sticking...but ugh. I was going to take Baby J for a walk, but that's not likely now. UGH...

That's all...ugh...