Tuesday, May 7, 2013

We have just been overjoyed with the weather in the last week.  Finally some spring-like (more summer-like) weather.  Now I just want it to stay like this.  Brian and I got our new patio furniture out and have already been to Zehrs Garden Centre and bought some Geraniums and have made up some nice planters as well.  Brian is hoping to dig out the grass around our new patio area in the back and we are going to make a nice flower garden back there to enjoy.

Last Sunday we went to Toronto to watch David participate in the Toronto Marathon.  We got up early and met up with Jenn’s parents (Jim and Janet) at a restaurant and had breakfast while David was starting his race.  We then head over to the finish line at the old Ontario Place and waited for him to finish.  It was such a beautiful morning too; it was great to be in the nice sunshine.  David did us all proud by finishing 8th overall in a time of 2 hours and 47 minutes!  He was pretty exhausted by the end of it but he was very happy with his race but says he probably won’t do another marathon again. It puts him too much into the “hurt box”, so doing half marathon and 10K races is more what he enjoys.  He is hoping to do a triathlon or two this summer just for fun and maybe Jenn will do one too.  Brian would love to do one as well but I keep discouraging him from that as I feel he needs to get his maintenance chemotherapy done before he tries doing anything too strenuous.  So I think next year would be the time Brian can start thinking about it but we shall see what Brian decides! 

Talking about maintenance chemo, Brian is due for maintenance chemo next Tuesday.  We see the oncologist on Monday and chemo is scheduled for Tuesday.  So next week will be a “resting week” for Brian as usually the chemo makes him feel a bit unwell for a few days. 

We also are very excited as we have now booked our trip to Europe in the summer.  We are going on the Rhine and Moselle Treasures Riverboat Cruise  from Basel, Switzerland to Paris for 11 days, then we are going to take the train (through the chunnel) from Paris to London where Geoff and Lynn have been so kind enough to pick us up and we are spending about 5 days with them before we head back to Canada.  I’m so excited that we are able to taking another trip like this and we will be meeting up with our friends, Richard and Roseleigh from Perth, Australia who we met on the last European River cruise.  We will be gone for about 3 weeks total.  (Aug 19 thru Sept 6).

Another piece of good news is that dad has signed the dotted line to move into the new Retirement Residence at the Aboretum called the Village of Arbor Trails. See picture:

Dad’s apartment is tucked right in the corner facing the pond you see above.  I wish I knew how to add an arrow symbol to point to his apartment.  He is on the ground floor and will have a nice little patio to sit out on. The area with the blue on the roof is where the “hub” of activity will be at the home, where the Main Street is located and the glass area there is where the dining room is so they have a nice view of the pond that you see which in this picture is frozen with ice and snow.  Move-in should be some time in August so I’m hoping it will be before Brian and I leave for our trip.  I think my dad is going to love it there! I’m really impressed with Schlegel Villages philosophy on aging. 

I’m including a few pictures here of our new patio set-up and some  other pictures with captions below. 

Our patio out the back – we totally enjoy sitting out there.  Very peaceful if you ignore the traffic on Victoria Road!

This is our front porch with the flowers we planted.  Hope we don’t get a frost now!

Our Bistro set on the front porch.

Janet & Jim Bruder and Brian with a sign that the Bruder’s grandkids made for David in the Marathon!

David after the marathon with his legs so sore he was having trouble getting to the car, so Karsten who had his bike with him (and followed David throughout the race) let him coast along on the bike to save his legs!!

Annika in her dance costume for her recital at the end of May.  She was just heading off to get her pictures taken. 

With nana and papa and the excited dogs as we had just walked in the door!

