New Years Eve

OK, this is the last entry for the year and probably the last one for the whole Blog. We just packed the van full of Jill's stuff so she can move into her new apartment today. We are heading to visit the Bensons and friends in Grand Manan. That's a great way to cap off a year of events I am grateful for.

Christmas Day

Now this is a day to be grateful for. We had a nice candlelight service at church last night and opened a few presents. Today we slept in and only opened a few of the gifts. We are waiting for Michelle and Eric to come tomorrow or maybe Sunday morning before we open the rest. Doris had a wonderful turkey dinner as usual. Turkey, dressing, jello salad, fiddleheads, corn, cranberries, potatoes and gravy - all topped off with chocolate pie for dessert....yummmm, We watched a bunch of Christmas specials on TV and relaxed the day away. I started loading Windows 7 on Jill's computer. So far so good.
One peculiar thing I forgot about this week was finding a Gold IBM Cross pen that I lost. I always kept it at the office and about 5 years ago it went missing. A couple of nights ago it was laying on the floor by the LazyBoy chair and I have no idea how it got there. It was the only really good souvenir I have from my IBM days, so I'm happy to see it again.

Christmas Eve

So here we are at the day before Christmas.It's been quite a year with many significant events and changes in our lives. There was much to be grateful for this year and I had fun documenting various things - almost one a week.

We just got back from a visit to Uncle Lloyd. He was in his usual good humour and as spry as ever. He was really excited that we were able to find a pail of Salt Beef Navels for him. It took a while, looking at every grocery store in Fredericton, but we finally found what he wanted. I tried to give it to him as a Christmas present , but he insisted on paying for it. Doris found a couple of Peg Puzzles for him and a stack of old magazines to go with some Christmas cookies and 7 turnips.

Dad had a bicycle that he got from my grandmother and he road it until he was over 80 years old. When he was in highschool, he drove 20 Km every day to school and back. I had no place to keep it, so Uncle Lloyd said to leave it on the porch in Blissfield. He talked about learning to ride it again at age 87. He always has things to look forward to. I'm grateful he is still going so strong. He really is a great inspiration.

Christmas Letter 2009

Doris wrote this, but I added my 2 cents too.
Now that the snow has come it feels a bit like Christmas. The day before it snowed we went to a Christmas tree farm and cut the first tree we came to. How different from the Christmas tree shopping we used to do 35 years ago when we first got married. Back then I insisted on going to every tree lot until we found the most perfect tree.
Things really changed for us this year with Laurie’s retirement from Bell Aliant in February. He is really enjoying his freedom and has never had a dull moment. It has been a very easy adjustment for him. He has spent lots of time doing what he loves best, which is reading. He has been volunteering his time at the church and is involved in the Ham Radio Club and the Astronomy Club. He makes sure he gets some exercise every day and often I go out walking with him.
As for me, I have been organizing retreats and some other events for women at our church. It takes up a fair bit of my time. I am finding that what they say about retirement is true: you are busier after retirement than before. I volunteer at York Manor at least once a week. That is the nursing home my mom lives in. I also have recently begun volunteering for Bridges of Canada, wrapping and bagging Christmas gifts for the children of prisoners. This is short term but intense as Christmas approaches.
Together Laurie and I volunteer one day a week at Green Hill Lake Camp, a Christian camp for kids, which is also used throughout the year for rental groups and retreats . There is much to be done all year, so I work in the office and Laurie usually works on whatever outdoor project needs to be done, sometimes working in the office as well. I have been acting as Camp “pastor” there for a week almost every summer since 1996.
We are not very great at being handymen, but this fall we faced a challenge in that area and won. We had to put back the interlocking patio stones in our walkway and drive way that were ripped out when we had some work done on our garage. It was kind of like doing a jig saw puzzle except it was necessary to make sure the ground underneath was perfectly flat. We tried to do it perfectly and now that it is covered in snow, it IS perfect :-)
Jill is working for the Federal Government at ACOA on a contract basis that has been extended about 5 times already but no permanent contract has been offered as yet. She enjoys working there and has made some more friends. She also writes online course content for a company called Skillsoft in her spare time. She runs, swims and bikes regularly and entered a triathlon this summer.
Michelle is working with small children, something she has always excelled at. She is working in a Preschool setting and seems to really enjoy the children. We don’t see her often but did have a nice time with her in August when we visited her at her home in Dartmouth. She took us to some nice beaches. One beach on the ocean looked and felt like a tropical beach minus the palm trees. It even had warm water. She and I had great time tubing down a lazy river that flowed into the ocean. Eric was in Alaska and LA at the time. He is always traveling the world going to conferences and speaking at them.
We took two trips last winter. In February we drove to Florida with Ruth and John and stayed with Laurie’s two aunts for a couple of weeks. The highlight of that was taking them to the Kennedy Space Center and touching a real moon rock.
In March we went with the Bensons to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. Las Vegas has so much to see! We would walk around all day and evening and just take in the sights. The Grand Canyon is awesome but I was scared because I do not like heights especially when the people I am with are leaning over the edges!
We are now looking forward to our 5 week trip to New Zealand, Fiji and Hawaii in March and April 2010. Our niece, who teaches in Indonesia, is planning to join us for a few days in New Zealand.

