Category — Friends

Well we’ve made it to 2025 and trust us the next three months are going to be exciting.
We are headed to New Zealand and Australia from January 20th and returning on to Kamloops on March 10th.
We fly to Vancouver a couple days early and meet up with Dean and Judy then board Air New Zealand for the 14 hr flight
Once in New Zealand we have a couple of days together and then we pick up up our Campervan and head off towards the east coast? Meanwhile Dean and Judy are renting a car and head north of Auckland to a wine district.
We hope to provide regular updates, so stay tuned.

We flew to Vancouver a couple of days early as a safety precaution with the winter weather. Once there we met up with our travel companions Dean and Judy
Monday we headed to the airport and now the adventure really begins

Well we finally made it to Auckland? The flight was actually not too bad.
After the plane took off they gave you a drink, then served dinner and a bit later they shut all the lights off.
No fooling around here, it’s time for bed. Then about 3 hrs before landing they feed you breakfast and before you know it your landing.
Here we are at 5:30am waiting for the shuttle bus to downtown Auckland

Here’s photo proof we made it to Auckland

The passing of GGMA was very sad for the whole family, however we all knew that she was ready to go and to move on to the next stage of her journey. Thankfully the majority of everyone’s memories of GGMA are happy memories of a life well lived and many happy times.

But the work began while she was still in “Trinity”, as Dr. M. suggested we could clean her suite out at The Shores. Well the four of us (Dean, Judy, Brenda, Larry) started cleaning cupboards, moving out furniture, moving boxes of stuff to the thrift store, sharing treasured gifts among family members and in a few short days we had the place emptied.

Then of course after GGMA passed away the real paperwork began. Funeral home planning, death certificates, burial site planning, headstone design, funeral preparations, interment planning, tax documents, bank forms, Interior Health documents, wills and estate requirements; you get the idea. So much paperwork and so much to do that pretty well ate up the month of September and most of October.

Somewhere in all this mayhem we picked a date and location for a Celebration of Life for GGMA. We chose October 28th at Kamloops Funeral Home for the formal funeral service; which was followed by a luncheon for all.
Then later that night a Celebration with family and close friends was held at Frick & Frack Restaurant. Out of towners’ from Brenda’s family were her cousin Coleen from Ontario and her daughter Bonnie from Vancouver plus long time family friend Jayne from Calgary. From my side there was my sisters Maureen from Vancouver and Donna from Ladysmith on the Island. Tricia who was the official photographer for the evening. What a great evening to get family and extended family together for a Celebration.
One of the few times all the cousins have been together.

We have often reminisced that the ones who would have enjoyed themselves the most at this family gathering were the couple that we were holding this Celebration of Life for. Both Joan and Murray would have had the most fun of the evening watching the family and just smiling at what they were a part of creating.

At the end of July GGMA became quite sick with what we thought was a reoccurring infection. So, on July 31st Brenda took her to Emergency at the RIH. You can imagine what the emergency room was like in the middle of the summer; it was crazy to say the least.

After a few hour wait they finally found her a bed and after a bit more a Doctor came by with all the standard questions and then he started to poke and prod to the point the GGMA even complained. Let me tell you he must have really made it uncomfortable, because she never complained about aches and pains. He said she needed an x-ray because sometimes abdominal issues can have sinister things about them. That was something new we had not heard before. So, he said we may as well go home and wait for the results as it was going to take a while.

Anyway to make a long story short the x-ray showed she had a large mass growing in her abdomen and it was inoperable. After that was discovered the staff did everything required to get her assigned to another floor for more advanced care. As luck or fate would have it her regular family Doctor was away on a family vacation, however the Doctor that was covering for him (Dr. Dickinson) was outstanding. He was kind, caring, compassionate and he was forthright and honest. GGMA was in the final journey of her life and we should prepare for the end.

She was in the hospital about 4-5 days and was then moved to “Trinity Hospice” which is part of Overlanders Extended Care Facility and after about 3 weeks she peacefully passed away in her sleep. Below is her obituary which was written by Dean, Judy, Brenda and Larry.

Joan Mason of Kamloops BC, died peacefully on Sunday August 27, 2023, at Trinity Hospice Overlander Hospital.

