Part of the family?

Today, I decided to give my comfortable old slippers an honourable "burial".  As the oldest "member", they joined our slipper family at Sechelt, on the Sunshine Coast, and served me well for over ten years. They were "born" at a shop that specializes in sheepskin products; the shop is still in business, so far as I know. Over the years, the left slipper has had a couple of duct tape repairs, but now it's time to say goodbye. Perhaps we'll get a replacement - I do occasionally go to the sunshine coast on business.

A happy occasion

Yesterday, our family and friends took part in one of the happy events which are part of a family's history: Our niece Tarya married the love of her life, Taylor James (T.J. to all of us). We are proud of both, and wish them a long, happy, and healthy life together.

Many pictures were taken; the ones we took are on flickr at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mimiandpapa/sets/72157624842227574

This morning, we had more happy news: Tarya's uncle became a grandfather. Congratulations to his family, too.

Another family occasion

In order to celebrate the upcoming wedding of Tarya and T.J., we had an unconventional "shower" for both of them, with family and  friends. Here are some pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mimiandpapa/sets/72157624791112672/

A family reunion

Every now-and-then, our entire Canadian family contingent comes together to celebrate an important occasion, anniversary, or birthday. This happened yesterday, and Hilkka took these pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mimiandpapa/sets/72157624514188971/

Click on the link.

Little spider

The weather has been marvellous for the last two weeks or so. We take advantage of this; we have breakfast on the back porch or the courtyard, eat lunch and supper there, all surrounded by sunshine and flower pots (meticulously tended to by my wife), and generally enjoy the summer. In the late afternoon, we pull down a sunshade. About an hour before sunset we noticed a little spider's web, being illuminated by sunlight at just the right angle, which a little spider had put up after we had lowered the sunshade. It was suspended from that sunshade, and the downpipe from the roof. The web must have been constructed within an hour by that little spider. The sunlight passed through the web just like through a spectroscopic grating - which breaks up the light (like a prism) into its constituent colours, mostly reds, because the sun was so low in the sky. It was worth a picture.

The web stayed there for a couple of days (we took care not to disturb it when rolling up the sunshade); in all that time we saw a trace of only one "catch". It seems like a lot of work for that little spider to find only one meal in all that time. Then, the next morning, both web and spider had disappeared without a trace. Did the spider "eat up" the web, so that it could spin another one somewhere else?

Sure signs of summer

This week is forecast to be clear and sunny all the way. Today we placed the weeping hoses around the hedge and hung the sunshade for the back porch (our favorite place on days like this). The porch has no windows, but has a solid cover with just one smallish glass window. Those of you who attended Derek's birthday party last weekend will remember, no doubt, because his side is the mirror-image of ours (both sides are only separated by a door - usually open). Also set up the large sun-umbrella, table, and chairs in the courtyard below.

The porch is south-facing, so the temperatures there are usually about three to four degrees (C) higher than in the courtyard and inside the house. They tend to correspond to the "inland" temperatures which are forecast on the local stations. As I write this (11:40 am), the temperature on the porch is 28 C. We've been sqwaking about the cool temperatures up to now, so we got what we wished for.

Our son's birthday

On Sunday, we had a family get-together (19 people), and a great time was had by all. Food was plentiful, and almost everyone took home some "leftovers". Because the next day was a working day, and a school day for the kids, we started in the afternoon, it all ended around 9pm. What a difference to our younger years, when we wouldn't finish until the "wee hours".

Derek is going through the three-day chemo session again; he's in the resulting "chemo-fog". We'll drive him to the hospital again tomorrow, to have the last chemo bottle removed. It's no fun for him, Airdrie, the daughters, and us. Derek should be better again on Saturday, when we'll all celebrate his 41st birthday.

Hungry

Yesterday, Derek's latest 3 days of chemo were over. He seems to have come through them with less dullness than on previous sessions. We stopped at the MacDonald's again on the way back from the hospital - he had an appetite for another cheeseburger. Derek, Hilkka and I made it a MacDonald's lunch; $15 and change for 3 people. You can see why many people eat there: it's not the food so much as the low cost.

See the town

We went for a nice walk yesterday. Got off the skytrain at Science World and walked to Granville Island. We had some ice cream there, then took the False Creek ferry to the Aquatic Centre, walked past Lost Lagoon in Stanley Park to the Bayshore Inn and had lunch. The next stop was the Pan Pacific Hotel for a Spanish coffee, watching the cruise ships go, and finally home via the sky train. A mini-holiday. The green hand-drawn line on the Google map shows our walking path (skytrain not shown). Click on the map for a larger view.

Back home

It's been a while since I last posted here. In the meantime, we've been to Germany, and since our return, I've been busy catching up on accumulated activities related to my business. In Germany, we attended the wedding of the daughter of a close friend. She's stayed with us twice at our house here, each time for a three-month period, to take courses in teaching English, and is now qualified to teach ESL anywhere. Another milestone was the celebration of the 80th birthday of another close friend (who actually lives in California, but he and his wife maintain an apartment in Germany). My own birthday happened to be in that same period, and was duly feted as well.

These things all happened in a spa town (we have a number of good friends who live there), so there were get-togethers every day. The social scene in Europe always involves much food and drink, and this has resulted in a need for me to lose the pounds I gained.

We're over the jetlag by now, and things have returned to their normal routine. We enjoyed our stay over there, none-the-less it's nice to be back home with our family here.

Improvement

As mentioned in my previous post, Derek went through his chemo procedures again over the last three days. Today he got the results of his latest CT scan, and it shows another slight reduction in the size of the colon cancer tumors in his lungs. We are all gratified. It is a slow process, but as he says, it makes the chemo hell worthwhile.

We donate to the BC Cancer Society on a monthly basis. Donations also made by (I hope) many other people look like they are showing some results by way of enabling research into better chemotherapy agents; it's another way to make a difference.

We hope that the improvements will continue.

Chemical fog again

Just picked up Derek from the Cancer clinic - another chemo session. We had a coffee beforehand and a lively discussion, mainly about astronomical photography.

Now he's dulled down by the chemo, which goes on for three days running (he's got a bottle attached), and he'll likely spend the next four days or so in this chemical fog. We'll also get the results of his latest scan. It's a time filled with subdued anxiety.

At least Derek enjoys his food when he feels better, and so we felt great about having him, Airdrie, and Marina at our 45th wedding anniversary dinner (Fish House, Stanley Park). It's a small way for us to do something useful in his life with cancer.

Misplaced priorities

For the last week or so, inordinate attention has been paid to Tiger Woods. What misplaced hero worship. This man's extramarital escapades are his own (and his wife's) problems - they are hardly worth the media frenzy so evident everywhere. The guy broke his wedding vows, no more, no less. Nothing heroic here; it's lamentable instead.

The people who are real heroes are the ones I alluded to in my previous post.
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=1195286216399793210

There is an interesting article by Shelley Fralic about this in today's Vancouver Sun, to which I can only say "amen".

Here's the link
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/movie-guide/trouble+with+hero+worship/2772229/story.html