Well, it’s that
time of year, the time for colorful, festive annual Christmas letters sent to
all the friends and family! The annual,
end-of-year, sum it all up – “this is how we are doing” letter. You can add it
in with a Christmas card or it's a Christmas card unto itself. There are many
versions and we have written many types over the years. I like them because
I can get caught up with people I haven't seen in a while. You know,
girlfriends from school, friends who have moved away, relatives and friends who
live far away and even friends who live in the same town but are too busy to
see or vice-versa.
I’ll admit, this year I’ve
been procrastinating on the Christmas letter writing. Partly because any
and everything anyone would care to know about me or Chris is on this blog. I was even considering just printing
out my blog link and sending that to everyone to save some time (ha ha). This of course, because I still do not have or
do Facebook. I guess if you have Facebook,
then absolutely everything about you is there and up-to-date, so who needs a
letter then!
So to write or not to write! Well, because I see writing as therapeutic and
cathartic, and because it is one way I can review my year as the New Year
approaches, I am once again writing.
Besides, letter writing is one of those timeless traditions
that should not be left behind, and I am determined to keep it alive - much in
the same way as my dear cousin Jim O’Farrell, in Queensland sends me a personal
hand-penned letter every year at Christmas.
I look forward to that letter each year, and it reminds me how letter
writing has become a thing of the past now that we all have computers.
Anyway, we’ve missed the
window for this to be a Merry Christmas letter, so here goes with our year end
letter:
2014 was not all that rosy,
and I don’t think there is too much to brag about. I procrastinated a lot and made some bad
decisions, but hey, who doesn’t have an off year every now and again.
I’ll start with the medical
update as I am sure you will want to know the intimate details of the health of
our body parts. I had some
gastrointestinal issues. I have a hiatus
hernia causing reflux, as well as a motility disorder with my esophagus. To save you googling, the esophagus functions solely to deliver food from
the mouth to the stomach where the process of digestion can begin. Efficient
transport by the esophagus requires a coordinated, sequential motility pattern that propels
food from above and clears acid and bile reflux from below. Mine isn’t working properly so it limits
delivery of food and fluid, as well as causes a bothersome sense of reflux and mild
chest pain. I’m working on changing my
eating habits (like slowing down), and my diet to help relieve some of the symptoms. This will be my focus for the new year.
Chris required another Aclasta blood infusion this year for his Paget’s disease which
is in his femur. Paget rhymes with
“gadget” and is caused by excessive and continuing breakdown and reformation of
bone. The infusion went well. He hadn’t had one for a few years so he
should be good to go for a few more years.
Chris also had to have some eye surgery this summer. It was called a Vitrectomy. I know, you have no idea what that word
means and you will want to google it, but I'll save you the time. The vitreous is the gel-like substance that is
inside the centre of the eye. It’s the first thing that gives the eye its shape
before birth. So during a vitrectomy, the vitreous gel is removed and
temporarily replaced with an aqueous fluid while the vitreous replaces itself.
Yuk. Chris had to have this surgery to clear scar tissue that had formed over
time from burst blood vessels. The scar tissue was causing blurred vision
because it obscured the light from getting through the eye to the retina.
Lovely, eh! I have pictures on the blog
of Chris in his cute little blue gown and hair net, so you can click here to read more. He’s fine now.
Still on the medical front, Gypsy had blood in her
poop requiring some meds (and $); Jake had to have a skin tag removed from his
elbow, which required surgery and 5 stitches (and $$); and Smoke had a large wound on his neck requiring
surgery and 15 stitches (and even more
$$$$).!! We are hoping for less
veterinary experiences in 2015.
Moving on to day-to-day things, Chris is sporting a
beard, and I am carrying around more weight!
Our fridge died this summer, so we had to get a new one ($$). We think the washing machine may be next. Chris got a John Deere rider mower, so he can
cut the grass easier now, and I got a new commuter vehicle. Well, actually 2. The first one was a 2014 Matrix in February,
which I wasn’t happy with by fall, so I traded it for a smaller car and got a
2015 Yaris instead. I’m happy with it so
far and it is great on gas. I still have
the Rav4 for the island and for Jake.