Joan was born in Calgary on March 8, 1928, to Edward John and Alice Dean. The youngest of three children she was the last surviving member of her family. 

She married Murray Frederick Mason in 1950 and had two children, Dean (Judy) and Brenda (Larry).

Joan dedicated the first part of married life to being a great mother. She loved camping, going for picnics, spending time with family and she especially enjoyed ice cream at Riverside Park? The family can all remember her saying; “I Scream , You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream”.  She also enjoyed community get togethers, the community dances and especially the Birthday Girls luncheons.

In 1976 she and Murray became grandparents for a first time. They had four grandchildren Kevin (Tamara), Jeff (Lindsay) , Blake, and Sabrina (Mike) and seven great grandchildren, Sage, Conrad, Zachary, Amelia, Oliver, Makayla and Norah.  

Joan and Murray loved to travel, taking trips to India, Japan, across Canada, including the North all the way to Tuktoyaktuk. However, their favourite spots were in Southern California and Hawaii. Locally they became Good Sam Members and enjoyed the many campouts with the Juniper Sams RV group of friends.

They lived in Westsyde for over 50 years, moving to the Shores Retirement Residences in 2015 where she loved all the activities and was an eager participant. 

She was an active volunteer in the Anglican Community with the Church of Cleopas (Westsyde) and later at St Georges Anglican Church.

Joan was predeceased by Murray in 2019, her parents and her siblings (Alice and George).

Joan lived a full and happy life. We will all fondly remember her quick wit, her kindness, her love of family and most of all, the “Gramma Cuts” on dessert servings. 

The family would especially like to thank, Dr Montalbetti and his receptionist J.C?Doctor M. was a kind and caring advocate for Mom. We also want to thank the Shores Retirement Residences and her many, many friends.

The Celebration of Life will be held Oct 28th at 11:00 a.m. at the Kamloops Funeral Home. 

In lieu of flowers the family would suggest donations to a charity of your choice.

Well, after we arrived in Santiago de Compostela at the Cathedral and absorbed a bit of main square activities we headed down to the Pilgrims Office to hand in our Pilgrims Credentials Passport. You are required to get 2 stamps per day in your Pilgrims Credentials to prove that you have met the requirements of completion of our Camino hike and the obligations of being a Pilgrim. After the authorities had audited our credentials we were recorded as hiking 124km on our pilgrimage.

The Pilgrims Office is near the Cathedral and as we got close to the entrance we saw two familiar faces from Kamloops. Ken and Judy (our friends from Kamloops) had just arrived in Santiago de Compostela from doing the Primitavo Camino. They were the couple that talked us in to doing a Camino and were so inspirational with their encouragement, support and planning. So, we talked for a few minutes and they gave us some directions to help speed up the process and we made tentative plans to meet for dinner later that evening.

After completing all the necessary paperwork and purchasing a few Camino momento’s we headed off to our hotel Costa Vella for the next 4 nights. We then emailed Ken & Judy and planned to meet for a traditional Pilgrim’s dinner; they had a restaurant that they highly recommended from previous visits.
We went for dinner at 7:00 pm which is early for the Spanish and we were the second couple in , but it filled up quite quickly. The Pilgrim’s dinner included a salad, a main dish, desert and a bottle of wine shared between each couple and it was cheap, we think we remember it was about 17EU per person.
What a fun evening we had.

The rest of our stay in Santiago de Compostela was taken up exploring the area and enjoying the culture and celebrations in the City.
One event we went to was the Noon Mass at the Cathedral to see the burning of the incense and the Botafumeiro Celebration. The Botafumeiro is 5 ft tall incense burner that is used as part of the Catholic Christian Mass. The 5ft tall incense burner is attached to ropes and swings freely above the altar and at a certain point in the ceremony 5-6 helpers pull the ropes which causes the burner to rise up and then it is given a push to swing. The helpers then time the pulling of the rope with the swinging of the Botafumeiro and it really gets swinging; you’ll see that easily the arc of the swing is 100 ft.
The whole service and celebration was amazing, something we never expected to see. Enjoy the video.

