Camera Club

So........................... this morning, in the frigid, arctic-like temperature, I ventured forth on my first "photo shoot" with the Camera Club.

I spent 1/2 hour getting ready to brave the cold - 3 layers everywhere, 3 pairs of socks, 3 pairs of pants, 3 tops (plus my coat) - I felt like the Michelen Man. I was NOT going to be bending any time soon.

Two of us went out together from the camera club. Diane and I work together at the CCAC and she is the one who introduced me to the Camera Club. We went to a wonderful park within the city- a friend of Diane's lives near the park and was our tour guide for the day. Our mission was to get five specific pictures - an evergreen, a fence, parallel lines, moving water and a favourite photo.

It was actually a lot of fun. Despite the -14 degree temperature, we all managed to stay relatively warm for the 2 1/2 hours that we were out for. The best part - Tim Horton's afterwards.

Instead of adding the pictures to this post, I've added a slide show of some of my better shots. They are unedited and I haven't converted them to black and white yet.

The New Year

Well..........................................so far so bad. Because of the tanking economy, the trucking business has been slowing down to a crawl. Since mid-October, Graham has only been getting 1 load a week (usually). Frequently there is no backhaul. With truck payments, insurance, fuel and tolls we finally figured it out and it was actually costing him money to drive as an owner-operator. Last week he quit driving as an owner-operator and turned the truck back to Taylor Transportation. Out came the resumes and the applications to other trucking companies. Despite several calls of interest, when Taylor's offered him a company driver position, he immmediately accepted. So, he gets to continue driving the same truck with no out of pocket expenses. Obviously, the pay isn't as good as it can be as an owner-operator, but, it is better than nothing and it's way better than a deficit. The major benefit is that if the business starts to pick up again, he can return to being an owner-operator.

As for me, the first week back to work after 2 weeks off for Christmas has been extremely hectic. January - February is usually "outbreak season". That's when the LTC Homes have many residents with respiratory and/or gastro-intestinal symptoms and it means that I can't admit anyone to the homes in outbreak, nor can I transfer anyone from a home in outbreak. The season is just getting started, but, I do have one home in complete outbreak (totally closed) and one more with one wing in outbreak. To top everything off, I started the week with 15, count them.............15!!!! empty beds. Most weeks I have maybe 7 or 8 beds to fill. On Monday when I returned, my phone was full of messages and it never stopped ringing all day - I'm still trying to return calls from Monday. Oh how I hope next week is better!!!

For those of you who aren't aware, our St. Thomas office was closed down while we were on our honeymoon for health & safety reasons. (The building has a flat roof and has always leaked, however during this summer there were 2 catastrophic downpours inside the building.) The landlord replaced the roof and.................................it still leaked, so the decision was made that we would not return to that building and the hunt was on for new office space. In the meantime we ended up scattered all over the place. I ended up working out of the London office and initially was quite adamant that I couldn't wait to move back to St. Thomas. During an office reorganization in the London office, I ended up in the same work-space as the London Placement team. I so love being part of a team that does the same work as I do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Being a one-person team was very isolated and I didn't realize just how isolated. To make a long story short, a position came up in the Placement department in London and I applied for it. Not because I really wanted to leave my job, but because I didn't want to go back to the isolation of St. Thomas. Apparently they really like my work in St. Thomas and while the London job was mine if I wanted it I was offered a perfect compromise. I will continue to do my St. Thomas work, BUT, I will be doing it out of the London office permanently - the best of both worlds as far as I'm concerned.

How's that for an eventful start to 2009. Happy New Year everyone.

Christmas is Over

The Christmas season is finally over and life is slowly returning to "normal" - whatever that is! The kids have all gone home, we've celebrated New Year's.

We managed to survive our 2 1/2 days with the grandchildren - thank goodness for Krista and Jamie - I'm not sure that I would have survived without them as Alexandra does not appear to like sleeping in her bed at night.

Our 2 week vacation is over - it flew by so very, very fast.

We went to Toronto this year to celebrate New Year's Eve at a place called the Dance Cafe. A beautiful dance floor with lots of room for dancing. It also gave us an excuse to see Ryan, Deb and the "kids" again. It warmed my heart when Alexandra willingly came to me as soon as we walked in the door. When I was finished greeting her, she willingly went to Gramps for some more kisses and cuddling. On our way home to London we met Graham's daughter Jeannie and our granddaughter Isabella for "linner" - it was 3:00 in the afternoon - too late for lunch, too early for dinner.

We shall now see what 2009 has in store for us. Happy New Year everyone!!!!!!