First big Snow Storm coming

It started this afternoon around 5pm. "Why would I be grateful for that?", you might ask. Well, there must be a pony in this box somewhere. I guess I am grateful that I have a snow blower that still works after 18 years. The lights are flickering, but I am toasty warm in the house, right now. My string of 32 consecutive days of exercise means I am up to 239 days this year. I'm getting to know my new neighbour. Today he dropped by to borrow a drill. We picked out a Christmas tree in about 2 minutes at the Red Robin Tree farm in Keswick Ridge. Only $25 and it looks really great. Gone are the days of fussing and arguing and paying too much for a half dead tree cut down in October! I had breadfast with the guys from work and went to the Christmas breadfast for the whole office and retirees too. I'm still grateful I am retired and can come and go as I please.

Not much to report this week.

• I'm up to a record 227 days of exercise this year and a string of 20 consecutive days without missing my walk. Well, on Tuesday at GHLC I worked hard and walked around all day, but I didn't specifically go for a walk, but I think I can still count it as a day of walking and exercise.
• I'm grateful for my neighbour who finally sold his house and the new guy who just moved in. He seems like a good guy.
• Todd loaned me his Dilbert DVD collection so I had fun watching Disk 1 this week. I'm grateful I never worked for Dilbert's company.

Exercise

It was kind of like Old Home Week the last few days. On Wednesday we went for dinner with Mike and Wylda from our Ottawa days. It's been years since we saw them last and great fun catching up on families and stories of the years that have slipped by so fast. Yesterday, one of my oldest friends, Basil, dropped in on his way back to Australia. His Dad and mine used to have a business together in Carleton County. It was just a fluke that I emailed him a few days ago to see where he was. We also had a wonderful time reminiscing about our families and past adventures. I'm also grateful that his parents are still alive and doing well.
The last few years I have been more conscious about getting some vigorous exercise each day. I try to remember to put a check mark on the calendar and keep a running tally of hte number of days each year. So far in 2009 I am up to 219 days. This breaks last years record of 206 days and it's only November 20. I'm grateful that retirement leaves me more time for long walks and staying healthy.

35th Anniversary

This is likely the most grateful entry in my Blog for the year. It's been 35 years today since Doris and I got married. The time has gone by so quickly. What can I say. I'm so grateful for being married to Doris for all these years. What a great wife and what a blessed life we have lived. We are celebrating by planning a trip to New Zealand , Fiji and Hawaii in March. I'm grateful for the Aeroplan points that will take us there.

South Pacific Here We Come

Oops, here's a post I wrote a month ago but it got stuck in the Draft file. Oh well, nobody says you have to do these things in the right order or on time.....

Lots of stuff to be grateful for once again. I booked tickets to New Zealand in March. It was impossible to book the tickets online so I called. I got right through to Aeroplan , but it took a couple of hours to explore all the options. In the end we got just what we were looking for - lots of time in New Zealand, 6 days in Fiji and over a week in Hawaii. The lady was very helpful and told me all about her trip to Fiji a couple of years ago. We get 2 Good Fridays because we cross the International Time Line and go back a day.

It's Monday again

It's funny how some people seem to dread Monday mornings - the start of the work week, the end of the weekend. What do you call the first sunny day after 2 rainy days - Monday . I never dreaded Mondays because I always liked my work, but I do have a different perspective on it now that I have retired. Now, Monday is the first of six Saturday-like days. I get a great meal on Monday evenings when I volunteer at the Marriage enrichment course at the church . It's a day to plan out the week of fun things to do. I'm grateful it's Monday and it's sunny and time to take a stroll around the block.

