Christmas 2004
(this
is an expanded version of our mailed out Christmas letter.)
Dear
Family and Friends,
As we shake off the hypnotic effects of turkey
and seasonal cold medicines, we realise that Christmas is right around
the corner even though the sun is out and the temperature is in the 70’s.The
presents bought throughout the year need to be unearthed, wrapped, and
shot into the mail in time for Christmas day unwrapping. And we must
decide whether the tree that will end up horizontal on the floor this year
will be real or fake – the reason for its demise will become clear as we
re-cap our year 2004!
The
year began in with chores you just don’t have to do in Canada – weeding
the garden on Jan 11th. The house
and garden continued to figure prominently in our weekday (for Lynda)
and weekend plans as Lynda and Joe worked to put our own stamp on the place.
Back 'home' Lynda’s mother made a house decision as well: the hard one
to leave her home of 27 years and move into an independent living facility.
And this year Lynda’s birthday came with an unexpected treat – the birth
of her niece, Sophie, the first child of her brother Dean and his lovely
wife Lisa.
February
whizzed by as Lynda anticipated a return to Vancouver
to help her mom with the transition to her new residence -- which her mom
pleasantly referred to as "this place where I am living". Plans were
made and Lynda flew up on the 9th of March and returned April 1st.
There were lots of things to do at the house in Vancouver to ready it for
sale and get her mom’s new room stocked, but luckily there was time for
some visits with family and friends too. Lynda got to meet her little niece,
Sophie, who is a delight. Leah and Ross were in town for a few days
and Lynda got to spend time with them as they enjoyed the pleasure of a
Vancouver with blooming trees. Quite an escape from Winnipeg.
Lynda also had a chance to visit with some of her local friends on this
trip. Joe spent the three weeks in Houston trying to stay on top
of all the things that take 4 hands and 2 brains. Needless to say, when
Lynda returned she had lots to catch up on, but didn’t mind in the least
as it was just so nice to be back in her own home with her (babbling &
grateful) sweetie.
As
spring arrived the garden work increased exponentially. Lynda and
Joe worked hard to get the weeding situation under control contributing
countless hours and curses in the garden as she worked out how to get rid
of each type of weed. Lynda and Joe finally realised the benefit
of sand, peat, topsoil, and a thick layer of mulch over a weeded flower
bed. What a difference from a flowerbed made of clay! Now if
only we’d caught on to that little trick earlier. But aside from
starving it of water, nothing can be done about the 3 inches of lawn growth
that must be mowed every week.
Lynda
continued to spend lots of time at her volunteer position at NAM.
With a new database program for tracking statistics, her hands were full
with training volunteers and helping on the implementation committee. With
all the travel required this year, searching for full-time work was put
on the back burner. Joe’s work continued to be challenging, frustrating,
and interesting – all three at all times, but in varying order.
Lynda’s
friend Rose had moved to London in 2003 and the thought of visiting her
had tempted Lynda for a while. So in May Lynda jetted off for a great
girl-visit: in just about 10 days they managed to see lots of London and
even spend a couple of days in Paris – good practice for bringing Joe over...
The best part was meeting Rose’s new friends and seeing her flourish in
her new home. Lynda is thankful every day for a sweetie who doesn’t
mind her spending time with her friends even when they live far away.
After
her return Lynda decided to tackle the kitchen and breakfast room.
It was long past time for that (ugly!) wallpaper to come down. The
job was complicated by the bottom layer of kitchen wallpaper having been
applied to bare wallboard, and by the hideous paint job under the breakfast
room wallpaper. Stripping, repairing wallboard, texturing, priming
and painting walls and ceilings (as usual) took Lynda far longer than she’d
anticipated. Joe brilliantly chose a Sunday afternoon in July to
install the ceiling fan support in the attic. (It’s okay: he managed
to crawl back down in his sweat-soaked clothes gasping for air! He figures
it was about 49ºC or 120ºF up there). You can track our
progress on our Projects page.
In
the summer we started planning for a late-August to early-September visit
to Vancouver while enjoying a wonderful and rare summertime treat – a ‘cold’
front coming through Houston. We barbequed three nights in a row
and sat out on the deck in the ‘mild’ 28ºC (82ºF) weather and
took satisfaction in all the yard work we’d done.
