Category — Family

Hello April 2022

Our big excitement in April was a 5 night getaway to Victoria. What a great time of the year to visit Victoria, the blossoms are definitely out and at various stages depend on the species of the tree, shrub or plant. We stayed at The Parkside Hotel which is a condo hotel right next to Beacon Hill Park and very close to downtown Victoria. Each suite has a full kitchen, 1 bedroom, balcony, etc. So, we were able to cook a couple of our own dinners, have a glass of wine and enjoy the view.

We also took the opportunity while in Victoria to visit my cousin Trudi who in in Royal Jubilee Hospital. Poor Trudi had MS and Parkinson’s so she is not mobile and requires 24 hr care. However her spirits are bright and she certainly enjoyed our hour visit. Her husband Norma manages Trudi’s visitor schedule so she does not get over tired.

From Victoria we drove up the Malahat towards Ladysmith to have lunch with Donna and Bob. It was great to meet up with them and visit a little bit of their part of the Province.

After lunch we caught the ferry from Duke Point to Tsawwassen where we stayed for the night and then the next morning we drove to Whiterock to meet up with Maureen and Art, Duane, Mike and Rose for a visit and tea before heading home via the Fraser Canyon.

Brenda’s brother Dean turned 71 in April…… “Happy Birthday Dean”

May has arrived and to start it off our sister in-law Judy celebrated her 71st birthday “Happy Birthday Judy”.

Also celebrating a birthday in May is my foster sister Jennifer, “Happy Birthday Jennifer”

First week of May we made an overnight trip to Kelowna to drop off all their ski equipment from the March Family Ski Vacation. Then 3 days later we were off to Princeton to see Kevin, Tamara, Sage and Conrad. Kevin has been working real hard to get a community Disc Golf Course built and he finally got approval to use a piece of Princeton City property. So he was pretty happy to be able to show us the property, the layout and his design. It is going to be a great boost for tourism and all ages activity in the town of Princeton. Since he is the driving force behind this initiative he is going to call it “Whistling Kettle Disc Golf”, since the signature hole will be across a ravine which is like a large kettle.

In the middle of the month Kevin celebrated his 46th Birthday………. where the heck did those years go? “Happy Birthday Kevin”

Sometime in May I finished a painting of a picture of an iceberg we saw in Saint Anthony NFLD.

At the end of May we had Jeff, Lindsay, Zach and Oliver here for an extended weekend as they were in a National Disc Golf Tournament. Both boys and Jeff did really well even though they didn’t win their division. Unfortunately Lindsay couldn’t play as she was recuperating from Gall Bladder surgery.

June arrived and we are madly preparing for a trip in the middle/end of the month to New Brunswick and P.E.I.. We have toured the top half of N.B., so we are going to explore the southern coast and also go over to P.E.I. So our plans are to fly to Fredricton spend a couple days there and then rent a car and then drive to Moncton for night. After that we will drive to Charlottetown and stay there for 5 nights and do day trips to see the Island.

Well our trip out east started great and came to a grinding halt in Montreal airport. All flights were cancelled and we ended up spending a night sleeping in the departure area of the airport. What a gong show by Air Canada. Anyway, we finally made it to Fredricton, but missed a day of exploring, so we’ll get it at the end of the vacation. Moncton was a nice little town and we got to see some of the tides off the Bay of Fundy. Charlottetown was so much fun. We stayed at The Great George Hotel, what a great older style hotel. It was very centrally located, they had a happy hour every night and they gave us all sorts of free gift certificates for restaurants in the area.

Beyond wanting to see N.B. and P.E.I. we also came to Charlottetown to see two plays at the Confederation Theatre. The first one was called “Tell Tale Harbour” and it starred Alan Doyle who was formerly lead singer with Great Big Sea from NFLD. In fact one evening we were going out to dinner and coming up the sidewalk towards us was Alan Doyle himself. We had a 5 minute conversation and it was like we were talking to an old friend. The second play of course was Anne of Green Gables. It was great to see live theatre again.

Attached are some pictures from P.E.I.

Over our 5 days in Charlottetown we were able to explore all four corners of P.E.I. From Tignish and Skinners Pond (home of Stompin’ Tom Connors) in the northwest. The East Point Lighthouse in the East. North to Cavendish and Anne of Green Gables and along the south shore to the Summerside area.

