It's the last day of 2002. My aunt and uncle have invited us for supper and to "hang out" for the evening. I suspect they usually do what we do on New Year's Eve: watch TV and sometimes manage to stay up past midnight.
I think I'll resolve to write 2003 on my cheques from now on.
Our BM invited the department and their SOs out to his log cabin in the country for supper last night. I was already on vacation when the invitation was emailed but a colleague forwarded it. The function was catered and I understand that it was not at our boss' expense: he was treating us since the department met its budgetary target for this quarter. Whatever the reason, it was nice to get together and meet some of the wives and have a good feed, too. John is a pretty low key type guy so I knew we wouldn't have to "dress up". I think the "manager" in his title means that he manages to keep the president from overburdening and bothering us with profit and loss details; i.e, administrative BS.
That old enamel-on-steel sink in the main floor "powder room" was showing its age (about 22 years). I touched up one chip (with a different colour as those "standard" colours change over the years) and a couple of weeks later a new chip appeared. So I replaced it with a shiny white porcelain job yesterday. As I had previously replaced the taps and the drain it was just a matter of loosening a few nuts, taking out the old sink, cleaning the vanity cutout and plopping in the new one. It's not "perfectly" aligned with the cutout: to do that would have meant cutting off the old drain pipe and rebuilding a new one. The caulking provided with the sink hides the slight gap anyway. I have gone away from using silicone caulking. Though it seals nicely, it's a tedious job of scraping to clean it off when you replace something. Plumber's putty and mildew-resistant latex caulk are much easier to remove and probably seal just as well.
Sometime in the near future I will have to replace the sink in our ensuite for similar reasons However, I will also need to replace the old taps and drain, too — not just an afternoon's bit of work and a job for another vacation period.
My Mom has been typing out the journals she kept as a young mother over 40 years ago. I won't publish those — you had to have been there or married into the family to appreciate the family history. This excerpt is apparently my first letter writen to my Aunt Mary.
Dear aunt Mary we hope you have a very nice time and the rest of you this winter. I am in Grade 2 and I am reading very, very good and the book I am reading is called We Are Neighbours. We have Gym every Tuesday and Thursday and We have library every Friday and We larn Arithmetic and I made your house at the bottom of the letter. From Jimmie Service
- Quiet Pipes
- When I changed the rubber washing machine hoses for a pair of the wire mesh "non exploding" type, water hammer noise became a real problem. I affixed the incoming water pipes to the wall but that didn't help much. Yesterday while I was buying a bathroom sink I found "shock absorbers" for pipes. They were a cinch to install as they came with male and female hose threads. I did our usual three loads of towels and couldn't tell when the rinse cycle was on. The solenoid valves open and close several times during this cycle and used to generate lots of water hammer bangs. Now all is quiet.
- Cable Down
- Couldn't check my email this morning: the sync light on my cable modem was flashing. I unplugged the modem and then powered it up again after a 30 sec. or so delay. The sync light still flashed. So I grabbed the paper and sat on hold until a Rogers "technician" answered. After the usual ID procedure, Brian said he was going to "check" my modem. "Oh," he said, "they are working on a problem in your area." At least he didn't go through reboot your machine, your modem, yadayada stuff first. I always have to explain that I have a FreeBSD OS box connected — you don't have to do any of that stuff except for perhaps restarting the DHCP daemon. It seems to have been down for about 5 hours according to my DNS logs.
Attendance:
- one uncle (of the four surviving brothers)
- 11 of us cousins ranging in age from 23 to almost 48
- 5 cousins' kids ranging in age from 2 to 22
- 10 spouses / partners — the people who make these reunions fun to be at
- Absent: about 30 (including at least 8 who don't live in Ontario)
Mom gave me some Gjetost1 whey cheese from Norway for Christmas. It's funny how you associate colours with food: this brown cheese comes in a block looking for all the world like a great big carmel. I had some on a bagel for lunch and, once I told myself this was cheese, I was fine with it. Good cheese, terrible carmel.
We had the traditional Christmas turkey dinner, cabbage rolls, pethai(?) (Ukranian perogies) and butter tarts at my in-laws place. Not as many were there so all 12 of us could sit around the table. Some years we've had two tables plus a extra card table for the kids in another room. Our white Christmas made for a slow drive there but it did make the arrival of Christmas that much more special this year. I have only time for a quick note as we're off to my Aunt Brenda's to have a Boxing Day gathering of my father's side of the family and have a potlach supper. Today we will also "shower" my cousin who's expecting her first in February.
