Season’s Greetings from our house to yours! We hope you are
active and healthy enjoying the opportunities life and retirement offer.
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Off to Easter Sunday church
Click on photos to enlarge, then ESC key to return
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At year end, when we become more
reflective, we give thanks for our good fortune and good friends. Despite the
omnipresent threats (and acts) of terrorism, and despite the broad-based
anxiety across the world that anticipates chaos and doom commencing next month
with the new US Presidency, despite Syria and the unprecedented European
refugee crisis, and despite the gathering storm that is the skyrocketing per
capita debt load being thrust upon taxpayers by our Ontario government here at
home, and on and on, we are still smiling and thankful for our situation.
Alarmingly, however, we must be getting old,
since we have settled into a routine – it is not a bad routine to be
sure, but something, in our more adventurous days, we did not imagine ourselves
doing; we haven’t been on a cruise since 2013, and although we are away from
home most of the year, we haven’t even left North America in 3 full years.
The irregular has become regular for us.
So, what have we been doing?
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Our view: December to April. The baby tangelo tree in the
foreground is much larger now, 8 mths later, and already bearing fruit |
We winter in South
California, April-May is in South Carolina, the summer sees us at the cottage
near Ottawa, and in the Fall we take a small trip plus make a short visit back
to South Carolina. And then we wonder where the year has gone.
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| Snow capped mountains at the end of our street |
We love the little house we have owned now for three winters
in Palm Desert, CA, 2 hours inland from Los Angeles. The winter weather
is perfection, the scenery is dreamy, and there is plenty to see and do in the
area with our visitors and local friends.
Nearby Palm Springs is only 17
miles away and has the cutest, mostly outdoor airport into which we fly from
Toronto. This famous Mid-Century city hosts an International Film
Festival for 2 weeks in January, which is always fun and informative, plus
there are State Parks, special sites and many trails where we hike and visit.
And if you enjoy shopping…
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| Zorro gives approval to cruise buddies Bill & Kathleen from San Fran |
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| In the mountains above Palm Desert |
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| Ottawa's Carrie goes gourmet for us |
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| Nearby Joshua Tree National Park with Carrie & Graham |
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| Travel buddies Lynn & Steve visit annually from San Diego |
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| Not counting candles with Lynn & Steve |
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| George & Margaret, long time Vancouver friends |
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| More feisty Canadians in the Desert: Dave & Diane |
In Feb, Don made a quick trip from California to Victoria BC to install a security lock
on the front door of our rental condo that permits secure personalized
combinations to be entered on the lock over the internet and emailed to each
guest – AND for us to know when guests and
the cleaner or workmen use the lock.
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| Active Pass between Vancouver & Victoria |
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| Our Victoria rental condo |
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| Out the window |
Our spring and fall getaway is to Hilton Head Island, SC; a
very special place – 4 hrs east of Atlanta, 2 1/2 hrs south of Charleston, and
45 min north of lovely Savannah, Georgia to which we fly.
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| Meeting up again with Asia travel pals Gord & Suzy; Hilton Head this time |
And Hilton Head was chosen in Fall 2016 by Conde Nast as the
3
rd most popular US island holiday - with Maui and Oahu being numbers 1 and 2 – and with HH a whole lot easier to reach. Check it out if you are interested.
http://www.hiltonheadisland.org/conde-nast
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| Having a spot of tea in Hilton Head |
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| Our screened porch |
Refined, cultural, clean, classy are all appropriate
descriptors for this tightly zoned island where developers 50 years ago
envisioned for this maritime forested, beach rimmed, 5 X 12 mile island, no
neon signs, no ugly strip malls, no casinos, but instead neighborhoods,
restaurants, commercial areas and parklands surrounded by protected forests,
lagoons and beaches without towering highrises, noise or the too usual beach
shenanigans that eventually spoil special places. Plus golf – lots of golf,
over 20 on-island courses – 4 alone in our neighborhood – and 20 more nearby
on the mainland.
Our house there rents out well as a vacation rental, and we
reserve weeks for ourselves to bask in it all, plus do regular maintenance.
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| Part of the Cabot Trail that encircles Cape Breton Island |
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| On the Cabot Trail |
After a late September cottage closing – lots of work
– docks and boats out, pipes drained, shutters on, all liquids brought back by
boat and car to Ottawa since no cottage heat is left on - we flew In early
October to eastern Canada, to spend a wonderful week on Cape Breton Island –
which is the eastern tip of Nova Scotia. Cape Breton is world-famous for
beautiful landscapes and for its distinct Celtic music – especially the
traditional fiddle music – and is also a cultural hub to preserve the Gaelic
language – hence the signage on the locally famous Red Shoe Pub, for instance,
in the tiny village of Mabou, one of the epicenters for traditional music and
home town of several recording artists, like the internationally known Rankin and Macmaster families. We timed our visit to the Celtic Colours 10 day music
festival which spans several concurrent venues across the Island, and we soaked
it in with tickets bought well in advance for the very popular events: square
dances, fiddle playing, barn concerts, step dancing lessons, fun pub music
nights with good Celtic food, and nostalgic, heartbreaking gaelic songs.
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Near the rustic Normaway Inn in
the Margaree Valley - fly fishing country |
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| The Red Shoe Pub, Mabou - an anchor for Celtic music |
For more on Cape Breton music, we made a 5 minute video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRpvGagpoGE
But out of one eye we watched with increasing attentiveness and fear, the path
of category 4 Hurricane Matthew as it bored its way up the east coast of the US
towards Hilton Head.
On Oct 8, for the first time in 80 years, and with a
duration of twelve hours, the full force of Hurricane Matthew made landfall at
Hilton Head, battering it. The devastation was extensive. Because
the SC Governor had ordered the island evacuated, there was no loss of life,
and on Oct. 9 the National Guard and heavy equipment on standby on the
mainland, moved on island to begin clearing the roads and restoring power,
water, and hospital services.
Three days later the island opened to residents
and we flew from Halifax to Savannah to see what God had wrought. Miraculously,
our house and yard were spared, although many around our house were not.
As we write – 11 weeks after the event - we are informed that some 1.2
million cubic
yards of debris have been
removed by the many work crews on the island, much of it gratefully paid for by
FEMA, the Federal Emergency Measures Agency, including just over 48,000 downed
and leaning trees that have gone off to pulp mills in the area. The debris
removal still has months to go.
Now we are back in California until April, already wearing
shorts in cool weather, but with still fleece tops on. Christmas Eve service
nearby was lovely, and on Christmas Day, the turkey aromas permeated the corners of the house. Friends
from Canada and elsewhere in the US arrive mid January for their winter
escapes.
We try to end these year-end reviews with something
contemplative, and this year we happened upon an inspirational video – that
evidently 68 million others have already viewed - from the mormon.org
website. We are not Mormons, or even particularly religious, but the
humanity of this message resonated – and if taken
to heart would definitely help our world. So, if you are interested, take
a look.
https://www.mormon.org/christmas/light-the-world
We are
glad to count you among our friends. We wish you a happy year ahead and
look forward to maintaining contact with you.
Warm regards,
Don and
Colleen
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| Don decorating his own birthday cake... |
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Now THAT'S a coincidence!
Six geese a-laying with Palm D friend Corrie |
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| Easter morning means hot cross buns |
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| Don's mum still doing well at 90 |
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| Hilton Head friends and cruise buddies Eileen & Ed |
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| Zorro at the cottage: look, there's a mouse! get that mouse! |
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| You can never have too many freshly picked grapefruit |
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| Not everything is as it appears in this picture |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRpvGagpoGE
