Travelin' Road Show: 01/01/16

16 months later - 2015 in a nutshell
Well folks I guess you know by now that our care-free lifestyle, tossing around in our beloved RV came to an unceremonious end over the Christmas/New Year holidays 2014/15. It has turned out to be a fortuitous change, and we are so very grateful for all that came to pass over that eventful couple of months. I will likely fill in that period of time in the future, but suffice it to say that, what we thought was a disastrous health issue for Janice during Dec 2014, forced us to look quickly for a place to put down roots, and, as we had totally enjoyed our time in Niagara on the Lake (NOTL), we looked around and found a house. It was one of those times when all the stars were aligned. Someone wanted to sell quickly due to family health issues, and we wanted to buy for the same reason... so we offered, they accepted, and with a couple of weeks we were moving into our 'new' home. Christmas was spent in a rental cottage (1860's farmhouse) in the middle of NOTL. Despite the health scare, which turned out to be a warning, and non life threatening, we had a beautiful Christmas with two of our three sons. We moved into our new home on Jan 24th 2015.
Sadly Janice's brother Tony in UK had been diagnosed with cancer over the holidays and Janice was unable to travel due to her own medical issues. Tony left us on Feb 25th and the following week Janice got the all clear from the doctor to travel, so we went to UK on Mar 10th for a couple of weeks to attend Tony's funeral. We returned Mar 25. A couple of weeks to settle in some more and we headed down to Texas to pick up our RV that was waiting patiently for us to return (and contained the bulk of our 'personal' possessions.) It was a bittersweet journey, and on our return on April 19th, it seemed very strange to see it parked temporarily outside our house. We cleaned and emptied it and after over 2 years of full-time living in it, we were quite sad to put it into storage. On May 1st Derek's cousin Gillian came to visit us for two weeks and helped us greatly getting the garden in order. We enjoyed having her and learned much from her and from the weekly seminars at a local nursery about plants and gardening in general. In June Grant moved to Niagara on the Lake and rented a lovely little cottage while he studied for a degree and worked full-time to support himself. So good to have family close by. Also in June our dear friends Derek and Lin form UK came to visit for 2 weeks, also helping us with garden and planning. All visitors enjoyed sitting out on the front porch chatting and watching the world pass by. The front porch has become a favourite place for us to hang out with a morning coffee or a pre-dinner glass of wine. July and August were spent enjoying our new home, making plans for future renovations and making new friends in our new town. NOTL has a vibrant social network and we enjoyed getting to know 'the locals', walking into town for groceries, picking up our mail at the post office, golfing at the local course in town and going to 'locals' night at the Angel pub and attending the world class theatre in the three theaters in town. Walking everywhere is a new phenomenon for us, having spent 35 years in a home where we had to drive for everything.
In late July the husband of Derek's cousin Jackie passed away. Derek went to UK for 2 weeks in early August to attend the funeral and be a support for her. The rest of the month was spent enjoying the leisurely and active lifestyle of retirement in Niagara on the Lake. We have both joined the gym/spa at the Pillar and Post Hotel and love going over there for a workout, followed by a swim and a soak in the hot springs.
September started with a fun weekend in Stratford with 4 other friends (the Addie/Arnolds and the Tindals) entailing much laughter, much theatre and much wine enjoyed by all.
In October we pulled our rig out of storage and spent two weeks back on the road going back to Gettysberg for a couple of days to revisit the battlefields, now that we have both read the book 'The Killer Angels'. It was so much more interesting this time. We spent a week in Pensacola Florida for some warm weather, cycling and seafood. (if you ever go to Pensacola, go to Joe Patties's seafood store..... AMAZING place!!) The trip was fraught with minor issues with the truck and the rig, but we enjoyed ourselves and it felt very 'right' being back in our 'home on wheels'. We still miss the lifestyle, but NOTL has proven to be the best place for us to settle, so we are happy with our decision.
November was spent raking leaves, attending dinner dance, and battening down the hatches for the coming winter season.
December brought the Christmas season candlelight stroll through town shared with our good friends Tina and Al, the holiday house tour, Santa Clause Parade and of course Christmas, enjoyed with Braden and Grant and visits by family and friends. So 2015 came to a close quietly with a special dinner at home with Braden while Grant was working. It was a a great year in many ways and a sad year in other ways. So much happened and we are grateful to be surrounded by good friends and our beautiful family. On to 2016.