Wierd People

Yay Loretta. Her and Karrie are normal. They like to canoe. They like to get on the river and canoe and take it all in (yes I see Justin, he's cute) The bald eagle, the moose, they even paddled (what is the difference between an oar and a paddle by the way?).

Jim likes to think that the July long weekend is an outdoor adventure. It is that. But when me and Kevin canoe by the crowd because it's too raucous, you know it's a party too.

Being from Toronto and living the hustle and bustle, it would not be a bad thing to experience the quietude of the Moyie and just listening to nature. So far it hasn't happened. Which is a good thing of course.

But a couple of canoes (at the most) and peace and quiet would be nice too someday. Just me and the river and a bald eagle. When I bike to work I think how nice that would be.

Agh

I don't know why I look stunned. Apparently stunned is my natural pose. And I never take my shirt off, it must have been really hot that day. Is that Shayna? She is so cute. Yay. I just realized something. I'm whiter than Kev. Kev looks bronzed next to me. I guess the biking thing working. That is slightly heartening. This week I made another hole in my belt so my pants stay up.

I put off the doctor's appointment again until next month. I think I was supposed to go in April and I keep putting it off. What is she going to tell me? I presume it will be quit smoking, drinking beer and ogling young women. I have to have a bit of fun don't I? I suppose if I have to I can quit the beer and cigarettes. If my eyes go then I jump off the nearest tall building.

I sometimes wonder if I shouldn't at least remember one of these pictures being taken. I don't remember Ger even having a camera with him. I remember him talking. That I remember. Ger seems to have the inordinate talent of capturing uncles in wierd poses.

Hello

This picture says it all. This is a great, great picture. Actually this picture makes my day, week, month and year and maybe the century. I love everyone in the world. All persons, everyone. In the history of mankind. So everyone can tell me I'm good for nothing. If someone was threatening me with an uzi and I had to tell someone who whom my favourite persons might be, it might be these three. Proba bly not much doubt about that. I pretty well think they know that too.

The string theory

In spite of these two dregs from society, there is a way to treat younger persons. Treat them with respect.

Even these two. Which is tough. Hello. See all the hustle and bustle in the background? They are ignoring it, yay my people. Where was I by the way? I don't see me. Shouldn't I have been somewhere in the picture?

My theory is that the first canoe trip is great. The second one is the best....and it only get's better. But of course the young persons have to deal with the old persons (like Ger and Kev). Whom are loony. Hello. No not really, seeing Col drive up that hill to try to straighten his bumper was rather exciting and everything worked out.

My theory is that a lot of work goes in to the canoe weekend. For the rest of the year one can leave, but not then, put up with the foibles of our family, sit back and enjoy it. But of course if we all did that it wouldn't be fun. Continue on. Do what you do.

And of course one of the great things about the canoe weekend was Justin. I was impressed. But the thing is don't worry about the old persons. They are crazy Hello. They need a little outing once a year. If Ger can't get annoyed at Karri and Kev can't hide under a tire at least once a year then the string will be broken. Maybe one of my fave times during the weekend was listening to Ger talk about Karri. Maybe one has to travel 5000 km's to appreciate how funny that is. And Kevin of course. And Jim. I hesitate to say anything but I must. Enjoy every moment of it. Hello. Col might have tried to impress me and he did (see pic above). My theory is: like father like son. I don't know why persons in the family have sudden urges to impress me. I wouldn't bother, the pain is worse than the gain.

Hello

I may be moving to Vancouver soon. Not sure I can take another winter in Toronto. I don't think so.

Hello

I try. But it was Cummings not Riondel where Leo had his 70th. This is Devon of course. Who is going to be 21 in June.

May I just quietly kill myself. I remember Neil when he was an annoying young person who didn't mind me too much. It doesn't seem that long ago.

I'm going to bike a lot today. Or kill myself, one of the two.

Amazing really.

A touch of class

Aah Lorraine. Lorraine loves children, dogs and, I hope, elderly persons (not mentioning any names). Lorraine is a complete pleasure to be around and she 'gets' everything that Bob and I might joke about and she is waaay ahead of us but me and Bob don't talk about that.

