Silver Linings

I am in Toronto (ok, so I wrote this June 30).. I am just finishing a 3 week assignment, filling in for someone who went on vacation.  The timing just worked so that I could fly straight from here to my cousins family reunion in Virginia for the 4th of July weekend.  I however did not want to be gone for 4 weeks straight and most IBMers go home every weekend if on assignment away from home, so I decided I would go home the two weekends in the middle.

The week prior to the trip had been very busy, starting with school getting out for Nai.  He made the best friends while in Colorado (his silver lining), and they were dedicated to making sure he had the best year possible. They even dubbed May 24 as Nai Day, vowing to celebrate each year wearing the pants and t-shirts that he gave them.  So that final week between school getting out and his leaving to go back to Thailand, his friends kept him plenty busy.  He spent very little time at home and his last three nights in the states I'm not sure he slept at all.

Nai Day 2016

Not like we had a lot of time to hang out with him, because the day after school got out I went to the Colorado State Square Dance Festival 4 hours away in Grande Junction.  Sol came up from Santa Fe to dance with me.. We had a fun weekend, but I was already pretty tired.

That week, John and Donna Brett came up from Tucson again, this time with their kids. It was great to see them for a couple days, although it was still the shoulder season in Breckenridge, and other places we tried to visit in the mountains still had to heavy snow coverage.  So we visited, and didn't overdue!  The next day (Saturday) Cathy and Dave Ropiski came up to play games... They get up every couple of months or so.  Always love spending time with friends.

Sunday was Nai's day to leave and I also needed to go to Toronto.  For some reason (because Nai is still not very guidable) Nai decided the plane that he was going to take was the one that left at 6:30am.  I typically leave home 4 hours before my plane especially for an international flight, So I scheduled my flight schedule accordingly and planned to take him down with me... Well, the closer the day got, the more nervous I was about driving half the night, so Mike volunteered to take us down (thank goodness) and then Saturday morning (16 hours before we were to leave) I figured out that Nai had scheduled to go out of Colorado Springs, when I was flying out of Denver!... So much for planning.  But luckily Mike driving us (silver lining), Nai's flight was actually about 1.5 hours earlier than mine, so we could still leave at 2am, take him to the springs, and then take me to Denver (silver lining), and then Mike could go home.  Crazy, but we made it, and Nai made it back safely to Thailand... His year in the US is over!

Again on the bright side, I got to Toronto early in the day, in time to take care of some immigration work I had been neglecting, and still had time to walk down to the Waterfront and enjoy a boat ride.. one that I had actually bought a ticket for with the bus tour I took in March, when the boats were not running.  It was a lovely day in Toronto and it's amazing how different the energy is on a warm summer day, ever than a warm early spring day.  The streets are buzzing with activity.  What a treat to be here that day (silver lining).

After working for the first week I left my suitcase with the hotel bag check and headed off to the airport to go home.  Well turns out the rule to be at the airport an hour early (especially for international flights) is not just a guideline but an actual rule!  I had no luggage to check and a global entry membership that gets me through customs without any line, and frankly not a care in the world when I strolled up to the check-in at 58 minutes until my plane was to leave.  Air Canada said, "Sorry you are two minutes to late, you will have to wait in that line over there for 40 minutes to rebook something"  And oh, did I mention that as it was I was only going to be home 36 hours, and were going to re-book me on a flight 12 hours later... I was very angry, mostly because I knew I had plenty of time to get to and on my plane and I suspect they had one empty seat going to Denver.  But I talked with Mike,  who hadn't left home to get me yet, and I realized it made no since to come home, so instead I rented a car and went on a road trip for the weekend (silver lining).

