2017 was very similar for me to 2016. Very busy, but lots of fun! Louise and I had some wonderful adventures, and I had a few on my own as well.
With Laura in Glasgow, and Spencer working, our 2016 Christmas was a bit different. On top of that, Louise's folks had the flu, so thought they should quarantine themselves. With Spencer working - Louise and I had a nice Christmas day. We Skyped with Laura in the morning, and then Spencer, Louise and I had a nice Christmas Dinner in the evening.
On Boxing Day, Louise and I went to St. Albert where my sister, Patty, hosted Christmas for the Gillespies. A few days later, as Louise's folks were recovering, we did sneak in a quick visit to the farm - but didn't stay because they were busy packing up so they could leave for Yuma for the winter.
Las Brisas Volleyball -Ted Blocking, Wilf - ready for the tip...
Mid Month, Louise & I once again headed to Las Brisas, Huatulco, Mexico for three weeks. It was our seventh trip there. This year, in addition to our friends Wilf and Bob, we also had my sisters, Micky and Patty, and their husbands Darcy and Ross join us. Micky and Darcy for one week, and Patty and Ross for two.
We really enjoyed seeing everyone, including our good friends in the resort. We were even introduced to Daniel and Rachelle's new puppy, Bruce! Louise and I enjoyed our almost daily Stand up Paddle Board rides, reading in the shade and some sailing, while I enjoyed the daily volleyball with the guy's.
Of course another highlight is everyone getting together for dinner and then dancing and/or a game of cards afterwards.
Did I mention that the shows that the resort puts on are also excellent.
We are heading there again this comming January. We can't wait!
This year we put together a special page on the website which you can view here, or you can see all of my photos on my Flickr site here
Sailing with Louise in Tangalunda Bay... by Las Brisas
La Fortuna Waterfall
Shortly after returning home from Mexco, I left again, this time to spend three weeks in Costa Rica windsurfing with my friend Gerry Sparks and his wife Julie. Gerry had rented a two-bedroom suite in a house, and let me stay in the second bedroom. The house is only a few miles from the Tico Wind sailing sight where we had rented gear.
Tico Wind is on Lake Aernal. The North end of the lake is one of the most consistently windiest places on the planet, particularly between December & March.
We had some bad luck - when, on our second night we came back from supper to find our door had been forced open, a broken door jam, and everything of value stolen. They left our suitcases, but took everything they could easily carry, including my camera bag, laptop, cellphone, ipad and beach gear. Gerry also lost his GPS watch, tablet and cell phone.
The police came out right away and seemed to do a good job of investigating, but of course nothing was ever recovered.
I will be a lot more careful next time, keeping my camera, laptop and cellphone with me at all times.
It felt like a real personal violation, but we eventually got over it. Stuff can be replaced…..
Gerry's wife, Julie, was the only one of us with a cell phone, so we took turns using it to stay in touch with home.
Gerry and Blaine
Gerry - high wind day!
Fortunately we had another friend, Blaine, joining us for a week, so we had him bring us some essentials from home. For me that included another Camera (my old one), and a tablet, (so I could "WhatsApp" with Louise and stay in touch).
The rest of our holiday was a little different as well. It started off very windy, which was great! Gerry sailed on a 3.0m sail (very small sail) for the first time in his life. (That is really windy!), but after the first few days the wind backed off.
Our friend Scotty Freeman, who owns the Gorge Surf Shop, and who as been coming to Costa Rica for 20 odd years (three months at a time), said he has never seen more than a few calm days in a row. We had twelve. I did lots of reading, and some Stand Up Paddle Boarding, but that was not what we were there for. There were lots of positives.
The crew at the sailing site are very friendly, and serve a wonderful hot lunch every day - something that we always looked forward to. The other sailors on the beach are also very friendly - and when you can't be sailing there is a lot of time for telling stories...which gets better and better with each telling...
Our House
Arenal Volcano
Even so, you can't just spend all your time sitting around. Blaine and I took a day and drove out to see the Arenal Volcano and the La Fortuna Waterfall.
