The great 2017 car shuffle!

This has been a crazy 2 weeks of change for our over-abundant Seidlitz family stable of vehicles. All 4 of our cars went in for our usual fall oil/filter/snow-tire service. I think I was at the shop so many times that they probably thought I was moving in!

The first major change was that we sold Wendy's beloved Toyota Echo (she had it since it was a baby!) to make way for a downsizing to a single car. She loved the Echo and it was the one vehicle that she was somewhat comfortable driving. At least it went to a good home (family of a co-worker).

Bye bye, Echo!

The next step was to transfer official ownership of Parker's Mini Cooper into his name (from Wendy's). With lots of paperwork and expensive safety certificates (plus three separate visits to the licence bureau!), the car is now fully Parker's.

The next change was a new car for Eric and Wendy. We picked up our brand new Nissan Qashqai SL AWD + Platinum sub-compact SUV in Monarch Orange and are enjoying its many advanced features. Wendy has even successfully reverse parked it into a tight spot with no trouble at all! The 4 or 5 cameras and even more radar sensors might have helped...

Wendy and her new Qashqai

Qashqai in its new home

To continue the domino-like effect, Adam sold his car (a Ford Focus) privately in preparation for moving into his next hand-me-down vehicle. Adam spent a lot of time preparing his car for sale and was happy that it sold reasonably quickly for a good price. 

The final step was the movement of Eric's Scion xB over to Adam. He was quite happy to receive this newer vehicle (in exchange for the money from the sale of his previous car...), and this allowed him to continue with his modifications of the Scion to better suit his needs. The operative word here is "continue", since he had previously removed the old Pioneer stereo and installed a new audio system in the hopes that he would be the new owner.  I think the sub-woofer was already in the car before we took delivery of the fancy new orange one.

Now that the vehicular carnage is over, I think the next thing on the horizon is Christmas. We are expecting it to be very quiet and low key. We do, however, plan to take in our traditional Star Wars movie over the holidays.

My new position!

At last!

My new position has been announced. Click here to see the announcement message.

https://bhsc.mcmaster.ca/welcome-dr-eric-seidlitz/

It is finally official...

Remember this photo from early May?  It was taken just prior to a job interview at McMaster.

I am happy to finally announce that I have been appointed by the president of McMaster University to the position of Assistant Professor in the Bachelor of Health Sciences program!

26 years and counting!

Today is our 26th anniversary! We decided to go all out and each have a bit of the grape while we looked at the rose I cut from our garden. Mine is a Bonnieheath Marechal Foch while Wendy's is by Welches'.

Early August in our neighbourhood

August is typically a slow month around here, and this month is following suit. We take Maddy out for a walk most evenings and usually go to the local park. Below is a quick video of the previous visitors to the park that were not sure whether they wanted to play. They normally come out at night, but this time we spotted them at dinner time!

If the video doesn't play, click https://goo.gl/photos/cgE1wCBTbwcpqpKn8 

https://goo.gl/photos/cgE1wCBTbwcpqpKn8

This is another common sight around our place on weekends, and they were apparently out taking video of the Dundas Valley using the Lancaster Bomber this fine Saturday morning. FYI, a 60-minute flight in this beautiful (but loud) aircraft is $3,500 (http://www.warplane.com/aircraft/flights/buy.aspx).

If the video doesn't play, click https://goo.gl/photos/wD3p7wxPU2Gufn4g9

https://goo.gl/photos/wD3p7wxPU2Gufn4g9

On Monday, Wendy had some surgery on her thumb to fix a longstanding problem. Here she is showing all her "pink" things. Although hard to see, you may be able to detect a slight pink tinge to her fingers (they spread a sticky pink solution on them prior to surgery... it is hard to get off). As well, you can see her sort of pink scarf/sling. That was Eric's idea to help keep her hand elevated for the first 72 hrs. If you look a little higher, you might see her pink hair! Yes, that is truly pink hair (on the front, at least). She wanted to try something a little different and see whether a splash of colour would change things. She says it doesn't make her feel too differently, so she will see whether she will repeat it in the future. To round out the ensemble, she also wore a pink watch, a shirt with a pink butterfly, and stood in front of some pink flowers.

All in pink!

Wendy will be getting the bandage off on Friday and is hoping to return to work on Monday. Until that time, Eric is going to be tying her shoes.

OK, you've got to admit that it would be entertaining to watch Eric tying (or struggling to tie...) Wendy's shoes!

July in Manhattan

In mid-July, Parker and I tagged along with Wendy on a trip to New York City for Wendy's work conference. We hit all of the major tourist destinations during a week that was likely a record breaker for heat! One day the humidity made it feel like 109 F! The huge crowds everywhere seemed to make the heat worse.

Below are a bunch of pictures that we took during the trip.

