I am writing this too close to Christmas, but hopefully, if my computer does not crash word again, it will get to you in time this year. Fingers crossed.

Firstly, we hope that this finds you all happy and healthy and enjoying life to its fullest. Carpe Diem certainly is our way of life nowadays, as we adjust to our “new norm”. Russell is still struggling with his energy and memory. However, he seems to be having more good days, where he says he feels like his old self, for which we are very grateful. Certainly, we feel blessed where we live, and that we are mainly healthy, yet again we have lost many good friends in 2024.

Onto this year. In January we went to the Maya Riveria, Mexico where we stayed at the Grand Maya. A luxury resort booked through our timeshare. Whilst there we spent a day at XCarat and enjoyed all the wonderful onsite facilities including Cirque de Soleil for a show and dinner. We spent a few days in Playa de Carmen before leaving. A fun relaxing time in the sun.

More adventures awaited as we had organised a trip with my brother and sister-in-law to ski in Sun Peaks for nine days in February. We rented a beautiful ski in/ski out chalet that allowed dogs, so Poppy and Nugget were also able to enjoy some time up in the snow and sun with us. Jamie and Frankie made a trip to Saltspring before they left. Amy and Edwin managed to take some time off work to spend a few days with us. A special time together.

The Spring and early summer saw me busy with my AirBnb. We had the best year to date and a lot more international guests which was fun. I still find time for tennis, pickleball, yoga and hiking/walking with the girls (a name we now call Nugget and Poppy). Saltspring is truly a magical place with so much to do and see, we just love it here, especially in our beautiful home we made. We have some wonderful friends; I especially enjoy my “tennis/pickleball girls”. In August we took off again on our boat Madrona. We did not go as far as planned, but we enjoyed our time away on the water, a place where I am often at my happiest.

Fall was again busy with the AirBnb and the money I made helped towards my girl’s “big” trip at the end of October. I flew to Bangkok to meet my sister-in-law Yoga and niece Tilly. We had booked a month’s trip around Southeast Asia with G Adventures. Amy and I used the company when we went to Japan before Covid, and I cannot recommend them highly enough. We had a wonderful group of 13 and our tour guide was exceptional, we had a truly memorable and amazing time. Our trip took us north through Thailand to Laos, where we enjoyed a two-day trip along the Mekong River. Our week in northern Laos was magical. From there we went into Vietnam and saw all the “must do” sites as we traveled from the north to the south of the country before entering Cambodia. Angkor Wat did not disappoint; it was much bigger than I had imagined with so many temples around it. We saw and learnt so much, it was amazing. Russell, Nugget and Poppy managed without me but seemed very happy to see me on my return.

We have a fun packed early 2025 ahead. At the beginning of January, we are off to Hawaii for 12 days and then at the end of the month we are going to Sun Peaks with the dogs for six weeks. We love spending time in the mountains and skiing every day will keep us fit, as will walking the girls. Easter we are off again to Amsterdam for a two-week river cruise to Budapest. From there we are taking a train to Prague for a few days before flying to England. We will be in England for just under three weeks before we fly home at the end of May. So, lots to look forward to.

The kids are joining us for Christmas tomorrow. Jessica can join us, but Luke is staying in Vancouver to be with his grandma and family. He came with his mum Barb for Thanksgiving, which was a fun get together. They are all well and enjoying life as youngsters do. Edwin and Jessica moved in the fall to a one-bedroom condo by Granville Island. A two-minute walk for Edwin now to get to work at Aquabus, Jessica works from home. Amy and Luke are still in their lovely apartment just off Commercial, another lively location to live and Amy also works from home.
We hope that next year brings everyone lots of laughs, love, and good health. As we like to say, our door is always open (hey we live on Saltspring where no one locks their doors) and we would love to see you if you are ever close by. Sending you lots of love and a big hug until next year.