- Christmas Baking
- I searched for brownie recipes and found Christmas Cookies. I made Pecan Pie Bars and Linda Léone's Chocolate Chip Cookies. Both turned out well though I'd forgotten that with our smallish kitchen and one set of mixing bowls and measuring cups you keep having to clean up after yourself when you do baking.
- Cut my nose
- I was bending over the lip of the trunk to lift out a box from the car and hit my head (softly mind you) on the trunk lip. By reflex I ducked and cut my nose on the edge of one of those stiff plastic packages they put electronic stuff in. Finally resorted to a steri-strip to stop the cut from bleeding.
- Younger son opened a couple of presents
- Even at 18 years he wanted to continue the tradition of opening "just one" present on Christmas Eve. Later he went to bed early — he's been busy at the grocery store for the last few days. Usually he would get a bit of time during his shift to "relax" in the back room but not at Christmas.
- Hubbo Stats
- According to my automatic awstats site statistics there's been over 4600 visitors to the site this year and almost 8,000 visits, serving over 0.5 Gbyte. Way to go everybody! Some slow day I will have to report some of the bizarre search expressions that end up here.
The family newsletter sent around with Christmas cards seems to be making somewhat of a comeback. Well, at least in my extended family anyway. Of course I have procrastinated and haven't sent out Christmas cards. So, (not instead but as an alternative mind you) I have posted my version of our family's Christmas newsletter here.
- My Younger Son
- He has the dubious distinction of being part of the last ever OAC / Grade 13 classes in Ontario, member of the dreaded double co-hort. He is planning to apply to universities and colleges but there will be stiff competition, of course. The other problem, seldom mentionned, is that these students musn't fail or can't repeat a subject to boost their marks because their OAC courses are obsolete. Anyway, my son is doing much better (dare I be proud to mention top of the class in one subject) in his courses once he dropped one of his math subjects — he loves working with numbers but the word problems in the other one were his bane. He continues to work at the local grocery store, getting lots of hours around Christmas time. As we kept the ten year old Caravan, my son needs the money to help out with the car insurance and pay his own gas so he can drive it to high school. He also bought his own computer (from his brother, natch) and pays the extra cost for his own cable IP address. (Dad's firewall prevented some of his multi-player, Internet games from working properly.)
- My Older Son and "Daughter"
- Our son has been living with his girlfriend and not only does he love her but we do, too. She's our "daughter", now. In fact, she has an infectious laugh just like my wife's. At the moment they rent the second floor of a former farm house at a horse stable in "rural" Oakville right by Sixteen Mile Creek. I say "rural" as big box stores and access to highway 407 are perhaps less than a couple of kilometres away. The setting is perfect for their two cats, bird and some fish. They don't have a dog (yet!) but several of their neighbours dogs know them well. My son has his own business and a dedicated client keeping him busy; though, he is always looking for more opportunities in hosting, web site management or computer sales. Our daughter maintains her horse back riding hobby by working at the farm (not the one where they rent) and working as a "receptionist". I add the quotes because at that company she seems to be the only computer literate person so she's doing much more that just being a "pretty face on the phone".
- My Wife
- Can you spell B⋅U⋅S⋅Y? She's working on her diploma in Early Childhood Music Education a program jointly sponsored by Ryerson University and the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) at Toronto. This term she takes two courses and continues those in 2003. The RCM is also developing a music course for infants and my wife is one of only about a handful of students selected to participate in the development and research for this brand new course. Though it is not a credit there is certainly quite a demand for this type of program. Anyway, there's another half day a week for this academic year. Following a contract with a local private school this past spring, she has been hired for a part-time position this fall. She teaches music, song, movement, and rhythm to classes from pre-Kindergarten to Grade Two. She continues to teach voice, piano and music theory privately a couple of evenings a week. The other evenings are filled with course work and lesson planning. Hardly any time to quilt, craft, read a book (for pleasure!) or even sleep anymore. Busy as she is I think my wife has finally found her vocation, she's busy at something she loves: teaching or learning about teaching music to kids. They love her, too. I have never seen so many Christmas gifts from students. Some of the little ones are wont to cry at the disappointment in finding out she's not going to be in their classroom that day. I was fortunate to be on vacation and catch my wife and her students "December Concert" last week.
