I am in Winnipeg, Manitoba now visiting with my Mom (for all you Americans out there reading it is in the center of Canada, prairie country with wooded lake on the eastern side of the province). The day I arrived it was absolutely miserable, cold, windy and raining. It has just improved every day since. My Mom and I have been busy, we went and saw my bridesmaid perform in a trio that sang their way through a number of 40's, and 50' songs. That was great. Then we went out and visited my cousin and his wife. We got a tour of their gorgeous 5 acres of gardens and then we looked at pictures of the Galapagos which we they had visited this winter. It just strenghtened my desire to make sure we get there this sailing season.

I just got back from a visit with my bridesmaid, Susan Mutchmor, now Cowtan. She and her family have a cottage on Lake of the Woods and I managed to wangle a invitation out there. What a wonderful spot. There are just three cottages on her island and she has lake front on both the front and back of the cabin. We went in swimming yesterday and I was reminded that I was in Canada again, but not quite as far north as Yellowknife. We took her canoe for a spin in the evening and saw some lovely birds. The visit, was great and I enjoyed getting caught up on our families and what we had been doing with our lives for the past 30 years. We went to high school and first year university together. We are agreed we have a lot in common, high achievers, athletic, aggresive, loud, love the outdoors and just love to talk. Mom and I are headed out to Gimli to visit Bill at his cabin, then we will attend a high tea, a church fundraiser on Thrusday afternoon and then I will be on my way to visit Jen in Sydney, NS. Thank goodness we had enough points to get me all across the country.

On the way home from the Lake of the Woods which is just over the Ontario border I got a flat tire. Mom has a snazzy Mazda 626 and it has these special tires on it. Well, all of a sudden I thought the car was going over a particularly bumpy part of the road and couldn't figure out what was causing it and then I saw the tire rolling past the window so figured I had better stop PDQ. I still to this day do not know where the tire went. I managed to get the jack and the little spare out of the trunk. I had a little trouble figuring out where exactly the jack should be placed and after struggling to get the car up because the jack handle wasn't long enough, I decided I should probably turn on the hazard lights. I got out the manual to figure out where the hazard lights were and noticed that in a picture describing how to use the jack it seemed to able to turn. I had placed it so far under the car that I was having trouble turning it so went out and let the car down and moved the jack to a better position closer to the edge of the car. I was in the process of jacking the car up when a wonderful gallant trucker stopped and helped me change the tire. I wonder if I would have been able to loosen the lugs, I guess we will never know. I figure I was on the side of the Trans Canada Highway for about a half an hour lying on the ground by the tire, before he stopped. A guy on a bicycle even went by the other way and didn't offer to help. Oh well, I was kind of doing okay by myself and I guess if I really had wanted help I could have waved someone down. I had to drive back to Winnipeg, about a 2 hour drive at 90 km/hour because of the small tire and it almost killed me to go so slow. All's well that ends well, Mom is at the dealers getting a new tire put on.