Cold, Wet, Dreary

We arrived back from Las Vegas last Saturday around 4:30 PM. LightFair 2014 was a fantastic trade show, lots of new products and technologies coming our way!
I'll post of couple of pictures here of the sight of Vegas!

Paris

The Casinos of Vegas!

The Candela Group took us to the Trade Show and they were amazing hosts.  To our surprise, we were given tickets to attend the Shania Twain concert on Sunday. On Saturday, they had arranged a party bus to take us shopping.  Monday they rented a cabana by the pool for the day for the group.  There was a private dinner for the engineering firms at a expensive restaurant and we were included in that as well.  When we left Las Vegas last Saturday, they had arranged a private limo to take us to the airport.  BTW, we stayed at the MGM Grand!  What a trip, lots of wonderful people and great times was enjoyed by all!

http://www.candelagroup.ca/

Concepts in lighting change with the times. Candela Group recognizes the need to orchestrate the initiation of those changes, by making the lighting designer aware of new technologies and styles, so that they may offer the best visual presentation for their client, while maintaining a budget that fits their needs.

Candela Group is "right at home" in the design stages of any given project, and offers years of experience and expertise in managing your clients needs through to completion. We also continue to service the client after the project is final, as we have adopted the philosophy "your customer is our customer". Candela group is a leader in Southern Alberta, and the East Kootenays of British Columbia , for lighting concepts and service. We are proud to help you to find the information that you need in order to choose the right products for your project. The team we have has earned a collective 60 years of “experience” in the lighting and electrical industry.

From Timmins, ONT  An amazing Concert

MGM Stay June 2014

Leaving Vegas at the airport on the runway!

Over Vegas from the air!

From the airplane shortly after leaving Las Vegas...
Lake Mead???

I managed to get to the Bellagio, had to visit the conservatory to see the "summer" display...beautiful as always.  Here are some images. I took some pretty neat pictures of the "dancing waters" as well outside the Bellagio.  Have a peek!

Dancing waters (to music) beautiful

Dancing waters

At the main desk Bellagio

Conservatory June 2014 Bellagio

Bellagio Conservatory June 2014

My new friend "Froggie"

At Christmas, the glass house was a snow storm, in March it was full of butterflies, June had all different types of birds

We went to, are you ready for this, Margaritaville on Saturday, two ladies walked in and sat down at the end of the bar.  I heard them say they were from Ontario....well that peaked my interest....I got up and went to chat, apparently they live right around the corner from our home in Bowmanville....(and they thought, I would have no idea where B'ville was)...LOL  Their names are Diane & Karen and I have since had emails from Diane...wonderful ladies!  Couldn't resist telling them both how much I miss HOME!  (Who knew!)

Margaritaville

Back to work tomorrow...oh joy!  I thought I would post a pic of my work station....way too many projects for one person to handle (and this is only part of the projects).

Some of my work!  Don't say anything about the "Merry Christmas & Santa" I don't have any place to put them!

Alberta Flood 2013

Here are a few images from the Flood of 2013 in Canmore! Happened almost one year ago to date!

The grey used to be grass and trees!  Back yards of homes

Still working on the damages

Rocky Mountain Sheep

Cochrane, AB

Saw thig guy at a local nursery!

Have a great week everyone!  Catch you later!

Spring! Nice Sunshine!

We've had a few days of nice weather and I managed to put my plants outside for a couple of days.  They sure are thriving in the milder temperatures and sunshine.  Hope they'll be okay while I'm away.

Flowers at the nursery!

Went for a drive today to Kananaskis Country...and YES there is still snow in the mountains.  The water is rising but everyone is hoping there won't be repeat floods like last year.

High Country with the mountains!

Kananaskis Country, AB May 24, 2014

Snow on the peaks! May 24, 2014

The road ahead!

We stopped at Black Diamond Gallery on our drive....

