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| The beginning of the fall colours in the park across the street |
Carolle Trembley and John Palmer
London, Ontario
Greetings…
from our 6th floor condo, which we
continue to enjoy. We have met more
friendly people here, mostly in our age range and we continue to be in awe of
the view over the river and parks. This
year our appreciation went up as we watched the leaves turning beautiful colors,
especially knowing we didn’t have to rake them up!!
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| Lara, healthy and happy |
The best news of all this year is that Jacob and Melinda’s daughter, Lara, has
had test results that show she is cancer free, months after her lengthy
treatment ended. Hurrah!! And she
was granted her wish by the “Make a Wish” foundation, so in November the family
spent a week in Disneyworld. We visited
Jacob and family in October. Lara looks
good, is back in kindergarten, back to a normal life. Her gorgeous new
baby sister, Elise, was born in February. Jacob and Melinda just had a new
house built and moved into it last week. They are very busy. Still, we managed to celebrate John’s birthday
with them several times while we were there.
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| Smiley Elise |
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| With Peter Pan at Disney World |
For the first time in many years, we have lived together the whole year.
John did not take a teaching position for any of the terms. Mind
you, he already has a month’s course lined up for Regina next August. While he is there, Bredenbury, Saskatchewan (where Carolle grew up) will be celebrating
its Centennial. She will join John in
Regina for a week so we can attend the centennial and visit with family and
friends in Saskatchewan.
John stepped into retirement cautiously this year, not sure how it would suit him.
Amazingly, he loves it. He has rediscovered old friends and new
acting and music activities. His main acting role was as Dr. Dysart in Equus.
Wow, there were a lot of lines to learn in that one. He was in
other plays as well and this time of year acts in mystery dinner theatres at
Christmas parties. He also joined “Encore…the Concert Band,” where he
plays his French horn. And in November he
reconnected with the Saskatchewan Roughrider PepBand in Toronto for Grey
Cup. That was a wild six days—playing
at many venues, including the CN Tower.
John is thrilled to be enjoying his life so much. Check his Facebook
page and you will see what he is up to.
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| Jacob, Lara, & Carolle in Pearland |
Carolle enjoys
a quieter life with more down time. Her main computer/iPad activities
involve playing Scrabble with friends and word games by herself. She is still sewing those double-sided fleece
blankets, and has begun to tackle knitting again (which for her often involves some
changing of patterns and wool, which require ripping out to start again!)
She keeps up with friends in London and Clinton. Meals out are a favorite activity for her and
she has been known to travel many miles to meet friends for lunch.
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| Phebe in Seussical |
A major upside of our
move to London is that we get to see Rachael and Matthew and girls on a regular
basis. Rach still manages the post office at the nearby Shoppers Drug
Mart. Matthew is still at 3M, and is
again involved in the new computer program, which involves travel to St. Paul (so
far). In his first connection with this
program, he also HAD to travel to Belgium, which he quite enjoyed.
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| Cordelia, during the summer in Toronto |
Our grandchildren are all
growing up so fast. Last year, Phebe—seen above on the right—(grade 8) had a major
role in her school’s production of Seussical, and a solo at the international
choir competition in San Francisco in July. Cordelia—on the left-- (grade 11) is in her
third year of high school. This year she
has a co-op in which she helps with young students in a French immersion
school.
Veronica—in the photo below with
John--has re-enrolled in high school and is keen to start in January. Kayla—on the left--is looking for a job.
John has managed to get all of them involved
in his scheme to “Rudolphize” all the deer warning signs in the area by adding red
noses to them. And he loves taking us to
plays in London and Stratford.
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| Gramps and Veronica at Stratford |
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| Kayla |
As you
can tell, we are so pleased that this retirement move to London has worked out
for us. Of course, we are now considered
ancient. Our bodies don’t work as well
as they used to. Arthritis has settled in to our knees and hips, so our walks have
slowed to ambles. Carolle says she feels
like the Tin (Wo)Man when she tries to straighten up from a sitting
position. And we complain about our poor
memories. Worst of all we are losing too
many friends to illness and death. Aging
exacts its tolls. So we are grateful for
the time we have to enjoy our slow walks and wonderful views, and old and new
relationships. And we understand how
lucky we are.
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| The snow and park at night from our condo balcony |
We hope this year has
been good to you as well. Merry
Christmas to you and your families. And
Happy New Year too.
Carolle & John
