Winter is over here! We only had 2 days snow last week. It is all relative you know.
Liz's brother, Pete, came over to visit just in time for another deluge of snow. He brought with him his friend Phil, who wasn't very good at walking (quite unstable on his feet), or at making decisions (he made Liz look decisive - in case you read this Phil, you want the steak). Fortunately he was patient and good at driving as he was Pete's taxi service for the week as they travelled between oversized models (Google Sudbury's giant nickel for an example). Anyway we had fun taking them out to St. Joe's Island for pancakes and Maple syrup, and trying to avoid being arrested over the border in the US simply for sounding "a bit foreign". The best day was when we went walking in the National park. We drove part way round lake superior and let me tell you that is some body of water (1/3 the surface area of the Med by the way). The place was deserted as most people are waiting for better weather, but that meant lots of virgin snow, apart from animal tracks that is. It was a bizarre mix of the alpine, and the coastal. Nice beaches, and water falls and snow and frozen ice. Though we didn't find any of the Indian cave art that we are told you can see when the snow melts I think the guys were more than compensated by shaking trees. I'm not sure they had ever shaken snow covered trees before and I think they would say that was worth the trip half way around the world on its own. Oh by the way animal tracks, check out the picture below, and I bet none of you can e-mail me what animal they are from (it will also test if any of you actually read all this guff). Each print was about 5 foot apart. I can tell you we were worried, I had my swiss army knife out, but I could only get the cork screw open as I've bitten my finger nails too low.
Before I sign off, congratulations go to some of my very best friends. Jon, Graeme and Liz who have just had their second child. Not all together in some bizarre lab experiment. Graeme and Liz gave birth to their second son Zac Bentham Spencer, and Jon and his wife (who I have only met briefly once - well they do live in the North you know) gave birth to Eve Urch. Congratulations to you all, I wish I could be there to meet the new arrivals. On second thoughts I think it's better to wait until they are passed that red wrinkly, all look, smell and sound the same stage. Anyway, maybe Zac and Eve could end up married one day, wouldn't that be nice. Don't worry, I've seen photos of Eve and she is not as ugly as Jon. Having said that, I haven't seen pictures of Zac. Hopefully he is better looking than his father. Do I only have ugly male friends!?
Stay in touch all, we have a car now so we can pick you up from the airport when you visit. Like you promised you would, yes you did, don't deny it.
Click to view more entries and comment on Our Blog page.
