the landfill blues...

Wow. Yesterday I had my first ever visit to the dump, the dump! Talk about garbage mountain! It was so impressive... My initial reaction wasn't even that it was so gross, just that it was so incredible, this massive landscape blob of garbage! All garbage! And then... wow, gross. It cost me $5 to drop off a pile of shower sliders, a few doors, tiles and that's about it. I wore Keds, no socks, and that was also kind of gross. There were massive garbage cruncher machines and all sorts of other people dumping, throwing, chucking... creating this massive mountain of trash - I don't even know what to say! I agree with my mom when she says that we should all visit the dump and see what we're creating with our active consumerism, and how disposable products that we use and throw away with such little thought are creating these ugh, mountains. I decided to learn a little bit about landfills and get this: apparently, the most prolific of landfill ingredient isn't diapers or plastic or styrofoam, but paper! William Rathje, a landfill archaeologist (or garbologist), dug into three landfills in Arizona (ew) and came to all sorts of conclusions about garbage; paper seems to be the number one culprit, and landfills act like giant mummifiers, preserving our garbage for a looong long time. Gross. I'm not sure what the deal is with burning garbage (more research needed), but some places do more burning than others, and some places export their garbage to other states and even other countries! Crazy. So yup, that was pretty interesting. The lesson from that trip is to reduce, reuse and recycle as much as possible, and be as responsible as possible as consumers.

Holiday eggnog in September? Red and green? A Snowman? This is Christmas stuff... already!

Okay then! On a completely different note, here are some random thoughts before I sign off. There is already Eggnog in the grocery store! Ridiculous! Maybe it's not a Christmas thing any more... ??? Obviously not exclusively anyways. Next: get me on that no-call list! This morning I was forced to get out of bed when the phone rang at 8am (I know, tough life): "Hello?" "Vrrrr, Vrrrrr (ships horn), Welcome Aboard! (Dripping with enthusiasm) This is the captain spea.." Click. Are you kidding me? And finally... saving the best for last, Happy Birthday Mom! Love ya!!!

...

SO! I can't believe it took me ... how many months? A million? To see the Sex and the City movie... and it was so so so good. I loved it. The story, the fashion, the shoes, the sad parts... Steve meeting Miranda on the bridge... and the unsaid conclusion that love isn't always describable, it doesn't always follow logic or reason, and it comes in so many different packages. Ha! I'll say. I have bad jokes cursing through my head. Anyways... so it was great. I think it's probably a good thing that my feet are size 12 - yes it's true - otherwise, I might just have as many shoes as Carrie. And, could a Carrie Bradshaw live in Winnipeg? It wouldn't be the same. It would never be the same. Coming out of the movie theatre I self-outfit-analyzed: I'm wearing dirty Keds, an oversized sweatshirt and my hair is wet and in a ponytail. At least I was wearing dark, tight jeans. Anyways... yum. The wedding dresses in the movie are crazy! Some crazy ugly, some intriguing and, well, I don't really remember seeing any that I would wear wait that's a lie - I liked the short tiered one. I'm shopping for a dress (went last weekend in Denver and a few days ago here) and (big sigh) it's difficult!! There is so much ugliness out there and so much saccharine satin a la cheap Barbie doll that I don't really know... when are where will I find the right dress? I suppose I musn't get intimidated by these things but. No but. No intimidation.

Catherine, me and Mariana at the game - it was chilly!!

So I went to my first Blue Bombers game last night and I was treated to a full spectacle of shenanigans. We were seated behind some extremely obnoxious, trashy, drunk people (I sound so judgemental), there were fights on the field (two), player ejections (four), and the home team won! Fabulous. I also paid $6.75 for a large beer that could have been better but really wasn't that bad. The beer at the Russian hockey games was worse, so there. All in all it was a good time. What else has been going on around here.... last week was National Stay at Home and Watch Lots of TV Week in the United States - wait, does it continue through the weekend? Not sure. Anyways, there's so much TV to be watched - I wonder if there is a National No-TV week? PAH! Ya right. But there does seem to be a National Lose Weight Week (obviously not this week), a Cuckoo Dancing Week and a No Name-Calling Week. And those are all in January. Wow. No name calling at the Cuckoo Dance! Ha. This is a whole other blog in itself. Ooooh it could be a story. Well the story for now is that it is getting colder (low of two degrees last night) and I am getting tired - time to get in bed and read...

