The other day Trish and Graeme got a new kite. It is for kite surfing which they figured they could do here and in Australia. Quinn was tooling around on his coaster bike in the field where they were trying to learn how to fly the kite. The next session with the kite will be over the water, that should be fun!!


One of Trish's friend gave her a whole bunch of beautiful second hand baby clothes. After we had sorted them out, Trish could not resist putting her in one of the cute outfits and we had a photo shoot. The lighting wasn't great, so the lighting director (Quinn)decided to add some much needed extra light. (thus the flashlight in Trish's face)
June had her first bath at home and she was not impressed. She is eating like a true Lange and after she has finished she is just satiated. She just lays in Trish's arms her arms hanging down. She is so relaxed and calm, so far she has been a wonderful baby.

Relaxing after a busy day
Trish got home safely on Monday night. The whole family was very happy to see her. It has been a very busy household ever since. Quinn seems to be adjusting quite well. He would not let his Mom out of his sight the next day but that is perfectly understandable. He is not sure about Grandma. Sometimes she is useful, like when Mom is really busy and can't come then occasionally she is allowed to help him out. The other day he went on a ramble outside and started pulling at something that had some pink itchy insulation behind it. I told him he couldn't do that. He was not impressed and after several minutes trying to figure out a way to get what he wanted he gave up and went in the house. I opened the door for him and he squeezed in then pushed me away and shut the door. Fair enough, I had spoiled his fun and he didn't want me around. I headed around to the other side of the house to let myself in the front door and the little monkey was already there trying to make sure that big bag grandma wasn't going to get in HIS house!!!
June is doing great, the health nurse was here yesterday and weighed her and she is up to 5 lbs, 10 oz. and the nurse was very happy with her weight gain. She is, off course,as cute as a button with lovely auburn hair. She is very tiny, but has long limbs, with very long fingers. I haven't gotten a good look at her feet yet but she has lovely small ears. My grandmother has these monster ears with huge lobes and I was always afraid one of my children would get them. So far I don't think that gene has surfaced in any of our offspring!!
Trish' garden is flourishing. Her flowers are all blooming and her veggie garden is growing at a great rate. I hope to have a nice salad with her garden lettuce tonight as well as fresh herbs.

Mom is looking at the camera but the guys are busy looking at the car!!

Well, I guess internet baking is not my forte. Yesterday I looked up a recipe for bran muffins online and then copied it down and cooked them. Well as you can see the results were not stellar. I kind of wondered when there was no flour involved in the recipe and actually went back to the computer to check on the list of ingredients, and sure enough I did not see flour. The results were very tasty but did not hold together very well and at the moment they are in a bowl. I consumed some for breakfast as a cereal substitute. After I had scraped all the cooked stuff out of the muffin papers I went back to the computer to check again to see if there really was flour and sure enough, hiding between the baking powder and the egg there was the required 1 cup of flour, I can't believe I didn't catch it the second time I looked. Oh well, I may try them again, meanwhile Graeme does not really believe I can bake!! Quinn on the other hand shoveled some of the tasty bran/craisins/sun flower seed mixture into his mouth and wanted more.

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Trish and June in Trail

I am in Windermere, BC awaiting the return of Trish and June. They should be here sometime on Monday. Last night they were to do the car seat test. They were going to put June in the car seat, while she was still hooked up to the monitors and see how she did. If she managed all right, Trish and June would be left on their own for 48 hours to see how they managed on their own and then they would be discharged on Monday. Trish would then drive home with June. It has to be about a 4 hour drive if not more.
Quinn and I are going to get reacquainted today, he seem to remember me this morning so that is a good thing. We took a trip down to the garden to check it out. Things are growing but there are some weeds to be pulled so I guess that will keep me busy today.

We have had a busy weekend. On Saturday we helped out down at the boat yard. We were responsible for putting in a Fraser 42, launching is stressful anyways, but when it is not your boat it just adds to the stress. Everything turned out fine though, the engine started and after clouds of black smoke came out, it settled down and got us to the mooring. We were not happy with the engine temperature after it had been running for awhile and not knowing whether that was normal or not, we have decided not to use the boat while it's owner is away. He has offered it to us for other times in late July and perhaps after a few more lessons on the running of the boat we will feel more comfortable about using it.
We were invited out to a Skills Canada demonstration of what the students have learned on Sat. night. The skill was cooking. We were treated to a sumptuous 7 course meal. It was astounding, first was a cheese and fruit plate, then shrimp cocktail, delicous home made tomato soup, a sorbet to cleanse your palette, whitefish with wonderful homemade tartar sauce, then beef tenderloin and to finish it off strawberry shortcake. That is Yellowknife for you, something unique and different going on every weekend. I think I may attend a concert put on tonight featuring one of our boating buddies daughters.
Today we volunteered at the annual Midnight Sun Triathalon. Once again it was raining but it wasn't as cold as 2 weeks ago when we volunteered at the track meet. It was interesting watching all ages swim, bike and ride.
This afternoon our grandchildren, Cassidy and Elijah came by. They are heading off on summer holidays soon so are wanting to make some spending money. They sorted our recycling, walked to the bins to put it in, then we rolled Grandpa's stash of coins. They each made $6.00 for their efforts and seemed quite happy with that. We headed to the Co-op after that and bought ingredients for smoothies. The cherry yogurt with the fresh strawberries was a hit all around as we slurped up all that goodness. What fun.
I am flying to Calgary on Thursday to be with Trish, Graeme, Quinn, June and Moocha, I will arrive in Windermere on Friday. Trish and June may or may not be home by then, but since I have to be back on July 6 to be here when Barry heads in to the hospital I thought I should get there pretty soon. I am sure June will be able to hold her own by then. She is now out of the isolet, breathing on her own, now she has to be able to hold down a good feed of milk before they will let her go home. I can't wait to meet her!!

