Death, and Birth (y'know, just the light stuff this week)

Overnight on September 27th, 2006, family man and avid fisherman Gordon Loutit lost his battle with lymphatic cancer. He’d been in the hospital for three weeks before he snagged snag the big fish that carried him upstream and away from us. It's said that a graceful death is the ultimate acheivement in life, and for all the months he was sick, and for all the weeks he was in hospital, there wasn't one complaint to be had...

...I first met Gord at Kate’s high school graduation in the spring of 1997—that was only the second “date” Kate and I went on, and needless to say, it's an odd thing to one's ENTIRE family all in one fell swoop so early on in a relationship. But that's what happened, and among the family members present: Gordon Loutit.

Technically he’s a neighbour, but more appropriately he’s been a father figure for Kate since she was born. As a young girl, Kate would spend hours at Diane and Gord’s house across the back lane when Kate’s mum was at work. In later years, when parental supervision didn’t matter, Kate could still be found over at the Loutit house, sitting in the kitchen drinking tea and eating brownies.

Gord would tell a fishing tale to anyone that would lend an ear, talk about the fishing show he caught on TV the night before, or tell stories about near anything for that matter. He loved to talk about construction projects going on around the city and province, to gripe about government, and fume about cost over runs on this and that. With a gleaming eye, a grin and a chuckle, Gord managed to pull me into one of his fishing stories at that high school grad of Kate's back in 1997. All I had to tell him was that I was from Kamloops, and that I hear he liked to fish. From there, I was told everything I could have wanted to know about the waters around Kamloops and the marine life that inhabited them. Instead of being a fish out of water, I was made to feel as comfortable with their family as I could have hoped.

Not an entirely docile creature, Gord would be quick enough to tell his grandkids to go play in traffic if they were annoying him, and would be more than happy to tell you when you’re wrong. But on the other hand, if you needed a ride to Timbuktu, he’d be the first to offer it. And if you needed something when you got there, he’d give you the shirt off his back. And naturally, he’d be there to pick you up when you wanted to get home again. Kate was ferried back and forth by Gord more times than she could ever count.

There’s a family that misses you now, a groove in the TV room chair that no one else will be able to fill, and a particular fish-motif coffee mug in the cupboard above the sink that will sit empty. Here’s to hoping the fishing ‘Up There’ is better than it ever was down here…

Tight lines, Gordie. We love ya.

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And now, on to new life... An update on the happy news I mentioned last time about my Sister in law being "with Child" as they say...

We got Pictures, baby! (pun intended...)
Here's the first ultrasound of the wee one! The Docs say he / she is perfectly healthy so far with a strong heart, and Dina reports that she can feel the baby moving around in her tummy now... in true Dina fashion, she likens this feeling to 'indigestion'...

I'm not entirley sure what to make of these pictures thus far... on the first image, my future neice / nephew looks a bit alien, and the second image looks more jellybean than human :) No doubt there's all sorts of cuteness just waiting to be formed! and it's perhaps more exciting to see the pictures than it was to hear the announcement in the first place---It's real now!!

That all being said, it was my brithday this week, as well as Dina's brithday, which falls on this very day! Given those facts, and amidst the birth and death going on around me, I can't help but remind myself that in between, there's lots of life to live!

"To everything there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted..."

Ecclesiastes 3

waxing on the waning sun...

Sadly, summer is disappearing, as is evident in the chill of the light of both dawn and dusk. The frigid fingers of Fall are wrapping around the longneck bottle of summer, preparing to tip the season upside down altogether, the last drops of a warmer, brighter time of year spilling into the gaping maw of autumn.

sigh...

I’ve started wearing sweaters again here and there, and the hangers of warmer clothing are slowly making their way from the back to the front of my closet. For the first time the other night, I had to wear a jacket to the dog park. All these decidedly un-summery items are hanging up front and centre with the dress clothing, which has also been put back into high rotation now that work has started up for me again.

Speaking of work, it’s going well (easy to say after only a week back at it—I’m still in the honeymoon phase!) It’s a different position than I’ve held before. Less PR, more PR / Marketing, so it’ll be a switch for me to adjust to that, but it will be really nice to add to my skill set with some totally new things. The people in my department are really great, which is always nice. As you can see from the photos, it took a while to get settled into a “complete” office. The materials were a little slow to arrive. Thank goodness my kind and caring coworkers were so willing to pitch in and put together an office space using their own supplies…. The desk is a little small, the pen a bit frilly, and the paper a bit pink, but my coworkers are short females, so what should I expect?



