A few days in Paris (friends and favorites but lots of tourists), 2 weeks plus in the south of Spain (impressive Moorish history and architecture, plentiful tapa bars, friendly people, lots and lots of tourists) and 5 days in Lyon (great and varied market and grocery food, good restaurants, bigger than expected, very few tourists). France (outside of Paris and tourist attractions) is our favorite.

Last week of May saw us in the garden (planting and pulling weeds) and finishing closing in the patio. June should see more quality time in the garden, visitors from Japan, and hopefully a motorbike trip.

A delightful month with a week of +20 to bring out the blossoms and close it out. Lots of garden prep (weeding), branch trimming and setting up the irrigation. Had three burn days to get rid of dried twigs and branches – the rest will be mulched in June. Put away the skis and had our first golf game of the season. Vacant lot next door went up for sale.

insert apricot blossoms

Finally found some more stackwall stones to build another set of steps that will go from the upper patio to the drone landing pad – June project. Completed (mostly) a screen and frame for the patio – still needs some touch ups and to close off the triangular space on top of the new screen frame. Completed (mostly) the closet/dresser downstairs – still need to design and make drawer fronts and handles.

We were also busy with getting our charity off the ground. It will provide $ to hard-working high-school students who may not make it to graduation due to financial challenges. Banking, funding, schools, directors and bylaws are lined up and Mizuho made a marvelous website (still in development). The first awards should go out in September. More at OSSS.ca

Kelowna hosted the Brier Curling Championship. We had great seats for one draw and were amazed by how good these guys are. Found time to ski another 3 times, see a couple of foreign films (including one shot in Winnipeg), and enjoyed 3 concerts, 6 dinners with friends, and several days in Vancouver with Taisho at the Sylvia Hotel on the edge of Stanley Park. One concert was the separate and combined Montreal Guitar trio (acoustic) and the California Guitar Trio (electric, opened for King Crimson for a few years, and one of them plays a Chapman Stick – stick.com). Snow at the house was all gone in early March but came back twice before the end of the month. Some modest progress on the basement closet and porch screen.

Cold weather the first half (highs of -5 or so) and warm the second half with highs of +5 to +10. Most snow now gone but lots in the mountains. New driveway works like a charm (as long as I plow it before driving on it). Used only a handful of de-icer and a pail of grit once. Had several sunny days and finally a day with the right conditions to burn branches I trimmed last year. Skied only once this month but had several dinners with friends and two concerts.

Helped neighbor Klaus bottle (caps and corks) some 1,300 bottles of some excellent gewurztraminer and pinot noir that had been aging for a few years (no grapes at all last year due to cold snap and late frost).

Dismantled a dresser in the downstairs guest suite (with burled walnut drawer fronts) over 120 years old and assembled with square nails. It shall be repurposed. I’m building another dresser/shoji closet in its place. This means designing the piece; buying material; cutting, dadoing, and grooving the parts; assembling the cabinets and drawers; applying edging on the panels and sanding and oiling it; building toe kicks; and then leveling and installing the cabinets. Next month I will finish building top and bottom rails for the shoji screens, clean and oil the shoji doors and apply new paper, and build a gable end. I find that projects progress at a very measured pace these days but my new noise-reducing bluetooth ear protection makes the work more enjoyable when using machinery, sanders or Bob.

Had a trip to Van planned to see an old friend/colleague who was passing through town on his way back to Australia but he had to cancel so I did as well. Some good news from the tax authorities – the non-profit I am setting up with a friend was approved for charitable tax status so we are ready to launch. More on this later.

We started the year underwater – our second polar bear dip – in 5 degree water. A bracing way to launch the new year. Mizuho now has two new lenses in her eyes, has disposed of her contacts, and is thrilled! Managed 3 sunny warm ski days in January. Made two screens for the porch to close the triangular voids (caulking awaits a rise in temperature) with one more large screen to go. And we had our annual sausage making again with about 250 Italian and 250 smoked. Shall now be tending the smokies for a week or so to maintain the correct temperature and humidity.

Snow came early to the mountains this year so Dave skied 5 times in December and we had a delightful 4 days slope side chalet at SilverStar ski resort near Vernon with 2 close friends over Christmas. Lots of seasonal concerts and dinners as well. We have a new used salt/grit spreader for the ATV in case the new driveway gets a bit slippery (needed a bit of tweaking to get it working well).

