Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

November 24 marked our first real snowfall 4+ inches and put us in the mood to think about sending out Christmas greetings. This was a very full year of accomplishments and adventures:

Keelan graduated Mount Baker Senior Secondary this year. He is the first student to have completed his Bilingual Dogwood Certificate (Graduation) and take the ACE IT program to achieve his first year as an Automotive Service Technician in the process. He accomplished all of this with Honours! During his training, he was recommended to Dixon’s Service Center by his instructor and started part time just before Christmas last year and then they took him on full time at the end of April for his apprenticeship. Sorry mom had to have a little (well big) brag moment there. Keelan and his girlfriend (at the time) Shermane were dressed to the 9’s and enjoyed their dry grad celebration in the theme of Cities of Lights. They got up early the next morning to spend the next day at Silverwood (a nearby amusement park) and came home exhausted but happy.

In celebration of Keelan’s graduation, we took a family trip to Cuba at the beginning of May. We decided that it may be good to get there before it opened up to all the travellers from the U.S. We had a great time, staying at a small, low grade all-inclusive resort in the heart of Varadero where we had 2 bedrooms. a living room, kitchenette and were literally 10 feet from our beach.   The variety of food was somewhat limited but we were there to see Cuba not stay on the resorts so it was perfect. We had a fantastic tour to Havana one day with personal photographer (and guide although he can’t say that officially) and a driver with a beautifully restored 1956 Bel Air. Tour ran from 6 AM to 2 AM the next morning as we wanted to include a set at a jazz club. Highlights included an 18th century French pharmacy, Havana cemetery, (the only privately owned land allowed), history and political views from a Cuban point of view, couple of great restaurants and a unique coffee shop where the boys sat in a bathtub! We enjoyed another evening at the “Beatles Bar” where we heard rock and roll classics sung by Cuban born musicians and while their voices were amazing, lyrics like “Rolling on the Reverse” had us laughing ourselves silly.   We ate dinner in a grotto and the boys got to crush sugar cane to make mojitos. Maybe the highlight was Pat trading a pair of shorts and $40. For four complete lobster dinners including drinks in a private home!

Another marker this year, Pat and Deb celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary and as mentioned in our letter last year we followed through with our plan and took a tour of the South to celebrate and our friends Lisa and Keith able to join us. Pat planned an amazing tour, starting off with he and Keith doing a four hundred mile yard sale across Kentucky before going to Memphis to pick up the girls who flew in a week later. The trip involved spending two nights eating, drinking and listening to music on Beale street in Memphis, a night in New Orleans in an old French style hotel, a night in a cabin on the lake outside of Natchez, some time in the bayous, with great cajun food, finishing off in Houston.   The only downside of the whole trip was that when Pat and I tried to fly out – we got caught up in a tropical storm that ended up with us spending a night on cots in the Dallas airport with 4000 other people. After rebooking 4 times, we were unable to get in to Houston to get home via our original route so Deb begged Air Canada to get us back any way they could. They were able to get us home via Toronto but due to delays we had less than 10 minutes to go through customs and catch the connecting flight so after a harrowing run through Pearson Airport, we made the flight. Our luggage on the other hand took another 3 days and customs went through Deb’s suitcase – we think that the 6 bottles of Tabasco Soya sauce may have set off some flags.

In the spring, in order to facilitate the tour, Pat took a quick trip down with our car (Scion Xb) to leave it behind for us to fly to and save the travel time there and back.   He ended up being able to register and insure the car in Kentucky and find a storage facility just south of Cincinnati. He then caught the bus back to Kalispell. After a couple of days on the bus he looked like the migrant workers and those on route to halfway houses or state funded treatment centres that he was travelling with. Deb almost did not recognize him when he got off the bus … a cross between ZZ Top and Duck Dynasty, long hair, long beard and two day old clothing, she locked the door when he headed her way.

Deb’s annual kayaking trip was an adventure: the three girls camped up Kootenay Lake and got up the first morning to unsettled weather. Their plan was to cross to the uninhabited side of the lake and then kayak down to the south end and then cross back to where their car would be waiting for them. While enjoying their coffee, a cloud came overhead and poured rain for about 10 minutes on them and their gear: Lesson learned – watch the weather. They hit intermittent squalls taking them off the water due to wind or lightening but were able to make a safe crossing late afternoon and find a place to camp. They got up early the next morning and started paddling into a head wind. Before too long, they could see the line of whitecaps coming toward them and headed for the nearest safe place to pull out. By sheer luck the first place to pull out was a nice little bay where someone had a small cabin and a biffy. They pulled their kayaks up from the water’s edge 3 more times as the waves continued to rise. At 2 pm decided that they weren’t going anywhere that day and set up camp. They jumped in the waves now breaking on shore with 4-5 foot swells and made the best of the day. Sunday morning had them up at 5 am to see if they could get some miles in before the waves came up too high. They paddled into a head wind over 20 k and made up the miles we were unable to do the day before. Exhausted but proud of their efforts they planned to get up very early the next morning to see if they would be able to cross safely. Without coffee and with a quick snack for energy, they made a fast crossing at 530 am and were snug in the cabin at Twin Bays for coffee and breakfast before completing the rest of the journey happy and feeling strong.

