Category Archives: Travels

It’s been a busy day. It always takes awhile for me to get things back together after being away for a few days. You know, the “mom” stuff doesn’t get done by anyone else. So today I got a few things straightened out but my suitcase still has stuff in it. And it is too hot to do much in our house.

The weekend in Vancouver was very good as far as the course goes. But by Sunday afternoon by about 3:00, my brain kind of switched off. Fortunately, the lecturer provides all his presentations on CD and so I can go over everything I didn’t catch the first time around. I hate the courses I have to pay hundreds of dollars to go to where the lecturer doesn’t even provide printed handouts.

Sunday evening was spent just the way I wanted to – visiting with my cousin over a leisurely feast of seafood. It has been a long time since I really visited with her. She’s a bit older than me and has some health issues that mean she faces things now that most of us just put on the back burner. As she said it is not so much the going that bothers her it is just the how of going that bothers her. I think that is probably how many of us feel.

Then coming back to Saskatoon early enough to do a few things was nice. It was like having a day off. Got up to visit my sister-in-law in the hospital and see her huge incision. She’s doing well but says she’d never choose to have that done again!

And got to spend some time with Eric – and take him out for a bowl of soup at Alexanders. Leo and I used to go out often to a restaurant at the same location back in the days… And then a great blog party that evening at Coopers.

It is always good to come home. Now if we just had air conditioning!

I decided to blog in from Vancouver. The hotel has internet in the lobby so here goes.

On my way in to Vancouver from the airport my taxi driver was from the east – probably India I guess. On the floor he had a tambourine. Being interested in music, I asked him if he passed his time playing his tambourine.
“Yes,” he said, “It is good for the mind – to relax.”

So, curious, I asked what kind of music he played. “Hindu music,” he replied.

The guy managing the taxi queue had called him “Smiley”. And he was a very happy looking guy. Maybe his music helped. Obviously he had a reputation.

I wonder if joy shines through me like that?

Today we are off to a family reunion in the great metropolis of Minnedosa, MB. This is where my Swedish ancestors set up their homesteads. Our once every five years Frost reunion isn’t always held in this location because it really is hard to get hotel accomodations in a town that only has one or two hotels. But this year it is back to the ancestral roots. It is about 7 hours drive from here so it will be a long enough drive with a van full of my parents and two of our kids. And we have to be back at work on Monday! Actually it will be fun since the Frost’s tend to have a good sense of humor and know how to have a pretty good time.

I am as I write trying to get printed off enough pictures to show how beautiful our kids are, etc. Trying to find one of Leo and I that dosen’t make us look old or fat is more of a challenge.

I will have to get out the old pen and paper for my weekend journalling but I will be glad to get back to blogging. It helps me to express and retain what God teaches me daily and I like that.

I am so glad I went to Waskesiu for the day yesterday that I am going back up after church today. Besides they are having another barbecue and when doctors have a barbecue that means really good steak. Last night the barbecue was at the pavilion up at Elk Ridge and I, not being a golfer, had not been in to the place. It is gorgeous. It is a good place for Leo to be on Fathers Day since he will get to do what he likes to do best – not what he is best at, but golf is his favorite pastime. He gets to do what he does best this morning too – teach – a course on hepatitis C. Hep C is almost a plague in Prince Albert which is a sad indicator on the rate of IV drug use here in this small city.

Yesterday was for me like a day of retreat. I had no one to entertain and no place I was expected to be. I spent part of the day on the shore of the lake reading, praying and contemplating things. I found a trail where I was secluded enough to practice my recorder since I wasn’t sure the other hotel guests would appreciate the noise. And then I went back to the room and had a nap. I’m a little sunburned but since I remembered my sunscreen, not too bad.

One of the things I took along to read was a copy of E-vangelism 2.0 – the introduction by Andrew Careaga If you haven’t read it yet – do. I liked what he said and this is just the introduction.