Before work got started, Kate and I were in Kelowna and Kamloops visiting family over the labour day long weekend. Kate’s dad, his partner and her sons (as well as the dogs) and Kate and I had a chance to do some swimming in Lake Okanagan, which was still a lovely temperature. Up in Kamloops, we didn’t have a lake while visiting my parents, but the neighbour’s pool was open, so good enough! The local black bear has been making good use of the fruit trees in the area, and in general making regular appearances in the yards, as evidenced by these pics, taken by my sister, Kari.

Sure, he looks cute, but the droppings he leaves all over the lawn are far from adorable, all full of the remnants of everyone’s fruit that he’s been stealing!

And Finally (last, but certainly not least)Some big news coming out of Kamloops, comes via my brother, Jamie, and his wife, Dina. In true pop culture style, the pair let it be known that they’re expecting a wee one as of March 3rd, 2007! They did so by having us all over for a barbeque, and they presented my dad with a Grandpa Burger from A & W... GROAN!!! ;) My parents are totally thrilled, as are the rest of us. Kate and I are looking forward to the aunt and uncle gig! Congrats again to Jamie and Dina! YaAaAYyYYYY!

on that note, I'll close things off. The thought of new life is a much happier one than that of the end of summer ;)

back on the employment wagon

Let's play Good news/ Bad news once again, shall we? It's been a year
since I did that, after all!

Since last I wrote, I managed to fool someone into thinking I'll be an asset to their organization :)
I'm going back to work! hurray! I'll be going to what was called the Workers' Compensation Board and is now called WorkSafeBC. I worked there doing public affairs / media relations / kid-who-cut-his fingers-off spokesperson work back in 2001/2002, and I'm quite pleased to be going back! This time, I'm going to be helping with some marketing initiatives in the Investigations Division. What do they do? I won't fill in all the details here, but if you feel so inclined, follow this link to an FAQ on the department! the general idea is that they look into the serious accidents or deaths resulting from an incident on a jobsite.
So, I'll be starting that gig on Sept 6th on a six month contract to start--sounds like there's good chance for extension / integration as a permanent worker. It's a junior management level job, and I think my official title will be 'Junior Policy Analyst'. Don't ask me why!

Hey, that's good!

Unfortunately, it may be the case that the dog training gets cut a bit short because of starting a job, and we could use more time to get her used to our being out of the house--not that I haven't been trying to desensitize her as days have gone by! submitted as evidence of her need of help:

Exhibit A: the TV room as it should look...
Hey, that's good!
Exhibit B: the TV room as it looked after three hours of nellie being on her own in there...
Hey, that's bad... (note the pee stains...click the pic to enlarge if you really want to! )

with other more good news, dad had a CAT scan done recently, and his last round of chemo has gone really, REALLY well--his tumours have shrunk 80 per cent! We are all thrilled for him, and it's nice to know that his being under the weather during treatment days has at least been worth something!

Hey, that's Awesome!

Also in the cancer camp, less fortunately, is Kate's childhood neighbour, Gord, who has a fast acting Lymphoma wearing him down at the moment. He's a father figure in Kate's life, and in general more a member of the family than a neighbour. Just keep him in your prayers for us!

Hey, that's no good at all...

But the Good news goes on! just look at these pictures! the garden is putting out a great crop right now. tomoatoes of the cherry, beefsteak and roma varieties, and HUGE runner beans by the fistfull, with bell, Jalapeno, and banana peppers still to come

Hey, that's good!

also, my sister-in-law came back from a trip to Holland and got us all sorts of goodies, and in just a few days, my sister comes home to live in Canada for a full year, after living in England for the past three years as a teacher. It's going to be great to have her around for a while!

Hey, that's good!

And has anyone been paying attention to the weather around here lately? Holy dinah! faaaantastic!

hey, that's good too!

It sure is! and on that note, since the Goods are winning over the Bads at this point, I'll wrap up and just say that overall, life is pretty frickin' sweet.

