time to say good-bye

In just a few hours Howard will be saying his final good-bye to Bethany. She's raring to go and happy to be where she is but it will still be hard. I miss her but what a blessing it was to have her with us for an "extra" year. She will do well, that we know, but we'll still miss her...



At least there's skype......

well worth the effort

You've seen these pictures before. They were originally taken to show off my sunflower trees. Now they are here again as "before" pictures. I have worked on the garden and yard for the better part of the last 2 1/2 weeks. It has been a huge job but the results have been enormous!
So here is the garden before....


And here it is after! Rather shocking, isn't it? This is only a small part of our yard and I'm sorry I don't have more before and after shots.

There's still the other half of the garden to finish but I first have to let my sunflower trees finish blooming!
And this is the most impressive "after" shot of all - the enormous compost heap. I think our landlords will be somewhat shocked when they come this fall to pick up this pile of goodies!

birds of paradise

We were at a wedding this past summer and this arrangement was on one of the food tables at the reception. It was absolutely amazing. The birds were made from potatoes and carrots and the "flowers" from cucumbers. I talked to the manager of the restaurant where we were having the reception and she said that her chef, who is from India, was always coming up with new ideas. It was always a surprise to see what he had created. I'd say that he's pretty good at surprises!

back at palm

The dorm we sub at has a different look this year. There are boys around. Often. That is because there is a boy's dorm about the girl's dorm now. For this brother and sister this is a very good situation. They live in the same building but use different staircases.
But it's still the Palmgarten we love.





Upstairs antics. This was his "Hi Miss" pose for the camera!




We didn't see anything like this around last year!

off to college

Today Bethany goes off to college. It's not the official start but she has a few days of International Student Orientation which she is very excited about. I took these pictures in August and yes, the college sits in the middle of farm land on the flat prairies of southern Manitoba.
These are just a very few representative shots of the main college building. A lot of work has gone into this campus over the years and it shows.

back in canada....

It worked out quite nicely, with a bit of a squeeze from a few of us, to have a mini BFA reunion at Dairy Queen one evening. It was short and sweet (heh heh heh) but great to get together if only for a few hours. It was a hot and humid evening and ice cream was well appreciated! I will not list the names of the people here because if you know who they are it's because you know them and if you don't, it won't matter to you anyway!