The Expedition

Mary and Patti had two flat tires yesterday. They were fixed in a little place with a garage and a mechanic within an hour and a half. That was a stroke of luck. They are on the road between Sault St. Marie and Thunder Bay .The scenery is mind-blowing. Stompin' Tom Connors keeps coming to my mind for some reason.

Last night they had cake and water for dinner, they were too tired to care . A little further into the trip, meals will become high points of the day.

I think we all have the instincts of nomads inside us . I used to feel the urge every fall, before the winter set in, to go down to the sea somewhere. I needed to smell it and feel the wind on my face. It was always about driving thousands of miles . Bailey's Irish Cream figured largely at the end of each day.

Every time I went back to Scotland and got off the plane, the dampness in the air was like fingertips lightly touching all over my face. I found out in the island of Mull in the Kyles of Bute ,that the sea air is the reason why the scents of everything that grows are so strong

We were there for just a day and took a taxi to see the whole island....in an hour. The driver told us why the scent of blue bells was so strong. He wouldn't have known it either except he had lived in Winnipeg for years and realised the difference. He had been divorced from his wife and came back to the place he was born to find what he needed to be content.

Family Events

Mary. mother of Vanessa ,wife of Number One Son Stephen and grandmother of the beautiful twins you see below is off on an adventure.

Vanessa and James and the twins have moved into their own place in Takoma, Washington with the bare essentials. All their wedding gifts have been here since the wedding.They went to Korea after the wedding with the intent of making money to pay off student loans. They came home shortly after and Vanessa prepared for the twins in Kitchener and James went off to Takoma to make a living.

Vanessa and the twins could not go there to live until they had been processed. It took until the twins were five months old whiich nobody on this side of the continent was complaining about.

Mary has set off on a cross continent journey with a life long friend in a jeep loaded with wedding gifts. They left from Montreal where Patti lives. On the way they passed through the office district of the city and picked up a couple of pristine office chairs at the side of the road They added them to the load. That will be a story to tell in years to come.

Mary has set up a blog. I'm not sure she would want it shared beyond the family so I wont provide the link . Mary is a very private person. But I will keep you posted. And if she says it's O.K. I will provide the link.

Stephen's has his two golden retrievers to keep him company in the house in Kichener.

Adam is on vacation at Sandbanks Provincial Park in Prince Edward County with his parents and sister Robyn. They have been going there since Adam was an infant.Keenan and Aaron are not with them. They are working and saving for a trip to Europe in a few weeks. Keenan's special friend Carey is going along as well.

Adam was in Windsor a couple of week-ends ago for a Special Olympics Baseball event They are a C team. They played with B teams. They didn't win any medals but Adam made a couple of extraordinary plays which I will report in full to you later.

Police Chief Armand La Barge was there representing York Regional Police Department sponsors of Special Olympics in the Region.

The parents group had a Yard Sale at the Church of the Nazarene on Main Street, Newmarket
the Saturday before the trip and raise almost six thousand dollars in a few short hours of work.
It helped to pay for the bus.