What a wonderful winter

The cherry trees are in true splendor and the daffodils are all out, so I know winter is over!  I used to dread Alberta winters and played mind games of counting the number of Mondays from December to April.  It's different on Vancouver Island though.  Do we get rain? Hell yeah.  That's why it's so green!  But it rarely stops us from doing anything and there are no traffic jams due to snow and ice - except for the two weeks when we get cold weather and snow.  Fortunately, it usually doesn't hang around too long and the Island usually shuts down which is funny for all us ex-Albertans.

When we got back from Europe, Roger did a quick trip to Calgary to see his folks, then had his second knee replacement done. Thank goodness both knees are done - it was a tough year with two knee replacements in eight months, but he keeps exercising and continues to get more mobility.

At 96, John continues to enjoy a trip to Tim Hortons!

Last knee to be done!  The ice machine was a godsend.

I started stick curling four years ago and absolutely love it.  In November, my partner Evelyn and I won the B Event which was a huge deal to us.  We have a blast playing together and I look forward to playing again with her next season. A group of us also volunteer at a nearby retirement community and host floor curling competitions once a month.  The residents love it, and whether they are seasoned players of days gone by, or giving it a try --- they all cheer each other on and go for take outs at every opportunity.  It's a volunteer gig I look forward to.

We won the B Event of the Sticks & Stones Bonspiel. 
No one was more shocked than me!

Floor curling at the Berwick

We celebrated our 47th anniversary at one of our favourite spots!

With Christmas coming, we went to Woodinville, Washington to spend time with Brad, Anette, and Magnus.  We spent a few days eating great meals, playing crazy games, and had a wonderful evening seeing the Nutcracker Ballet in Seattle.  

We were invited to a wedding in Escondido, California in early January and were all set to go.  Just before going, Roger saw his surgeon who recommended his new knee get surgically manipulated to give him more mobility.  Unfortunately the procedure was done the day before we were set to leave, and it was clear that he wasn't going to be able to fly.  After much discussion, Roger convinced me to go on my own.  Brad, Anette and Magnus were also attending so I was able to hang out with them for a few days.

It was night by the time I drove to the AirBnb that was out in the country. 
I was glad to see their faces, and the glass of wine that Brad handed to me!

We spent a fun day at Legoland and built Lego boats that we raced.

Swinging with Anette at the AirBnb!

It was fun going to the wedding with Magnus -- it was his first!

From left to right: Linda and Karen's brother Steven, and his wife Deanna, Linda (Karen's sister) and Dallas Miller (parents of the groom),  Roger's brother Colin and his wife, Karen. 

The bride and groom:  Austin and Trista Miller along with Brad and Magnus.

Our nephew, Chris, lives in San Diego and I had a wonderful evening with him and his beautiful fiancé, Ashley before I flew home.

In February, dear friends Shelagh and John Slater from Ma-Me-O Beach, Alberta and Paddy and Dave Carlson from Spokane, Washington came and spent time on the Island.  The six of us spent two beautiful, fun filled days in Tofino in a gorgeous AirBnb that we rented by Chesterman Beach.  

We spotted some whales which is something that still thrills me.

Left to right: Me, Paddy (in the back) and Shelagh.
While Paddy and I were in Sorrento in September, we decided to buy
caftans and give one to Shelagh when we next got together. 

We played the Horse Race game for hours and had a fantastic time.

After Paddy and Dave returned home, we welcomed Magnus to Parksville while Brad and Anette holidayed with friends in the BVIs and he had a week off school.  We kept him busy and we all had a great time.  Shelagh and John have 9 grandchildren and treated Magnus like he was part of the gang.  

I got Magnus equipped to try Stick curling and he did really well!

We went to the Wildlife Recovery Centre near Parksville and spent time seeing 
eagles, owls and other wildlife getting nursed back to health. 
Most would be able to be returned to the wild.

We went to Mt Washington about an hour north of Parksville and Magnus and I spent
a fantastic hour on the tube run.  Pretty sure I was the oldest person doing it, but it
was so much fun -- especially when Magnus and I hung on to each other's tubes so we 
went twirling down the hill together!  Thank God there was a "magic carpet" to take me back up the hill.

We all played Code Names for hours!

Roger took Magnus to his first hockey game, and Magnus loved it!  He got to high five some of the players, and Roger caught a T-shirt that was shot from a canon.  It was a great souvenir for Magnus!

We brought Magnus back home to attend school and had a busy week taking him to school and other activities.  We having the opportunity to have one on one time with him.  He is smart, funny, kind and easy to be around.

Magnus and his good friend, Erik had a fun pizza night

Roger is always full of surprises, and he came up with a fantastic one to celebrate my 68th birthday.  