After P.E.I. we headed back to spend a night in SaintJohn and then two final nights in Fredericton before flying home.

As far as birthday news in June….. Oliver turned 10 years old…. Happy Birthday Oliver.

We were only home for about a week and we were off again, this time to Wells Gray Park to meet up with Brenda’s cousin and his wife from Gabriola Island and Brenda’s brother and his wife from Prince George. This is our first time meeting up with them since Covid hit in 2020. More on this adventure in the next post.

Well 2022 has arrived and with a real cold snap. Yikes, it has been cold here and no warming trend in the near future. But every day the sun comes up we are one day closer to spring.

It’s been pretty well the same stuff every day for Brenda and I. We keep busy between music, reading and exercising. We did get out snowshoeing on a couple of the warmer days.

On January 12th we celebrated our 48th anniversary; where the heck did those years go. It’s been fun, it’s been an adventure, it’s been trying at times but we have done it together and it’s always been surrounded by love.

We had one thing out of the normal this January. As luck would have it, my sister Lynda took a bit of a slip and fall on her way to Interior Savings Centre to walk on the concourse level and keep off of the snowy streets. So we have been helping her out with getting to Physio appointments and Doctor Appointments.

The weekly Zoom call with Dean & Judy and GGMA continues. Not always a lot to talk about but it is 40 minutes or so of catch up.

February arrived and it’s still cool. I decided to get back into oil painting and I was able to connected with Debbie Milner-Lively. Debbie is a local artist and she has studio classes every three weeks. I am enjoying it and will continue through to June when we take a break for summer.

March came and it looks to be a lot busier than the start of 2022.

We headed to Kelowna for a couple nights and were able to hook up with our friends Fred and Barb for a coffee. Due to Covid it’s been a couple years since we’ve seen them.

Then we got away to Vancouver for 3 nights and attended the Vancouver Spring Home Show. It’s always fun but this year it was definitely a scaled down version of previous shows.

Brenda was able to finally get all her quilting, sewing, coffee girl friends together after a 2 year hiatus.

In the mid of March we had our annual Sun Peaks Family Vacation. It’s always so special and this year was no exception. The kids had lots of fun on the slopes and probably as much or more fun in the pool and hot tubs. The Sun Peaks Grand is so convenient for skiing and apre’s skiing.

Finally in March we got our first bike ride of the season in on March 29th……. Spring is here!

Well October arrived, the Covid Virus is still here and life as we knew it, is not normal.
However, we move on and try to make a new normal.
Brenda continues to line dance three times a week………. weather permitting. They are a tough group and don’t let a little cool weather or odd snowflake slow then down. They just put on more clothes and then search around town for better hand warmers in their mitts. Plus she does a YWCA Zoom class 2 other days in the week.

I have my Kamloops City Strummers once a week that keeps me busy learning new songs and also playing the occasional gig for some Seniors Residences. I have also participated in some Ukulele Zoom sessions locally and with a group out of Ottawa. Next time we travel to Ottawa I am going to make a point of visiting so we can attend one of their evening sessions at a local Ottawa Pub………. once the restrictions are off.

Brenda and I get out each day for about an hour walk or hike and only missed a couple days when the weather was really cool (-20) and windy.

Birthdays during these three months included – Zach 11, Sage 16, Jeff 43, Tamara ?, Lindsay ?.

For Christmas we traveled to Princeton and had a couple nights and Christmas day/dinner with Kevin, Tamara, Sage and Conrad.

Then on Boxing Day we drove over to Kelowna to spend a couple of Christmas days with Jeff, Lindsay, Zach and Oliver.

New Years Eve was quiet and we had a great dinner and a great bottle of wine to recap 2021.

Here’s to 2022 !!!!!!!

Well July arrived and it looks like it is going to be a very active fire season. Lots of fires in and around Kamloops and the Province. Which of course makes it very smokey. Hack! Hack!

Mid July we met Lynda and Tricia for the restart of our monthly dinners out. Brent and Karen unfortunately could not make it this month.

The last week of July we had Zach and Oliver for 5 days at Namma and Pops Summer Camp. We did lots of fun stuff like Mini Golf,

Bowling, Sewing Projects and afternoons at Riverside Park Beach.

