New School Year- New Goals!

It's not all about the cat!

 Look at the date!  It's been less than a week since my last post and I am hoping that this will be a weekly event.  It is Saturday night here in Kuwait. I have been here for less than 24 hours, and slept for at least twelve of them.  It is hot.  The AC is not working and I have had several "technicians in and out, but no luck yet.  Keeping cool with a cup of green tea and a wet towel around my neck. The cat, as you can see, is very much alive. She has cried a lot since I have been here; her way of saying "Meow I missed you!"

The day before leaving for Kuwait, I had my teeth cleaned by my dear friend from elementary days, Muriel. She is an independent Dental Hygienist working in west Ottawa on Preston Street. Not only did I have the dental job done, but I joined  Muriel for a walk to a beautiful Thai restaurant, where we caught up with one another's lives (after all it's been more than a year since we chatted) and immensely enjoyed our food and drink. After dinner we went to an Italian bistro for a latte. Although tempted, I skipped dessert, for obvious reasons. This got me thinking about some of my goals for the school year- Goal #1- Stay in touch with friends and Goal #2- FLOSS!

I am so proud of my friend Muriel- almost 40 years as a dental hygienist! 

 My final morning in Canada was spent at home finishing the final packing for travel to Kuwait. My dear husband waited patiently while I checked and double checked for the essentials- passport, Kuwait identification card, toothbrush and floss, sweater and socks for the flight. I said bye bye to dear Mika, loaded the truck and set off to Ottawa to meet my favourite brother for breakfast at Joe's Pizza. No kidding, that is the name of the best breakfast restaurant in his area of Ottawa. Thanks Rick for the breakfast! Goal #3- Stay in touch with family

Now the trip was one of the best I have experienced. After clearing US customs in Ottawa, it was the waiting game. My husband had arranged for my laptop to be cleaned,( while I was having my teeth cleaned),so I was able to putter around on the web, keep track of the Olympics, and enjoy a cup of Tim's. Goal #4- Take better care of technology (laptop, iPad, iPhone, Kindle) and Goal #5- Cut back on coffee consumption

I boarded the plane to Newark and enjoyed the hour trip to Newark airport, just outside of New York City. The three hour layover there passed quickly and with no need to change terminals, I walked for an hour, then settled in to a lovely glass of Pinot Grigio while watching the end of the women's soccer match and the beginning of a men's. Goal #6- Cut back on pinot. 

The second plane ride of the day was a bit late departing Newark, but arrived only a few minutes late in Frankfurt. Upon landing I thought I had picked up some type bug...upset stomach, cramps, and a horrendous headache. It could have been the six hour flight with no bathroom break- window seat- or it could have been the pinot. Long story short, I found a quiet place to lie down and sleep, and woke up with some relief. Happily when I arrived at the gate, a colleague and her friend were waiting for the same flight. Fortunately, he had some extra strength headache medication, which helped. Big thanks to Mike and Hannah! Again, it was a three hour layover, and spent the time walking around, browsing the duty free shops, and a monitoring the Facebook chatter.

Plane number three out of Frankfort had me seated at the back of the plane in an aisle seat, I was happy to be able to get up and go when the need arose. I watched two different inspirational films, both which told the stories of about athletes who overcame great odds- tennis player Althea Gibson and diver Greg Louganis.

Tennis Star Althea Gibson

Greg Louganis is an accomplished athlete, LGBT rights activist, mentor to US divers, and auther

Goal #7- Must read this book!

Now, back to present day...I arrived in Kuwait at around 8 p.m. The line for passport control was extremely large; however, I was so impressed with the courtesy of the other travelers. When my turn came, I was stamped and then able to collect my luggage, which came out almost immediately. The taxis were also available and I was in the apartment by 9:30 pm.