April 7, 2013

I haven’t written anything in a long time mainly just because I wasn’t taking the time to do so but I certainly appreciate that people have been asking me why I haven’t written, so that has prompted me to update on our lives.  I am pleasantly surprised that friends/family actually read my blog but it is much appreciated!  Since my last entry, Brian has had one more round of his 3-monthly chemo in February and as usual tolerated it quite well. He finds now that the chemo effect is lasting a little bit longer each time.  This time he felt quite tired and unwell for about 4-5 days but then after that he was almost completely back to normal, even going out for his runs.  The weather though has not been very cooperative with it being so cold that Brian hasn’t been able to run as much as he would like.  April is here now, surely we are going to get some warm weather soon, aren’t we???  We have not been up to much over the last couple of months, basically just enjoying the normalcy of every-day life.  We have both really come to appreciate “normal life” over the last year or so.  One thing we just completed is the “grandkid’s bedroom” in our house.  Breanne and James have asked us to babysit the weekend of April 13/14, so that prompted us to buckle down and get that bedroom done and now it is complete other than I need to buy some headboards for the bed but Brian is giving me a real hard time about that.  The ones I want cost $800 each but they are so cute……they look like Princess headboards and what wouldn’t we do for our sweet granddaughters, right?  So the compromise is that I will keep looking but if I don’t find anything I like, then I’m ordering the ones I do like! 

I personally have had a little upset with David over the last couple of weeks as I found out he has bought a motorbike.  It has taken me a while to accept that he has a bike and there is not much I can do about it but it scares me to death about how dangerous they are.  I know that David will be careful but it is the other guy I worry about it.  David promised me that he will drive safe and will not be a speed demon on it; so I will just have to trust in God that he will keep him safe. 

Otherwise our family is doing well; David and Jenn have been dealing with a leaky basement in their new home and have had to spend some money on fixing it that they weren’t counting on but that’s all part of owning a house I guess!  It is a good thing that Jenn has had a full-time teaching position this year! Breanne and James and family are also doing well now although they have gone through a couple of months of being sick with flus, colds, headaches, muscle aches that just kept going through the family.  James even took himself to the E.R. as he was feeling so bad and Breanne insisted he go.  Then he starts to feel better after some antibiotics and then heads off for his Florida Training Camp and then Breanne falls ill and without James being around, it was quite a long couple of weeks for her.  Then Brian and I ended up with it although we didn’t seem to be as severe as they were.  It seems that Annika or Selena brought it home and then it spread like wildfire to everyone else.  I think we will all be happy to finally see spring arrive and hopefully that ushers out these cold/flu viruses along with it. 

My dad is doing well.  His leg really seems to be bothering him more of late and when at home, he is now using a walker as it is much safer than using a cane although he uses his cane when out of the building. We are also contemplating dad moving to a new Senior’s Residence they have built at the Arboretum here in Guelph. It is being built by Schlegel Homes and is really quite nice and it might just be a nice change of pace for dad to go to something new and different.  They have a “community concept” in their buildings with a vibrant hub called the Main Street that goes through the center of building with a pub, general store, hair/barber shops, library, bistro, dining room and café.  We are taking dad to see the model suites sometime this month and my brothers and I are hoping that dad would like to live there as I think he will find it quite nice especially as he would then have a patio off his room which would be nice in the summertime for him to sit out on and enjoy the fresh air.  I will keep everyone updated on that one. 

Brian and I are planning a holiday back to Europe this summer with our really good friends (Roseleigh and Richard) who we met on our last European Riverboat cruise and they are from Perth, Australia.  We are so looking forward to meeting up with them again and spending a couple of weeks together on another Riverboat Cruise; this time we leave from Basel Switzerland and end in Paris, France.  This trip includes a riverboat cruise starting in Basel with ports at Rudensheim, Cochem, Cologne, and ending in Amsterdam and then we all disembark the ship and travel by train to Paris, France where we stay at the Paris HIlton Arc de Triomphe for 3 nights (this is all included in the trip).  Once the trip is finished, we then plan on taking the Chunnel over to London, England where my cousin, Geoff, will meet up with us and we will stay a few days to visit with Geoff and Lynn; then head home.  So we will be gone for just over 3 weeks at the end of August/September time-frame.  We are both really getting excited about this trip now and we are so looking forward to meeting up with Roseleigh and Richard again.  They are great travel companions and we all get along so well; so should be a great trip. 

So that is about all my up-to-date news.  I will include a couple of pictures to end my blog.  I hope all our friends and family are doing well and thanks once again for taking an interest in our lives!

Nana and Papa with their special girls!

Selena loves to read with Nana when we visit.  She piles up all the books and we go through them all; and I say words and she repeats them after me.  She is just so darn cute!

