And the rest of the summer

So, tomorrow is the last day of August for 2013.  It is still unbelievably hot today (near 30 degrees celsius), the winds blowing are hot, and the gardens are begging for water still even though many blooms gave up long ago because of the heat.  We are overrun with zucchini (and as a result have found a couple of new uses for them).  My tomatoes are slow this year, but we have been fortunate to receive garden excess from friends of family.
We have celebrated a birthday early, gone to a couple of lakes, and generally just enjoyed life.  Here are some shots of our activities.

A special boy turns 3 tomorrow (September 1) but a pre-birthday party was held in his honour as relatives from the east were in town.  Here is his "Queen/Mador/Buzz/Woody" cake. It is a racetrack for Lightning McQueen and Tow Mader, and Buzz Lightyear and Woody are watching from the stands.  So creative!  The birthday boy loved showing everyone the cake his mom had made, but when the time came to eat some, he wasn't interested!  Funny guy.

A kiss for the cook.

Here is "baby James" (as he will probably always be known in this house) with his doctor dad.  He is a big boy, so probably the "baby" title will go by the wayside once he objects to it.

This girl loves her hot dogs!

Flanders Lake in the Whiteshell - a place of utter peace and tranquility.

We tried the splashpad again with these two.  They loved the picnic lunch, but weren't so wild about the spraypad.  Addy found herself drenched a couple of times, as she was a little too close when the water came on.  

Our home made splash pad, the ancient "Mr. Fun Fun".  He no longer has his hat, but he still provides lots of entertainment for the little ones, as he is totally predictable.  And yes, Uncle Jeffrey, he did sit on Mr. Fun Fun - I just didn't have my camera ready.

So we bid farewell to Summer 2013.  It was great - lots of heat, swimming, visits, celebrations and good food.  Thanks to all who made it such a good holiday time.

The summer so far

In June, when I was looking at the days ahead, summer seemed to stretch out without too much activity planned.  I thought I was looking at long days, even weeks, when nothing of any consequence would be happening.  Either days are getting shorter the older I get, or I was just completely wrong, because this summer has been anything but inactive.  The pictures which follow chronicle some of the events which have occurred, including overnight visits from grandchildren who live here, a visit to Grand Beach, camping in Bemidji, the beautiful wedding of the daughter of good friends, first camping trip for Cole and Lily, a 25th wedding anniversary party for Bill and Ingrid, a visit from Jeffrey, Amanda, Caitlyn and Hannah (and Bella - granddog number 2) which included a mass birthday/anniversary party for almost everyone attending, and finally, a night at Rainbow Stage with 35 of our closest friends.  Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoyed the events.

Disappointment

I like to think that I have not often been totally disappointed in anyone.  Yes, there have been minor blips in many relationships, but nothing that meant the end of the line, for me at least.  I know that I have done and said many things in my life which have most probably disappointed others, so who am I to be so unaccepting of what another person says and does.  Until this week, that is.

The news that an acquaintance, Dr. Ben Levin, has been arrested on charges of child pornography has astounded me on so many levels.  We have know Dr. Levin (or Benjy as he was in university) for close to fifty years. He is not in any way a close friend, but our paths have crossed several times over the years, and I always looked at him and thought, boy, he has really made it in life.  Wonderful family, challenging career, respected in his field, - I had nothing but admiration for him as I followed his career from a distance.  All that came crashing down Monday night as I was listening to the news.  How could this be?  Am I that bad a judge of character?  How can anyone do these things and think he or she will not be discovered sooner or later?

I know that he is innocent until proven guilty, but I have too much respect for authority figures to believe that they are anything other than absolutely sure of what information they have, information that led to the arrest.  The charges are horrible, and go well beyond viewing pornography.  Horrified as I am, I can't help but feel such pain for his family, his students, his colleagues; for everyone who put trust in him personally and professionally.

Ok now, having written this, maybe I can put out of my mind the vision of other people's grandchildren being  violated by this monster.  All our children and grandchildren deserve so much better than that.

Don't Break the Ice!

Another generation loves this game!  This afternoon, Lily introduced Annie to the game.  Such fun!  These two girls, whose mothers grew up together and were married on the same day, had a great time together.

Number One Birthday!

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The Beale Street Music Festival Photos

 I finally figured out how to load these pictures (or maybe just my computer decided to co-operate today!)  The first, of course, is of Jerry Lee Lewis.  Old but can still rock!