As I was trying to decide what to do with my newly found 48 hours, I remembered that I had wanted to go to the St Lawrence Market, a permanent farmers market, in an old historic Building downtown Toronto, but I had been working EVERY time they are open... And Saturdays they open at 5am.. What a great way to start my roadtrip (silver lining).  So I went back and checked into my hotel and picked up my suitcase, and noticed that the line was relatively short at the Japanese cheesecake store (silver lining).  Uncle Tetsu's Japanese Cheesecake store is a Toronto icon, and the line at the store ALWAYS goes out the door and down the sidewalk.  I again decided I had some new found time so I went to get in line.. it was about 45 minutes.. And the Cheesecake was fantastic, very light, not too sweet, almost like a spongecake.  And they package them fresh out of the oven.   I ate on the cheesecake for the whole roadtrip, eating it with the Strawberries that I bought at the farmers market because I could smell them a block away where I parked my car!

The Farmers market did not disappoint.  Very interesting, and very unusual things, from Quail eggs, to Mountains of broccoli, to Crocodile steaks and Ostrich sliders.  Of course all the normal stuff too.

Also while I was at dinner trying to decide where I should go on my road trip I pulled out my phone and there was an email from Cathy Ropiski saying "I hope you are having fun in Toronto, by the way, here are all my favorite things in the area"... Wow, crazy!

So by 10 am I was done at the market and hitting the road to the other end of Lake Ontario to Kingston where I toured Fort Henry.  At Fort Henry they have college students that get to play that they are British Soldiers to reenact the activities at the fort during the heyday (1812 or so).

Then I drove up the Rideau Canal that goes from Kingston to Ottawa and has 45 locks on it.  I stopped at quite a few.. very interesting.  The keepers of the locks manually open each lock whenever a boat arrives to go through and sometimes might have to open the dock up to 25 times a day.  Very interesting, and very pretty.  I got to Ottawa at about 5pm, and after a nap I drove across the river into Quebec to log a geocache in a new province (silver lining), and then returning to the Ontario side I drove around town a bit, then parked back at the hotel and walked around town a bit, ending up at an Irish pub to listen to live music, have dinner, and read my book.

The first lock I visited (Difficult to get good photos showing the locks)

The series of 8 locks at the beginning of the Rideau Canal in downtown Ottawa

The next morning I slept in, ate a nice breakfast and then decided to add a few hours to my trip back to Toronto by driving north through the Algonquin Provincial Park.. Very similar to a National Park in the states.  It's a very large wilderness area (the size of Rhode Island and Delaware combined) with very few roads to the interior.  Instead 10% of it is covered with water, so the best access is by Canoe.  The drive was absolutely beautiful with a lake view around every corner.  I really enjoyed the drive.  Oh and yeah.. I rented a Prius, so also had "fun with my car"  It had bluetooth so I talked on the phone and listened to programs I've had on my phone meaning to listen to.

Monday, back to work again.  One of the guys at work had brought his wife with him from Vancouver, so on Tuesday night we went down to the Theater district, had dinner, and went to the Theater, getting last minute cheap tickets.  We saw "The Gentleman's guide to Love and Murder"  It was very good.  It was a musical and the singers didn't miss a note.  It's a story of a guy who finds out he's an heir to a fortune, if he only knocks off the 7 relatives in line in front of him.  One interesting thing is that each of the relatives knocked off were played by the same actor.  Also the sets and stage changes were very creative.... Fun.  Didn't fall asleep in this one!

Because I didn't go home the prior weekend I went home on Thursday of the second week, so the weekend was a little longer!  Basically I spent the entire weekend just hanging out with Mike.. It was fabulous (silver lining).  Totally enjoyed him.  Mostly just stayed home, but also went out for a couple hours for a drive on Saturday.

This week, I saw my Nephew Nick again.  This time he had an apartment (last time he was still looking for a place to live).  His apartment was right downtown and on the 36th floor... my ears popped in the elevator on the way up!  I brought a game to take to the reunion with me.  It was kind of  a hassle to carry on the plane, but when I remembered I would be seeing Nick it made it even more worth it to bring it, so we ordered his favorite pizza and his roommate, he and I played "Castles of Mad King Ludwig." (silver lining)

The view from Nick's Balcony

Jacob and Nick

Tomorrow is Canada Day, a holiday (Independence Day - July 1).  I hadn't realized that when I scheduled my trip, so my plans are to meet up with my folks in Nashville on July 2.  I will not be able to work for the contract I am here for, but I will do some work for my other contracts from the hotel.  I hopefully will get some time to go to the Casa Loma Castle during the afternoon, and there is a square dance I hope to hit in the evening before the fireworks over the waterfront....  That will be a nice punctuation on my month in Toronto.

