Blogs from Kanata, Ontario, Canada, North America

One of the adults going on our trip, Pam, happened to run into a good friend of hers, Councillor Eli El-Chantiry, at the Carp Market on a beautiful Saturday morning. He was strollilng along with the Mayor of Ottawa, Jim Watson. Since Eli had been very helpful in kicking off the fund raising for this SchoolBOX trip to Nicaragua, Pam decided to update him on our progress. She told him how much we had raised and all the different types of activities the youth participated in to raise all the funds. Well, Eli is always a person to make good use of such a great story. He suggested that our group come down to City Hall and have our picture taken with him and the Mayor. He would arrange for a photographer and make sure the ... read more

17 December 2009, the beginning of our big adventure. Nervous - check, excited - check, ducks in a row - negative, feel like riding a bicycle in the fast lane of a highway - check. By way of a brief into...It has been a crazy 3 months since we made the decision to pack it all in and move to Toronto, Canada. It was a very scary decision but one we both believe is the right one, tough as it might have been. So since then we've had to resign from our jobs, try and say goodbye to all our friends and family (24 hours in a day is just not enough!), say farewell to our lovely little home in Wimbledon, arrange for shipping, pack up all our belongings into one of 3 destination categories, namely ... read more

OOPS, I DID IT AGAIN! Hmm, that sounds like the name of some song from ‘way back - sung by some ditzy blonde babe - sorry Britney fans. But the idea is the same: For those not following hockey, our team, the Senators, did beat Buffalo to advance to the Stanley Cup Championship round - woohoo!!! They’re playing the Anaheim Ducks, a team we’ve not played since one time the previous season. Alas, we lost the first game, in Anaheim, after a long layoff, but there are seven games, so we hope to do better - maybe win the next four games! As a result, our departure date has now been changed a third time - now it will be June 12, which is the day after the final game of the Finals, should they go ... read more

Planning, Planning! 7 April 2007 It is now about 1½ months till "scheduled" departure date, May 15th. That may change, as we don't want to miss any games if the Senators go far enough in the playoffs (hey, we've got our priorities!). But, we're operating on the assumption of d-day May 15. Casper, our Ford E250 van, is currently being customized to accommodate up to 3 bikes, with a tiny kitchen area, small couch for resting, room for some clothes & Panna's crate, even a tiny porta-potty, as there may be times of "urgency"... I'm hoping he'll be ready by mid-April, so we can get used to driving him, plus assess how much room we do have for stuff -- neither Bob nor I am accustomed to "traveling light". And Panna will have her own needs ... read more