It started with taking a float plane (a first for me) from Nanaimo to downtown Vancouver and it kept getting better.  Roger made reservations at great restaurants and brew pubs, got tickets to the Banksy exhibit (I'm a huge fan of his work), arranged to have drinks with friends, took me to a cool nightclub, and had us stay at the Fairmont Waterfront. We returned to the Island on the new high speed passenger ferry (a first for both of us).  

It was stunning to fly into Vancouver and landing right by Canada Place.

There is a certain irony to this....

Couldn't resist when we saw the sticker on the pole.

Roger invited friends, Claire and Jody who surprised me and made it a true "Happy Hour".

We went to a very cool nightclub called Guilt & Co where we had an amazing
charcuterie board and listened to excellent music.

View from our room

The cherry blossoms were gorgeous.

The Maritime Museum was wonderful and included access to an RCMP
ship called the St. Roch which was the first vessel to traverse the
NW Passage from west to east in the early 1940s.

Hanging out in Granville Island listening to buskers and watching life go by 
(and maybe dream about winning the lottery)

Because we've all thought this....

Cocktails and fresh oysters at the Fairmont Waterfront.  Couldn't be better.

Dinner at Rodney's Oyster Bar -- turning 68 is just fine with me.

Our first trip on the Hullo ferry - a great way to go from downtown Vancouver to downtown Nanaimo.

It was two days of doing what we love doing ---- exploring a city, eating and drinking well, and being together. Thanks, Roger.  You sure know how to show a girl a good time.  

"The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time."

                                                      James Taylor

When dreams become real

There is always a trip being planned in our lives.  Two years ago we started planning 5 weeks in Italy and Greece. The goal was not to “see it all”, but to check out some off the beaten track places as well  as a few iconic spots.  It was an itinerary complete with planes, trains and automobiles along with neat Airbnb’s, a couple of hotels, and a lot of YOLO moments. And while I had been to Europe when I was 20, being there 47 years later with Roger was really the stuff of dreams.

And we're off!

We each had a carryon and small backpack --- and did just fine!
In fact, we felt sorry for the travelers lugging huge suitcases!

View from our Rome hotel - and it turned out to be where we had our first Italian dinner.

Tired, but happy --- "We're in Rome!"

The first of many churches, the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore.  We may not be religious, but the architecture and beauty took our breath away.  

Florence

The next day we took a high speed train and headed for Florence for 9 days.  I loved Florence in 1977 and really loved spending so much time exploring it this time.  It's a wonderful, walkable city with something new to see around every street corner.

The Ponte Vecchio - 1977

View from Piazzale Michelangelo

I love street art - and we found Italy and Greece have a lot of it.  Much of it seems to be random graffiti, while gems like this are a treat to see.

Galileo Museum was amazing.  This is the spectacular Armillary Sphere.

We took a fantastic cooking class where we made homemade pasta into pappardelle, tortellini and ravioli.  It was as fun as it was delicious.

The chef had me come up and toss the ravioli in a basil and tomato sauce.

Our class!

Day trip to Venice

We headed to Venice for a day, and had an amazing day.  Lucky for us, good friends from Alberta were there and we had a drink with them before we headed back to Florence!

The fast trains are a great way to travel

The canals are like busy freeways!

I saw my first Banksy mural, and I was thrilled.  It's called The Migrant Child and was done in 2019. Because of the water, it is decaying at a higher rate than his other works. 

Our gondola taxi driver!

Roger caught the joy I felt (as well as wondering if I
would tip off the gondola's ledge into the choppy water!)

The bird photo bombed this pic!

New experience - high tide in Venice.  Enterprising people sold these pull on boots which were 
necessary to navigate the areas around St. Mark's Square. Many didn't buy them - the occasional whiff of sewage made me cringe as I saw adults and children wade barefoot....

Venice also puts out raised sidewalks to battle rising waters.

We did the Secret Itineraries of the Doges Palace tour - home to a prison as well as a palace. Casanova was one of the famous inmates - he was rich enough to rate an upper floor.  The poorer prisoners were kept in the dark basement where it constantly flooded.

One of the torture rooms.

The mix of depraved prison conditions and practices and
 the palace was hard to wrap our heads around.

Military weapons and equipment in the palace

Fun to meet up with John and Laurel MacPhail (beside me) as they were traveling with their friends.

Off to the Tuscan countryside

As planned (and planned….) we finally met up with our dear friends, Paddy and Dave Carlson from Spokane and spent 13 glorious days exploring Tuscan villages and the area between Naples and Sorrento.  

Our first dinner together in Florence

Florentine steak is all that it's cracked up to be.  Absolutely delicious!

A train strike (there are often 24 hour strikes) stymied our plan to take a train from Florence to Arezzo where we were to pick up our car.  Fortunately, I was able to hire a driver who could take us — a king’s ransom for an hour trip — but we got there!

