Oh Canada!

Happy Canada Day! (yesterday) Fête du Canada is the national day of Canada celebrating the anniversary of the July 1, 1867 enactment of the British North America Act. Originally called Dominion Day, it united three colonies into a single country called Canada within the British Empire. We celebrated with our relatives from Canada, grilling šašliki on the barbecue and later on s’mores on a fire down by the beach. Original plans included actually Canadian things like nanaimo bars, the dessert consisting of a crumb-based layer topped by a layer of vanilla butter icing and covered with melted chocolate which is named after the west coast city of Nanaimo, British Columbia. However, the dream was disrupted by....

Building a Canada day bonfire

... a derecho. Derived from the Spanish word for straight, this storm is a widespread, long-lived, straight-line wind storm that is associated with a fast-moving group of severe thunderstorms. They can cause hurricane force winds, tornadoes, heavy rains, and flash floods and are mostly a summertime phenomenon. The lightning didn’t stop for about an hour keeping the house bright as daylight from 2 until 3 in the morning, and winds downed trees and power lines from Illinois to Michigan. Luckily our power remained on; neighbors weren’t as lucky and downtown Three Rivers was in gridlock from intersections without traffic lights. Although my dessert plans weren’t realized, Lauris still made it to his second day of...

Trees were hanging off of power lines into late afternoon

... bizbizbērni. Last year’s hesitancy at leaving mom in the mornings has completely disappeared, and in the afternoons we are regaled with tales of hikes, new friends and swim lessons. It might be that Lauris wouldn’t want to leave it weren’t for the...

First day of "school"!

... fishing. With a little help from his Kalamazoo grandmother and cousin, our little fisherman has caught a surplus of fish, including two thirteen inch bass. More than his mother has ever caught from that same pier, but he’s got his eye set on “the big one.” Which is also what comes to mind when thinking about yesterday’s…

… game against Belgium. Did you know US goalkeeper Tim Howard made 16 saves, the most on record in a World Cup match? Sad that the US has reached the end of their World Cup journey, although now we can turn our attention to…

A daily show - the sun setting over the lake

… the Tour de France. Starting on July 5^th, this will be the first year women will compete in the traditionally all-male cycling race that criss-crosses France over the course of three weeks. 120 women in 20 teams will ride on the last leg la Course, which will take them 13 laps around the Champs-Élysées for a purse of over $30,000. This month officially marks our two-year return date from France, which occurred soon after catching le Tour outside of Rocamadour. How time flies…