December was a bit like the year overall as we transitioned from house projects to leisure. Highlights on the home front this year were the shoji closet in the guest bedroom, new driveway, new equipment shelter, some art installations and motorized screens for the porch. On the leisure side, Canal du Midi boating and Paris reminiscing, Cowboy Junkies concert, visit with my aunt (Queen of the Prairies) and another Japan trip (Shikoku, Tokyo, friends, family and food).

Next year shall see us, hopefully, completing more hardscaping outside, making a few screens, a built-in dresser in the bedroom, storage cabinets in the garage, more art installations and some odds and sods. We shall also likely find ourselves in Europe and Japan once again.

Happy New Year to all and Akemashite Ometedo Gozaimasu – hope to see you somewhere, sometime next year.

I joined Mizuho in Japan for the last few weeks of her month-long stay there. A week driving around the island of Shikoku – ryokans, hot springs and gorges – and a week in downtown Tokyo – concerts, Team Lab installations, great food, sights and experiences and visits with friends and family. A couple from Mexico house and dog sat. Attached are some non-house photos with house photos coming next month (hopefully). Sister and BinLaw came for a visit shortly after our return and we had an early first snowfall on the 25th that was mostly melted a few days later.

And for your viewing pleasure: I finally had the opportunity to try a vertical carousel garage with a turn table, a facility that is ubiquitous in the urban areas of Japan.

Beautiful weather in October. Bought another motorcycle, a 2006 BMW 1200 RT. Great deal on a nice touring bike. Not as much fun as the Aprilia but should be better for touring. Will try both in the spring and then sell one.

CBC radio asked me in for an interview on the major players in the Middle East. We had 12 minutes so covered a lot but I did miss a few points, most notably the negative impact of the settlers and occupation of the West Bank. You can hear the interview here https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-110-daybreak-south/clip/16098828-a-former-canadian-ambassador-joins-daybreak-discuss-growing

On the home front, I split the firewood we will need two years from now, built a rose trellis out of the aluminum frames I had bought a few years ago, and planted some tree seedlings along the driveway that I had been nurturing for several years. Also busy with the getting-ready-for-winter preps – servicing the bikes and ATV, cleaning the clubs, and draining the irrigation. We had some rain gutters put on the new equipment shelter and motorized screens installed to keep out the wasps and extend the patio’s season. I will need to make and install two triangular screens and another on the 4th opening – project for the winter.

We had a pretty good harvest this year, especially tomatoes, kabocha squash, and very hot peppers.

And I will leave you with a photo of Taisho enjoying the first frost of the season. I leave Sunday to join Mizuho in Japan for a few weeks while we leave T and house in the hands of our house/pet sitters.

Another busy fun month. Purchased a new induction stove as a computer board (1 of 3) on our 9 year old one expired and took out two burners. Bob had two leaking hydraulic hoses that were fixed by an independent mobile mechanic. Played some golf, had some dinners, attended a concert and an unusual Japanese film (Evil Exists not Here). Quick motorbike trip to the Kootenays and an anniversary holiday in Sun Peaks. Also attended 3 board meetings – Regional Planning Advisory, Chamber Music Kelowna, and the Okanagan Student Support Society (a non-profit we are setting up with a friend).

Trimmed loads of dead branches in the forest and dragged them out for burning or chipping. Finished the equipment shelter and annex and began work on a rose trellis.

Next month should see progress on the trellis, the planting of trees, splitting firewood and getting ready for winter.

A hot sunny month with a few thunderstorms and heavy rain. No smoke all month. Busy with visits from 2 cousins, several social golf games and dinners with friends. Interviewed a house/dog-sitting couple for our Japan trip.

Decided to install motorized screens on the porch which should happen in mid October. Companies were hungry for the business. Ordered a new stove as half of our 9 year old stove stopped working and it was not worth fixing. Got a trailer full of old cedar and fir (clear and straight grain) that was pulled from a demolished building some 40 years ago. $65 🙂 Not yet sure what I will do with it but I am sure inspiration will strike. And decided to build an annex onto the equipment shelter as the latter was not quite big enough. Just need to add some eavestrough and tart it up a bit.