rah-rah-romania

Random random Romania. The country is always a surprise, and the timing is even more out of the blue; to think that even a week ago - even a week ago yesterday! - we had no idea that this traveling, life-changing (albeit temporary) whirlwind would sweep us up and away... to Romania. I haven't heard from Steve yet but assume he arrived safe and sound. He flew in to Bucharest and was hoping that someone would be there to pick him up and take him to Constanta, his/our new home. The city is right on the Black Sea (!!) and the area looks super interesting - this could be the understatement of the century, by the way. It's apparently the oldest city in Romania (though any oldest superlatives are surely contested) and is the biggest port on the Black Sea - the Black Sea! Much more to come on the area, I just wanted to give a tiny little this-is-where-we're-going intro. Maps...



I have much to do before I leave - I'd love to make a short sweeeet trip to Vancouver before I leave, and other than that? Need to hit the bookstore. I finished the most fabulous book last week, and it ranks as one of my top reads. Irene Nemirovsky's Suite Francaise was so good that I took three of her other books out of the library yesterday and am committed to reading all of them before I go. I loved loved loved the book and I love libraries. I know that this sounds totally nerdy but it's true... I get kind of giddy when I go in there (as long as it's not to write a really long paper or give books back that I haven't finished) and always want to take home way too many books. Way more than I can really manage anyways. And I love the children's section. So many amazing books. Blah. Okay enough. What I also love is Dancing with the Stars! We've never really watched the show but happened to turn on the telly the other night when the season premier was on and I love it! It totally makes me want to dance and hands down it is the reality show that I would go on if I had the chance. The Amazing Race would be super neat too, but the dancing? The dancing wins. I know that I had much more to write about but for now c'est tout.

some activity...

Quite a lot has happened in the past couple of days and there's much more to come - activity on the radar of our lives has increased significantly. First me, and this past weekend. I wrote my exam on Friday and think that it went well, but after writing for almost three hours my hand felt like a frozen, gnarled claw - uncomfortable. The weather was beautiful here so we played a bit of beach volleyball, enjoyed a beer in the sunshine and then Steve drove me out to the airport. The plan was to meet my parents in Denver to visit my sister and spend a few days in Moab. Hint: since I'm writing from Winnipeg, all did not proceed as planned. While we we sitting at the Tim Horton's in the Winnipeg airport on Friday night, enjoying some sugary donuts and weak coffee, Steve's people called with a job in Romania and a mandate: leave as soon as possible. So! I carried on to Denver, was hassled on the way from an old frumpy and completely unwelcoming man in US Customs, with a wait-and-see outlook on the whole Romania thing. We had a great weekend - Denver seems like a beautiful city and is beautifully planned: great architecture, lots of parks and it seemed super clean. There also seemed to be loads of public transit and bike and pedestrian paths all over the place - love it. It was great to see Karin and my parents, even though it seems like were were all in Vancouver visiting just a few weeks ago. Saturday we were on the bridal hunt: we had appointments at three bridal salons (so cheesy that they're called salons) and I must have tried on close to 100 dresses. Crazy. Anyways, it was super fun and of the masses there ended up being four that I liked (that we all liked) but ... I didn't buy anything. I mean, it doesn't help (or maybe, actually it does) that one of them was $6000 (it was my favourite one - eek), and of the four, the "cheapest" was just under $2000. Yikes... so! If I'm ever going to spend anything close to that much money on an article of clothing I need time to digest. So - digesting. I haven't looked here yet, but plan to do so this week, as the prospect of finding something in Romania is - scary? I'm aware that this is totally naive of me, but somehow I imagine a cross between the curtains (but ivory) and an old, lacy tea doilie as the typical, traditional bridal gown that I might come across in Romania.
Shopping...
At dinner - great company... and did I mention the food?



