Happy Day Bud!

It's Friday afternoon in Timmins and we're finnaly getting a bit of rain. Nicely refreshing. It was at about this time of day 30 years ago that my favourite son was born. There was a bit of rain that day too. But it has been sunshine most of the time since then. Lucky me,eh! : )

Do I worry too much?

So a new credit card arrived in the mail today. After following the instructions, I activated the new card and then got the scissors to cut up the old card. But I worry about this thing about identify theft. So I cut the card into four pieces. I put one piece the kitchen garbage, another piece in the bathroom garbage and I will take the other two pieces to work and dispose them there. Do I worry too much?

Guilt tripping

It's that time of year. Girl Guides are selling their cookies. One of the moms at work managed to sell me three boxes of cookies for her daughter. I feel guilty. Between Friday and Saturday, I ate a whole box. I guess it was wrong to leave the box sitting out open on the kitchen counter.
Spring has finally arrived in Timmins. (Knock on wood!) I don't think and certainly don't hope we will get anymore snow. But we've had snow in July here, so I am never surprised after living in Northern Ontario all these years.
Now that I have booked my holidays, it seems that's all I can think about. It has been too many years since I first visited the west coast. When I was a high school student in North Bay, I remember when the summer of 1971 arrived. It was another boring Friday afternoon and I didn't have a summer job yet. North Bay is the crossroads for the two major highways in Northern Ontario, Highway 11 and Highway 17. A friend and I had seen dozens of other young people out on the highways. They were hitchhiking. That's when we decided we would do that too. It was a different time then and fun to be 17. I went home and told Mom and Dad I was going to Vancouver. So I packed some clothes and a sleeping bag and grabbed about $40 in cash and by midnight we were in Sault Ste. Marie. Six days later, and after riding a freight train through the Rockies, we made it to Vancouver.

Go west old man... : )

Wow, a whole week has gone by. Lots has happened. Jennifer and the family are doing fine. I have chatted with her about four times this past week. And I spoke with Neil too. I am planning a holiday. Neil has been living west of the Rockies for a few years now, so I figure it's time to visit his neck of the woods. Can't wait to show up at his place in Vancouver and have him buy the beer. It will be a few months yet, but I think it will be nice to get out of Timmins for awhile. Vancouver will be nice, and we'll also get a chance to drop over to Victoria. I might even get a chance to get to the airbase at Comox to see if any family members are home from Afghanistan. If I get time I plan to zip down to Seattle to see the aviation museum at the Boeing plant. It's considered one of the best in the world. Besides, I checked online for some hotels in Seattle and was very pleased to discover that persons over age 50 get a seniors discount! As I look at the sun shining out the window, I am hoping spring has arrived in Timmins. We had snow on Friday, and it didn't stay long, but it was annoying for mid-April. It has been a mild winter, but I think Mother Nature is playing tricks on us.

Pictures, pictures, pictures ...

I've been slowly converting old photos to a digital format. The way its going right now, I think it will take years. I have more than 10,000 slides and negatives to go through! Here are a few just for fun...

Happy Easter

Just got back into town after spending time with Jenn & Scott and the boys. What a treat it was to see them all again. It was a nice weekend even if we did have to watch the Leafs lose to the Bruins. Jenn continues to improve and looks great. I was super impressed to see the renovations that Scott and Don did to the house. I never realized how much work it took to install marble flooring, but it looks fabulous. I had fun with the boys and enjoyed spoiling them Saturday when we went out to lunch and had chocolate fundge sundaes as appetizers! It's fun to get silly every now and then.

Good Friday, busy Friday

It's good Friday morning, and I thought I wouldn't be busy, but I am. Already made two trips to Tim Hortons. News happens, even on holidays. (see my NEWS website on the right)
Well, I did get a note from little brother Ronald after all. He left a comment on the blog after I mentioned last week that I had a cold. His comments: "A cold, that is what happens when you get old. Happy Birthday Leonard. It is March 31 over here so this counts. Say Hi to Jennifer for me. Tell her "next year", us Leaf fans must stick together. RAG"
Just so you know, RAG is Ron's sign off - Ronald Adrian Gillis.