Christmas Greetings, Dec. 2011

December 10,2011

Christmas Greetings to One and All,

The year 2011 started out with Dad having to replace the furnace.  Luckily, we were able to get a grant to pay for this, as otherwise it would have been financially very difficult.    About two months after it was installed, the workers had to return to finish the flashing around the chimney, as they couldn’t do it when it was installed due to the snow on the roof.  They had to wait for it to melt.

The Spring wasn’t bad once it got going, but it was rather wet.  Actually, 2011 was one of the wettest on record for B.C. – and summer was very late in coming!  It wasn’t until August that it really got warm, and even then, it wasn’t hot, just warm.  Then by September it was back to cool and wet again. 

The garden seemed to like it though!  Our pear tree bore fruit for the first time – and was so loaded that I had to pinch off close to 100.  I ended up leaving 17 on the tree to ripen.  They cooked up wonderfully and were very delicious! 

I also planted some grape vines and some blueberries.  We’ll see how they survive this winter.  Hopefully they will do well – I do know of others who have grapes in our area , so they should be okay.  We had lots of tomatoes, a zucchini, one spaghetti squash and several cucumbers too.

My sister Sylvia and I had several outings together, selling our wares – I was selling my handmade cards, and she her hats, aprons, quilts and other sewn items.  We did pretty well at most of the sales.  On December 16-17 (next weekend) we’ll be going to Sun Peaks for their Christmas Market.  This is a big art/craft sale that the whole community of Sun Peaks takes part in – every store has at least a few tables set up.  I’ll take lots of pictures and post them on my blog – houtep.blogspot.com – for anyone interested to read about it, or if you want to see pictures of any of the thing's I've written about in this letter. 

On Father’s Day in June, everyone came to Sylvia’s for the day.  It was a lot of fun, and one of Sylvia’s friends came and took a picture of all of us.  It was a beautiful sunny, but very windy day.

In October, I took the bus down to Vancouver for a few days to visit with Loretta and to make Christmas Cards. 

Dad’s car died in November – the head gasket blew and would cost more to repair than the car was worth.  We found a car through a friend, that cost about what repairing the other car would have cost.   I raided my RRSP to help pay for the “new” car.  It is a 2002 model which is 10 years newer than the one that died.

* s * I * g * h *

Every time you think you’re finally catching up and may be able to start saving some money up., something happens – if not to the house, then to the car or….  Ah, well.  Easy come-easy go, as they say.

Dad’s prosthesis developed a crack in it and was pinching his leg, so he had to get a new one.  Luckily his health care covers the prosthesis and they don’t charge him anything for it.  They ended up making him a new one.  He’ll have to go in sometime in the next week or so to get it adjusted, as it is currently rubbing in a few spots and making sores.    Otherwise, we are all in good health.

Today we watched the Santa Parade here in Barriere, and last night was the lighting of the town’s Christmas tree.    So, I guess we’re all set for Christmas now.

Merry Christmas to all and a very happy and healthy New Year!

Fröhliche Weihnachten und Ein Glückliches Neues Jahr!

Prettige Kerstdagen en een gelukkig Nieuwe Jaar!