A Week With a Rodent

What could we do? Both of us 60 years old and never been to a Disney wonderland of any kind. So, we jumped on an airplane and met our daughter, Sarah, son-in-law Paul and two grandkids Ben and Taylor in Orlando. I had been to Orlando before on business trips and of course, I always found the families - complete with ankle biters - annoying and impeding my way to some crucially important meeting. Now the shoe was on the other foot. What to do? We morphed into a family complete with ankle biters and I smiled knowingly at the "suits" as they scowled at me for impeding their dash for the rental cars. P.S. Had to keep the Blackberry on for emergency purposes.

Kids and Grandkids

Brett and Sarah are 30 somethings now but we still think of them as kids. That probably says as much about our age as it does about theirs. Brett was married to Lynne in June. It was a great event held in Windsor and the Montgomery clan gathered from near and far to help them celebrate. Sarah, Paul, Ben and Taylor lead busy, busy lives in Richmond Hill, Ontario but took time out at Christmas to have some fun in the snow.

Retirement for Dummies

Not being familiar with this retirement thing, I have read a couple of books on the subject. One of them said that I should create a list of 5o things that I want to do in retirement....although that same book said that I should not call it retirement. The list has to contain 50 things (not 49 and not 51) and that I should use "travel" as one and not use destinations individually to make up the 50. So here's the rub. I am stuck on 35. I need your help. What do you suggest?

See grandkids twice per month.
Go to afternoon Blue Jay games.
Finish the "family tree".
Visit Bob/Edith and Carolyn/John twice a year.
Visit Father twice per year.
Take up photography...again.
Skeet shooting.
Cook more.
Go skiing 6 times a year.
Ride my bike 300 miles per month.
Speak French....better.
Restore a classic sports car.
Rent an RV and drive across Canada.
Plant trees.
Write a book.
Start a business with Brett.
Learn masonry.
Build a web site.
Take the Jeep off roading.
Ride my bike across Canada.
Take a car racing course.
Build a barn with John.
Cycle around PEI with Brett and Paul.
Build a bicycle.
Stamp collecting...again.
Get fit.
Move to NOTL.
Finish basement at NOTL.
Work part time.
Teach English as a second language.
Get a dog and train it.
Be a tour guide at Inniskillin.
Landscape NOTL house.
Create the perfect garage.
Save something from extinction.

(PS: If you are wondering what the picture of the Scottish lass and bloke has to do with this, the answer is "Nothing". )

Move to Ryegate Cottage

Our new home in Niagara-on-the-Lake (which from here on will be known as NOTL for obvious reasons) has been named Ryegate Cottage by Lorna. Why Ryegate Cottage, you may ask? The first reason would be that we just returned from our second stay in England where everyone names their homes. The second would be that the builder called it a cottage. The Ryegate comes from the name of the street as well as the name of our favourite English town, Rye which is located on the south coast in East Sussex. The move is being set up for Easter Weekend with the help of Brett and Sarah's husband, Paul. A convoy will strike out Saturday with two U Haul trucks, one Jeep loaded to the roof and the Z4 M Coupe, the last of which will be completely useless for the trip but someone will have a fun drive.

A Weekend in Marseilles

On a recent business trip to the UK, we joined friends Dave and Allison Poltorak for a weekend in Marseilles. Why Marseilles? Cheap airfare, never been there, looking for warmer weather. Marseilles is France's second largest city and in many ways, is typical of large European cities; bustling, lots of history, fabulous restaurants. The port at Marseilles is key to the city's prosperity and also a great tourist draw around what they call the Vieux Port (old port) which is today used for yachts and pleasure boats. Fishing boats dock here each Saturday and Sunday morning to off load their fresh catches of sole, urchin, eel, herring, John Dorey, etc. I valiantly tried to use the French I learned in high school and the military but found I was pretty rusty. I could explain myself but when the response came, I was lost. Perhaps that will be a goal for retirement - speak and understand French. In addition to Marseilles, we visited Aix en Provence and Cassis, both within 30 miles. Aix en Provence is a delightful, smaller city that is best known as a university town. Lots of young people and lots of sidewalk cafes and restaurants. Cassis is a small fishing village which has become a tourist destination because it sits on the shore of the Med, has a beach and is absolutely charming. We returned to London Sunday evening and flew back to Annapolis Monday morning.