This is the 2nd post today but it has been a while so it's rather long. Now we're at the 26th, John and James headed off to Norm's and Lindsay, Kyle, Heather and Luke arrived. More presents, more food, more presents. It was great but we've pretty much decided that everyone gets a cheque next year and we're heading to Hawaii...two 1st class tickets and a hotel room for 10ays has got to be cheaper... Just kidding, we loved it, but Hawaii does really sound good. Especially since we haven't had a day of sunshine in two months. But I digress...lets get on with the pictures of that gorgeous, little grandson. I know I keep saying this but he is just so darn cute! He's a little devil but he's cute. I don't think Lindsay had more than an hours full sleep the entire time they were here. So much for our west coast air theory. But he still captivated all of us in his daytime waking hours. He discovered his thumb big time and he figured out how to roll from back to front! We were so excited! Pretty advanced our little Luke.

It's New Years Eve and we are headed down to the boat for a little while and then out to Chris and Darcee's for dinner and a bonfire. The kids all left yesterday and we took Peter and Nicole to the plane at 5:30 this morning so we are still not used to how quiet it is here. We are both actually so tired that we just said that it's the first time ever we couldn't care less about New Year's Eve, God we're getting old...hopefully we get our second wind soon.

Happy New Years to you all, we love you all!!!!
Man that's one fat labrador...notice there are no pictures of me...

It's been so long since I updated this blog it's nuts! I didn't have anything to put in other than the weather which was so bad we were sick of talking about it. We've, seriously, had a ' November & December to Remember'. Wind, rain, snow, snow, more wind, more rain and MORE wind. We've been lucky here but many areas on the island and lower mainland really got nailed. The outer islands were without power for days, some more than a week. There were trees across roads, over cars and through houses, it was nuts. Jim and I were very happy that we'd had our huge willow cut back drastically at the end of October. We were also really glad that we'd had a new roof put on last year!
But everything was good, Ceara included and now onto Christmas...
It all began on the 23rd which is our annual Christmas/Jim's birthday bash and it was fun. Apparently so much fun that the birthday boy thought a can of WD40 with a hand written note on it calling it 'Hip Lube' was actually the real thing. Kinda scarey, don't ya' think?
The best part was that Johnny and James also arrived that day and it was so good having them here. On the 24th, Jim's brother Peter and his beautiful wife Nicole arrived and we had a lovely, quiet Christmas Eve with them. Christmas day was nuts as usual... We opened gifts, had breakfast, opened gifts, got the turkey out of the barbeque, where it had been 'thawing' (not), went to Chris and Darcee's (Carla, you need to see Darcee's tree), came home to the still frozen turkey, put said turkey in oven...I'm out of breath just thinking about it but it continues...
Johnny's family came over and it was so much fun to have the kids here. Mya and Kyle are so cute and so polite, I just love them. Anyway, all in all it was a fantastic day even though we ate at 9:30!!! Oh well...I STILL LOVED IT!!! I'm rather a Christmas Junky. For me kids make it


Christmas. Doesn't matter if they are 2 or 62. That would actually be Jamie's TJ Berrytales that John is holding. He is soooo cute!!! The bear's not bad either.

Well, so much for rain! Check this out, not exactly November in the Comox Valley but what the heck it's kind of fun. Much like the rains, other parts of the island got hit much worse. In fact we have only about 6 inches where Courtenay has about 10 and we only lost the power for about an hour. Some places down island have been out for over two days. Now they are calling for a couple of really cold days and then it will start to warm and probably dump a few more inches before it rains. Personally I would love to see it last but then I look out and see all the little birds that come here to winter and it breaks your heart. There were about 20 robbins in the willow today and they didn't look too happy. And even this old heron looks a little cranky.

Well our little munchkin left this morning and we are going to miss him. What a sweetie, love him so much. He definitely has his moments but don't we all! I did discover this morning (I feel sooo guilty) that he loves cartoons. Did you know there is a cartoon called Lunar Jim? And another favorite is Curious George...Hey, don't look at me like that! I was desperate! Trust me when Luke has 'lift off' you do what you can! Small but loud!!!
And, I tell you, I learned a lot this week. I learned that diapers are different, strollers are different, play pens are different...oh and that I am terribly out of shape (hey, there's a big surprise. NOT) Lindsay & Kyle's house is all stairs so Luke likes the motion of bouncing, not to mention the 7 hours a day they spent bouncing him on an exercise ball. So! Grandma Lynn and Auntie Jane came to visit yesterday and just as we were about to have dinner Luke (as all babies do) decided it was time to have a melt down. I, in my infinite wisdom, thought I would try going up and down the stairs with him. So Nana Sue with her gimpy feet and bad knee, and, apparently bad heart, just about had a jammer. Luke was happy though. Gotta love the little sh--, he soooo has us trained!
He is just so cute. Wait 'til you see him smile! He is quite the charmer.