- Yours Truly
- I passed the 25 year mark with an Ontario Hydro successor company: six weeks of vacation is a pretty neat benefit. I am definitely not as busy as my wife but I manage to keep myself occupied. I am the bass section leader for a community choir which basically means I get a little bit of money for doing something I love: choral singing. Our community choir joined the Mississauga Opera (MO) to put on a grand production of Verdi's Aïda this past spring. We didn't have the elephants but we did have a stallion pulling a chariot across the stage. Great fun, though if you page back through my blog in May you'll find the music director of the MO was a tyrant, to put it mildly. It put me off joining that opera company.
- The Gloat Section
- Usually at this point in the newsletter people declare all the places they have been and the great things they bought over the course of the year. Sorry to disppoint. After travelling to the U.K. in 2000 and Italy in 2001 touring with choirs, we rested. Our summer vacation was a quiet one looking after a country home nestled in 100 acres of farmland in Oxford County. My wife bought a year old vehicle as we weren't sure the ten year-old Caravan would be reliable enough to get her to school or downtown for her courses. We continue to share our love of singing in the semi-professional choir the Bell'Arte Singers. We are also the music librarians for this choir. Next year we'll be able to gloat again as we've plunked down our deposit to sing with the Cathedral Singers of Ontario. Their 2003 tour includes a week of evensong at Canterbury Cathedral and a concert at Notre Dame in Paris. It just so happens to be our 25th wedding anniversary next year, too.
- The Pithy Quote Section
My web site is full of stuff and there might even be an inspirational quote or two though I doubt it. I did find a nativity scene by Bernardino Luini.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas or whatever you choose to celebrate at this time of year and a healthy, happy 2003 and beyond.
- At My Sister's Place
Christmas is a time for visiting family. Yesterday we picked up my mother and went to my sister's "new" house for brunch with our families. Unfortunately my younger son and my older son's girlfriend were working. However, my niece and two nephews helped boost that Christmas excitement quotient stoked by Mom's (my sister) insistence we wait to open presents until after the main course. It's a cruel world, eh!
They say the "devil is in the details". Too bad there's a few devilish details to finish off at my sister's place. Plasterers came this week to repair / redo / fix the ceiling. They came without drop cloths, kept leaving the door open and left early. Now, I haven't done much drywall taping and cornering but I think I could do a better job than these yo-yos who are supposed to be "professionals". Good thing my sister and brother-in-law still have that 10% hold back until "completed to their satisfaction".
- The 60th Wedding Anniversary Party
My wife and her sister arranged a party for my in-laws on the occasion of their sixtieth wedding anniversary today. Yes, it is quite an accomplishment my two wonderful in-laws. The extended family already includes four great-grandchildren.
Of note:
- My in-laws were picked up by a stretch limousine. My sister-in-law wanted the party location at the Bluffer's Restaurant to be a surprise so she didn't tell her father. He assumed it was to be at another restaurant where the family had celebrated my mother-in-law's eightieth birthday. He got quite upset and argued with the driver that he was going the wrong way.
- My sister-in-law worked hard and wrote everywhere. My in-laws have congratulatory greetings from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Her Excellency the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, The Prime Minister of Canada, Jean Chrétien, His Melness the Lastman, Mayor of Toronto and others whom I have forgotten. I attribute this memory lapse to to the wine passed out amongst us before we sat down to eat lunch.
- We remember sister Corinne who passed away a little over a year ago from cancer. Christmas is a hard time with memories like these but we can't let happier events go uncelebrated: especially at Christmas.
- I met my wife's cousin from Espanola for perhaps the second time in 25 years. They had lost a son through a terrible tragedy when, as a passerby, he tried to intervene in a fight outside a bar. We remember Ryan. Still, these sad events sometimes have a way of bringing families together. This cousin reminds me of his father, my mother-in-law's older brother, one of those persons whose face is always "crinkling" with a smile and a kind word. Unfortunately it's getting too hard for him to make the trip down from Timmins.
- A comment from the restaurant manager to my father-in-law, "60 years ... with the same woman!"
- My father-in-law's parting words to some of his guests, "See you at the seventy-fifth!"
- Good food, good friends, great family — always a pleasure to have been married into this family, oh yeah, and good wine, too!
Instead of a bill from my local electrical utility I got a rebate cheque courtesy of the Ontario Government. They are "rolling back" electricity rates to 4.3¢ kWh and capping them at the retail level until 2006. Hmmm, California all over again. Ontario was "opened up" its electrical energy market in May of this year, and, surprise, surprise, the rates skyrocketed. Let's see if I can summarize:
| Rates in Ontario before May, 2002 in Ontario | < | Every surrounding utility |
| Extremely hot weather this summer | ⇒ | Increased electricity demand |
| Available generation in Ontario | < | Increased demand |
| Electrical energy prices in Ontario | > > | than before market opening |
Simple economics would imply that prices would rise. Are politicians that dense? If they had opened the market in March, cheap hydraulic generation could have been had from the spring runoff. Demand would be down because the days are longer and not so cold; yet, it hasn't got too hot either. Prices might have even gone down for a short while. Anyway, electricity rates have been transferred from the ratepayer to the taxpayer through this capping scheme.
