Wednesday, July 04, 2007

well, its official summer is underway, gracias a dios.
I am in the airport returning from a conference in Washington D.C., and thought i would take a minute and write about our summer thus far:
We have all read or heard stories told about incredible feats done under the highest stress; our summer started in such a way. No Karli didn’t lift a car above her head to free a trapped husband underneath (again); but through a whirlwind of indescribable activities and incredible fortune we packed luggage for the three of us for our six weeks off of the island in…seven minutes.
As much time as i am given i will never be able to thank Sr. Sanchez for his help – thank-you.
As an opening omen, i was scared for what this dubious beginning meant for our summer. Thankfully, it has been far different from where it began. Ian and Liz are officially wed; the entire day was incredible, fun and gorgeous – like them. It was outside at a summer camp, really relaxed and as the natural light filtered through the deciduous forest onto them they were married at the head of the campfire. Truly breathtaking – i was lucky they are so relaxed – because the first thing we discovered neglected in the packing mayhem: the shirt I was going to wear to the wedding. The party started right away, the speeches were great and then just as the party was about to kick into high gear…the power went out. Done. Not with this crew; each of Liz’s two younger brothers (both percussion students) picked up drums, the guy behind the small kit on stage followed suit. The forty-five minute drum circle dance that ensued honestly left me speechless and is one of my all-time wedding highlights.
Ian and Liz went honeymooning on Sunday but we stayed on the Huron’s shores to celebrate Fathers’ Day with Boppy, Granny, Jeff, Deb, April and Eric. We were having so much fun we actually stayed until Wednesday. A, E, D & J had the idea and the time off so we got the cousins together and watched them play, laugh and slide for three days – it was really magical. i sailed three times which were my first Canadian kitesurfing experiences – really fun too with a lot of good people. Someone told me last night that kiting is the fastest growing sport in the world right now…I am scared what that will do to the crowds. From there we went back to Brantford and saw some people and were spoiled by Evelyn and her never ending arsenal of sweets and foods. We tried to buy Manu Chao tickets, but the sold out show was demanding a 300% increase on tickets even after the show started. We took what would have been one ticket at those rates and got an incredible dinner before heading back to B-ford. Ian and Liz returned Friday in time for a family celebration, in honor of Grandma’s NINTIETH birthday! She is as young, beautiful and frisky as ever, sometimes Ollie has trouble keeping up to her but he has 88+ years to practice! We played lots of Frisbee golf, swam, went to the sand dunes on Lake Erie, laughed, talked and hung out with Ian and Liz unsure of when our paths would cross next; but looking forward to the day it happens.
Flying to DC for the conference i am currently returning from really cut it to our time in Canada and has made short visits with family and with friends; it has made seeing some of them simply impossible. 2 new children of friends, 1 more arriving in the fall, 2 stags and a wedding all missed
I guess this is the life i have chosen but, sometimes it really sucks.


Returning to Canada i got to see the new Dufferin – now located at Howland and was duly impressed with the neighborhood that Jeff and Greg are calling home. Friday with hopes of beating long weekend cottage bound traffic we left early, finding out quickly that it was a national day of protest for Canada’s indigenous and that traffic would be slow, it was, but the conversation wasn’t and before too long we arrived at Bobby’s Cottage for some hilarious extremity through bocce, croquet, cranium, poker and taco eating. Bobby has the Moosehead belt for this year, but Karli is already practicing. We returned on the 1st in time to see some fireworks and spent Monday golfing and then poolside with family, before beginning to contemplate how we were going to transport our ever expanding bags to San Francisco, thankfully we had more then seven minutes to pack!

no music as i don't have mp3s on this machine, but this video has some great images from our first few weeks of summer: