2014 Season’s Greetings
from
the Glenn Schwartz
family
We hope this message finds you happy and
healthy and as
grateful as we are for another good year.
First, congratulations to Canada Post! After
many years of
failing to deter us from sending Christmas cards, the most recent
rate hikes
have pushed us over the edge. Beginning this year we will email
our Christmas
letter and post pictures on our blog. We will save our cards and
stamps for the
handful of you that do not have email. If you receive our card,
but you have an
email address, please send us your email at gschwartz@myaccess.ca.
With the new
economical delivery system we have added some names to our list.
If you are
among our newbies, we hope that you will share your year with us
too.
I suppose the first order of business should be
to update
you all on the health of Glenn’s Dad. You may recall that at the
time of last
year’s letter (early December) he had been in and out of hospital
with
hallucinations and disorientation. He was back at home and seemed
to be on the
road to recovery.
Over last Christmas and New Year’s he was back
in hospital
with more hallucinations and disorientation and low blood
pressure. We surmised
that the problem was a build-up of the shingles pain medication.
They were also
giving him anti-psychotics because of his agitated state. We
convinced the
doctors to take him off the pain killers and then the
anti-psychotics. He again
seemed to be on the road to recovery when he started having
mini-strokes. He
was in and out of hospital a couple of times in January. The
doctor put him on
warfarin to combat the strokes and by the end of January he seemed
near normal.
Because of the frequent recurrence of his symptoms, the hospital
social worker
said he could not go home and Mom was also uncertain of how she
could manage
him at home, so he went into a private care home at the beginning
of February.
There he did very well, had no more episodes, and Mom took him
home at the end
of March. Since then he has been his old self and has even been
taken off the
warfarin. Good news at
last! He is not
spry, walking stiffly and mostly using a walker, but he is all
there again. He
is celebrating his 89th birthday as I write this on
December 15.
Glenn’s Mom’s health has been pretty good,
although she was
pretty worn down by Dad’s difficulties at the beginning of the
year. She is now
the family driver, as Dad lost his license a couple of years ago
due to poor
vision. Celeste’s Mom is also doing well living at home, although
she still
misses driving.
Carla is still with CGI Group in Regina
maintaining networks
for corporate customers. She seems to enjoy the work but she gets
exasperated
by people who do not meet her exacting standards. Tyler still
looks after the
home front while engaging in many part time jobs. He gets quite a
few one-day
gigs helping to produce content for SaskTel’s community channel;
he works for
TSN at ‘Rider games; and he filled in several weeks at SCN (Sask.
Communications Network) for a fellow who was off on sick leave.
Another new and
interesting opportunity surfaced through his brother, who recently
became a
liquor company representative. Tyler helps him out occasionally
with tasting
sessions. Carla and Tyler quite enjoy their downtown lifestyle and
like to try
out all the pubs and restaurants. Their big adventure this year
was a trip to
Fargo, ND, this summer for several days of shopping and trying out
new
restaurants and pubs. They won’t be with us for Christmas this
year. They will
be visiting Tyler’s Mom and Step-Dad in Yuma, Tyler’s Dad and
Step-Mom in San
Diego, and a friend in Palm Springs.
Darren’s family could not be with us for
Christmas last
year, so they came in February instead. We celebrated Christmas
again, included
Justin in the February birthday celebrations (complete with a
bowling night),
had a waterslide party at a hotel,
gave the bouncy castle a
workout,
and other
assorted activities.
had a waterslide party at a hotel,
In June, Darren and Sue received a short notice
opportunity
to go sailing for a few days on a friend’s sailboat, so we flew
out there to sit
on the boys for a few days. They were not able to stop in Regina
on their way
home from the Ontario cottage at the end of July, so we drove out
there. More
on that later.
Justin started full time kindergarten this
year, but,
because the teachers were on strike, he started a few weeks late.
It seemed
a little weird for him to be at home while his little brother was
in playschool
three mornings a week. When Justin started school, it was quite an
adjustment
for Cameron, but I am sure he will get used to it. I think he will
appreciate
his private time with Mom. Both boys are in swimming; Justin
played a version
of T-ball and some soccer.
Cameron does gymnastics – we sometimes
refer to him
as Darren 2.0 when we see him in action.
And the whole family does quite a bit of skiing in the winter.
And the whole family does quite a bit of skiing in the winter.
In August Sue resigned from her job to spend
more time with
the boys at home before they are both in school full time.
Meanwhile, their
nanny Simona found another family that needs her. She still lives
in their
downstairs suite.
They are pretty much done with the basic
renovations of
their house, but they still have a couple of projects in mind.
They are
building a room in the attic as a den and storage area. They need
the storage
space because they plan to build another bedroom in the
storage/workshop area
on the bottom floor.
Here are some more pictures from their year.
Here are some more pictures from their year.
