Welcome to summer!

Well, it's that time of year again; high humidity, afternoon thunderstorms and festivals upon festival ... welcome to summer in Edmonton!

We don't have a lot to report, which is probably a good thing. Cait is working at the University of Alberta as editor and loving it; Adrian is working at Telus in whatever capacity they deem necessary on any given day (and not loving it) ... but he's also working on a summer pilot project at the U of A as a bike mechanic! Tres cool. ECOS, the environmental coordination office of students, runs the "bike library," where students, faculty and staff can "borrow" a bike for $40 per term. In order to make this service viable ... sustainable, if you will ... they've hired a bike mechanic (80) for the summer to see if they can find the funding to make this a permanent, year-round option. While bike riding 365 days a year in Edmonton is an option for few, the need for a bike mechanic, or even someone to run the entire program, appears to be needed on a permanent basis. So, fingers crossed, this could turn into a great opportunity. In the meantime, Adrian is clearly busy with two jobs.

Grayson played soccer again this season but, because of diminished interest amongst his peers in the neighbourhood, he and a few other boys were seconded to another local team. It made for some serious challenges logistically, but they came through again, winning bronze in their group at the year-end tournament. All in all, a good season. Now, he's half-way through Math 10 Applied, which is a step between Math 9 (not a very good experience this year) and Math 10, which he's hoping to be able to take in September. Fingers crossed, the next week--which is the last of summer school--will show to be productive and useful.
The other incident that Grayson got to experience for the first time was a vehicle vs. pedestrian collision. Grayson ... well, his bike ... lost. G was hit (in the crosswalk, on walk signal) by a driver turning right, and clearly not paying attention. He's fine (Grayson; the driver was understandably shook up) but his bike--the one Adrian assembled recently--is at Redbike for repair.

Good thing G was wearing his helmet, huh?

So, as summer goes along we'll keep you posted. As it stands, we've got a day trip to Red Deer planned. But that's it. G goes to B.C. on the 29th at noon, and Gramma arrives at 246pm. So, that'll be fun!

Take care, remember your sunscreen and hopefully we'll see you soon. The backyard is prime for beers and BBQ!

PS-Check out Sevvie's photography abilities below. Nice.

PPS-This is Sevvie's blog and nothing about him in the above missive. He's good. Rockin'.

Pictures by Sevryn

You read that right: the kid's got mad skilz.