Anyways.... we had the most amazing dinner on Saturday night; this meal ranks as one of the best restaurant meals I've ever had, so check out the menu and salivate. There was great atmosphere, fabulous drinks and, well, the food was just so amazing that I have to tell you what we ate and what we drank. There was wine and there were martinis - my dirty gin martini (with extra olives: stuffed in house with a melt in your mouth blue cheese) was one of the best I've ever had. So good. As far as food goes, this is it, in order of unbelievable true and authentic flavour: grilled artichoke with aioli, home made cheese, home made sausage bruschetta, prosciutto di Parma, a pizza, two salads (the chop and the caprese) and roasted lamb. It was all just incredibly delicious. SO! When in Denver, or when close to Denver, head to Osteria Marco for a meal that's out of this world. The service was great and so was the atmosphere. So so so good. Anyways! I decided on Saturday night to head back to Winnipeg, as the Romania deal was really going to go down (you never really know): the team wanted Steve to leave on Tuesday and, though I plan on going too, it might not be such an immediate thing. So I made my way back here on Sunday, and Steve is on his way out of here on Wednesday. Romania is a new place to us both, so it will be fun learning about it and blogging about it too. There will be some familiar faces in town: the former head coach of the National Team, Stelio DeRocco, is the coach there, and Tammy Mahon, a Canadian athlete, is on the women's team in town, so it should be fun, and life should be a bit more social than good old Yaroslavl. More on Romania, location etc. to come, but I should be out enjoying the last day of summer (?) or is it officially the first day of fall... not too sure but it is one or the other or a combination. The leaves have all started to turn and though it's a bit of a grey day, it's warm and beautiful. Outside I go; stay tuned for more...

a pretty good day!!

What a fabulous day! There was only one hiccup: I interviewed for a job last week with Sport Manitoba (Coaching Manitoba) and I didn't get it... mrrrr. But oh well, perhaps a blessing in disguise? After the morning phone call/rejection the day was absolutely splendid. After some productive desk work (studying for Friday's exam - Urban Geography - meh) I enjoyed the mid-afternoon sun (which, by the way, was oh so so so warm) and ran to the university for a great work out (I even did lunges!). The walk home was as sunny as the run there (but not quite as timely) and... when I got home guess what!? It was time for the end of the purple! Steve had primed all but one square of the visible purp-etrator and well, we had a ceremonious celebration! And then just like that it was gone. Gone Gone GONE! No more priming for us! No more pink and purple! yay! Another fabulous thing that happened today was that I got a darling letter from my friend Margaret in Yaroslavl. What a sweet lady... she mentioned that her students are still eagerly waiting and hoping for a Canadian snail-mail pen pal, so if anyone knows any young'uns/preteens looking for a friend in the middle of Russia, I'll hook you - or them - up. Cold hard Russian addresses. What else.... oooh! And then... We had the most delicious sushi dinner. I am telling you, this was some of the best sushi I've ever had... and in Winnipeg! I KNOW! Mmmmm it was so good. Steve met the owner of this place on the golf course a few weeks ago and he suggested we come on down, bragging (of course) that it was the best place in town. And it was! I don't ever want to go anywhere else for sushi. It was much better than any sushi I've had in Vancouver in the past ten years. Yujiro Japanese Restaurant on Grant. If you live here, go. Yum.

The last of it...
Ready to celebrate!!!
Can you see that this is an action shot?


If pollution can be pretty... this is what it looks like... clear, blue Prairie skies

So! The geese are accumulating in droves here in Winnipeg, and we have our fair share of them in the lake right now. Last night I stayed up late-late reading a beautiful book - I say beautiful because I feel like I'm there and I see all of the colours and know the people and it's just lovely (Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky). Anyways, the geese honked and cackled through the night. Super neat to see them all together, and, a little scary too. I've never seen the movie The Birds, but I can only imagine: The Canada Geese... eek. Okay, I'm outta here, more studying tomorrow and hopefully it will be another beautiful day!!

the weekend...

More productivity! We have yet to finish the bathroom but we are well on our way. The purple rec room of the rock band photos from last weekend is now a healthy Oatmeal (colour) - the same as upstairs. We had one can left over and managed to squeeze the last drops and make it last for two coats. The trim is on and all is done - but no pictures for you! The bathroom door and trim and odds and ends are all over the room, so as soon as that's cleaned up I'll post some pics. We are dealing with some interesting-ness from the bathroom. After taking down fixtures and taking out the countertop and mirror (and brass shower sliders) we were left with remnants of previous wall paperings and such:

These are finally gone... ick and ick.

Flowery wallpaper bordered by purple dreaminess reflected off of a brass shower stall? Who orchestrated that?

A different wallpaper, less than three feet away. Sooooo pretty.

So, getting the bathroom done is on the agenda for the week and that just might conclude The Indoor Renovation Series of 2008. Pictures to come.

