Our little car is well again

Our Ford Festiva is back on the road. My usual mechanic gave it a terminal diagnosis after looking it over - it was running like it had lumps in the gas! Something about cylinders and unequal pressure and all that. So it sat in the carport for a few weeks while we used the van, paying out way more in gas, while we considered our next move.

We ended up taking it to a local automotive place - when I say local, I mean 5 minutes away and no bridge crossing! They did a lot of work on it - the total bill was around $1500, about half of which was labour - and I happily drove it home last night. I am thinking of buying it new seat covers as a treat, and of course washing and vacuuming it so it looks as good as it sounds.

Whoosh!

Isn't homeschooling great? Ninja Boy and Lego Nut whizzed through Grade 3 in three weeks. Two or three pages a day and they're done. We're starting Grade 4 tomorrow!

Reading...

I finished reading Farewell, My Subaru, that I talked about last week. It was a quick read, an amusing book about the author's initial challenges getting into a greener way of living in New Mexico. There is also a website, though I haven't visited it - farewellmysubaru.com.

I have also just finished a 645 page novel by Robert McCammon called The Queen of Bedlam. This was a gamble, picked up at random off the library shelf. I wasn't sure whether I'd like it at first, but it soon became evident that it was a compelling story (in the detective genre) set in New York in the early 1700s and I loved it, especially the main character, Matthew Corbett. This sort of book, along with Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series and Jack Whyte's Skystone series, are now my preferred reading, rather than the paperback fluff I used to consume.

A big hole...

...in the ceiling. Tai Chi Man and I arrived home from buying the groceries today to find water pouring through the ceiling in the basement. Thankfully, the only damage was to the ceiling - there is a vinyl floor below with a mat on it, and the mat went outside to be dried.

We had to quickly turn off the water supply (if only we had shown the kids how to do it that before now)! Then part of the ceiling had to come down to let the rest of the water drip out and to find the problem. It wasn't hard to find - a pipe was spotted, squirting out water.

A weekend call to the plumber costs $120 an hour these days - ouch! Thankfully, we found a plumber who could come straight away and the job was completed in an hour, so we were out of pocket only about $140.

Of course, the repair of the ceiling will take a little longer, and won't be done until the area has been left open to dry out. With our current summer temperatures, that shouldn't take long.

By the way, I have good news. My mum and dad now have a computer and we can now email each other. They'll be able to read my blog so here's a quick virtual wave to mum and dad!

Addicted

Yes, I admit it. I'm addicted to this game I found on puzzler.com. It's called Bookworm. Click here and look down the page to Top Word Games. Bookworm is the first one. Allow yourself at least half an hour, and as you get better you'll need more time.

My top score is 446260 and my title is Wordhoarder.

I was risking it playing tonight as we've had a thunderstorm pass right overhead. A thunderbolt cracked very close to my window - hopefully none of my neighbours' houses have been hit.

There are lots of rain showers about, even some hail. It fell on two of the boys as they enjoyed getting soaked through out on the trampoline. Thankfully they were indoors at the time the storm was right above us. The temperature has dropped to a very pleasant level so hopefully we won't need the ceiling fan on tonight when we're trying to sleep.

Fireworks

I learned something new last night. My digital camera has a "fireworks" setting. I think it would work better on a tripod, as any camera shake makes for a very wobbly image.


We drove to a vantage point across the lake from the city. We had a great view of the city lights and the Canada Day fireworks, and an equally great view of Mother Nature's fireworks - the lightning flashes in the clouds above the city and mountains. Very impressive.

Canada Day

Canada Day was a quiet one for us, mostly hanging around the house, getting some cleaning done (I'm ahead of schedule for my "spring cleaning" and all my mason jars are sorted and tidy) and the boys did some writing, math and listening to more Story of the World. This evening, after a walk around the neighbourhood, we read from an excellent library book, The Illustrated Book of Myths, retold by Neil Philip.


This is a beautifully illustrated book and I counted 68 myths in the contents at the front of the book. They are drawn from many old cultures, from Sumerian to Greek to Celtic to Australian Aboriginal. Today we read a few of the Sumerian and Greek myths, as they fitted in with our reading from Story of the World. I don't often say this, but I think this would be a great book to own.

Nilesh Mistry's fantastic illustrations make it visually appealing to me and to the children.

Tonight we plan to go and see the fireworks display for Canada Day which will be happening over Okanagan Lake. We haven't bothered for a few years, but this one is apparently going to be twice as good as they are making up for cancelling it last year. I think it was too hot and dry last year to risk sparks setting off forest fires.

We've had very hot weather the last few days, plus thunderstorms and raindrops the size of golfballs, and lightning did start a small forest fire which I believe is under control. I'll be glad when the temperature dips back into the 20s again - it'll seem cool after this!