While in Santiago de Compostela we also took a chartered day trip tour to Finisterre and Muxia? Many pilgrims take an additional 8 days (there and back) and walk this route to complete their pilgrimage. Finisterre rough translation is “the end of the world” and the next stop across the Atlantic Ocean is North America. Unfortunately the day we visited there was a lot of fog so we could only see about 500 yards out, but I guess when you think about it all that is beyond there is more water.
Also while we were in Santiago de Compostela they had a big celebration for All Saints Month, so there were various groups going around singing and then on large street party with entertainment, kids games, dancing, etc

After 4 days it was time to leave Santiago de Compostela and to head to Porto in Portugal. Dean found us an Uber type ride and we were picked up right on time and about 3 hrs later we were dropped off right at the front door of our rental unit Santa Caterina Suites. These suites were outstanding, very modern, very clean with lots of little extras, a great breakfast and right in the middle of Porto, so handy to everything. The only thing to watch for were the stairs to the suite level; they were steep and you easily went up 3 standard floors.

One tourist site we had to check out was the bookstore called Livraria Lello in downtown Porto. It is the only bookstore I know of that you have to make an online reservation to get entry to go book shopping. After you make your reservation you arrive at the bookstore and outside the store is a line up area with time markers. Once you find your time marker you get in line and they get you inside within 1/2 hr of your reservation time or sooner. Why the line up? Well “Livaria Lello” is a very old book store, it is 2 levels and has lots of oak and mahogany flooring, paneling, etc but the main feature is the really ornate winding staircase. The bookstore was the inspiration for Harry Potter author JK Rollings and Hogwarts; so no wonder the tourist interest and need for a reservation system.

Porto is a really nice City. It’s very old and lots of confusing streets and traffic and history and it’s right on the Douro River? Porto is also well known for its Port Wine Houses. Thankfully Judy and Dean were with us and convinced us to attend a Port Wine tasting session at Churchill Port House. Now my pallet for wine tasting is pretty much non existent, but even I could taste some of the differences between the ages. Judy on the other hand has an amazing tasting pallet and can pick up all the subtle characteristics. Since we ended up having our own private Port tasting session our Sommelier was even impressed with Judy’s ability and after we had sampled the standard stuff/swill and a couple higher end Ports the Sommelier went into the back and brought out some of the really good stuff; 30 years old or more.

It was a fun afternoon, a way to remember Porto and it was a good walk to get there and a cable car ride on the way back. One final attraction in Porto is the central market area, it was amazing, every type of meat, cheese, bread, chocolate, wine, port, plants, you name it.
We would definitely come back to Porto and do more exploring.

After 2 days we headed by train back to Lisbon and then caught a taxi to Costa De Caparica for our final 4 days. Costa De Caparica is a small seaside town about 45 minutes outside of Lisbon.
Not a lot going on but we stayed at a resort style property right on the ocean, went for some long walks, had some great dinners and just chilled out.

So, that’s about it for our Spain and Portugal adventure.

January arrived and winter got more socked in however it cleared up for a couple days and we were able to get down to Princeton to celebrate with Kevin, Tamara, Sage and Conrad.

Early in January we met with our friends Ken and Judy who have been trying to convince us for years to walk the Camino de Santiago? They are such an amazing couple and so inspirational and after having an afternoon coffee with them we decided that we weren’t getting any younger and if we were ever going to tackle an adventure like this it was going to be now?

Then in the middle of the month we headed off to Hawaii for 5 weeks? One of the highlights of Hawaii this year was we were able to attend a Jake Shimabukuro concert on the day after we arrived? What a great evening of entertainment and I got Jake to autograph my Martin Ukulele for the 4th time?

We had a great 5 weeks in Hawaii and we walked and walked and walked pounded the pavement in training for the Camino? This year we walked around the base of Diamond Head Crater over 18 times, plus there is the distance to get from our hotel to start the hike? Oh, and we also wore our day packs with weight in them to get use to that feeling while hiking/walking?

I found some ukulele jam sessions this year, which isn’t that difficult in Hawaii and Brenda was out and about and seeing the sites? We really like this picture of the Royal Hawaiian hotel she took on one of her many walks? It is one of the original Waikiki Hotels and it is so grand?