One piece of advice I remember giving last spring to someone regarding a contract with an energy marketer for fixed electricity rates for n years. I said wait for a year or so before signing and see what may happen with the market. That legislated 4.3¢ cap is much better than any energy marketer rate I've seen, plus, it has been made retroactive to the market opening in May! Come election time, expected in 2003, the current Conservative government has some splainin' to do.
"The only reason some people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory."
Paul Fix
Because I am on vacation I had the chance the help my wife with her "December" (can't call it Christmas, Chanukkah or Holiday even!) concert featuring the Junior Kindergartners through Grade Twos. For some reason a couple of Nöel songs sneaked into the program but it ended with a "unity" song so all was well. My role was rather modest in that I helped the custodian set out the chairs for the parents and, during the performance, I assisted moving some Orff instruments on and off the "stage". Yes, it was a typical kids concert but this, to me, is more the spirit of Christmas than the typical store or mall muzak carols. I have never heard Three Blind Mice (or Hot Cross Buns, same three notes) played in so many pitches on recorders. During the songs I noticed that, for many kids, there's not a lot of difference between singing and sprechstimme1. Some of them moved unselfconsciously to their own rhythms, others, waiting their turn in the audience pestered each other or blew their recorders until they had them confiscated. A lot of energy and enthusiasm on the part of the kids and my wife, who led it all and caused it to happen, pleased the parents and relatives. Perhaps it is because my kids are leaving to build their own lives or maybe I am "mellowing" but I enjoyed it, too — I didn't enjoy these events particularly when my kids were participants. Back then, I was in amongst the parents and couldn't see all the kids and their reactions to what's going on around them as I could yesterday.
Well one of the drearier parts of being music librarian is sorting returned music. However, it took less than an hour to sort over 40 sets of 15 pieces. Kind choir members offer to sort it as they hand it in. I think I get a better return rate if I don't insist on pre-sorting as it takes a second or two for a choir member to hand in the bunch of music. After a concert, most are anxious to get out to the audience to greet friends and family — they don't want to be stuck sorting through their music, too. Now I have to sort each pile by number, at least the original copies, to find what, if anything, is missing. To a music librarian, bliss is discovering that everyone has handed in their music. At least this time our borrowed copies were obtained gratis with no overdue fines or strict deadlines.
The Toronto Star had an interesting article on the top six "mother-tongue" languages as reported in the 2001 Census for the GTA in the Saturday paper. Apparently in Mississauga, where I live, Polish is second after English closely followed by Chinese. I have an Italian friend in Vaughn where it is reported that almost 23% list Italian as their mother tongue. The demographics are quite interesting: I had the impression that certain nationalities gathered in certain regions and this article clearly demonstrates I wasn't mistaken.
- Before the Concert
- My wife and I drove down early in the afternoon from Mississauga to the Danforth near Broadview and the "parking god" was with us as we got a "free" spot just beside Eastminster United Church, our concert venue. This meant I wouldn't have to schlep the music handed in to the librarian (namely moi) very far. We were also in fine position to go and have an early supper along the Danforth. Along the way my wife was very pleased to find a newly-opened Ten Thousand Villages store. In there, we sort of advertised our concert just by being in a tuxedo long black evening dress. After a short browse in the store we ate at a Thai restaurant on the south side of the Danforth at the Chester intersection. The waitress recommended "no curry" as any stains are impossible to get rid of from a white shirt.
- Pre-Concert Warmup
- At 5:30 p.m. we gathered at the church and "top and tailed" most of the pieces we were to perform later that evening. We practised processing in from the balcony to the chancel steps and after rehearsed a few more songs. Subsequently, we "casually" assembled in our long black dresses and tuxedos for brochure publicity photos. Then we had a break for about 50 minutes. I talked to some choir members and my wife retired to the car (parked close by, remember?) reclining in the seat to rest for a bit: She's had a final exam in one course, two other courses, private teaching, school teaching and December concert planning in just this week alone.