Jane and Russel and of course, Nugget and Poppy

ps some pictures in Gallery

Well, this year if I get my act together, you may get this before the BIG day. First, I hope that this finds you all happy and healthy and enjoying life. Carpe Diem is the way to go I have decided.
2023 has been interesEng year for both of us. We have learnt a lot; especially how to accept what life throws at us. One of the hardest pills that we had to swallow was in January. We lost our dearest brother-in-law, that we all called Boop (long story) to the dreaded Big C. We were all in shock. We had put our proposed trip to NZ and Oz on hold and ended up just going to Australia to be with Yoga, Boop's wife and Russell's oldest sister, in February for three weeks.
Luckily our friends Bev and Paddy had been super flexible as they were housesiXng for us. Not only that, but on the 10th of January we also ended up picking up our new furry kid "Nugget" who they kindly looked a\er at a very tender age.
Australia was an awesome trip. We are so pleased that we were able to be there for Boop's celebraEon of life and that we were able to support Yoga at a very difficult Eme. We managed to see lots of relaEves and while we were there, we spent a couple of days in
Brisbane. We visited Ken (our old flatmate) and Joyce, and David (who Russ calls his brother) and Burnie. Special Emes.
Upon our return it was back to Saltspring Eme. I must admit we are truly blessed to live here. My days are spent playing tennis (3-4 Emes a week), pracEsing yoga (2-3 Emes a week) and walking/hiking with "the girls" Nugget and Poppy twice a day. Then of course there is looking a\er everything else, plus Russell. We also find Eme to enjoy all the socialising and nightlife that life on "Salty" offers.
Russell has conEnued to have some health challenges, which started with his fall last year. His broken neck took longer to heal than we had hoped and by January I was concerned that his "potenEal" concussion was not improving. I managed to get him an MRI, which showed that he had had a mild stroke someEme at the end of last year. It did not help. Memory and energy are not what they used to be, and we are now adjusEng to the new norm. Poor Russ, he also had to have a hernia operaEon in October, but thankfully it all went well. His humour has certainly helped in these difficult Emes.

A highlight of the summer was Yoga coming to visit us for three weeks in July. Life was busy, but we managed a trip to Victoria and really enjoyed Butchart Gardens in its full glory. A quick trip on the boat and a last dinner at the yacht club, the trip was too short. We look forward to her visiEng again in a couple of years.
We have had wonderful friends and family come and visit us on a regular basis. I have been AirBnB ing our 1- bedroom suite, which has brought in more than last year and helps pay the extra interest on our loan that we have. The landscaping on our house is taking shape and I
get a lot of joy spending Eme gardening. We got to spend five weeks away cruising "Madrona" our beauEful Grand Banks 42 up North, the weather and company was perfect.
Early next year we have a trip planned for Mexico in January for ten days and then in February we are spending Eme in Vancouver and meeEng my brother Jamie and his wife in Sun Peaks for nine days ski-ing. They are over for three weeks and are going to spend the end of their trip visiEng us on Saltspring. They have not seen our new home, so we are looking forward to sharing it with them.
The kids are both well and enjoying life. Their latest news is that Amy and Luke are geXng married at the beginning of June. Just immediate family for the ceremony in Lynn Valley Forest and then onto a small party for some of their close friends at a Brewery in North Vancouver. Edwin and Jessica's news is that they have become owners of a rescue dog called Olive. She is two and has had a hard life, so we are happy she has found such a wonderful home.
We hope that next year brings everyone lots of laughs, love, and good health. As we like to say, our door is always open (hey we live on Saltspring where no one locks their doors) and we would love to see you if you are ever close by. Sending you lots of love and a big hug unEl next year.

Happy New Year

As always, I plan to get my blog done before Christmas, but it seems to have become an early January event. Better late than never I suppose. Hoping that you had a fabulous festive season, and that the coming year brings you good health and much happiness.

2022 was a challenging year for us, so we are happy to have left it behind.

In February we went up to Sun Peaks for a couple of weeks ski-ing while Amy and Edwin looked after Poppy for us. The snow was perfect, although for a couple of days it was a little too cold to ski. Most days we had fresh fluffy snow to enjoy, but it was good to take a bit of time off as we still ski hard. We had a ski in, ski out condo (with hot tub) within a short walk of town, a real treat. It was fun to catch up with all our old friends, and with restrictions eased we were able to enjoy après ski socializing again, plus lovely dinners out.

From there we went to Whistler to stay with some friends for three days. They were happy to have Poppy join us, as they have two dogs, so we picked her up enroute. We have not been to Whistler for a long time, wow how it has changed. Way too many people for our liking and not the greatest snow, but we had fun. We have certainly been spoilt with Sun Peaks.

March was busy with various friends coming to visit and a few AirBnb guests in our suite. Since March we have had 28 bookings. It has been wonderful to share our beautiful new home and get to know visitors from all over the world, although most have been local. We only take bookings when we are around, so they were mainly in May, June and July.