Plus Brenda took in 4 line dancing classes at the Waikiki Community Center?

Brenda and I celebrated our 49th anniversary in January????? where did those years go?

As far as birthdays, if he was still alive Murray Frederick Mason “GGPA” would have been 100 years old?

February flew by and the 5 weeks in Hawaii were great.

March arrived and with it a bunch more preparation for the Camino? Booking flights, accommodations, purchasing some needed gear and equipment, plus walking and getting ourselves prepared?

March birthdays included “GGMA” who turned 95 years young and Conrad who turned 15 years old.

Kevin, Tamara, Sage and Conrad visited us on the weekend of Conrad’s birthday; they went indoor rock climbing and had a great time.

The following weekend we spent up at Sun Peaks with Jeff, Lindsay, Zach and Oliver.

That’s about it for January, February and March 2023.

On Friday October 7th we headed off on our 19 day Wells Gray Tours adventure “A Taste of Italy”. We travelled by bus to Inn at The Quay in New Westminster for an overnight stay and boarded a Lufthansa flight to Munich Germany Saturday afternoon. The flight was long but the real “jet lagger” was the 9+ hour connection wait time to board the flight to Milan. By the time we arrived into Milan it was 12:30 a.m. local time and it was still a 45 minute bus ride to the hotel, when finally hit the bed we were exhausted.

Milan – 2 nights
The city of Milan is the second largest in Italy. Because of its strategic location, it has been ruled
by Romans, French, Spanish, and Austrians until finally coming under rule of the Kingdom of Italy
in the late 1800s. Our walking tour of the historic city included entry to the Duomo di Milano, the
city’s impressive gothic cathedral that took nearly six centuries to complete. The Milan Duomo is 70 yards wide and 170 yds long, from the front entrance to the altar.

Venice – 2 nights
Next we were off to Venice which is vivid, vibrant, and vivacious, the Queen of the Adriatic holds a mystical aura of a city of canals and palaces, and is one of the most enchanting places in the world. With canals, bridges and islands, Venice boasts of myriad magic festivals, exotic cuisine, and magnificent architecture. Called “the city of canals”, Venice extends across 120 islands that are joined by 455 bridges. Its colonization dates to the 5th century when inhabitants came to these marshy islands to escape the Barbarian invasion of the Mongols. Over time, the city grew across these islands, thus making Venice the only place of its kind in the world.

We boarded private water taxis for our transfer from the mainland to the Palazzo San Lorenzo, an intimate four-star hotel with an excellent location a few minutes walk from the famous Piazza San Marco.

We stayed two nights in the heart of Venice Venice is a city best explored by foot, so with the benefit of a local guide, we walk around the historic city. Attractions include Piazza San Marco, the Basilica, and Bell Tower. Admission was included to Doge’s Palace, seat of the Venetian Empire and one of the main landmarks in Venice. This afternoon, we enjoyed a Bacaro (wine bar) tour with appies and wine tasting.

Bologna – 2 nights
Leaving Venice, we travel to Ferrara, an intellectual and artistic centre that attracted the greatest
minds of the Italian Renaissance in the 15th and 16th centuries. Here, the concept of the ‘ideal
city’ came to life, marking the birth of modern town planning.

After a walking tour and lunch, we continued to Bologna, known for the oldest university in the Western world.
The day was devoted to the Parma area, known for the culinary treasures that it has given to the
world. We visit the Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese Factory and the Prosciutto di Parma Museum,
learning about the unique methods that create these cheeses and Parma ham. Tastings were provided.

In Bologna, we savoured the cuisine that the region is known for; la Cucina Bolognese.

Florence – 4 nights
Our destination today is the Tuscany region and the city of Florence; which was our base for exploring the area. Florence is delightfully beautiful, a jewel of the Renaissance, and a centre for food and fashion in northern Italy. During a walking tour, a local guide showed us the open-air museum of Piazza Della Signoria, Santa Croce which houses the tombs of Michelangelo and Galileo, and the cathedral with Giotto’s bell tower and baptistery with its impressive “Gates of Paradise”. All these buildings demonstrate the traditions of Florentine art and architecture from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. We also visited Accademia, home of Michelangelo’s famed sculpture, David.
One of the people on our tour, Joan from Kamloops had a lifelong bucket list item of seeing the statue of David in person and she got to fulfill that dream.
Peggy from Salmon Arm was a real jokester and she always wanted to touch David’s bum….. well at least that’s what she told us!