We had only a few overnight guests this year ~ Barb, Jill and Jordan, Mike and Shae, Norine and
James, and Pat and Terry. Down a few from last year! (Was it something we said?) When you live on an island, company is always
welcome, anytime, and yes, we have the space to put you up, so if you would
like to pay us a visit in 2015 – our house is your house. Really.
Don’t wait for an invitation, just give us a call. We also have space for your RV or camper, or
your tents, if you prefer! With a large
dog and 2 cats and 60 fish to care for, it is not as easy for us to gad about
visiting folks. It’s not that we don’t
love you or that we don’t want to see you, it is just that we are more tied
down with the critters than you think.
Fortunately for us, some of you include Jake in your invites and we
thank you for welcoming our 10 year old GSD into your home and overnight!
The
garden this year was a challenge. We had
quite a drought this summer so without the water we needed, most of the veggi
garden did poorly – peas and beans were disastrous. Our fruit trees were the star performers
though. The best harvests we have had
yet, especially the Italian plums (left) and the apples!
Our raspberries and blackberries were also amazingly bountiful! It’s a real learning experience to see how
the weather impacts each type of fruit or vegetable from season to season,
and year to year.
I think for me there were 2 big accomplishments so to
speak of in 2014. The first was
my
odyssey of raising tadpoles: collecting
the frog eggs, feeding and caring for over
200 tadpoles and raising them to
froglets and then releasing them back to the pond.
I won’t do it again in 2015. It was almost a full time job, and it turned me
into the mad
tadpole lady.
The 2nd project was building a fire
pit. This I did on my own with a lot of
brick and a lot of digging, and the help of a level. This is the part of the letter where I get to
brag. I don’t like bragging in letters,
but I do think this was a feat!!
We
put the boat in the water this year at the marina for 2 months, and made good
use of it. With all the sunshine this summer it would have been a shame not to
go boating.
Other than boating we had no holidays to speak of, just spent our days
off around the property. I took myself
toTofino for 4 days in November, and Chris did the Coast Mountain Circle route
on his motorbike this summer.
The pond suffered from the drought as well. It was the lowest ever, and our fish became
very vulnerable to the herons that were able to wade right into the middle to
look for lunch. Most of our fish survived,
especially our very large koi (right), and the pond is now full again and all
is well.
On the work
front, Chris is semi-retired and only doing selective jobs that don’t put too
much strain on his back. In between, I
have a “honey-do” list for him of chores around the property. My job at TRIUMF continues to stress me out –
basically too much to do with too few resources, and everything is a priority. I
did manage to complete one very large project in 2014, which gave me a good
level of satisfaction, and that was the implementation of a new job family and
compensation system for our professional and supervisory staff. Working in HR is action packed, exciting, frustrating and very
challenging. You never know what is
going to happen on any given day, so you may be engrossed in a piece of work
and feeling pleased that you’ll be able to leave the office on time, but then
the phone rings and an issue has blown up with an employee, and you need to
react there and then. I can’t say for
sure if I will still be working there at this time next year. Lots of decisions to make, and of course most
of those decisions revolve around future plans, mortgages, and retirement
options. My commute is tough, but that
won’t change, only my attitude towards it can.
Well,
we have certainly enjoyed telling you about our existences in 2014.
We are hoping to take a real trip in 2015 and are discussing maybe Bacalar this
winter, or Cornwall in spring or Hiadi Gwii this summer. (Critter-care
notwithstanding). In the meantime, we
are literally free every weekend so far in 2015 except the 3rd and 4th,
so should you be planning a party
or a nice dinner, feel free to invite us (and Jake if you like) so that we will
have many more colorful narratives about our amazing lives that we can include
in the 2015 letter.
All
the best, from,
Chris
& Josie
Gypsy,
Jake & Smoke
No comments:
Post a Comment