 The crowds and a few of the many portapotties.  Note that everyone is well prepared for the elements.

 We left the festival to explore Beale Street itself.  It is steeped in music tradition, and as I said earlier, the music in the restaurants and bars was as good as that at the festival.

 Here are the crazy but good ZZ Top.  They are very strange!

 And yes, the mud.  I think this is Day 2.  By the end of Day 3, the mud was oozing overtop of sneakers.  So glad I had my yellow boots!  Best $20 I ever spent.

This is Davy Knowles from the Isle of Man.  He was my favourite.  Check him out!

We took a side trip to Graceland of course.  What we noticed was that Elvis' middle name is now spelled with 2 As, unlike twenty years ago.  There is controversy over which is correct.

Lead singer for The Wallflowers (and Bob Dylan's son).  They will be in Winnipeg at the Concert Hall in July, with Counting Crows.

Best slogan of the trip.  Found at the Civil Rights Museum, which is found at the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King was assassinated.

Next task is to get some videos on this blog. Stay tuned.  You do want to see Jerry Lee play!

Memphis in Mud

Sometime in March, I saw a short piece in the Winnipeg Free Press about the Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis, May 2-4.  Sounds like a good idea, I thought.  Sounds like it will be nice and warm, I thought.  Maybe we should take our camper, I thought!  All good ideas.

The first problem presented itself when we realized that in order to take our camper, we would have to dig it out of the snow!  So one frosty Sunday, I shovelled, and the next day, early in the morning so the ground was still frozen we backed the car over the snow-covered lawn to the trailer and hauled it out of there, narrowly missing our neighbour's tree (I didn't realize that the trailer was wider than was the car).

So April 30 we set off, and immediately (well by noon) found warmth.  Council Bluffs - 28 degrees - St. Louis - 29 degrees, nice and warm for our stays in the hotels.  Then, Memphis and 26 degrees the first day.  We set up our camper, dusted off the counters, unpacked the sleeping bags and set off wandering around to scope out where the music festival was.

May 2nd it rained.  We went shopping.  May 3rd, the first day of the festival, it rained and was COLD. The festival didn't start until 6 so we went to the Civil Rights Museum, the Rock 'n Soul Museum (both excellent), had supper on Beale Street along with all the others there to see the Grizzlies' game, and headed off to the festival.  The rain stopped thankfully, but it continued to be cold and windy.  We saw Sheryl Crow and the Wallflowers, and realized that we needed boots, as already Tom Lee park was getting muddy.  (We later learned that locals call the "Memphis in May" events "Memphis in Mud").  That night the temperature plunged to 6 degrees.  In the morning we dug out the ancient heater buried under the seats in the camper, anything to take to chill off.

May 4th we shopped for boots.  None to be found anywhere in Memphis!  Off we went to the festival again and glory be!  They were selling boots!  I got myself a snazzy yellow pair and proceeded to see the hit of the show (for me anyway)  Jerry Lee Lewis.  Old, his band is older I think, can't sing much anymore, but boy can he play!  He's 77 and on his 7th wife (no wonder he looks old!), but it was worth the trip, the cold, and the expense to see him.  I can't imagine he will be performing much any more.  We also saw ZZ Top (they are strange guys) and some really good artists we didn't know (Will Tucker for one)

May 5th we went to Graceland in the morning, and the sun was shining for our Elvis tribute.  Expensive to park and enter Graceland, but hey, we probably won't be back.  Graceland hasn't changed much since we were there about 20 years ago, and we both wondered how long it will be an attraction, given that two generations have been born since he rocked.  We went to the festival for one last day, wearing boots, two sweatshirts, a jacket and a poncho.  I parked myself in the tent and saw Davy Knowles (fantastic) and Royal Southern Brotherhood (ok and loud).  Ross headed off to see The Black Crowes and Flaming Lips, both interesting experiences.  A young girl asked him if he was a cop, and said he looked like a cop.  She said she was going to believe he was a cop, because then her mom would be happy if she said she stood with a cop!

May 6th when we woke up it wasn't raining, so we got the camper down before we even got out of our pjs. By the time we had showered it had started to rain.  However as we drove north, then west, then north again, it stopped raining and was lovely and warm.  So, of course, we stayed in hotels!

All in all it was an adventure.  This was the first music festival we had ever attended (I know, we have several in Manitoba!), and I would go again.  Great music, great food, great people watching, great fun!

I am having some issues loading pictures, but will do so once I solve the problem.