The Black Diamond Gallery hosts a unique collection of teak furniture and art that is imported from Indonesia and art gathered from local artists in southern Alberta. The teak art we sell is carved by hand in Bali and neighbouring countries and ranges from the image of the hand carved last supper shown below to teak bowls. All of the wood is from the roots of the teak trees which allows for unique pieces with every carving made.  Here is the website if you want to check it out.  We met the proprietor, Rusty Davidson.
http://www.blackdiamondgallery.com

Here are some cool pics....the one of the last supper, the owner told us it took a year to carve.  I didn't ask the price but it was beautiful. Everything in the store was beautiful so thought I'd share some of the pics here.

The Last Supper...stunning detail!

Motorcycle that doesn't need gas!

So many horses!

Off to Las Vegas on Friday afternoon....attending LightFair (largest lighting trade show in North America).  Philips Lighting is paying for us to attend...how nice of them.  Guess they see the value in this where our company doesn't.  Alan & I are both thinking of taking our LC this year....could open a lot of doors!

Paris!  Had a birthday drink here with Jackie, John and Alan!  December 2013

Was concerned about our friends Bill & Carol as she hadn't blogged since Tuesday....went on her website today and there she is! Glad things are ok.  

Finally, have a kitchen table...still short a chair but we have a table! Looks nice in our dining area, we got so used to a little two seater that I had brought with us and have on our deck.  Alan said if we get another defect and have to have it replaced, we are experts at putting together so the next one would only take us 5 minutes.  NO, I don't want to do this again...just hope this is the end of this story.

Alan has all the flights booked for the "Lighting Champions" to go to Atlanta, GA in June.  I wanted to go and then fly on to Florida but there is no way I could get the time off.  Funny thing is I STILL have 18 days vacation to book that I have to use by the end of the year.  Getting approval is a different story!

December 2013 with Jackie
Freemont Street Las Vegas

Murial on Building on our drive today!

Other side of the building!

Water and the spring melt in the mountains.

Standing where the road was!

The damages of water!

Showing the devastation of last years flood!

Everyone have a great week....catch you later!

Quite the week indeed!

Well, it has been quite the week at work.  The door on the facility has been swinging wide this week.  The Projects Group that I work in has lost two people (they quit) and the warehouse lost people as well.  One has to wonder what's going on with this company...the smart ones are leaving...and rumour has it the company is in BIG Trouble!  No raises, bonus or cost of living and there won't be anything next year either...we've been told!  Now that's good for motivation and employee retention!

We were hoping to do something "fun" this weekend but it is going to rain all weekend...just hope it doesn't snow.  Temperatures are in the single digits...AGAIN!

Sunset City of Calgary

Was thinking about getting flowers and planting some baskets but think it will be too cold!  I bought some last year and it snowed and I lost those ones....and that was end of May!

Thinking about updating the ensuite off the master...new paint and trim, lighting and accents...(one never knows when we can sell and get out of here)!  I am the type of person that wants to be ready...given the chance, I would have this place on the market tomorrow and we'd be out of here.  Housing prices here continue to rise since the floods last year...the availability of homes is almost NIL!  We ran into the real estate agent Derrick yeterday, he said that homes under 420K is almost unheard of here now which puts us in a great opportunity.

The move here! 2013

The move 2013

Where do I start?

The kitchen!

YES...I still have all the boxes, paper, bubble wrap...I am ready to go on a moments notice!

Broke down and got some plants on Friday night and they are all in their new pots, hopefully they will grow nicely.  We managed to get out water fountains up and running as well.  The back deck (off the kitchen) now has all the furniture back and things are sort of looking ready for a "short" summer.  It can snow every month here so you just never know!


Jackie & John visit July 2013 (51 Millrose)



The Mountains

Lake Louise, AB July 2013 Jackie & John

At a store in Banff, AB...two jokers!  I think I know them!

Supposed to rain and thunder storms today and tomorrow but Tuesday through Friday is to be beautiful sunshine in the mid to high 20's.....(and why wouldn't it be...we are back to work)!  As a matter of fact, we just finished some wicked thunder, hail, wind and heavy rain!

Flowers at  Banff Springs Hotel

I started this post on Friday evening and just getting around to finishing it now....Hope everyone has a great long weekend....I have 9 working days then off to Las Vegas for Lightfair.  We get back from LV and my better half is off to Georgia for a few days...Acuity Lighting Training!

High Roller

Have a great week everyone.....Summer (or spring) might have finally arrived!