It is true though, as a Grandma (okay, not really but I sure feel like it) nothing bothers you. Not screaming, not diapers, not pukey babies (Oh! Grandma Lynne, Grandma Carla, Grandpa John, and Scott...don't do what I did and call him Lukey... just doesn't go over very well...Pukey Lukey, I can see why Linds corrected me), anyway I digress. It was a wonderful visit. I thank you Lindsay from the bottom of my heart. Finally got to nibble on his beautiful little ears. And I thank you Kyle, you must have missed them so much! You have a wonderful little boy and your wife is kinda cute too...
We are missing him so much!!!

And Linds, Lynne & Jane (if you actually look at this blog), Cally is home and doing okay after a long and scarey day. I will post that one this weekend as we see how things progress. Sorry about all that confusion this morning but I love that little dog so much.

SURPRISE

So look who showed up to watch the Lions beat the Rough Riders. What a surprise! The look on Jim's face was priceless (Lindsay was worried he'd have a heart attack). But we managed to pull it off and we are just thrilled to have them here. The only one who is isn't too thrilled is Will who can't figure out why Lindsay isn't spending all her time with him. As you can see she couldn't even bath Luke without Will's company. He's being wonderful though and Luke doesn't seem to mind having his hands, feet and face licked...
Luke has been so good. We managed to get him a second hand bouncy chair (Kick & Play) and that's a big hit. I'm not sure who thought it was more fun, the baby or Nana & Grandpa. The looks on Luke's face when he kicked his little foot and it would play were priceless.

But, by far, the best place to be is the bath. I think he would have stayed in until he looked like a raisin. My God he's sooo cute!!!

All in all, a good first day in Canada. Grandpa even found that his cane is good for more than just walking. It can even bouncy the Bouncy Chair.

New Baby!!!
Isn't she the cutest? This is Danny and Jenny's new kitten, a buddy for Teak who hasn't been a happy kitty since they moved to their new place. I think it's because there were roomates at the other place and there was always someone home. Poor litte Teak was just terribly lonely (I hope, either that or he's just bad...) Last I heard Jen wanted to call this little girl Baby, in Taiwanese it sounds like bowbow and Dann didn't like it but it grows on you. Hopefully her name isn't something like Fluffy.

So, I don't know if you can see this weather report or not (not to mention the evil look on her face) but boy have we been getting the rain! A month ago the worry was the valley didn't have enough water, not so any longer. The south end of the island and the lower mainland were hit a lot worse than us, even broke a few rainfall records. The poor spawning salmon didn't have enough water to get up river a week ago and now they have been washed back down. Fisheries are worried that eggs may have been washed out too.


The good new this morning is that the sun is out and there is finally a skiff of snow on the mountains across from us. The glacier looks amazing! And! As you can see the trumpeters are back. This is just a young fellow but isn't he amazing. Our Ducks Unlimited field must have at least a thousand in it.
Looks like a good day to go out and take some picures, especially when the forecast is saying that we get today and tomorrow and then we are back into 3 days of heavy rain. Oh goody. You know it's bad weather when even your yellow lab looks at you like you're nuts when you say," Will, wanna go for a walk?"

We headed out to Chris and Darcee's on the weekend which was fun as always. It was the first time since the surgery that Jim had been out to someone's house. You are always worried that there won't be a chair he can get into etc. etc. but it worked out fine. We wouldn't let him ride on the tractor though.
Cally seemed to thoroughly enjoy it.

Doesn't that look like fun? They were clearing and had a fire going up top.
Would have been fun to sit up there but you'll never guess what happened!

IT STARTED TO RAIN!!

The Old Boy!!
Not bad eh? A little over two weeks post-op and he's dancing in the backyard. Okay, so he's just showing off, see the crutch in his left hand. But he is doing really well, he even dumped the walker over a week ago. Never even got one with wheels! Personally I think he thought it made him look old and it did.
He's actually very sore and unfortunately his knee is still worse than the hip. They managed to damage it in the surgery so hopefully it settles down, that's all he needs is to have to have knee surgery now.
He started physio last week and has exercises to do at home now. He goes twice this week and then only once a week as long as he keeps progressing as he is. It does look more and more like he won't be back to work for probably closer to 12 weeks rather than 8. The type of procedure that they did is great but it takes longer for the new hip to become secure in the body and we don't want to take a chance on messing it up.