- The Concert
- The event went very well overall IMHO. I sang a short solo (the "Frankinsence" verse from John Rutter's arrangment of "We Three Kings of Orient Are") which surprised my mom, my sister and her family as I hadn't told them. Apparently there were over 300 in the audience. Great news as we need the financing for our March concert featuring Ein Deutsches Requiem by Johannes Brahms with orchestra. The other features of the concert (beside my solo :-) including readings by Robert Fisher and brand new choral arrangements of the Coventry Carol, The Holly and the Ivy and I Saw Three Ships by our own composer/member Ben Bolden. The only small hitch in the whole concert was the recessional carol which we rehearsed just once from the chancel steps. However, we were installed in the choir loft at this point in the concert in somewhat reverse order rows. Those new row leaders lead us out the back doors instead of down the church aisles. Our director didn't have time to rehearse every detail because the choir couldn't book that extra rehearsal at the church where these important "blocking" manoeuvres could have been, well, rehearsed. I think our director may also have forgotten that not everyone, and especially the younger members, has been raised in church choir traditions: Automatically you know how to process and recess because you have done it for years of Sundays.
- Post Concert Party
- My wife went to my sister-in-law's place to work out a few last details regarding my parents-in-law's sixtieth (that's 60!) wedding anniversary. I went to the party and had a bottle of my favourite Old Credit Ale, some "nibblies" and some conversation. Headlines included Tim getting a contract position after some months of being redundantified, Ben's thinking of working on his Ph.D. in music education and Laura being pregnent with her second child. Congratulations to them all. I left and picked up my wife and we crawled exhaustedly into our beds around 1 a.m.
Saturday, December 14, 2002
Christmas with the Bell'Arte Singers
8 p.m., Eastminster United Church, Toronto, ON
Source: T H E . M O U T H P I E C E Thursday, December 12th, 2002
- George W. Bush
- I don't think I should have to answer that question.
- Al Gore
- I invented the chicken. I invented the road. Therefore, the chicken crossing the road represented the application of these two different functions of government in a new, reinvented way designed to bring greater services to the American people.
- Ralph Nader
- The chicken's habitat on the original side of the road had been polluted by unchecked industrialist greed. The chicken did not reach the unspoiled habitat on the other side of the road because it was crushed by the wheels of a gas-guzzling SUV.
- Pat Buchanan
- To steal a job from a decent, hard-working American.
- Rush Limbaugh
- I don't know why the chicken crossed the road, but I'll bet it was getting a government grant to cross the road, and I'll bet someone out there is already forming a support group to help chickens with crossing-the-road syndrome. Can you believe this? How much more of this can real Americans take? Chickens crossing the road paid for by their tax dollars, and when I say tax dollars, I'm talking about your money, money the government took from you to build roads for chickens to cross.
- Martha Stewart
- No one called to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the farmer's market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.
- Jerry Falwell
- Because the chicken was gay! Isn't it obvious? Can't you people see the plain truth in front of your face? The chicken was going to the "other side." That's what they call it - the other side. Yes, my friends, that chicken is gay. And, if you eat that chicken, you will become gay too. I say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the liberal media whitewashes with seemingly harmless phrases like "the other side."
- Dr. Seuss
- Did the chicken cross the road?
Did he cross it with a toad?
Yes! The chicken crossed the road,
But why it crossed, I've not been told! - Ernest Hemingway
- To die. In the rain. Alone.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
- I envision a world where all chickens will be free to cross roads without having their motives called into question.
My wife needed more rhythm sticks or clave for the children in her music classes who will be peforming in the up-coming "Holiday Season Concert" (can't call it Christmas nor can there be Christmas music, sheesh). Having the right set of power tools works wonders. I sliced up 24 6" lengths from the ¾" doweling with my chop saw. Then I clamped my belt sander into my Workmate and rounded off the 48 ends so no little fingers will get slivers. Et voilà — about ½ hours work and the job is done. As I am on vacation I might even hear those clave being struck together at the school concert next week.
- I have now upgraded the Movable Type software to version 2.51. Over the Christmas holidays I will examine which of the new features I might use. For example, MT now supports "plugins" . I found also found a list. Perhaps I should change the look of my blog, too, while I am at it.
- Finally all three light strings are working. The proximity tester works OK but I as I replaced bulbs, (I think) the voltage/current stress burns out more shunt resistors in the tiny bulbs. I seemed to have to go back to the beginning of the string several times. I also needed to confirm bulbs were burnt out with a plug-in type tester because the proximity tester sometimes indicated a bulb was burnt out when it wasn't.
