Opa Vandenboom

Yesterday was Fathers Day. Despite the ongoing restrictions for Opa Vandenboom of not being able to leave the retirement home, he keeps himself well. Last summer he would very regularly stop by on his scooter; not possible this summer because of the pandemic. Fiona - who works a few shifts each week in the retirement home serving meals in the restaurant - stays many times a bit longer to play some games of Rummikub with Opa. She did yesterday as well. Mary brought Opa fresh strawberries and ice cream so they both enjoyed the treat.

House improvements

Under the leadership of Mary we have done some nice upgrades on our house. The new concrete driveway is finished including the small "retaining wall". Mark and Carly were here this weekend to help with that wall (last week I had done the preparatory work to dig out the space for it next to the drive way edge). Our neighbours on both sides now also have their concrete driveways....

And you have to appreciate the support of our neighbour for the Dutch beer brand....

Carly and Mark took two of our bicyles and added it to their "stay fit" activities in Toronto. Life during the COVID 19 pandemic continues....

Driveway poured

Neighbour Craig came by for a haircut done by Mary last week..... and I helped out the driveway guys one day moving a bunch of gravel.....

This morning the crew came to pour the concrete. Nice process to watch and now we have a driveway that will last for a while..... (hopefully)…...

Driveway and puzzles

Our beaten up driveway has been needing a revival already for several years. So finally we decided together with our neighbours to go for a good solid durable new version.

The first step the past few days was to take out the old stuff... In the meantime I completed a fourth puzzle in three months:

I think that is it for now for making puzzles. Summer 2020, please come. Time for the outside!

Life goes on...

Hilary had a very nice weekend with a few friends boating a bit west from Vancouver. They try to open up life again a bit and Hilary has a friend with a nice boat.

And I started a 4th puzzle.....

Very good read

Just finished a very interesting book. It is a memoir about growing up in an extremely religious family of Mormons in Idaho, USA. It is so far away on the spectrum from my own upbringing in a community in Holland in the sixties/seventies where poverty did not exist and religion became almost extinct. Mental health has so much to do with the environment where one lives.... This story took place very close to the same time period during which Mary & I raised Hilary and Mark....

Snow in May...

Today we had a few short snow flurries....; oh, Canada..... Lucky to be reading a very good book called "Educated". Unbelievable story; must read.