After a bit of unpacking, I decided to get to sleep at 11 pm, thinking I would get up at 7 am and go for a swim. Not to be!  I did not even hear the alarm. A headache woke me up at 10:30 and after a black coffee and about a litre of water, I fell back asleep until noon. I noticed the apartment was a little warm and despite being on, it appeared that the air conditioning was not working. I fiddled with the settings, but could not get the temperature to drop below 27.5. As I write, I am awaiting the technician. Goal #8- Practice patience

In the meantime, I checked out what food was left in the apartment, and was pleased to find some vanilla ice cream and pita bread in the freezer, plus plenty of tea and peanut butter in the cupboard.
Goal #9- Shop for groceries tomorrow morning. 

If you know me, you probably realize that I like change. The rest of the day was spent moving furniture. The apartment is quite small and its furnishings are quite big, plus I had acquired some extra "things", so it was necessary to reorganize. The result is what you see below.  Goal #10- Get rid of (give away or sell) some of the extra things that are not being used. 

The dining room/den

The bedroom/workout room

The living room (TV in the corner)

The reading corner (and cat)

The cozy kitchen/laundry room- fridge is in the corner

That is the end of the apartment tour, the end of the goals (almost), and the end of this blog post. I have landed. I am feeling refreshed after a lengthy trip. I have wonderful memories of summer holidays. Finally, I look forward to a new school year with a class of new children, a new and improved positive attitude, and a long list of promises to keep.

Until next time,

Bee Rich

PS The AC is now working. Present temperature is 25.5 C. YAY!

SUMMER MONTH #2, 2016

Road Trip- somewhere in Northern Ontario

Another month, another post. I know, long time no write. Lots to write about; but first, flashback to last summer.Taking a course, I spent every single day of the summer holidays glued to my the laptop or desk top computer, working away on a Kindergarten course with very little time to do anything else.

Fast forward to this summer, today is the first day the laptop has been on since my last post on July 12. This summer has been a completely different one. We have travelled to see friends and family, we have hosted friends and family, we have fished (and now I am hooked!) and swum in lakes, hiked on roads and trails, seen parts of North America for the first time, and made memories. And here are a few highlights

Week of July 10-16
We visited three of my husband's siblings at their homes in the area, replaced the transmission in the Jeep, and celebrated our 37th wedding anniversary with a fine Korean dinner prepared my my daughter and her boyfriend.

Week of July 17-23
We spent July 20 on the road to and from Cambridge to partake in a picnic honouring our grandson's fifth birthday. The setting was a beautiful park and the characters included Son #1, Grandson #1, Grand daughter #1, Husband #1, and a few friends. The story included a lovely picnic lunch and an afternoon of hunting for crayfish in the stream. We were up to our knees in water which ended up looking at the creatures through magnifying glasses.

This boy is now five years old! LOVE LOVE LOVE!

We also spent a delightful time at my friend Mary's, where we enjoyed catching up with her and her husband in northern Lanark County. My husband toured the land in a Kubota (which was air conditioned, while I enjoyed several hours with a good friend.

July 24th
July is a month of birthdays in our family and we celebrated our daughter's a couple of days early. Dinner included my husband's butter chicken, naan bread, Sri Lankan vegetables, and my grandmother's chocolate cake.

July 25th-26th
Up bright and early we drove from Maberly to the Best Northern Motel near Wawa, Ontario. It was a gorgeous twelve hour drive up highway 17. We landed in Wawa in time for dinner and a great night's sleep.

The next morning we shopped for our fishing trip (more about that later) visited with our friend Emily and her family and spent some time hanging out at Hawk Air.

Hawk Lake

July 27th-31st
Remote Fly-In Fishing at Mozambik Lake and Trout Lake in Northern Ontario was amazing! Three solid days of sunrise to sunset sunshine, clear blue sky, fantastic fishing, beautiful boating, and a little bit of swimming brought peace to my heart and calm to my spirit. I even caught one BIG one!

Sunrise!

My pike netted by my husband. 

July 30th
After returning to Hawk Air and saying fond farewells to Kelly and his nephews, we headed west toward North Dakota. We stayed overnight in Fort Francis at the Copper River Inn. This border town was within four hours of our destination in Grand Forks, where our daughter is moving for the next two years.

