So what did I do on my summer vacation?

Many years ago, our United Church forebearers decreed that a minister should have one month of vacation. They were wise. One month of vacation begins in your first year as a minister and continues all through your career, unlike other places where you add a week after working so many years.

As the child of a minister, I grew up with my father always taking one month of vacation. And as I child, I spent it at a cottage in the Gatineau, north of Ottawa.

Hi All,

It is that time of the year again.  Our annual pilgrimage to our Island home is fast upon us.  Early Saturday morning we will begin three days of constant driving so that we can be in Raleigh, NL sometime Monday afternoon.

As with last year I will take this opportunity to disappear from social media and find some solitude in the quiet grandeur that is our northern retreat.  I expect that my absence from this place will begin Thursday by noon and extend into the last week of August.

Hi Gang,

Following some pre-marital counselling with a couple this afternoon I will be packing up the family vehicles and we will be making our way to Raleigh, NL for our long-awaited family vacation.

I'm not exactly sure what kind of online facilities will be waiting for us so I just wanted you to know that I will be out of touch while we drive to and fro and possibly a number of weeks inbetween.

As a couple of you have already noted, I'm back from my trip to China. I've done a write-up on my Wonderblog and will add a link to pics when I have them sorted out and can get a few of them posted on Flickr or some similar photo sharing site.

Mendalla

As some of the WC regulars have noted, I am back from my travels. I spent about 18 days in China all told, divided among Shanghai, Xian, and Jiuzhaigou National Park in Szechuan province. I’m still sorting through my pics but will post some of them in a Windows Live album or Flickr or something and link it here later. Here is a quick rundown of my adventures.

I'm back!

Fantastic Trip.  Had the best meal ever - red abalone in a sauce that is simply indescribable in a little restaurant in Cayucos which is a town - town is too big, a village with a main street of a block.  Fabulous, simply fabulous, and if anyone ever plans to go to California make Cayucos a stop.

This is Cayucos

Tomorrow I head off on my vacation to California - whoopie  -  so you all will have to do without my wit, wisdom and pithy quotes for two weeks, ah I can hear the sobs as I type.

My trip ends end in San Francisco but I shall leave my heart in Wondercafe and return to bore you with my pictures 

Hi Gang,

Before anyone panics that I have fallen down a well somewhere I thought I would drop a note to say that I will be gone, except for quick peeks, until the 17th of August.

Later today, like after I go to bed this morning, the family and I will be off to the Muskoka area to hang with some friends in the Lake Rosseau area.  Swimming, sleeping, eating, lathering, rinsing and repeating.