As we move into the holiday season, we’re so grateful for the wonderful feelings around this time of year, especially thanks to Liz’s mom. She loved planning events and making gatherings memorable. Sadly, we lost her this year, which makes the memories all that much sharper. Over the years, we’ve dropped many holiday traditions — if the whining exceeds the enjoyment, it’s gotta go! — but Liz still looks forward to twinkling lights, a board game, tourtière, and something to unwrap.
In happier news, Bruce and Ella moved into a pet-friendly place, something they’ve been looking at doing for quite a while, and promptly got a dog, Rowan. He is a cute, bright thing, not a year yet, and still used to fending for himself on the streets. What with all the work that incorporating a pup into your life requires, he’s come along nicely, especially if there are liver treats involved! In between walks with Rowan, both Bruce and Ella are working on getting their requirements done for their PhDs in Linguistics at UBC.
Liz enjoyed a very artful year, after two years of discovering and building community around all the creative events in Vancouver. She was in seven (!) different shows, five of which were in Vancouver. For the biggest event, Collage-o-Rama, in Seattle in May, she was a co-curator for a digital collage event, a first for her. Her goal for the year, to have a small studio, was achieved by the fall, allowing her to participate with the group she’s been helping behind the scenes, the First Saturday group of working artists. She wrote lots about her year on her art site, and posted the featured image to her print-on-demand Redbubble site — have a look if you like.
Our long-running project on Guemes Island actually made it to the finish line just this month, a painfully drawn-out process that started before the pandemic.We’ve had a temporary occupancy permit since early summer, and it functions beautifully. With the pace on the island a nice complement to life in the city, we’re looking forward to spending time there when the good weather returns to the islands. Thought it ain’t bad in a storm either!
And finally, Dave made a big change in December, retiring from Microsoft after 27 years at the company over 2 stints. There’s never a perfect time to do this, but his projects were in good shape, with a succession plan well in place. Enough so that Dave was able to fit in an amazing sailing trip at the end of the summer, running the Coho Ho Ho sailing rally with his buddy Joe. That led to a sailboat research mission in France, where Joe and Dave are contemplating more adventures. Stay tuned!
With so many long-term projects coming to an end, on top of losing Liz’s mom, this was a year of transitions for us. We fit in a quick anniversary trip, but next year could be very different. We’re looking at fewer deadlines, a lot less scheduled time on the calendar, and are thinking about leaving it that way, seeing where the winds take us.
We hope your year was fruitful, and that you’re warm & dry this holiday season. Let’s figure out if we can cross paths!