Heather called, she is safely in Tulita. She said that have a decent place to live and that the plane ride up there was long. They went up on a small plane. Tulita is located where the Mackenzie River meets up with the river flowing out of Great Bear Lake.
I met with a bunch of ladies I used to curl with and against and was asked to curl in the Senior ladies with them. The only hitch is that the Senior National playdowns is at the end of March. It is in Ottawa, which would be a lot of fun, but that would mean I would miss a good part of the NZ summer and have to stay in the cold NWT until the end of March. HMMM. Barry is willing to stay as long as I want. I guess I will write a list of the pros and cons and figure out where my priorities lie.
Launch day is tomorrow, hopefully it won't be too windy, it is not fun to see those boats waving around in the breeze when they are launched. A fellow who lives in Hay River and does not use his boat much said that we could sail his boat any time we wanted this summer. He sailed across the Atlantic a few years ago, sounds like I won't be hurting for boat to use. That is great.

NEWS FLASH
Unbelievable, Barry's surgery has been scheduled for JULY 7, 2009. HORRAY, YIPPEE unbelievable. i am doing the happy dance all around the living room, otherwise known as the entertainment center and the library!!!!

Life is good!!! Barry and I went to see the doctor today. He is a candidate for a new hip and they are going to schedule him in for surgery. That is just wonderful news. We still have no idea when it will be but it will be sooner rather than later and we should be able to be back on the boat to make the run to Fiji at this time next year. I can't tell you how happy I am. Barry will not have to live with the pain he has for too much longer. Oh wow, we must have someone looking out for us!

On the boat front, we have been asked to launch a 42 foot boat on Saturday and then been given free use of the boat until the owner comes back on June 25. He is a very trusting sort, I spent about 3 hours with him yesterday going over the boat systems and writing down all the ins and outs of starting the motor. I think I have it down, it is just checking to see if the 8 new thru hulls he put in are leaking that has me slightly worried. He is a pretty careful guy so I am sure his workmanship will be outstanding. He has a brand new furling genoa on the boat which should be fun to see how it works. I may go down and put the main on today, depending on the wind of course.
I don't think I have mentioned that one of our friends has a laser that he said I could sail in the Wed. night races. Seeing as how I have never sailed a dinghy by myself, this should be a great experience. I guess I will find out what kind of a sailor I really am. I am not looking forward to the first time I go for a dunk though, that water is going to be freezing. Now I am wishing I had bought a heavier wet suit than I have. I hauled the wetsuit all the way back from NZ with plans to do this so I had better stick to my convictions, I really am a northern girl, born and raised in the north so I laugh at cold water HaH!

Big news, Trish is engaged. A very ecstatic new mother called me the other night and said she had a lovely diamond ring on her finger. Graeme was very happy to see his new daughter again and Trish said that Quinn was very pleased to see her. They are ensconced in Bob's fifth wheel and loving it. They are parked by the playground so they can watch Quinn play from the trailer. He also has his new coaster bike with him and the area is paved so they are all happy about that. A coaster bike for those of you not in the know is a bicycle without pedals. They just push it around with their feet and COAST when they want. I will be interested to see him on it. Last I heard was that Baby Girl Martin was still doing fine. Hmmm, any bets on how long it will take them to name her??????
We went for a drive out to a lake about 30 km from town yesterday. It was a lovely day, the leaves are still not out here, but are getting ready to pop. From the top of the hill I could see leads in the ice, but it still looked pretty solid. It was warm enough today to walk to the library to use the computer with just a short sleeve shirt on, so things are warming up. I have applied for 2 jobs so far, I am getting bored, today I was such a housewife, doing the laundry, going shopping and even ironing Barry's shirts. If I get supper ready for when he walks in the door from work he will think he has died and gone to heaven. OH JOY!!

