Pictures for the last few days

So the picture above was made a few days before we left for Florida, a time when we were almost snowed-in.  This was the first time in years that we were home for Christmas, with a few decorations even...

The next picture was made just as we were leaving: first Joan's car is delivered to Christopher, and mine is just warming up to follow. Then we left from Ottawa to head South.

As you can see, there's more snow than we've had for years.  Previous posts have described our trip south.

Now we're happily ensconced in Fort Myers, as we should be.  Of course, Christmas 'down here' is somewhat different.  Here's a local Christmas tree for your enjoyment.

Note the many small and what I would have thought of as personal decorations.

And for the grand finale, here's a bouquet of flowers for you to enjoy as you enter a new year of very good health, filled with laughter every day.  Enjoy!

LANDED Fort Myers Fl.

Just to let you know that we've arrived in Fort Myers and are joining Chris and Peter for a good time in Florida.

Our road trip today started around 9:30am, and we had clear skies all day.  Morning started at roughly 6ºC and ended at 17ºC: just what's needed to get rid of the northern winter blues.

Just so you know, Joan and I are wearing sandals, no socks, and short sleeves.  With luck, we'll get rid of the fleeces tomorrow... and wear shorts soon.

Today's trip was quite uneventful; somewhat heavy traffic, mostly at the 70mph speed-limit, and clear sailing all the way.

We arrived here at 5pm, about a half hour after the original predicted time determined this morning: not bad at all, considering the traffic.

We are now in a gated community containing three nine hole golf courses, well manicured and our place is a very comfortable two bedroom two bathroom condo on the second floor.  The pool is only about 100 meters away and has two large gas BBQs for our use.  We might gain some weight here...

Joan seems to have lost her voice, and supper included a fair bit of wine, so the household will be calling it an early night.  Our good friend Jan Pierce has left Minnesota and is on her way to the state park nearby.  

All in all, a great day!  Hope you and yours are enjoying the same.

Savannah GA, No More Snow!

We actually hit the road by 8am, how's that for an early start?

Overnight, we received a light dusting [1/2"] on the cars, but the roads were only wet, nothing serious.  

Once we were on the Interstate 81S, things started getting more interesting; first there was snow, then there was more snow, and finally, still more snow.  The road never did get covered, but it did get wet and windshield washer fluid was required.  Yesterday, our system was frozen and wouldn't do anything but sputter a few drops, once filled and given time, it thawed and was its usual reliable self.  Today, it was just fine, and kept us on the road all day, but I digress yet again.

Visibility was getting quite short by 9am, and traffic was a reasonable 35-40 mph, with the usual idiots playing Russian Roulette with us as 'collateral damage'.  As it turned out, no accidents, the occasional car in the ditch, but most people getting to their respective destinations safely.  Eventually, speeds reached their limits and all was well.

By 11am, the clouds parted around us, the snow disappeared, and the road dried up; so far so good, we seemed to have once again beaten the predicted storms.  There seem to be serious snow-storms where we had been driving yesterday, and storm clouds were very much in evidence at the horizon in all directions.  We were just lucky I guess.  My Brother Ron's watchful eye on the weather on our behalf hasn't failed us yet...  Job well done, Bro!

Our only travel problem consisted of a few of those strange highway slow-downs that seem to have no reason at all.

Have you ever noticed that fast moving, relatively heavy traffic can suddenly come to a grinding halt for quite some time [like over ten miles! / half an hour or more!] and then, without warning, the traffic loosens up, speeds up, and you never see a visible reason why this whole mess occurred in the first place.  We likely lost about two hours to three of those weird slow-downs today.

At a proper 'supper time', we gassed the car [at about a $20 saving] and had a good meal at Ruby Tuesdays: a chain of restaurants with a great salad-bar for Joan, and wonderful hamburgers [or steaks] for me [I'm an obligate carnivore after all].  After that pleasant break, we returned to the Interstate to head further south and avoid more poor weather.

The good thing is that we're now in Savannah Georgia where the temperature is 44ºF, well above freezing!  We're trying out a Cambria Suites motel, and so far, Joan is in love with the comfortable tub, and I'm surprised at the fastest internet access I've ever had on the road. great!  This exit has all the motel chains in spades, the Cambria Suites is not the biggest, but it does have four floors, a bar, a pool, and a restaurant.  Joan might want to stay another night...

We heard Killdeer and saw many hawks, the world is unfolding as it should.  Great!

Tomorrow should see us in Fort Myers, beyond any snow, most rain, and with good friends to celebrate New Year's!  How much fun is that?  Hope you have good friends and family to celebrate with, especially people who make you laugh a lot.

Southward ho!

As usual, a crack of dawn departure is always loosely planned, and this year was no different.  While we left the Folly around 10am, our actual departure southward was at 11:15 with an expected arrival time of 11:40, twenty four hours later, but then you already knew that.

Our first delay was on the 401, near Brockville: a good 50km at a snail's pace.  By the time customs arrived, our trip had lengthened by a half hour or so.  By the time we reached Scranton PA, we ran into, or should that be walked into another unnecessary slow-down, and another hour or so was added to our trip.  If we hit much more traffic, we may never get to Florida, but I digress.

Much to our surprise, the roads were mainly clear and dry, until we reached the lower half of NY.  It was also clear skies, and even a full moon tonight.  Gas in the states saves us about $20 a tankful, the more you drive the more you save!

We're still hoping to beat the snows predicted for tomorrow.  We're not that far south and already the temperature is at freezing, but I guess I shouldn't rub it in.   ...much.