Then every afternoon we headed to “Scoops” Ice Cream Parlour for an afternoon treat. The weather was very smokey for most of their stay so we tried to do inside activities and low intensity outside activities, so we only got Disc Golfing once. However we did make a visit to the Okanagan Disc Golf store to buy some new discs.
It was a fast week and lots of fun.

August arrived and the wild fire situation is not improving. The smoke in the valley just keeps getting worse. Lots of inside activities and on our morning walks we are wearing N95 particulate masks.

The second week of August we met Kevin, Tamara, Sage and Conrad in Merritt for a lunch on Sunday. After a short visit we headed back to Kamloops with Sage and Conrad for a modified week at Namma and Pops Summer Camp. Sage and Conrad’s summer camp included a lot of shopping for clothes,

Bowling and Mini Golf. On Tuesday we drove Sage back to Merritt to meet Kevin and Tamara. Sage had to work for the rest of the week. However, Conrad came back to Kamloops with us for the remainder of the week. We missed Sage but had a fun time with Conrad and he got a Hole-in-One at Mini Golf

Then on Saturday we drove him back to Merritt to meet up with his Mom. It was a fun fast week.

Finally in August the last weekend of the month we had both families here for one full day. It was a very busy overlap day. Kevin, Jeff, Lindsay, Zach, Oliver and Conrad went disc golfing. Tamara, Sage and I went shopping while Brenda stayed home to look after the dogs and do the dinner prep. We had GGMA over for dinner and everyone had a great visit.

September arrived and it’s situation normal here. The weather is cooling off and definitely feeling like fall is on the way.
We picked the Prune Plum tree and it was a bumper crop this year. We had already picked some to send home with both families and then with what we harvested we figure we had well over 50 lbs.

Judy made a quick trip down for a visit with family and it was great to see her.

The really sad news for the month of July and for the year was the passing of our Brother George on July 27th. George had been battling Colon Cancer for 2 1/2 years and he finally lost his battle. We are really going to miss him. Our family got George when he was a couple months old and he immediately became another loved family member by our Mom and everyone else. George reconnected with his native family in the mid 1980’s and so now he was fortunate to have two families to share.

George was extremely artistically talented and easily took up painting pictures, especially landscapes. But his real artistic ability came through in his carvings. They were spectacular, the scale, the size, the depth, the life like depiction; George could bring them to life. His work mates at the City of Surrey Public Works Dept. all expected to see George working on a carving at coffee and lunch breaks; it got to be well known within the department. In fact he was asked and commissioned to make a native carving for Prince Edward of the Royal Family when the Prince visited the City of Surrey.

Below is a picture of George working on a carving when he came for a visit with Chantell and Chris at our trailer on Shuswap Lake. This is such a classic picture of George carving with all the chips in his lap and him always checking for size, scale and content of the carving.

His mother gave him the native name of “Pakli’sh which meant Burnt Hands.

Right after the Covid travel restrictions were removed Brenda and I made a quick trip to the Vancouver area and stopped in to see George, Jennifer, Chantell, Raven and Cyler. It was a great visit and will always be the lasting memory that we have of George. Above is the last picture we had taken with George.
We are all going to miss George he was a big part of our family.
George WiIliam Van Meer – “Rest in Peace Brother”

The biggest news in April is that we finally got our 1st Dose of Pfizer Covid 19 vaccine. YAHOOOO

So, it finally feels like may be starting to get life back to normal or at least a less restrictive new normal. There are lots of months ahead but we can see the light. Having said that these new virus strains are causing health officials a bit more work and worry….. so, we’ll see

In April we had a Zoom call with our Reunion Friends. It was great to see everyone and get caught up.

Zoom exercising for Brenda and Zoom Ukulele for me continues and keeps us in touch with friends.

Brenda started “Outside” “Social Distance” line dancing in April – 3 times per week. Weather permitting.

April and May weather was overall quite nice and I believe we set records for long dry periods. Not a lot of moisture and I hope this doesn’t set us up for an overactive fire season this year.

Kevin turned 45 in May…….. it’s hard to believe we have a child that is that age…… Yikes!

June arrived and we were biking fairly often through out the week. On June 5th we headed out for a bike ride and I suggested to Brenda that we carry our vaccination cards and health cards, since we were riding by MacArthur Island vaccination centre. We stopped in to see if we could make an appointment for later in the day and the security person at the front door said go in right now and they’ll look after you. Well we headed to the vaccination area and within 5 minutes we were vaccinated with our second dose of Phizer. Then we had to sit for the required 15 minutes and we were back on our bikes.

