Blue Lakes

Since I first visited Smithers in 1997, Amber has promised to take me to Blue Lakes, near Hazelton, BC. It's a 40 minute drive and then a 14 km hike (round trip) to the second lake. This year, our schedule allowed it and we had child care (thanks Judy).

This is the first one.

This is the second one.

The forest flowers were stupendous - here are a few:

Dogwood is BC's official flower, much to the chagrin of Amber who finds them very plain. I like them plenty.

We trudged uphill from the car which made it only half way up the 4 km road to the beginning of the trail. The 5 km hike is great as it climbs through forest, meadow, mountain side, rock slides, across rushing streams, and ferns.

You come upon lake number two all of a sudden and it is at eye level. It was really cold and windy up there, so we huddled behind some spruce and ate our lunch at around 1 pm. About 10 minutes into lunch it began to hail. Lots of hail. We were sopping wet and cold all the way down the mountain. My knees!

So, thanks Amber. I look forward to hiking in Waterton on August 2 with you.

Military Exercises

I'm up with the kids this morning at my sister's place in So. Cooking Lake. We slept in their camper and I have the kids in the car to get their sandals on when a military armoured vehicle drives by and stops at the stop sign (the house is on the corner). Behind the armoured vehicle, three Suburbans follow. They sit at the stop sign for 5 minutes. They drive away.

CFB Wainwright or CFB Edmonton? They didn't say.

World Cup Memories

I've been really enjoying the FIFA World Cup Finals this summer even though the team I was cheering for (for no other reason than heritage) didn't make it out of their group.

My first exposure to the Soccer World Cup were on international stamps that I collected back in the mid-1980s. I remember thinking Brazil and Spain must have been the unbeatable teams since they had so many stamps dedicated to the World Cup.

When I lived in Edmonton, I got to attend the 2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship. It was the most compelling sports event I had ever attended. Since the tickets were so cheap, we went to four double-headers at Commonwealth Stadium. Every game was even more and more packed until the sold-out final game.

The Canadian team did super well too, beating the Brazilian team (who played so dirty - the coach would even go behind the Canadian goal keeper's net and harass her) in the semi-final and then losing a tense match against the United States in the final.

(scoring a penalty shot win against Brazil)

The previous two World Cups, I was in Guatemala where soccer is a religion. In 2002, I woke up in Guatemala City after flying in the night before to cheers from seminary students at Seteca. Brazil was playing Germany in the final and RRRRonaldo scored the two goooooaaaals for Brazil to win the cup.

In 2006 we were living in Tactic, Guatemala and we got to see the build up to the Cup Finals for the months leading to the month of madness. People bought up televisions like they had just been invented. People got cable. Stores had flat screens installed. It was a frenzy. Then the games started and any time a latino country was playing, there was no one on the street.

The 2006 final was awesome, though disappointing as I was cheering for France. Zinedine Zidane's headbutt at the end of the match will stand as one of the greatest moments in sports history for me.

Garage Saling in the PM's Neighbourhood

This will likely become a yearly event - Garage Sale Day in Tuscany, Calgary, Alberta, which is the Prime Minister's neighbourhood and just a couple subdivisions over from where we live.

Everything but the girl for $95. The best deal (and the bulk of the cost) were crosscountry skis w/boots and a near new set of snow shoes for $50. I also picked up a cool German coffee maker, some picture frames, some CDs and a book on birds. Amber got some stuff too, but not as interesting as my stuff.

Meet the Duchesse de Bourgogne

A couple weeks ago a friend of mine dropped by for a couple days and brought some fancy beers. The best was a Flanders Red Ale called Duchesse de Bourgogne from the Brouwerij Verhaeghe brewery in Belgium.

It has a slightly sour taste, but a dynamite fruit tone and smooth aftertaste. Absolutely the best beer I have ever had!

I thought the name Bourgogne was a familiar name, so I did a quick search on my family tree and . . .

