Wow, what a year! We travelled to so many places and did so many things in 2014 that I'm finding it difficult remembering exactly what, when and where it all happened.
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| World Juniors in Malmo, Sweden |
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| NY fireworks, Malmo |
New Year's Eve, Dec. 31, 2013 we were in Malmo, Sweden with Alex and Greg, our niece and nephew, on a home exchange for three weeks to watch the World Junior hockey tournament. For New Year's, we met up with our friend Jim Hornell (there for the tournament with Hockey Canada) and his wife Mim and headed downtown for a huge party held each year in a square with live music and fireworks.
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| NY Eve street party, Malmo Sweden |
It's a family event and many thousands of people fill the square, and the streets, all evening and on into the night. Although it was a lot of fun, Alex's main memory is about us choosing the wrong bus to go home and travelling around the city for two hours before finally jumping off and catching a cab.
On January 11 we left Malmo for Hamburg, Germany, a few days after the kids had returned to Canada.
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| The harbour, downtown Hamburg, Germany |
We were back in Hamburg for some medical appointments (nothing serious) and stayed at our usual Courtyard Marriott Hotel. The amenities are nice, it feels like home after so many stays there, and it's close to stores and a train station allowing us to travel around the city and further afield with little trouble.
We returned to Regina, SK, Canada on January 18 for two nights before flying to Cancun. We caught the direct airport to Merida bus for a 4 hour ride, then Kenn and Karen picked us up in our new Honda FIT!
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| Kenn with the new Honda Fit |
Actually, it's in their name but we own 1/3 of it so NO MORE rental cars! So after a 90 minute drive we finally reached our home in Celestun, Yucatan, Mexico late in the evening of January 20.
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| Kelsey and Mark wedding party |
The next day was the wedding rehearsal for Kelsey, daughter of our friends Kenn and Karen. Luckily there were no flight delays as I was the photographer! All went well as did the wedding the next day.
A couple of days after the wedding I went to
Star Medica hospital in Merida to see Dr. Carlos Reyes De Caceres as my shoulders were incredibly painful. I was already on a waiting list in Saskatchewan for rotator cuff surgery on my left shoulder but somehow I had now also injured my right shoulder. Xrays and an MRI were inconclusive so they shot me up in both shoulders with cortisone and I was good as new in just minutes! At least long enough for me to hold off on any surgery until I returned to Canada.
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| Adrienne and Chris on the Flamingo tour |
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| Flamingo tour, Celestun, Yucatan |
Our friend Adrienne came to visit us in February and we did all of our usual touristy stuff including Uxmal Mayan ruins and the obligatory Flamingo tour.
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| Chester the cat |
Also in February we rescued a starving cat with a limp that our friend Richard named Chester (after the limping character on Gun Smoke) so we later gave Richard the cat.
We also rescued an abandoned puppy that was close to drowning in our swimming pool!
We named her Lucy and quickly fell in love with her.
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| Roger and Lucy in Celestun |
Unfortunately, dog ownership just does not fit well into our travelling lifestyle right now, so on April 16 we took Lucy back to Canada with us and within 48 hours,
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| Lucy in her parka with Chris |
Nick was her new loving owner and she was welcomed into her new Canadian home, AFTER we got the poor freezing puppy a t-shirt and a parka before she froze to death!
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| Shawn carving the Easter turkey |
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| Lucy with her new owner, Nick |
We stayed in Regina for Easter at the new home of our niece Alex and her boyfriend Shawn. It was
crowded with all the family and dogs but the meal was great and we all had a fun time.
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| May Day parade, Luneburg, Germany |
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| View from church tower in Luneburg, Germany |
We returned to Hamburg, for hopefully the last time, on April 25 and this time we rented one of those furnished executive apartments for a week.
It was a nice change from our usual hotel stays there and we filled our week with walking and sightseeing and a train trip to Luneburg, an ancient Hanseatic city, on May 1 for May Day celebrations.
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| Our new 2014 Nissan Pathfinder |
When we returned to Regina on May 3 it quickly became apparent that our 10-year old Ford Escape needed replacing. We got a great trade-in and bought a new Nissan Pathfinder. A much better vehicle for towing our little T@B trailer and also a lot more cargo space, which we would soon realize the value of.
