Day 103, Post-Op Last Yankee Leg Blues: Thursday, December 29th!

The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border. -Pablo Casals, cellist, conductor, and composer (29 Dec 1876-1973)

Hi Sarge Trust you are well. Out of bed at 7:00 am when the alarm went off. Wonderful sleep so didn't mind having to get out of bed and into shower.

Had a wonderful evening with Marilyn and Mike in spite of the fact that they'd both been miserably ill since we last saw them. (Once Lady Dar is ready to roll I think we'll slip out of the house.) Poor things have been suffering from very, very nasty prolonged colds/coughs, almost since we left them two weeks ago. They are both on the mend are still not quite back to normal. If we do leave around 8:00 am, +/-, we should be in Vancouver between 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm, all going well with traffic and border crossing. Is there a place to park inside? If not, we'll manage something, I'm sure.Thanks again for having us. Looking forward to seeing everyone. Cheers, Patrizzio!

Illustration: János Szüdi

Pics: Lady Dar's Shasta portfolio; sunset from their deck; Michaelo with a glass of draft; NO! NO paparazzi! Okay! [Where are the pics you took on Xmas Eve?]

Hi Portland Patients! Trust you are both much improved! Had a very pleasant drive back to Vancouver after we waved goodbye. Started to spit when we were in Seattle but traffic moved well. Around Mt Vernon, began to rain reasonably heavily and by the time we were near Bellingham it was pouring cats and dogs. Hardly five minutes at the border and waved through without even asking how much alcohol we had on board! Arrived at Harbour Terrace around 4:00 pm to have dinner there, with Chloë and Flamin' and Sarge. Will celebrate New Year's Eve with them, as well as Chloë and some neighbours from building. Plan to drive back to Penticton on the 1st! Hope-Princeton looks pretty good, at least when we looked at highway cameras so trust conditions will not deteriorate.

Thank you both, again, for such generous hospitality, especially under such trying circumstances, as far as your health. Trust your trip back East goes well. Will be in touch about next trip south and when your plans concretize, let us know about a visit to Penticton. Until then, take care of each other. Fondestos from Lady Dar and a Healthy New Year to you, dearest of dear friends, and family. Cheers, Patrizzio! Pics: Portland Paradise! 

Dear Patrick, Thank you for your wishes, although specifically I cannot seem to open your greeting but know it is a New Years wish and so will send New Year wishes to you and Corinne. Much love, Jean & John 

Hi Pat and Corinne: I am a little late getting out my Christmas greetings. I actually don't have your new postal address, I would have sent a letter. I also don't have a cell number. Please send Both! Considering we have so much communication at our fingertips, I am so bad.

How are you? I was going through my hotmail acct and found your emails and I found an email from your friend Sandi - oops! I don't check my hotmail acct anymore since I have been using my gmail exclusively. I happen to be in the house all day today so I thought I would check my hotmail since i haven't heard from people like you! I may have forgot to tell you that little detail about my email address.

As you will read in my letter, all is well with the family. I have not gone in to the Patrick Dunn detail, but we are all alive and healthy. I will send your regards to Al since I just read your email. Al has had a lot of tough treatment but he seems ok for the time being. My brother Gordon was also diagnosed with Prostate Cancer, so he underwent surgery last month. He is doing great. In addition, my sisters, Elaine and Joan also had cancer last year, so it has been a year of cancer. Luckily I am still healthy and dying to ride with you again soon.

I am not sure about my next trip West since we are going either to India or Portugal to walk part of the Camino in February and then back to St Maartins for 5 weeks in March. Come visit! Ok I am going to check my sewer - I have roots in my sewer pipe - I hope you had lots of friends and family visiting you for Christmas - I am sure you did. Have a toast to us on New Years. �� Best wishes  Rhoda/Ski , Ron, Dinao and Maggie and Sam

Hello Soon-to-be St Maartin Bound Folk! From your "lack-of-detail", Christmas missive, I gather everyone is well. Wonderful to hear about such exciting lives. Thanks for the New Year's wishes. We drove down to Tinsel Town for Christmas. Had a wonderful time. Chloë flew down. The prohibition, as a result of hip-replacement on September 14th, on riding a free-standing bike ended on December 15th, day we left for LA. While there I rode almost every day so was certainly pleased to be back in the saddle again, as you can well imagine.

[Bungaree Station]

I do apologize for taking so very, very long to reply! No excuses but plenty of reasons! Loads to tell but had a house full of guests last summer. Janet flew up  and stayed for three nights. We had a grand time and I think she'll be back! When are you coming to the Okanagan? We'd love to return to Sint Maarten and, at one point, were actually contemplating such a trip. Originally, we were going to drive east, after spending New Year's in LA, [As things turned out, we celebrated the arrival of 2017 with Flamin' and Sarge at their place, stayed overnight and drove home on the 1st.], doing much the same as the time we first visited. However, the new wrinkle was to go all the way to Florida to visit and stay with friends and family who have places there.

[Don/Anne/Tina]
 
This all changed when Dusty's health took a turn for the worse, once they were back in Manitoba. He and Clara flew out for a month, from mid-January to mid-February, and we had a lovely visit. However, back at Falcon his started to have complications with his breathing and, to make a long story short, he has been on oxygen ever since. At one point, family was afraid that he would slip away as he was in and out of hospital a number of times. This being the case, we decided we really shouldn't be away for a prolonged period of time in case Lady Dar had to make a quick trip back to Falcon.