Maybe with faster internet I'll be able to add a picture tomorrow.

Christmas Letter 2012

We hope this note finds you hale and hearty, and that you are looking forward to celebrating Christmas and the start of a new year. 

We survived the angst of buying a new condo last year while trying to sell our ‘old’ condo in center-town.  The overlap lasted three and a half months before we finally moved to our ‘Folly’ in mid-December. Our new digs in Stittsville are now about 30 minutes closer to Frankie, Joan’s well loved steed and pet.  The Folly is a semi-detached bungalow, with a full basement.  It’s also a condo where all the exterior work is done for us [for a fee of course].  All in all, the move went very well, we fit in the condo very nicely with room to spare, including a spare room for guests.  We managed to attract birds at our feeders and our world is unfolding as it should: we both enjoy life at the Folly very much.

Last summer, we enjoyed a great boat cruise to Alaska, a long-standing Bucket List item.  We were a group of four couples [two from a previous cruise, one from the barn] and with the good company, great food, pleasant excursions, we all had a very good time. Our land excursions included the White Pass train, a smaller boat ride to the face of a glacier, a photo shoot for Paul that included a rain forest, glacier, whale and seal watching, and ended up with 8 or so bald eagles in one shot.

As usual, time flew by, and in the Fall, we drove to Thornbury to visit Barb & Norm, friends we met in Grayton Beach well over ten years ago.  Thornbury is on lake Huron, beyond the escarpment, where beautiful scenery is 'the' standard.  They even have a sizable micro-climate where apples, peaches, and grapes grow very successfully.  The Fall colours were at their best for our return trip.

Paul flew out to Okotoks to stay with Colleen, Nick and play with the boys, just before school started.  As usual, Jacob [12] and Eric [9] are growing up way too quickly and continue to be fine grandchildren, a credit to their parents.  

Both are doing well in school after a little help from Kumon, a private tutoring firm.  What is really fantastic is that the boys are now picking up books, just to read as a pastime.  This will serve them well forever.

Colleen aced her medical office assistant course and is out working.  She’s now happily working at the Foothills Medical Care Centre.  It’s a long commute from Okotoks to the North West part of Calgary and the hope is that with experience, Colleen may transfer to a new hospital at the South East end, saving a half hour travel each way.

Nick’s business is doing well and keeping him too busy.  In September, Nick turned the magic 'four-o' and treated himself to a Harley Davidson.  He’s a responsible driver, enjoys riding both for commuting and relaxation, and is developing deep laugh-lines from smiling all the time.  Another successful 'tick' on his Bucket List.

Kathleen and Phillip are still happy in San Diego.  Kathleen is enjoying life as a successful massage therapist, and taking courses to learn new techniques.  The satisfaction of helping people keeps her working harder than she should at times but after some rest to overcome the exhaustion, she’s back at the table.

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Phillip is still hard at work solving problems with the added challenges of new management directions such as off-shoring. ‘nuf said.  We now have a glimmer of hope that they might actually move closer, stay tuned.

In Ottawa, Nancy is still teaching crafts at Michaels and loving it.  

Sophie [8] and Caitlyn [6] are being spoilt gently by Grandma and are learning the joys of sleep-overs with us, at the Folly. Both are talented painters and Sophie loves reading.  The girls have very limited access to TV and are completely transfixed to the exclusion of all else when the TV is on.  We have discovered that while we can eat and watch TV., the girls can’t...  Both are enjoying French immersion and test Grandpa now and again..

Christopher is still suffering some ill effects of a bad fall last year.  He lost some of his sense of taste and  hearing in one ear.  A hearing aid helps, as do spicier or stronger tasting foods, but this has not been easy for Christopher and we are very proud of how he is handling it all.  Nancy and Christopher have decided to live apart, and Christopher bought a condo near the house. All seem to be adjusting and adapting to the situation fairly well.  All concerned will suffer somewhat, as will friends and family; together, we’ll muddle through.

Christopher is working very hard at the office and is actually flying to Orlando today [if the freezing rain doesn’t close the airport] to moderate a conference in the hospital accreditation field. We are amazed at how he is dealing with all the stress.

Joan is still enjoying riding, taking lessons, going for hacks with friends, and just being at the barn with all its horse-smells, tack, and chores.  Her barn life also includes being the wise confidant to many young riders, and basically having the time of her life. 

After earning the provincial championship in her class of dressage, Frankie is retired now.  Retired just means no more competition and a somewhat easier schedule.  At 16 or so, she’s still boss-mare and can be strong-willed at the hands of a weak rider.  Frankie and Joan are a good match and share very good times.

I have found new space to spread out in the Folly, and spend lots of time in the man-cave, sorting out pictures, pixels, and getting ready to do some serious printing eventually.  I have too many pictures and am slowly learning to be harsher in my deletion of the bad pictures.  The problem is, I should be brutal and delete everything but the very best: I’m not there yet.

With Winter at the door, Joan and I are starting to think about beaches and warm weather.  We’ll host Christmas here with Kathleen and Phillip joining us and the locals.  With Colleen at the bottom of the seniority list, it’s unlikely that the Okotoks bunch can make it this year.

Caitlyn and Sophie, with a little hoisting from Christopher, just decorated our first tree in years, 

Joan has been cooking, baking, shopping and making all the arrangements necessary for Christmas to ‘just’ happen.  As usual, there will be family and friends, too much food, deserts, and snacks, and everything will work out just fine as people enjoy each others company and laugh a lot. 

We wish you the same and good health for the coming year.