E-N-C-Y-C-L-O-P-E-D-I-A

Do you know how I learned to spell this word? By watching "The Mickey Mouse Club". They had a section with Jiminy Cricket where he would sing this song that went "E-N-C-Y-C-L-O-P-E-D-I-A, if you want to know the answer, here is the way". Then he would go on to tell something new and interesting that we would love to learn about. Anyway, the song always stuck in my mind and if I ever had trouble spelling encyclopedia, I just remembered that song. Isn't that funny how our minds are? Well, this afternoon and this evening I took the time that I look forward to every May to watch the Scripps Spelling Bee from Washington, DC. I don't remember when I got interested in it, but I'm sure I've been watching it for more than 7 years. I thoroughly enjoy watching the kids spell those really hard words and, being a English buff, trying to spell them before they come up on the screen. Over the years, the words are getting harder and harder, but the kids are getting smarter and smarter and this year was no exception. They started the Bee with 293 spellers and were down to 11 in the final tonight. I started writing down some of the words as they were so unbelievable and I couldn't stop. Here are a few samples: omphaloskepsis -staring at the navel to induce a trance as some swamis in India do. deipnosophist - person skilled in table talk (after this one, I didn't write down any more definitions) Out of the following 13 words, 4 spellers were eliminated: herniorrhaphy psittacosis geusioleptic conchyliated avoirdupois tagliatelle gyascutus blancmange apodyterium derriengue simnel passacaglia The next words seemed harder to me (I guess you need to hear how they are pronounced) and with the 7 spellers left, all but one were eventually eliminated. I put an asterisk next to the words that eliminated spellers. axolotl plaidoyer goombay hypallage buignoire arrhostia byssinosis orillade xebec grisaille huisache neufchatel cretonne (the only one I correctly spelled :( ) amarevole * becquerel caerphilly palatschinken * ecossaise fackeltanz * jacqueminot schizaffin * wisent diacoele reredos antonomasia bouquiniste oriflamme guayabera isagoge sophrosyne menhir * phoresy maecenas * Only one speller was left. Her name was Kavya Shivashankar from Olathe, Kansas. Her last word was one that caused me to laugh - laodicean. Since this is a name from the Bible, I could actually spell it and she breezed right through it. For her, persistance paid off, as she had been to four spelling bees and came in 10th the first year, 8th the second, 4th the third and now she won!! I was thrilled for her. I know to most of you this seems like a silly thing for a blog. Well, it might be, but it's a contest like any other sport and these "athletes" have been training for a year for this day. (One of the boys said he'd likely take a week or two off now and then start studying again for next year.) Sound athletic to you? Anyway, I just wanted to show you these words. I dare you to look them up and see what they mean. They really are words that are used in the English language! Oh and the last word in the dictionary is --

ZYZZOGETON

Scrabble anyone???

OOPS - Big Time

A great big HUGE apology to Juliane and Nathan!!! I am so sorry I forgot to include you two and Tracey and Justin and Elaine and Leon as well in my list of those who couldn't come to the picnic. I hope you all will forgive me and not hold it against me!!!! Oh my goodness, I can't believe how forgetful I'm becoming! I was so worried that I'd miss one of the great-grandchildren. Please, PLEASE forgive me!! You truly WERE missed and are so loved!!

Again - SORRY!!