In April Russell had his accident. He was in the hot tub with his friend Ron, who was staying. Upon getting out he blacked out (it was a cold night) and fell backwards onto the tub steps. Thank goodness he was not on his own, it could have been so much worse. The ambulance arrived and he was flown to Vancouver a few hours later to have surgery. He broke his neck from C4-C7 and now has two titanium rods (yes, his nick name now is the Titty man). It was obviously a very stressful time; he is lucky to be alive and not in a wheelchair for life. We are truly thankful to our local Lady Minto hospital and Vancouver General hospital for all their care.

We were due to fly to England within a few days, but thankfully we were able to reschedule the trip. Russ was out of hospital within four days and then it was the slow road to recovery. Not an easy one, but he is so much better, and we are certainly through the worst of it. Not sure what happened to June and July, but by August Russ felt well enough to go away on the boat. We spent a week at Tugboat outstation and then went up to Garden Bay outstation for a while. They are both yacht club outstations and we were able to just hang out with various friends. Poor Russell was not as well as we thought and spent a lot of time resting. Luckily, I can manage the boat on my own, so we were able to spend time in the Harmonies, Laura Cove and Ballet Bay. Poppy and I spent a lot of time together exploring on our new 13’ Whaler tender, however she was not keen to swim with me and preferred chasing fish in the shallows. We ended up going down to Alexander Island (another outstation) on our way to Vancouver where we spent a couple of nights before returning home. Being on the water is certainly my happy place and it was good to get away for four weeks.

Whilst we were in Vancouver Amy and Luke got engaged. Sadly, we had to put off celebrating with them. Amy had returned from working in Las Vegas and got Covid on the flight back, then immediately gave it to Luke. Not sure when the wedding will be, but we are very excited for them both.

In September we spent three weeks in England with my brother Jamie down in Poole. It has been a very long time since I spent any time there (thanks Covid), apart from the 3 days for my mother’s funeral seven years ago. Russell did much better than expected and among other things enjoyed meeting up with some of his Classic Car friends. We now have all sorts of parts for his car being freighted over here. We also got away for five days to see some old friends and managed to see all my cousins and aunt. A great trip, we are already looking forward to the next.

At the end of October, we flew down to Arizona for a couple of weeks. We had booked a unit at a golf resort before Russell’s accident, so no golf, but time in the sun and we have never visited the area, so lots to explore. Upon arrival Russell came down sick and was in bed most of the two weeks. He tested negative for Covid, but I think he may have had it. Thankfully I did not get sick and was able to look after him. The weather was cooler than normal for the time of year, and it even rained a couple of days. Weird, still we made the best of it. Then upon returning home, within a couple of days, I came down with Covid. I was only sick a couple of days, but we don’t think we will be going back to the States anytime soon.

Then we had Christmas to look forward to. Always a happy time of year; especially as we were able to socialise and go to parties for the first time in a few years. The kids came over to Salt spring to spend four days with us at Christmas, a special time.

This year we have had to say goodbye to too many, close friends, we miss them. As we get older, we realise that we are blessed for every day we have “Carpe Diem”. A month ago, we also heard that our brother-in-law was in hospital in Australia. He is still in hospital and is seriously ill with Acute Leukaemia. Our plan was to go to New Zealand and Australia in February for six weeks. We are now looking at just going to Australia to support our sister-in-law for three to four weeks.

There is sunshine on the horizon though. This week our dog breeder contacted us. We had planned to get a new puppy in the spring, but she has come early. We get her on Tuesday, and we are so excited. It will be wonderful for Poppy to have a little sister for company, and we see a busy time ahead. Thankfully our house sitters are more than happy to look after the puppy.

As I go through my photos, I realise that I really must take more this year. Maybe that will be my New Year’s resolution. On that note I wish you happy healthy days ahead, please keep in touch and I look forward to our paths will meeting again soon.

Much love

Jane and Russell

We hope that this blog/newsletter finds everyone happy and healthy and ready for the New Year. 2022 I feel is going to be a cracker, full of love and laughter and our hope is that we will see some of you again soon.

This last year has been very kind to us, even with Covid always hovering in the background. We feel very grateful. We have learnt to adapt to the new normal and now live a slightly quieter life. We have no travel plans booked for the near future, even when we make plans locally we seem to have to cancel them. However, our hope is to be able to spend next Christmas with family in New Zealand and Australia; with a trip to England hopefully in the spring. The last time we were in England was five years ago for my Mum's funeral. We only had two days, as we had commitments in New Zealand where we were living at the time. It is the longest I have ever been away from the UK.