The volcano hasn't been active in years, but is still a very impressive site.
The waterfall is also very impressive, you have to go a long way down into the valley to get to the bottom, and then climb all the way back up (stairs) when you are done. So even though you can cool off in the pond at the bottom, you are very hot and sweaty by the time you get back to the top.
The waterfall really is a magical place with hanging vines on the vertical cliff walls with very lush greenery. We tried to swim to get under the waterfall, but the closer you got - the stronger the current pushing you away became, so there was no way to get to it. It is much more impressive in reality than it appears in the photos with a water drop of 200 feet.
I also took a couple of days to go and visit our nieighbours Rob and Carol, who have a beautiful house in Brasilito - about 2 hours away from our sailing site. Rob took me fishing, we did some work putting automatic irrigation in to the landscaping beside his pool.
La Fortuna Waterfall - looking from above
Fishing with Rob
The wind picked up for our last couple of days, so we did manage to get in a bit of sailing at the end of the trip.
In spite of being skunked for more than half of the sailing days, we still had a lot of fun, and I can't say enough about the Tico Wind staff who did a lot to make our stay enjoyable.
You can see more photos on my Flickr site Here.
Paulo was attending a Rotary Youth Conference in Calgary, so we insisted that they come out to stay with us for a few days. The weather cooperated, so we had some cold snowy days - a real experience for people from Brazil. It was wonderful to be able to get to know them again, and for Louise to meet them.
Paulo learning how to shovel some snow!
Walking on ice - on a cold, windy day!
Paulo and Leila got to do interesting things like shovel snow, go for a snowmobile ride, and walk on the lake to our neighbours' ice fishing shack!
One of the funny highlights happened when I was driving them back to Calgary for their conference. It was a cold, snowy, day with a wind, so part of the roads were snow covered, and there was blowing snow most of the way.
As we drove through Drumheller, I though that we should stop at Horseshoe Canyon. From the top there is a beautiful view of the hoodoos.
I pulled in, but there was a chain across the entrance. We parked in 6" of snow and hiked across to the canyon edge. Well, it was cold enough in general, but the wind was blowing up the canyon, so when you looked over, you got a blast of wind and snow in your face and couldn't see anything.
The wind chill must have been at least 40 below.
Welcome to Alberta.
I quickly ushered them back to the car and apologized. We had a good laugh.
A truly Canadian Experience
Skiing at Sunshine with Louise - Lots of snow!
At the end of March, Louise and I spent a couple of days at Sunshine Village skiing. After about 15 years of Snowboarding, we decided to try skiing again.
The snow was great, and the weather alternated between beautiful sunshine and a snowstorm. We even decided to take a lesson.
It had been 15 years since we had skied, and the equipment today is so different than the skinny long skies that we were used to - that we decided to get some tips. It was a lot of fun, but we were two tired people by the end of the second day.
In April I turned 60. Hard to believe. Louise cooked a nice dinner for Spencer and I, and then friends joined us afterwards for a few drinks. It was a nice evening.
April and May were very busy with some consulting work, and traveling back and forth to the various communitiies that we were working in - Westlock County, Athabasca, and Alix.
I also attended a Rotary Conference in Westlock and toured their Tractor Museum which is quite impressive.
It was a poor winter for us Skidooing around the lake.
We only got out a couple of times.
Howie and Gaylin
Spencer and I put the Boat and Dock in the water on May 8th. Possibly the earliest yet. Unfortunately what had started out as a warm spring, turned cold, and between that and busy schedules, we didn't get to use the boat as much as we would have liked.
At the end of May, my friend Howie Cook and I travelled to Gibsons on the Sunshine Coast to visit our friend George Webber. George was one of the leaders of our Air Cadet Gliding program in Alberta.
George retired years ago to Nakusp, but is now suffering from alzimers and is in a home in Gibsons. We had a wonderful visit with George's daughter, Gaylin, her husband Peter and their Daughter. Peter and Gaylin run a number of construction businesses and specialize in building homes and cabins on the islands.