Bob is classy too. He's showing off his right kneecap for the camera. My eyes wanted to look at the beautiful fountain in the background (or on Bob's and Lorraine's new puppy, isn't he cute), but no, the focus is on Bob's kneecap. I'm thinking if you compare Bob's kneecaps to Kevin's kneecaps, Bob wins. I didn't mind Neil's kneecaps actually. Ger might win the nice kneecap contest though, I've seen his. They are up there.

..and a little 'touched'

I resent this pic. I was as one with the flora and fauna for a moment or two. I'm thinking this is the only chance I can away. I would have walked farther into the flora and fauna but it was rocky terrain and Kev was in a rush.

I was trying to emulate The Great Grand Poobah's: Look off into the distance and appear to know something (the pillow under my t-shirt is probably rather obvious). I had sixteen seconds to pose for this shot and it is hard to make a pillow look like a stomach so quickly. I'm hoping the Great Grand Poobah's will forgive me for this. Only The Great Grand Poobah's can look like Great Grand Poobahs.

And I was thinking at the time, which really put me out of the running for The Great Grand Poobah.

Neil

This is a picture of Neil taken this past March at Little Shovel Pass near Jasper. Neil and three friends set up a camp and Neil slept for five nights in a snow cave in -25 Celsius temperatures (I'm not making this up).

Neil is wondering what that funny-looking, hairy creature walking up the other side of the mountain is. He's thinking it's either a yeti or the snow-blindness combined with the high-altitude lack of oxygen he's experiencing.

Isn't he cute? (Neil, not the Yeti)

Leo's 70th Birthday

This and the picture below were taken at Riondel on the occasion of Leo's 70th birthday.

Lookin' good!

Neil is the one with the mustache and cute legs.

The new arrival

This a beautiful picture of Brandy and Makala.

Hi all (revised)

Kev and Anita are going to be grandparents. Clear the deck. How will they be as grandparents? Just make sure I'm not in the neighbourhood. Anita will be great, cooing to the child. I assume when Col drops off the child for the first time, Kev will pretty well go ballistic. Not in the nuclear sense of course but more of the time bomb waiting to go off sense.

Kev isn't prepared for grandparenthood is he? He could well be. But if I see that child following his grandfather around the house while Kev's trying to get his shit together and discussing what vehicle is to driven by whom, I'm going sweep him away (the child, not Kev).

The Canucks

Here's the Canuck's logo. It's nice if one is blind in one eye and can't see out of the other. Apparently the Canuck front office is going to get Ronald MacDonald to come out of retirement for the first pre-season game this season (against Detroit on October 5).

They reduced their training camp roster by seventeen players so they will take only 50 players to the main training camp in Vernon. Among the 17 was Vladimer Petrokowskoffski, who is still in Russia looking for his Visa.

Progress

So I upgraded my blog to add a few new features, but unfortunately I can't upload pictures at the moment. Oops, I just cleared my cache and what should appear? One thing I have noticed is the number on the Profile Views. When I first started the blog the number of people viewing the blog would climb very slowly, but it would move. Then I put a google search on one of my sub-blogs (google pays one for every hit), and the number on the profile views stopped. It moved once a month by one or two. Now that I've upgraded, the number of hits on the blog are going up like crazy. I don't have that many relatives to account for it.

So for privacy reasons I will be more careful in the future, to wit:

An unnamed person has a huge unnamed flora in his/her yard/acreage.

A person, who shall remain nameless, yaks/gabs/goes on a lot.

The Great Grand Supremo, but Incognito Poobah is having his/her 34th/35th/36th nap of the day.

The Great (up and coming) Grand Supremo, and also Incognito Poobah is thinking of the moose/meese he just about bagged back in '82.

Ju...oops, Jane Doe is somewhat perplexed. She is wondering about life in general and/or specifically. Or not. Ask Jane Doe not me.

A younger brother, a.k.a. Wilfrid, is having a problem with his palm pilot. The pilot in his palm is having trouble navigating.

An annoying and/or irritating nephew who grows an unnamed herb is going to cheer for The Leafs and/or The Leafs and/or The Leafs this winter.