... Looked up to the Lord above and said "hey man thanks,
Some times I feel so good I gotta scream"...---Tragically Hip, New Orleans is Sinking

Still jobless (and other summer stories)

stardate 11.9.2006: status: unemployed... still

The job search has proved itself an interesting one as of late, garnering me one interview for a handful of applications, and for said interview, I didn't get the job. No matter, it would have meant two and a half months on the road, and I'd rather be at home, I think! (this is what I tell myself to make it all seem okay... >sniff<) But honestly, I am not worried about the job prospects. Of the four other application packages I have 'out there'none of them have even reached their closing dates as of yet. The summer is generally a pretty slow season for the Communications world, as it is for pretty much anywhere one might try to get a job. So, as the Fall draws closer, hopefully prospects will improve!

despite my lack of employment, I still found time in my busy schedule of job searching, housecleaning, going to the gym, and whipping our puppy into shape to head up to Whistler for a few days over the August long weekend. Kate has Fridays off right now, so we even got a four day trip out of it.

The highlight of the weekend--aside from the glorious weather,mountain vistas, shimmering lakes and fresh air--had to be the Canadian Barbeque Championships, which took place in Whistler village over the course of the weekend. Picture it if you will:

two dozen or so competitors gather to cook up their best BBQ'ed Pork, Chicken , and Beef. You, as a spectator / carnivore head to the site. upon paying five dollars which goes towards the charitable cause of crohns disease / colitis research, you're given free access to wander up to any of the competitors tents, and sample of the particular meat they happen to be cooking for the competition of the hour.

First up, the Pork. Forgive me Jewish God, for I have sinned. There was more pulled pork in a plethora of mouth-watering marinades than this here meat eater knew what to do with. More glorioualy succulent ribs on hand than even the most gluttonous of gluttons could hope to gorge upon. There's a little bit of Homer Simpson in all of us, I think. And on August sixth, there was a lot Homer showing up in a lot of people.

After the pork had been turned in for judging, the competitors turn to their chicken recipes, and the process began again, with the carnivores running around like chickens with their heads cut off (pun intended) trying to grab up the samples before they're all gone. And so it went with the beef after the chicken had been turned in.

Yes, my meat-eating friends (sorry to all the Vegetarians out there...)It was every bit as wonderful as I describe, and then some. I imagine it will be right up there with wedding days, and--when they arrive--the birth of my children. Unlike such events, however, the BBQ champs happen every year. Amen.

as pennance for the extreme over-indulgance, Kate and I used up the free lift tickets we had and hiked atop whistler mountain for a few hours the next day, so as to work of some of the meat in the high alpine. Okay, okay, it wasn't really punishment, as the pics below will attest to!

atop Whistler mountain, with a view to Black Tusk in the background


an inukshuk garden, top of Whistler


one big Inukshuk!


flowers in the alpine


a wall of snow towers above Kate



Oh, and if any of you are wondering about the status of the puppy, she's generally been great, though thus far she's chewed through several BBQ tools off our back deck, two DVD cases, a corn husk broom (twice... it was reconstructed, then chewed again)two ant poison traps, a mini football, a leash (an escape technique), and has jumped two fences and leapt from a first story window in order to track us down. Here's a few more pics!

learning to swim!




nellie constantly tries to squeeze in through the space cut for a cat door


Scratch my tummy damn you! scratch it!


until next time, I wish you puppy-tongued kisses and 14 hour slow-roasted pulled pork. Cheers!

WHOA NELLIE!!!!

The happy new addition to the household comes to us via the SPCA. Nellie (formerly known as Athena--but we decided she didn't like that name...) has been in the shelter since May. Her previous owner is a single woman undergoing chemotherapy, and also a mother of a two-year old. she decided she couldn't do all that and own a puppy.


the vital stats on nellie are:

Age: 10 months
Breed: Border Collie / lab cross (less collie temperament, more lab.. hurray!)
Colour: Black w/ white patch on chest
Issues: separation anxiety
Housebroken: YESSSS!!!
Quarterback sacks 2004/2005 season: 14

We spent the last few days building gates on our back fence specifically for the purpose of containing a dog that we figured we'd get sometime this summer, and we're very pleased to have found such a great pooch so soon!




To all of you who expected a baby announcement, don't get your hopes up. Give it a few years, eh?