Sitting in the snow...

Recognize that church? If you drive up to 'cottage country' along highway #11, you should. It's sitting right off that highway and you pass it everytime you go up to the Muskokas.

I've been sadly negligent in my duties of photographing churches. It was pretty fortuitous, then, when Sandy and I decided to stop and take pics of this one. The church *looks* as if it's 'closed for business' (in as much as a church can be closed for business)--the snow was piled up in front of all doors, and there were no tracks in the snow (besides mine and some of God's furry little creatures)

'...dedicated in memory of the pioneer families of Guthrie community...'

I didn't know whether to attribute this church to Orillia or to Guthrie. Then I thought about the churches from Winona that I have photos of, and I wouldn't want them to be attributed to Hamilton, so Guthrie it is.

Not wanting the wonderful city of Orillia to feel left out, Sandy and I took a jaunt into said locale--

The Sally-Ann

Not quite on "Main Street', Sandy and I found The Salvation Army... church? chapel?--not really sure.

But it was a wonderful place for worship nonetheless. Since we were there in February, the icicle formations were something I focused on

Hope one doesn't fall and hit me in the head...

My taking pictures of churches has been an often-forgotten interest for many years. Sandy has made it an inclusion of every trip we take now, so we should have more pics of different churches in the future (see, yet another reason why I married her--she's far too good to me).

Anyway, for all church related pictures thus far, see here--Pictures of Churches

Right now, all the churches are in alphabetical order by name, but when that gets too unwieldy, I'll come up with something else.

'Cause, you know, it's the questions that make life worth living...

I'm a pretty big fan of the 'What if...?'. I mean, I read science fiction and fantasy and watch just about every good sci-fi that comes across the telly--just supporting the 'what if...?' appreciation.

However (as my papa tried incessantly to get thru my very thick skull), there's a lifetime of difference between 'what if...?' and 'what is...'

For example, whilst it is nice to get lost in a fantasyland filled with dragons and knights (and little thieving kenders) sometimes our friends in the Dragonlance world have to be put aside so we can pay the bills. To pay said bills, one would have a difficult time living in the lands of Ansalon (unless your last name is Weiss or Hickman)

I had difficulty through my scholastic endeavours. You might not see how this is related, or you probably can, but I digress...

Anyway, one could say my school marks could have been better had I actually, you know, focused on them. However, through much of my school tenure, there was this guy named 'Roddenberry' and his creation known as 'Star Trek' that kept me pretty much occupied. Star Trek was filled with 'What if...?' scenarios and I just loved it.

Now that is not to say that it's Gene's fault that I basically scraped through every single year of my schooling. Star Trek did nat *cause* the marks I had--I fully understood that by *me* not applying myself to *my* homework and such that my marks would suffer. The reality is 'What is...'--what is needed for me to get good marks? What is the teacher looking for? What does the text book showing me here? What do I have to do to succeed in school?

Reality, really, is all about the 'is', not the 'if'.

As with the rest of life--there is a time and place for everything. I don't have many regrets (life's too short for those)--however, if I had to do it all again, I think I would have watched a little less of Kirk and crew, and wrote a little more in my notebooks. I would have read a little less Asimov and read a little more 'Fundamentals in Mathematics'.

'Cause, you see, I'm sitting here 20ish years after I graduated high school, and I've seen all those Star Trek episodes numerous times--I've read 'The Foundation' series from front to back too many times to count--It wasn't as if the shows, or the books, or whatever else I let distract me whilst 'in school' weren't going to be there *later*. However, the work that affected the marks on the report card required my attention *right then and there*.

By saying this, I'm not advocating that one puts aside 'fun stuff' and focus exclusively on school work--you need to have your interests and hobbies, and you need to have a proper balance. When I was younger, my scales were tipped a little too far to the 'ignore school and have fun' side, and my marks reflected that.

'What if...?' is fun to think and talk about--we always need our 'dreams'--however, 'What is...' is the required work for us to do right now in order for us to succeed in the world.

Fit time in your life to get lost in the 'what if...?'s, but know that, in order for you to have a roof over your head and a bed to sleep in, you have to work on the 'what is...'s.

of wedded bliss!

Well, I've been a wife now for almost 4&1/2 months and so far so good!

Even though Dave and I lived together for a year and half before we got married, there’s something about being married that makes it even better!

First of all, I am extremely lucky to have found a guy like Dave. There are not many guys out there like him. I am truly blessed to be Mrs. Sandy Koudys.

Seeing as Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, I thought I would take the opportunity to go on and on about great my husband is and how lucky I am to be his wife.

To know Dave is to love Dave.

He is kind, honest, sensitive, understanding, thoughtful, stable, attentive, loving, sweet, funny and if I do say so myself – pretty easy on the eyes.

He helps around the house with laundry, dishes, vacuuming, dusting, mopping the floor, landscaping, and pretty much everything else.

He’s also pretty good with throwing a hammer around.

