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Showing posts from 2014

Last Cold Christmas?

 It's 5:10 pm and it's dark already.  By early December we've already seen -22 celcius and had 40+ cms of snow ... and that's just in Calgary.  I'm comfortably sitting on the sofa beside Kate, the fire giving off a gentle warmth beside us.  Christmas carols are wafting through the house and I'm realizing that this could be my last Christmas in the cold (for a while, anyhow). Big changes are afoot - we are planning to rent out our home in Hillhurst, put GeekandCo on ice and do some traveling.  This would mean that next Christmas (and possibly, most future Christmases) will be spent in Australia or elsewhere in the world. There's lots to be done before this happens, but it is very exciting.  I've traveled before, but never with such purposeful open-endedness.  Initially, we are headed for Turkey and Greece; then, a stop in France to visit an ex-roommate (and her family); then back to Calgary for a fun-filled (but potentially homeless) summer; then as the w

Outdoor Activities

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Cross-Country Snowbarding Alright, time to come back to Canada, Tom East and Sam East . We have a new activity for you. Karen Stevens should be able to take you out to all the good flat spots. She'll make sure you don't get scootch leg, too.

Bears!

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Looking back through some of my Facebook posts, I notice more than a few bear pictures.  It's not that I am constantly driving by / bumping into bears and only bears.  I just find them fun to show off - especially to my Aussie relatives.    Grizzly near Banff Black Bear on the way to the 'Loo at Rampart Creek Hostel Black Bear along Bow Valley Parkway It seems that I'm often coming across them while cycling, providing me with a good way to put distance between myself and the bruin if need be.  I certainly know enough not to climb a tree .

Last Time 'Round The Forties

Once again I've made it to my birthday. It has been another action-packed year. Last year saw some big events, including: visiting France to meet the Bouviers (Florence, Christophe, Thibaud and cute, little Lou), staying in Bischoffsheim and making plans to come back and stay for a few months finally getting a decent chance to wander around Paris missing out on Calgary's big flood (and having our home emerge without damage) becoming true empty nesters.  Banana and McMonk are now full-fledged adults (McMonk entered her twenties this year) and it's unlikely that they will be permanently living with us anymore reconnecting with my cousin, Heather, and her husband Charlie by visiting them in Phoenix   having an awesome downhill ski year, destroying a perfectly good pair of skis (through arduous use) reconnecting with my niece, Kristin and grand-niece, Alena through regular swim dates getting my dad moved into an assisted living lodge This coming year is a year of

Need To Travel

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What a marvellous message. Once your kids become teenagers, chances are you are not going to kill them with negligence (i.e. they are smart enough to make their own ay home from school). You can stop scaring them with cautionary tales and let them read this. … and when they finish Grade 12, encourage them to TRAVEL (not just vacation), and (if you can) offer to buy them a plane ticket in any direction. Thanks for the link, Dean Stanton .

Floss?

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This will be me next week.