"Those with initiative, mindful, clean in action, acting with due consideration, heedful, restrained, living the Dharma:  their glory grows.  Through initiative, heedfulness, restraint, & self-control, the wise would make an island no flood can submerge."
 
-Dhammapada, 2, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Tomorrow (July 17) I'm teaching a six-hour workshop at the University of Saskatchewan.  It's a "grammar refresher" for ESL (English as a Second Language) teachers and also includes interesting ways to teach grammar.  Thirty-four people have registered for it.   On the 18th David and I are off on a road trip.  We'll be visiting friends in Calgary and then will head to Vancouver to visit more friends.  We'll be back in Saskatoon on July 31.  On August 1 we're going on a day trip to my sister Mary's place in Raymore for a family barbeque.   I start teaching ESL at the Saskatoon Open Door Society again on August 5.

Iris Murdoch said, "Writing is like getting married. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one's luck."

Happy Bastille Day!

David and I drove down to Regina Beach (where my sister Brenda and her partner Greg live) on Sunday afternoon. He continued on to Minot on Monday, but I came back to Saskatoon by bus that night. Yesterday Brenda and I had a wonderful afternoon walking beside two different parts of Last Mountain Lake. We saws lots of pelicans, seagulls, terns, ducks, red-winged blackbirds and other birds. We even saw fish jumping out of the water.

Yesterday David and I saw a horrible movie and a wonderful one. The horrible one, which he convinced me to go to against my will, was "Anchorman". It had a few good moments but was full of cheap gags that made we want to groan. The wonderful movie was "Supersize Me", a very funny and informative documentary about the dangers of fast food. It's playing at the Broadway Theatre in Saskatoon. We recently saw two other documentaries, "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "The Corporation", both of which were excellent.