Shopping

Well we are just buying a Mac book here at bic camera in Kagoshima central station. The onlynfree Internet I have found is here on an I pad. Immay be sold. We should be up and running with the Internet and Skype at home by early August. So until then just hold tight. We miss you all and things are going well. However I need to buy a scale that works. Hot days make for lots of beer drinking. and it is hot and humid here. Not quite Africa hot but close. Love Out.

Three, two, one....

Well it is my last night in town.  Holey Moley.  Just had a nice dinner with the family at Chach's place.  Good times hanging out and chowing down.  And tomorrow I leave for Japan.  I don't really know what this next year holds for my family and I.  The desire to look and plan ahead is driving me crazy.  It is so ingrained in what I do and how I do it.  But I am making myself a pledge to try and enjoy everyday for what it is.  When I am with my family I want to be present and say yes to the things I am asked, Do you want to play?  Lets go outside?  Can we make ramen for dinner?  Can we .... together?  I really hope I can make that answer yes every time.  Lets face it, I don't have anything else planned.  And when I am not doing that I hope I will read, think and write. I want to listen to Podcasts and learn to play guitar.  I want to study Japanese and learn to be a fisherman.  And I do want to plan.  I want to look ahead and see if I can make out where my life is going.  And at the same time to stay present.  Well life begins anew tomorrow.  Just like it does everyday.  Hopefully I will notice that and make the most of it.

I wish all you Canadians the best and I will try to make time to blog while in Japan. Keep you all in the loop.

Love out.

That's a Wrap.

With basically three days left in town it is time to start wrapping things up.  First off here is a picture of lovely Grand Forks from up on Observation Mountain.  I hiked up here last weekend to try and break in my feet for the hike we had planned for today.  It worked.  I got myself some wicked blisters last week that had mostly hardened up by today.

Then today I went for a hike up Mt. Gladstone with two of my work colleagues.  We also brought Duke, the part wolf part everything dog.  It was a beautiful day.  Not too hot, no rain, lots of bugs but overall just a perfect day in the woods.   

This is me trying to emulate my little sister with her candid "look where I am" solo arms length shots.  I don't think I have her skill but I am working on it.  The peak way in the background just to the right of my head is, I believe, Old Glory.  No wait, Old Glory is directly behind my big fat head.  Nice work cocheese[sic]

The next one is looking south, you can see the south end of Christina lake down in the valley below. 

Finally there is Ken Duke and Myself and John and Ken with Mt Faith up in the background to the right..  These shots are facing north.

All in all I couldn't have asked for a better day.  The blisters are bad because I didn't have gators for the legs or snow seal on the boots.  However, the company was awesome, the views amazing and the commune with nature fed the soul.  Whenever I do these kinds of trips I always wonder why I don't do them more.  When I return this is definitley on the list of things I really want to make part of my life. 

Well this is probably all from home base GF.  The next time you hear from me it will either be in Vancouver or over in Japan.  Hopefully I will be a much better correspondent in the near future.

Love, Out.

19 Days

And then I will be whisking my way across the Pacific to the loving embrace of my family.  The wait is tough.  When I talk to them on the phone it is so bitter sweet.  I hear what they are doing but I don't get to live it.  In recent news, the daughter is doing well and getting into the swing of school.  The wife has made a decision on a Kindergarten and I believe the son will start on the 1st of July.  However, that has yet to be confirmed.  The hustle and bustle that plays in the background when I talk to them is both exciting and unnerving.  It sounds noisy. 

There is a song by Dire Straights, "So Far Away" and one of the lyrics says, "you've been in the sun and I've been in the rain, so far away from you."  It always plays in my head when I am on the phone with them.  I will have stayed up till midnight to catch them coming home and getting ready to make dinner.  Or I will call after school to catch them just before they head out the door in the morning.  Everything is always a little bit off.

And life is much quieter without them around.  I am not used to it.  I want my family.  19 Days. 

Last night in Paradise

This is what it looked like right before we I took the last trip to my new digs.  The storage is literally bursting at the seams but that is what storage is meant to do.  I think we definitely maximized our space usage there.

We also had a final dinner at our short time home.  It was a mish mash of leftovers and what was in the freezer.  As usual it was delish.

The Mrs. has been hitting us with some of our favourites over the last few days.  It is like she is trying to hammer home the fact that I am going to miss her incredibly for the five weeks we are apart.  With my mind on the various other things that moving your family to a new country entails I have had little time for the magnitude of our undertaking to really hit home.  It is starting to now.  I am officially packing up the computer after this blog and will not be driving our own computer again till I arrive in Japan.  Well the clock keep ticking and I have miles to go before I sleep.

Love, Out.

Dinner and a Guest

Can you believe twice in three nights.  On Sunday we whipped some currish chili.  Or some chili-ish curry.  Then our friend came over and had dinner with us.  She was a little under the weather from her previous nights festivities.  Then the wife managed to wrestle the fact that is was her birthday.  So we went and got a cake.

I had way too much cake but man was it good.  Very very happy happy.

 Then this evening we had a fabulous meal of cheesy fried potatoes and rice covered with fried veggies and ground beef.  

I promised we could go and look at the river which is rising fast after dinner.  So when I get out there what should the children have found.  

This little guy.

Looking for a positive ID on what kind of creature the river has driven from its home.  Thin not super long tail.  Slightly rounded snout. Not interested in a carrot.  Non webbed feet.  Found near river.

Well we had a pretty good day today.  First a picture of the Baby.  Look at him sitting up like the little man that he is.  He climbed up on that file box all by himself.

Next up we have the kids play day today.  The son got to invite one friend and the daughter invited three.  We had hot dogs for lunch and then they played outside a whole bunch.  We tried to keep them out of the house as much as possible and were mostly successful.

This next picture totally reminds me of the sister directly below me.  The daughter and her friends have their little lunch party all by themselves.  I admit I totally set it up this way but I can see the day coming.

Here are the girls with the baby right before I crashed out for my mid afternoon nap.  They watched about 20 minutes of the Golden Compass before getting bored and heading back outside.

I woke up to find one of them had already been picked up and the second friend was in the process of heading out.  Later on we had some friends over for dinner.  Sorry about the lack of pics but it was a pretty laid back affair.  We put on steak, baked potatoes, stir fried veggies, guacamole and ice cream cones.  The friends added crackers with asiagio dip and rice cripy squares.  It was a beautiful warm afternoon and the kids ranged all over while the adults sat and enjoyed some conversation and a lazy afternoon.  Good times.