A very fun and productive month. Hired a great crew to wash the outside of all the upper windows while I did the lowers and the insides. Hired a professional to install a complete irrigation system – two wi-fi controllers, 11 valves and about 500′ of line. Very slick. I trenched and ran the wires but still need to cover some of the drip lines. The system should enable us to water precisely according to need without wasting any – important for those of us on a well and in a drying climate.

After painting the garage walls, I built a storage rack for some of my pipe clamps, installed another rain barrel, and finished the last planter. Mizuho worked on the garden, especially weeding. New battery for Bob (after 5 years) and extended the new road a bit and did some shaping elsewhere. Fixed (hopefully) an issue with the fridge that involved taking every thing out, dismantling an ice-encrusted cover and re-assembling. Mowed the grass three times already this month.

Enjoyed a few dinners with friends and a delightful O’Rourke’s winemaker’s dinner. Had a golf lesson and played our first game of the season. Also had time to install some more art and was finally able to utilize some candle lanterns I got in Yemen 16 years ago.

Two light snowfalls (melted the next day) and two days with historic high temperatures. Mountain snowpack is very low this year. But there is just enough snow in the mountains for skiing – managed another 5 outings this month and 12 for the season. Gave another lecture at the University and we took in 3 concerts, including the Arrogant Worms.

Completed the cabinets and countertop in the garage and painted the rear wall. Cabinets on left hold golf bags in summer, outdoor furniture cushions and ski stuff in the winter. Skis and umbrellas in the middle.

3 days skiing with friends at Sun Peaks. 3 nights at the delightful Sylvia Hotel in Vancouver – dinner and lunch with former colleagues, delightful Asian food, walks in Stanley Park with Taisho, a concert at the Orpheum and the cherry blossoms were out.

Finished the month with a weekend at the Penticton Art and Music Festival. The city embraces the arts. The Ignite the Arts Festival starts with a parade “For no Reason” of hundreds of people and continues through the weekend with some 60 events at a dozen venues. Great stuff!

Busy month but warm and dry with only one snowfall since December! 3 golf courses opened Feb 5th, closed after the snow and reopened the first week of March. Made another cabinet for the garage and doors for the first one. Made and installed a large house number sign and built another planter.

Went to several concerts, saw the Royal Winnipeg Ballet (first time in 50 years) and a comedy show, dinner at a new and very impressive winery (O’Rourke’s), and a Chinese New Years Dinner at a friends place. Was on a career guidance panel at the University and will be giving a lecture on diplomacy on March 2nd. Skied 6 times this month (2-3 hours each time) and spent a few nights at Silverstar Ski Resort in a unit overlooking the village.

Started the month with a few days of skiing, after which the snow stopped and it was above zero almost every day. At the end of January, it is snowing in the mountains but +5 and no snow on the property. Had one more ski day on the 31st.

Built a cabinet in the garage to store skis/cushions in winter and golf clubs/tools in summer. Doors should be completed soon. Made a new number sign for the driveway but haven’t decided yet how to mount it. Had the 4th bonfire this winter of twigs and small branches collected over the past two years. And we finished the month by making sausages (45 pork Italian and 75 pork/moose smokies.

Spent few delightful days at Kananaskis Mountain Lodge in Alberta (which hosted the G7 Leaders Meeting in June, for the 2nd time) enjoying the food, the spa and walks with Taisho.

December saw us watching the Olympic Curling Qualifications where both Japanese teams won in front of a lot of fans from Japan and NHK TV. The women’s team was from the small town of Tokoro, on the north coast of Hokkaido, where I curled in bonspiels (outdoors and indoors) many times in the 80s and 90s.

Apart from the fire on the road below us and the chaos to the south, a very enjoyable year. On the home front, we finished making screens for the porch and a trellis, completed 3 walkways and some steps, installed some yard art, finished a cabinet in the guest bedroom, and spent a lot of time on forest management – felling and limbing trees and making huge piles of branches for mulching and burning. And spent a lot of time getting our new charity project launched.

Found time to make sausages with our neighbor again and help him harvest grapes and bottle 1,000 litres of wine from previous harvests. Lots of skiing (twice this current month), social golf and dining with friends. Graced by several visits, including by Mizuho’s mother (3rd time) and sister (2nd)!