Pat continues to work for the Ministry doing project management and currently is working to coordinate 4 major projects.   Mostly, once working groups are established he is able to do the work from a distance (using conference calls and video links) – and so he is usually only out of town for one week a month. Although he is finding the politics of the position a bit frustrating, is still able to hang in there – plus he has started a countdown timer to put into perspective that he only has a couple of years until retirement so it is all relative.

Deb is starting to feel at home in her job as social worker at inpatient psychiatry. She’s enjoying the challenge of short term assessment and problem solving. Days are full and time seems to fly by. She is continuing to curl this year with her team of 5 that she has been with for a few years. They make an annual pilgrimage to the Valentine’s Bonspiel in Creston where they dress up (as Caesar’s last year), let their hair down and have some fun. Although Keelan has taken a break from archery, Deb has taken advantage of drop in night to keep in touch with the crew and shoot her bow.

Mick is in 3rd year Software Engineering. He spent the summer in Calgary this year retaking a class (along with about half of his classmates) and then taking another to get a bit ahead. The amount of work in cramming a class that usually takes 3.5 months into 6 weeks was a bit of a challenge and in some ways it was better that he could not find a job given the economic down turn. He moved off campus at the beginning of June when he and Blair found nice apartment just across Crowchild Trail that actually has him closer to some of his classes than res. did.   There is Safeway right across the road and easy access to the C train. Unfortunately, they have recently broken up and being a one bedroom apartment that has been difficult for both. A hasty trip to Calgary by Pat helped to set up a bed and closet in the living room for Mick on a temporary basis while they decided on options.   Blair is planning to move out sometime this month and although financially it will be tough, Mick (and us) are not willing to give up his location at this time so he will really need to have a job this year (hint hint if anyone has any connections). He is quite focused on his classes and has a core group of software engineer students who he works and competes with. He has been able to get to the occasional Jam to play his saxophone although his desire to stay on top of or ahead of his school work remains his priority

This has been truck year at our home – Keelan bought himself a little step side Ford Ranger in January and had a lot of fun and put a lot of work into fixing it up. It was a really nice blue and he honed his skills at driving standard. Unfortunately he took a left turn coming home one day at lunch and the lady coming toward him did not stop for the yellow light as he had thought she would. Neither were hurt but his truck was written off. He bought Mick’s car and is running that for now but hopes to move into something different once he has saved the money to do so. Pat also bought truck this year. It has the body of a 97 Ranger, suspension from an Explorer 4×4, a ’93 Mustang GTI engine, shift kit and the odd other performance parts. He and Keelan have done some body work on it with a friend getting rid of some of the body rust and installing fender flairs and tonneau cover. Although it looks like a little farm truck – it has a bit of zip and Pat loves that it is fun to drive his little FrankenFord!

Pat and Deb decided to take the big leap this year and build a garage out at the cabin and get any cabin improvements done so that we have it paid for before we look at retirement a few years down the line. We found a contractor, submitted a building plan, got approval, took out a mortgage, decided on siding and roof, put a first payment down, removed some trees and had the excavation done. However, the contractor, in re-measuring the footings, noted that we had measured the distance from the road rather than from the property line – a difference of 22 feet. When he brought this to the attention of the regional district, they told us that we had to stop work immediately and apply for a variance. That would not have been such a big deal other than it was over a two month process jumping through a variety of hoops and attending different ‘hearings’. We finally received approval on Thursday but will now need to wait until spring to build because the cement will not set properly in the cold. In the meantime, as we had hired the contractor and felt that it would be unfair for him to suddenly have a month of no work, we decided to ask him to work on the cabin. We filled in the deck to expand the living room, added some new windows and replaced the roofing.   Siding will start next week and things are looking really good. We are in a bit of a state of mourning as the renovations have not been in the original theme of the cabin as being our ‘millennium recycling project’. We want the cabin to remain a place where you kick your shoes off (or leave them on), and life is plain and simple. We welcome you to come and join us at Moyie Lake if you are in the neighbourhood.

We hope that this Christmas finds you surrounded by family and friends and we wish you good health and happiness in 2016!

Deb, Pat, Mick and Keelan