Dragon my feet

hi folks,
I don't have much other than a slice of life to offer you. However, our life is fresh baked with wholesome ingredients--none of that imitation filler--so grab yourself a slice and a nice cuppa, and enjoy the home-baked taste.
The Labour Day weekend was football, football, and more football. This was a) awesome, and b) wicked good. Jimmy and I hung out, ate popcorn, and rang our cow bell every time the Stamps or Riders scored. Hooray for cheap entertainment!
We also went down to the Dragon Boat festival in Wascana Park (more cheap entertainment). Apparently most Dragon Boat teams do the circuit--there were teams from Medicine Hat and Calgary that we could identify. They all have matching T-shirts, some have fancy shelters and paddle racks and the whole bit. The races themselves were not bad, and the setting was gorgeous.
Unfortunately, the wasps were out for blood, and they swarmed my kielbasa mercilessly. To avoid them, we walked around and discovered the rest of the festival. We made our obligatory stop at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum to take advantage of the free slush puppie fill-up that Jimmy gets in his dinosaur water bottle. While there, we visited Megamunch, the very intimidating animatronic T. Rex who screams, growls, and gnashes his teeth at the touch of a button.
In the field between the RSM and the lake, there were several booths from social service organizations, corporations, and the good ol' army. Jimmy chatted up the army dudes, intimating that he was interested in becoming an army chaplain (over his wife's dead body, of course). They very eagerly supplied him with lots of propaganda, including information on the Dash-8 and Sea King. We had a good chuckle over the fact that they're advertising those vehicles, especially since the running joke as Tom told us was that a Sea King is "ten thousand parts flying in close formation." Happily, Jimmy also scored an anchor-shaped Navy tattoo, which could be placed nowhere else but on the forearm:
We tired quickly of the wasps (even after James had fun trapping and drowning them in his water bottle) and so our dragon festivities were short-lived.
These last weeks have involved a lot of volunteering at the church, as I've been busily helping to redecorate the basement, aka the Sunday School rooms. The new superintendent (our friend Janelle) completely cleaned out, organized, and revamped the Sunday School. She and her mom Bev (the church secretary) hauled 10 years' worth of junk out of the basement, and organized 10 years' worth of salvageable craft supplies, posters, and other resources. It was a major accomplishment. I did my part by merrily constructing bulletin boards and signs. I took advantage of my power by posting my hippie-ish messages for all the kiddies to see. First, we have the Buddy-Christ and all his little sheepies:
Then we have the Saskatchewan-appropriate love-the-earth message:
and then, my personal favourite, the multicultural awareness message:
Plus, I even managed to make decent use of the extremely cheesy Jesus pictures they had:
Finally, I sent a subtle message to the kids using the powers of cuteness and a Terrance and Phillip-style illustration:

Besides that, I've had my first tap/jazz class, which was AWESOME. It felt so good to be banging out a rhythm on the hardwood again. It's basic stuff, but I liked the refresher. Not surprisingly, I think the Al Gilbert method that I learned is quite outdated, so I've got lots to learn. My muscles have been screaming ever since, but it's so worth it. At the end of the month, I'll have a ballet class as well. I bought myself some cheap Capezios (they come with elastics sewn in already! The luxury!) and Milton had a fun time playing with the untrimmed spiders.
James has gotten very busy at the church with meetings and retreats coming up. This week he'll be playing some hymns, so I've enjoyed one of the many benefits of living with him: free concerts!
Today I finally had a job interview, and I do hope it goes through. The pay isn't great, but it's a good organization, and the man who interviewed me was exceedingly kind and interesting. The job involves working with Biographies Regina (formerly of the Regina and District Old Timers' Assocation) on a local history book. Anything to be involved in the publishing process! The conditions of the grant that funds the position are that the candidate must be continuing with post-secondary studies, so I've told them that I'll enroll in distance education in January. Ryerson's well-respected publishing certificate is offered via distance, so this gives me a great excuse to start their online courses (which look very exciting and interesting, by the way. And I recognize several faculty names from the Editors' Association.) At any rate, I'll need a job soon, because my student loan goes into repayment next month. So much for living off the vicar's salary!
And Milton continues to be adorable at every turn,
jumping into baskets
and snacking on pudding.
We're never bored with him around.
One last bit of exciting news is that we have a niece! Miss Stephanie Elizabeth was born on Sept. 9. Sarah seems to be doing very well, Tom is taking adorable pictures, and big brother Alexander is already learning to hold his sister. I do hope we'll be able to go west this fall, if only for a few days, to meet our newest relation.
And so life is put-put-putting along. The days are cooling off around the edges, but the sun is still blazing hot at midday. Unfortunately, our cruel landlord has drained our swimming pool already. But my evening walks are getting a bit chilly, which is a welcome change. We were scheduled to go combining (as in, riding in farm machinery) tomorrow, but some family complications emerged, so we'll have to hope that the harvest will continue later this week. If we go, there'll be photos a-plenty for your delight!