Howie and I also had a nice visit with George. I believe he recognized us. He had to take us to see his gliding photos in his room, but he wasn't able to put sentences together. Very sad. A lot of his mannorisms were still there, and he did laugh and joke a lot. I hope he is happy in his own way.
Ted and George
Ted Windsurfing
In June, I went on my bi-annual Windsurf Trip to Hood River, Oregon. We have a group of between 12 and 14 guys (and a few ladies) who go twice a year, once in June and once in September.
Most of us Windsurf, and a few of us Kitesurf. I do mostly windsurfing, but am trying to learn kiting as well. Unfortunately my kiting isn't going as well as I would have liked.
I have had several equipment failures, leaving me in the middle of the river with my board drifing away from me faster than I can swim, and my kite blowing down the river.
What is really frustrating, is that in most cases, I am doing fine, getting some confidence, keeping upwind, and having fun - then Bam.
KITEMARE!
I am starting to wonder if I will be able to get to the point where I don't have to rely on a bunch of other people to rescue me and my equipment.....
This year we have seen a whole new sport emerge. Foiling! If you remember the Air Chairs that were popular years ago, this is something similar.
Ted Foiling
Ted with his Winsurfing Foil
Foils are two small "wings" that connect under your board, which lift you and your board right out of the water when you start getting speed. As you lift out of the water, the majority of the resistance/drag disappears.
The result is that you can get going with a lot less power than you need with just a board.
People are now foiling on windsurfers, kitesurfers, wakeboards, wake surf boards and even surf boards. About half of our group (Including me) now have foils.
I am using my foil on a windsurfer, and also behind the boat wakeboarding (and hopefully wakesurfing if I can get good enough). It is very cool, and because you need less power, it is much easier physically. With the Windsurf Foiling you can get up and going in a lot less wind than you would need with just windsurfing.
That means I should be able to get more days on the water. I watched a lot of foiling in the spring, but didn't get my foil until the fall, so was only able to try it a handfull of times. Now I am really looking forward to spring!
Each year I do a blog of each of our Gorge trips. Here are the links..... Spring Gorge Trip and Fall Gorge Trip.
Ted and Gerry in the Gorge relaxing after a session!
Kirk - Showing me how Kiting is done!
In early July I drove down to Keho Lake for a day of Kiteboarding. It is 4.5 hours each way - all for a couple of hours of Kitesurfing. Definitely worth it.
It was a day with great friends and lots of action on the water. Thanks to Kirk, Arne and Bob for keeping an eye on me, and to Arnie for draging me in when I lost my kite. (another Kitemare!). Photos of the day are on my Flickr site Here.
Bernd
Joran
Later in July, we attended Sam and Wyatt' Warawa's wedding. Sam did me the honour of asking me to be MC. Sam is the daughter of our long-time friends Jim and Lorie Kuchera.
Lorie's dad, Papa Wilf, brought down his 1927 Sport Coupe which he stored in Spencer's garage until it could be used to whisk the bride and groom away from the wedding. I think he and Spencer really hit it off. The wedding was in our local Catholic Church, and the reception at the Camrose Performing Arts Centre on the UofA Augustana Campus. We had a lot of fun. More photos are on our 3 Weddings Page.
Papa Wilf and his 1927 Sport Coupe!
Louise - Checking out the Wineries
At the End of the Month, Louise and I headed to Vernon, and then Osoyoos. First to spend some time with Pierre and Lynn at their condo in Vernon, and then to attend Kevin and Kate Roth's wedding in Osoyoos.
The trip was a very nice holiday. Pierre and Lynn were excellent hosts, taking us boating every day on the Okanogan.
On the way to Osoyoos we were able to visit our friends Rob and Carol, who had only days before moved from a house two doors down from ours, to Oliver.
On our last day in Vernon, Adrien, a young fellow from France who had worked in our Engineering Department in Camrose as an exchange student, called.