Looking for Easter eggs outside!

Our new bedroom made for Annika and Selena for sleepovers! 

Selena and Annika trying out the new beds.  They are looking forward to the sleep-over next weekend!

Timmie and Maverick like the fact that they can now look out the window!

David’s new toy!

Breanne trying it out although Mavie is not too happy about that!

David driving off.  Please God keep him safe!!!

February 2013

Home sweet home!!  Can’t say enough about it; when I go away, I fully appreciated and love getting back home again!  We left Florida two days earlier than planned and we are glad we did as if we had left when we were suppose to, we would have hit very bad storms that came through Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky.  There was also a 100 car pile-up on Interstate 75 near Detroit due to white-out conditions, so we felt good that we left when we did.  Other than driving through rain on the last day, the rest of the trip was uneventful. 

Timmie got another flea bath when we arrived at the first hotel the first night and once we did get home, I gave him a dose of his Revolution; so we seem to be completely rid of any fleas that might have tagged along on the way home.  I washed and totally cleaned everything we brought in from the car as well.

During our Florida trip, we got to spend 10 days with Pat and Roy; a half a day with Bob and Gwen walking the beach and out to lunch and then another nice surprise was actually meeting up with Joan Meijer from Holland; who is one of the ladies that took care of Brian’s father gravesite and who met up with us in Amsterdam last year to show us the sights and to get us safely to Holten. Joan and her husband were also in Florida for a few weeks and on their way through Sarasota, we met them for lunch and had a good time catching up with them as well.  Joan had Brian sign a shell from the beach which she is going to take to the cemetery for Brian and place it on the gravesite the next time she is there. 

Overall, it was a good trip with fantastic weather and it was good to get away for a few weeks at least. 

I think my dad was happy to see us all home safe and sound.  He missed us while all his children have been in Florida and he was very happy to have us all home again. 

Mid-February Brian will undergo his maintenance round of chemo so he will be glad to get that over with and wished he didn’t have to go through it.  He has been feeling so good while in Florida that he just wants to stay that way; nevertheless, we have to do what is necessary and he now will have one more year of 3 monthly maintenance chemo and then he is done hopefully for a very long time! 

We have all our birthdays coming up this month, starting with Brian next Friday, then Mavie the next day, Breanne on the 20th, David on the 21st, Dad on the 24th, then Bob and I on March 3.  By the time they get to me, everyone is sick of birthdays!

I finally bought a new camera this weekend, so I have taken a few pictures to test it out. BJAMS had a super-bowl party yesterday, so I took some pictures there and will post a few below.

Timmie happy to be home too!

Annika very happy to be with her papa again and he with her!

Nana and her Selena.  We are great buddies too!!

January 24, 2013–Florida

Finally found some time to write on the blog!  Here we are soon to be packing up for the long drive home again! The whole month has just been a whirlwind it seems.  First of all, we were one week late getting here, then Roy and Pat were here for 10 days, and now this is the last week here; we plan to leave Monday morning although I wouldn’t be surprised to see us leave Sunday instead.

This year’s rental condo has been a disappointment.  We decided to find a place right on Siesta Key so we could be closer to the beach but we have both decided that we actually like it better on the mainland. It is too busy traffic-wise here.  Then, the condo is an older condo and although the common areas and pool, etc are very well kept; the condo we are renting is not ideal.  Everything in here is old and musty, the kitchen pots/pans and other utensils are well worn and need replacement.  I hate using non-stick pans that are totally scratched up and these are bad!  Then to top it off, we think the place has fleas.  The first few days I was here, I noticed I had gotten some bites on my lower legs and feet especially when sitting/lying on the couches.  Of course, I was paranoid about bed bugs too and I checked the bed with a fine tooth comb!  Then, this last week, I found a couple of fleas on Timmie, so either Timmie picked up fleas outside, or this condo has fleas already in it and I am thinking it is the latter.  I am now totally freaked out as I don’t want to be bringing fleas back home so I am disinfecting and spraying everything before we bring things into the house once we are home  I went and got some flea stuff for Timmie and I have been vacuuming here every day hoping to help get rid of the fleas.  Since I have bathed Timmie and treated him, I haven’t seen any since but it nonetheless is bothering me big time.  I would have left here 3 days ago if I could as it has totally ruined our time here. 

