A Muppet Family Christmas Part 1 of 5

An annual classic

Pancake Breakfast # 15

At the annual Rotary Run for Life in Stony Plain. As usual an incredible meal put on by William Choy of Bings #1 Restaurant in Stony Plain and the amazing crew of volunteers mostly from the Rotary Clubs of Stony and Spruce Grove. If we weren't biased towards this event I would vote this the best breakfast of the year from the quality and the amount of food. However you do have to "pay" for it by either running or walking (5km, 10km or half marathon) or volunteering some time, so that does add a degree of difficulty to the overall judging ! In attendance - Bronwen, Brennan, Johanna and Gordon

Rotary Run for Life - 6th Annual

As usual we participated in the annual Rotary Run for Life to raise funds for CSPP which is now a project of The Simon Poultney Foundation.

Johanna and Brennan ran 5km, Gordon ran/walked 5km and Carol and Bronwen walked 5km - in memory of Simon.

Saying for the Week

"The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems." - Mahatma Gandhi

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us." - Helen Keller

Simon Mortimer Poultney - Memorium

July 8, 1983 to September 5, 2004

Always remembered. Forever young.

Pancake Breakfast # 14

At the University of Alberta in Edmonton. A welcome back to school breakfast put on by the Student Union. The food and beverages were standard and of average quality. (Always hard to be too critical when it's for free !) Gordon, Brennan and Bronwen in attendance and we initiated a new participant - Bethany Steen - who it was good to meet up with, and connect with, again.

Sayings for the Week

"Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm."

"If we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find we have lost the future."

both from Sir Winston Churchill


"There are people who put their dreams in a little box and say, "Yes, I've got dreams, of course, I've got dreams." Then they put the box away and bring it out once in a while to look in it, and yep, they're still there. These are great dreams, but they never even get out of the box. It takes an uncommon amount of guts to put your dreams on the line, to hold them up and say, "How good or how bad am I?" That's where courage comes in."

by Erma eck

Sayings for the Week

"Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else." - Margaret Mead

Note : It's fun to find interesting quotes from people you've never heard of and then, by doing Goggle search, to read more about them. Gordon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Mead

"Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experience." Ralph Waldo Emerson

"To most of us the real life is the life we do not lead." - Oscar Wilde

"One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn't do." - Henry Ford

Pancake Breakfast # 13

Central Park in Spruce Grove in conjunction with the annual Grove Cruise event. Pretty good value at $ 2.00 a plate for two pancakes and two sausages with coffee and juice. Pancakes were large and the coffee good. Juice the usual yukky MacDonalds orange - no wonder they give it away free to such events !! Rita, Cai and Gordon in attendance and enjoyed chatting to some other people at the same table.

Sayings of the Week

"I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow-creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again." Robert Louis Stevenson


"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future." John F. Kennedy


Gordon watched "Crocodile Dundee" for the 100th time this week. Just love the part where they're in the bush and she's asking him if he has an opinion about anything and uses Aboriginal land claims as an example. He says "See those rocks over there ? Been there 60 million years. Will be there long after we're all gone. So arguing about who owns them is like two fleas arguing over who owns the dog !"

Is Africa a continent or a body of water ?

I love this rant from a good friend, Craig, originally from Zimbabwe and now living in Vancouver :

Why are people so ignorant of African political geography? Why can people in the "educated" First World differentiate between England and France, but they can't differentiate between Egypt and South Africa? Why do people go on holiday "to Africa" (rather than, say, Kenya), but they go on holiday "to Italy" (rather than Europe)? If you told someone you were going on a trip "to Asia", do you think they might ask you to be a bit more specific? I think what's "dark" about Africa is not the continent itself, but the minds of people who don't pick up an atlas occasionally.

I'm moved to write this today because, on Sunday at a Starbucks in Vancouver I noticed that they had some beadwork for sale. So I picked it up and, according to the label, it was "Made in Africa". This is Starbucks' patronising attempt at "fair trade" (or whatever they call it), but they're too damn lazy to actually note the country of origin. Has anyone ever seen a label that says, "Made in North America"? Of course not! Most people -- anywhere in the world -- would scoff at that as being useless and lacking in specifics, and I'll bet the label doesn't meet labelling laws either.

And then today I read the following in an obituary:

"When confronted by World War II, Peter joined the RCAF and ferried airplanes [sic] around the world wherever they were needed for the war effort, ultimately earning the commission of Flying Officer. He survived two crash landings - in Africa and in Victoria Harbour."

I think that has to be the most extreme parallel I've ever seen drawn -- between the second-largest continent and a minor body of water -- but at least we know where Africa is, as opposed to the non-specific Victoria Harbour, of which there are several in the world on different continents.

Saying for the week

"Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary." by Sir Cecil Beaton, British photographer and award-winning set designer

Pancake Breakfast #12

The final Capital Ex week breakfast at Safeway in North West Edmonton. Reasonable value for $ 3.00 per plate - pancakes, sausage and bacon. Juice and coffee quality were below average again. The event was not very "green" with a lot of extra throw away bits. Edmonton Capital Ex organizers need to do a better job of that. Rita and Gordon in attendance.

Pancake Breakfast # 11

Alberta Premier's Annual Capital Ex pancake breakfast in the Legislature grounds. It was a great day for it. Well organized to deal with crowds that poured through the lines. This one is in joint first place with the Calgary Stampede breakfast for overall most impressive. Pancakes, sausage, scrambled egg, juice box, milk box and coffee - all for free. Although not really free 'cos no doubt it was all paid for with our tax dollars ! Okay so that fact is off-set by the splendid location so still tie with Calgary for first place.

