Lake Louise Tea House last summer

Last summer we went for a hike up the teahouse above Lake Louise. I was talking to a friend tonight about the place and got to thinking about how much I enjoyed the tea, the tea house and the whole trip. Here's some reminder pictures:

Another random blog

So...I didn't win the Undergraduate Research Symposium. Difficult to compete with 65 hard science posters that were five feet by four feet. Nope, can't win against that. Anyway, random cool item for the day: Digging to the other side of the world. Check it out. I was heartily disappointed when I realized I was not in China but rather much closer to...Antarctica???

An interesting point

Saw this on another blog today:

The Campaign for Real Beauty

I rarely rarely wear make up. As a matter of fact, for the most part, I don't know how to wear make-up. But it bothers me greatly that there are girls who believe they cannot be seen without it. What happened to the beauty God gave them? Does it really need to be enhanced? I'll admit, sometimes it's kind of fun to get dressed up and don some mascara or lip gunk or whatever to look pretty. But when you discover you feel you can't do without it, there's something wrong. And as for weight and sizes...you don't want me to get started on that...

A lovely wake-up call

An interesting day indeed: I was just snuggling in bed this morning half asleep after Brent left, not wanting to get up and go running when the phone rang. Who could it be at seven thirty but someone with a fifteen hour time difference--Rachel!! So I had a lovely long chat with her until she had to go to bed at one o'clock her time. Thanks for staying up to talk! Then I realized I have a yucky sore throat and was not going to go running in the snow and -15 degree weather. So I pulled on my insulated coveralls (it's cold down here!) and started working on my latest paper...and not much else has been accomplished today except a coffee break at Coffee and Scream and a stop over at the library. And now if someone could please bring me dessert that is not too rich but still very tasty and which will sooth my screaming sore throat. Thank you! P.S. Pictures courtesy of Rach and Trev in far away Korea. P.P.S. They are in need of some Earl Grey tea if anyone has the inclination.

My latest major accomplishment

I've always liked having my hair frenchbraided...keeps it out of my face and it's unique looking and it makes me feel like a ballerina. Growing up, my mum always did it for me and it wasn't until I was married that I figured out how to do it myself. However, because my hair is getting quite long, even when it was braided the long braids kept getting in my way. So yesterday I figured out what to do with the braids. From thence cameth my major accomplishment in recent history. Second image (shh don't tell Bec and Eric). We discovered our sometimes pretended adopted dog likes to cuddle:

An Eventful Week

Its been quite the week around here. Monday was a day off from school for both of us so Kirstin wrote a paper and I finished two jobs. Tuesday we went home to Lacombe to a funeral and then Kirstin's parents house for supper. The rest of the weeks seems to have slipped into a crack somewhere, just disappeared. Seemed just like yesterday that I was chatting with a classmate about how "tomorrow if the first day of November" and now its half way through! Hard to believe that we've only got four more weeks of school left before our Christmas break.

Speaking of Christmas, Kirstin's mom loaned us a great cd for our trip home Tuesday night. Its called Now it is Christmas Again. You could almost call it a cd of a Christmas Eve service at church, just feels that way. I (Brent) listen to it at least twice a day now!

Last night we went to see a concert of Daniel Taylor and James Bowman at the Eckhardt-Gramatté Recital Hall in the Rozsa Centre located on the U of C campus. These two men sing counter-tenor, meaning they sing so high that if you close your eyes you would think its women singing instead of men. They were accompanied by a classical group of mucisions, and again, if you close your eyes you would think you were in a ballroom in the 17th century. Kirstin didn't care for the singing, but thought the music was great. I liked it all, even the counter-tenors. Did I mention the tickets were free? Kirstin won them from CKUA, so our education last night was totally free!

Kathe Kollwitz

Kollwitz was an artist that I learned about in my German Culture class. She was born in the late 1800s and lived through imperial Germany, through WWI, then the Weimar Republic, then the Nazi take-over and WWII, and finally the division of Germany into East and West. Her husband was a doctor in the poor part of Berlin and she was exposed to the great vulnerability of the poor, particularly the women and children. Also, her younger son enlisted in WWI and was killed early into the war. Much of her work involved women and children and the effect of war and nationalism upon the vulnerable. Here are some examples. Some of her work chokes me up.

Banff Mountain Book Festival

This past couple of days Brent and I have been away to beautiful snowy Banff. You may say awww, you poor guys "having" to be in the mountains BUT It WAS work (for me) and required lots of mental exertion for both of us. We went to seven seminar sessions wherein authors spoke about their books, two "literary lunches" where we were fed whilst listening to readings by two authors from their books, two evening programs where we heard from four adventurers about their travels, and went to a small session (just my mountain lit. class) to talk to Greg Mortenson, one of the authors and evening speakers. So...what did we learn from our experience. Well, rather than write it out here, I'm going to highly recommend that you all read Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and an American journalist. I will give the disclaimer that the book itself I did not find particularly good but the ideas and Mortenson's work I find tremendously interesting. Please please read the book if you have time, and let me know what you think. The concept of girls' education is compelling in what it returns to the cultural and physical community. Some websites that might help: The book's website Mortenson's organization's website Also, I got to meet Sharon Wood, the first North American woman to ascend Everest (and come back alive). There's much, much more I could say about the week...if you're interested, you'll have to ask in person. :)