We had a good but low-key weekend and luckily didn't have to buy any gas: the price went up here by more than 15 cents on Friday (to $1.48... ridiculous). Though I'm aware that attempts to understand how pricing works are futile, I can't help it. Even though crude oil prices have come down more than $45 since July (per barrel: July 11th, $147.27; September 11th, $100.87), prices per litre have fluctuated and significantly increased. You'd think that with a 30% decrease in the price of a barrel of oil, the pump price wouldn't remain stable - shouldn't it decrease? Get this: For every one-cent rise in the price of gasoline, the industry in here in Canada reaps an extra $1 million every day in profits. Wowsa. And, according to an article in the Winnipeg Free Press, the industry has also "cleverly orchestrated"the closing of refineries in Canada and the US because of the threat posed by natural disasters... and then raised the price. Er, isn't there some sort of a regulatory body to control this? No? Though I'm aware that the environment doesn't benefit from lower gas prices, who benefits from the higher ones? Exxon-Mobil made over $40 billion last year, which translates to $4.6 million per hour. Right. Until we (that means they) can come up with some sort of system that reduces our dependence on oil (uh-huh) they can keep on gouging us. Wait, they will keep on gouging. Oil Watchdog, an internet-arm of Consumer Watchdog, looks like a good place to browse for information - but I should be studying. In Russia I took a geography course and, what feels like a year later, this Friday I'm finally taking the exam. So, it's cram time, since the books have been collecting dust. Oops.

a little o this and a little o that

We've been busy around the house these last couple of days, with the exception of today. Steve golfed all day long (it was a gorgeous day) and I had a job interview that I think went well... and went shopping! Not full on shopping but a little of this a little of that, quick and painless in and out of the big mall in 30 minutes or so. What else what else... so we are into the last stages of painting - downstairs is primed and ready for some colour and after that we have but one purple culprit-room left, a small downstairs bathroom. The other day Steve built a fabulous little table that is home to a desktop Mac - it is sturdy and pretty and it smells nice - a fantastic little table, hurray. Here is something amazing: yesterday I volunteered at a golf tournament all day (not the amazing part) hosted by Adesa for Variety, the children's charity. I've been volunteering for them since last winter - it's been a blast and I've met so many great people. Anyways, yesterday ADESA raised over$135,000 for Variety, unbelievable! So it was great to be a part of that - amazing people around me doing outstanding charity work. Hurrah hurray again.




One thing that came up yesterday at this golf tournament, in between putters and chippers that is, was the subject of 9/11. We talked about where we were on that day, and how ... incredulous maybe? we all were that this happened during our lifetime and recent memory. It was the summer Steve and I first met and we were both here in Winnipeg. I was sharing a two bedroom apartment with three other girls (also incredible) and I remember how we were emotionally glued to our dwarfy 13 inch TV screen. Anyways, there is good, bad and ugly in this world, and I hope that in the end we can contribute to much more good than anything else.

International Literacy Day

Today, September the 8th (!!!) is International Literacy Day, a day recognized around the world to celebrate literacy and life long learning, and bring attention to the importance of these skills. While it's something that is more or less taken for granted here in Canada (we have one of the highest literacy rates in the world here) it's something so fundamental and essential to every aspect of living. Reading, writing and counting lend so much to skills all across the board: education, work, parenting, health, finance, recreation and entertainment - and more. Worldwide it's estimated that 774 million people live without basic literacy skills (two-thirds of whom are women) and 75 million children are not in school, a number on the rise. In a 2003 survey of Canadian adult literacy, 58% of adults came in at the minimum level required to succeed in a knowledge-based economy, a number I thought would have been higher. There's some really neat information about literacy out there - check out the National Adult Skills and Literacy Database if it interests you... and/or if you have time.

