And Those Winds Sure Can Blow Cold Blues: Tuesday, December 4th!

There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside of you. -Maya Angelou, poet (b. 1928)

The worlds second best right waller has left us. A good guy. Take care Matt

Hello Befuddled Bookites! It seems that there is a certain amount of confusion over how people are going to Summerland, so I'm sending out this message to make sure everyone has a ride. It is my understanding that Lou will be taking Pam. Senka will drive herself. Hildi will go to Jos' place after hiking earlier in the day. Louise will chauffeur Judi and Colin, (I assume you will proceed directly to Summerland), while Dianne and Michelle will ride with Lady Dar and Patrizzio. Hitchhikers should be at 611 Burns by 6:25 pm as discussion will begin at 7:00 pm, Thursday, December 6th! Please contact me only if what I have outlined isn't what everyone understands. Cheers, Patrizzio!

Illustration: Leah Palmer Preiss

Thanks Patrick. That sounds great. See you Thursday. Dianne I’m picking up Pam at 6:30. Can be at Corrine’s to fill up the car at 6:45😊 Hi Luigi! Unless Louise comes to our place to take either you or Pam you might as well head straight to Summerland. We already have four but could take one more. Louise, what do you think? Let us know and we'll plan accordingly. Cheers, Patrizzio!I'm picking up C & J and going to S'land. Terrific. Thanks!! Cheers, Patrizzio!

 
Patrick, I think you might enjoy this. Thank you for your letter a bit ago. You and Corinne sure do keep busy - very impressive. Corinne’s mom sure looks good and it was nice to see photos of Ayn and Chloe.  

We have been busy too as we decided on the spur of the moment to go to Washington DC with our friends from Calgary. We spent 8 days there and could have spent longer. The African American History Museum was everything plus that you could imagine. We spent hours in the museums and could have spent more. We visited a lot of art galleries too and they were excellent with some very interesting modern displays. The Portrait Gallery was so interesting as they had a floor just of all the Presidents with a small history written for each one. Trump is certainly not the first disruptive president! It was neat to see their portraits and how they have evolved from so formal to quite informal. Bill Clinton had the largest, 108 inches by 84 inches, (fits his ego) but it was interestingly done with small pictures forming his face. Both of the Obama portraits were large too (but not as large) and interesting to see in real life. Michelle’s seemed to have a haughty look to it which wasn’t her intent. 

We went to Arlington for the Veteran’s Day service and were astounded at the size of the fields with crosses and headstones. They have over 400,000 people buried there and do 25-30 burials a day. Kennedy’s eternal flame was pretty emotional as was the huge statue of the American’s raising the flag at Iwo Jima. The grounds were immaculate and grass was trimmed around each cross or headstone. We visited the Capitol, a performance at the Kennedy Centre, a basketball game where the Washington Wizards won, some neat restaurants etc etc. We stayed at an AirBnB which worked out really well as it was very conveniently situated and lots of room for all 4 of us. We used the Metro and it was amazing - so easy, clean, efficient and you could go anywhere you wanted. As senior we only had to pay a $1.00 per ride - certainly a much better deal than Vancouver even when you consider it was in US money. All in all an A+ trip. 

We are home getting things in order to come to Vancouver for Christmas this year. We ended up doing a puzzle for New Years last year so this year we are staying in Vancouver and are determined to be a little more exciting this year. No Hawaii this year as we are taking the kids on a trip to celebrate our 50th Anniversary. We are going to Lima, Machu Pichu and the Galapagos with spots in between at the end of February. Everyone is pretty excited. That in a nutshell is about it for us. We sure enjoy your long letters Patrick and won’t even try to compete with them. Give Corinne a hug from us. Cheers, Dawn

Hi Heavy Fingered Donna Maria! I quite enjoyed watching the Revised National Anthem and reading your more than newsy message, three times as long as any of my so-called "long letters" as that is how many messages I received! You win the Gold Medal in this competition!!! That being said, it was a real treat to hear about your obviously wonderful experience in Washington. [A city we have wanted to visit for a very long time, for many of the reasons you outlined. I'm afraid to forward message to Lady Dar as she will start blaming me for us not having done so already!] Wow, do we qualify as family for the expedition to Peru and Darwinia? What a trip! I'm more than excited and I'm not even going! Lady Dar is so green with envy that she hopes you succumb to altitude sickness or are attacked by a rabid Marine iguana! She still harbours a deep grudge from visit with Jim Hillson! Perchance there can be Truth and Reconcilliation on the occasion of your 50th! If we bring disposable cameras can we come?

As you saw, Rosie-the-Riveter is doing extremely well and we enjoyed a wonderful visit. Not sure if I mentioned that Lady Dar is off to Mexico on New Year's Eve for two months. I'm driving her to Kelowna for her flight, first to Calgary and then to Puerto Vallarta where she will taxi to La Peñita where she has rented a two-bedroom apartment. A number of friends will visit over the course of her stay and at the beginning of March she will visit with Ayn in La for a week or so. All going well, we are to be great-grandparents with the coming birth of Olivia Rose, from Samantha and Alexander! I want to stay here and snow-shoe as I enjoy the winters, not nearly as harsh as ones in Terrace! To this end I have asked Rosita if she might want to return to Penticton for January/February, or longer, but have not heard yet.

