We Made it.... Thanks Paul and Anika

Blog # 3 Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Today Joy came into the world and a month later joined with our lives. Blessings on this special day, the day when you were born. Happy Birthday Joy. We cannot call out long distance, so we can not reach you per telephone and you still do not have internet at the the house. We have arrived in the studio on Tuesday afternoon, August 1,2017. In the morning we had a wonderful breakfast with Mary Oordt, her daughter Maria and het husband John. They were the host and gave us a wonderful time. Frederika Granzow and Ken Hicken and his wife Alice entertained us with good conversation. After we ate the dishes were cleared we presented them all with the wonderful books Phil Schaafsma and Amy McKay had designed and organized using the poems of Martin Oordt and the woodcut prints done by me in 1985/86 during my second sabbatical leave. It was received with joy and acclamation.

Ken had created a poem over many years about his deep relationship with his wife Alice. He started the poem as a tribute to his grand- daughter at the occasion of her wedding. After reading the poem he went to the piano room and rendered a very celebrative rendition of the: A Mighty Fortress is Our God. These are precious moments for all of us and Anika took it all in as did son Paul.

We left the house around 11 that morning and headed for the Crowsnest Pass. We got to the studio around 1 p.m. and met the cleaning person, She was still at work but had no objection if we wanted to unload the Van and put some of the stuff in the studio. Paul and Anika moved most of the stuff and around 3 we left for Banff which was another 2 hours and 20 minutes.

We arrived the gallery just before 6 and Susan and Tom were welcoming us. We unloaded the paintings that were already done and were on our way to Calgary, where we found a motel room near the airport. Paul and Anika were flying out around 8 that morning and scheduled the shuttle around 5:30.m We left later, around 9, and headed back to the pass. We arrived at the studio around noon and have begun the process of moving in, getting daily supplies

And found places for many things. We are here, grateful and thankful and ready now to go to work. Tomorrow we start drawing and planning.