Sunflower field in Minnesota

July 31st
Crossing into the USA was interesting as we had all of our fishing gear, a cooler, our dog, and a packed truck. It must have sounded strange to say we lived in Maberly, but were coming from Wawa and heading to Grand Forks to help our daughter move into her new house. After several questions and consequent answers, we were allowed in to Minnesota. The farmland there was wonderful. At around 2 pm we pulled in to a motel in Grand Forks and met our daughter, who had travelled directly to Grand Forks from Ontario. We shared a meal, and enjoyed swapping stories from the previous week.A few fish tales were told, but we had picture evidence!

These two on a new adventure in ND

August 1st
Our daughter's house purchase closed on this day and we were able to help her move in a few things. The rest of the day was spent decided what work could be done on the house in preparation for the bigger move in a week later.

Chestnut Street

August 2-4 
Our original plan to drive to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore and The Badlands was replaced with helping clean the kitchen, prepare walls for painting, and taking up old carpeting in the above house. We enjoyed helping out, as each day brought new problems to solve and more coffees to drink.
.

Tim's in Grand Forks ND-
 two medium with mild + two extra large ice coffees,
to go!

August 4-5
After saving approximately 20 hours of driving (to South Dakota), we headed12 hours east from Grand Forks and spend the night in Janesville, Wisconsin. Again beautiful farmland countryside. The next morning we were up bright and early and headed to Kalamzooo, Michigan. My Uncle and Aunt moved there nine years ago, and it was the perfect reason to stop in to see them. Because they are not on email of Facebook, the trip was planned through regular old fashioned mail service and telephone calls.It was so exciting to see them after so many years. We also visited with my cousin, his wife, and met his daughter for the first time. 

Me and my hubby and my uncle and aunt

My cousin and some of his family

August 6-13
After a great visit with extended family in Kalamazoo, we drove fourteen hours to Cambridge, ON for a visit with our son and his two darlings. Grandchildren are amazing. lovable, and engaging. We had a superb breakfast at a local diner, after which we continued our trek home! 

Upon arrival at home, we looked at the list of things we had not yet accomplished, and number one on mine was picking up my "bike" from the shop and going for a ride. After remembering the locations of the brakes, clutch and accelerator, I ventured out on the road for the four kilometre ride. The hills and curves on a sunny Sunday morning were exciting, and I made it home in one piece. I am still not totally comfortable on the bike, but the next few days will give me time to practise for next summer's anticipated and more frequent rides. 

My favourite mode of transport- besides swimming!

On Monday after our return home, my younger sister came by for a few days. After two successful battles with cancer and now in need of a hip replacement, my admiration for her courage and resilience grows each day. Her positive attitude in times of trouble is indeed an inspiration. Happily my brother from Ottawa was able to come for dinner and it was a great reunion. By the way, he is camera shy!

My little sister visits

Golds -100 Freestyle- Canadian teenager ties with American!

I was also inspired by the Olympics in Brazil this summer. A huge congratulations to all of Team Canada for your outstanding performances. Such determination and dedication is incredible. Congratulations!

Our friends' daughter- going in to grade 1! 

This past weekend we enjoyed the visit from former neighbours here on the lake. I believe it is about to become an annual tradition (similar to the fly-in fishing experience), where our sweet friends come to spend some well deserved time "back" on the lake. It is an honour to watch their young daughter growing up.

Moving forward, I am down to just four more days of holidays before heading back to the Middle East to continue my teaching. It is with mixed emotions that I write. I am thankful for a calm and restful summer holiday. I am excited to return to a steady job doing exactly what I love to do. However, I am sad that the best summer ever has almost ended, and that once again I will be away from my family for an extended period of time.

But, I have promises to keep, a contract to fulfil, and several health related goals to achieve.

Hoping to write more regularly during the 2016-17 school year, I am visualising a successful first semester and a return trip to Canada in time for Christmas holidays.

Until next time, wishing you well, and as always,

Bee Rich

PS Parting shot and thought...

When we are apart, it is good to remember this....
We all live under this same beautiful sky
with the same Sun shining down upon us.
  -Bee