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Shingles

Shingles on the house:



Shingles on my back:

We're moving to North Bay

In November. In case you didn't know. In case we didn't have enough things on our plate.

The good news is that Critical Illness Insurance paid off our Temagami house. Soon it will be called 'the cottage'. That frees up a few hundred dollars a month to put toward our North Bay mortgage. Maybe even leverage some equity out of it for a down payment.

Here's some photos of what we're building, so far.

Hi Sarah!

We'll, you've drawn me back out of blog-hibernation. Here's a little update for you and for anyone else that is still out there listening.

Anna is doing well. She's 21 weeks pregnant now. Morning sickness is past and she's getting kicked and punched a lot. I've felt Fuzzy kick twice. Yes, we call our baby 'Fuzzy.'

I'm busy with work, and meetings, and an online course. In amongst all that I'm trying to get out for a canoe trip next week. This afternoon, after I get off the computer, I'll head up into the garden and plant some things. The Temagami grocery store was giving away unsold tomato and basil and other plants earlier today.

My sister Lisa was up for a visit. She just left. Was nice seeing her, but too short of a visit.

Of course, Anna and I are moving to North Bay in October. I suppose we haven't mentioned that here. Yes, we're building a house. What made us decide to do that? Price of gas, time commuting, lack of childcare in Temagami, more employment options for Anna.... We're keeping the house in Temagami (to be called 'the cottage'). The new place will be a bungalow, ~1300 sf, walking distance to groceries, work, downtown, park. I'm really looking forward to this, but leaving Temagami will be hard. We love the sense of community here.

I'll put up some photos of Anna (especially her belly!) and the house (aka the hole in the ground) real soon.

I still plan on writing a finale post that will wrap up a lot of my cancer experience (thus far). I'd like to re-read the blog to remind myself of what I went through. Only a few months ago, but chemotherapy seems like ages back.

Oh, and the North Bay Firefighters' Calendar was released yesterday. Again, if you want one and haven't let me know yet, leave a comment here or email me. We might be having a webpage set up where you can order online, but I'll let you know. See here for an article from baytoday.ca. (That's my back in the middle of the poster on the firetruck.)

Your genes are not your destiny

I thought I'd send out this post from Mark's Daily Apple. It's about a study of early prostate cancer patients who, "on personal grounds unrelated to the study," decided to forgo conventional treatment. The study saw them improve their diet, exercise, and practice stress-reduction (yoga, meditation, visualization). After a period of time, their 'disease-fighting' genes showed an increase in activity, while the 'disease' genes showed a decrease.

I think I've mentioned it a few times before in this blog. You can do a lot for yourself just by eating well, moving around, and chilling out! (Not to neglect the rather important role of chemotherapy in my case.)

2850 riders, $14 million dollars for cancer research

Here's the Saturday night update on the Ride.

Jim, the boys and I saw Lisa and Jodie off at 7:30 this morning. Around 12:30, we all met up again at the finish line in Niagara Falls, including Mom and Sheila and Rick (Jodie's mom and step-father). We were well positioned to see Lisa cross the finish line about an hour later, with Jodie only a few minutes behind.

For me, the best part of the weekend was seeing cancer survivors cross the finish line. Survivors were identified by a yellow flag flying behind their bike. Each time one went by I got a little choked up. The other best part was seeing the bike storage area Saturday night, with all the yellow flags poking up amongst a sea of bikes.

By the way, I should mention that I registered for the 2009 Ride to Conquer Cancer. I have to pick a fundraising goal. I'm thinking, maybe $10,000.

Here's a few photos from late Saturday and Sunday.


Lisa at the Saturday finish line.



Sam showing his colours.



Jodie (blue) and Lisa (yellow) at the Sunday start line.



And they're off!


Mom, Lisa and me at the finish line.



Me, Jodie, Jamie and Sam at the finish line.



Riders head the last few yards to the finish line.

On the Ride

Lisa's on the Ride right now (10:40 am). She just called to say she'd left the lunch spot, which she thinks is half way. Yves and I saw her off at 8. There was no sign of Jodie, just a sea of yellow jerseys. Yves and I then headed off for breakfast at a Smitty's in Mississauga. After a quick bite to eat, we went to the first cheering station on Erin Mills Parkway. We were there for no more than 2 minutes when Lisa rode along. Considering she started off literally at the back of the pack, she had made great time, passing a lot of folks. But she said it was just starting to clear out at that point. That was about an hour ago now.

I'll throw down a few pics, then I have to run off to the finish line. At the rate things are going, I may or may not beat Lisa there. We assume that Jodie is somewhere far ahead.