Day 85, Post-Op Post Open House Blues: Sunday, December 11h!

A great writer is, so to speak, a second government in his country. And for that reason no regime has ever loved great writers, only minor ones. -Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, novelist, Nobel laureate (11 Dec 1918-2008) 

Hello Digitale and Fingare! Must apologize for not being in touch sooner, especially since I am writing to invite ourselves to for the night of December 15th! If this is inconvenient or too, too pushy, no never mind as we'll simply push on down I-5.No excuses, but plenty of reasons. Two dinners last weekend, (Saturday, down the street, at the home of Guillermo and Nancy! Sunday, here, with good friends, Pamela and Bill, and Sandy, [Norbert, her husband is away, in Malaysia, doing some sort of geo-technical work, on an ocean-going vessel.), and, another, Pamela. 
 

Then Lady Dar had me helping find Christmas decorations to ready the house for our Open House yesterday. In between step-ladders and extension cords I've been riding the stationary bike and attending React sessions at community pool. Did two hours of deep-water walking on my 69th birthday, (December 6th), as a present to myself.

This past Wednesday good friend, Ragin' Bull, drove up to stay until tomorrow and be the "muscle" on the door to keep out the riff-raff on Saturday! Beforehand, we installed the three new ceiling light fixtures Lady Dar scored, on sale, naturally, last time she was in Vancouver! At any rate, loads to do, not even counting getting ready for coming trip to Tinsel Town! In this regard, we are planning to leave on Thursday, driving straight south, crossing into Trumpland at border crossing just out of Osoyoos. Have never been this way before but it is far quicker than going via Vancouver. We'll be back in known territory once we pass Ellensburg, making for Yakima and beyond.

Unfortunately, won't have time to stop for any tasting! Along Columbia to Portland, as you know.  Then up early to stay in either Redding or Williams, depending on weather/traffic, etc. Hope it is the latter as we will pop by Coffaro on the 17th to say hello and collect wine I have there. Then into Berkeley to stay with more friends, Nancy and David, for two nights as Amos, a Library School classmate of Lady Dar's, would like to get together. Cora Lee is in the planning stage of their 40th reunion and has been in touch with many of graduating class, mentioning some of our travel plans. Interestingly enough, two other classmates live in Portland. Then off, with brown bags, bursting with delicious sandwiches, (David bake his own bread and always packs us something for the road!), for Tinsel Town, on the morn of the 19th! Ayn has tickets for a Christmas musical, the birth of Christ, with all the characters, from the shepherds to Pilate to Mary, et al, singing songs by the Beatles! Seemed an unlikely proposition but we saw it a few years ago and it really is a wonderful, wonderful production.
 

Chloë flies into LA on the 20th so we are looking forward to being together with her and Ayn and Los Horridos, and their girlfriends, over the holidays. So there you have it! Let us know what you think and we'll plan accordingly! Greetings from Ragin', preparing his fabulous omelleto for our brunch, and Lady Dar, in absentia, praying for our malt-soaked souls, at Oasis, her church of choice here in town. Cheers, Il Conduttore/Patrizzio, Desperately Seeking Confirmed Reservations!

Pic: Basket Kitten makes basket cases out of owners of Burns Street Cat Emporium! Duke decides what will be for dinner! Etta, where's the steak? I don't know, I just like the Xmas lights! Dusty's snowman, on our front door, welcomes guests You're welcome to stay Thursday.   Looking forward to catching up. Hi Digitale! Absolutely delighted that you are able to accommodate your pushy Canadian friends! Much appreciated. Sorry it has taken me a few days to reply but we hosted an Open House yesterday and then needed a day to recover and get house ready to leave.

Wednesday we will spend all day packing car so that we can blast off by 8:00 am following morning. Hosting a table of bridge in the evening but will kick out friends by 9:30 pm so that we can be in bed reasonably early. They are both in hiking group and there is a regular hike on Thursday so they usually want to quit by that time anyway! Thanks again and we'll see you on Thursday, I trust before 6:00 pm. Fondestos from Lady Dar. Cheers, Patrizzio!

Hello Corinne and Patrick, A great, big THANK YOU for a delightfully, entertaining evening! The two of you were hosts extraordinaire! We had loads of fun visiting with friends and thoroughly enjoyed meeting friends of yours that were new to us. What a bunch of characters! The food was exquisite - especially those delicious mince tarts!