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| Camping with Mike, Kathy, Dave and Sylvia |
We went camping with our friends Dave and Sylvia and their friends Mike and Kathy a couple of times this summer, north of Camrose, Alberta for the May long weekend, and south of Camrose for the August long weekend.
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| Pathfinder and the T@B |
The T@B trailer pulled much easier with the larger SUV and we had a great time golfing, eating, drinking.
I had a little surprise on our May trip, discovering that I had not drained the hot water tank in the trailer before winter. It looked exactly like the last time I forgot a can of Pepsi in the freezer, but a lot more expensive!
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| Bow Lake, Alberta |
We left our trailer behind Dave's neighbour in Red Deer after the May long weekend and drove to Kelowna, BC for a week to visit Chris' mom and her brother Murray and wife Gloria. We took highway 11 out of Red Deer, through Rocky Mountain House and across the mountains and lakes for one of the most beautiful Alberta drives we have ever experienced.
Hwy 11 runs mainly west before connecting with Highway 93 running south by the beautiful Bow Lake before connecting with Hwy 1 near Lake Louise.
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| Murray and Gloria at Sun Peaks |
We stayed with Murray in Kelowna and while there, we made a day trip to Sun Peaks near Kamloops to have a look around and check out some condos for sale, and then we did the same thing again after our August camping trip, but I'm getting a little ahead of myself here.
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| Shoulder surgery #1 |
We decided to sell our beautiful little home on Clearwater Lake in Saskatchewan as soon as we returned there in May, thinking that a move back into Swift Current would be a good idea to help Dad. We spent the next few weeks cleaning up, selling and giving away excess belongings to prepare for the move, then I had rotator cuff surgery in my left shoulder done in Saskatoon on June 3.
By July the house hadn't sold yet and my Dad started having some health problems. He ended up in the hospital in Swift Current for a few weeks, then into the Prairie Pioneer Lodge for recovery and respite for another few weeks before finally moving in August into permanent residence in the
Foyer St. Joseph Nursing Home in Ponteix, just a few blocks from my sister Diane.
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| Sun Peaks condo |
Meanwhile, our lake-house sold in August. No longer needing to move to Swift Current for Dad, we started house-hunting in the Okanagan Valley in BC.
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| Sun Peaks skiing |
We had always hoped to return to BC after I retired and an opportunistic crash in the condo prices provided us with perfect timing and in August we bought a 2-bedroom condo, ski in/ski out, on the golf course at
Sun Peaks, BC near Kamloops.
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| Sun Peaks golf course |
This year-round resort community gives us the perfect lock-and-go accommodation for the summer while being managed and
rented out for us in the winter when we're in Mexico.
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| Seattle, view from ferry leaving the harbour |
While we were waiting for the new home deal to close, we sold or gave away all of our furniture (new condo comes furnished), packed away all of our belongings into a couple of storage units and
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| Our Miata in WA state along Hwy 101 |
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| Oregon coast, Haceta Head lighthouse in the background |
we took off on a 3-week 5,000 km. road trip in
our little Mazda Miata convertible down the Pacific Coast Highway from Seattle to Santa Monica.
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| Elephant seals, Piedras Blancas, California Pacific coast |
After a couple of days in San Francisco to visit our friends Kas and Lara, we actually ran out of time a day early and turned back north after reaching San Luis Obispo, California. A 3-day stop at Treasure Island in Las Vegas helped rejuvenate us for the much faster, but nearly as long, drive back to Swift Current, SK.
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| San Francisco, Golden Gate bridge in the fog |
As we were currently between homes, our friends Garth and Sue came to our rescue, giving us their apartment in Swift Current to stay in for a couple nights. We then loaded up everything we could jam into the Pathfinder (we knew that extra cargo space would come in handy), strapped the two kayaks to the roof, hooked up a U-haul rental cargo trailer, and headed off to Sun Peaks on Sept. 18.
Unfortunately, upon our arrival at our Settler's Crossing condo in Sun Peaks, we discovered that our kayaks did not fit into our condo storage locker, but that was the only slight negative about the move. Our condo was great and the village of Sun Peaks was as wonderful as we had thought. We spent about ten days setting up our place a bit and getting as much of our junk moved in as possible, then it was off to Saskatoon for another shoulder surgery, on my right shoulder this time.
