May long weekend

The ferry has started running again this week. The shelves are still looking pretty bare, as it takes awhile for everything to be restocked. However things are looking better. The snow has nearly melted. Yesterday we drove along the Ingraham trail, just to see what things looked like. There are more ducks in town than there are along the lakes on the trail. It's strange; some lakes are completely devoid of ice, others are still totally covered. The two extremes can be on neighbouring lakes.

We took Bram, the kayak and Rose's paddle boat onto Frame Lake, in the centre of town. There's still a lot of rotton ice, but the edges of the lake are clear. Bram had a lot of fun going on top of the ice in the kayak.

This is the first May long weekend that we haven't gone camping. However, there's been some terrific wind storms in the past few days, and we don't have plates on the tent trailer. Somehow camping, when it's dipping down to freezing each night, and there's a terrific wind, doesn't seem as inviting as camping in a tent trailer (with a flush toilet and shower).

I've been doing a fair bit of sewing lately. I sewed Bram a new wet suit. I have also sewn myself a new dress and over jacket. I wore it to church this morning. It feels good to be back sewing again; just for fun, not because I have to get something finished.

I did a practice piano exam at my last lesson. I did pretty well on the technical stuff (scales, arpeggios, dominant and diminished 7ths, etc.) and on my pieces. My sight reading has been improving (it couldn't have been much worse before), and I'm not too bad on my chord progressions or pieces. However, my harmonization needs a lot more practice. Thankfully, I have time to get everything much, much better before the exam.

Ups and Downs

There's been both very positive and very negative things happening this past week. On Thursday, I arrived at school to have two of my students inform me that a former student had committed suicide the previous day. None of the other staff knew, so I was the one who sent the message out. Thankfully we were able to arrange some support for those students. The funeral will likely be this week, and as the program that the students are from is the cook's helper/camp cook program, I suggested that when we know the date of the funeral, the students may want to cook something to bring for it.

Saturday was graduation at Aurora College. Always a big plus. Dave Phypers graduated with his BSN (Bachelor of Science, Nursing). He says he still has 6 hours of practicum to finish and he will write his exam in a month - then he'll be a qualified RN. It's been a long haul and we're delighted for him. Another friend of ours, Bonnie H, received her early childhood certificate. She was the only one receiving an early childhood certificate, and unfortunately they forgot to put her name in the program.

New Toy

Lloyd had a contract building a new database, and he hired Bram to do some of the work for him. Bram therefore decided to spend some money on a kayak. Lloyd bought the paddle and skirt for him. What you can't really tell from the photo is that the water is only about 6 inches deep because the ice is just under the surface. It was fun trying it out though.

The weather has been beautiful lately. Spring has finally sprung. We spent most of the morning indoors because it was graduation at Aurora College where I work and we all went. I went as a staff member, and Lloyd and Bram went to cheer and congratulate a couple of friends.

Sadly we had one bike and three people. What would you do? Bram spent a couple hours paddling around Range Lake. Lloyd and I tried it but we can't go as far because the ice is just under the surface. When Bram first bought the kayak he and Lloyd cut down an old dolly and made the kayak trailer. They added foam padding and tie down straps. Now Bram can pull it behind his bike or ours. :)