Robin

Yes, This morning at 8:45, sitting on top of the neighbour's evergreen, singing cheerfully, was a robin. Grandma and I watched it for about 10 minutes before it flew away.

Outer Space

Yesterday, (Wednesday March 31) G, G, Jordan & Caleb went into deep outer space. We were passengers on a mission to repair the Hubble space telescope. After succesfully completing the repairs we then continued on into space, out of our own galaxy and deep into and past many other galaxies. We ended our trip at a galaxy that began emitting light many, many light years before our own galaxy was born. Some of the pictures that were taken on our journey are available for viewing at http://images.google.ca/images?hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENCA369&q=hubble+images&lr=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=4wG1S8LlHoXGlQfJ4dxm&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBQQsAQwAA

All we needed for this trip was an Imax ticket to see Hubble 3D and a pair of glasses. We all arrived home safely in time for lunch.

Anon(ymous)

Friday evening Grandma and I had the oportunity to see Alba in the Gordon Bell High School production of a drama by Naomi Jizuka called Anon(ymous). It was based on Homer's The Odyssey.

It was a very couragous play to be presented by a High School as it dealt with the topic of refugees from various countries being mistreated in a developed country. There were very few laughs but lot's of serious issues raised. In my opinion however, it was an ideal play for this particular school due to the very multi-cultured makeup of its student body.

Alba had three roles; she was a sewing lady in a sweat shop, she was Belen, an immigrant woman in various positions and she was part of what was called The Chorus. The Chorus was not a singing group, rather a group of black clothed and hooded figures that added a number of dimensions to the production. I thought The Chorus was a great way of adding a very sombre mood to the whole production.

The venue was the Ellice Theatre (formerly Cinema 3) on Ellice Ave. It is attached (side by side) to the Ellice Cafe. This is a cafe/theatre that was started by an organization called New Life Ministries which was headed by the late Harry Lahotsky. He was known throughout the city and province as a tireless community worker in the area where Kathy, Wes and Alba live. I thought it was an absolutely perfect location for the presentation of this production. We aslo enjoyed supper with Kathy & Wes as well as her friend Violet and husband Barry at this Cafe. It's run as a community venture that provides employment and training to some people from this area.

Both Grandma and I gave it two thumbs up in addition to lot's of congratulatory hugs for Alba.

Sunrise

Early this morning I drove Jonathan to Boundary Trails Hospital for surgery on his knee. He'll be back this afternoon as it's lapascopic surgery.

On the way home the sun was just rising. Some clouds in the sky were reflecting all of the colours of the sun, orange, green, red and purple. It was one of those great rural Manitoba winter mornings when the snow-covered fields are all moving low on the ground. Just enough wind to create this scene, not enough to pick up the snow. The drifting snow was also catching and reflecting the colours of the sun.

I stopped the car and marveled at the spectacle before me. I was reminded again of why I love living in rural Manitoba, there's no place like it. I was also reminded of how God provides me with these amazing visual experiences on a regular basis as if to confirm that He loves me.

Olympics in Altona

Mia has been having a little taste of the Olympics at preschool this week. She came home with four medals, two gold and two silver, the olympic torch, olympic flag and of course the Canada flag. She has really been enjoying all the excitement and especially the medals. When I went to pick her up all the kids had a medal around their neck but Mia....she had three! She's a competitive one!

so far...

So far- sorry for the long delay as i have been jumping around from White Rock-Vancouver to Burnaby.
But so far the Olympic city is BUSY. Lots of big crowds with bright red mittens and international scarfs and flags. The flash dance that mom and I were practicing did not go off as smoothly as the streets were not fully closed off and many people had already heard about it...however I got some air time being interviewed by a Taiwanese and an American crew! Crazy eh?
I have not yet experienced the FREE zipline that is in place on Robson Square (in the heart of downtown), nor have I been in the VAG (Vancouver Art Gallery) which is also FREE and has a DaVinci exhibit!!!! I'm very excited to eventually do both! I have been in some of the free Pavillions, but so far they are not too exciting...nor have i had the chance on visiting the international buildings, but the Olympics are still young.
I have also been watching as much of the events as i can- and what was the most amazing event so far on the sports events was seeing our Alexandre Bilodeau win the first Gold for Canada, and the first Gold ever on Canadian soil on the moguls. :)
Have any of you been watching the events? Any sites that you wish me to go see and report back on?

15

That's right, Alba is 15. So Happy Birthday and I hope you enjoy your day. For all you followers of this blog here's a skill testing question. In which city and country was Alba born? Anyone who answers correctly gets a kiss from Alba.