Laura’s and Brett’s lives have, of course, revolved around their twins. Brett has managed to squeeze in a bit of hockey and Laura has done some dancing and yoga, but they mostly stay pretty close to home. They did manage one weekend away with the girls at a B&B in Saskatoon and bravely flew and drove with the twins to spend a week at Sue’s family cottage in Ontario in July.
The twins are now walking confidently and
picking up new
words every day. They are a constant source of entertainment and
joy. It is
amazing to watch their daily progress.
Brett continues teaching at St. Matthew School
in Regina. He
has a straight grade 8 this year. Laura started back to work at a
small
independent pharmacy part time – two and, sometimes, three days a
week. There
are no evenings and no Sundays, so it was a perfect fit for her.
We watch the
girls on weekdays, usually Monday and Wednesday. Brett takes over
whenever she
works a Saturday.
More pictures from their year.
Christmas 2013:
January
More pictures from their year.
Christmas 2013:
March
April
Our year has been busy, as usual. I took
another group tour
to Europe for three weeks in June. I had discovered some new
places on the
family tree that I wanted to visit, so I thought I would lead one
last tour.
Unfortunately, by the time I fit in everyone else’s requests, I
had to drop
most of mine. I would like to go back again sometime, but
privately, to go
where I want to go.
When I got back from Europe Celeste was already
gone to
Vancouver to babysit Darren’s boys.
I stayed home a couple of days to take in a concert by “Heart” that we had bought tickets to before the Vancouver plans unfolded. I took my sister Cheryl on Celeste’s ticket, and then joined Celeste in Vancouver for a few days. We also flew to Vancouver for a few days in April,
while Sue was at a conference in Halifax, and again in November.
I stayed home a couple of days to take in a concert by “Heart” that we had bought tickets to before the Vancouver plans unfolded. I took my sister Cheryl on Celeste’s ticket, and then joined Celeste in Vancouver for a few days. We also flew to Vancouver for a few days in April,
while Sue was at a conference in Halifax, and again in November.
We also took a driving trip to the west coast
in July. I had
always been curious about Spokane, Washington. This year the
Germans from
Russia Heritage Society held their annual convention there, so I
talked Celeste
into going and combining it with a trip to Vancouver. We stopped
in Cypress
Hills along the way,
spent a few days in Spokane,
and then went on to Vancouver where we took the boys camping.
We have been flying, rather than driving through the mountains, for several years, so I quite enjoyed driving again. The highway is much improved with many passing lanes and some stretches of four-lane road. And all the trailers are now pulled by powerful pickup trucks, so you don’t get the long lines of backed up traffic that used to be so prevalent.
spent a few days in Spokane,
and then went on to Vancouver where we took the boys camping.
We have been flying, rather than driving through the mountains, for several years, so I quite enjoyed driving again. The highway is much improved with many passing lanes and some stretches of four-lane road. And all the trailers are now pulled by powerful pickup trucks, so you don’t get the long lines of backed up traffic that used to be so prevalent.
In September I attended a genealogical
conference in Oregon
where I gave a presentation on our European trip. The main reason
I wanted to
go this year was because the Serbian guide I have used on all four
of my group
tours was also speaking. I was looking forward to a more social
encounter with
him than our usual “business” trips, but he was so busy all
weekend that it
really did not pan out that way. Unfortunately, I missed the
twins’ birthday
party, arriving home that evening after all the festivities.
In entertainment news, in addition to the
“Heart” concert
mentioned previously, we also took in “ZZ Top” in March at the new
Moose Jaw
arena with Ron and Cheryl, “Nitty Gritty Dirt Band” at Casino
Regina in October,
and “Dralion” by Cirque de Soleil in December.
We invested in a new van in October. We still
loved our 1998
Astro van and the body and interior were in great shape, but it
needed a few
things mechanically. We figured if we did everything that needed
doing, it
would still only be worth the money we sank into the repairs. We
really wanted
to find something with All-Wheel-Drive. The only van that has it
is one of the Toyota
versions and there were some things about it that we didn’t like.
The SUVs we
looked at did not have the interior room we wanted. So we finally
settled on a
2014 Chrysler Town and Country. I like it pretty well, but I am
already missing
the AWD.
For 2015 we are planning a few days in Las
Vegas just before
Celeste’s 60th birthday, then a family week in Puerto
Vallarta in
February, followed by a Danube River cruise in June. Should be
fun!
If you absolutely must see more of our Spokane trip, go to http://celesteglenn.blogspot.ca/
For more about my European trip, go to http://2014banat.blogspot.ca/
If you absolutely must see more of our Spokane trip, go to http://celesteglenn.blogspot.ca/
For more about my European trip, go to http://2014banat.blogspot.ca/
Best wishes for the Christmas season and throughout
the New Year!
Glenn, Celeste,
& Family
