May 18, 2008

Andre's blog

The menu for the wedding is out of this world. We've bought our plane tickets and can't wait!
http://epicuriafinefood.blogspot.com

Posted by songdawg at 8:41 AM | Comments (0) | Family

August 18, 2007

E3 Live

For Clayton: Sorry I missed you at the Edmonton Folk Fest. This stuff is high protein source and is vegan: E3 Live.

I have been putting it into green smoothies which are 60% greens (swiss chard, lettuce, kale or spinach etc) and 40% fruit (bananas - buy a bunch and when they are ripe freeze them, blueberries, mangoes, avocado etc) blended well in a blender. Unusual sounding but very tasty and good for you.

Posted by songdawg at 8:11 AM | Family

July 17, 2007

Mir ist heiß

It's hot - very hot. Sweltering. I am so glad the humidity is low here. Inlaws from Germany and Manitoba are visiting which has been a lot of fun.

German lesson of the day
How to say I am hot (temperature wise): "Mir ist heiß"
Don't make the mistake of saying "Ich bin heiß" which means I am hot (as in I'm too sexy for...). Could be embarrasing. I am just saying...

Posted by songdawg at 10:26 AM | Family

February 15, 2007

Bernhardt

Marshall's cousin Bernhardt from Germany came to visit. We were a little worried about how cold it's been - whenever we talked about the cold spell he would shrug and say (with German accent) "Of course. It's winter." We hadn't seen him since '97 when we were living in California - it was great to catch up. Here he is showing us pictures from his wedding to Sou. He flew home today just as the cold spell broke - it's almost above zero. Hopefully it won't be another 10 years before we see him again - maybe a trip/tour to Germany should be in the works....

Posted by songdawg at 6:16 PM | Family

June 1, 2006

Happy Birthdays and Anniversaries

Bonne Fete to my Mom and her sister Denise who are both celebrating birthdays this week. And it's also my Aunt Denise and Uncle Norm's 25th wedding anniversary. Lots to celebrate when they come visit this month from Ontario.

Posted by songdawg at 5:29 PM | Family

July 9, 2005

Elliot Lake Entry #6

My Grandmaman Georgette Marcotte has become an amazing artist. Here she is with a set of dishes she created. I also brought home a bunch of watercolour and ink cards that she made. The painting on the wall is also one of hers.

The guy in the graduate cap is my cousin Anthony who had graduated from high school the day before.

My aunt Denise and Grandmaman helped me created this basket of roses to place at my paternal grandfather's grave. At his funeral I remember that inside his casket was pinned a pink(?) rose for every child and grandchild.

I also went to my high school reunion at Jeunesse Nord in Blind River. I wanted to reconnect with a few of my girlfriends - here's Chantal and Louise. It was so good to see you guys! Louise is as warm and open hearted as I remember - thanks for the wonderful reception - you look really happy. Unfortunately Nathalie wasn't there - hopefully everything in her life is going well. I will be seeing Chantal again soon at the Calgary Folk Fest at the end of the month.

The morning before we left a bunch of us met at Peachy's for breakfast.

Marshall, my Mom and I packed up the car and drove the Barrie. It was the night of the Live 8 concert but since we didn't have tickets we went out to a local restaurant called the Mandarin which has the biggest, freshest buffet I have ever since. It was amazingly great food - perfect way to unwind. After we went back to our hotel rooms and watched the Live 8 concert footage. Then for some unexplained reason we had to stay up and watch the Karate Kid - I didn't want the vacation to end. The next day we flew back to Edmonton from Torornto.

It's great to be away but always great to be home too.

Posted by songdawg at 10:02 AM | Family

Elliot Lake Entry #5

The best part for me of our visit was just hanging out with family. We had such good food the whole week - I know I have gained at least five pounds. Marshall and I are really glad we went.

My uncle Guy and cousine Vicky drove up from Ottawa on this hot looking bike. Here he is after cleaning all the bugs out of his teeth. Bugs mmmmm.

Here's my uncle Guy being the bartender.

The lime wedges are cut too big.

Squeeeeeze.

My Mom, Lyne, Vicky and Denise. This is about the time the singing started. My Mom and Aunts sang all these french pop songs from when they were teenagers. It was great to listen to.

Marshall, Guy and Grandpapa. This is right before Marshall gets tricked into going for another beer run in the house.

Mon oncle Ron

Denise

Ghislaine

Lyne

Marshall coaches Guy on his first guitar chords. I have a great movie clip of us around the campfire. Marshall was playing guitar and Guy was improvising the blues - his song was great - he (drunkenly) sang to us all about the new love in his life. What a howl.

