Hello everyone and happy holidays!
We will forgo the usual “I can’t believe that another year has gone by” commentary because we know that everyone feels the same way – it can’t have anything to do with our age can it? … or certainly Andrea’s age. (OK, I’ll apologize right up front for any confusion that two people writing one letter is going to cause.)
Although we have had a chance to connect with many of you since we returned to
Since we tried to cover most of our South American adventures in our blog – which we are sure that you all read (lol), we’ll fast forward to our return to
We were finally able to complete the 60 km Skyline hiking Trail in Jasper - this is the same hike that we started four years ago when Andrea managed - so inopportunely - to break her leg. We also spent a week kayaking the 110 km
grizzlies eating salmon in Bella Coola, at which time Ian capsized his kayak and Andrea was sure that she was going to soon be watching the grizzlies eating Ian. And of course we enjoyed copious amounts of sunshine in the Okanagan.
Certainly one of the highlights of our summer was spending three weeks with our grandsons camping and playing. Okay, Andrea does admit that although she now talks fondly of her “summer vacation”, she may have voiced slightly different sentiments the day she dropped the little darlings off at their home… only moments before she fell asleep for a week! Seriously, you can not imagine what it is like to be trapped inside the cab of a truck for hours on end with a two year old that insists that we sing “Oh Canada” over and over and over and……. “Sing Candada ‘gen Yaya” On a bright note, Ian said that my singing had improved considerably after three weeks (… yes, Ian is a wise husband).
Our final trip in the fall took us on the old Kettle Valley Railway for a couple hundred km bike trip along the very scenic old rail-bed. Although it was October and the forecast was for rain and snow, it had been 30’C just days before (this is called foreshadowing). Although we packed all of our camping gear as a backup, we looked forward to the wonderful (and romantic) little bed & breakfast places listed in our guidebook. Well, needless to say, rain and snow it did, and because no others were dumb enough to be biking in this pre-winter season, all of the hotels and “cute” B & B’s were closed…and so we rode and camped, in the snow, and tried to stay warm by using our socks as gloves, and wearing the same long johns that we slept in, under our biking shorts while we rode. Yup, the ever chic Lindsay’s making another fashion statement. The good news was that there were many Okanagan wine festival events, and a hot shower waiting for us at the end of the trip.
It wasn’t until then, when the weather started to change, that we (read Andrea) finally accepted that we needed to make some decisions about what we were going to do next. (We’re sure that Andrea’s sister and her husband had almost given up hope that this day would ever occur, after all, we had managed to take over their home, yard and storage shed for the entire summer. They really, really do deserve an award for putting up with us, and at times, our entire crew for weeks on end.)
Unfortunately, Ian and I differed slightly on what our next steps should be. Andrea wanted to return to work and Ian was quite willing to continue our adventures by heading back down to
Falling back on past conflict resolution approaches – which for us usually means that one of us will give the other a totally unreasonable time frame in which to achieve their objective or be forced to cheerfully default back to their loving spouse’s choice – we agreed that if, within 30 days, Andrea could find a job that she liked, with enough guaranteed hours, but not so many that she would be unable to partake in the leisure activities that we have become accustomed to, in a select community, within an hour’s drive from Kelowna, we would remain in BC. If not, we were heading south for the winter (Ian figured that he had added enough qualifiers, that even Andrea would never be able to get the “perfect” job in that time, and that we would soon be Panama-bound).
Although it took her the better part of three weeks, and she was getting pretty frustrated with the whole process, Andrea was offered a really great position in
Although we have been quite comfy in our digs here at the Shoreline “Resort” in Penticton, it appears that this to will come to an end as we have bought a house in Kaleden – about 10 minutes south of Penticton. Unless the inspection identifies something that we have missed, we expect to close the deal Dec 31st but we don’t move in until March. Once again, true to past practice, we have bought another fixer-upper, but for those of you who are not faint of heart, we will have lots of room for company!
Between taking on the role of chief cook and bottle washer and his general appearance of “keeping busy” while Andrea works (okay, let’s be honest here, Ian may be chief grill master, but suggesting that he actually cooks would definitely be a stretch), Ian fell into some real work. He ended up reluctantly doing some consulting for a company based in
Our family is well. At 87 Ian’s mother has a much better social life than we do (or ever did) and Andrea’s parents have definitely had a much better year than in 2008. The kids are all well and naturally busy with their own lives. We are really looking forward to spending Christmas with them all in
Well, as usual, our brief letter has turned out to be more of a novel which we apologize for. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and happy New Year and send a blanket invitation to come and visit us anytime.
Salud,
Ian and Andrea
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