He told us his sister was working in Canada in a Orchard and had fallen and broken her wrist. He asked if we could check on her. We found out the Orchard was right next to Oliver and only about 20 minutes out of our way.
What a concidence that we were in the area when he called. We made the trip and had a nice visit - taking her for a cool drink at a local cafe. I think Adrien was pleased that we were able to check in on her.
Louise and Floriane
Ted - at the entrance to our beautiful Bed and Breakfast
We enjoyed the wedding and the reception. Kate (the bride) has a very musical family. Her Aunt and Uncle on her mom's side have a band, Suite 33, which peformed at the reception.
Louisie and I had planned to leave early because we had a long drive the next day to get home, but the band was so good (clasic rock) that we found ourselves staying until the last song.
At the end of July, the St. Albert Model Club hosted their annual Funfly. At the event they honoured Dad by presenting him with an award for his many years of service to the club, and have named a trophy in his honor which will be given out at their future annual events.
I wasn't able to attend, but Brian and Mom were there with Dad when he recieved the award. I think Dad was really touched. Special thanks to Warren and Al for making it all happen.
In August, Louise and I flew to Scotland to spend a couple of weeks with Laura. You can read all about it here.
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Laura and Spencer
October 24th was Louise and my 30th Anniversary.
We went out to dinner to celebrate, and then on October 25th, Laura arrived home from the UK. Spencer, Louise and I picked her up at the Airport and drover her home - stopping at Bostan Pizza for Supper
It took her a couple of days to get over jetlag and unpacked, and then we hosted a party for her on the weekend, and had lots of family and a few friends make the trip out to visit with her and to welcome her home.
After being home for a week or so, she headed down to Rosebud where she got a job as a server and was able to line up some acting assignments. More Laura's year on her page.
In early November, Kit (Micky and Darcy's daughter) and Justin were married. We all drove down to Maple Creek, Saskatchewan for the big event.
Spencer drove Laura, Louise and I down in his truck - quite a comfortable ride! On the way, we stopped in Delia, where my Mom grew up.
It was a cold snowy day so we didn't walk around much, but we did stop at the Delia cafe for lunch where we met the owner Luke, who knew Mom's family well. He grew up with uncle Bob and Don, and said he calls Bob regularly to keep in touch. He has run his cafe in Delia for more than 60 years.
The Delia Cafe - In operation for more than 60 years!
Kit and Justin
The roads continued to get worse as we got closer to Maple Creek, but we all arrived safely.
It was the first time in many years that all of Mom & Dad's grandchildren were all together in one place. We all enjoyed the wedding and reception. It was nice to spend time with Micky, Darcy, Patty and Ross - as well as all the kids.
There are more photos on our 3 Weddings page, and more of the wedding are on my Flickr site Here.
Things started to slow down a bit for me in November and December.
I did have a Kitesurfing trip to Cuba planned in December with my friends from Southern Alberta, but the resort was severely damaged by a hurricane this summer, so the trip was cancelled. Our group have re-scheduled for January, but I will miss it as I will be in Mexico with Louise.
Louise and I made a quick trip to Calgary in late November to visit her brother Marc and their family, and so I could attend a conference related to my consulting work. We had a nice visit and got to see their new house!
The team that I work with at Sage Analytics Inc.
Ted, Harry, Shari-Anne (the boss), and Kanwal
Harold and I in the Gondala at Sunshine!
My friend Harold and I did manage to get one day of Skiing at Sunshine in mid December. We drove up the afternoon before and stayed at the Banff Boundary Lodge in Canmore.
The next day, we had a very good day of skiing. The snow was hard packed, as they hadn't had any recent snow, but the sun was out and it was a spectacular day. I was very sore by the time we finally headed back down the hill.
Ted Skiing
Biking in Scotland
Last ride of the season at home
Biking in Scotland
Flying my Funcub behind the house.
A Good day windsurfing at home!
Skiiing at Sunshine
Ted - chased by a Sasquatch (Osoyoos)
It has been very busy year - who said retirement was boring.....
