On the bike again

After the almost three months of no to little activity during the prostate problems, it is nice to be on the electric bike again regularly during these beautiful late summer days. On my way to Port Colborne - a ride of about 17 km - I passed the South Niagara Rowing Club (see my hat which is a souvenir of my few years as volunteer while Hilary had some good sport years in the eights, fours and doubles here). 

The boats would come from the storage place a bit beyond the defunct railway bridge to the 2 km race course. It is a bit narrow for six boat races, but it was an exciting venue for us to watch the races. Hilary did well especially in the eight and the four during her first two years (2007-2009 period) and qualified twice to be racing in the famous long distance Boston river races. The tough winter training periods on the so-called 'erg' (rowing machine) slowed down her enthusiasm and her last high school year she did no longer participate. But it got her into a fine fitness shape which she has been able to maintain.

In Port Colborne it was time for a coffee break in the shade overlooking the canal where it ends into Lake Erie. On the photo in the background one of the lake river cruise boats. On the way back I passed one of the lake cargo ships on its way to Lake Ontario. It is always an interesting sight....

Mark and Carly spend a weekend in Sarnia visiting Joe and Marcy + sons. One of the main activities seemed to have been pickle ball games....

Summer ending again

The tree which grew out of control is gone. Two professionals took it skillfully down and Ralph cut the tree in more pieces for firewood for his woodstove heater. 

Leaves and a few other smaller dead trees off to the landfill and our backyard looks a bit more cleaned up again. This summer gave us a lot of changing weather with more rain than usual resulting in still very green fields. Now the average temperatures are going down a bit again; on our way to the Fall.

The past two weeks I was able to catch up with several former colleagues again, among them Tom from Vancouver and Hadi from Kingston. Most of them are still fully active in the working world and others are in the semi-retired stages. It is nice to hear their stories and I must admit that I do not miss the work life anymore. It is good to have this phase of life without deadlines, too many meetings and especially managing people. I look back at a very fortunate, exciting and rewarding career, but it was long enough.

Now is the time to lose myself in many books, the occasional 1,000 piece puzzle, lots of walking, regular swims and exercises + sauna in our basement. I found a fun group to play bridge with on Friday mornings and am looking at some other volunteering with seniors as well as mentoring of younger professionals (who work in the international development field).

And every day being in awe with how close Mary keeps our Canadian family ties. Here she is on the phone with Hilary in Vancouver with whom she chats every day. Same with Mark who lives closer by, her brother, wife and kids in Sarnia (and one of the sons currently in BC), her sister, husband and daughter here in Fonthill (coordinating the daily looking after their Dad). Since my visit to Holland last Fall, I send updates to my sisters and their kids through a Whatsap chat group, but there is no comparison. Each family has its own dynamic of course. 

Summer months

Opa Jos Vandenboom is still going strong, keeping Mary and Susan always busy looking after him and taking him on outings all the time. Every now and then I come to his retirement home to play a few games of rummikub which he still does very well. It is nice to be fully mobile again after those few months with the catheter and the prostate problem. Mary's knee is also getting better all the time.

Mark and Carly played a beach volleyball tournament with friends in Welland. Was fun to see one of their matches. Back on the bike again to do most things. Yesterday to the flatwater center and a short swim in the canal.

Big part of one of the neighbour's tree came down. We will have to take down the entire tree which Trish will organize. I took off all the parts with the leaves and then Ralph came with his chainsaw.

All cleaned up again and Ralph will have some nice firewood, for the time being stored in our little old shed in the back. Now waiting for the rest of the tree to be taken care off....

Deck renovation

The deck on the side door needed to be renovated and we decided to try the expensive but much longer lasting vinyl panels. Before Mark and Shayd would do the fine work, I took on the taking off the old planks and reinforcing the joists. After ten weeks of doing nothing, it was tough on the body but good to do. Kept me busy for four days (slow slow worker....).

Mark (with all the right saws and tools) assisted by Karleigh did a great job with the finer work later joined by Shayd with his carpentry experience. I just lent moral support but enjoyed watching them.

For the new stairs we have to order other vinyl pieces but Shayd left us with a good temporary solution. He will be back here in a month or Mark can do it in the meantime. Shayd visited with Hilary because Hilary has two weddings from old school and university friends these months.

Mark took Shayd for some pickle ball experience in between the construction work and wedding activities. Together with Karleigh they even talked me into a game of doubles. Pretty stiff and slow but still pretty effective at the net with volleys...

Opa Vandenboom came for inspection of the work on the deck and gave his approval. We also took Hilary, Shayd, Karleigh and Mark for a nice dinner along Lake Erie, where we afterwards spend a bit of time on Long Beach. Life is good....

Surgery went well

Yesterday I had day surgery done on my prostate and it went well. They put me under, so I did not notice a thing. Recovery was very reasonable. There was a registered nurse, Melanie, who trained Hilary at the Niagara Falls hospital when Hilary started there 9 years ago. Still a catheter in for a week and afterwards hopefully back to normal bladder emptying....

During the past weeks, Hilary suggested that I read a few books about aging, because the situation with my prostate was a bit of a wake-up call for me. Both books were easy to read and gave me some good food for thought. The second book is written by a 102 year old lady who had an 70 year career as a medical doctor (more on the holistic way of thinking but also interesting to read).

 

Susan celebrated yesterday her 63rd birthday and back in Holland one of  my university friends visited and had a get together with old friends plus spouses. Henk graduated as mining engineer and moved right away to a job in South Africa. Forty years later he still lives and works there.

'Boomkes' back to NL

Jos and Henk Vandenboom (and Henk's wife Toos) flew back to Holland yesterday after a few weeks vacation in Canada. They are two of the three sons of an older brother of Opa Vandenboom. They stayed a few days with Joe & Marcy in Sarnia + a few days with Sue, Ralph, Mary and me in Fonthill. Last Sunday Sue & Ralph organized a picknick along the Niagara River.

They played one afternoon a few games of Rummikub, Opa's favorite game. Lots of laughter and jokes in the dialect of Brabant, the province where the Vandenbooms have lived for generations. The nickname of 'Boomkes' is also in the Brabant dialect. The profile photo below shows that they come from the same gene-pool. It was fun to have them here for a few days.

Fathers Day in the park

Today was the annual national Fathers Day in Canada and we had three visitors from Holland: two sons Henk and Jos from Joe (Jos) Vandenboom's older brother Jas (+ Toos, the wife of Henk). Sue and Ralph organized a picknick lunch in the park along the Niagara Parkway near Niagara-on-the-Lake. So we had three Jos-persons there today.....

The Parkway is a 40 kilometer stretch of national park grounds along the Niagara River from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. A popular place for families to hang out together during weekends. This was the first time we did it with the - extended - Vandenboom clan. Behind the tree line is the river and across from there you can see New York State.

Wil had his first experience to barbeque on coals, supervised by Joe and Mark (for whom this was a first as well). In the background the rest of the gang around the picknick table with food. Afterwards we enjoyed some exhibition 'spike-ball' games by Joe, Spencer, Wil and Mark. Kudos to Joe to keep up with the young dogs.....

The Dutch visitors - after a ten day tour through parts of BC - spent a few days with Joe & Marcy in Sarnia, where Henk competed with Joe in making the best Dutch style 'pannekoeken' (pancakes).

During the past weeks Mary has been recovering from her knee operation and one day she ventured with her Dad on two scooters (Mary on an old one we have stored in our garage). Too funny a sight..