Brian has been doing amazing with his training here; I thought with him having that illness that delayed us getting down here would make him a little weak but he has made up for lost time; going biking and running every day and swimming in the pool here as well.  The weather has been really great for January too, so that has really been nice for us.  It is a bit cooler here now but still 100% better than the freezing temperatures at home!  We actually only have been out on the bike once together and as you read below when Brian wrote on the blog, he complained at how slow I was. But, I haven’t biked that far in a couple of years, so I was pretty sore after that trek.  Timmie loved it in his bike carrier though and it was fun bringing him along and not having to leave him in the condo.  When Roy was here, he took my bike out to drive along the keys and he ended up falling off the bike and injuring his hand!  He also was a bit stiff after that and had to take a day to recover!  Hopefully he is on the mend now. 

Roy, Pat and I had a good day exploring Sarasota for the homes and schools we went to when we lived here as children.  At one of our homes, we were taking a picture of the house and the owners of the house came out to ask us if they could help us and we felt a bit awkward that we hadn’t asked permission but when we told them that we were the original owners of the house, they asked us if we would like to see inside, so that was great that they allowed us to do that.  Brought back some long ago memories! I did not know the school I attended so we couldn’t find my school but we were able to find the schools that Roy went to and that Bob went to – Bob was in High School here and when we returned back to Canada, Bob actually had stayed in Sarasota to finish up his final year of High School and stayed with some friends of my parents during that time.  Afterwards I talked to dad on Skype and he enlightened me a lot about our living here that I didn’t know as I was only in Grade 1 and 2 while here and didn’t remember a whole lot about it.  Roy was in Middle School so he remembered more of it than I did.

Now tomorrow we are meeting up with Bob (my other brother) and his wife, Gwen, to go out for lunch together.  It just so happened that Bob and Gwen had a chance to come and stay in Clearwater for a couple of weeks this year, so they are driving down to Sarasota to meet up with us for half a day.

It seems funny that we are 2400 miles away from home to come down here for a month and we spent some time with both my siblings and their wives!!

Unfortunately my camera is broken and I never bought another one to bring with us but I did use my Iphone, I have to figure out how to save pictures from my Iphone to my computer so unfortunately I won’t have any pictures to post. 

We are looking forward to coming home now despite the cold weather but it will be nice to give our 2 little ones a huge hug; we miss them when we are away and then we can settle down and hibernate the rest of the winter away and then I will look forward to the spring.  I am really looking forward to planting some flowers/plants and making our patio area out the back a cute comfortable place to relax in! Life is good!

FLORIDA 2013

Here we are in Siesta Key Florida, arrived here on January 5th after two and half days of driving.  We took our time and would stop around 4pm in each day, we stayed in LaQuinta Suites and can’t say enough of them – very clean and friendly and the best part they are pet friendly and so Little Timmie was welcomed and they do not charge any extra for pets which is rare in hotels.  Our condo is very nice and about a 10 minute walk to the Best Beach in the US.  The weather has been great so far – during the day it has been in the high 70’s to mid 80’s F and the nights down to the low 60’s.  Have been out for runs and biking every day and been in the pool here which is heated to the mid 80’s.  Janet had some trouble with the internet when we first arrived which caused her great stress but everything is fine now.  They don’t allow dogs on the beach but of course Janet thought this out and got this dog carrier which we can push or attach to the bike – so of course Timmie has been down to the Best Beach in the US.

We went for a bike ride today on the Legacy Trail in Sarasota down to Venice and back and of course we had Timmie in his carriage which he thoroughly loved.  It is attached to Janet’s bike but is very light and so only slightly slowed her down – “at times I’m sure I could have walked faster” (please don’t tell Janet I said that).  Once in Venice we stopped for a coffee and some sweets at the Upper Crust Cafe which we had visited two years ago when we were down.  Janet sat outside on a bench with Timmie while I went in – by the time I got out Janet was being hit on by an elderly gentleman who pretended he was interested in Timmie!!!!!  Timmie certainly attracts people – we must have had a dozen people stop to see him and staff in a store also came out to see him or was it me they stopped to see????  Anyway, after 34 kms of riding we got back and I think Janet was in a little bit of pain but that will pass as she gets out more.

