August already

 This summer is going by too fast. Loving the good warm weather, the rekindled enthusiasm to play 3-4 times a week tennis again and seeing people in general in better moods. A few days ago I was invited to an event at Niagara College celebrating their launch of the Institute for Global Training & Education.

Clearly I had some fun seeing former colleagues again. Proud of the ongoing achievements of a team of professionals I was honored to start and slowly built their collective experience and skills. The next day I took Opa Vandenboom for an afternoon to Port Colborne to have some ice cream, a coffee and some sweets. He is on his way to 95 and still holding up well; not easy to become one of the last standing up of his generation of family and friends.

Summer events

At the Welland Canal (in the part that goes through the city and is now only for recreational use after they made a new part of the canal bypassing the city) one of the summer events is "float fest"; people going in floatables down stream. A colorful fun event with life music and food trucks.

That same weekend I enjoyed watching an "under 18" girls tennis tournament hosted by the Welland Tennis Club. Amazing young tennis talent at display. A 12 year old won the singles final beating the 17 year old first seeded player. I am so glad that I embraced playing tennis again this summer; on the court 3 - 4 times per week....

Mark turned 30 on the 15th and Mary decorated their house as a fun surprise (she did the same for Hilary when she turned 30 two years ago in Vancouver). Mark did a short triathlon race today and was happy with his time. Carly is recovering from an infection on her leg, but Fiona also did the race (as the three of them did two summers ago). Hilary is working hard to complete her Master Degree thesis these days, while co-hosting Shayd's mother in Vancouver during her first ever visit to Canada. Busy, busy...

After the triathlon event we had burgers and salads at the house of Carly and Mark, already wishing Ralph a happy birthday tomorrow (and Susan last week). Summer is such a great time of the year. The new back concrete porch at Mark & Carly is beautiful with well selected furniture. Have a look...

Staying active

I can't believe how much I enjoy having gone back to playing tennis this spring and summer. I always felt that I did not want to do that because I would never be able anymore to play like I did during my teenager years (when I pretty much lived at our local tennis club in Holland between the ages of 14 to 17). But I am now over that mental hump and out there 3-4 times a week. So much fun (despite lots of protests from the old leg muscles....).

These months I go almost everywhere on my electric-assist bike. Finally caved in about wearing a helmet (maybe finally maturing at my old age?). Mary took this photo when I took off on a 40 km bike ride to have lunch at the house of a former colleague. Along the way so many nice spots to take a break and drink lots of water.

Hilary is also enjoying very nice places in beautiful British Columbia, here with her little Poncho (at the moment one of the favorite pics of her mother). 

Continuing the clean up in our basement and purging old stuff, I found this photo in an old University booklet of the house I lived for 6 years with 15 other students. One of them - Huub, in the photo left in the front row, then still with beard - recently visited us in Fonthill (see previous post).

July updates

An old friend from my days at the Delft University of Technology in Holland visited yesterday. We lived together in a student house with 14 others; fun times and great memories. I had not seen Huub for some 45 years. He is making a four week visit through Canada with his wife and their twin sons. We met in a local pub to watch the Dutch soccer team play the team of Rumania at the Euro 2024 tournament. 

Pizza and chicken wings and afterwards they went on their way to make stops in Toronto, Kingston, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Calgary, Banff, Jasper, Vancouver and Vancouver Island. I watched all the Euro 2024 games so far and a few of those games together with Opa Vandenboom ...

During the past few weeks I made a new friend who built 40 years ago a private tennis court next to his house. Bill is now 92 and stopped playing two years ago, but he invites others to use his court. Six days a week he has four people play in the morning for about an hour and half and then he treats them on a ice tea plus a chat. It keeps him young, he says....

Bill and his wife - a few years younger but keeping their gardens every day in beautiful shape - show us all a great way to grow older if you are lucky enough to stay reasonably healthy and live in such a nice house in a lovely quiet place...

People in time

Mary and I had the good fortune to be together with Hilary, Shayd, Carly and Mark this past Fathers Day. Hilary and Shayd were over from Vancouver for five days. We also toasted on the recent engagement of Mark and Carly. After the lunch we made a short walk along Lake Ontario. Meanwhile in Holland my niece Sascha "finally" decided to get married with Joost, her partner with whom she raised their three kids ages 22, 20 and 18. At the photo together with her parents Ger en Bert + older sister Monique and younger brother Berry.

And Fiona had a nice graduation day with her proud parents Susan and Ralph at the University of Guelph. Time marches on.....

Memories

One of my old university friends from Holland was visiting New York and hopped over to Toronto for a few days. Throughout the past 50 years we had fun together as students (especially at the hockey field and along European ski slopes), met up frequently when he lived in NY, Sao Paulo and Amsterdam, and ended up now being two chilled older guys reflecting on life (he even as a grandparent). Age had booked a nice modern style hotel in Toronto which featured old music turntable and vinyl records in the rooms! The second night he was our guest in Niagara.

Old memories put to new life again also on the clay tennis courts during the past few weeks. It has been 50 years when I did that sport last and yes, it still comes back but with super sore leg muscles after two hours of playing once a week. But hey, it worth trying to stay fit and it is a nice group of people at the Welland Tennis Club.

Almost 30 years ago we landed ourselves in the Niagara Region and while cleaning up old paperwork and photos, the above pic has been a favorite (about1998-1999). A few years later (2003-2004) I was in Maputo (Mozambique) a few days with my niece Monique (who then worked two years in Malawi).

Around that same time, I was once able to have my father meet with my father-in-law in Zeist (Holland) where another university friend managed Hotel FIGI. Was fun to do that.....

Carly & Mark engaged

Big news today: Mark asked Carly to marry with him.... wow.... And a happy momma shares the news with her Dad....