Summer 2009

Here are a couple of things we did over the summer.
We went to the horse races when we were in Dallas-Ft Worth visiting Alonda's sister and dad. Jim got the biggest win. He went by one of the automatic machines and noticed that someone had left their winnings on it, so he pushed the button and won!
We went to a semi-pro baseball game between the Ft Worth Cats and the Grand Prairie Air Hogs. Jim managed to get his picture with the mascot. He likes the logo enough to be a fan (if he lived near there!)
It sure looked like the Air Hogs were going to win, but the Ft Worth Cats pulled it out in the last two innings and won.
This is what a "pork project" looks like. Representative Norm Dicks with Govenor Gregoire (in green) and the Secretary of Transportation are all doing the ribbon cutting for a 200 meter tunnel in Bremerton. It makes it easier for the cars to leave the ferry boat and head for the freeways.

This will be the only time in history that pedestrians will be allowed to walk through the tunnel.

They put some money into decorating the insides. This will give the drivers something to look at as they whiz past all that art work on the walls.

The local classic car club brought out all their old iron for a car show. The tunnel looks pretty nice, but you are not allowed to stop and look at it!

We had a pretty quiet summer. Toured clocks in Seattle, hung around our condo, visited relatives in Texas and Illinois and stopped off in Toronto on the way back to Karachi.

Toronto

We spent a few days in Toronto en route back to Karachi this summer. This will be our second year teaching in Karachi.

We took a city tour and one of the things we went back for was to visit the Sugar Shack.

Sugar Shack. This is a ship parked next to the storage area for the Redpath Sugar Company. They make so much sugar, they have to store the raw material in an extra ship parked next to the warehouse. There is a very nice, free museum run by Redpath. We learned a LOT about making sucrose and why and how it is in so many different forms.

Police Station. No, we weren't in any trouble! We visited this police station because it is also where the free Police Museum is located. It was actually pretty interesting to see the changes over time of what policemen and policewomen wear and how they operate.
Clock tower. Since we took the Clock Tour in Seattle, we have been noticing all the clocks in cities. Toronto is well endowed with some very nice clocks placed for public view.

Market. Every large city has a Farmers' Market and Toronto is no exception. As usual, when we visit a market, it is closed.

The Gold Building. This building is actually covered with gold! Actually, the glass panes on all outside surfaces contain small but visible amounts of gold. They put it in as part of the insulation and it worked so well, they have actually make a profit by covering their building with gold.

City Hall. This is the Reflecting Pool and garden area just outside City Hall. We didn't get to tour City Hall because all city employees are on strike. The city didn't have that "clean" look we have come to expect in Canada. The employees on strike included the garbage workers! We had no trouble waking past the picket line. We just announced we were "tourists" and everyone got out of the way!