• Zaak Robichaud (1976)
• son of Ronald Robichaud (1950)
• son of Uldège Robichaud (1923)
• son of Alban Robichaud (1895)
• son of Louis Robichaud (1857)
• son of Anselme Robichaud (1821)
• son of Anselme Robichaud (1780)
• son of François Robichaud (1752)
• son of Marie LeBorgne de Belleisle (1717)
• daughter of Alexandre LeBorgne de Belleisle (1692)
• son of Marie Saint-Étienne de la Tour (1654)
• daughter of Charles-Amadour Saint-Étienne de la Tour (1593)
• son of Marye de Salazar (1560)
• daughter of Hector de Salazar (1530)
• son of Christian de Salazar (1500)
• son of Hector de Salazar (1450)
• son of Marguerite St. Fargeau de la Tremouille (1425)
• daughter of Georges de la Tremouille (1386)
• son of Marie de Sully heiress de Craon (1360)
• daughter of Louis de Sully I (1330)
• son of Marguerite de Bourbon (1300)
• daughter of Louis de Bourbon I (1279)
• son of Beatrice de Bourbon-Bourgogne (1260)
• daughter of Seigneur Jean de Bourgogne Bourbon (1231)
• son of Hugh Thessalonica IV, Duke of Bourgogne and his wife Yolande de Dreux (1212) who would have been the Duchesse de Bourgogne.

Only 25 generations back! No wonder I have such a strong affinity for this kind beverage.

Dean Jones is Done

Edmonton's Shine FM DJ and employee for the past 9 years, Dean Jones has been retired. He devoted his life to radio during this time and has been a central fixture to this station since he was brought on for an internship in 2001. He has also served Shine FM in nearly every capacity available and therefore understands radio inside and out.

He posted a retirement message on the station blog, but it was removed by the managers (I can't figure out). I am posting it here since I thought it to be heartfelt, from June 21:

I'm officially retiring from radio at the ripe age of 34. My jersey will be hung up in the rafters. It's been a great run and I have no regrets. There were so many great moments while a worked at Shine. The ones that stand out for me were playing for the Shine FM hockey and baseball teams. Those were great times! I want to thank Corri Allan (former PD for AM 930 The Light) for taking a chance on me 9 years ago. I want to thank the past and present staff of Touch Canada Broacasting who have been so entertaining over the years. But most of all I want to thank the listeners, cause that's why we do what we do. Now what? I'm going back to school in September to become an Ultra Sound or X-Ray tech. The next page in life begins right now..............Dean Jones

Congrats, brother, on completing a career successfully.

Rowling Reveals her Religion

Chris told me about a fascinating MTV interview (click on USA when the pop-up pops) that J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, did back in the fall of 2007.

I've not read the books and I've not seen the films, but I have heard the North American Christian uprising against the books because of the content of sorcery. Potter books have been banned from Christian schools. Rowling has been accused of corrupting the youth and leading them to the magic arts. Etc.

But Rowling is a practicing Christian.

"To me [the religious parallels have] always been obvious," she said. "But I never wanted to talk too openly about it because I thought it might show people who just wanted the story where we were going."

In her final book she quotes almost verbatim from Matthew 6:19 and 1 Corinthians 15:26 and she claims that the books entire theme is death and resurrection - a central tenet of the Christian faith.

So, why couldn't so many Christians see past the magical allegory? I contend that Christians have a predisposition to Greek dualism, the belief that there is a heavenly ideal and everything here on earth is corrupt and should therefore be exorcised from our lives as we strive for perfection. This leads to the categorization of everything into sacred and secular where there is nothing good in the secular. Jewish thought is very different - God's fingerprints are everywhere in his creation and we should therefore consider everything sacred from traveling, eating, working, relating to others, and to our very own creations - including the writing of books.

Plus, The Lord of the Rings is readily embraced by Christians today despite its very high content of wizardry and magic.

Wooden Toy Trains

The kids and I built a big track with their hodge-podge of wooden train tracks (courtesy of Grandma's yardsaling, Jeff's donation, and a Christmas gift, Blaise has quite a large collection). Then Blaise went looking for his camera. I got mine too.

