Cayamo Cruise

Rather than sit at home looking out the window at a growing accumulation of snow, we opted to sail to the Caribbean seas on the Cayamo cruise.  This came about last February when we had a horrible few weeks of bone-chilling temperatures and I saw a post from Molly Tuttle that she was going to be on this cruise.  Right then and there we put our name on the waiting list and waited.  About May 2019 we were able to book our spot and start paying on a relatively painless monthly plan.

The cruise left Monday, February 2nd.  We had a concert to organize with David Francey on Jan 31st so we didn't give ourselves much wiggle room.  It was a great concert with about 100 people attending at the United Church.  Rich and David had to leave early to catch their own flight.

We booked a BnB in Abbotsford for the night before our 6 am flight.  Getting to Abbotsford should have been the easiest part of the trip, but Hwy 1 was closed in not one, but three places from rock slides.  The day of Feb 1st was snowy and the roads miserable.  We went by way of Hwy 24, across to Little Fort and then down to Kamloops.  From there we had to take the Coquihalla highway which we try to avoid.  It was white knuckles all the way.  There was pooled water, slush, then a blizzard and then icy roads.  To top it off, someone lost a complete canopy mechanism off their motorhome and it was blocking one lane of traffic.  Luckily there was room to scoot around it!

We were relieved to arrive in one piece and got settled into our accommodations and went right to bed as we had to get up at 4 am to get to the airport.  Luckily Abbotsford airport is easy to access, easy to get through security, and at 5 am is pretty quiet.  We got to Calgary in time to watch plows attack the snow which was falling and blowing. 

Somewhere over Saskatchewan

Calgary airport plows

However, due to weather, some of the passengers on our flight to Atlanta were late, so we left late and we missed our connections in Atlanta.  A happy meeting happened as we waited in Atlanta and a fellow Canadian treated us to a meal while we waited.  Then off to Miami two hours late.  Our host there, Monty, came and picked us up and we took our weary bones to bed.

Monday, Feb 2nd we headed down to the pier.  Parked ahead of our Norwegian Pearl was the world's largest cruise ship, the Crystal Seas.  Ours held 2,000 people, the Crystal Seas between 6 and 7,000.  We had an inside cabin, small but adequate for the two of us with lots of storage and nicely done up.  We decorated our cabin door with Canada flags, etc. which made it easy to find our place down a very long hallway.

Our first Uber ride to the Cruise boat terminal

Boarding was well-organized and it didn't take long.  We met a Pie Man who gave us this yummy pie.

The long hallway on deck 10

Our room

The Sail-away concert was put on by Mavis Staples, who is still quite the force of nature!  The wind was blowing but nothing could blow away the enthusiasm of a boat full of music lovers.

Lots of people on the pool deck to see Mavis

 From that point on it was wall to wall music, with 5 venues and groups to choose from.  It was hard to find time to sit down for a full meal, so we ended up doing several snack runs through out the day.

Quebe Sisters - triple fiddles and great harmonies

The Soggy Bottom Boys - Bluegrass deluxe!

From the first night, through the second day, we listened to a whole whack of music.  On day three we arrived at our first port of call, St. Croix.  This was a nice, quiet island stop.  We walked down to a quiet part of the beach where we ate some snacks from the ship, swam in the brilliant blue ocean and generally soaked in the views,

Our ship at St. Croix

Happy couple on the beach

Our little piece of shade with the ship in the distance

 More music that evening...and every evening...and day...

Ron Block and Dan Tyminski 

Steve Poltz and Molly Tuttle

We didn't take any pictures of our second port of call, Antigua.  It was busy, touristy and with 3 other cruise ships in port, noisy and congested.  We walked around, but had forgotten to bring money (!) so went back to the ship and enjoyed swimming in a deserted swimming pool.  It was then that Len started to feel sick and overnight was officially "sick".  It took a couple of days to fully recover.

