Spring moved into summer too quickly around our place

Oops... I kind of forgot to post to the blog since April. Sorry!

Since my last post, things have gotten quite busy (as expected). Although I will post separately for each of these events with pictures, here is a synopsis of what we have been up to:

• Wendy and I took a 3-week trip to San Francisco, Hawaii, and Vancouver.
• I started teaching 2 compressed summer courses at McMaster beginning the morning after returning from our trip. That same day, I moved into my new office at work.
• Adam started building a large back yard shed and eventually turned into a whole back yard renovation.
• Wendy and I went with some friends up to a rented cottage on Lake Huron for a weekend.
• Parker got into the university and the residence of his choice and is preparing for moving to Waterloo University in September. He took his highway driving test and passed easily to get his full driver's licence. He also graduated from high school, winning many awards.
• We bought a used Murphy bed and installed it in our guest room to clear up floor space.
• Adam continues with the shed and preparations for moving to North Bay for college.

Our somewhat busy winter

I guess it has been busy over the last several months, although not too many photos to show you.  Check out the captions to see what's been up.

Maddy with a new haircut

All of us visiting family in Toronto

View from niece and her family's condo

No snow for Maddy (March 1)

Lots of snow for Maddy, the very next day (March 2)

Another trip to Toronto for a great niece's birthday party!

Toronto wildlife

A more sedate version of Toronto wildlife

Wendy has been trying to cook more

Museum in North Bay (northern air defence)

At the museum in North Bay

First bloom of the spring - later than normal

Parker's graduation photo

First hike of the season

Maddy on our first hike... she picked up a tick...

New office at work - still under construction

Our mourning dove has come back for another try

So that about sums up the last 4 months. Next on the agenda?  A trip to San Francisco, Maui, Oahu, Hawaii, and Vancouver - all in 3 weeks!

More photos to come!

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!