Re-runs

Amazing how time flies.  I'd say that there has been nothing much to report on, but of course there really has, I just think of most of them as "re-runs" not too much new to say.  (Yet somehow this post is plenty long enough).

Just after my last post I spent the weekend in Bakersfield, California, for the Bakersfield square dance festival.  This is an event I went to 4 years ago when I was out in California working on a job and wanted to visit my long time college buddy Jackie, who informed me that if I wanted to visit her I would have to go square dancing with them since they were going to the Bakersfield fiesta.  Long story short, I went and that is the event that got me back into square dancing after a 26 year hiatus.  Thank you, Jackie.  Anyway, back to the present.  This year I flew out specifically for the fiesta and my new friend/festival dance partner, Sol, flew out to join me.  With Jackie, her two sons, and a girlfriend along, we nearly filled out the square.  While perhaps not politically correct, we ended up dancing almost every tip together and "playing" around and having a generally great time "rowdy crew" style.  I think we now have a reputation in Bakersfield!

John and Donna Brett had the occasion to visit since it was Spring Break in Tucson, and their son (now in college) had a different spring break schedule, and their daughter was off to Europe for the break.  So John and Donna (who had already scheduled relief workers to keep their Vet practice going during the break) decided to road trip it to Colorado and visit John's alma mater in Fort Collins, stopping to visit old friends in Albuquerque and us along the route.  We had a GREAT if too short visit, although the weather helped us out by snowing them in at the house for a second day.   This event was definitely NOT a re-run, but they loved it up here so much that they are going to create a re-run this summer, bringing the kids with them next time.

The next weekend brought more snow and my sister, Monica, and Cathy (a friend from Canon City) cancelled on visiting to attend a wood carving class at our local art studio.  I missed them, but of course went anyway and carved this adorable penguin (mine is on the left)... LOVE the Coyote Creek Studio in Fairplay which is run by a co-op of artist who then teach classes in their medium.  I've taken 4 classes there now and loved every one.

The following weekend found me with my sister and brother-in-law in Albuquerque to attend my sister's not-so-surprise, surprise 60th birthday party.  Fun to be all together for a few days and as usual with Monica and David around we got in a few games... yeah!

During the next week of work, I attended team meetings with my Lockheed Martin team.  Both the IBM members and the Lockheed members were there and they coincidentally decided to have this first-ever-event at the beautiful Lockheed facilities in Denver.  Nice to be so close to home, but as I was the only one local to the area, it was unacceptable to explain to them that I could not attend because they scheduled it during our spring break, when we intended to go ski at Park City.  So that event got cancelled.  Bummer, but busy as we are, we are not feeling the need to cram in more travel!
Mike, however, was feeling the need to visit his folks in Utah, since we were cancelling our Utah trip.  So he went on his own earlier in March during a rare week when I was home to be with Nai.  Somehow in the middle here, Mike and I got away for a weekend to help Monica and David move into their new house in Berthoud.

The next week I was back in Toronto, doing another round of training.  This trip was so short I didn't really do anything new... definitely felt like a re-run, even the same students.  One thing that was new was that my nephew (Keith's  son, Nick) had moved to Toronto that very week and he (with his friend he is looking for an apartment with, and helped him get his job) and I went to dinner.  That was very nice, and makes me wonder if I have ever truly had a conversation with him one-on-one without his parents around.  It's definitely time to get to know the next generation as the adults that they now are.

I left Toronto and went straight to Albuquerque to attend another favorite annual square dancing weekend, again with Sol.  This event is a no brainer as I get to visit (and this year dance with) my parents, and my kids.  I also had the occasion to visit Sara's new house on this trip which on a special evening which turned out to be the only evening of visiting, since most of the weekend was dancing and I had to get back home to work...