So what have we been up to? We have been enjoying our new home and finishing off the last of the "to do list"; which I am sure will never end. It keeps Russell busy and he has completed some amazing projects. One is our woodshed that will now keep us in wood for years to come, another is recently putting the pool table back together and refelting it. He had a wonderful guys get together to celebrate, where they spent three days continuously playing different games while drinking the occasional beer. I took Poppy to visit the kids in Vancouver and left them to it.

I continue to play a lot of tennis, a game I really enjoy. I have made a wonderful group of tennis friends and we have a lot of fun playing together. In the summer we also played golf until I got "trigger thumb" which stopped play for quite a few months. At last I got a cortisone injection and was back playing by the fall. Taking Poppy for daily hikes and walks with friends seems to fill up my days. I feel so blessed to have so many trails to enjoy and for Poppy to explore off leash. Yoga has been put to one side as I still do not feel comfortable going into a Yoga studio, although I am hoping to start again when things settle down. Omicron currently is really making itself felt here in BC.

Poppy our "spoilt rotten" puppy has also brought us much love and joy. She is now nearly 15 months old, apparently we can call her a puppy until she is two. She certainly still acts like a puppy. We have a puppy date with five of her friends each morning at 9am unless I am playing tennis; which she loves. Then a couple of walks most days. She gets along with everyone and thankfully has pretty good manners unless over excited, where she still has a tendency to jump up. Luckily she is not very big at only 23lbs, but gets away with it way too often.

Apart from the occasional trip to Vancouver or the island we have not been away much because of Covid. However we did manage to get away on Madrona our trawler for six weeks in July and August. We went all the way up to the Broughton Islands, north of Desolation Sound, an area we had not explored before. It was stunning, although a lot cooler than we had expected. The weather was kind to us and we did not get the fog and wind that can be a problem so far north. Because the borders were closed we seemed to have the place to ourselves and when there was another boat around we instantly became friends. It was fun to check out the extensive cruising area, and we enjoyed fishing, crabbing and prawning. Edwin and his girlfriend Jessica joined us for a while. Both proved to be excellent at fishing and quickly helped fill up our freezer.

We had a long summer; which started early and ended late. It was magic. Long warm sunny days with thankfully not as many forest fires. We were on high alert here on Salt Spring having a huge water shortage. Our home is on a communal well system and we have our own well for irrigation.
Thankfully everyone was being very careful.

Then winter came, overnight it seemed, and as I write this we have new snow outside. Yes we woke Christmas day to snow, so special, I love it. Amy, Edwin and his girlfriend Jessica were with us so a totally different Christmas to last year thank goodness. Amy's partner Luke was with his family in North Vancouver. Amy was here for a week and Edwin four days, so we had lots of time together. They are both doing really well. Edwin is still at Aquabus and Amy works remotely for a company in Vancouver; which means that she works here when she wants a change of pace.

I will add lots of pictures to our blog. Please just check out the gallery at the top of the blog, then pick 2021 and when you click on a picture it will give you more information.

I meant to write this before Christmas, but yet again it seems to have become a New Year blog. Hoping that everyone had a very festive Christmas and that the New Year brings you all great happiness and a more Covid free year.

Live, laugh, love and be happy

With much love

Jane and Russell

Here's to 2021

Rather than send out a Christmas message, we felt a New Year's one was a good idea. We hope that all our friends and family had a good Christmas, even though it was a very different for most of us.

What a year 2020 has been, we are more than ready for 2021. However, on reflection there have been some wonderful moments to the last year, that even Covid could not destroy for us. Our hearts go out to those who were not so fortunate.

We were lucky enough to have a two week trip to Mexico in February. Russell needed some time off and the sunshine was a bonus. It was perfect timing as the house was painted while we were away, so Russell was not needed on site. Our new home took up all of his time and I was busy sorting out the interior design and supporting him whatever way I could. We were busy and so lucky that most suppliers were able to stay open. Our team were fantastic, although we had to slow down when Covid started for safety reasons.

We were amazed when we were able to move into our new home the beginning of June. On time and under budget. Still lots to do, but we are nearly done. We love the place and it has exceeded our expectations.

I spent the summer playing golf, tennis or going for a hike every day. My games really improved and it was a lot of fun. Russell spent most of the time finishing off outstanding jobs, although I did manage to get him on the golf course for a weekly date. He now has a group of friends he plays with every Wednesday as well, so his game is also improving.