Alignment of the Sports

Every four years at the beginning of July three great things happen:

• Fifa World Cup Soccer Finals
• Wimbledon Tennis Tournament
• Tour de France Cycling Race

It's a marvelous time to have a PVR.

The New Pornographers

This was a great show! and not just because I was about 20 feet from Neko Case for a couple hours (though that was pretty cool too). The music was energetic and fun. The artists gave it everything they could give on this first show of their North American Tour.

The Mountain Goats opened with great acoustic set, giving me several reasons to seek out more of their music catalog. I was particularly stunned with "Matthew 25:21" from their latest album The Life of the World to Come. Great talent here.

We met up with five folks from church who were very adept at fighting off the drunks who tried to push us around. (point and wink to you Gary and Cherilyn). We were in line only about 20 minutes before the gate opened and we still got to the front of the crowd on the left, so we had great sound and view the whole time.

The New Pornographers played a new set supporting their very listenable album Together which I have been listening to pretty steadily for a couple weeks. A little disappointed that they didn't play my favorite song on the album, "Valkyrie in the Roller Disco." They did let Neko belt out a few songs and the guitarist was fantastic - as was the cellist. Lots of sound!

*I stole the photos from Facebook.

Out in Rocky

On a rainy and chilly May long weekend, we drove a couple hours northwest to join my sister and her family (and later my mom too) at the Riverview Campground in Rocky Mountain House. Because of the weather, we joined Saison and Dean in their luxurious camper trailer for the first two nights, but did pitch a tent for the third night.

The campground is situated on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River (the same mighty river that carves its way through Edmonton). We spent a little time at the river, but it was cold, so we stuck pretty close to home when we could.

Our site was directly across from a great playground so the kids could play almost all day. Dean and I headed into town to see game 4 of the Montreal-Philadelphia game (not a good game).

Dean was keen on having a fire and a barbecue. We were keen on enjoying the fruits of his labour.

The weather cleared up nicely for the last couple days. It was great times as we played a little baseball (I got to climb a tree), some bocce ball, kids golf, Scrabble, and our new vice: Stone Age.

We also ate very, very well.

Here's to plenty more camping weekends!

The Puppet Master

Last weekend I was treated to a triple-header at a puppet theatre in my own home.

Blaise set up his mattress as a barrier in his room and prepared the shows, one of which he starred in with the puppets (the first).

The Sheep and the Giant

Teddy and Leopardy's First Time at Church

Leopardy Falls Off Her Bike

The shows were very professional and enjoyable.

Dinosaurs Walked the Earth

Blaise was up early this morning, so as I was about to get breakfast ready, he asked me if a number was a six or a nine. I asked him if the tail went up or down. It went up. Then he rushed over with an open book and exclaimed:

"Papa! Dinosaurs lived on the earth 69 years ago!"

Game of Tennis

I love watching (and playing) tennis. I finally have the opportunity to watch the French Open final between Rafael Nadal and Robin Söderling and it is awesome. Söderling is on the brink of a break point in the second set (Nadal took the first 6-4). The two of them playing strong, strong games.

What is remarkable to me is that when I watch tennis I rarely cheer for one player over another. I have preference because I may have watched one player play more than then other, but it's the game I love. The players are distraction.

Zaakistan's New Look

Yes, I shaved my goatee, but I also revamped my entire website.

• New, clean, non-yellowy look
• Streamlined menu at the top
• Integrated RSS feeds of our blogs
• Security password for the family tree section
• Slideshow options for bike trip/canoe trip photos

Visit ZAAKISTAN.

April 28 Snow Day

Got a call this morning at 6:30. School's cancelled due to snow! It's been snowing this week already. Along with wind and rain and cool temperatures. Everyone at school yesterday was speculating and hoping for a storm overnight.



I spent the whole morning video editing - I didn't even eat breakfast.

