Just a Glimpse of the Canadian Rockies

Here is a photo I took at the first stop our tour bus did in the Canadian Rockies.  I took over two hundred photos on this trip.  I did it for two reasons, one the mountains are beautiful and second photography is becoming a new passion for me.  While I am a newbie with my new Nikon camera the pictures look great and I want to share some with you.  Did you notice the couple in the lower right see how tall the mountains are?

Our Canadian Rocky Mountain Tour

In the following weeks I will be posting pictures and items from our Canadian Rockies trip.  It was a wonderful tour put on by Caravan Travel and this is the third time we have used them.  The first time was for Costa Rica and the second was a tour of Yellowstone Park and adjacent areas.

Granddaughter's Graduation

Just before heading off to the Canadian Rockies, I flew to Mojave, CA to attend my granddaughter's high school graduation.  Jamie has been a high honors student all through high school and graduated with a 4.0 average.  Below is a picture I took at her graduation receiving a diploma.  There was a family gathering afterward and two days later Jamie left for Boise, ID with her uncle Joe.  Jamie is now enrolled at Boise State University and is majoring in criminal justice with a minor in psychology.  She is very excited to start school in August.

Back from the Canadian Rockies

We returned this week after having a wonderful tour of the Canadian Rockies for nine days and then spending four days with our son, daughter-in-law and grandchild up in Idaho.  Our daughter drove from Utah along with her significant other for the weekend as well.  We did a number of things together like spending an afternoon in a hot springs and having a cookout with family and friends before we left on Monday morning.

I have over two hundred photos I took while on the trip and need to choose which ones I will begin to post so that you can enjoy some of what we saw.

Cannot wait for my next trip

Very shortly my youngest granddaughter will be graduating from high school.  She is so excited to graduate and then to move to Boise, Idaho.  She will be living with our son and his wife for six weeks before the dorms open at Boise State University.  She received a great scholarship for her first year and she will be majoring in Psychology.
I'll get a chance to ride Gregory the horse I've owned for twelve years.  He is boarded on our daughter's property. His picture is below.  He is now fifteen.
Then my wife and I head up to the Canadian Rockies for a nine day trip provided by the Caravan company.  We used them for our Yellowstone trip last summer and they are excellent.
After the tour we head to Boise, Idaho to spend a long weekend with our son and his family.  Our daughter who lives in Utah is driving up to Boise to join us for the weekend.
What a great trip we have planned.

After the Sorrow comes a pleasant surprise

We lost one of our neighbors, of twenty-eight years, this past week.  He had suffered through two strokes six months apart and his wife made the decision to take him off life support.  Four days later he passed away.  He was a great friend who would always have a kind word to say, enjoyed going to baseball games and a fan of my writings.  Before he died he had purchased all seven of my existing books.
Following the memorial service we joined those who gathered to share some food and company.  When my wife and I were ready to leave we went to say goodbye to his wife.  We knew their daughter was flying back home on Thursday, and she would then be alone.  My wife invited her to join us for the traditional Sabbath dinner on Friday evening.  The wife immediately accepted and asked what she could bring.
Then she grabbed my hand and said, "Phil has all of your books on a shelf with a heading titled, Joe Smiga's books.  He loved everything you wrote, and I want you to always sell me a copy of any future books you write in your writing career.  While I didn't read most of your books as I don't read that genre,  I read your "Tova" book three times.  Thank you for being there for me."

A Pleasant Surprise

Last Thursday evening my wife and I visited an art display put on by the Manchester Artist Association.  It was located on North Elm Street.  My wife being an artist, and a member of the group, wanted to go.  Being a creative person and appreciating art I chose to go with her.  It was a great exhibit.

While the art exhibit was very good an unusual thing happened to me when we walked into the gallery.  One of the artists exhibiting walked up to me and said, “I have a bone to pick with you!”

“Okay, I replied, what did I do?”

“I read all three of the trilogy series you wrote, I couldn’t put them down at night; I wound up not getting my usual sleep.”  Then she laughed.  “I loved them they were great, and now you have me as a fan.”

What better testimony can you get from a reader of your novels?  You can order my books on line at www.joesmiga.com.