These shots are kinda 'up close and personal' but it gives you some idea of how far the actual incision has come in two weeks.
I promise not to show you any more.

Think I'll head out and get some pretty pictures...

That's Not the Thanksgiving Ham

After a very long 3 years or more Jim finally got his new hip! He went in at 8:00 a.m. Thursday and we had his smiling face and walker home by 11:00 a.m. Saturday. Pretty good, eh? His surgeon did what's called a minimally invasive hip replacement which means a much smaller incision (basically from 10" to about 5"), less bone loss on the femur and no cementing. They just pound it in (which totally explains the bruising). Jim also chose not to be put out and just had a spinal which made for a much easier recovery from the anesthetic. He even had them get him out of bed 3 hours after the surgery.
Now he's home, managing stairs and doing really well. I think so far the worst part for him is trying to sleep. He can only manage about 1/2 hour and his back starts to kill him so he gets up for a while and stands or sits. In a few days he can start trying to lay on his side but right now it's not advisable
We are soooo glad that it is done. It's going to be a long recovery because it's not cemented but it will be stronger and hopefully pain free. We can't wait to start walking together again. Now I just need to get my feet and knee fixed, you watch they will call me just as we are getting ready to leave for Mexico.

Thanksgiving Weekend 2006
We had a great time! Jamie & Johnny & Heather all came up from Victoria. Saturday afternoon we met John's sister Kerry and her two kids, Kyle & Mya. Kyle is 2 and Mya is 5, very cute! Jim had forgotten how loud a house can be with little ones in it so it was good training for when Luke comes to visit.
For Thanksgiving dinner we also had Darcee & Chris & Marty and as usual it was a quiet, elegant, occation. NOT. Sure was fun though other than the fact the turkey wasn't done when it was supposed to be. The highlight of the evening though was the lemon meringue pie. My wonderful, future son-in-law disappeared over to step-mom, Marnie's, for the afternoon and showed up later with two pies made by his own little hands. Everything was great until I tried to cut through the meringue. I got laughing so hard I could hardly stand up. When you placed the knife on the pie the meringue would fold completely up in two, like wings. Too funny! We loved it though and it was absolutely delicious. I tell you, the boy is definitely a keeper. Other than that it was the usual Thanksgiving traditions such as hanging spoons on you nose...

Then there was the photo shoot in the back yard with Jamie and Heather, it was so much fun. Those two are nuts. You'd almost think they got along...

And then there was the Whaler ride to the Royston Wrecks, as you can tell it was just a might chilly. Still darn nice for October though.
Well, that was Thanksgiving for another year, the only sad part was not having Danny & Jen here and Kyle, Lindsay and little Luke. Maybe next year.

Ahhh, Fall is Once Again Upon Us This was the only bad day we've had in I don't even know how long and it really wasn't bad at all, made for cool pictures and then finally burnt off to blue skies once again. So far the flowers are still blooming, the bees are still a buzzin' and the eagles are just back. I wouldn't imagine it will be long though and the rains will start and I hate to say it but we really need them. Hopefully it all holds until after this weekend though as Johnny & James & Heather are all headed up for turkey feed.

I haven't done any fall gardening this year, just can't seem to get into it. We still haven't decided what we are going to do now that the hot tub and gazebo are gone and it just makes it hard to get keen about anything. Then we almost bought another house. It was pretty close but when push came to shove we love this one even if it does need some work. And we can't stand the thought of being off the water. The place we were looking at was above the water at Goose Spit with a gorgeous view but I think we made the right decision. It's kind of a Catch 22, if there's an earthquake the other house will slide down the hill and if what they say is correct about global warming we will be under water here, oh well.

So house out of the way, Jim got on a plane and went to Norway and I stayed home and painted our bedroom. (don't ask) The mayors on Vancouver Island north were invited to Stavanger to view and learn about their aquaculture ventures. Jim said it was fascinating, not to mention beautiful country and wonderful people. Trust me I am really kicking myself for not going!

The other news is that Jim is finally having his hip surgery October 12th. It's been a long haul for him and it's going to be a long recovery by the sounds of it but it will be so nice for him to be out of pain. They say he will more than likely be in hospital for 4-5 days but some have of his doc's patients have been getting out in 3. I have a feeling the call for a cigarette will probably get him kicked out in 3 if not 2. We had to go to a physio clinic on Monday and I just had to laugh, Jim was upset because they told him he wouldn't be able to water ski after the surgery, I've known him 20 years and I've never seen him water ski. I have a feeling it's because of a certain little grandson. And speaking of him, I just have to end this post with these pictures.