I'm so giddy.



Spring will just have to wait until next year.

Drip

We've had a leak from our bathtub tap since we moved here. I don't use the bathtub (I bathe, just not there) so it has never been on my radar for repairs until one morning when I wake up and it's all I can here. I spend the next 2 hours taking it apart, seeing if I can fix it.

I visit Rona and they tell me it is a free replacement part - guaranteed for life! But they do not have any in stock at the moment. The Delta distributor comes around every month with a box of 5 gadgets. He might be along someday soon they say.

My fidgeting makes the leak worse and now hot water is dripping and it drips twice as much as before.

I call Rona a few days later and the Delta guy was in the day before. There are 2 things left. I have them hold one for me and install the sucker that night.

There is now peace in my house. Plus I got to buy a couple tools!!

Book Review: The Day Metallica Came to Church by John Van Sloten

Since the end of January, I've been meeting with eight other people from my church to discuss a book my pastor wrote. His book, The Day Metallica Came to Church is being published this August and he wanted to bounce the ideas contained in it with some of the members.

Topically, the book examines the infinite possibilities of knowing God as the author of two books: The Holy Bible and Creation. Expanding the idea of creation from a typically "nature only" scope to culture and science and art and sport and indeed everything we find on this planet. Since God created everything, his fingerprints or pre-fall echoes lie in everything. With discernment, but also with an open mind to seeing/ hearing/ tasting/ smelling/ touching/ feeling/ reasoning/ etc. God in all we do and experience, we can draw closer to God and allow Him to speak to us in every present moment.

It's a great book. Buy it when it comes out (it will be on chapters.ca or amazon.ca).

We'd eat great food and then spend a couple hours discussing one of the chapters. We finished the last chapter last night. It was a great privilege to be able to read the book pre-publication, but more so to discuss it with the very insightful author - John Van Sloten.

Test Answers: Bible 7 Boys

Q: How does Solomon stray from God?

• Because of his dad David
• He takes lots of wives and concubines but he does not love them all equaly and that is wrong
• He starts walking in the opposite direction
• He got 1000 women to sleep with. After asking for all wisdom.

Q: Who are Chemosh and Ashtoreth?

• They were eli's wicked sons
• They were samuel's very bad sons
• Sons of Saul
• They were two priests who did not want to say were david was

Q: Give a lesson we can learn about David and include a brief description of the event in David's life that teaches us this lesson.

• you should never underestimate you enemys because saul underestimated david and david snuck into his camp twice
• snecking behind someonse back and lying can get you into some deep stuff. When david lied to the philistines.
• you can never be too safe b/c he dies

Q: List the 3 books of the Bible that are said to have been written by Solomon.

• ephrites
• ephenece
• Ephesians
• corinthians
• half of Saul
• Song of Saul
• Leviticus
• Numbers
• Deuteronomy
• Saulms
• Psalms
• Kings 1st and 2nd

Q: List 2 events in Samuel's childhood.

• He Ummm... he did stuff with his masters
• He Ummm... he did stuff with other children

Acadia's Goals

A couple weeks ago, Acadia to her mom standing beside the car: "when I get bigger, I'm going to drive and peel things like you."

Back in the Editing Chair

It's spring break. I've only 7 of 16 days left, but I've achieved a fair bit on my 2 year project (that I haven't touched in 1.5 years). My film is called either Own Goats and Milk Them for What They Are Worth or For What It's Worth, Milk a Goat. [if one title strikes you as better than the other, let me know].

I spent the first couple days logging and importing all the footage and then reviewing all 5+ hours of footage and making notes. Most recently, I've been writing out the script as this film will be narrated (I hope Morgan Freeman is a free man). Sequencing the movie is tricky too because I want to follow the timeline and I have to carefully introduce tension and turns.

The movie will have to be subtitled as it was shot in three languages. That will be a fair bit of work - especially since for it to screen in Montreal, it will need English and French titling.