Boating was not on top of the list this year and the time we did get out we had to cut short because of the smoke from down south. The fires there were horrendous. It was hard to breath for quite a few days and the visibility getting home was like a thick fog. Thank goodness we have an inside helm station. Roll on next year when we hope to spend a lot more time on Madrona.

We did have a few visits from the kids and friends, when we were told it was safe to do so. So special. Zoom is great, but there is nothing like actually seeing people in person. Luckily we have made a lot of friends on Salt Spring and were able to enjoy time together, distance socialising. Just love our new deck, we never get bored of the view which changes daily.

Both Edwin and Amy are doing well in Vancouver. Amy started a new job just as Covid started, but luckily is able to work remotely. She and her partner Luke live on the top half of a house just off Commercial, a great part of Vancouver. They have a terrific deck with a great view and glorious sunsets. Edwin is still with AquaBus although the company is struggling with the lack of tourists. He is living with a group of friends in a large house in West Vancouver. They have a huge garden and Edwin has taken up gardening big time. Think he could have fed an army with his vegetables and fruits this summer. Sadly we were unable to see them for Christmas, but thankfully they were able to get together.

Apart from moving into our new home, one of the other highlights of this last year is the newest member of our family, Poppy. We waited eleven long months for her. She is gorgeous and has given us so much joy in just the four weeks that we have had her. She is an Australian Labradoodle and should become around 30-40lbs in size.

Our plan was to be in the UK and Europe in Oct/Nov and Oz and NZ this coming Feb/March to visit family and friends. We are hoping that we will be able to make these trips in 2021/2022 and see all our distant friends and family then. We miss you all.

We feel so grateful to have you all in our lives. We feel grateful that we now have a vaccine so we can soon move forward with our lives. We feel grateful to live where we do, among such beauty that we enjoy daily. We feel grateful to be happy, healthy and loved.

Wishing you all the same

With much love

Jane and Russell

What a year.

I can't believe it is over a year since I updated our blog. We have so much news to share. Apologies in advance if I ramble on a bit.

I will start where I left off, just before our huge family reunion and big Birthday party last September. Twenty two family members from around the world made it to Salt Spring and we partied hard together. We had one evening with twenty four of us sitting down to a family dinner, and another at the Yacht club outstation for a potluck appetizer get together with cruising friends and family the night before the party. Over seventy people helped celebrate Russell, Amy and Edwin's birthdays; and the youngsters, with the help of a DJ, got everyone dancing till late. Such fun. With everyone a tad on the slow side the next morning I produced brunch before most people left on the afternoon ferry. A wild, very special and memorable time. Check gallery for some photos.

After waving the last of our relatives goodbye (some stayed for a month) we took some time off to recover. We had some "time share points" to use up and booked a fabulous resort in Palm Springs for two weeks. We spent a week traveling down there via route 5 and spent a week on our return enjoying the coast via route 101. There was so much to do and see on the way, although highlights were hiking the Redwoods and visiting Hearst Castle; which I loved when I last visited 43 years ago and Russell had not visited. We had various friends in Palm Springs who we spent time with, enjoying everything there is to do around the area. The weather was perfect and we had a wonderful trip.

Back to "The Rock" it was time to focus on our next adventure, building our new home. Plans had been worked on, and with the help from a local Architect while we were away, we put them in for approval on our return. Of course nothing is easy, we had to jump through a few loop holes before we finally got our building permit at the eleventh hour.

In the meantime we had the "BIG" storm on the 20 December. Highest wind ever recorded for our wee island and she really suffered. We watched the wind race across the harbour, back and forth, side by side, over the water like nothing we have ever seen before. More like a series of mini tornados. When it finally stopped we were one of the lucky ones with no trees falling on our property. By some miracle no one was hurt, however there was a huge amount of damage with trees down everywhere, roads blocked and all the power was down on the island. On our nine hole golf course they counted 200 trees uprooted or ripped down. It was a total mess.

Some people were without power for nearly two weeks. The best present we could have had was when ours came back on the evening of Christmas day. Amy and Edwin came over and joined in the Christmas adventure with us. We had heat from our fireplace, cooking on our BBQ and because of our septic tank only flushing toilets when really necessary. We did not cancel our Christmas eve cocktail party, as by then our road was accessible from one end. We had a large amount of people turn up to enjoy a candlelit evening with us. It was fun, but certainly a very different Christmas to the one we had planned.