Happy Thanksgiving

Another year of great changes has gone by. I'm thankful for my health , my family and my retirement. All is well. Uncle Lloyd had a successful cataract operation on one eye and he is getting the other one done on Tuesday. It looks like another busy week ahead.

Newsboys and Friends

• Hey, Here's something to be grateful for. A friend just gave us tickets to the Newsboys. Apparently her broker gave her box tickets and she can't go so we're heading to Saint John tonight.
• Our Community Group started last night. It went very well and we got to meet some new people in the church. I think it's going to be a very good thing.
• On a completely different front, we finally got all the paving stones laid back in the walkway and driveway. We still have to fix some low spots in the driveway, but at least we have the patio back to normal.

Kijiji & Freecycle & Stuff

A good week for a cleanup. I sold the old outboard motor for $150 and gave away the Wurlitzer organ. Someone had a look at the Piano today as well. Doris did a lot of painting this week and we made more progress on the patio walkway. We had a nice dinner at Randy and Sandra's last night. Sunday night was the start of the new Small Groups at the Church. Actually the group will meet in someone's home , not at church and we found a great group of interesting people .

Fall is here

Fall is not my favourite season, but at least I am home with some time to tackle a project that has been delayed all summer. We started fixing the paving stones in the back yard and walkway yesterday. My tennis elbow didn't seem to complain too much about all the grasping and lifting so I am happy for that. Shirley and Dave gave us some crushed rock to help us get started. Thanks folks.

A busy day in Freddy Beach

1. Church
2. Watched Dragon Boats
3. Lunch outdoors in the Sun
4. eMail
5. Terry Fox Walk
6. Visit friends
7. Play computer tech for Jill's new laptop
8. Watch Federer play some of the best tennis I have ever seen
9. Update facebook with pictures and videos of the above plus the Sussex Balloon Festival
10. Reading and rest... I'm grateful for it all. By the way, here's a bonus website on how to be happy.

Back to School

• Once again there was a beautiful sunset at the Lake last night.
• I'm grateful that we are all beyond going back to school this week. Not that I didn't like school, but I never liked the trafic across the bridge once school and UNB started up again.
• The Fredericton Ex is on this week and I don't have any desire to go.
• It's been a great week watching the US Open Tennis Grand Slam . Federer and Djokovic should be a fun match to watch. Lots of upsets on both the mens and womens side.
• I now have iPod Music available in the Jeep through the FM radio.
• Morton and I had a great ride up the Oromocto River on the SeaDoo

Sunny Days

OK, Here's something to be grateful for. We have had a string of really great days with sun and warm weather. The September weather is actually still hot , but the nights are cool for sleeping. No rain in the forcast for a week or so and that includes the weekend ! It was clear last night and I got a chance to look through the telescope out at the Lake.

Aaachooooo

Not feeling very grateful today. I have a runny nose and headache that started yesterday while sorting files at GHLC yesterday. I thought it might be just an alergy to the cut grass, but it's progressed to a full blown cold or flu today . I don't really know the difference. But this is a blog about being grateful , not one about feeling sick, so I will have to look on the bright side. This is the first time I have been feeling this sick in so long, I can't really remember the last time. I credit it to the 50-60 pounds of blueberries we eat every year. The freezer is full once again. with an additional 10 pounds left over from last year. Hopefully they will help me recover quickly too.

On a bright note, Jeanette gave me a GHLC hat and shirt to add to my collection. Doris has gone out to fetch more drugs and chicken soup. I'll post again when I am grateful that this is over.

Just a Quick One

I'm grateful that the weather has been fantastic the past few days. Hopefully it will last for Parlee Beach tomorrow and the Buskers in Halifax.

Back From Soulfest

We had a great time at Soulfest. There was lost of rain and mud , but we were dry and cozy sleeping in the back of the Caravan. Why didn't we think of this before ? The music was great and we had fun getting to know friends a bit better. No -problems with the car on this trip either although the check engine light came on again. We came back to Davidson Lake and had the first 3 consecutive sunny days of the summer. I liked Paul Coleman, Phil Joel, Phil Wickham, Jim Trick, Newsboys, Casting Crowns,Bluetree, and Third Day.