The Timms Times
HEADLINES in this Issue
Jan 2012 Continental news
Feb 2012 Mexico
July 2012 Cancer ride
Aug 2012 Scary birthdays
Sep 2012 House renovators
May 2013 They‘re back!
Dec 2013 Party of the year
Feb 2014 They’re gone
Nov 2014 32 Years
Jun 2015 Party v.2015
2015 Civil War
EDITORIAL
So what’s up with TIME these days? It seems like it was just last month I was publishing the 2010 issue of this newsletter, and I know that Ellie was just born last Christmas, so how did she get to be 5 years old?
Has some mad scientist discovered how to speed up the earth’s rotation? And not told anyone except a few of his closest friends -- by email.
Did the U.S. National Security Agency read the emails? And pass the information on to the Wall Street traders who then built their high speed line into the New York stock exchanges?
Good grief! Do our entire lives have to be speeded up so the banks can make a few gazillion more dollars?
OR ...
... is it just that I’ve turned into a grumpy old woman?
THE TRAVEL SECTION
We would hate to bore you with our travel photos, but if you are interested, clicking on any of the destinations will take you to a very short slideshow of that place.
An amazing place. We liked it so much, we are going back in 2016.
History, history everywhere.
Almost better than going to Greece.
Some of us hiked the whole way, and some of us took several ‘rest’ days. Your guess as to who did which.
Roger's amazing genealogical research skills discovered several of my mother's relatives living around the Trondheimfjord in Norway, who insisted on treating us to meals and taking us on sightseeing tours to visit the Skjei farm where my grandfather, Einar Hansen Skjei, grew up, and then the Heimveg farm where his father, Hans Kristian Sakariassen grew up.
Did you know that until the 1920’s, Norwegians didn’t have fixed last names? They used their patronyms (Hansen, Sigurdson, Einarsdottar, etc) after their first name/s and then added the place where they lived. If they moved, their last name changed!
THOUGHT of the YEAR
President Obama speaking in Newtown, Connecticut in December, 2012:
“They are ALL our children ...”
Entire Timms family living on the same continent
January, 2012
Arran and Orla in Montreal, living just down the block from Laura and Steve. Stefan and Kate and the girls in Chicago. Well, it’s an improvement. Travel time to Chicago or Montreal is much shorter than to Dublin. Plus, it means that occasionally everyone gets together at the old family homestead in Ontario.
July 7-8, 2012
MONTREAL to QUEBEC CITY
It was deja vu all over again for us, as we stood in the crowds cheering the cyclists. Only this time they weren’t racing for triathlon glory, but to raise money for the Segal Cancer Centre at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal. Arran did the riding while Orla did the real work, helping to set up and take down the overnight camp. We were told the two-day, 229 kilometre ride was a lot of fun, which must be true, as you can clearly see in the photo of Arran taken just after he arrived at the finish line.
September, 2012
TORONTO
Not only are we all on the same continent, we now have one offspring living in the same province! Laura and Steve have returned to Toronto and are turning their scientific research skills to the question of making their very own house livable. It’s just across the street from the school Laura attended until grade 5 and she says that every time she hears the recess bell she wants to go outside and play with her friends.
February, 2012
PLAYA DEL CARMEN
Oh, my! We had such a good time escaping the snow and slush for the gorgeous white beaches of the Mayan Riviera. The only downside was that Arran and Orla couldn’t join our week in the sun. He wisely decided not to take a vacation after only three months in a new job, and Orla opted to stay with her husband in snowy Montreal.
We even managed to stop Roger from bringing back the ugliest thing he could find.
August, 2012
NEW YORK
You might find this as hard to believe as we do, but Roger and Kathleen have two FORTY year old sons!
We met up in New York to mark the occasion by staying in Harlem in an apartment with a real doorman; taking a lovely long walk along the High Line park; visiting the Museum of Modern Art, the MOMA store, the New York Public Library; and sharing a very special dinner at Riverpark restaurant.
The boys themselves marked it by going to the London Olympics.
May, 2013
TORONTO
Three went to Chicago in 2010. Four came back. Ellie, our little American, seems to be adapting well to life in this kinder, gentler country of ours, even when her parents do crazy things like entering her in triathlons.
48th year
The 2012-2015 Issue
last updated December, 2015
THE ADVICE COLUMN
Forget love.
Try good manners.
