Currently

I see that Blogger still thinks that i live in East Africa, since my last post is documented as posted on Friday, but i really posted it Thursday night. Ah well.

I spoke to Josh this (Manitoban) morning and he is happy as a clam since he's been flying for the past few days already. He is living in Juba, Sudan, where the weather is 35+C even at 5pm. (remember the sun goes down there around 6ish). He's staying in the MAF guest house on the MAF compound (or that's what i understand), which is just next to the MAF office. He sounds pretty chipper about life in Juba in general (even apart from the flying). In a few days he will be flying the plane to Uganda where MKE will undergo her phase inspection, which was the source of all the rigamaroll involving whether Josh could actually fly in Sudan at this time (there's strict rules about who can do the inspection of planes registered in specific countries, MKE is still Malagsy registered, which is also why Josh is the only pilot who can fly it, since he has a Malagasy pilot's license). Josh can correct me if i have any of these details wrong. He did also tell me that the landscape in Sudan is much different than in Madagascar: it's very flat! He's hoping to borrow a camera soon to take some photos so we all can see what he's up to over there.

I am currently:

enjoying the smell of peonies and white lilacs in a vase that my mother-in-law dropped off this morning for my basement suite.

listening to the installer put in the remaining pieces of carpet in our basement suite, which means this weekend we can move in the large appliance (fridge and stove) and the furniture (sofas, lamps, dining table and chairs, etc). By the time Josh gets here (5weeks+a few days) the suite will be pretty sweet! ;-)

listening to Judah watching cartoons since he's been complaining that his "bones hurt", which i think really means he has a stomach ache.

enjoying the thought that, as i make all my appointments this morning, it'll be easy to get to them and i can be assured of good service when i get there. AND, THEY call ME to confirm the appointment, I dont have to call them to make sure they didnt forget or mis-schedule me. :-)

enjoying the fact that i can send my photos via email to the shop to be developed and i just have to pick them up when they're ready.

marvelling at how easy it is to navigate around big towns/cities in this place! wow. Yesterday i left the house armed with a list of almost 12 addresses of Steinbach garage sales. I'm not entirely familiar with Steinbach to begin with, and especially not after many years away, but after a cursory glance at the online garage sale site map (!) i could make my way remarkably easily from one place to the next. Amazing!

although, i have to add, driving in Winnipeg was a bit nerve wracking only because i had to find parking and, since the parking meters have changed and i dont really understand what's going on there i had a bit of a uptight time trying to park downtown to visit MEC. Ah well, 3 blocks of walking the streets with a 3 year old isnt bad. :-) We learned about what the white man light meant ("walk") and what the orange hand light meant (stop walking) although it was perplexing for Judah to notice that the hand light came on while we were still in the middle of the road! :-D We had fun in the MEC store looking at all the fun things there. Judah climbed the stairs to the upper floor and, eye-level with the kyaks hanging from the ceiling called out to me, "Mom, look at the spaceships!!"

Judah is unfamiliar with many things that Manitoban kids find normal, i'm realizing. He's unused to having to get to the side of the street when he's biking and there's a car coming towards him. :-S He's unfamiliar with tractors and outdoor equipment, which means i'm not as laidback about sending him outside to play on his own unattended. He's amazed at the prevalence of diggers and big road building equipment on the way to the city. In fact, rides to Winnipeg are quite a distraction for him. :-) Camper trailors are an entirely new thing for him and i'm looking forward to next weekend when we can camp in one :-)