I'd like to have some animation done for biblical and journey portions. Salomé? My "Danny Elfman" is getting married this summer - gotta do some editing so he can get started. I should ask him first too. Justin? Once the film is complete, I have one year to get the film out to festivals. I'll be a bit more aggressive this time. Maybe get a publicist to help me out. Melayne?

Les Jeux d'Hiver/The Winter Games

I'm compelled to write down a few thoughts about the past 17 days as I have been immersing myself in the Winter Olympics much more than I have in any previous Games. Thanks to Shaw for offering a sweet deal on cable just before the Olympics started. Some highlights:

FIGURE SKATING: I very nearly decided to become a figure skater after watching Shen Xue Zhao Hongbo fly with such power and finesse. Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue gave me goosebumps too when they took gold and more so when I learned they had been skating together since elementary school.

BOBSLED: Canadian women took both gold and silver in their event and then we took bronze in the 4-man. There was a picture in the paper today with one of the bronze medalists without his shirt on and you'd think he was a power lifter.

SKELETON: Jon Montgomery rocks - an auctioneer from rural Manitoba decides that he wants to go the Olympics and so he moves to Calgary and does the skeleton and wins the gold medal! I was pretty choked that Melissa Hollingsworth bombed the event as she was favoured to win Gold. I teach her cousin and she was pretty choked too.

SHORT TRACK SPEED SKATING: Those short track races are crazy awesome and I don't get it one single bit. The Korean skaters were ruthless, great skaters, but ruthless. One race, the men's 1000 m final, there were five competitors and two of them were Canadian. I thought, "well, we've got to get at least one, right?" The odds were pretty good. The Hamelin brothers got 4th and 5th in that race. Pretty disappointing. It was the only day Canada didn't win a medal too. They redeemed themselves later on in the relay by winning Gold (the older one picked up another Gold too).

SPEED SKATING: Those thighs! Mercy! And Stephen Colbert was dynamite! "Thigh Five!"

FREESTYLE SKIING and SNOWBOARDING: Québecois Alex Bilodeau dominated the moguls for Canada's first gold of the games. The fact that he had his older brother who has cerebral palsy cheering him on was pretty sweet. The ski-cross races were akin to the short track races, except with a bit more elbow room: very exciting! Canada snagged some golds there too.

CROSS COUNTRY SKIING: Despite the heartbreaking finish of Devon Kershaw in the 50 km race (he finished fifth, 1.6 seconds behind gold). His interview after the race almost made me cry. 2 hours of hard racing and nothing to show for it. It was tough to see Norway's Marit Bjoergen win her third Olympic silver too.

CURLING: Well, I watched more than what a sane person should watch of curling over these two weeks. I have to say, Canadians can curl! The women's final between Sweden and Canada did not turn out well. Skip Cheryl Bernard made serious errors ends 2, 10 and 11 which cost them the gold. Kevin Martin's crew won 11 games in a row for gold.

HOCKEY: Two gold for Canada. Two silver for United States. Two bronze for Finland. I think it worked out nicely, though the Slovakian team deserved a medal - they had the most heart out there. My sister got to watch the women's final live with her husband. Punks. Canadian men's team delivered some great games, but way too close to the edge for me. My pastor preached on the Canadian Men's Hockey Team and even made it onto CBC's The National on Feb 24. This is his article in the Vancouver Sun.

The Own the Podium slogan rubbed me the wrong way. Sure, I want Canada to win medals, but ultimately, it's the country who puts the most money into its athletes that will win. I didn't see Kazakhstan and other former soviet republics dominating (if you put all the former soviet republics together, they still won only 21 medals when they used to dominate the games under the USSR). I'd love to see a greater camaraderie between nations in helping less fortunate athletes train and work with better equipment - a more equal playing field so to speak. I appreciate that we've never dominated an Olympic games before, so it's fair that it was our turn.

I was amazed at how fast Wikipedia updated after events were won and at the speed times and scores were posted online as they were posted live on TV.

Overall, I think it was the best Olympics I've ever watched.