Here is a picture of Baby Girl Martin, courtesy of my brother Bob. He lives just 4 hours from Trail . Yesterday he drove his fifth wheel trailer to Trail so that Trish, Graeme and Quinn can have somewhere to live. Graeme is driving to Trail today so the whole family can be together. Hopefully Trish will be able to get some rest and Graeme will get to see his baby girl again. I am sure Quinn will be very happy to see his Mom again as well and visa versa.
All is well on the YK front. Barry and I went garage sailing today and got some good stuff. Still need a broom and vacuum according to Barry but I find that I really don't need those things, hee hee hee!!!

OUR NEW HOME, AT LEAST FOR THIS MONTH

The closet,notice the slightly skewed doors


Check it out, a bathtub, Woopee!!

The entertainment center


Patricia and Baby Girl Martin are in Trail, BC. They were flown there yesterday, the baby is fine, just underweight and she was having some trouble breathing. They did not have the facilities in Cranbrook to look after the baby if she got into trouble so they shipped her out. Trish said in Trail they have a nurse who is dedicated to the preemie babies. They admitted Trish to the hospital last night and she is going to be allowed to stay there for 1 more night. She thought there was a place in Trail for family members of hospital patients to stay, so she may look into that.
On our front, we are in a one bedroom apt, YEAH, we have a toilet, YIPPEE!! So far we have a foamy, 5 pillows and some dishes, 2 plates, 3 glasses, 2 soup mugs, 2 knives, 2 forks, 2 spoons and some pots and pans.
We shouldn't fall off of this!
Ian and Helen loaned us some sheets and towels, I have organized all our clothes into piles on his and her sides of the beds. We have a closet, with hangers, wow, space to actually hang things up, what a luxury, the boat’s locker to hang stuff up was really lousy and there was always the generator and 2/20 liter full water cans in front of it. I think I will have a house warming party and tell everyone they need to bring a chair, little would they know that they would have to leave empty handed. Oh yeah, I could ask them to bring something to eat and then keep the dishes as well, this idea is getting better and better all the time!!
The library


Ah well, Barry is enjoying work, I think but he is very tired when he gets home. His hip was really sore today and I asked why. He said he did some visiting on the first day, and apparently he walked up and down the stairs between floors a few times, what can I say!
Elijah and Cassidy our grandchildren said that their teachers would like me to come in and talk to their classes that would be fun. I must get in touch with them today. I probably won’t go to Windermere to help Trish out until she and the baby return home, that may be a week to 10 days.
I just went to get internet hooked up and it is not going to happen until next Tuesday and apparently there are no “Hot Spots” for Wifi in town, what a drag. I did call the library and they have computers, first come, first served, so I guess I will go there, and I will get a library card as well.

IT'S A GIRL!
Trish had her baby this morning. Baby Martin was tiny weighing in at 4 pounds, 15 ounces. She was 5 weeks early, she was having some breathing problems so she is in an incubator. Trish delivered naturally, after having a cesarean with Quinn her 2 year old.
I am hoping to get a place to rent today and get moved in PDQ so I can go down and help out. Besides that it is #$@%#$ cold here, much warmer in BC, near the 50th parallel.
Must go have a long list to get through today. Will keep you posted. Trish and Baby Martin are in the Cranbrook Hospital.

NEWS FLASH. Our oldest daughter has gone into labour. Her baby was not due for another 5 weeks so this is unexpected. I need to get us moved into a place and get down there, YIKES. I am so glad I did not start looking for paid employment!!!!!
I wanted to show you my tall grandkids and their Mom. Aren't the kids really big. It was so good to see them all and to find Heather looking so healthy. We went and saw the Disney movie Up, it is about an old man who floats his house away using balloons, a wonderful tale.
I need a letter from the gov. stating Barry's salary before I can do anything. Boy, they don't take any chances anymore, AND I have to pay $25.00 to get a credit check done. HMMMMM, civilization!!

Tonight I realized why we spent so many years living here. It is breathtakingly beautiful. I wondered down the lane behind where we are staying about 10:30 at night. I was miserable, feeling stress about finding a place to live, worried about imposing on friends, just out of sorts due to re-integrating into the normal North American lifestyle again. I walked out onto a dock and looked out over the half frozen lake. There was water around the edges, the middle was ice. It had rained yesterday and the ice was a patchwork of greys, with puddles of water accumulating on the top of the ice turning the white snow black, attracting today's sunlight. I looked back to where we are currently living, in the "shack" and saw a beautiful house and garage with marvelous symmetry overlooking the lake, the shack is to the right in the picture. The evening sun was just setting and the colour of the sky was that gorgeous northern blue that you get as the midnight sun sinks below the horizon.
I hurried back to get the camera to capture the moment, my spirits lifted and I felt ready to face whatever tomorrow will bring.