... Because the following week I was back in Vegas for about 2 weeks, doing the training (teaching) that I've done many times over now.  I actually like the training even though Mike keeps thinking it really should not be my job... I don't mind.  I got to visit the Timmerman's again and have dinner with Dan London who took he on the Ferris Wheel, which actually is BIGGER than the London Eye.  While in Vegas I hiked and geocached in Red Rocks (particularly nice after the rain), went square dancing one evening with a local club, and got out to see Ventriloquist, Paul Zerden, the recent America's got Talent winner. (Fun show)

Meanwhile during all of this, Mike was still teaching skiing, ending the season with some 70 days on the hill. (Sadly I only made it to 7 days!)  He absolutely loved the job and plans to do it again next year.  Now he is adjusting to his summer schedule... he's got to find something to keep him a little busier, idle time and Mike do not mix well.  Since we have been here for 2 years when we only planned to be here one, he is actively looking for a place for us to move to this summer.... but we'll see if the right thing comes up.  Definitely a topic for another post, although I'm sure many would say our habit of moving is also under the header of re-runs.

Nai finished his Basketball season, and without even a weeks break, started the Baseball season... That keeps him busy almost every hour he is out of school, except Sundays.  So he has not been available to do much with Mike and I, but he is very involved with his friends and loving it.  He went to prom and rented a tux and the whole thing, unfortunately the prom got moved at the last minute to a local spot since the snow storm (2 feet in mid-April) and the idea of a bunch of kids driving over the pass to Breckenridge for dinner dancing and partying didn't mix.

Baseball ends today, and he is now starting to prepare for the end of school in 3 weeks and his return to Thailand in 4 weeks.  He is struggling a little bit because when he came to America, he knew he would miss his friends but would see them again in a year.  Now he recognizes he will miss his friends but may never see them again... a dilemma for every exchange student.  Luckily with Skype, Facebook, snap-chat, and all the other tools I don't even know about, the world is a smaller place. He thinks he may try to come back to the states for graduate school (as many of the kids hope to).

So I am blessed to be home for a few week until I have to travel again.  I am trying to get a few things into my routine (back to exercise, dietary normalcy, trading habits, etc) that are so difficult to maintain when I am on the road.  We are staring to think about getting the camper out, etc... Never a dull moment, although I wouldn't complain if there was!

Toronto

Last week I was in Toronto.  It was a bit harried getting here.  I was first contacted to teach this training in December and in fact spent some of my vacation time in December trying to get the paperwork submitted for a work visa, since the trip was supposed to happen in January.  But the client (The Ontario Ministry of Education) had not signed the contract yet, so I was asked to hold off.  I replied, "Ok, but keep in mind we will need some lead time once we do have a contract."  So all through January and into February, they kept this job on the horizon, and I kept reminding them to think of the work visa.

So late February they called and said they were getting the contract signed by the end of the week and wanted me in Toronto on Monday.....uh,  guys, that won't work.  My contact said "oh yes, it will be fine.  Since we have a contract, you don't need a work visa."  My team's immigration specialist wasn't buying.  So for a week we were jumping through hoops, and honestly I thought I would not be going.  But some special strings were pulled and Thursday I got a signed exception from Canadian immigration, and Saturday I was on a plane.

The day before I left Mike and I did take a day and go into Denver to the Museum of Science and Natural History.. It was nice to spend the day together and what a gorgeous day it was too!!

 When traveling I always try to find something unique to that country and have noticed before that Canada provides a challenge.  They are just so similar to America culturally.  But on the train from the airport I saw a restaurant listing, and one category they had was Poutine, with a number of routine restaurants around town.  My heart was happy. I do remember Poutine from previous Canadian visits, and it is a favorite of mine. Poutine for those who don't know, is french fries with mozzarella cheese curds and gravy on top … What could be wrong with that?  So first thing after I dropped my bags at the hotel I headed for "Smokey's Poutinerie!"  Turns out the concept of Poutine has grown since I've been here before and you can get all sorts of kinds of Poutine.  I got bacon cheese burger Poutine.... ummm French fries with cheese and bacon and ground beef and gravy on top!  Sounded good, but turned out to be more than my generally clean-er palette is used to.  I think regular Poutine might have been a better choice.

