February updates

It was "Family Day" today in Canada, a relatively new National Holiday. Marcy, Joe and Wil came over (with Ruff) from Sarnia. A nice lunch was hosted by Sue and Ralph with a big cake for three of the four birthdays this months (Spencer was celebrating his recent birthday with a few friends in California during their March Break). Opa (93), Marcy (52) and Fiona (21) + Spencer (22).

Poncho checking out big Ruff who was taking over his bed....

Will bought our old Honda CRV as a "fixer-upper" and proudly taking off to Sarnia (with his Mom keeping an eye on it during this first ride). We bought this 2007 car in 2008 with very few kilometers on it and enjoyed the use of it during 14 years putting close to 400,000 kilometer on it. Adios to one of the best car we had in our household....

And another completed beauty of a puzzle (despite as a "second hand" missing a few pieces)....

Winter season again

The youngest son of Marcy & Joe in Sarnia has an interest to buy our old beaten up Honda CRV. It could be a project to fix it up with his Dad and drive it for the Spring-Summer season. So I put a "reserved sign" on the car.... Winter has been kind of mild after the heavy snowstorm of just before Christmas. This week however pretty cold and windy (-8 to -15 C).

Poncho has been with us in Fonthill now for two months. During this period Hilary and Shayd are having a good time in New Zealand staying with Shayd's mother and doing trips around the South Island. They have one more month down under including a few weeks in Australia. In the meantime Poncho is fine with us. Mary builds him a "throne" of pillows on the couch so that he can look out of the window (while being comfortable on a heated blanket....). He has been spending also a few weekends with Carly and Mark in Stoney Creek, who like to have him over...

With the cold weather, I started another 1,000 pieces puzzle. This one I took from Bert during my visit to Holland. A nice scenery of boats of the 17th or 18th century. Almost done by now... 

On Facebook today a memory photo showed up from 9 years ago. During one of my work trips in January 2014 I stopped by in Amsterdam and played an evening field hockey with Age and friends....

New year updates

Not too much excitement in the new year so far. During the cold spell, I worked a week or so fanatically on a puzzle. When I get one started, I just can't stop.....

Poncho is easy to have around and he loves to cuddle up to a body or under a blanket. In the evening he can get a bit of a bugger suddenly unleashing energy wanting to play and being a bugger. But then he sets in for the night and sleeps a good 12 hours....

Mary and Susan continue to keep Opa Vandenboom looked after, busy and entertained. He is one lucky fellow at his age compared to so many lonely older folks. 

Unfortunately I had a little mishap today at a parking lot of a restaurant where I met for lunch with two former colleagues of Niagara College. One moment of being distracted and I rolled against a concrete foundation for a street light in the middle of the parking lot. It is unbelievable and so me. Ah well. Maybe I can find a body shop fixer who can get it done with a few second hand parts. If not, it will probably be bye-bye to the good old CRV which served us so well and has almost 400,000 kilometers clocked. In its old age it did bring me safely back and forth to Vancouver in October 2021 (there) and June 2022 (back)...

Few more 2022 pics

Joe made everybody nice pancakes for breakfast before some of us went for a 5 km walk along Lake Huron. It was a nice belated Christmas day (on Boxing Day) in Bright's Grove.

Reading while cuddling with Poncho (while Hilary explores the South Island of New Zealand). Shayd enjoys spending some time again with his mother and sister.

December events

Parker, the middle son of Marcy & Joe, works as conductor for CN Rail in BC and now misses most of the annual family events. He was over in Ontario for a week and with two of his Sarnia friends stayed over for a night. He stopped to see his grandfather, Opa Vandenboom, who is still looking very good at the age of almost 93.

After the early December Christmas dinner when Hilary and Shayd were here, we had another one with Roos, the older sister of Ralph. A snowstorm prevented us to go to Sarnia that day....

With all the snow, stormy winds and artic cold outside, it was a good moment to start another puzzle, one which was gifted to me by Carly & Mark for my birthday. The different phases of the process starts always with sorting of all the 1,000 pieces and coming up with a system of attack...

All the while with Poncho semi-hibernating under the blankets in his favorite spot. On boxing day (in Holland called "2nd Christmas Day" (tweede kerstdag), the weather allowed us to drive to Sarnia.

Opa in the front passenger seat with me in the back with Poncho bundled up in a blanket...

A third family Christmas dinner this year - this time in Sarnia - and an evening full of card and other games. On to the last few days of 2022; it has been a nice year...

Updates

In Holland, Monique and Marco got officially married (in the presence of Ger, Bert, Sascha and Berry) so to see in a very artful place. For both of them it is their second marriage and together they now take care of four kids; a busy household...

During the past two and half weeks, I have watched almost all the games of the group phase and the round of 16 of the current World Cup Soccer. The men in orange made it to the quarter finals (or the round of 8) and will face the always strong team of soccer-crazy Argentina on Friday....

With Hilary and Shayd taking off to New Zealand for the next three months, Mary and I will take care of their dog Poncho. This morning I walked Poncho over to Opa Vandenboom. Something we will likely do quite a few times as long as the sow is not too heavy...

Hilary and Shayd visiting

Hilary and Shayd are visiting again so we did an extra early Christmas dinner at the house of Susan and Ralph. Everybody was there except for Parker who works for CN Rail and was still in Kamloops, BC. Shayd and Hilary prepared lamb while Susan, Ralph and Mary made several side dishes. Afterwards we played a few games. A very nice family day. Hilary and Shayd will leave Poncho with us after this visit because they will travel to New Zealand and stay three months there. Shayd has not been able to visit his mother, family and friends there during the past four years. Hilary can continue her work on-line; Shayd will do some jobs with old friends, and they were able to rent out their condo in Vancouver. The modern world! We will enjoy taking care of Poncho during that time.