August 2006

Which brings us up to the last few weeks. It became obvious I needed a break to avoid crashing and burning so we took two weeks off. The first week involved us spending the week in a cabin on the shore of Lake Manitoba near the town of St. Laurent (about 1 hour north of Winnipeg). I was there Mon-Wednesday (came back for Leadership Summit) and Sherry and the girls were there Mon-Friday.

Our stay was free of charge as the owner is a generous lady who goes to our church. She’s known affectionately as “Grandma Joan”. She likes the cabin to be enjoyed by people in ministry who need some time away.

The cabin was part of a private row of cabins owned by the same family… the above pic is the gated entrance.

 

The view from the deck of the cabin.

 

Enjoying the beach under the full moon.

 

Kathryn LOVES the water.

And then there was the frog catching…

And the rock catching…

Sherry did this flowerpot (and she says she isn’t artistic!?!) but unfortunately it, the message to Grandma Joan and various other ones her and the girls created perished that night in a violent thunderstorm that also downed some trees around the cabins. Good thing Sherry took pics!

Of course there were also other important things to do like…

…reading

 

…writing (Sherry introduced Kathryn to Su Doku at this cabin. This is a pic of the first one that Kathryn completed without any help. So I tried one for the first time too. Couldn’t finish it.)

 

…and ice cream!

and here’s a fun little pic. Much like haggis is to the Scots, it is a national obsession for many Canucks to start their day with a bowlful of one of several brands of “spider egg cereal” (a mix of spider eggs, nuts and cereal flakes). However it is so rare to find an actual spider in the box that it is considered great luck… a good omen for our vacation!

nooc

(p.s. scroll down for summer parts 1 & 2)

Another once-a-summer treat is the family trip to Tinkertown (the name of which now makes me giggle thanks to mixed moss). This year we went with good friends Janet and PJ and their kids Jacob and Megan…

Chloe always enjoys a cigarette when boating. Kathryn doesn’t like the smoke.

 

Chloe and Jacob doing an impromptu street performance as an outreach. Lots of people got saved I think.

 

Megan expresses shock at Kathryn’s level of glee at machine-gunning other riders. Lots of kids died I think.

nooc

(p.s. - scroll down to see The summer that was 1.0)

Gonna do a bit of bloggerly catch-up here on the summer that was. It’ll come in 3 chunks then chunk number 4 will be a day-by-day transcription from an analog blog account (paper and pen) of the personal retreat I just returned from.

On with the show…

1.0 - Winnipeg Beach

We usually only get out there once a summer but it’s always a highlight for our family. It’s about an hour north of the city and we were just out there for the day.

Chloe chillin’

Kathryn divin’

Kathryn smilin’

Not sure if anyone outside of Winnipeg (or inside of, for that matter) ever watched the summer-teen-drama TV series Falcon Beach but it was all shot at Winnipeg Beach and they desecrated the landmark water tower at the east end of the beach. I think they might have been vinyl lettering though cause if I squinted it looked like the edges were peeling a bit.

Reminds me of the time Winnipeg lost out as the location for the Brad Pitt/Anothony Hopkins pic “Legends of the Fall” because the city wouldn’t replace the mature trees in the historic Exchange District with smaller trees. There was much local debate over that but I can’t remember what my stance was.

nooc

Just a quick note that I am in the middle of an unexpected but much-needed vacation…. pastor’s orders… or at least strongly encouraged.  This is a good thing.  I think it is pulling me back from the edge of a burn-out that I didn’t see coming…or more accurately wouldn’t allow myself to see coming.  Fortunately my pastor had the discernment I was lacking.  Being under “pastor’s orders” has made it easier for me to give myself permission to detach and disconnect and take a vacation without feeling as much guilt as I usually would.  I struggle with this.

Anyway I will post on the vacation exploits soon… but I have re-attached long enough in the last two days (and tomorrow morning) to be taking in the leadership summit.  Loving it as always though for various reasons too numerous to mention that don’t always have to do with the speakers/sessions per se.

Just wondering if anyone else caught the Bono/Hybels interview today and what you thought about it?

nooc