We moved out of the house in February and proceeded to sell or give away as much as we could. It was amazing what we were able to recycle and there was not much left the day the house was demolished. We did most of the work ourselves and were exhausted at the end of each day. For a couple of months we rented a friend's place until we moved onto Madrona, our new boat, in April.

Any house older than 1990, if it is being renovated or rebuilt, has to go through asbestos removal. Ours was no exception and it took six guys over a week to remove. They informed us that they found 300lbs of rat shit in the eaves and ducts, including dead rats and mice - yuke. They also found burnt wires in the walls, and burn marks beside one of the fireplaces. Scary. On top of that when we pulled down the house we found that one area instead of being on hard rock was on shingle. She was meant to be pulled down for sure.

February was an interesting month as we also had a huge amount of snow, not something we normally get on Salt Spring, and it did not melt for weeks. Some friends were stuck in their home for nearly two weeks, but luckily with Russell's 4 Runner we were able to get out (and work).

April could not come soon enough as Amy and I had planned a trip to Japan together. A life long dream of mine as my Dad used to work with the Japanese and spent a lot of time in Japan when I was younger. We left at the end of March and had the most fantastic two weeks visiting Tokyo, Takayama, Kanazawa, Hiroshima/Miyajima, Kyoto and Mt Fuji/Kawaguchiko. The blossoms came out for us everywhere we went, and we were with a wonderful small group of travellers with an outstanding guide. It was the first time I had ever gone on a "tour" but it was perfect. Japan is a fascinating country and we learnt a lot about their history and culture. We had a trip of a lifetime together that we will always treasure.

Our summer has been spent building our new home. Russell, bless him, has worked 24/7 and when I am not doing admin/accounting, amongst other things, I have been trying to get fit. Not an easy thing, as my hips/back are still causing me a lot of grief. I have been going to yoga most days, tennis three times a week and golf once or twice a week.

We have had a few visitors come and visit us this summer and stay on Madrona, including dear friends Mary-Lou and Patrick from England and Martha and Bryce from New Zealand. We are looking forward to hosting more friends from around the world once we have finished the house.

Our time on Madrona was mostly spent on our dock, or at the yacht club outstation at Scott Point, depending on weather. A highlight of the summer was Russell's cousin Rosco coming over for three months to help work on the house. He wanted to loose some weight, enjoy some manual work (he is in the construction business) and get away from New Zealand's winter. He did all three and helped us a ton in the process. He lived in our Boat House; which he adored, even though it was more like camping. I am sure we will see him back on the island again within the next year or two, we had a lot of fun together.

Russell is the home owner builder for our house and has employed two fantastic framers, Will and Brad, to help with the build. We feel very blessed to have found them as they are excellent. They have also helped with finding labourers, when needed, and have introduced us to the best trades on the island. Work has progressed ahead of schedule most of the time, and we are more or less on budget. Lock up will be in November, with us hopefully moving in by April/May. As you can imagine we are beginning to get very excited.

We moved off the boat three weeks ago and are staying at a delightful house (with stunning views) for six months just outside of Ganges. Holidays? Well we are booked to go to Cabo San Lucas for a couple of weeks in the middle of February. By then I think we will be in need of some time off. We can always put the place on hold if necessary and move in later; we can just jump back onto the boat.

Amy and Edwin are doing well. Amy is currently looking for a new job and is taking a course in Copywriting and Editing. She and Luke recently took a holiday to Hawaii which they loved. They are still living in a delightful neighbourhood home with a huge balcony that they sit on to watch the sunset. Edwin is still at Aqua Bus, but is no longer with Iva and now lives in North Vancouver with friends.
He is about to house sit for a couple of months for friends in Kitsilano, so we will stay with him in Vancouver for Christmas. He went on a three and a half week photo shoot to Cadrona, NZ in September, and has just got back from a paid road trip to Phoenix.

It is wonderful to be able to keep in touch with so many friends and family from around the world. We think of our friends often and treasure the memories we have shared together. However, we have many friends who are unwell and sadly this year we lost Simon, a dear friend, who died of the same Cancer Foxy (our best man) died of last year. We hope this finds you healthy, happy and enjoying life and look forward to hearing from you.

We will update our blog again next year, once we have moved into our new home. Please know that we would love to see as many of you as possible, nuestra casa et su casa (our home is your home).

LOVE every moment, LAUGH every day, LIVE beyond words.