My hotel, downtown Toronto had nice views from the room top balcony.  so later that evening I enjoyed the view of the CN Tower and the Yonge-Dundas Square, Toronto's Time Square.  The morning found me there awaiting the City Tour Bus.  A two hour tour that I thought might introduce me to a broad view of the city and teach me a bit of the history/facts.  It was a good choice.  I was interested in the many examples of architecture that was identified as historic and therefore they couldn't change the exterior but had additions cropping out of them that were glass etc.   Difficult to explain, but interesting.

In the middle of the hop-on, hop-off, bus tour I hopped off and went op the CN-Tower.  It was interesting, and as the weather was beautiful the views were wonderful.  They have a glass floor, similar to many glass floors I have visited lately.. which I can't stand on (Although the sky box at the Sears Tower in Chicago is the most remarkable one).  And just as at the St. Louis Arch, I found the movie about the building of the tower fascinating.

I Geocached out on the pier before catching the bus, and finishing the tour.  That evening I walked over to the iconic "Toronto" sign before going catching a Second City performance.  All in all a very nice day.

The rest of the day was cold and snowy!  The office I was teaching the class in was right across the street from the hotel, so I didn't have to go far, and between preparation in the evenings and long work days, I didn't even notice the snow, no time to do any other exploring.

I came home Friday night after Mike had left Friday morning to visit his parents in Utah.  We recently had to cancel our spring break plans to get out there and he has been feeling the urge to go visit more often, so he went and I was home with Nai.  He had a nice stay with them and I know they appreciated him being there.  He returned home Wednesday because he had to teach skiing on Thursday, and Friday I went to Denver for a class Friday, Saturday and Sunday... So we haven't been seeing enough of each other lately, but perhaps we appreciate the time we do have together more.

The class I took in Denver is the beginning Theta Healing class.  Mike and I took the series last year and so we can audit again as many times as we like.  I find it fascinating and was pleasantly surprised at how much easier it was this year, a testament to the fact that I must be getting better at it... yeah!

Anyhow, I'm home now for three days before heading off to California to attend a square dance festival that I like in Bakersfield.  One of the bonus's is the time I get to visit with Jackie Zev!  I guess if I figure I ought to get out to visit her once a year anyway, why not make it a Bakerfield festival weekend!  This year my new friend and festival Square dance partner, Sol, from Santa Fe, will be going with me.  He is interested in finding a couple of dedicated dance partners that want to attend festivals, so that works for me.  He and I will be dancing in Albuquerque in April too... The dance is much nicer without the pressure of looking for partners all night long.  Guess the photos from that will have to follow, since I don't want to wait to publish this until next week... Too much going on!

Until next time, Happy St. Patricks Day!

Leadville / New York / London

January was pretty quiet for us, enjoyed being home.  Late in the month we took the exchange students on the annual Leadville Ski Trip.  This is a great trip for the students.  This year we rented out the entire Leadville Hostel, drove up Friday evening skied Saturday and Sunday.  Since I hadn't been skiing much, Saturday made me sore and I opted to not buy a ticket for Sunday and worked instead.  Mike ended up teaching on Sunday, because we had enlisted volunteer instructors to teach the kids this weekend, but Sunday they were short.  Nai was happy that he had previously learned to get down the hill and so wasn't required to take a lesson, and met up with another Thai boy about his level and had a blast all over the mountain for the two days.

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The next week I took off for New York where I had 3 days of corporate training, before heading off to London.  I've spent so little time in New York City in my life... Only once before have I stayed the night there, and never two nights, I spent as much time out and about as I could spare.

