Family

Peace out Dad

Dad relaxing in 2011

Burton Leslie Anthony “Les” Trask
Les was born in Montreal, QC June 13, 1943 and died in Mission BC, August 9, 2017.
Left to remember him are his wife of 51 years, Annabelle and their children Bridget (Ed), David (Kinoi), Catherine (Graham) and Elizabeth (Hans Erik), and their Grandchildren Kristina (Austin) and Raynn-Beau (Adam) with  great-grandchild Samuel, Les’ mother Linwood and 3 siblings Mike, Pat, and Matt, his nephews and nieces. No service by request; family gathering at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to littlefreelibrary.org
Memories, photos, and stories can be shared at memories.of.les.trask@gmail.com

Les and Uncle Matt in 1959
Trask family photos taken by Linda Greene at Mike and Mary’s house in 1984. Dad is joking with Uncle Matt and wearing the sharp red plaid sports coat, looking all Ron Burgandy
Dad making coffee in the downstairs suite of the Mission house
Dad and David helping me clean out the Vancouver apartment in September 2016
Dad’s 70th birthday (steel drum player not shown)
At mom’s 70th birthday
At the House on the Hill, Christmas 2015 with snow!
Driving the Aviator out of the Hemlock House apartment in September 2016
Mom and Dad on the Ferry coming back from Elizabeth’s in August 2016
Research, Sask

Front page

Screen shot of the webpage

It turns out being on the front page of the University website is considered a bigger deal than the local paper – which I found this week. There were WAY more comments about the web article than anything from the Star-Phoenix or Leader-Post!

Cute!, Family

Happy 40th Birthday Graham!

Graham’s new little buddy, Gingey the Mission neighbourhood kitten. He friendly to everyone but loves Graham the best!

In honour of Graham’s milestone birthday, here is some photos of him with cute kitties. Have a great day, Graham!

Graham with the now-famous Diesel

These gingers are so cute together!
Research, Sask

In the news

Catherine Trask (right) and Xiaoke Zeng (left) use a device to study famers’ exposure to body vibrations. (photo by David Stobbe for the University of Saskatchewan)

My student Xiaoke Zeng and I were in the Saskatoon newspaper to talk about some research results from the Farmers Back Study.  I thought the journalist did a nice job of making the science understandable – let me know if it made sense to you!

Looks like it got picked up by MedXpress and Regina Leader-Post as well.

Catherine Trask (right) and Xiaoke Zeng study farmers’ exposure to body vibrations (photo by David Stobbe). Credit: University of Saskatchewan
Canada, Family

Spring picnics – Swedish style

Classy picnics with tablecloths and everything

Swedish springtime can be cold and rainy, but folks are so eager to get out during the long days after a dark winter that picnics with heaters, blankets, and fires are pretty common. On my visit to BC last week, I had some Swedish-style picnics with my family.

Puffer jackets around the fire
Sometimes it was sunny enough for sandals!

We had a picnic (almost) every day and hardly got rained on at all!

We had some pretty awesome meals in the yard, since we didn’t have to carry anything very far
Cute!

Introducing Vin Diesel

This post has nothing to do with the fast and the furious, and no apologies for that.

Giant Maine Coon sitting on the fence

While visiting my parents in March, I saw a cat in the backyard as I was doing dishes. I tiptoed outside to try to convince the cat to be petting, but she came running right over, and purred REALLY loudly. Mum came out to see her, and said she sounded like a diesel, so that’s what we called here. David decided one name wasn’t enough, so she became Vin Diesel.

She makes herself comfortable on Mum’s recliner

She is comfortable coming inside, and has event gotten some treats left over from the last friendly neighbour cats that moved away a year ago. She has been visiting almost daily and usually gets up to some cute hijinks during her visit. She is really big and fluffy, and she seems smarter than usual, so we suspect she is a Maine Coon.

Like she owns the place

Of course, Diesel can’t be the cutest kitty of all time, since that title is held by long-departed grey kitty (see below). However, she does seem to be the cutest kitty currently.

Your kitty is great and I’m real happy for you, but grey kitty is the CUTEST KITTY OF ALL TIME

Adventures after Sweden