Sunset between Antigua and Miami port

 More music, right up until bedtime.  We had to disembark at 8:30am so didn't stay up very late.  We took our bags back to Monty's and then went and spent the day at Miami beach.  They have a very nice open mall with shopping and lots of outdoor restaurants.  Len was feeling better, so we had Italian late-lunch, after going to see the new Little Women at a theatre.  It was well done and we enjoyed the sitting down in the dark quiet time.

Palm trees on the mall in Miami Beach

 We walked down to the beach, had a cappuccino and tiramisu in another open-air cafe, then Ubered back to Monty's.  The next day we headed over to the Miami airport where we indulged ourselves with a visit to the Priority Lounge.  Too early to drink, but they served good coffee.

Watching planes at Miami airport lounge

The flights home were uneventful and on-time.  Miami to Atlanta, Atlanta to Calgary and then to Abbotsford.  We stopped at the lounge in Calgary as well, this time NOT too early for a drink!  We had three hours to pass, which we did very pleasantly with a glass of wine in one hand, and a snack in the other.

Sunset somewhere between Atlanta and Calgary

 We arrived at our BnB about midnight, hit the bed and then were up ready to go at 7:30.  We ran into Vancouver to pick up a break drum for the Buick, back to the Sumas border to pick up some aircraft headphones and then got on the road for real.

It was a lovely drive, dry roads the whole way.  Back to real life!  Oh, and Emma was fine as we had a lovely house-sitter who cleans when she gets bored.  So the house was spotless as well.  A happy end to a lovely vacation.

2020 Here We Come

The big news for the first three weeks of January 2020 is the weather.  Is there anything Canadians like to talk about more?  Well we have good reason this year so far.

Let's talk about our delightful (not) period of -30 temperatures, the lowest recorded at our house was -39.9 on January 14.  It was a mighty cold week and our geothermal heating could not quite keep up.  So it was time for a space heater in the garage suite where our company was staying (yes, we had Kyla and Chris visiting all during this period) and we kept the masonry heater fireplace stoked all day.  We cocooned in the house, only going out for more cider.

Now we have another issue, it warmed up so quickly that great masses of wet, heavy snow is coming off the roofs.  Len has to work hard to move the snow so that the vehicles can come out of the garage.  He's working off the pineapple upside down cake he had for breakfast.

Len has to use the scrapper to break up the heavy snow before it can be snow-blown

Out with a bang

2019 left us with a bang - on the 31st of December the Highlander, our beloved vehicle, bit the dust.  Actually the tree.  It got sucked into a foot of slush on the side of the road and went down an embankment, stopping abruptly when contacting said tree.  No one was hurt, but the damages to the Highlander were fatal, given its age and the cost of repairs these days.

The tree won

Luckily, BCAA provides wonderful insurance and service and we were actually happy with what they gave us.  However, it will never replace our wonderful Highlander.

Christmas was supposed to be with family, but illness (on their part) interfered, so we were quieter than planned.  Luckily we were able to have a late celebration when they came out in early January.

It was a very Christmassy December, with lots of snow.  A winter wonderland.

Is it Christmas time already?

Yikes!  What happened to the fall??

It seems like just yesterday that we were coming home from the Okanagan, loaded down with fine wines.  Which, by the way, we are carefully saving for special occasions.  One such occasion was Thanksgiving when Melissa, Cathryn and Victoria came to visit.  We opened a bottle of Liquidity merlot and it was so good we finished off the second bottle as well.  I think the rest will wait until Christmas.

I took a quick trip out to Sechelt to see Mom and Dad for their 62nd Anniversary mid-November and it was a lovely time visiting with all the family.  The drive there and back was good too, in the old Highlander.

Len had a unfortunate meeting with a deer here in the 108 district and smucked the front of the Ioniq.  It was in the shop for 5 weeks (waiting for parts ?from Korea?)  So I hopped into the trusty Highlander for my trip.  No snow on the roads and no deer in sight either.  Just got the Ioniq back yesterday.  Don't get me started on the loaner car they gave us.  It was a Ford Fiesta.  A lemon of a lemon, especially in any amount of snow.  Had to tow it up the driveway with the Highlander.  Len considered it a death trap on the highway.  Glad it is gone and the Ioniq is back.