Sleepy boy
and extremely hungry boy!
Too funny!

Well back at it again, I had to leave as the dogs were staring at me wondering what had happened to their morning walk. The picture is Jamie & our best buddy Marty.

Marty looking very stylish in Jamer's butterfly sunglasses. That was also taken the BC Day Weekend as is the one below where Jamie gets to see Darcee again. Apparently they get along quite well and Darce is now known as 'The Other Mother'. Works for me, wait til she has to pay for the wedding dress...

You know, you'd almost think they they liked each other! And you have to admit, they do look alike.

So enough of that, on the 19th of August we headed off to St Johns Nfld with Terry and Ann for some fun and the CDA (mostly fun). We were in St Johns last year and loved it, so we jumped at the chance to go again. Terry is from there and hadn't been back in something like 28 years. They rented a car and we tagged along with them and had a ball. The countryside is so rugged and so beautiful. I can't even imagine what it must be like in the winter though. One cabby told me that in 2001 they had 20 feet of snow!!! TWENTY FREAKIN' FEET!!! Unbelievable! Anyway we did our best to drink all the Bacardi at Kelly's on George St. Soooo wasn't well the next morning. There's just something about Irish music...

There is also the whole thing about what they eat out there. Ann was a trooper, she even tried fish'n'brews! We both tried cod's tongues (apparently they forgot to remove the little slimey thing that holds your tongue down...gross), we tried (we being Ann & I) pork scrunchins, which are tiny cubes of pork fat fried up and oh my God were they good. It really explains why the province has a 32% obescity rate (sorry, don't think that is how you spell it). And then we tried 'partridge berry puddin' cake' with rum (screech) sauce. We all shared one and I think it was possibly the best dessert I have ever eaten. You just wanted to hug yourself and float up in the air. Okay, I digress...sort of explains the butt doesn't it?

I took a lot of photos and had some good luck with some. I love this one. He is another photographer but I think he was just getting photos to put on canvas later.

The other one is just me fooling around with Photoshop.

I wish we'd had time to go to PEI and see Randy and Pearl but it just wasn't in the budget this year. We just got home from that trip and headed off on the boat to Desolation Sound and Squirrel Cove for the long weekend. Lindsay was due on September 3rd and we were anxiously waiting for news of the little munchkin but he still hadn't shown by Monday when we got home. Then Tuesday we got the word, Luke James Margenau came into this world on September 5th, weighing in at 8 lbs 11 ozs. Mom and baby were fine. It still brings tears to my eyes just to write about it. Kyle and Lindsay's mom, Lynne, were there for the birth and our girl did it in just eight hours! Way to go Linds!!! And he is so beautiful!! I would give anything just to be able to hold him. Grandpa is so proud it just cracks me up. He thinks little Luke is the cutest baby he's ever seen. He's already talking about taking him up to the Charlottes fishing. Just Luke and Grandpa. Gotta love it! So without making you wait any longer here's Luke James Margenau...

Isn't he somethin'??

Now that's a summer to remember. A wedding, a wedding announcement and a beautiful little boy. I sooo love our family.

Oh, and I have to say, Kyle, he looks like your dad.

Love all you kids so much, you have no idea.

Sue

Not too long after we got home from our trip we had Lindsay, Kyle and Kyle's parents, John & Carla, and his brother Scott come for a visit which was great. The weather was good so we managed an afternoon out at Henry Bay on Ceara and the guys even got in some diving. I don't think the water is quite as warm as Hawaii. Okay...some diving, some jumping. A great visit though, thoroughly enjoyed the company.

Summer continued with great evenings like this one. That's our friends Terry & Ann enjoying being anchored at Henry Bay.
We didn't get in much boating this year and actually have two, extremely tiny 'for sale' signs in Ceara's windows. Which is even more ridiculous when you realize it's a locked marina. Oh well, maybe some day we will actually list the old girl.

The BC Day weekend was a blast as usual. Jamie & Johnny & Heather came up and it was so great to see them. We spent one evening out at Darcee & Chris' and now the word is that James & John are going to get married out there next September. That would be so cool!!! For those of you who haven't met Chris & Darcee they are the best. It seems all our company gets one night out at their place for a fabulous meal and a lot of laughs. Te picture is Chris and his slightly insane cat Lex.