Update, Finally

The last time I was away for awhile I sort of had a family crisis, which though not resolved, is no longer dominating my thoughts and moods. I wonder why things are so hard with family. Someone once said that the reason God gave us family was to make us get along with people we wouldn't choose to have in our lives. In my case it is my sister who I simply have nothing to say to anymore. It is a VERY long story, and I'm not going to get into it here. I will say that for now, I give. I can't try or do any more to repair, remake, reshape, our relationship. We don't hate one another. It is not that we fight, we simply have nothing to say to each other. It is like we are strangers who dislike one another stuck in the same room together. We have to be civil to one another, but we'd both rather be somewhere else. I do find it sad, though. We were once very close and she is my only sibling. Oh well.

This time away has been due to having such a busy summer. And I can't believe it's over. Regular readers of my blog will know that I have a dog I am crazy about. Because of the breed he is (a Belgian shepherd) and because of how he has been raised with us, it hasn't really been possible for us to go away anywhere and leave him overnight. This has recently changed, but I had to get him used to being left at someone else's house. So we practiced for various lengths of time, from the first time (17 minutes) and worked up to about 5 hours, and then recently Mom and Dad came from Vancouver to visit and the four of us went up to Jasper for two nights. It was very nice, but the weather could have been better. One thing that was very exciting is we went white water rafting (we were on the Fraser River in B.C., near Mount Robson). It was the most fun I've had in a very long time. We did a 3-hour class 3 run, and next early summer (June) we're planning a Class 4 on a slightly bigger river. (That's me on the near side, 2nd row.) We had been in the front of the raft up to this point, and then switched with the people who had been behind us at their request. Advice for would-be white water rafters: if you're even the slightest bit adventurous, don't bother with Class 2 Rafting, and sit up front. We were up front luckily for well over half the trip. It is WAY FUNNER up front. (I know funner is not a word, but it just works here).

Anyway, now Mom and Dad are back home again. They should be arriving in Vancouver within the hour (they're driving) and life is slowly returning to normal at our home, though the silly Yankees are losing tonight. They sweep the Red Sox in the series against them, and then they lose to the Devil Rays! What's up with that? Speaking of the Yankees, we are planning a trip to New York City next August, primarily to see the Yankees play in Yankee Stadium. It would be nice to catch a match at the U.S. Open at the same time. Anybody know of any decent, not-out-of-the world priced hotels?

Long Weekend

This is a long weekend in Canada. It's a federal holiday, with each of the provinces having their own version the holiday. In Alberta it's Heritage Day and I think in B.C. it's B.C. Day. But every province in Canada is celebrating a stat tomorrow. You know what the Yankees baseball announcers think it is here this weekend? After deciding no, no, it's not Boxing Day ... yeah, yeah, right, that's after Christmas, they settled on Labour Day. Then they went on and on about the meaning of each of these days. Boxing Day, for example, they joked, (I think) is regifting day, day. No, no, says the other. It's the day you box things up. It's the same in England, right?, one of them wondered. Sheesh. It CAME from England. Where do these announcers get their "trivia" facts? For those of you not in the know, Labour Day here is actually on the same day as Labour Day in the states, the first Monday in September. In Germany it's May 1, FYI.

It's rare that I get a true feeling of relaxation. I had it for a few hours last Wednesday. I had an appointment to get my Permanent Resident Card in the late morning and somehow this took up the whole morning because I wanted to get there very early and had an appointment before that too. I got my card so now I can actually leave the country and get back in again. That's a good thing. After the PRC thing I went to my friend's house (the appointed dog-watcher, and Sam was over at her house already because I didn't know how long the government appointment would last) and hung out there for a few hours just sitting around shooting the breeze. It was so relaxing.

Holidays start next week; just four more workdays to go, and we've actually planned a two-day trip to Jasper the third week of August. I can't wait and plan to go whitewater rafting; that's something I've never done before.

I started Bikini Boot Camp last week. Think military-style calistethenics (sp.) training for women. Wow. Talk about gruelling. However, I think my little muffin tops may actually find it a challenge to hang on through the next eight weeks. I'll let you know how it goes.