Last night we watched Test the Nation: Canada, eh? It was interesting and informative but SO DORKY! I'm not sure if any of you watched... but seriously, why? Why do Canadian TV shows have to be so gorpy? There were lots of bad jokes, a few Canadian celebrities (only one of whom we recognized, oops) and, oh! there was a BODY BREAK. Hal and Joanne McLeod - remember the TV body breaks? - show up in sparkly track suits and get the entire audience on their feet to walk it out! They had everyone marching on the spot, with pearly whites, cheesy smiles and enthusiasm a'blazing - I couldn't not change the channel. It was horrrrible. So that part was mega-cheese... and then everything else was just so politically correct with equal representation of men and women of all colours and shapes and sizes and abilities and disabilities - I wonder if they gave each team (I think there were five or so) an equal representation of people that knew nothing about Canada. There were some good questions though: What famous board game did two Canadian journalists invent? What tool was invented by Canadian Steve Witte in 1894? What is the only official bilingual province? What is the best-selling Canadian hip hop single of all time? So we had fun answering the questions but the dorkiness was overwhelming. What was also extremely dorky was Kurt Browning and the way that the Canadian Walk of Fame was set up. Last night's show and award ceremony (yup we watched several hours of TV last night) had some super drippy and awkward scripted commentary, and the jokes were... you got it! DORKY! I don't know. But it was neat to watch some great Canadians be honoured: Michael J. Fox, Steve Nash K.D. Lang and more. Are we, as Canadians, innately gorpy and dorky? I hope not, but I'm not looking for any answers around here!!

"Keep fit and Have Fun!"

the weekend...

What a transformation this house has had since last December - the pink curtains have been replaced and the icky colours are almost all gone! We finished up the master bathroom yesterday and it looks awesome. Steve can take most of the credit (I went for a bike ride) but not all. I primed. Anyways, there are just a few more things to attend to like towels and a shower curtain but besides that... all done with upstairs renos! Next week we'll tackle the rec room and hopefully get a bit of outdoor work done before winter sets in. Here are some pics - ps. doesn't the bedroom look awesome too?

We painted the cabinets and trim, replaced the hardware, painted and Steve framed the mirror - it makes a HUGE difference!


Last night we had a few people over for some ROCK-rock band. Ryan and Shauna brought the oh so fun video game over and yup, we rocked it, as I'm sure you can tell. Equipped (at times) with a manager, full beverage services and a giant veggie platter, we, The Hot Totties, won the hearts of many automated digital TV fans. So today we're recovering from our first gig, and waiting out the weather. We were hoping to go and play some basketball today but it's been rain-sun-rain-sun all day, so we might just stay home and watch tennis, hoping for a vicarous visually induced workout. Errrr, right.

Ready to rock it on the drums
"This one's for YOU!"

Nerds. Rocker chicks are way cooler than golfers.

Who controls the future?

Mel Gibson had it right when he said, "Whoever has the biggest club... in more ways than one. One they can bash you with and one you can belong to." Depressing. Especially in terms of how applicable it is to the depth and breadth of power and influence exerted by the American government. The revolving door between government and corporate money is absolutely ridiculous; it’s so transparent and obvious, I wonder, are we, the public/consumers that stupid? Blind? Powerless? The tides of people that move back and forth between executive corporations and lobby groups and the government are governed not by public opinion, demand or the moon (what would that be like?); they are governed by money (moon-y! ha!) and by what seems to be an almost inseparable bond between the two. Immediately a predictable Hollywood movie script comes to mind: small group (individual, company) decides to take on a big group (government, big corporate power) and wins in the minor league but loses in the big leagues. There are dubious characters that shadow the small group, and he/she/it is given several stern warnings before the house gets trashed, the car gets bombed etc. A few movies with this storyline actually do come to mind: Erin Brokovich, The Insider (Russell Crowe), and, well, there must be more. Perhaps these are bad examples because they actually beat the big guys and then had their stories made into Hollywood movies that now line Blockbuster’s deep grave of forgotten flicks. So, the questions is, if your priorities aren’t in line with the priorities of the Heavy Hitters, what are your options?

