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