Uncle Do..oops sidney.

Fridays

I always look forward to Fridays as far biking home from work goes. I have no idea why but there is more traffic and people behind the steering wheels are more anxious to get home and chill out. I love it because I've gotta be a little more aware and my adrenelin gets going good and I'm in a rush too. The first stretch is just autos zooming by me and they are going hell bent for leather...to get into traffic jam. Hello.

The second stretch is nothing but hills and a lot of the lanes are turning off into side streets and I have to get between the vehicles turning off and those are going straight ahead. Sometimes I get in between a bus and a gravel truck and I'm stopped at light and I think: I know one has to turn right and the other has to go straight, gee I feel small. And I'm trying to bike up a steep hill, they just have to step on the gas.

The third stretch is the most interesting by far. Up until now I was in the 'burbs more or less. Now I'm in the 'crazy' part of town: two lanes, cars parked on either side, pedestrians going hither and thither (no one pays attention to crosswalks in this part of town and mainly most all Torontonians ignore them) and so the danger is hitting a pedestrian or someone opening their car door. It's beautiful though. All along this stretch (of Ukranians, then Koreans, then Italians, then chinese, etc.) are small shops that cater to their own community. Toronto really is a big city of small communities.

The fourth stretch is a calm one (because it actually has a bike lane) but an interesting one. It's on a street called Harbord. The first part is where mainly Portugese live and then it disects Spadina which is Chinatown and then it goes through St. George St. which is all about the University of Toronto. The ivied buildings and the students milling about. And then Harbord Street runs into Queen's Park which means the Ontario legislative buildings and it gets confusing (it took me a while to figure out the best bike route through this little stretch).

And the final stretch. Disecting Bay, Yonge, Church, Jarvis, Sherbourne, and then finally Parliament Streets. It sounds like a long way, but I usually make it home in an hour. Fridays though, I get home and say: "I survived, yay, that was a lot of fun"

An Addendum

I can't help it but it was funee: So I'm watching Ger and Jim heading off to the trailer as me and Kev are talking around Jim's campfire. I'm thinkin': they are leaving us, how the hell are me and Kev going to make it up that big hill, and I gotta catch a plane in an hour or two. Four o'clock in the morn and Kev is nattering, well it may have been me. "Kev, there is no one around, we have to walk up there by ourselves". "whom?" "Your brothers left us to our own devices and I'm not confident about making it to Jim's trailer" "Hang on to me, Uncle Don, I'll show you the way" Hello. So we start off and Kev veers. "Kev where are you?" "help" "where are you?" "look for the person amidst the flora and fauna" "Kev, I feel a sense of deja-vu, didn't we go through this on the canoe trip?" "are you going to help me up, shaddup" "By the way that was an amazing feat of tumbling, did you know you could do that, I'd give you ten out of ten on that" "how much farther?" "we just started, here we go, hang on to me Kev" Veer. "I'm going to insist Jim make a firepit closer to his trailer, like in his living room, by the where are you?" "I'm checking out Brenda's landscaping up close" "How is it?" "painful".

Hello

Is there any Storm Clan member not going a have child soon? Can we have a conference? I love children but do we need them all at once? The idea of it is to spread them out a little.

Kristen/Jim and Col/Jen will have the cutest kids in the history of mankind. Which is a good thing I suppose. And Brandy (of whom I'm awaiting pics). There's other's I'm sure, I can't keep track anymore. I'm going to open a day care centre in the Kootenays/Okanagan area, I'll be rich. Hello.

I saw Kristen a summer or two ago, I've never felt more comfortable with someone in my life. And Colin. He's got me figured out. Life is happening as it should. Kev as a grandfather. That can't be a good thing. Hello. A conversation between Kev and his grandchild-to-be: "coo" "coo?" "coo" It won't be a long conversation. Hello. I'm hoping when him and Anita babysit he won't give the child any bad habits. "I'm changing your diapers, but I"m above this, I'm not a bad person, I'm watching the Discovery Channel and rhinos are humping, I'm covering your eyes". "And I have nuns coming over and they are taking you to Tibet and that may be too close". "coo" "don't argue, you'll love sipping herbal tea".