Our villa in Monte San Savino was fantastic. 
Our bedroom was part of the original building and was built in the 1700s.

Roger and David had a great time cooking wonderful dinners on the BBQ

We loved our home in Tuscany!

Church in Assisi

The Tuscan countryside was so beautiful.  Every town seemed to be on a big hill, 
so we did lots of walking and climbing.  

A motorcyclist photo bombed our cocktail break in a beautiful piazza!  So fun!

Fun times!

Did a wonderful wine tasting at Cantina De'Ricci.  The casks were kept
in a cathedral like cavern.

We loved the doors throughout Italy.  Bigger is always better!

Negroni Spritz overlooking the Siena piazza

Sunset at the villa

Naples to Sorrento

When our time in Tuscany was over, we hopped on a fast train and headed for Naples.  Our amazing Airbnb host picked us up and drove us to Torre Annunziata about an hour south of Naples.  She and her family lived in an apartment in the same building as ours, and couldn’t have been more hospitable if we had stayed with them.  They brought us Limoncello, a cake, wine, and over the course of 4 days, got us a driver to take us to Sorrento, gave us a day pass to their beach club, and made dinner reservations at a wonderful restaurant.

Even the trains have street art/graffiti!

One of the buildings being painstakingly unearthed at Pompeii.

Overlooking Sorrento - the Fabulous Four!

Sorrento was a beautiful city to walk around

On the only blustery day we had, our hosts gave us access to their beach club.  
We are all hardy souls, so embraced the opportunity and had a great time!  
Paddy and Dave were hardier than us and actually went swimming!

We were the only ones there that day!  Don't know why???

Naxos, Greece

It was time to bid our wonderful traveling companions goodbye.  We had so much fun together and despite all of us having colds, we drank great wine and Campari Spritzes, ate amazing meals (many that we made at the villa), were totally on the same page in what we wanted to see and do, and had more laughs than you could imagine.  Paddy and Dave went to Rome for their last 3 days, and we flew to Naxos, Greece.  A place neither of us had been before and were excited to see.

The island of Naxos - about a 45 minute flight from Athens

We loved Naxos.  There were lots of Greek families living there, the old town was a myriad of alleyways, the food was great and the Island was a treasure to explore.  There were no huge hotels, and we stayed in a small hotel where we had breakfast delivered to our room each morning.  

A huge marble gate and the only part of the unfinished Temple of Apollo, 530 BC

We were sitting by the harbour watching the ferries coming and going.  The wake from one of them kicked up some waves.  Roger didn't get a drop on him!

We hit the beaches in our little buggy and found this gorgeous beach
(that required us to scramble down the up a steep path)

This buggy had the "fun factor".  It was loud and hot --- but it WAS fun!

A very charming Greek farmer who honestly, kind of hosed us by charging us 50 euros for stuff we could have bought in the store for 20.  Oh well ---- we supported a Greek farmer!

Delos and Mykonos

We took a day trip on a ferry which took us to Delos — an island we had never heard of before. It has artifacts dating back to 600 BC and it was fascinating. 

We stopped in Paros to pick up more passengers

Lunch in Mykonos by the water.  Can it get any better?

This guy of mine.  Love seeing him so happy.

Athens, Greece

Our trip was coming to an end. We flew to Athens for 3 nights and then on to Rome for our last 3 nights.

Athens was so much different than we expected! 

Visiting the Acropolis and the Parthenon was amazing to see.

Changing of the guard was a really interesting experience! 
Quite the difference from seeing it in Ottawa and London.

Brad and Anette went to this restaurant 20 years ago and recommended it to us.
It was fun to go where they had been!

I booked a roof top patio overlooking the Acropolis.  We loved it
so much we kept ordering cocktails and food so we could see it in the dark.

Our waiter took this shot -- a table of Americans asked if we were on our honeymoon!

Rome....then home!

Our time in Rome was busy as we just had 2 full days.

Colosseum - 1977

....and in 2024

The Trevi Fountain is under construction in preparation for the Jubilee in 2025.

We still threw coins into the Trevi Fountain!

Last night in Rome --- I went and bought tiramisu and
brought it back to our Airbnb for a last minute treat.

Lunch at Heathrow

Heading home

It felt so good to get home, and the next morning we woke up and said we felt it was a dream.  Not the Bob Newhart waking up kind of dream thank goodness.  

Looking at these pictures lets us relive a period of time when we just had a ball.  We did whatever we wanted to.  I got to show Roger some of the places I had seen as a 20 year old, but it was so different seeing it with him.  We agree that we wouldn't have changed a thing.  

There is another big trip on the horizon -- we want to go back to New Zealand in the winter of 2025-26 and spend more time exploring this beautiful country.  Until then, we are beyond lucky to live where we do. Pretty damned lucky, I'd say.

"Of all the books in the world, the best stories are found between the pages of a passport.