You’re probably wondering what prompted this anti-government blip – I’ve been writing about fishing and painting. We watched Who Killed the Electric Car tonight and it completely flabbergasted me. If you haven’t seen it, rent it! Or get it out of the library. The new-ish marketing and global warming combat push to develop technology that will enable us to have cleaner cars on the road is old news! In the 90s there were a small gamut of cars (and infrastructure) available in California that were 100% electric, and chargeable at home and at power stations. Perhaps this is news only to me but … really!? I don’t want to explain the movie or re-ignite my disbelief and incredulity as a duped consumer but … wait, I am. I don’t think I have to set up an equation between the rich and getting richer oil companies/barons etc., the automakers and car companies and the government. The research that I’d need to do to thoroughly explore this blows my mind – in the 2008 election cycle, over $19 million has been contributed to election campaigns by oil and gas alone (with 25% going to the Democrats and the rest being sopped up by the Republicans). What’s even more scary is that this large contribution doesn’t even make the top ten: oil and gas is 16th in total campaign giving as an industry. Agribusiness is also a big giver, but it doesn’t look like either of these industries compare with the the Finance/Insurance/Securities sector; I haven’t cracked that egg and I don’t plan on doing so anytime soon. The revolving door of the agribusiness world was delineated in a good, digestable book – Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma. I may be repeating myself but … well, I guess I don’t have to. Revolving door. Money. Power. The same people that are Corporate Execs and Lobbyists end up working for the federal government and the federal government in turn works for them, and works policy to work for them. My next question is, are things better in Canada? I don’t think so: July 26, 2008’s “Transport Canada finishes off the Electric Car” (Vancouver Sun) headline was doesn’t seem encouraging, but there is a lot out there. Vancouver has an electric vehicle association, people are converting cars on their own and there are electric cars for sale. Out there. So, to conclude (ahem), as a small fish in a big pond, the only thing to do is live in line with you priorities and ethics, and hope that all of the actions of the smalls will add up to something. Enough deep thoughts for now, I have to get back to painting and de-purpling.

The last weekend of summer?

So it's September and er.... winter? It's supposed to get down to seven degrees tonight and while I'm completely aware (aware enough anyways) that Winnipeg winters are a tad bit more frosty than a balmy seven degrees, summer has sure been booted out of the car window. Somewhere between Sioux Lookout, Ontario's northern lake region and Winnipeg, summer was oh so sadly lost. Long weekend plans took three fishing enthusiasts and one reading enthusiast to Sioux Lookout and on to Lake St. Joseph where we met up with family; Steve's cousin Ryan, his wife Shauna, and Steve and I made a rather long but spacious trip in our oversized Ford Expedition to visit Ryan's parents, Steve's aunt and uncle, Paul and Patti for the weekend. A few years ago Paul started an outpost fishing lodge 27 miles down Lake St. Joe in a beautiful, picture-perfect, wind-free spot in Ice House Bay; it was the first time all of us had made the trip (that includes his wife Patti), and it was well worth it! Friday night's drive to the Sioux wasn't nearly as long as Saturday morning's two and a half hour drive to the lake; okay, it was... but seemed much, much longer. However, as soon as the guys hit the lake... and the fish... it was alllll worth it. Steve was a fish magnet all weekend and actually got tired of having to reel in a fish on every cast. On Sunday afternoon, Aunt Patti, who never tires of fishing (self-confessed), admitted that she had to call it quits; she was actually bored after reeling 'em in by the dozens all day. So... the fishing was good, the weather was spectacular (30-ish all weekend) and my book was fantastic (and finished by day two). Catherine Gildiner's Too Close to the Falls was one of those I-don't-want-to-put-you-downers... and I couldn't really, because everyone was too busy fishing to talk to me. There was banter and lots of myfishisbiggerthanyours - but that never lasted too long because someone reeled in another fish within a few minutes of comparable size... and breadth. These walleye (I think that's what they were - there were only a few ugly slimers/PIKE) were fat. And yummy. We fried some up on Sunday night - the eating was also fabulous, as it always is when we visit Paul and Patti. Patti is the cookie monsters best friend - if we lived in a Muppets-Puppets world I guarantee that he would live in her house. We were sent home with some bags of cookies that are as empty as my mouth is full of brand new cookie-induced cavities... but oh well. An early adult Halloween. SO! We had an awesome weekend and are now back to... reality? I'm looking for a job and Steve is... looking for a job too. So the hunt is on. And since the weather seems to be going downhill from here, we are going to proceed on the unfinished purple paint eradication: our bathroom is still purple, as is the downstairs tv room. We picked out some swatches today for our bathroom and will hopefully have everything painted and de-purpled by next week. Here are some pics from the weekend - from a sun-loving, angler's paradise...

I couldn't really find a good map of the area, so this will have to do....

The cousins
On our way to FISH! (I fished too... but found my book more exciting ")


Steve and Uncle Paul
A gorgeous spot - pretty sweet cabin too!


The man at work

And play...


Sheikh Ryan joined us after spending too much time in the sun on day one. May fish be with you.