our great, grandbrother

Our day started with letting people sleep in as long as possible. After a late night of swimming, and a schedule that keeps changing with the time zones, extra rest is always helpful. My job for the morning was a bit different. I had the task of getting the oil changed, and tires re-torked all in time for our brunch at Jake's house. It seems that some of our best days off, are with friends and in homes.  This was no exception. Later that morning we had a windy, but sun filled hike at a local marsh area, and education centre. And so for the rest of the day, we turned off the GPS, and Jake sat in the front seat and gave us a first hand tour of some of his favourite spots in Winnipeg. We are blessed to know him, and it was refreshing catching up our lives with one another. These moments with friends and family, add colour and context to the map we've been on. They bring Joy and are part of the many blessings we are bringing back with us. Thanks Jake for some great time together!

-Joseph-

believe it our not, for this trip I've made it all the way to Manitoba drinking my own "roasted" coffee, the three origins I chose for the trip have been holding up ok, but it was also nice to finish the kenyan at jakes house...with or without 10% cream for some...   :)

Lets just say, that on this trip we have had our share of many different waffles in many different places. However, the waffles Jake made us were special, we wondered if it was the maker, the technique, even quizzed him on the recipe, only to find out that one of his secrets was a mix. I did not promise to keep it a secret though, and now you know.

almost everything in Jakes house that was made out of wood he "made", after our megabrunch, we had a chance to see his workshop, and some of the tools.... 

one thing we found out later in the day, was that Manitoba is 41% marshland, which can explain why everyone recommended this place as a good start for understanding the province.

as some of you may already know, new birds can haunt me, this one in particular the "yellow headed black bird" was seen by me on the side of the road for less then a second...and upon hearing my yell, those in the vehicle thought I was avoiding an accident....I was hoping for a better glimpse of this new bird, but zoomed in from the observation deck, this was about as close as it came - still a treat!

later in the day we went to "the forks" a place downtown where two rivers meet, this building was actually the first railway station, and is now a thriving artisan area selling many thoughtful things...one of them was the "Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company" started by the church that Jake started many years ago. They also had another business that allowed people to do their own canning, as well as sunflower oil pressing. As a motivator to get to Thunder bay in good time....We have two containers of chocolate banana bread pudding for our drive out of town tomorrow.  :)

this was one of the nicest skate parks I"ve ever seen in my life, unlike the wavy, and "organic" shapes of the california parks we saw, this one was all "geo" with inlaid metal on all edges...the attitude was best described with quote on the wall and the general attitude of this place and people.