Winter time

The past 10 weeks or so have brought us constant winter weather with very cold days and regular snow, more so compared to the past 2-3 years during January and February. But the past few days really brought down quite a lot of snow, bringing our neighbor Kurt two Sundays in a row out with our snow blower (so nice to have him handle that machine). Inside we have however nice flowering plants; one needs to appreciate the small things in life.....

Our young nephew Wil studies in northern Ontario from where he sent us last week a photo of his team during an outdoor ice hockey tournament. A very Canadian kind of event.....

Opa Vandenboom would have turned 95 a few days ago. He had a last good couple of years here in his retirement home in Fonthill, so close to his two daughters. Remembering the many games of Rummikub played with him after bringing him his favorite cup of Tim Hortons coffee. And it would have been my father's 105th birthday this month as well. Also already 12 years ago that I spent a year working in Colombia. Recently shared with somebody this photo of a weekend in the coffee zone.

Around the world

Hilary send us a photo from the view of their place in Penticton during a sunset. Mary and I just booked a short one week visit in late March to visit them in late March when Hilary will turn 33. Further west in Korea, Fiona is already almost half a year there working at a preschool English program. This week she has some holidays and send us a nice photo.

Last week during a monthly PROBUS meeting (retired folks entertaining themselves) I met a 90 year old lady with a lot of energy and humor. She gave me a book made by one of her sons based on old notes and photos of her husband. They met shortly before he embarked on a trip to Peru starting in the Niagara Region in 1960, and made it their honeymoon. The photo on the cover of the book (see above) was made in Ecuador in front of a monument indicating the equator line. I visited that place in 1983. Their book is an entertaining read. Much changed in places like Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru compared to when I was in those place during the 1980ies and certainly again now some 65 years later. For me now not much travel anymore. I try to heal my groin injury which takes time and my sweet patience. Making another jigsaw puzzle is as much exercise I get these days, but it is always fun to do and good for the grey cells...

Costa Rica

Mary loves playing scrabble on the internet; here even while in the pool at a resort in Costa Rica where she has been this week with Hilary. The two of them also went on a guided drive in an ATV along the beach to see a bit on the environment.

A good week of relaxation and natural vitamin D through sunshine away from the cold of Canada for Hilary and Mary. On their way home again tomorrow.

Start of a new year

Hilary and Mary are a week in Costa Rica as Mary's present to Hilary for completing her Master Degree in Nursing last year. They picked a good week because here it is a pretty cold and snowy period. They have nice weather and relax in the sunshine plus enjoy the beautiful sunsets over the pacific Ocean....

And while they are entertained by the pre-historic Iguanas eating food of guests from the resort, Poncho and I are in Fonthill real lazy but comfortable buddies.....

End of the year

Hilary and Shayd were over again in Ontario to celebrate Christmas with the family, while Wil went to BC to visit his brother Parker who had to work on the CN trains. They enjoyed skiing in the Rockies these weeks. Fiona had a break from her teaching work in Korea and visited friends in Thailand for a week. At home in Fonthill we had the pleasure of Hilary and Shayd making nice meals, for example this lasagna...

Hilary and Mary made a big snowman in the field across the street with solar powered lights and it gave folks in our neighbourhood a good chuckle, specially at night... Happy New Year to all...

Towards the seventies

Hilary and Shayd moved from Vancouver to Penticton, about four hours to the east inland in British Columbia. Their place overlooks one of the lakes in that region. It is a trial period to see if this suits them better for the coming years while renting out their condo in Vancouver.

And now Hilary joined us a for a few weeks in Fonthill with Shayd coming for a shorter period. Together we went to a theatre Christmas show in Niagara-on-the-Lake on my 69th birthday....

Hilary & Shayd engaged

Shayd asked Hilary to marry him this weekend and she said "yes". What a year this is after Mark asked Carly to marry him in May. Carly and Mark are planning a family-only wedding weekend in May 2025. It is so good to see them all happy with each other.

Elsewhere in the world we have Marcy & Joe visiting Thailand. Together with their oldest son Spencer and two of his friends they are in this photo in a tuk-tuk in Bangkok. Their second son Parker is also somewhere in Thailand and their youngest is home in Sarnia working and looking after the dog Rufus.

In Holland a few weeks ago my oldest sister Ger celebrated her 80th birthday with her three kids and two (of the nine) grandkids. She is planning a big party in late May, so I'll have to travel again... :-)

Three weeks ago I started a 1,500 piece puzzle. The sorting of all the pieces took about three days. And today I completed this work of brain training. It was a second hand so sometimes a few pieces are missing in these situations. This time I had again two missing pieces, but also two left-over pieces who did not fit the empty spots. I checked over and over again, but I could not find whether I made a mistake somewhere. So I am sticking with the theory of two misplaced pieces.... :-)