Pool Days

Summer in Kandern usually means lots of time at the pool. We're lucky in that there is a great park there, season tickets are cheap, and the pool is beautiful and, typical of all things German, very clean.

Jackie has learned to go off the high board, though not diving yet from that height, and loves this long water slide - here she's just at the top ready to go!! Given that there's little else to do in this small town in summer (OK, lots of hiking and biking opportunities, and a nice ice cream shop, but that's about it), Jackie is almost never alone at the pool - all her friends are there too. So it's a great place to cool down on a hot day.

But I have to admit it's not West Hawk Lake, or Grand Beach. There just are no natural water features around here except rivers and streams. Manitoba does have some great things going for it!

Happy Birthday!

She's 47 today - and we've also been married 26 years today! So I planned a surprise dinner for Bernice and 8 of our best friends here in Kandern. It was a super evening at the Mattenműhle restaurant in Oberegginen. It's been a great 26 years - only regret might be that we didn't get married younger. But then, Bernice was only 21 that day.

Hard to believe that we were married right here in Kandern - who'd have thought we'd again be living here all these years later! We visited the church this week too - a little red sandstone chapel on a hillside, with a tall spire pointing to God above. It has been a wonderful 26, and we hope for many more!

During the dinner, a waitress accidentally spilled about half a litre of Coke onto our friend. She was very apologetic, but at the end of the evening I accidentally tipped her about $30, due to my misuse of a German phrase! I had intended to say that everything was fine, but used a phrase telling her to keep the change. She must wonder about us North American types.

31 years ago Bernice looked like this - cute, eh?