Rebecca Wells
2012
1972
FROM THE ARCHIVES
December 5,6,7, 2013
CALGARY
Talk about birthdays getting scary -- try SEVEN ZERO on for size! The only saving grace to turning that age is having a sister who will throw a huge party to celebrate.
Most of my favourite people were there -- all my siblings and their spouses, all Roger’s siblings, all our children, and grandchildren; many cousins, nieces, nephews, grand-nephews and old friends from university days.
And the party did go on for three days. As we septuagenarians liked to say in the sixties, party hearty!
Brother Greg took a whole album of gorgeous photos, which you can see by clicking here.
February, 2014
DUBLIN
Seems like living on the same continent as the rest of the family is just too much proximity. So -- back to Dublin, where Orla, in possession of her brand new McGill Master’s degree, is practicing her legal profession, and Arran is practicing his by managing a couple of new hospital projects at Ireland’s Health Service Executive.
Feeling nostalgic?
Indulge yourself by reading an issue or two from our archives.
The 1997 issue
The 1998 issue
The 1999 issue
The 2001 issue
The 2002 issue
The 2003 issue
The 2007-8 issue
The 2009 issue
The 2010 issue
Any comments?
Please send them on to us.
We love to hear from you.
Simply put any of our first
names in front of
@timms.ca
For example:
mcgriffen@timms.ca
November 10, 2014
OSHAWA
Fifteen years here, 9 years there, 8 years on a completely different bench. Not quite the same as 32 years a slave, but now it’s over. Well, sort of.
On November 10th Roger officially semi-retired (went ‘supernumary’ in the quaint language of the Superior Court). Which means he is still working, but only half the time.
It is going to be an adventurous year ahead, as we figure out what to do with him during the other half.
June 7, 2015
OSHAWA/PORT PERRY
Another 70th birthday, a big promotion for Stefan, and the official almost-end to a judicial career. Could there be three better reasons to have a party?
Our friends; Stefan’s friends; professional colleagues; they all made for a hefty crowd. Plus, after toiling in the vineyards of marital discord for his entire career*, it was a joy to see so many of the couples Roger had married with all their beautiful children. That really was his best work.
February, 2015
The water pipe from the well freezes. This has never happened to us before. Was it really the coldest winter in 27 years? We retaliate by dropping a heat gun down the well. Peace is restored. Temporarily, as it turns out.
May, 2015
5:00 a.m. We wake to the sound of water dripping through the ceiling.
Attacking with hammers and axes, we find the source -- an undetectable
slow leak from a bathroom faucet above. We are then bombed with
insurance adjusters, contractors, plasterers (with collateral plaster dust
-- LOTS of plaster dust), painters, and of course, plumbers.
They have no sooner retired from the field when ...
September, 2015
... the laundry room drain backs up, and the toilets won’t flush. Oh, oh. Looks like the septic system has joined the rebels. Time to call in the heavy artillery -- except they can’t come until tomorrow (“Just cross your legs”) and when they do, it’s disclosed that septic experts don’t dig to find their target -- which in our case is two feet down under the lawn.
Well, what’s a girl gonna do? Showering outdoors under the garden hose is all very well on a sunny September morning, but it’s hardly a sustainable practice. So the girl’s gotta dig.
Roger would do it, of course, but he is in Quebec on his annual French
course. Miraculously, help does arrive from a neighboring ally and we
eventually get the septic tank lid exposed.
A little emotional blackmail gets the pumping artillery back and we
defeat the clog.
Life returns to normal.
For now.
Was it Stewart Brand who wrote,
“When it comes to houses, water is the source of all evil.”
Wait! WAIT!
Have you read all the way to here? Even through the yucky bit above? You are either totally masochistic or incredibly determined. In any case, thank you for your interest in our family. We feel truly blessed to have someone like you in our lives.
All our best to you and yours in the coming year.
SCIENCE NEWS
November, 2013
Credit Valley Conservation has been lucky enough to snag entomologist Dr. Laura Timms as their new ecologist.
* One wag shouted out “And that was BEFORE he went to the office”. We know who you are, Jim McPherson, and where you live.
And anyway, no discord in this vineyard -- at least not before or while he was at the office.
September, 2015
Venturing out of the academic world for the first time in ? how many? years, Steve is putting his analytical skills to work for Angoss International Software.
©2015 Kathleen Timms