Slack

I have always wanted to try slacklining, and this weeked we had a potlock/picnic in the park and one of our friends brought her slacking gear. Yuriko and I gave it a shot - not as easy as it seems, but I think we fared well. Yuriko was taking at least five steps by the end of the day.

Great Uncle

Toshiaki's brother, Uncle Shuji, came up from Japan and Yuriko and I were able to meet him. It was really fun meeting him. He is from Tokyo and is an interior decorator. He learned English when he taught Interior Design in New York for a year in the '80s. He is 81 and is super spry - he walks 3 km a day. He does this with one lung, as he used to smoked 60 cigarettes a day for about 63 years. We took him out to Hotel Saskatchewan and had a good evening getting to know him. We're hoping to visit him someday soon in his country...

Toshiaki Izumi 1923 - 2009

Yuriko’s grandpa passed away a couple of weeks ago. We were able to go and visit him in Palliative care for his last week or so. During that time we looked back on his life through an old photo albums of his:


He was born in Tokyo Japan in March, 1923. His parents were Itawa and Yoshi Izumi, and he had a brother, Shuji, and a sister, Kazuko. In WW2 he was an engineer for the army and developed an underground network of tunnels. After the war he was asked by Toho (the movie company that brought us Godzilla) to be an actor because of his good looks. He turned it down. He married Toyoko in Tokyo, 1951. Here is the family shot with sons Hiroaki and Jireau:



He graduated from both Tokyo Agricultural University and Azabu Veterinary College. He then moved to the USA. There he took post Graduate studies in microbiology and immunology at the graduate school in medicine, University of Minnesota and University of Wisconsin from 1957 to 1965.

He was a mountain climber, photographer and artist. His house was full of his own stain glass artwork and carpentry skills.

Hoarfrost

The most beautiful part of winter...

Take it Easy

Yuriko had this sign posted on the window when I got home from work yesterday. She got free tickets for next Wednesday from her extremely generous boss. We are pumped. It will be a great concert.

God have Mercy on the Frozen Man

ADDED NOTE: We found ice sculptures today on our way home from a friends. The last picture is a little creepy - I am underneath an ice throne.

Breaking New Ground

We visited our good friend Kent in Langenburg a few weekends ago. Langenburg lies on the border of Manitoba and Saskatchewan and has a population of 1,100. Our last day there we went to a restaurant and after our meals I had this conversation with the waitress:

"What flavours of milkshakes do you have?"
"Chocolate, Strawberry, and Vanilla"
"Would I be able to mix flavours and get a chocolate strawberry milkshake?"
"Mix flavours! I guess we could, but would it taste good?!?" (she continued to tell other coworkers about it in disbelief and doubt)

I may have added a new item to their menu:


On our way home we stopped in another small town and got their week's special - a bacon cheddar burger. We told the owner our meal was delicious and she was very grateful. It was a new menu item, she said, and was trying it out to see how people would like it.

Mixing chocolate and strawberries; adding bacon and cheese to a burger...what is this world coming to...