Poor car...but worse for the (dead) deer

The rest of November was full of hospice and choir.  A nice combination, caring and and listening and then singing to be filled with joy.  I helped out with a Butterfly Painting night, which is a fund-raiser for Hospice, led by a very talented artist.  She led 43 (!) people through a 3 hour painting session and at the end they all had a lovely painting to take home.  Not me, I just helped out.  Still chicken as I really believe that the art gene skipped this generation.  Mom has it in spades, but not I.

December has been busy as it always is.  I still do some work for my previous employer, when it suits me. Like when it is a lousy, cold day and I feel uninspired to do anything else.

We bought and installed some new flooring for the basement.  Poor Banjo was blind and deaf before his demise, and couldn't always make it outside to do his business.  No matter how often I cleaned it, the rug never was the same.  So now we have vinyl planks and it looks fabulous!  Took Len 2 days from rip out to replacing baseboards.  Man, that guy can work!  I was the clean up person, as usual.

New flooring in the basement

Now we are looking toward the Christmas season with anticipation.  Our daughter and son-in-law are coming for a few days and it is always great to have family around.  We have been traveling over Christmas for the past several years, so it will be nice to be home.  No Christmas tree yet - we have plans to go and cut one down, but things keep getting in the way.  Maybe when Kyla gets here.

As for Coddiwompling - we are looking forward to our trip in February.  I showed Len the historical weather reports for Feb 2019 and it was miserable and super cold for the whole month.  Thus the cruise for the coming year.  Len predicts the cold weather will come in January and that February will be spring-like.  We'll see!

Christmas may be a super-busy time, but I still love it.  Something about thinking about old and new friends, times past and times yet to come makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.  And the music of course! 

Experiencing Fall in Okanagan Wine Country

The last week of September, I traveled with Len and my brother and his wife to the Okanagan to do a little wine tasting.  This was after a few days at our daughter's home, so we were on the road for about 10 days.  This is the first time that I felt truly "Retired" and on no one's schedule but my own.  Have to say I loved it!

Although we only had 4 days of wine tasting, sandwiched between a day on each end to travel there, it was really fun.  The weather was marginal, but the company was warm and we tasted some lovely wines.   We spent two days on the Naramata bench by Penticton and two more days in the Oliver/Osoyoos area.  We stayed at an astronomy-themed B&B in Osoyoos, but alas the sky was completely overcast and we were unable to visit the stars via the large telescope the host has.  Nonetheless, he showed us some lovely photos and spoke at length about his adventures as an amateur astronomer (although he runs in very professional circles!)

Our favourite wineries were the small, more family-style ones, although the larger, more well-known ones were also fun to visit.  We had an especially knowledgable and friendly chat at the Joie winery on the Naramata bench - also the Elephant Island winery in the same area was quite unique and enjoyable.  We came home with 30 or so bottles, including one Port and one Cassis among mostly reds and enough whites to keep Len happy.

It was good to get out in the car and just go!  Len found pickleball in a few of our stops too, so he was happy.  While he pickleballed, I shopped and actually got some early Christmas shopping done.

By the time we got home, fall was truly in the air.  We had a killing frost, so my squash vines were very black and dead.  The kale fared well as it always does - can't easily kill kale!  A good friend came by and picked our corn so we have quite a few smallish cobs to enjoy this Thanksgiving.

I honestly love fall - the crisp air, the smell of fallen leaves and the sort of "enjoy these last days" sort of mentality that comes with the move closer and closer to winter.  The quality of light is softer too, although the summer never got as hot and harsh as usual this year.  The aspen and birch and poplar trees are turning yellow and soon will be bare.  Such is the circle of life which we are privileged to witness every year with the changing of the seasons.  I feel a little sorry for those who live in a climate that never changes, or changes very little.  However, talk to me in February when I am dreaming of being ANYWHERE warm!