We spent the morning exploring Siena. We walked through the vast Piazza del Campo to see the
magnificent frescoes of the Palazzo Publico and visit the amazing zebra-striped Cathedral with marble paving and elaborate pulpit. Next, we drove through some of Tuscany’s lovely cypress and olive groves while ascending to the ancient hilltop village of San Gimignano.

In medieval times, each merchant family built its own fortress tower and residential area, and many remain standing today, giving the nickname, “town of the fine towers”. Here we tried out the local gelato and had lunch at a local farmhouse in the countryside.
The next day the morning was free to explore Florence on our own. The afternoon was devoted to exploring the Chianti region, well known for its exceptional wines. We were treated to an evening at Castello di Verrazzano with its extensive farms and gardens.
Plus we learned of the legend and story of the “Black Rooster – Gallo Nero” and how the Chianti Classico wines can only come from this region. Dinner and a tour of the wine cellars were included.

This morninig we toured an olive plantation where we were shown how cold pressed olive oil is made. We purchased a travel container of their extra virgin olive oil in a tin container.
Following this we had an interactive lesson in Tuscan cooking and we were rewarded with the fruits of our labour with an exquisite lunch and of course copious quantities of wine.
This afternoon we were off on an excursion to the city of Pisa, once an important port. Its proud and wealthy merchants dedicated some of their fortunes to build a fine cathedral and baptistery, but today it is the bell-tower that attracts the most attention – by leaning four metres from perpendicular.

Rome – 3 nights
Today we traveled the road south towards Rome.
On the way there we visited the town of Assisi, birthplace of St. Francis, who founded the Franciscan religious order here in 1208, and St. Clare, the founder of the Poor Sisters or Poor Clares.

Arriving in Rome, we stayed three nights at the wonderful Hotel Savoy. Built in the late 1800s, it has a great location next to fine shopping. Rome is called the Eternal City, a term coined by ancient Roman poets, and its 2,500 years of history have proven the name to be true.
This is the birthplace of western civilization and the city remains an important cultural and political centre in the modern world.

This morning, we have a guided walking tour of the Vatican, including entry into the Vatican Museums, St. Peter’s Basilica, and the Sistine Chapel to admire some of Michelangelo’s greatest masterpieces. The advantage of traveling in a group is being able to bypass the huge lines that form to enter!

Our locally-guided tour this morning includes entrance to the Colosseum, the largest amphitheatre in the Roman Empire, and the Forum, the centre of public life in ancient Rome. Palatine Hill is one of the Seven Hills of Rome, a truly ancient part of the city, and has been called “the first nucleus of the Roman Empire.”

Naples – 2 nights
Today we headed to Naples, third largest city in Italy. It was first settled by Greeks in the second millennium BC. Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Its historic city centre is the largest in Europe and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Neapolitan cuisine is noted for its association with pizza, which originated here, and we had lunch in a local pizzeria.

A walking tour was included this afternoon, then we settled into our hotel for two nights.

Mount Vesuvius dominates Naples, and its huge eruption in AD 79 buried nearby Pompeii under
4 to 6 metres of ash and pumice. Mostly preserved under the ash, the excavated city offers a unique snapshot of Roman life, frozen at the moment it was buried and providing an extraordinary insight into the everyday life of its inhabitants. It was a wealthy town with fine public buildings and luxurious houses with lavish decorations, furnishings, and works of art which were the main attractions for the early excavators.

Tonight is our farewell dinner to recap our Italian adventures, it was held at a farmhouse at the foot of Mount Vesuvius with local foods and Lacryma Christi wines.

Home to Canada
Saying farewell to Bella Italy, we depart Naples on Lufthansa, change planes in Munich and arrive in Vancouver in mid-afternoon.

What a great trip and adventure! Ciao!

February started and there we were roughing it in a top floor condo in Yaletown. The view was fantastic and the condo was well outfitted for a week long getaway.