The president of the company says we have to use our 2002 vacation or lose it — no carry overs except under special conditions. So I have started my holidays and won't be back at work until Jan 3. I have a shopping list of chores to do like replacing two bathroom sinks, replace one faucet set, change shower tap washers, put up the Christmas tree, put up the outdoor Christmas lights, clean my shop, and so on. More pleasent things include the up-coming Christmas concert, visiting family and friends and putting on a pot of coffee each morning and relaxing a few minutes reading a book or surfing the web.
"Works like a charm" as a former colleague used to say. I tested two 100-bulb strings and ran out of replacement bulbs, over a dozen "bum" ones at least! I made another trip to Rona (Walmart was sold out) to buy more replacements. My enthusiasm for putting up those outdoor lights has waned somewhat though. During the course of the day the temperature has plummeted from near 0°C this morning to -9°C this evening.
I had planned to put them up this afternoon as the temperature was around 0°C. (It's been in the minus Celsius region for at least a week now. The local rivers and streams have ice on them — this usually doesn't occur until January, if at all.) However of the 4 100-mini-light strings I have only one lit up. Now, am I going to spend hours testing 300 little bulbs in order to find out the two or three bad ones per string or am I going to go out a buy some replacements? Tomorrow I will have to look for a mini-light tester doodad.
Two Nuns are riding their bicycles down the back streets of Rome. One leans over to the other and says, "I've never come this way before."
The other nun whispers, "It's the cobblestones."
- ...until my birthday.
- Installed an overhead cupboard from Ikea with a vertically opening door — more space for stuff in our home office.
- Took the car to the gas station and made sure all the tires were up to recommended pressure. Pressed the reset button in the fuse panel and now I have gotten rid of the "Low Tire" light. Supposedly the car "recalibrates" as we drive in the next while so that the "Low Tire" light will come on the next time there's a low-pressure or flat tire.
A few weeks ago I replaced the ballast in the double 40W fluorescent light fixture in the laundry room because of its dim lighting. I also replaced the two old tubes. It worked initially but then only gave a quarter of the light its supposed to. Hard to tell the clean from the dirty laundry under those light conditions. Finally today I got out my digital multimeter, took out the tubes, and measured the voltage at the sockets. Over 300V between them at one end and about 150V between the sockets and the reflector — certainly enough voltage to light a couple of tubes. I changed one of the tubes and now its working. Suddenly I saw the light: now I realize that box of "econo-watt" tubes I bought were the source of my dimness problems. This may explain the seemingly shorter life of the ballasts, too. Now I resolve to buy "brand name" tubes on sale rather than a box of no-names.
Every year at this time my wife becomes the same age as me until next February. I asked her parents and my older son and his girlfriend to join us for supper on Sunday evening. I put on a good meal of roast pork with onions and carrots, roasted potatoes, green beans, tossed salad and sponge cake with butterscotch icing for dessert. The sponge cake only lasted until late that evening. My father-in-law kept glancing at his watch during supper and finally my wife asked what for. He just had to watch "60 Minutes" — such dedication to TV. We chuckled about it and hope we don't become like that when we approach our 80th year.
In other less happy family news, one of my aunt's on my father's side of the family is undergoing back surgery to remove a swelling tumour surrounding her spinal column. Apparently it will be a six to ten hour operation. My thoughts and prayers go with her, my uncle and to my cousins and their families.
While driving to choir practice yesterday morning, there was bang on the Gardiner Expressway — either I ran over something or a blowout. The "low tire" light came on a short while later and, luckily, we were off the expressway by then. I pulled over, my wife called CAA, and I started changing the blown tire for the so-called "convenience spare". It turned out not to be a big job. The GM-supplied scissor jack worked fine and I was able to loosen the lug nuts. We cancelled the CAA call. I can't remember the last time I have had to change a flat on the road. The last few flats have been "slow leakers" caused by an imbedded sharp objects: an annoyance but not a catastrophe. We were about 20 minutes late for choir.
After choir practice, the section reps including myself had a meeting and my wife tried to find a place to fix the tire. No such luck in the big city: either too busy or closing early on Saturday afternoon. So we took a slow route so as not to stress the spare donut: Lakeshore, Queensway and Dundas from the Beaches to Mississauga and took the car into Canadian Tire. Now I should sign off as they phoned that the car is ready. I was afraid it wasn't repairable and we'd be looking at two new tires. The charge for fixing a flat seems a veritable bargain though I am going to leave our van there for a "brake job" — probably a few more dollars.