Happy New Year!

We have continued our trip westward and this weekend/yearend finds us at the headwaters of the Columbia River in Fairmont BC. We began the week with another celebration of Christmas with the congregation at Glen Elm in Regina. Then, we engaged in further gift exchanges with Wendy’s family. On Tuesday, we sacrificed another turkey and enjoyed yet another celebration of Christmas, combined with a celebration of Eric/A’s 18th Anniversary! It was a great week in Regina, with lots of food and talk, and plenty of Mexican Train and Nerf guns! On Friday, we packed up and drove to Fairmont. Driving conditions were not ideal with a lot of ice issues on the TransCanada west as far as Swift Current, and then we ran into falling snow before we even got to the mountains. We are now at Fairmont Hot Springs, a golf, ski and hot springs resort on the western slope of the Rockies. I guess the hot springs are doing fine, but the golf course is bare which implies the ski hills are bare, too. Not a good arrangement for a ski vacation! As good management would have it, they have snow-making equipment, so the local mountain has all runs operating. The TSX was only open for three days this week, but I managed to make a small profit. It is a touchy business when you’re not only managing your own pension, but also drawing from it. With the TSX down 11% on the year, it has not been an easy time, but I’ve managed to show a small gain over the course of the year, so, while I haven’t managed the kind of increase I was planning on, at least the accounts have grown a little bit. In another twist, I left my wallet in Thunder Bay. Thankfully, Travis retrieved it, and mailed it to me in Regina. It arrived on Thursday, to my relief. Eric/A and the boys are with us here in Fairmont, so that makes it even more enjoyable. We have a unit and a half, so the boys are relaxing in their own side, while Eric/A also have a place of their own. It should be a relaxing week. 

Erin and Kristian travelled to Regina with us. We enjoyed celebrating with them. We enjoyed a visit with them, Mark and most of the Roberts’ family one evening. Erin flew home on Wednesday evening to snow-blowing and work; well, come to think about it, those are both work! Kristian has continued westward with us, and is enjoying continuing to spend time with his cousins and to build Lego projects! 

Trav, Joanna and the children are doing well. They took care of Sadie while Erin was travelling. Aside from a few holidays, they are back at work, hockey and life. 

And that’s about it for this week/year. Happy New Year, everyone! 

News Update

Glædelig Jul! Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noël! Feliz Navidad!

Another week has passed, and we have moved from my hometown on the shore of Lake Superior, to another of my hometowns, on the shore of Lake Wascana. It's been a great week on the markets as the long-awaited Santa Rally finally arrived, when for no apparent reason, the markets began moving up, whereas previously, for the same reasons, they were moving down! I gained almost a month's worth of value, so that helps a lot. I was also blessed with multiple celebrations of Christmas, along with the prospect of even more! On Tuesday evening we celebrated with the family in TBay—a turkey dinner with all the fixings, complete with turnips and pumpkin pie! On Friday evening we joined the Kenora section of the family for further celebration—a ham dinner with all the fixings, no turnips, but we did get some lovely desserts! Today we drove over to Regina where we anticipate further celebrations. 

Wendy has been occupied with catching up on paperwork and record-keeping this week. Then she was occupied with Christmas dinner. Then she was occupied with Christmas presents. Then she was occupied with Christmas baking. Then she was occupied with getting ready for the next trip. She has not been much occupied with sleeping! Well she did sleep most of the five-hour drive to Kenora and the eight-hour drive to Regina! 

Erin and Kristian are along with us on the trip. They've been busy with the special events at school this week, along with getting ready for the Christmas and the trip. Kristian has once again scored numerous Lego sets, and he's loving it! 

Trav and Joanna are staying in TBay. They have an extra dog (Sadie) and they have the kids part of the time. Trav's hockey team is continuing to enjoy their winning ways. The latest victory vaults them ten points ahead in first place in the league. Trav continues to frustrate over his delayed office space. He's looking for alternatives. Joanna continues to be very busy with work—blood letting knows no season! In sum: they're doing fine! 

And that's about it for this week. 

News Update

Our holiday is over and we have returned to the shore of Lake Superior. We concluded our trip with a great week in Naples. We drove up to Orlando on Friday and flew back to Duluth today. There we were reunited with our car for the drive home; we plan to complete the drive tomorrow. Viggo and Nancy joined us in Naples this week. We enjoyed that. Viggo and I got out golfing a couple of times. At Hibiscus Golf Course, I had one of my best games, including my third-ever eagle. Wendy and Nancy got in some shopping, chatting, reading and lying in the sun! There were a lot of beautiful golf courses there; unfortunately, most of them weren't open to me. I had an interesting experience one day. Wendy wanted to do some shopping, so I took note of a couple of nearby golf courses and decided to hit the driving range and practice areas. I must have stopped by a dozen before I found one that would let me on. Most just had gates that I didn't have a code for! One had a gateman, and my chat with him was informative. 

Good morning, sir. 

Good morning! I was just wanting to go in to use the driving range. 

Oh, do they have a driving range? 

Well, I'm not sure, but I'd like to check it out. 

I'm sorry, sir, but if your name is not on my list, I cannot let you in. 

Well, I just wanted to go to the driving range. 

Do they have a driving range? I wouldn't know. You see, sir, I've never been past these gates either. 