Check out Spectrum 31 https://www.emrvacationrentals.com/vancouver-bc/property-details.ihtml?id=500

On Monday we took the Sea Bus over to North Vancouver to meet up with our good friends Fred and Barb. We had a great lunch at The Tap and Barrel which is located near Lonsdale Quay. Plus we got all caught up on grandkid activities and adventures:)

For the most part our stay in Vancouver was a little overcast and rainy, however we still went for lots of walks and always had an umbrella at the ready. On one walk we headed towards Stanley Park and about half way around the Seawall. Part of our adventure included finding the statue of Lord Stanley who the park was dedicated to. Lord Stanley was Canada’s 6th Governor General and he was the one who donated the Stanley Cup which was later passed on to The National Hockey League. Whaddda ya think? Is this about as close to the Stanley Cup that Vancouver is going to get this year?

We also found some wild Crocuses coming out, few early Cherry Blossoms and a very large Western Red Cedar tree.

Also, somewhere during the week we found some really big pieces of Lego and built a Vancouver Killer Whale 🙂

The weekend after we got back home Jeff, Lindsay, Zach and Oliver visited for a couple nights. It was great to see them. Plus Jeff helped me set up a Web Page for the Kamloops City Strummers. Check out this beauty http://kamloopscitystrummers.ca/

Then the next weekend our nephew from Prince George/Fort MacMurray visited for a few nights. It was a chance for Blake to get caught up with all his family in Kamloops.

The remainder of February was planning and coordination with Kevin, Tamara, Jeff and Lindsay for our upcoming family vacation to Hawaii in March.

So, stay tuned, March is going to be exciting.

This past weekend was our annual reunion with our friends……… this is year number 36 that we have been getting together.

Dean & Judy were the organizers this year and they chose a place near Sooke B.C. which is not too far from Victoria. The house we stayed in was a VRBO Rental http://www.vrbo.com/568841 , it had 5 bedrooms, 3 1/2 bathrooms, a beautiful deck over looking Sooke Basin and it had everything that we needed for the weekend.

We all arrived Thursday afternoon, headed into Sooke on Friday morning and visited Victoria most of Saturday. As usual we did lots of reminiscing, visiting, eating and making new reunion stories and tales. Most can be told………. many can’t 😉

On Sunday Rick & Gayle headed off to visit some relatives on the island and Betty-Anne and Ross headed off to their cabin at Horne Lake. They were all meeting up a couple days later for a visit at Horne Lake…… and why not, the weather was spectacular and we are all retired 🙂

Dean and Judy and Brenda and I stayed at the Sooke house for the remainder of the week and had a great visit and did some exploring and sightseeing of this area of the Province.

Friday morning after a great breakfast we headed into Tofino for some grocery shopping. After that it was back to the cabin to prepare for an afternoon picnic at Chesterman Beach. The weather and the scenery was amazing .

On Saturday we had the usual large breakfast and gorged ourselves. It wouldn’t be reunion weekend without over eating.

After breakfast we headed in to Tofino to take in the Saturday Market and walk around town to many of the shops. In the afternoon a few went for a walk and others caught up on their sleep with an afternoon nap. The day was beautiful, the sun was shining, it was a warm day and we have really been lucky with the weather…. a great way to spend the afternoon.

Later that evening we had a delicious meal prepared by Rick & Gayle  and then a campfire complete with Rick entertaining us on his guitar.

It was a great weekend, however on a sad note; this was the first reunion since our good friend Ed House passed away late last year.

We miss him dearly!

On Thursday after a morning coffee we drove over to take a walk on the Black Beach section of the “Wild Pacific Trail”. This beach walk was all along a very rugged coastline and through a heavily forested area. The sun was shining and it was spectacular.

After checking out we headed to Tofino where we were meeting with our Reunion group friends. On the way we stopped in at Chesterman Beach which is just outside Tofino. Once again another gorgeous beach on the west coast.

We finally met up with Dean and Judy in downtown Tofino and wandered around a bit before heading to the Condo/Cabin our reunion group has rented for the next 4 days. There is a main cabin and then a guest suite off to one side which is perfect for our group.

So let the partying and the weekend begin.