My uncle Ricky arrived the campfire night with Cathy his wife and their two kids Anthony and Megan. No pics cause it was too dark. Anthony brought his guitar and Megan has a great voice so maybe next time they will have learned a few more songs. Missing from the bunch were my cousins Aaron, Andre and Franky. Hopefully we will see you soon!

Posted by songdawg at 9:32 AM | Family

July 6, 2005

Elliot Lake Entry #4

Then we went to the Fire Lookout where on a clear day you can see for miles (Hey Prairie dwellers - stop laughing - it's Ontario - it's not flat there :)

Town of Elliot Lake on a very humid day

Matante Lyne and Mom

Three generations

Matante Denise

Three sisters (Ghislaine, Denise and Lyne) and Mom (my Grandmaman)

Posted by songdawg at 9:20 PM | Family

Elliot Lake Entry #3

On one of the days of our visit we were taken on a little tour of the town.

Drove by the church where I was baptised and where I had my first communion.

Visited Romeo the Cockatoo at Deby's Pet Store.

Drove by the house where I first lived.

Drove by the house where my Grandmere and Grandpere Tellier lived. It used look a lot better. They loved gardening and had such beautiful roses.

We later lived a couple of houses up the street from them - I was very lucky to live so close to both sets of grandparents.

Here is where my Grandmaman and Grandpere Marcotte lived - just one street over.

They had a huge yard that overlooked a forest of Maple trees. They had an outdoor cooking spot setup where in the spring we would make maple syrup. I loved dripping it on the snow then taking a stick and winding it up to make a maple popsicle. So good.

We also visited the cemetary where some of my relatives were buried.

Leo - my Grandmaman Marcotte's brother.

My paternal grandfather - he passed away when I was 7.

My great-grandparents.

Posted by songdawg at 9:03 PM | Family

July 4, 2005

Elliot Lake Entry #2

In Alberta, selling alcohol is privatized but in Ontario to get your favourite brew you just head on down to The Beer Store.

Hanging out at my Aunt Lyne and Uncle Ron's house. Here's my Grandmaman, cousin Melanie and Grandpere.

Ma tante Denise and ma tante Lyne.

Mon oncle Ron, Grandmaman and Melanie.

Marshall hanging back and soaking up the vacation vibe.

Cass - the busiest dog ever - checking out the passersby.

Melanie is a massage therapist in Elliot Lake. I haven't seen her in so long - not since she was a kid. Here I am getting my toes done for Canada Day.

Oh Canada

Grandmaman and Grandpere. Grandpere had a stroke 1.5 years ago but is doing really well.

Going for a swim in Elliot Lake.

Mom and Mel

Posted by songdawg at 11:06 AM | Family

Elliot Lake Entry #1

Marshall and I are back from Northern Ontario where we visited some of my family. We had a great time and over the next few days I will try to post pictures up.

We left Edmonton in the morning and landed in Toronto in the afternoon where we transferred to the plane that would take us to Sudbury where my mom and my Aunt Denise would pick us up.

Marshall hates flying and almost turned back when he saw how tiny the plane was.

Lots of big hugs from my Mom, Denise and uncle Norm when they picked us up. We hopped into their car and went to Swiss Chalet for dinner. Then we headed to their place in Espanola. Here's the Sudbury Superstack and surrounding slag. Nice huh.

The next day we got up and headed off to Elliot Lake (Norm stayed to work- he works in the town paper mill - he later joined us in Elliot Lake).

Along the Trans-Canada highway there are tourist stops that sell a strange mix of handcrafted native art and moccasins and Canadian tourist gifts - we stopped at the Serpent River Trading Post for a bit.

This is a picture of downtown Elliot Lake taken from outside our hotel room in the Algo Centre. This is the town I was born in and lived in until the end of the third grade.

It was great to go back and see family - some that I haven't seen in 15 years.

Posted by songdawg at 10:13 AM | Family

May 29, 2005

Cap'n Franky

My (not so little anymore) cousin Franky AKA Cap'n Franky is working up at Lake Maligne this summer. I haven't seen him for a long time - maybe we'll get a chance to see each other while he's on this side of Canada. Here is his blog:
http://spaces.msn.com/members/FrankyNomad

Posted by songdawg at 8:59 AM | Family

April 12, 2004

Wednesday - Pre-party

Posted by songdawg at 10:44 AM | Comments (2) | Family | Friends

August 20, 2003

Bonne Fete GrandMaman!

Today is my Grandmaman's birthday - Bonne Fete!

Posted by songdawg at 3:29 PM | Family