Tomorrow we go to pick up Roy and Pat from Tampa Airport and they will be staying with us for 10 days – the weather is supposed to stay really nice so they should have a great time.

Will keep you posted

Brian

January 1, 2013

Happy New Year to all!!  Well, I must say that I’m not too sad to say goodbye to 2012. It was one stressful year right up to the end!  We were suppose to leave for Florida  last Saturday but unfortunately Brian developed a viral stomach illness and was quite sick for at least a week but since January 1, he seems to be coming back to normal and today (Jan 2) he is feeling pretty good so we feel we are safe to leave for Florida tomorrow.

We had a wonderful Christmas with the family, spending Christmas Eve with David/Jenn, BJAMS and my dad and then we had a fairly quiet Christmas Day at BJAMS.  

I’m praying for a safe trip down to Florida and then i  will blog some more then!  Happy New Year!

November 2012

What another hugely busy month we have had and I have had little chance to catch up!  Brian was suppose to have his maintenance chemo on November 6th but that ended up being cancelled as Brian had hurt his hand by accidentally jabbing it with a pick when putting our new patio set together.  A few days after hurting himself his hand started to swell and he ended up going to the doctor’s for antibiotics and to make a long story short, he ended up having to go on oral antibiotics twice as the hand swelled up as soon as he finished them, to ultimately going to the Emergency Dept for IV antibiotics which he had to keep returning to the ambulatory care clinic for a week and finally after about a month, it seems to be okay although his hand is still a bit swollen around his knuckles.  Finally, Dr. McKeown (Oncologist) agreed for him to have his chemo last week.  Unfortunately though because he was delayed in getting it, he had to go through the “slow infusion method” again to make sure he did not develop a reaction to the retuximab, so it was another 6 hour session at the Cancer Clinic.  But after that, he has done well once again with his chemo.  He felt a little out of sorts for a couple of days and then started to feel much better.  His next chemo maintenance will now be February. 

I seemed to have a hugely busy month with “girl’s weekends”.  The first girl’s weekend was a “family one” with Gwen, Connie Cathy, Christine and I meeting up in Corning New York for a fun weekend together of shopping, going to museums, and out to enjoy some fabulous dinners.  Unfortunately Pat was not able to attend this year as she had to work that weekend.  We are hoping that next year we can get Breanne and the girls and Jenn out to the family girls’ weekend.

The next weekend after that I got together with my two longest friends (my two bridesmaids!) for a girl’s weekend here in Guelph.  Barb and Kim came to see our new condo and we did a full day of shopping in St. Jacob’s, had a very nice lunch there and then in the evening watched a great movie.  They stayed overnight and after breakfast headed home.  Poor Barb, she took the train from London to Guelph and on Sunday morning I dropped her off at the train station and unfortunately her train was first delayed and then cancelled; so she had a 3 hour wait at the train station for them to organize a bus to take the passengers to their destinations.  It was a long day for Barb to say the least!

This past weekend, Breanne and James headed off to Las Vegas to participate in the Rock N Roll half marathon and to have a nice 4 days mini-vacation while Brian and I looked after the girls.  We had great fun with the girls, that were really quite good; the biggest issue was the 2 dogs as they are the ones that kept us awake at night as Mavie on the first night wouldn’t settle down and wanted to sleep at the front door and Timmie wanted to keep him company but then someone would pass the house or they would hear a noise and the barking would start.  I eventually had to put Timmie on his chain to keep him in the bedroom with us.  Thankfully the next few nights were not too bad with the dogs as Mavie came to the conclusion that Breanne was going to be away a long time.  The girls though slept through the night, ate well and seemed to totally enjoy being with us although I must say by Tuesday night, we were glad to see James and Breanne home again!

So now we head into December and I’m hoping for a little bit calmer month until Christmas arrives. Then we will be leaving for Florida for the month of January and be back in February in time for Brian’s next chemo round.

We have Roy and Pat coming down to stay with us for a week in Florida; so I will probably do more blogging during that time when we will be doing more things, so stay tuned!

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a very safe and prosperous New Year!!

Cheers!!!