Victoria Day at the farm

Terry and Holly invited the brothers, sisters and families out to their farm on the Sunday of Victoria Day weekend. Holly has made a gorgeous yard area for picnics and such with a firepit and little "brook" with a bridge, a gazebo and a cute little fish pond. It is nice and relaxing to go there and enjoy nature. Our family was all there except for Jason, Sandra and the boys, who are on vacation on the west coast. Holly had bought a HUGE bottle of bubble soap and some big and little blowers (or whatever you call them) and the kids had a ball blowing bubbles. Papa even got in on it and showed them how to sweep it through the air to get more bubbles. They played with it for hours. It is hard to see the bubbles because of the trees, but there were lots. I didn't put all the pictures I took on this blog, as there were so many. Lucas took my camera at one point and went for a walk. He took about 25 pictures. He is really a good little photographer and some of the pictures are really neat. (Jen may have some on her blog as well as more farm pictures) Dale took his kite and flew it for the kids. It is a stunt kite, so he tried new manuevers and had quite a crew watching and helping him launch it again when it hit the ground. It was good to visit with the rest of the family. I think Jason, et all, and Mike, Lisa and Glenn were the only ones missing. Mike and Lisa stayed in the city to be with Glenn who is still in the hospital. We missed Dad a lot, as these Victoria weekend bbq's were something he really loved. But his presence was felt. Of course it isn't a bbq without roasting hot dogs. This was what I called the "trinity" - Jodi's stick for roasting hot dogs for all three kids at once. It worked good, too. We also had Cory's bbq to cook hamburgers and of course everyone pitched in to provide salads and desserts. It was a good spread and we ate well. And it wouldn't have been our family bbq without a peanut scramble. Between Lynn and Terry, there were tons of peanuts! The kids love to run and pick them up - even some of the bigger kids still love getting in there to body check each other to grab the most peanuts! Right, Jen, Jessica and Caleb? It was fun to watch the new generation get in on it. Lucas, Joshua, Christopher,Bethany, Aislyn, Rhyder, Erin and Chase had great fun. Little Elora is too small yet, but maybe the tradition will continue and she can join in next year, as well as Cory and Jo's little one who is expected in October. We had a gorgeous day for the picnic - which wasn't always the case. So many got rained out. Thanks Dad for the neat tradition and fun we can have as a family.

After dark it was time for the sparklers. There were so many that even the adults got to play with them. This is Erin and Bethany with their sparklers. They loved the sparklers and kept asking for another one.

Lucas, unfortunately, as well as Mark and Terra's daughter, Aislyn, burned their hands on their first ones and were sort of out of commission after that. It was fun to watch the kids and the grown-ups playing. After that, we watched the fireworks that Dad had left with Terry after a rained-out bbq. They were very pretty and loud and even though the cows weren't impressed, the rest of us were. It was a

wonderful conclusion to a great day!!!

My New "Toy"

This is my old car. I used to call him Timmy - he was a Ford Tempo. Pretty old car - 1989 - and not terribly reliable. But, a good friend of ours once told us "a bad car is better than a good walk anytime". So, I didn't complain about it -- too much. This past year was hard on Timmy. The winter was so very cold and he just didn't have a good heater. Dale was concerned about me driving him. I think Dale was afraid he would give out on me and I'd be stuck somewhere in the extreme cold. Mind you, I only drove around the city in him, but Winnipeg street can be pretty lonely at 10 p.m. (that's usually when our care group was over). Anyway, it was time for something newer and more reliable. We had the car parked at Jen and Craig's and were planning on donating it to the Kidney Foundation. The gas gauge said there was still a half tank of gas in it, so Dale figured he would siphon it out and put it in his van. He had lots of trouble sucking the gas out of the tube to get it siphoning (major YUCK!!) and ended up burping gas most of the evening - double yuck!! Then, he only got a couple of gallons out (I guess the gauge wasn't quite accurate). Oh well...it helped the van a bit. We ended up just giving the car to a tow truck guy Dale knew and he gave us $20, which we promptly spent on Dairy Queen blizzards, etc. Ha! So, we went out about a month ago and did some car shopping. Well, we didn't do much, as the first (real) used car lot we went to had this perfectly-cute-and-exactly-what-we-wanted 2004 Chevrolet Optra (her name is Suzy). I love the color, I love how she handles and she has a/c and a cd player (yeah!) and I Dale said I would find any excuse to drive her - and I do!!! I was so excited when we "found" her. The salesman asked whose car it would be and Dale said "Robin's", so he barely looked at Dale after that! I even have the registration in my name. Dale said he is just glad he won't have to worry about me, as she is so much more reliable. Dale's dad would be so pleased for us. He was always so worried about our old vehicles and made us drive his car whenever we went anywhere. We drove my car (that still sounds so cool!) out to Terry and Holly's farm on the long weekend Sunday, so I got pictures of Dale checking the oil. It traveled well on the highway, but I made Dale drive it because of the gravel roads and because Craig and Jen went with us and Craig has to sit in the front seat or be sick. All in all, I am terribly pleased with my new toy!!