And we had some delightful trips. Paris, southern Spain and Lyon in May; several motorbike camping trips in the summer and fall; Banff/Canmore in August; NYC, crossing the Atlantic on the QM II and some time in London in October; and Mizuho had a jam-packed 3 weeks in Tokyo in November.

On the house-front menu for next year is getting some professional irrigation work done, making 3 cabinets, tarting up the wine cellar, and installing some more yard art. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Much of November was spent cleaning up the forest by felling and limbing trees, dragging out dead branches, and making huge piles to mulch in the spring or burn in the winter. Bought a used propane heater for the porch and had a very early snowfall. Mizuho had a delightful 3 weeks in Japan and brought home some treats.

During the first half of the month we were busy with garden harvesting and maintenance, and forest management, and then vacation for the 2nd half. Friends from Niagara Falls house and dog sat while we spent a few days in NYC (plays, museums and street vibe) and a week on the Queen Mary II from NYC to Southampton (nice way to get to Europe). We then stayed at the residence of the Italian Ambassador to the UK for 5 days – he was my counterpart in Paris 20 years ago – while visiting pubs, museums and a night at the Royal Opera (The Magic Flute was excellent). The highlight was spending time with our Italian friends in their opulent residence.

More record highs with very little rain in September. Dropped some dead/dying trees and cut up for firewood. Cut up branches that had been piling up for a few years but were too dry to mulch and too small for firewood. Several large piles (refrigerator size) are under tarps and shall be burned when the fire bans are off.

M and I played a few golf games (a playing partner had a hole in one, his 3rd!) and an overnight trip to Penticton for a jazz concert but the venue (in operation for 25 years) closed down the day before. A solo 3 day motorbike camping trip to Mica Dam (140kms north of Revelstoke) and back through the west Kootenays and another camping trip with two friends who brought a truck and trailer – more like glamping as we had chairs, ice cooler, plates, glasses and other refinements. M and I helped our neighbor harvesting his grapes. He has a huge crop this year – we and others got about 1/3 done in two days which was pressed into 2,000 litres. Hard work. And the garden has been bountiful this year.

Great visit with M’s mom and sister, mostly chats, harvesting veggies from the garden, eating, and making another path in the lower part of the yard out of river rocks and tree bark (we call it Sawaya’s hodo). Made another path from the front entrance to the main patio and moved the BBQ off the patio away from the screens (Coop’s hammer drill came in very handy when rerunning the gas line). Replenished the firewood shed and pruned about 40 lavender plants.

Three guys came by to check out the bike but found it too sporty and powerful for them. Finally sold at the end of the month – sad to see it go but looking forward to the more responsible (sedate) BMW.

Visitors from Quebec, Victoria, and Canmore, a few golf games, a friend’s 70th BDay party with 50 people, barrel tasting at Spearhead winery, and raced electric go karts with Cam and Coop. Spent a few days and Mizuho’s Bday in Revelstoke – great dinner followed by an invitation to a speakeasy in the basement. On to Canmore to stay at a friends condo for a week and attend 5 concerts at the Banff International String Quartet Competition and lots of hikes with Taisho. Capped off the month with a “salon”concert and dinner at an Austrian pianist house.

With Mizuho’s mother and sister arriving in late July, most of the month was spent preparing for the visit. Her sister and Mother visited us 10 years ago and her mother came for a 2nd visit 5 years ago.

I started and finished a stone walkway and a short stone staircase, fixed a couple of 8 year old benches and the rose trellis, trimmed a great many branches and tuned up my chain saw. I also had time to create 4 art installations out of wine barrel rings.

Work slowed when a fire broke out off the road below us. It was quickly suppressed by 4 fire departments, 2 helicopters and two tanker planes, but not before the neighborhood was evacuated. Thankfully, no houses burned and we were back home that evening.

On the fruit side, M canned, froze or made into jam our neighbor’s cherries and blueberries and our apricots and raspberries. And we have been eating lettuce, shishito, daikon, shiso, eggplant, cucumbers, peppers, peas and garlic from the garden.

The visit has been great and included lots of chatting and eating, some sewing projects and fruit picking, a few wineries and a steam train ride, a visit to the sports centre where Mom and Sis swam laps for an hour and M and I splashed around, and a long visit with our farmer friends, the Ojis.