I was staying in a hotel half way between Central park and Times
Square, and walking from there to the IBM building, even closer to Central Park.  The class kept us pretty busy, and the city was recovering from the huge snow storm that had shut everything down for about 3 days, but it was still wonderful to be there.  I walked to the Rockefeller Center and went to the "Top of the Rock" and viewed the city.  Unfortunately, I wasn't out and about any daylight hours, but I did walk over to Times Square late at night, and that was crowded as day time and bright as day too.  Those were the touristy things I did.  I did eat some pizza, and have a hot dog too ;-).

I did happen to see Donald Trump as the IBM building is on the other end of the block from the Trump Tower.  The last morning I was walking to work and the sidewalk was all shut down.. I was a bit annoyed as I had to cross the street to the other side to get by, when I realized there were about 4 black limos and a bunch of security guys running around.  Then the guy next to me yelled "Hello, Donald" and I looked up and he was getting out of his car and going in... He looked and waved.... NOW, I have seen New York!

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So people have asked why I didn't stay another day in New York to visit, but I was heading from New York to London and chose to have the extra day there rather than here.  I left Friday evening from New York and 6 hours later at 10 am arrived in London.  My hotel and the IBM office are very close to the airport so quickly stopped by to check in and grab a nap then took the 1 hour ride into London on the Underground.  That day I didn't have too much time, getting to town about 4pm, but my main desire was to ride the Eye, the large ferris wheel prominent on the London skyline.  I got into the capsule just at dusk and got to watch the lights of town come up during the hour ride.  The Eye is new since I have been to London, but that just made me count back and realize the last time I was in London was 1981 (I was there when Charles and Di were married)... I was kind of shocked by that fact, and then most of my students interjected that was before they were born!

Foreground : Westminster Cathedral - Middleground : Big Ben - Background : London Eye

The second day I went into town and spent most of the day at the Tower of London (which remains largely unchanged for the last 1000 years), followed by a "dinner" of scones and clotted cream, and finished with a visit to the Tower Bridge.  The Bridge opened it's upper passageways to tourists in 1982, and again... thus I had never been, but recently they renovated the floor of these passageways to incorporate a glass floor... so that's always fun.

Platform 9-3/4
Kings Cross Station
London

We were in England to hold our quarterly "Application Developer" class, teaching IBM professionals how to configure TRIRIGA.  This was the second time I taught this class, and this time, largely do to the energy of the students, but also because I've learned to control expectations a little better, the class went very well.  Since we were so far out of the city I didn't get out many nights, but I did go to see a show one evening and enjoyed "The Book of Mormon".  I also did a little geocaching as I discovered there was a geocache 450 feet from the room we were training in.... I would be negligent not to pick that one up!  I tried to look up a square dance and emailed a few people that were supposed to be contacts for the clubs in the area, but never got any response... Oh well, I had enough exercise, and activities.  Also one evening we got the group together and went out to a "carvery", a restaurant where they had Turkey, Ham and Roast beef, but the slice with lots of sides in a buffet.  Left there feeling like I'd just eaten Thanksgiving Dinner!

The middle weekend I had anticipated renting a car and driving to Dover to see the cliffs, the castle and the "chunnel".  But so many British thought that was a horrible idea, that I had to rethink.   Late in the week a couple of the girls (Annie from Singapore, and Vivian, my fellow instructor from Las Vegas) started planning a weekend trip to Edinburgh (Ed-in-burra for you Americans), I decided to tag along.. Besides nurturing relationships with colleagues, it was an opportunity to pick up a geocache in a new country ;-).  We took the train Friday evening from King's Cross in London, arriving in Edinburgh at about 11:30 that evening.  Saturday we walked... All day.  After our breakfast which included Haggis and Black (blood) pudding, I introduced the girls to Geocaching, we went to the castle, walked the royal mile at least 1/2 way (it's much longer than a mile) shopping for souvenirs.

The Coffee Shop that
Harry Potter was written in.

