From our home to yours, wishing you the brightest of Christmases and a warm and healthy 2017!
A quiet beginning to the year 2016 was followed by an unexpected trip. With a heavy heart Annemarie travelled back to Europe as her sister had suddenly passed away. A last minute flight booking, resulted in a car trip to Seattle, a flight to Chicago, followed by a flight to Copenhagen and a final flight to Hamburg. After a family reunion, a funeral followed and Annemarie returned to Vancouver via Stockholm, Chicago, Seattle and another drive back to Vancouver!
Despite some health challenges, Annemarie and I managed to complete the 10km (6.3 miles) Vancouver Sun Run. An annual tradition, we joined almost 50,000 people in Downtown Vancouver and enjoyed some great views, music and ambience along the way. A true family event, the Front runners completed the run in under 29 minutes, others took up to three hours! A great day was enjoyed by all, or at least most.
After a couple of quiet months, my brother Jes arrived for a visit from his home in the Philippines. For Annemarie’s birthday on April 22nd, we travelled to the beautiful West Coast of Vancouver Island. We stayed Cox Bay Beach Resort near Tofino and enjoyed lovely views of the Pacific Ocean, some lovely walks and of course the hot tub.
We also travelled to Harrison Hot Springs, a two hour drive from Vancouver. Visited Hell’s Gate, where a tram crosses over the mighty Fraser River and enjoyed a visit to a lovely Gold Rush themed Museum in the town of Yale. Of course the Hot Springs were a special treat as well.
At the end of May, our good friend Henri returned to Vancouver with a group from Switzerland. I was able to tour with the guests not only on a very rainy day in Vancouver, but also on a day trip to Whistler, where we were treated to 30+ degrees Celsius/90+Fahrenheit and beautiful views and a great lunch at the Brew House Pub. Henri joined us for dinner at our home and our good friend Mary Lynn was there to share some special memories. Henri also invited us to join him and his group at the lovely Boathouse Restaurant for a lovely dinner and some excellent wine.
In early June a Annemarie, myself and a group of friends from the Needle Art Guild travelled to a Resort on the East Coast of Vancouver Island called Yellow Point. This is a place right out of an old movie, which many people have visited for more than 50 years. Small and large Cabins, very rustic and a big lodge where meals were enjoyed and everyone met in the common room for reading or board games. The outdoors offered free Kayak and Bike rentals. We enjoyed two trips in a double Kayak.
At the end of June Annemarie left for an enhanced Art Class in the town of La Conner, USA. This town is a three hour drive from Vancouver and very famous for its tulips in the spring. Annemarie dyed her own threads fabric, silk and felt. Techniques included Kantha and Sashiko. After another class in October, more will take place in January, April and July 2017.
After a visit from Annemarie’s brother Andreas and family, we welcomed my cousin Stefanie and her children Andreas and Helena. They stayed with us for a few days before going on a Road trip around our gorgeous Province, including a visit to Vancouver Island.
At the same time we discovered that the chimney in our house had been rotting for years and needed a major repair. Before that could be completed, the contractors who were conducting the repairs collapsed the entire chimney, which resulted in a gas leak and evacuation of our and our neighbours’ home. Five months later the repairs are ongoing and we lived with a hole in our house wall for most of this time as well as our gas fireplace settled in our living room.
A late summer trip to Osoyoos in the Okanogan wine region was a real highlight! A five hour car trip from Vancouver we visited wineries, stayed at a quaint resort right on Osoyoos lake and were once again able to enjoy a great day Kayaking. We took about an hour crossing one part of the lake and encountered less than 6 other boaters. After a nice lunch at a resort there, we went back and enjoyed the very warm pool. This area is the only desert in all of Canada an you can even encounter Rattlesnakes.
My brother Jes also spent a lot of time doing renovations in our home; we are most grateful. He painted, repaired and renovated; upgraded our TV and phone systems and we were introduced to Bluetooth! My favourite reno was the shelf he built which replaced the closet door!
Now, Christmas is almost here and just a few days ago we invited close to 30 friends to our home for warm soup, cookies and wine. It was a great afternoon.
We hope you enjoyed reading about our life in 2016!
Sending you hugs and love.
Wishing you all the merriest of Christmases and a happy and healthy 2017!