Carnegie Hall was about 2 blocks from our hotel

Times Square was an 8 minute walk from the hotel

On the subway heading downtown

One World Trade Center

Parker and Wendy at the North tower memorial beside the name of my father's friend (who was on flight 11)

"The Oculus" is an underground shopping mall at the base of the World Trade Center

Interesting architectural details inside the "Oculus"

One World Trade Center - great views and a mind-boggling 60 second elevator ride to the 102nd floor!

Wall mural in the Crocs Store (made with Crocs!)

Parker with a 4th of July milkshake!

The USS Intrepid Air, Sea, and Space Museum

Space Shuttle Enterprise

Parker on the Flag Bridge

Parker with a large slice of New York cheesecake

Wendy having "chicken and waffles" - apparently a thing in NYC

Manhattan as seen from Roosevelt Island

Parker on Roosevelt Island

Parker's 'favourite building' was the UN Headquarters

Getting ready to cross the Brooklyn Bridge

The Flatiron Building

Wendy looking at purses on 5th Avenue

Many people were taking pictures of the barricaded Trump Tower - and a few were giving it the finger!

The American Museum of Natural History

This selfie is just my way of proving to Parker that I am not that old!

Dum dum gimme gum gum.... (Night at the Museum)

Decorative railing in the Natural History Museum

Belvedere Castle in Central Park

Here is a time-lapse video of the craziness that is Grand Central Terminal. If the video doesn't work on this page, click here: https://goo.gl/photos/YEnwc2B1Nxi3iLDg7

Next stop this summer will be Portage la Prairie, Manitoba!

Many changes as our summer begins

May, June, and July has seen many changes for our family.

With the weather warming up in May, we decided that our old lawnmower was not going to be up to the task of tackling the heavy grass this season. We bought a new Honda lawnmower and it seems to work much better (although I can't tell, because I am not allowed to cut the lawn...).

We have been trying to get out to hike more than over the winter (which means anything greater than 0 hikes!) but have had difficulty arranging our schedules. We did get a chance to go out on a local hike with our friends Terry and Theresa.

Before Adam headed off to cadet camp for the summer, we had a BBQ with a bunch of his friends. Of course, Parker had to work this day, so he didn't get to eat with the crowd.

One of the many reasons that we didn't have much time to hike was because we were helping Wendy's mom move from her house to a senior's apartment in April/May. Sadly, Marion passed away June 30th after only 2 months in the apartment and after a long battle with cancer. She will be sadly missed by all.

Marion had wanted to live to see the fireworks on Canada Day (Canada 150!). In her honour, we went to the Canada Day fireworks in Lynden, Ontario. The blanket Wendy is wearing was made with love by her friend Carolyn so Marion would be able to keep warm at the fireworks.

As has happened many times around our place, a pair of mourning doves built a nest right next to our front door. This year we watched patiently as they prepared the nest and, eventually, sat on it for the long incubation. We were happy to see two new doves arrive in early July, representing a new beginning.

2 baby doves

One morning we went out to find the nest empty - it seems that the new dove family moved on to wherever they spend their summers. We expect to see the parents back in the spring next year!

Our empty nest

Our next post will likely be after one or two trips we have planned this summer. Hopefully I will also have an update for everyone relating to my academic job! 

Parker's first solo

Parker passed his driving test to now be able to drive independently!!!

Here is a 48 second video of his solo to get pizza.

https://youtu.be/p27ZKmH-WP4

I got the job!

If you recall the brief note in my previous post about the job interview, today I got an email that offered me the position. More details to come!

Eric

Sorry for the delay...

It has been some time since I posted on this blog (yes, since January 2nd). Our family has been crazy busy with things and just didn't have much time to document things very carefully.

I have been teaching part time at McMaster (Cell Biology in the Bachelor of Health Sciences program) and have been working on finding more, well, work. Here are a few photos of my class from the final presentation day (half presented in the morning, the other half presented in the afternoon).

That same day, I turned 53...

I recently did a panel interview for a faculty position at McMaster. Here is the new suit, shirt, and tie.

;-)

Wendy has been working a lot and has been helping her mother through some complex medical issues and the sale of her house/move to a seniors' apartment. That alone has taken a huge chunk of time this spring. She took a quick trip to Florida with her friend Melanie. Here she is in the ocean.

We took several trips to Toronto with her mom. Here is one stop we had to make for Parker.

Adam has been busy working. He just turned 21 and is still working on planning his future. He had 2 jobs for a while and has since gone down to one full time position. With his working and his continually tinkering with his motorcycle and computer, we don't see him much. Hence, so few photos...

Parker has been even more busy. He played hockey, took driving lessons, has recently started back working as a dishwasher at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club again (slowed down over the winter), and has been busy gaming in his room a lot. Just recently, he got his braces off (much to our bank account's relief~) and is happy to chew gum again.

Our garden is doing quite well, even with the deluge(s) of biblical proportions over the last two weeks.

Maddy is quite busy, although she has been having some problems with her teeth. She doesn't know it yet, but she will be going for some dental surgery in the beginning of June to fix the problem.

So, overall, not much to talk about.