The Hilton Chronicle

This will probably be the last post for a while from the home base as we are pushing off tomorrow on a trip to Saskatoon for a wedding and will then be heading to the west coast on a two week plus road trip. Our niece Colanne is getting married tomorrow afternoon and the whole gang is hoping to get there in time for the ceremony. A quick turn around brings us all home on Sunday and bright and early Monday it's just Dianne and I on the road to meet up with brother Roy and his family to visit the folks in Parksville. We'll be puttering around Lotusland for a few days and then are heading off into the wilds of the US hoping to make it as far as Las Vegas, stopping to take in a few sights along the way. I'm hoping to be able to make a few posts as we go providing we can find an internet cafe of some sort from which to post. This is our first long road trip in several years and looks to be quite an adventure.
We leave you with this bit of fluff. Seems the poor sensitive souls at Canada Post were not amused at the sale of dog bisuits shaped like letter carriers. The company that makes them has pulled them from the store shelves but continues to market the ones shaped like cats. Maybe they should make some shaped like campaigning politicians.

Posted 2:14 PM by Jeff

Sunday, July 18, 2004

...And The Itsy Spider Crawled Up The Spout Again.

Well it's now a week since our incredible storm and people are still drying out although the weather has greatly improved and is making the drying out process a little easier. But there were many flooded basements and lots of damage and ther will be lots of insurance claims.
We went to see The Merchant of Venice last evening in the park and had the last few minutes cancelled as a major thunderstorm moved in and settled down to watch the play. Fortunately it didn't last long and apart from some much needed rain which cooled things off there was no damage although I had to go to the internet to find out how the play ends. We try to get to Shakespeare in the Park every year and thoroughly enjoy it.
So Martha Stewart got five months in The Big House and a $30,ooo fine. For lying. I know there will be a media field day with this but could we just move on please?
One more night shift and I'm on holiday! Yahoo!

Posted 8:30 PM by Jeff

Monday, July 12, 2004

Noah!!!!

So we are taking in a little entertainment at the Street Performers Festival in the Arts Barn near Whyte Ave when all of a sudden we were hit by one of the worst storms Edmonton has seen for some time. Thank goodness we were inside! A few minutes earlier and we would have been caught in a sheet of water pouring out of the sky limiting visibility down to nil followed by a deluge of pea sized hail so intense they were using snowplows and graders to later clean off the streets. During the storm I got this shot of the hail pouring off a church roof.

It continued pouring like this for a good twenty minutes. Later, when it finally subsided and we were brave enough to venture out to get to the car, the volunteers were frantically trying to mop up water and deal with snowbanks of hail.

As we drove home we noticed the leaves that had been pulverized from the trees were laying all over the road and the parked cars and there was an eerie mist rising from the soggy grass creating a rather strange scene.

Apart from the flooded roads and basements a couple of tornados touched down just outside the city. The city was still cleaning up today and although our basement didn't flood, thankfully, I won't be cutting the grass for a few days until the small lake in our back yard dries up.

Posted 3:25 PM by Jeff

Thursday, July 08, 2004

We All Live In A Yellow Submarine...

Well I guess I shouldn't complain, it's doing the grass a world of good, but it has been raining beaucoups de buckets here in the last few days. Quite a difference from last year's salubrious weather during my two month recovery sojourn. But I guess the forest fires in BC have tamed down somewhat from this sloshy weather and I that's a good thing. There are still several hundred fires burning there which only goes to show you what an incredibly humungous land mass BC is in that there can be hundreds of fires burning in it. Hundreds of fires would probably totally cover all of England. But then there probably wouldn't be forest fires there because they get this wet stuff all the time. Where's me mac, and I'm not talking OSX either.

Posted 2:43 PM by Jeff

Friday, July 02, 2004

An Offer He Couldn't Refuse

I just notice this on the wire that Marlon Brando has died of lung failure. I was never a big fan of the much respected actor, being too young when "On The Waterfront" and "Streetcar Named Desire" came out but I'll never forget his rivetting portrayal of Kurtz in "Apocalypse Now". Then there is his signature role as Don Corlioni in the "Godfather" films which I guess he will be remembered for most. So, another one of the greats, gone at 80.
We enjoyed the Canada Day fireworks last night as the following picture attests.

The weather was great yesterday for the festivities, not too hot and yet warm enough to be comfortable. We had more fireworks of a differnt kind this afternoon as thundershowers rolled into the area and gave us torrents of much needed moisture. But boy, was it noisy. At one point we had to shut down the computer network as the power was spiking on and off at random. Hopefully the lawn will be thankfull for our sacrifice.

Posted 7:40 PM by Jeff

Thursday, July 01, 2004

O Canada.....

Happy Canada Day! It's turned out to be a gorgeous day despite forcasts of rain. We actually managed to clean the car and get rid of the winter scunge. For anyone interested here are some shots of Nikki's grade 12 grad from last Monday afternoon and evening. She is now officially finished and will be starting work at a sign shop next week. At present she has headed off to Abbotsfield BC for a youth conference with some friends.

Posted 6:06 PM by Jeff

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