[Tina/Jade/Trevor]
 
However, Dusty is a tough old bird, (92), and lately seems to be doing reasonably well, although quite frail. Rosita, (92, as well), has to have some minor tear-duct surgery in February so Cora Lee will fly to Winnipeg on February 14th to be with her for the couple of days while she is in hospital. She will then drive her mom back to Falcon to stay for a couple of weeks. She wants to give her brother, George, and his wife, Barb, a bit of break. They live next door and have shouldered the brunt of care and much of house/yard work. Hello to the Great Ronaldo. Fondestos to you, Ski. Cheers, Patrizzio!
 

[ Mark/Mya/Bree] Dear Patrick and Corinne Thanks for newsy letter and photos. Our Christmas was full of mixed emotions, both sad and full of joy. Two weeks before Christmas my mum had two falls and was hospitalised for a week. We were advised that she should not go home and should have respite then permanent residential care. As you can imagine I was devastated that she wouldn't be at home for Christmas, I felt so sad that she wouldn't ever live in her little home anymore, but I have to be realistic that she wasn't safe there anymore and I consoled myself with the knowledge that I had done all I could to keep her home as long as we could.
 

[Christmas Ham] As you may remember, our wedding anniversary (49) this year is on 23rd December, as it was my turn to organise we headed off to Clare to stay at Bungaree Station, a once 57 hand shearing station. We stayed in a beautiful little cottage "The Stallion Room" named after the hard working animals that used to work on the property. For dinner we went to a wonderful little winery " Mr Micks" where we had an excellent Tapas meal of kangaroo, assorted cheeses, home made lavosh, pork belly and soft shell 🦀, followed by Chai latte panacotta, washed down with Stella Artois for Trevor and sparkling Shiraz for moi.
 
After a walk around the property at dusk we retired satiated and happy.
Back home I cooked a turkey breast stuffed with cream cheese, pine nuts and spinach, and a ham glazed with orange marmalade and orange juice.
Christmas Eve, we visited our friends Annie and Graeme (who is recovering from an ankle replacement) for our annual get together with all of their family. We went house boating with all of them for many years, I taught with Ange and Graeme for 10 years, 20 years ago and we have remained firm friends ever since. 

[Boxing Day] For Christmas Trevor bought me a 36v, 45 inch blade, hedge trimmer and I bought him a Baby Q barbeque😀😀😀, which we can take in the caravan. I forgot to mention that for our anniversary I bought him an Adelaide Oval high climb and he gave me a voucher for Dusk, my favourite candle shop. Our first stop on Christmas morning, temp 40C, (we had decided it was too, too hot to pick up our elderly relatives ) was to the nursing home to visit mum, there we met Mark, Bree and the girls, after à sad visit we headed off to Don/Anne's for a scrumptious lunch, Anne had acquiesced to the heat and decided to have cold lunch. We started off with entree of marinated beef squares, chicken toasts and jalapeño poppers, followed by ham, turkey and roast pork and assorted salads. Dessert was sticky date puddings, meringues with cream and home grown mulberries and shortbreads. This was washed down with a yummy Sangria that Anne had concocted. 

Home for a little snooze, Trevor went down to visit his dad. 5pm we picked up Trevor's mum and made our way to Marks for present opening and yummy prawns, turkey and home made Christmas pudding. Amongst other smaller gifts we had bought Mya a Fitbit and went half with Mark/ Bree for a new bike for Jade, an Adelaide Oval climb for Mark and An Endota Spa voucher for Bree, all were thrilled as to be expected❤️❤️ On Boxing Day we had our traditional ' bring a plate of left overs" lunch with Pete/Sue and Terry/Pauline, which lasted well into early evening.
 
We are now in relaxing mode, just catching up with odd jobs after the burst of heat and over the last few days flooding rains and hailstones. We will pack the caravan in the New Year and go over to see our millionaire daughter. Until the next missive. Au revoir Tina Xx Hi Goils In case you haven't seen this. Some lovely shots! Happy Pampering. Love, Patrizzio!

Dear Patrick & Corinne, Hope you had a most delightful Christmas visiting friends down south and visiting with your children & grandchildren too. Our Christmas was quiet which was fine as I am still feeling the effects of all the planning that took place to create the most perfect day for my mom so find my self continually tired.

I Just received the video of my mom’s birthday celebration. I thought you might like it, the music is stunning!  The pictures beautiful!  The video begins with the music the conductor Annis Kozub leading his 22 musicians in the orchestra performing  “The Good the Bad and the Ugly” composed by Ennio Morricone, it is superb and their music vibrated throughout the hall. As the video continues the singing is performed by the Folk Trio  “The Three Blind Mice” again led by Annis on base and his sister Ilena singing “Blowing In the wind” written by Bob Dylan.  Again stunningly beautiful. The video ends with pictures of Annis and Ilena on either side of me and my mom. There is six degrees of separation indeed as my mom’s birthday reunited me with two very good friends from my teen years at the Ukrainian hall.  Enjoy!  It was an incredible day.

https://vimeo.com/196613356

Thank you for your Jacquie Lawson card, but it just does not want to open so I am Sending you too, wishes for a Happy New Year!  Thinking of you always Love, Jean  & John