Although I was on my own - the team let me down ! - I fellowshipped with a very interesting Dave McNaugton who I sat down next to so that made the event special too. Gordon

Pancake Breakfast #10

Old Grain Elevator, Spruce Grove. Billed as "Flapjacks at the Tracks" this was a fund raiser for the museum now located in the elevator. $ 6.00 for an and $ 4.00 for a child seemed a bit steep but then it was for a good cause. Food - standard two pancakes and two sausages - was good but coffee and juice not great. Gordon, Ritie and Cai were the participants.

Pancake Breakfast #9

Today was at Sir Winston Churchill Square, Edmonton - the kick-off to the Capital Ex. Pretty good value for $ 3.00 per plate - pancakes, sausage and bacon. Juice and coffee quality were average. The event was not very "green" with a lot of extra throw away bits. Good team effort by Gordon, Bronwen, Brennan, Johanna and Mark to get up so early to be there in time to beat the crowds !

Pancake Breakfast #8

Today we got up very early 5:00 am and drove to Calgary to be there in time for #8 breakfast at Sunridge Mall put on by the Calgary Stampede Caravan. Boy do those guys know how to do a pancake breakfast. Best value we've experienced so far - pancakes, sausage patty, scrambled eggs, juice and coffee - all for Free ! We had hoped to catch another breakfast that day being that Calgary Stampede week is so renowned for them but it would have been too much ! It was good to have our Australian friends Daniel and Jenny New as part of the team this time, as well as Kate Gauthier and her Mum.

Pancake Breakfast #6

Today Cai and Gordon attended the breakfast in Wabumun as part of the town's centenary celebrations. It was great value for money at $ 2.00 for adults and kids free. Instead of sausages they did sausage meat patties which were an innovative alternative as they are much easier to cook.

Pancake Breakfast # 4 & #5

Today we attended two pancake breakfasts - a very popular feature of annual July 1 Canada Day celebrations.

#4 was the annual Canada Day breakfast put on by the Ismaili Muslim Community in the Legislature Grounds in Edmonton. Being free and open the the public they would have had to cater for thousands of people and did a great job. The food was pretty basic - pancakes and water melon slices. Very festive with everyone wearing red and white and wishing each other happy Canada Day ! Attended by Gordon, Bronwen and Brennan.

#5 was the annual Canada Day breakfast in Spruce Grove. Not a very good experience as it was so badly organized that it took an hour and a half standing in a line up (seen in the photo below)to get served and the food was pretty average for the $ 2.00 per plate. Attended by Bronwen, Brennan, Cai, Rita and Gordon

Book Launch

This evening we attended the launch of a short story anthology that Bronwen contributed to in the Stony Plain community. The book, titled "How I Shot My Brother" (one of the stories in the book) is published by Prairie Dog Publishing. For more details see - www.prairiedogpublishing.ca

Pancake Breakfast #3

Breakfast # 3 was in Holden, Alberta today (about 100km South East of Edmonton) during their annual parade day, this year celebrating the centenary of the town. Not very good value at $ 5.00 for pancakes and sausage (see below) with lukewarm coffee !

The lunch served at the fire hall later was incredible value - $ 2.00 for a burger, potato salad, pop AND dessert !

Pancake Breakfast # 2

Breakfast # 2 was at Matco Transportation in Edmonton where Gordon works. This was in celebration of the opening of their new facility. Excellent value as it was free and in addition to pancakes it included bacon and scrambled eggs !

Pancake Breakfast Quest - #1

This summer we have a launched a quest to partake in as many pancake breakfasts as we can, being that they are such a feature of Canadian summer life. Whilst most of them will probably be around Alberta we'll certainly enjoy them wherever we can ! If you have any to suggest or recommend we will always be on the look out for others to attend !

We launched the project at Stony Plain, Alberta, Farmers Days on June 30. The cost was $ 2.00 - great value for money as there were fat sausages and big pancakes. The coffee was hot and plenty of it too !

The Wisdom of Cai - Again

Today Johanna, Cai and Gordon went on a road trip to Panoka to check out where Johanna will be doing her ambulance pracitcum. The photo shows Cai in his car seat in the back using Johanna's tanning goggles as sun glasses !

On the way back Gordon was driving - first along the highway, so at a good speed, then in the city where he slowed down according to the reduced speed limit.

Cai : "Bumpa, why are you driving so slowly ?"
Gordon : "Because you have to drive slowly. There are policeman watching and if you go too fast they'll stop you and shout at you !"
Cai : (ten seconds later) "But Bumpa I'm not driving !!"

The Wisdom of Cai

Cai is nearly 3 years old and very cute. He has an amazing grasp of language so I am wont to share some snippets as they come about.

Two days ago he and I were sitting in the car waiting - he in the back in his car seat playing with some toys and me in the front glancing through a newspaper.

I hear him saying something to me but don't quite catch it.
"What did you say Cai ?"
"I'm not talking to you Bumpa"
"Who are you talking to ?"
"I'm talking to myself"

Five minutes later I hear him saying something to me again
"What did you say Cai ?"
"I'm not talking to to you Bumpa"
"Who are you talking to Cai ?"
"I'm talking to myself - remember ?"
"Oh sorry, I forgot"
"It's okay Bumpa !"