Christmas 2018 — A Letter

‘Tis the Season

Greetings and Best Wishes,

Well, here it is again – that festive time of year – Christmas in the Okanagan is on its way and another year has gone by. There have been many highlights and the following are not listed in order of importance…more likely in order of remembrance!!
• probably the best skiing in many years at Apex with over 300 cm of snow…
• We held our first Okanagan Levee on New Year’s Day – it was a fun time and a good turnout of friends and neighbours – if you are reading this, you are invited to this year’s…
• 65th Birthday event for ST at Harrison Hot Springs with two very dear couples; followed by the 10th anniversary tour of BC’s coastal waters, the northern Trans-Canada (Yellowhead), and central plateau to complete ST’s discovery of her adopted province…
• The Scotties in Penticton, including the visit of grand-niece Mikayla and her Mom, Christine – a good tournament, aided by the insights of curling skip Mikayla…
• watching grandsons play in major hockey tournaments in Denver. Burnaby and in Greater Phoenix of course…
• Another spring/summer of teaching at Concordia University of Edmonton – great students and lots of learning on both sides of the podium…
• Visit to Stratford Festival, including another good lunch with Margaret Lupton who retired after many years as Mayor of Zorra (only to be lured out of retirement to sit on another municipal council).
• Visit to the PCC General Assembly – got to spend some quality time with my good friend Rev. Doug Rollwage, intriguing to watch the debates/discussions – very few real conversations though…
• the CFL season – many good games, some tough losses, culminating in a super Grey Cup Festival (Edmonton and Ottawa have now raised the bar set in 2015 by a very good one in Winnipeg) spent in the company of our special Grey Cup buddies (including witnessing Jeannine star on a podcast which itself is an interesting event). gw was happy with the game result; some who came along were not – but Skyler (my sister Anne’s grandson) was, and maybe that was the most important thing…
• family visits – The AZ family came for a couple of weeks in July and we accomplished a lot, and the grandsons & I successfully biked all the way to the little tunnel on the KVR… we also spent a lot of time at the beach and at various ice cream dispensaries…as well as on the lake and floating the river channel…Chris & Ciera came to see us on her way from UVIC and then Linda and Ciera came on her way back to university – good times both occasions
• Friends visits included Luce from Montreal in the spring and Gisèle from Ottawa in the autumn. And in August the Rollwages came from PEI for ten days – in addition to Doug filling the pulpit at St. Andrew’s twice, we also did a wee trip into the Selkirks and Purcells so Dana could see real pointy mountains..
• ST had a very successful Dragonboat season. While the smoke did curtail some of the practice times, the festivals were well attended and the racing was more than competitive.
• several visits with Mom who this coming January will be 102…the best news is that Anne was able to get Mom into LTC (long term care) – Mom is doing very well, has a great room and enjoys the place – Anne is doing even better as she gets full nights’ sleeps and can go on little/or otherwise trips whenever she wishes.
• Participated in the pruning of a couple of rows in one of the big vineyards in the spring, as thanks, the winery put on great pre- & post-parties which can simply be translated as victory meals!!

• gw is off the Strata Council after an interesting transition year from developer-control to owner-control. ST is still on the executive of the Golden Dragons and the Rotary Sunrise.

The rest of the news and the like can be gleaned from the various Chapters of the Epistle of Q. OR, by phoning or e-mailing either of us…
ST: 250.487.1380 or st@e-sinclair.com
gw: 250.809.9220 or gws@e-sinclair.com

Before closing here’s an up-date on the family:
• Chris & family continue to live in Calgary. Chris is Director of Finance for a major Ford dealership and Linda continues to work as a Classroom Assistant with special needs kids in the public school system – Grandson Nick is into his apprenticeship in auto mechanics (goes to SAIT early in 2019) while Ciera is attending University of Victoria.
• Kelti’s crew live in Phoenix where the factory that Brett runs continues to do very well; and Kelti is taking a leave from teaching so she can be more available for the boys who are in Grade XI (Brendan is Junior Class President).
• Mom, as we write, is still watching curling and taking phone calls (587) 491-0212… She also makes shortbread as part of Anne’s Christmas baking and related preparations.

Joyeux Noel, Happy Hanukkah & All the best in the New Year!!

Suzanne (ST)                                                                                        Glenn (gw)

in the little Craftsman Cottage by the Creek