What a Difference a Year Makes

It is a year today since we moved from the Toronto area (Oshawa) to the city of Ottawa, our nation’s capital.

What a year it’s been.

The biggest pluses for me? We are living in the same city as two of our four daughters and we are only two hours away from another one. The fourth is across the country, living on the west coast, in Vancouver, so it is still a plane ride away.

We live very close to seven of our eight grandchildren, and despite the fact that I love my daughters, this one should have been first because I just can’t get enough of those sweet children.

We have been getting reacquainted with Ottawa as we lived her for two years, forty years ago. We are using the “free Wednesday” buses to explore a new area of the city every week.  The bicycle trails have become a constant and ever-changing source of joy and wonder to us as well. Just outside our front door we have the Greenboro Trail, filled with trees and flowers. I just can’t explain how we are amazed every time we walk or bike on this system of trails.

One of my three sisters lives just outside Ottawa and we see her frequently. Another sister moved here in March, from Vancouver. We took an art class together which we love and are taking another after Christmas. My fourth sister lives in Bermuda, which is a good thing! I also have three brothers who live in Ottawa and we see them often.

My cousin, Ninette, whom I grew up with and went to school with, lives here and I see her once a week. My friend from university, Colleen, lives here and we just reconnected after 47 years! What a joy!

All the activity means that I am getting healthier and I am 15 pounds less than when we moved here. Isn’t that amazing!

I can tell you that every morning I wake up and am so happy I can hardly believe it. I love our little house and I especially love my bedroom which is bright and sunny even on cloudy days! LOL. God has blessed me indeed!

Today we put up our mini Christmas tree and decorations. We are sitting by our (fake) fire and I am sipping tea made by my very attentive husband.  Does it get any better that this?

YES! Our daughter, Lindi, is coming from Vancouver for Christmas with Emil our grandson who turned 8 last week. It will be the first time we will all have been together for Christmas in at least 30 years. I can hardly wait. They are arriving on Tuesday.

Merry Christmas to all my blogger friends!

 

 

 

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A Day with the Boys

After my day with the girls, I decided to give the boys a chance.  In the morning I drove in to the city with my daughter.  She dropped me off at my brother’s where I spent the day. 

It was Remembrance Day, and there were ceremonies across Canada to honour  the soldiers from several wars, both the ones who gave their lives for our freedom and those who willingly put their lives on the line.  Bill and I watched on TV  the ceremony which was held in downtown Ottawa attended by Prime Minister, the Governor General, and the Silver Cross mother among thousands of armed forces personnel and civilians.

The Silver Cross mother is chosen  from among those mothers who have lost a son or daughter in combat situations.  This year the mother was a  woman who lost her son in Afghanistan four years ago.  It was heart breaking to hear her story of the last time she saw her son.

There was a fly past of vintage aircraft and modern jets which flew right over Bill’s house.  There were two minutes of silence while we honoured the fallen. 

Bill then drove me to the bank, where I had some business to conduct, but we found out that the banks were all closed due to Remembrance Day.  So back to Bill’s for lunch.  We checked out some blogs, especially one called “Where’s Wormy”.

http://whereswormy.wordpress.com

We both subscribed to Where’s Wormy and then talked about Bill starting a blog.  He is getting really interested.

We phoned our brother Don who came for a quick visit.  I gave them a big bag of old Perry Mason books and DVDs of the TV show.  I also phoned my brother David, and we had a good talk.  I haven’t seen him for a couple of years since he was living in Colombia for several years.

Only three of my seven brothers, but I talked to them all in one day, and saw two of them.  My day with the boys was really great.  I hope to have many more when we move to Ottawa.