 We rushed back to the hotel for afternoon tea (for dinner) and exhausted went to bed.  Sunday was rainy, and we were still tired from our Saturday running, so we opted for a couple bus tours of town and then toured the Holyrood Palace at the other end of the royal mile, the Queen's summer residence.  Very interesting.  We took a mid-afternoon train back to London so we could see the countryside to the West and the North Sea to the East, instead of our after dark train going North.  The trip in its entirety was very fun!  It was Rugby weekend in Scotland and so the town was packed with Rugby fans and lots of things going on, lots of bag pipes, and lots of people (tourists and vendors alike) dressed in their kilts.  I was actually quite surprised.

Proper English town with row houses, cathedrals, and of course a castle!

Again with all of the running around with the "young" girls (Annie is 24... younger than my eldest, Kelsey), I was tired and sore back at work Monday and "feeling my age".  I have been struggling with my knee for the past year or so, and lately have not really been approved to ski.  I am supposed to strengthen with exercise daily, wear my orthotics, tape the knee when doing activities like square dancing or skiing.... aargh.  But when I over exert I can still feel it in my right knee.  I did get x-ray and luckily they show that my knee is in good shape, just needs conditioning... and I need to keep up on that.  Again, a wake-up call due to age.  With all the stairs in London and New York, and all the activity I was feeling the knee.   I however did not want to look like an old crippled woman walking down the stairs.  Although I felt like stepping down then bringing the other foot next to it, and on to the next step..  I decided to buck up and go down like a non-injured person one foot then the other.  But Wednesday evening walking down the stairs I caught a heel and tumbled down the last four stairs on the flight.  I landed on my back, smacked my head, bruised a rib, hip, and left knee/shin.  After a break I hobbled back to the hotel.  I was and am fine, but stiff and sore the rest of the trip... and sleeping a lot, due to my body recovery.  All of the above earmark the trip with a theme of feeling old!  I am going to have to address that!

But not to keep an "old dog" down (Ha!).  Friday we finished up class at noon and had a pizza party with the class.  Then Vivian and I jumped on a train for Windsor to tour the Castle there (The Queen's Winter Residence.

My final weekend in London found me taking a City Cruise Tour down the Thames to Greenwich to the Royal Observatory to stand with one foot in the Eastern Hemisphere and one on the Western Hemisphere.  Through geocaching (of course there is a geocache at longitude 00.000) I learned that due to crude methods of measurement (and the fact the the world is not exactly round, and local gravities) that the Prime Meridian line and the Royal Observatory is about 100 meters east of where it should be.  So I walked over there to where it was actually longitude 00.000 and took a photo.. although there was nothing there.

Sunday I went into town early to catch the Chinese New Year parade and Celebration at Trafalgar Square, the largest celebration outside of China.  The parade was nice, but the square afterward was so crowded you could hardly move.  I opted to walk to Covent Garden and the Market there, where, surprise!  I found a few more things to buy.   Back to the hotel early to pack up and leave to come home the next morning.  I felt like I had accomplished enough on the trip and was anxious to get home.

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Meanwhile at home, Mike has been skiing 3-4 days a week.  Rarely though is it just free skiing on his own.  Most of it has been work.  He signed up to teach 2 days a week, but due to overflow and need they are calling him in for more.  He is loving it and they are loving him.  He has many repeat students (which pays him a bit more) and has had a few tell him that they hated past ski class experiences, but loved skiing now that they skied with him.  He has also been required to go for a few days to take workshops and testing to get certified with his Level 1 instructor certification.  He is off today to Beaver Creek to take his final exam on that.  I am jealous as his skills are improving so rapidly and I can hardly get out!  I have caught a couple mornings with him though... still love living here.

Nai has been (since November) totally occupied with Basketball.  The JV team has only won one game, but they are having fun and he is learning a lot... and playing a lot because there are so few players, they can't afford to let anyone sit out, a benefit of being at such a small school.  Most of his friends at larger schools have been cut from the teams.  But his last game is this week, then I think he will be stir crazy!  He has decided though to try out Baseball, so hopefully that will start soon.

That is all the news around here!  My calendar is filling up fast... so I'm sure you will hear from me again shortly!  Hope everyone is having as much fun as we are!! Until next time.. Cheerio!