The 1% are doing fine, and they have nice golf courses. At least the views I got from Google maps look good to me! Naples is reputed to have the second greatest concentration of millionaires and billionaires in the world, and they are not interested in having me play on their golf courses! Meanwhile, the markets have continued their unfortunate ways. We did get some recovery on Thursday and Friday, still, it was a down week for me. 

We've been chatting with Erin and Kristian on FaceTime despite some spotty internet connections. Kristian got new skates and a new helmet, so he'll be continuing to learn this skating business. Erin got winter tires on her car just in time for an ice storm—she was glad to have them. 

Trav & Joanna are doing fine. They are continuing to develop the new place with the furniture we have been storing in our garage, so that's a positive development as well. His Elks hockey team is doing well, although they lost the championship game last weekend in Wisconsin in triple overtime. His Penguins are doing fine also, but Crosby is out again with concussion-like symptoms. Joanna and Wendy are working to organize a Christmas dinner before we head west next week. 

And that's about it for this week. 

News Update

Our ship came in! 

This week has taken us far from the shore of anywhere. We left the Atlantic shore of North America from Port Canaveral on Sunday; we sailed through the night to Freeport, The Bahamas. It was our first time on a cruise, and we both experienced some queasiness the first evening. We enjoyed our time aboard—there are quite a number of activities, and an endless supply of food! Throughout our time on the cruise we enjoyed great food. There was a putt-putt course; the gentle rocking of the boat and constant wind added complication to that game! We had a fully-equipped exercise area with lots of machines for exercise, weight-lifting and conditioning at our disposal—we didn’t make much use of them! After an overnight sail, the first day was spent in Freeport. The second day and night were spent at Nassau where we enjoyed more sightseeing and a lot of shopping in the Straw Market. The vendors were used to bargaining, and were eager for sales, but we’d been to the Vic Falls markets, and these people did not measure up to that earlier experience. Finally, we spent a day and night at sea cruising back to Cape Canaveral where we arrived on Thursday. We moved into a short term time share in Orlando for a couple of nights, and have now set up in another time share in Naples. As suspected, we were out of internet during our time at sea, although we could have bought a connection if we’d been willing to pay the price! We lucked out with a brief connection while we were in Nassau, but finally, we feel connected to reality once again. All in all, it was just okay to be on the cruise and get a feel for how the 1% live. It wasn’t really our style, lots of activity, but nothing to do, so beyond a long held wish to take a cruise up the BC coast to Alaska, I doubt that we’ll be seeking out many cruises in the future. We spent the day on Thursday driving over to Orlando by stopping at the JFK Space Centre. It was great, and we look forward to bringing the grandsons. We couldn’t see it all in the time we had, but we were impressed by what we saw. We went golfing on Friday. We had some difficulties getting everything started, but eventually it turned out very nicely. Wendy even skipped one across the water to a peninsula green! Then today, we moved down to Naples where we will complete our Florida vacation. The markets have been riding the European roller coaster all week with big swings up and down that ended up getting me nowhere. The year is running short, and I’m still short of the needed funds for next year. 

One of the retired shuttles

We’ve been able to catch up to Erin and Kristian via FaceTime. They’re doing fine, holding down the fort at home. Kristian has returned to speech therapy program with a formal assessment this week, so we’re glad of that. 

Trav, Joanna and the children are also doing well. Trav’s Penguins and Elks are continuing to thrive in hockey and work is going fine. He’s still looking to establish his office more completely in the new building, but nothing much is developing there yet. This weekend he’s in Wisconsin with his team at a hockey tournament. 

And that’s about it for this week. 

Florida

World Golf Hall of Fame

Another week has passed; it finds us on the shore of the Atlantic, far from my hometown. The markets were up this week, and, while I haven't been as active as I could have been while we've been travelling, I still managed a good gain. We started south on Monday, driving down to Duluth. On Tuesday we flew to Orlando, picked up our rental car, a VW Passat, and drove over to our timeshare at Ormond Beach. We have enjoyed nice weather here with golf, sightseeing and walks on the beach. We drove up to the World Golf Hall of Fame on Friday, that was a highlight for sure! We played 18 holes there on their grass putt-putt, and we took the challenge of hitting the replica of the Island Green. One of us hit the green, the other hit the water! Today, I found a Bridgestone Challenge site and had my ball-striking analyzed and a golf ball recommended. That was interesting. I've been to the range and practice area a couple of times, but it's been too windy for me to enjoy golf. The weather has been warm, and getting warmer, but nearly always windy. We eased into it at 20 degrees, and have worked our way up to 25—very nice! Tomorrow we check out of here and check in for a cruise. We're looking forward to that. 

Hitting to the Island Green

Wendy has been enjoying the sightseeing as well. She even climbed up the highest lighthouse on the coast. Her legs did not enjoy that! We catch up with Erin & Kristian via FaceTime most days. We'll miss that in the next week, as we expect to be out of internet reach while asea. It sounds like they're doing fine, and the weather has been cooperating so she hasn't had to deal with snow since we left. 

We've also had email contact with Trav & Joanna. All seems to be going as per usual there except that his hockey team finally lost a game, so they're 11-1 on the season now. 

And that's about it for this week.