2008 in Review
Here is my year 2008 in review very condensed. I am going to start with the garden. I love gardening and already have lots of plans for garden(s) 2009. I went on two garden tours this past summer with my dear friend, Sheryl and we saw so many amazing ideas – it truly was mind blowing. I learned so much that will grow here just fine.
Bob put up the big wooden posts so that the eletric fence is permanent (or at least as long as we are here). Now in the spring he just has to wire it up to the solar panel and it is done. The electric fence seemed to work quite well this year. I did see where the dear or elk would stretch their head the get at some pole beans or a sunflowers or roses or corn or squash – well you get the drift but for the most part I got the bigger bounty this year!!!
We had a great deal of fresh veggies and herbs and a fresh bouquet when ever I felt like it. When my parents were out here this past Thanksgiving, I loved asking them what veggie they wanted to have with their meal and go and get it. My garden is organic.
I do have a crop I try to focus on – garlic. I have been told many times over that my garlic is fabulous – thank you – I think so too! Sadly this year my garlic crop got a disease so now I have to start over. I know what I did wrong and pretty much what happened so I am quite confident about this new crop that I planted in October. As I said, I am very much anticipating the 2009 garden(s).
Family in 2009. My parents came out for Thanksgiving this past year. I just loved having them. My Dad is in his late 70′s and my Mom is in her early/middle 70′s. Both are in good health, spirit and mind – I am fortunate for this as a lot of people my age don’t have this fortune. We had a fine time together. We all love to eat and cook for each other and play Euchre. Yes there was a lot of Euchre playing for the week that they were here – Bob and my Dad are the champs (but only by the skin of their teeth).
Bob and I flew into Calgary this past Easter to see Lindsay & Jeff and Rheanna. It was a lovely visit. Bob and I use to drive to Calgary but we would get there stressed out and tired and even a little miserable from a 8 – 9 hour drive with some it of being in the city (Neither Bob or I are at all use to big city driving anymore – who needs it). It was great getting picked up at the Calgary airport all refreshed with two smiling faces waiting to take us to their lovely home in the northwest of Calgary. Rheanna caught up with us the next day for dinner. She brought over that “Band” thing that you put on you TV. What a hoot we had playing that! I think that Lindsay and Jeff have some photos of that on their website thesills.net .
About other family members that speak a little differently. A coyote came and snatched our lovely Mable one night in the fall of 2007. That broke our hearts as Mable was such a great cat. Ironically enough I had just said to Bob that very day that it was getting close to keeping Mable back in the house.
As is already posted on this blog, we said good-bye to Beasley. Beasley was the sweetess dog ever – she was kind, gentle, had very good manners and was quite considerate. She still comes to visit me in my dreams and give her a big hug and remember her soft fur and her silly smile.
I think that Bailey is sometimes lonely for Beasley. Bailey and I spend a great deal of good quality time together; we go hiking and snow shoeing together a lot. Bailey is also such a lovely dog – my fellow hikers tell me quite often how well behaved she is. As I said to Sheryl, when to day comes that I have to say good-bye to Bailey, it will indeed be a sad one. Sheryl summed it up perfectly – One very sad day for a whole bunch of happy ones is a pretty good deal.
I joined a hiking group last spring. We go out every Saturday morning at 9 sharp We go to many different trails withing a 20 minute drive of our meeting place. I enjoy that a lot and so does Bailey ( I swear she knows when it is Saturday morning because she is like a sugared out kid just before we get in the car to leave). I had made a couple of good friends with in this group too – a bonus. The extra bonus is that this group turns into a snow shoeing group when the snow comes – snow shoeing is my favourite winter outdoor activity. I was able to rack up double kilometers in the “Cross the Nation” Wellness Challenge with all the snow shoeing that I do.
Bob and I went on three vacations this year. Two small and one two weeks. I already told you about the first one to Calgary last Easter. This past summer we went to the Oregon Coast – it was fabulous!! I did a great deal of research before we went so we weren’t driving around aimlessly at any time. If you have never seen the Oregon Coast you should put it on your must do list and email all the tourist info places to learn about it before you go. I was sent about 6 inches worth of valuable information that made our holiday just terrific. We did go to Seattle first for a couple of days and saw the sites and even took in a real Baseball game. There I was sitting in the Baseball arena eating Sushi and enjoying a glass of Chardonnay (whatever happened to ballpark dogs and beer – who cares?) We spent our last night in Seattle as well just to see a real football game. It was fun and a great new experience for me but I understand baseball better and the food was better at the baseball arena. A great holiday that one was! The other small vacation was taking a week off to spend time with my parents when they were here – nice and relaxing.
I believe in clean slates and I am optimstic person. So I welcome 2009 and all the challenges it brings.
Happy New Year All!!