In June the health ministry opened up the travel restriction on the Province and we were able to head down and see George and check in how he was doing with his cancer battle. It was great to see him, but this was the first time that he looked like the cancer was taking a toll on his overall health. We had a good 2 hr. visit with George, Jennifer, Chantell, Raven and Cyler and you could see George was tired and needing to rest.

Keep tuned for July – August -September

Even more Covid – Covid – Covid.

November is a busy time for birthdays. First off is Zach on November 10th and he turned 10. Then Sage on November 25 and she turned 15. Then Jeff on November 29th and let’s just say he got one year older. We can’t believe we have children that are that age.

Brenda’s outdoor Line Dancing and my weekly Kamloops City Strummers sessions continued until the third week in November when Dr. Henry imposed further restrictions to help battle this nasty virus.

If only everyone would follow medical experts advice to wear a mask, social distance and wash your hands we would be a lot closer to the end of this pandemic than we are right now. We can’t believe the amount of protests about something as simple as wearing a mask. Having said that watch this youtube video clip parody, by clicking on the following link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wro-Tg1_0Jg

Also, as Dr. Bonnie Henry says “Be kind, be calm and be safe”.

Well, September arrived and of course Covid is still here; and we suspect it will be for a while..

Brenda and I and GGMA met Kevin, Tamara and Conrad at the park in Merritt. Sage was working and could not make the day trip. GGMA loved the chance to get out for a day trip and to see the great grandkids and grand kids.

Brenda continues with her weekly line dance sessions and I am still strummin’ each week either at Riverside Park and/or at Tom’s with The Kamloops City Strummers.

Near the end of September Judy was in town helping her brother Jack with his stroke recovery program and we got a chance to have nice social distance visit with her.

The final week of September we made a quick trip to Vancouver. Visited George and his family on the way down and it was good to have Jennifer stop by for the visit. Then on the way home we stopped to see Maureen and Art; they are still working on getting everything organized for their upcoming move in November.

Partly for a change and partly because of the weather on the Coquihalla we took the Trans-Canada highway home and stopped in Ashcroft at the fruit and vegetable market. Made the trip home a little longer, but more scenic.

August arrived and with it good old Kamloops summer weather.

At the start of August we met Kevin, Tamara, Sage and Conrad in Merritt at Rotary Park for a socially distance visit. We took along GGMa so she had a chance to get out of the The Shores for a few hours and have a picnic lunch with family. It was a great day.

A couple days later Jeff, Lindsay, Zach and Oliver stopped in on their way home from Mount Robson Provincial Park. They had just completed a four day hike to Berg Mountain and Zach and Oliver were staying with us for the visited for the remainder of the week at “Namma and Pops Summer Camp”.
It was busy few days with the boys. Everything from swimming in the river, visiting the wildlife park to seeing the garden trains at my friends Tom and Paulette’s home.

Plus crafts at home like sewing projects, cement projects and stepping stones. We kept them busy. If you asked the boys they would probably say the best part was the daily afternoon trip to Scoops for ice cream.

Brenda continues her 3 times weekly line dancing and I am still strummin’ at either Riverside Park or at Tom’s; all the activities we do are socially distanced.

That’s about it for August.

July arrived and Covid is still here and we expect it to be here until next year. So we better learn to live with it and that just takes a bit of adjusting.

Early in July Brent and I went for a flight in “Desrocher One”. It’s kind of like Air Force One just a bit smaller. What a fun morning. We flew out to Shuswap Lake, over to Salmon Arm, headed for Vernon and then back to Kamloops following the highway. Along the way Brent let me fly the plane for a while which was a lot of fun. Along the way he demonstrated some aeronautical maneuvers which was cool.
Brent is a very careful and confident pilot. He made it a great day.

Then in mid July we headed to Vancouver for a couple days. It gave us a chance to see George, Chantell, and Raven; Chris was working. Plus we stopped in and saw Maureen and Art, we were lucky that Rose stopped by for a visit. Then on the way home we loaded up with blueberries at Peace Arch Blueberry Farm.

That’s about it for July.