I've started hiking again and am still riding. Will continue to cycle as long as roads remain dry. Other exciting news from Tinsel Town is that Ayn moves into the townhouse she bought, a few weeks ago, on Thursday. [Another reason her more than generous parents cannot travel to exotic locales as all their money is tied up in down-payments!] It is fairly close to where she lived before so her work commute hasn't changed all that much. I'm happy because new place is still near the Orange Bus Line. I cycle along the pedestrian/bike path which parallels it. Chloë's townhouse in Sendero is starting to come together nicely with new furniture she has bought as she can afford pieces. Also started to hang pictures now she's lived there for a bit and knows space better. 

We will have Christmas Day dinner there along with various other friends and Sarge's/Flamin's' family, Rebecca and their two girls, Avery and Ashlynn. Corey is on shift. [Lady Dar has helped out with girls, over the summer/fall when both parents were working and is "booked for a day next week, I believe.] This past Saturday we cut two trees at a place in Summerland, one for us, one for Chloë. Lady Dar has already decorated it as we are hosting an Open House on December 15th. Please join us in The White Room! Bring your own HAZMAT suits and you'll look like albino Santas, following guests and picking up dropped napkins and crumbs of food!

Our bridge group has reached a critical mass and we usually have enough players for two tables now. Our next book club is tomorrow and we have invited a local author, René Goldman, to attend to discuss his memoir, A Childhood Adrift. He is a Holocaust Survivor. René taught at UBC, in Asian Studies, and while I really didn't know him there we met and connected at a UBC Okanagan gathering, two summers ago, and have seen him reasonably frequently since. If you remember Randy Nadeau, [another one of our freeloading boarders!], he was a TA for René while he was working on his PhD in Chinese religions. 

Have a wonderful time in Vancouver celebrating Christmas with The Very, Very Spoiled Kids and send along our very best wishes and greetings to them. Fondestos from Lady Dar to you both. Love and Cheers to you dear, dear friends, Patrizzio! Pics: Lady Dar's decorations, to date! Christmas Cat and Open House invitation.

Had wanted to leave for my ride before 1:00 pm but by the time I'd done a few chores and was suited up it was closer to 2:00 pm than I wanted. Knew the light would be fading rapidly by 4:00 pm so I had vowed to start any rides, at this time of year, by noon. Nevertheless, it felt great to be cycling, a "stretch" ride as my legs are still acclimatizing themselves to my return to hiking. Not sore or anything but a certain amount of stiffness using sets of muscles I've not exercised much, hardly hiking at all this past spring and summer. Anyway, it was pretty chilly, temperature just hovering above zero for first part of ride but sky was blue so it was wonderful to see many of the hill tops dusted with snow.

Decided I'd just ride on automatic pilot so started off with the tried and true PTC, Lakeshore, Riverside Loop with circles within circles off Power, Dynes, Churchill and Burnbay before returning to PTC. By the time I'd didpsy-doodled my way to Pickering and the start of the KVR, up it to Vancouver Avenue and back I had logged 32 km so I decided to return to Riverside and continue gerbalizing for the remaining distance. By this time, or even half an hour earlier, the sun had gone behind the hills and the temperature, now -1º C, was noticeably colder and my fingers were chilled even in my lobsters, not helped at all by the wind, now out of the South at 21 kph, according to Penticton Airport's reported conditions. Still, I was otherwise toasty, well-bundled as I was although I was very annoyed with myself, as I made my way home, along Wade, towards Winnipeg and then White, when I went to adjusted my toque and realized I wasn't wearing a helmet! I've done this before forgetting to don my helmet after I've put on warm headgear. At any rate, I made it home safely so I guess I'll have to open a pricey bottle of wine to celebrate my great good fortune! Cheers!!! Map and Stats for ride:

 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3204930466#.XAcmH5Of94c.email

Hi Patrick, Thank you for the pictures, and the open house invitation! Our days didn’t included as many events, just a short trip home, a quick dinner, and some work I’m afraid. Nevertheless it was very nice being out in Summerland, with meeting you and “the sisterhood” as icing on the cake. We will pick up our tree either this or next weekend, and that would also be a good time to check out the new wineries (although I’m more of a cider person, I really like Nomad, but Joanne has grown fond of the Okanagan whites). We will do our very best to join you for your open house, with a small caveat that our youngest daughter is flying in earlier that day from UVic and if her flight gets delayed or rerouted we might have to cancel last minute. Is there anything we can bring? Best regards, looking forward to the open house, Kimo

Hi Kimo! Thanks for asking but just bring your daughter if she would like to join festivities. Party will go on until fairly late so no excuses. Many of our friends are already looking forward to meeting you as we have told them about you and Joanne. You can pass out your business cards and we'll introduce you as The Burns Street Gin Joint and Hot Sheets Hotel's Official Travel Agents! Fondestos from Lady Dar. Cheers, Patrizzio! Pics: Lady Dar's decorations, to date, and Christmas Cat, Duke, Christmas Cactus and Christmas Tree! Picture over mantle was painted by Corinne's Dad, a number of years ago, so it is particularly touching to us as he died, at 94, after a wonderful, wonderful life, two years ago. He also did a large Frosty the Snowman which we hang on our front door so you needs must come to see it!
 

I will make sure I fly up to Penticton with the cheapest possible whisky there is and give you a big hug and kiss! (sorry for being MIA recently, I've cut down on my drinking, hence, not much need for a "friend" with a big liquor cabinet. Hope you and Corinne are doing well though) VL

With apologies for a SECOND email on the subject, here is the link that somehow got edited out when I was composing the first message:

Canadian Climate Change Education Survey

(Thanks to the helpful correspondent who alerted me to this fact!)