'Twas the night before

This is the scene from the front porch before we embark on our travels. I'm sure it will all be gone by tomorrow, but it is a bit unexpected. However, it is early April and this is Canada.

Retirement

In this picture: Me and Paul Clemmens. The second photo is of Harold Klooster and me with Bill Ruegg walking by.

The day has come and gone. I went into work this morning at 5 a.m. and was greeted by my work buddies for the last time. I shook some hands, I told my stories and I had some fun.

After 32 years of working for the City of Kitchener and the Region of Waterloo, I decided to call it quits and go into the next phase of my life, called retirement.

I plan on doing lots of traveling with my partner of 35 years and do the things that I like to do. There's stained glass, photography, carpentry and gardening.

Stay tuned because I will be using this medium for my upcoming travels to Hungary, Istanbul and Cyprus.

Orchid

This Orchid is amazing. We received it as a gift in December and it had a couple of booms. Here is it 3 months later still very much in bloom and exquisite. Thanks to Cecile for the gift.

Excitement

The excitement of it all! I am getting very anxious as the last day of work approaches and the day of congratulations from my fellow workers. Then in a very short period of time we will embark on our next adventure.
Cyprus
Istanbul
Budapest
Szombathely
Kisoroszi
Prague

I will be using this medium, so please stop by.

Down to the wire

It won't be long now when I retire and head for Europe and Asia.

Gosh, the time goes by quickly.

Summer BBQ in Winter

We had a great dinner and friendship/fun with my brothers Warren and Randy and with Alex, Carol and Patty.

We started by talking about what was happening in our lives. Then we went to the barn to see the babies. There are at least 5 foals out there.

We had a wonderful summer meal with potato salad, BBQ Ribs and all the fixings. We had a great dessert made by Alex that consisted of chocolate, caramel, chocolate chips and ice cream on a chocolate cookie base. Yum!

More pictures on Picasa.

Hard to believe

We will be in Cyprus in just over 2 months and I retire just before we leave. How exciting is that?

Woodside National Park

I have had the opportunity to visit Woodside recently during the annual candle and Christmas Festival. I took several pictures and include a couple here.

Woodside was the boyhood home to William Lyon MacKenzie King. He was the 10th Prime Minister of Canada. He did enjoy this house and home and was there in his teen years.

Retirement coming fast

My retirement is very close indeed. I can't believe how quickly the days are passing.

We have made lots of decisions regarding our trip to Europe in the spring. It will include; Cyprus, Istanbul, Hungary and Prague. We also plan to travel east in Hungary. There are lots of day trips planned in all countries.

Meeting

We have started to meet with Warren on a regular basis. We do some of the preliminary work before we go. Like getting airline tickets and booking hotels. That way there won't be any surprises like finding last minute accommodations.

Come January, we will be booked on our flights and the week in Cyprus will be looked after. We likely will stay in the same hotel as last time in Istanbul.

Do you believe it?

Two years in a row. We are again going to Turkey, Cyprus, Budapest and Prague. This time with my bro. Warren. Can't wait.

I retire soon to boot.

Getting Ready

We are planning our next trip to Europe and Asia. It is very much in the preliminary stage. Our plans are to go to Istanbul (3rd time), Cyprus (2nd time), and Hungary (multiple times). A side trip is planned for Prague.

Stay tuned as we get closer to making the final arrangements.

Follow-up to horseback riding

Well, at it turns out, I'm not that interested in the horses after all. I enjoyed the experience of handling horses (not really handling) but it's just not for me.

Good to know these things as I wind down my work routine. There are still lots of possibilities out there.

Stratford Festival - Evita

We went to see the stage production of Evita at the Avon Theatre in Stratford. This is probably known as a rock opera and is a bit different from most 'musicals.' Once I got used to the dialogue being completely sung, it was a very entertaining play.

I had seen the motion picture by the same name by Madonna and just couldn't get into it because of the singing dialogue. But this time, because I knew what to expect, it was a very enjoyable experience. The singing and set designs were excellent.

Here is the Stratford Festivals advertisement.

We groom and ride the horses

Today, Warren, Alex and I met at the RB Paint farm and had our first taste of grooming and riding horses. Alex was our instructor and is very friendly and helpful. She is also very good at training humans and well as horses.

We met at 11:00 a.m. and we were shown some of the 18 horses in the corral. We then went into the barn where we learned how to brush and groom the horses. Also how to clean the hoofs.

Later, we leaned how to saddle the horse and then took our teaching horse, Sherry, out for a spin. I was first after instructions from Alex. Guess, what? I didn't fall off or anything. Warren did have to help me up because I'm a little out of shape.

Next, Warren had a turn and we both enjoyed the ride immensely.

We will likely make this a weekly meeting and training session. Warren is going to be retired at the end of this month and can ride more often. But I'm not far behind.

More pictures on Picasa.

The Beach

We went to the beach yesterday and found this little guy on the beach. We poked it because we thought it was dead. It was very much alive. A woman sitting next to us wanted her kids to see the frog and called them down. They arrived and chased it all over and had a hard time capturing it

Montreal Civic Weekend

The weather was perfect. We took in the Botanical Gardens and several neighbourhoods. Take a look at my Picasa site for pictures.

Hey Bartender Video

Here is one of the videos from the evening:

Randy's and Patty's

The band played at Randy and Patty's BBQ and Birthday party last night. Lots of good food, fun and music.

The summer of 2010

This summer has been exceptional. The heat and sunshine and the rainfall all have made for a pleasant summer. Because of the amount of rain, we have some very good veggie crops and the grass needs cutting every week.

I read an article about Tokaj in Hungary in the New York Times and was very impressed with the region. I will make it part of our plans for our next trip to Hungary.

We are going to my brothers sometime this afternoon to celebrate Mary's birthday and enjoy the summer day and do some singing and dancing.