He’s there to support and stand up for me.

He listens to what I have to say.

He never judges me.

He wants to make everything prefect (or as close to perfect) for me.

He doesn’t expect (or want) me to change.

He doesn’t make me feel like I have to do things a certain way because “that’s the way it’s supposed to be done”.

He doesn’t expect dinner on the table or his slippers at the front door when he comes home.

He wants to make life easier for me any way he can.

He climbs in bed beside me and strokes my hair when I have a migraine or not feeling well.

He rubs my back when it is sore.

He kisses and wipes away my tears when I cry.

He gets rid of all the spiders so I’m not afraid.

He investigates every noise I hear so I can sleep better.

He never ever, loses his temper or raises his voice.

And the most important thing – he loves me for me.

There isn’t anything more I could ask for in a husband.

Thanks for making me the luckiest and happiest girl in the world!

I love you to infinity and back.

Howie Mandel at Rama

See, it's like this--Deal or No Deal is like some sort of 'recreational drug' to Sandy and me--it's verrrrry addictive. Further, both Sandy and I have appreciated Howie since his days as a stand-up. We also remember his stint on St. Elsewhere and his Saturday morning cartoon show 'Bobby's World'.

So ti was really no big surprise when Sandy found out that Howie was doing a night of stand-up at The Rama.

Sandy had but one question for me--Do I want to go?

Deal, or No Deal?

Deal!!!!!

Ordered the tickets, took some time off from our respective employers, and headed up to the gambling joint in cottage country in the middle of winter.

The bad news--no pictures allowed inside.

The good news--we had a spectacular time.

After getting there early (took the shuttle bus from our hotel), and meandering amongst the bells, whistles, flashy lights, and the people pouring pounds of 'pounds' into the one-armed bandits, Sandy and I went off to see the show.

It was suppose to start at 8, but due to some late gamblers, the show didn't really start until almost 8:30. And boy did it start off big!! A clip from Lawrence Welk repeated, oh ,about 50 times and then a very foul mouthed comic took us 15-20 minutes later.

But then Howie.

And then we laoughed--sometimes until there were tears in our eyes. Can't repeat much here 'cause of the more 'adult' nature of his stand-up routikne, but it was very funny.

Howie also engaged the audience as the show went along, asking people various things, and incorporating the answers right into his routine.

Hecklers? No problem for Howie.

And it was around 10 when he finished and mentioned to us that he had no where to go so we had to leave. So we did, laughing all the way.

We missed the 10 p.m. bujs back to the hotel so we meandered again through Rama, and took pictures of the outside ('cause again, we weren't allowed to take pics inside...)

The next day Sandy and I hung out in the big metropolis of Orillia for a bit, taking some pictures

We're standing atop a frozen lake takikng these pics. Off across the lake we could see the fishing huts, but we didn't want to walk all the way out there to see how the fishing was.

En route home, I noticed a little stone bridge down in the valley next to Highway 11

Not really sure if it's used anymore--doesn't look like it with the 3 feet of snow covering it, but I thought it was nifty nonetheless.

Anyway, there you are--a whirlwind synopsis of our trip to Rama.

See all pics here--Howie Mandel Trip

Down goes the floor...

Not much left to do--a little organizing here and there, but, for the most bit, the generating of dust is pretty much finito!

Floor's done!

Over an extended long weekend, Sandy and I managed to finish many of the outstanding 'basement issues'--we took it to see counselling and staged an intervention--I mean, we took the hammers and saws and brushes to the basement and whaddya know!! Finished!! All that's left is the appreciating...

Nice transition!

I was a little concerned with the carpet-to-wood transition, but wow! It turned out far better than I expected!

Sandy and I finished the trim work...

Look Andy! Walls!!

Finished the shelving (though we still have to do a little trimming here)...

Wonderful corner

Finished the hallway...

Mini-door under the stairs

And even tackled the 'Dave's LEGO Area!'...

Mmmmmmmmmm..... LEGO......

My nice working area

That about wraps it up. We know that none of you are sick of the pictures and prose yet, so we'll probably whip together a bit of a retrospective look at the entire basement reno ordeal with accompanying pseudo Mike Holmes voice-over, but not today.

Have a boo at all basement reno pics here--Basement Reno

Sandy's and Sparky's Space has a new home...

Took long enuf!

Well, after the increasingly tempermental desktop that's been running our little website for almost 3 years finally decided to go off to the great CPU in the sky, I got around to getting the 'new' server running.

Really, I had to 'cause the old desktop was hanging up, and you, our reading audience, were denied access to all that is this website.

So, after a few hours of intense copying of the entire website to the new server, and routing a few wires and such, et voila! New digs!

You shouldn't notice anything different at all, except for maybe (hopefully) faster service from the new server--I'll keep an eye on things to make sure it's going smoothly.

Anyway, hopefully we'll be a little smoother now

Sandy's and Sparky's Space--on all the time! (for a change)

Joy!