With fall also comes a return to routines - Tai Chi, choir, hospice work and getting together to play classical music with a friend (I play cello, she plays violin).  We have also started a trio playing viola da gambas - a bass (me), tenor and treble.  These mental and physical challenges are meant to keep me going through the long winter. 

Time to get the wood in!

August 2019 (almost on time!)

August catch-up

August was another busy travel month.  Len and I hauled the 1938 Buick out to the car show in Sechelt and took some extra time to visit with all the family out there.  We stayed in a room we outfitted in my parents rental home in Sechelt.  

Other than the tail pipe coming off half-way home, it was an uneventful trip and good to see everyone.

And yes, a couple of weeks later I did another work week in Vancouver.  I know, I know!

Other than that, I mostly did all the regular things and tried to keep  my garden going and also have some fun.  It was a bit hard as the weather STILL was marginal at best, and often cooler than usual.

I enjoyed the times we did simple things like going for a bike ride and visiting friends at Sheridan Lake,  We did a spontaneous thing and took a full day off of EVERYTHING and drove up to Barkerville for the day.  It was fun - we took a town tour, saw a musical review and ate ice cream.  The drive was lovely and the company comfortable.

What I learned in August is that "time marches on".  Staying with my parents, both in their 90s brings certain things to the front of mind.  Yes, there will be a time when I will likely hobble, not walk, when I won't hear or see clearly, a time when the world will get smaller, narrower and harder to navigate.  My Mom is a good example of having spirit and the will to remain involved and to do as much as she can until she can't.  Fighting up-stream, I call it.  Dad had a stroke a few years ago, and added to his very different outlook for life, this means his life is so very narrow and limited.   At this point in life, pleasure and joy comes in small ways.  Watching the birds coming to the feeder, enjoying a glass of cider, having family around, eating together and even watching tennis together - these are joys - these are pleasures.

Knowing we are all on some version of the same pathway means that I don't want to waste a lot of time while I can still drive, see, hear and move around.  I want to be able to look back with pleasure at the memories of things I was able to learn and do with no sense of "I should have done more".  I expect I will still have that feeling, but I am going to do my best to live as fully as I can for as long as I can.  That means being more mindful of the choices I am making, saying YES more often, and not letting fear hold me back.  And being more spontaneous!  And taking advantage of every opportunity to experience the big and small joys of life.

July 2019 (not quite as late)

July catch- up

Between June 24 and July 30th we got 4 3/4 inches of rain.  That is a lot of rain, especially for us, especially in July.  That is all I am going to say about how non-summer-like July was.  

Because of the weather, I ended up working quite a bit in July as it wasn't sit outside at the lake kind of a month.  ( I know I promised not to whine, but can you blame me?)

We had one marginal day in there when our band played at the local car show.  Len ALMOST got the Buick ready and down there.  Next year!  Anyway, our gig went well as we were dressed to avoid the mosquitos and rain.

I did one very fun thing in July.  I drove down to Forest Grove, just outside of Portland for a whole week of viol playing at the Viola da Gamba Society of America's annual Conclave.  There were over 200 people there - all early music geeks.  Who knew?  Apparently it is a thing.  Anyway, I was what they call a "custos" which they thought sounded better than gopher.  I organized the packets and ran registration and then just helped out here and there.  It was a great way to meet people, especially people you want to meet (like the management and organizers).  I learned quite a bit too and offered up a few suggestions of how to make it better for beginners like me.  The weather in Oregon was perfect - no bugs of any kind, blue skies, warm temperatures!  I really enjoyed it.

People have asked me why I went by myself, and didn't that make me nervous.  You know, I would have loved to have shared the experience with another person, but I would rather go on my own than not at all.  I want to take advantage of the opportunities to GROW and I don't mean just grow older either.  I am the kind of person who doesn't mind putting myself forward, saying hi, visiting with strangers and taking the first step.  I also appreciated that when I wanted to be on my own, I could be.

Of all the things I planned to do when I retired, this is actually one of three things I consider to be new accomplishments: 1. Hospice work 2. Tai Chi 3. Viol conclave.

It was a great way to wind up a dreary month with some sunshine and music!