Winter blog 2021

 It's been another interesting year, hasn't it?  For me the word that best characterizes these times is:  uncertainty.  Uncertainty plays out in almost every sphere of our lives: the economy, the climate, politics, societal shifts  and has served to keep me pretty close to home. much as I love to travel.  So no Mexico this past year and no Mexico in the coming year unless things change dramatically..... for the better.  In the meantime, staying at home has many positives chief among them the presence of my daughter, Charlotte, and her family here in Victoria, just five blocks away.  They took the plunge and moved to Victoria from southern Washington.  Now I have the joy of them being in my life on a regular basis.  It's been a dream come true.  

 

Ryan, Lucien, Charlotte

 

In their curiosity about their new home environs, they've exposed me to places I've never been.  On Ryan, my son in law's, birthday we drove way out to the westernmost point on southern Vancouver Is, a place called, Port Renfrew.  This was the furthest I've ventured from home since the beginning of the pandemic.

Port Renfrew is pretty much the end of the road going west, but from there you can take a highway that cuts through the mountains back to the east coast of the island.  It was a hot day and there were lakes along the way to cool off in but the best was the Cowichan River where we wiled away a chunk of time enjoying the cool of the river.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjtQXQuVWLg

 Another year of gardening with all of it's concomitant joys and frustrations.

My indoor pepper plantation flourished supplying me with a bounty of blistering beauties until it was decimated by bugs.

All of my family is thriving.  

 

The two older grandkids are in Portland, Sam finishing another degree at Portland State University and Lily managing an environmental testing lab.  Demian and Annette in Seattle are experiencing the empty nest again and living full lives.  Charlotte, Ryan and Lucien are adjusting to living in a new country and slowly settling in.  For the first time in two years we'll all be together here for the holidays.  I'm excited!

Another thing that reconciles me to not traveling, is the beauty of where I live.  

 

I hope you have fared well this past year in this uncertain world and that the coming year will bring you joy.