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| Dad celebrating 95th birthday with drinks and wings in the bar |
Following my surgery we stayed in Regina with Chris's brother Lonny. Luckily my right shoulder required much less work so my recovery time was greatly reduced. Within a few weeks I was able to drive and we went to visit Dad in Ponteix, SK and celebrate his 95th birthday. He's greatly improved, really thriving and in fact as per his request, we celebrated his 95th birthday on October 24 (a day early) with drinks, wings and cake at the local bar!
While in the area, we took the opportunity to leave our Pathfinder with our niece Alex, currently living with her boyfriend Shawn at his parents farm acreage. Our Miata and the T@B trailer were already there so all of our vehicles were safe and sound in one spot for the winter.
October 28 we flew out of Regina to Cancun, caught a bus, took a taxi and finally arrived back at our
home in Celestun, Yucatan, Mexico. Over the next few weeks before Christmas, we did a few small home improvements, a couple pieces of new furniture and some new plants around the yard, added a wrought-iron railing to our stairwell and screened in the outdoor kitchen and seating area.
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| Steer chasing the cowboy, Celestun rodeo |
So we were back to our usual socializing with Friday night ex-pat dinners, attended a local rodeo, celebrated Chris's birthday as well as Robert's (son of our friend Sandra).
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| Robert and Chris birthday party |
Life got busy in a hurry as Chris got back into Pilates 3 days a week and we started taking Salsa dancing lessons, and shortly before Christmas the pre-school had all of their classes put on a Christmas pageant in the town square.
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| Celestun pre-school Christmas pageant |
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| Installing the handrail |
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| Installing our screen room |
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| Some new furniture and TV at Casa Piedra, Celestun |
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| Richard and Jose, Hacienda San Pachul |
in the nearby town of Kinchil owned by our friends Richard and Jose. We had a great dinner and visit with them, then stayed overnight in their Orange Tree Room. Breakfast the next morning was spectacular then we drove back to Celestun and had Christmas day and dinner with Wanda and her daughter Cassandra, and Kenn and Karen and their son Cody at their home,
Casa de Celeste Vida guest house.
The Sunday after Christmas, Cassandra, Cody and I went to watch Kenn play softball with a local ball team. Cassandra wanted to try batting so they put her in for the last inning.
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| Dr. Caceres putting on Cassandra's cast |
She hit a hard grounder to the short stop who threw her out at first. So Cassandra slowed down her run, stepping funny, and broke her ankle! Kenn helped her off the field while I got the car. We placed her into the back seat then after a quick stop to pick up her mom Wanda, I drove nearly double the speed limit for the 100km trip to Star Medica hospital in Merida. They called an orthopedic surgeon to see her and it turned out to be Dr. Caceres that I saw last February! So I got a free followup consult while Cassandra waited for him! It turned out to be a bad sprain and a broken bone so they got her into a cast and we headed back, much slower, to Celestun.
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| Susan and Chris on the Flamingo tour |
We picked up my friend Susan from Calgary at the Merida airport on Dec. 29, and did our usual Flamingo tour of course.
On Dec. 31 we got together with a group of our French-Canadian snow bird friends that live near us here, with a New Year's Eve dinner at the home of German ex-pat Maria Welton.
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| Burning the Old Man, New Year's Eve, Celestun |
It was a nice pot-luck dinner and Chris made her famous Tourtiere, French-Canadian meat pie.
We ended the night with a beach bonfire next to Hotel Gutierrez (our Friday-night ex-pat dinner location with Peter the chef) and burned an Old Man (just an effigy!), a Mexican custom that symbolizes burning the past and getting ready to start a Happy New Year without any bad memories from the past.
2014 was a pretty hectic and eventful year for us and 2015 is shaping up to have even more adventures so I better rest a bit here in the sun while I can!
Even our little town of Celestun has a Gay Pride parade so of course I was out in front of our house, along with all of our neighbours, with my camera as it came by today.
It was a very short parade; one moto-tricyclita taxi with a sound system followed by a big flat-bed truck full of drummers and a few cross-dressing Gays throwing candy. 
Chris and I picked up all of the candy that came our way and tossed it around to all of the neighbourhood kids on the street for the parade.
Following the ceremony, close to 80 people followed the newlyweds to their ocean-front home for hours of eating, drinking and partying, Cuban style! 