Do hope you have a safe trip to California and a wonderful time visiting with your daughters, grandsons, etc. Thanks again for a lovely evening. We braved some icy roads coming home, but lived to tell the tale. All the best for Christmas. We'll definitely have you over in the New Year. Whew, that gives us plenty of opportunity to find a date that works for all of us. Merry Christmas from the "wealthy cousins". Marian and Tim

Glad you enjoyed the evening. Thank you so much for the nuts. If I had known I would have shared them with everyone. I can bring you the bowl on Wednesday. See you then, Corinne Hi Independently Wealthy Cousins!
Absolutely delighted that you could join us and that you enjoyed yourselves. Loads of fun but how can one miss with such terrific folks! Thank you so much for the wonderful, wonderful bowl of fabulous nut mixture. I know Lady Dar has thanked you but wanted to echo her thoughts. Glad you made it home safely!

Thank you, as well, for travel and Christmas wishes. We certainly look forward to seeing you both in early 2017. Until then, Happy Christmas and a Healthy New Year to you & family. All the very best. Fondestos from Lady Dar. Cheers, Patrizzio! 

Thank you both so much for including us in your wonderful Christmas party.
We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and your delightful circle of friends. All the best Christian and Barbara Hi Barbara and Christian! Absolutely delighted that you could join us and that you enjoyed yourselves. We now consider you in our circle of friends so certainly look forward to seeing you both in 2017. Until then, Happy Christmas and a Healthy New Year to you both. All the very best. Warm Fondestos from Lady Dar. Cheers, Patrizzio!

Hi Sandra and Arv! Deepest condolences on the death of The Pillsbury Doughboy. I find consolation in the fact that I have a fridge magnet of him!

Sorry it has taken me a few days to reply but we hosted an Open House yesterday and then needed a day or so to recover and get house ready to leave.
Wednesday we will spend all day packing car so that we can blast off by 8:00 am. Hosting a table of bridge in the evening but will kick out friends by 9:30 pm so that we can be in bed reasonably early. They are both in hiking group and there is a regular hike on Thursday so they usually want to quit by that time anyway! Will definitely be in touch once we are back in town. Until then, Happy Christmas and a Healthy New Year to you and family. Cheers, Patrizzio!

Hi Randy, I've been wondering how you are? Ruth phoned us in September to let us know that you were separating. She also explained why. I thought we might hear from you as well. We are driving to LA for Christmas and Chloe will fly down for 5 days as well. Enjoying Penticton, you should come up for a visit in the summer.
 We are hosting an open house today starting at 5 pm should be fun as we have gotten to know alot more people than last year when we had our first open house here and 12 people showed up. 

Planning a trip to Spain and Portugal in March and April. Patrick will stay on into June and do a bike trip in Hungary and visit some other friends. I have my 40th anniversary from graduation from library school and have been planning a reunion weekend in mid-May so need to be back in Vancouver for that. Hope you are well, love to hear from you, Hugs Corinne

Thank you, Corinne, I've thought of writing to you...There are a lot of reasons why, but I guess she meant that I was unfaithful to her and she felt estranged and rejected. I deeply regret what I did. She doesn't feel the depth of my regret. I tried reaching out, but she is determined to go forward. I don't think I reached out to the extent that would change her mind, if she would change her mind in any case. I think Ruth has a lot of strength and integrity.

These have been difficult months for me. I am doing my best not to do something stupid or even more regrettable. I am eager to see if the kids marry and have children, so that keeps me going on a personal level, and work is always rewarding though I haven't been able to put my usual energy into it. Friends have recommended that I seek counseling and I just haven't had time so far. I really miss Ruth and I was looking forward to our retirement years together, but that's not going to happen. I'm going to be a good ex-husband and support her financially. 

For good or bad, my projects in Taiwan and Japan have expanded, and I now will travel there even more frequently than I was (this did put a strain on the marriage, and that's where I strayed in terms of sex). So, that's good, but again I have felt a lack of energy the past few months since Ruth said she was leaving me. I'm told these feelings pass, so I will believe that. I would love to visit you, and will contemplate making it happen! Love to you and to Patrick, Randy

 Dear Patrick & Corinne, My Mom’s Birthday/Concert Celebration was incredible.  Everything ran smoothly, it was a birthday to remember and made Mom so very happy.  She was in the concert hall From 11 a.m. till 6 p.m and never showed signs of fatique. Monday my brother took her to the hospital as she had been suffering from pneumonia.  Amazing stamina to hang on. Such an incredible strong woman.  The first picture is of the Conductor of the Mandolin Orchestra, Annis and his sister Ilena a professional singer with Mom and me.  

They were my good friends When I was a teen. We danced, sang and played in the orchestra then, it is so wonderful to reconnect. Second pictures, dancers, then mom with grandchildren and great grandchildren, Mom with the Yunist Dancers and my write up for the Ukrainian paper. The link below is my niece Michelle’s website – “Baba’s Birthday”, it is beautiful! Talk to you soon. Much love, Jean & John: http://northsouthblonde.pixieset.com/babas100th/