Winter is Finally Here

I have not blogged much since we returned from Florida.  Has not been much to talk about.  The weather has been up and down and there has been virtually no snow.  I have been continuing my swim each morning but now I have to walk to the local community center instead of just out the door at Port Charlotte.   But I am getting used to having to share the pool with fifty or so others....back to reality!!  We do have a great local pool though which is only a block from our house.

A couple of weekends ago the weather was nice enough for Tom to give Big Mo a bath.

He hates to see a vehicle sitting in the driveway dirty!!

We finally got the hitch in the back of the truck this week.  A 20K Reese which should be more than adequate to tow Tara around this summer.


Saturday morning Stuart and Heajin  were in town to get an oil change on their car so they came by for brunch.  In the afternoon we headed out to Courtice for a surprise 68th birthday party for our friend Bob Burgess.  Their three daughters were there with their families, Val's sister and some other friends.  Most of the people we have met in the past and it was nice to see them again.  Happy Birthday Bob!!

Sunday we headed out to Tom's office in Mississauga again so I could finish scanning my photo albums to a thumb nail.  I am now finished all eight volumes and have them in the size that I can carry in the 5th.  The tomes will eventually end up on a shelf at Twyla's house.  These albums start as far back in the family history that I could go - 1801.  I have amalgamated all the old family pictures that have been handed down to me over the years, a family tree and lots of old family stories and then continued the story up to 2012 when I went from the albums to the blog.  This has been a project that I have been working on for 4 years.  It all started with a box of old pictures that were my Mom's.  I didn't know who many of the people in the pictures were.  I took them with me one time when I went to Saskatchewan and had my Aunt Helen go through them with me.  She was a great help with names, dates and stories.  She is gone now but I am so grateful to her for the help.  I can now pass this history to my Grands and they will know who these people are and the role they played in their world.  I hate to see history lost to the next generation.  I hope that someday their interest will be piqued like mine was and they find these books interesting.  And I hope I am still around to answer their questions.

On our way back from Mississauga we stopped in at Dave and Helen's for dinner.  Their son Craig was also their with his two little girls, Jordan (5) and Lauren (2 1/2).  They are really sweet kids and nice to be around.  So pleasant, polite and well behaved.  Good job Craig!!

This morning we woke up to winter.

Bob and Valerie were all set to head to Florida this morning but I think they will be delayed.  They are going down this year for 2 months.  Hope they have a great time and a safe journey.  For us - time to get out the snow shovels!!

Until next time - safe travels.