Christmas Greetings to all our friends and family!
The major event of 2021 in our family was Glenn’s Mom’s passing on February 5. Due to Covid we postponed her funeral, finally committing to August 29. Colin’s and Darren’s families were both able to be here. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful service. Thanks to all of you who were able to attend. After the service and reception, we gathered for family pictures. Who knows when we will be able to get the whole gang together again? And, after pictures, we all gathered for a most enjoyable evening of fellowship.
As you may know, Mom was quite a collector – recipes (by the thousands), newspaper articles, obituaries, souvenirs, pictures, stamps, etc., etc. We gathered for a few hours almost daily until May sorting through her possessions. As much as we used to tease her for all the stuff she kept, we unearthed many treasures. We were finally able to sell her condo in June.
Another year of Covid again constrained travel. We were finally able to get to Vancouver in early July and Darren’s family was here for the funeral in August. We made it out to Vancouver again on the Remembrance Day long weekend and Darren’s gang will be here for Christmas.
We did have a bit of a Covid scare this summer. Laura decided that, after a couple of weeks of holidays, she wanted to verify her clean bill of health before returning to work by getting a Covid test. She was astonished when it came back positive! Brett and the kids and Celeste and Glenn all tested negative, and Brett and the kids continued with quick tests almost daily. Finally, after a few days, it was revealed that there was an error in the testing and there were several false positives. Soon Laura was advised that she was one of them. Phew!
We had a quiet winter and spring, as most things were pretty locked down, but they started to open up in summer. By fall we were able to resume our subscriptions to the symphony and to the symphony’s chamber players series. Roughrider games also resumed, although Celeste did not attend any. She has come to prefer watching on TV at home. Glenn also attended several U of R Rams and Regina Thunder games with cousin Larry.
In August we had a surprise visit from Glenn's second cousin Beth Olver and her husband Dick. Their moms had always been close friends but usually separated by great distances. They passed within a few days of each other and the cousins reconnected on the news after a very long time without contact. It was great fun catching up and reminiscing.
Carla’s and Tyler’s enjoyment of the downtown lifestyle was quite constrained by Covid closures and Tyler’s evening working hours, but as things began to open over the summer, they were able to get out a little more while taking precautions.
Carla enjoyed working from home for the first half of the year but went back to the office in July. Tyler’s work requires him to be present at the TV station, so he has been at work all along. He basically worked two jobs for a few months after one of his co-workers left. The new job had even more responsibility than his permanent job and he found it quite stressful doing both. But now that someone has been hired for the other job, he kind of misses it. His co-workers must have appreciated his work as they nominated him for a company national award which he won! He was personally congratulated by the CEO of Global’s parent company. In normal times he would have been flown to Toronto for a gala event, but this practice is another victim of Covid.
Meanwhile they are in the planning stage for some renovations on their townhouse.
Darren’s crew has been back in Vancouver for a year now. The boys have settled in well back at their old school. Last school year they walked to their old school and were then bussed to a temporary school while their actual school was renovated for earthquake resistance, a process that all older schools in the area must go through. This year is more normal with the boys now in grades six and seven. Justin will be starting high school next year in grade eight.
The boys are playing soccer and taking parkour while Justin is also continuing with karate. They both started school band this year and both are playing trombone. Justin would have started last year under normal circumstances, but his start was delayed by Covid.
Sue still mostly works from home, going into the office occasionally as needed. Darren’s company decided that, beginning late this fall everyone would have to come into the office at least three days a week, although he would prefer fewer. Both feel more productive at home where they can work without interruption or distraction.
Darren got a new job within the company in November. The downside is that his office is now downtown instead of in Richmond, creating new transportation/parking decisions and challenges.
Darren and Sue have renovated their attic into a usable space. They began before they went to Victoria by opening an entry, installing skylights, and insulating. Now they have drywalled and painted. Remaining tasks are installing the flooring and building a permanent stairway. The new space will be part office space and part storage.
As usual, they spent much of July at Sue's family cottage in Ontario and managed two or three trips to her parents' place in Kelowna.
Laura is still a pharmacist at the same store and Brett is still teaching at the same school. They did a substantial renovation of the basement, including setting up a gym area, and brightened the whole living area with lighter colour and brighter lights. In the fall they decided to totally redo their back yard. Brett’s brother Jesse is a landscape designer and produced a beautiful plan for them. Laura’s cousin Dan is a landscape contractor who had an end-of-season vacancy on his calendar. We hauled out tons of dirt, railroad ties, landscape ties, paving stones, and deck materials accumulated over 30+ years that we lived there and hauled in tons of gravel as the base for the giant patio and artificial turf that will replace it in the spring.
As usual, they spent most of their summer camping as well as a winter weekend in Cypress Hills. All three girls really love it. Louisa started kindergarten this fall (full days Monday, Wednesday, and every second Friday - although it seems that there is no school on an awful lot of those Fridays) while the twins are in grade three. The twins take Ukrainian dancing twice a week now while also attending Brownies and piano lessons. Louisa also does Ukrainian dancing and attends Sparks, the younger version of Brownies. She is really enjoying school.
Best wishes to all in 2022! Keep well! Stay safe!
Celeste & Glenn
