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We have spent the week watching the Olympics in between the hurly-burly of our regular activities. Nobody here was particularly upset when the men's hockey team burnt out in a blaze of ignominy, but we were happy to cheer for the speed skaters, skeleton crew, bobsledders, skiers and the like.
Emily's team, the Celtics, was in action again on the basketball court this weekend. It was a tournament to end the season, but they only played the teams that are in their own league, so there was nothing much new other than playing three times in two days. They played extremely well, especially on defence, and were even tied at the half-time of one game, but in the end they lost all three. Despite their losing record, it's remarkable how much they have all improved since the start of the season.
This morning the Youth Group was in charge of the church service which had Scouting and Guiding as its theme. Members of several of the Scouting and Guiding troops, of all ages, were present in uniform, including James, Emily and David. Since Ann is one of the leaders of the Youth Group, she was also heavily involved in the organization, a task that has taken up a good deal of her time this week. At the end of the service there was a special tribute to Marty Suddard, a Scout leader who has volunteered his time over many years (and long after his own kids have grown) to many of the Scout troops, Cub packs and Beaver colonies associated with the church. He received commendations from Scouts Canada and the United Church of Canada as well as from the local Scouting organization.
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James has been under the weather this weekend: a hoarse voice and a mild fever, but enough to keep him home from the Cubs' winter camping trip at camp Harris, a Scout camp near Mineville, about half an hour's drive from us (they stay in a cabin, so it is not too rough). This week he is supposed to go touring with the Shannon Park School Choir, so we hope his voice will return to normal soon. From Tuesday until Friday the choir is going to give concerts at several other schools in the Halifax area.
Yesterday David had a soccer game at the indoor facility in Kentville, so we both drove up after lunch. They played fairly well against a team that has beaten them twice already, but ended up losing again 4-2. On the way home we stopped in to see Katy at Acadia. She and Krista have been hosting a bunch of their high school friends who turned up for a party in honour of Krista's birthday. Several of them were still there when David and I dropped by. This week is Reading Week so Katy will be coming home on Tuesday and staying until the weekend.
This afternoon Emily and I went skating at the Sportsplex and took along Emily's friend Rachel. James, usually, the most avid skater in the family besides myself, had to stay home due to his cold. Tonight Emily is at Rachel's for a sleepover as tomorrow is an In-Service Day: no school. David has also taken advantage of the In-Service Day to go out to a party thrown by one of his friends.
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A week ago Wednesday was the day that Emily has been waiting for all winter: our first major storm with about 20 cm of snow and no school or work. We took advantage by sleeping in, then spent the next couple of hours shovelling out. Emily and James spent most of the day outside making forts.
Last weekend I went to Vancouver for the first time in many years (Ann, Katy, David and I were there in the summer of 1993) and the first time that I have been there professionally since I left in 1980. The Mechanical Engineering Dept. at UBC flew me out to attend the thesis defences of two students who I have been helping. I arrived on Saturday afternoon and was picked up at the airport by the students. They took me to my room on campus, then dropped me at my friend Don Davidson's where we were joined a bit later for dinner by Dave Lidstone. Don, Dave and I were all in a band together while Dave and I were both graduate students at UBC in the late seventies. After dinner we watched the hockey game (a Saturday evening necessity according to Don and Dave) and played tunes. Jim Houston also showed up to join in the festivities. Sunday was the first nice day that Vancouver had seen in months. After a lazy start to the morning, I walked over to Chris and Margo's for lunch. For a couple of years Chris and I lived together in a house on Dunbar Street along with two other physics graduate students. After lunch I was picked up by my friend Bill Helgason who I know from my summers working at Chateau Lake Louise. I lost track of Bill shortly after I left in 1980 (but managed to find him easily enough using Google) so we had a bit of catching up to do. Bill me dropped me back at my room on campus and I spent the evening preparing for the next day. On Monday I went to the students' thesis defences, then gave a seminar of my own on some work that I have been doing trying to reduce the resistance of the Halifax Class frigates. When it was all over I met another ex-physics grad student friend, Glen, who took me home for a wonderful roast beef dinner, then out to a pub to listen to some local fiddle music. I flew home again on Tuesday, arriving a bedtime. All in all it was a very enjoyable trip, though short. It was great to see so many friends again after such a long time.
Yesterday we were up early to get Emily to a basketball game in Hammonds Plains by 8:45 AM. The team played another good game in a losing cause, but they did score more than 20 points for the first time. Then it was back home to get Ann to a fund-raising auction for the Dartmouth High Band and David to his soccer practice. I went to the auction for a while, then picked up David and took him to the auction to help work the floor. Then I had to leave again to get Emily to the house of one of her basketball team-mates so they could take her to another game. After the auction ended, Ann and I went to see the end of the game and to bring Emily home again.
Today we had more snow (there is more forecast for tonight as well), so David's soccer game was cancelled so the opposing team wouldn't have to make the trip from Antigonish. Ann and Emily took the opportunity to have girl's afternoon at the movies; they went to see Hoodwinked while James had his friend Max over to play (he had already seen the movie).
January 2006 Archive
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