The
trip to Vancouver brought relaxation to Joe (and for the first time in
a long while, he didn't immediately get sick on his vacation) as Lynda
darted around helping her mom with some errands and work that needed to
be done while we stayed in her house, now on the market. We celebrated
with joy the wedding of River and Roni, Lynda’s half-sister and new sister-in-law
and enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with this part of Lynda’s family
as well. Then we retreated to Desolation Sound for three days of
pure relaxation and laziness in a stunningly beautiful and tranquil location
-- protected by a guard dog named Wiggles. We even took a canoe out
for a paddle, determined to do ‘something Canadian’ while we were there.
September
saw great change in our household: the addition of two four-legged family
members. Joe’s allergies seemed to be under control with the shots
he’s been enduring for the past two years so when a friend enquired if
we’d like to have a kitten, we approached the idea with care – we’d ‘kitten-sit’
the two 15-week old critters while their owner was out of town for
a week. Then we’d decide. At first we weren’t sure if they
even liked us – we brought them home and they displayed the typical cat
attitude to a change in surroundings: they hid. They only came out
to eat and use the litterbox (necessarily linked). But they began
to warm up to us on the first night we shared a chicken dinner. Fast
forward a week: we fell in love with them and Smoke
(aka Catservant Hecubus) and Spot
(aka Spotnik or Spotacus) are now part of the family. Yes, we know
the names are pretty uninspiring -- what can we say? They came pre-named,
we worked with what we had. They have their own toy collection (although
a plastic bag or an uncooked penne noodle is enough to keep a kitten occupied),
an electric self-cleaning litterbox, and even a filtered water fountain.
And two subservient pets named Joe and Lynda. Those of you curious
to see them can find them on their own Kitties webpage (of course!).
And thus the Christmas tree will come tumbling down…
Also
in September we discovered that our style of laminate flooring had been
discontinued, but there was enough available to do the rest of the areas
we wanted done in the house. Lynda and Joe also had the opportunity
to enjoy another wedding, their friends Denise and Richard's son Clayton
got married. This was Lynda and Joe's first really 'southern' style
wedding, with Barbeque for the food and a 'money dance' with the Bride
and Groom. As the Welch's background was Louisianan, the money dance
is a holdover from the Cajun traditions. Then Lynda’s mother’s house
sold in Vancouver and with that news came a request for help emptying it.
So Lynda made plans to go up in November and in the meantime had her much-hated
‘dusty rose’ carpet removed and the laminate flooring installed in the
living room and entry. Of course, one project begets another, so
Lynda worked on sanding and painting the trim. But with freshly painted
trim, the doors looked pathetic. So off they came for a renewed paint
job too! Before she could take it all in, it was time to head up
North.
With
the sale of her mother’s house there was a great deal for Lynda and Dean
to do, and a short time to do it. Lynda worked very hard – to the
unheard of extent that she didn’t get time to go to a single bookstore
at all during her visit! In 2½ weeks time, things were packed,
sold, donated, moved and generally cleared out and the house cleaned. Whew!
Towards the end of the trip, Lynda moved to Dean & Lisa's home and
got to spend more time with little Miss Sophie who was growing like a weed.
Once the job was done, Lynda detoured via San Francisco for visits with
friends Mindy, Morgan, and Lada as a reward to herself for a job well done.
Joe had the love and devotion of kitties to keep him company while Lynda
was away. Lynda wondered if they would remember her, but one sniff
of a sweaty sneaker and they realised who she was -- the kitty poop cleaner!
Joe is responsible for everything into and out of the front end of kitties
(Food Guy!) and Lynda has litterbox duty (Poop Girl!).
Arriving
back in Houston with a cold and just in time for Thanksgiving Lynda was
thankful for Matt and Melissa’s annual Thanksgiving dinner (thank goodness
we didn't have to cook more than a side dish!) and the good friends there.
Mostly she was thankful for Joe and ‘the babies’ and loving the changes
to her home (and secretly wondering how we lived with that kitchen wallpaper
for 2½ years!).
Early
December brought the yearly struggle to have everything bought and wrapped
early enough to get it in the mail as well as some new twists: Lynda's
first paying job in the US. She did a textbook buyback for Nebraska
Book Company in Alvin and loved being back in the college bookstore environment.
Even though the drive was long (110 miles round-trip) and the days were
longer (11.5 hours) it was great fun. And on December 8th we found
out that our green
card application had been approved! That only took 1135 days...
As the year closes with Christmas decorations and cards making their way
out of storage, we think of all our blessings: the love of family and good
friends, a beautiful and happy home and each other. We hope all the
best for you and yours in 2005.
~ Lynda and Joe
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| © Copyright 2004
Last updated: 2004-12-19
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