December 24, 2007
Merry Christmas!
Well lets see...today Walter and I cut down our Christmas tree, it is snowing outside and I am sitting here writing this letter watching the hockey game (Toronto vs Montreal) as you can understand I am feeling very Canadian right now.
As normal for me I am still a bit behind with the Christmas shopping for Walter's family and getting my cards out since the last few weeks have been all about my family. But the gifts for Jim, Joanne and family are on their way to San Fran and Cindy with her full household (Jenny, Patrick, Jason with wife Chrissy and 18 month old Michael) are on their way to Cochrane now. Next year, I think, Walter and I should just fly to both locations and hand deliver the presents with the price of shipping these days. Oh well, the good news is all gifts will arrive before the big day. One family done and one to go with a full week still remaining...no problem. Enough about my mismanagement of time....
It is that time of year again that I am able to wish all our friends and family a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful healthy and happy 2008! To summarize the past year for Walter and I into one word would have to be GREAT! We both had no health issues, which luckily included our families. No changes for us with respect to employment and we both continue to be busy. I was able to compete in a few duathlons and 10 km races this past summer and continued my track record of not finishing any in last place. I may have been close a few times but kept squeaking past at least one other person in my age group. Walter continued racing his car in the Solo Racing Competitions. I never know what little car part may show up in the mail next. He truly enjoys working on his car trying to do whatever he can to cut a few extra seconds off his time. To help with car modifications we took down our 1920 garage in the fall and I literally mean we (Walter and I) took it down, with a little help from our neighbour Kelly. I think she felt sorry for me....doesn't everyone take down an old multi-shingled garage over the labour day long weekend? The good news is the bigger and better garage is built and awaiting electrical and I did not have to lift a finger except to sign the cheques. As I mentioned earlier it is snowing outside and for the first time ever both our cars are safe and sound inside the garage.
2007 also gave us the opportunity to visit Greece for 2 weeks and I can honestly say it had all the things I look for in a holiday, heat, beaches and amazing sightseeing opportunities. I must admit the only reason we made it to Greece was due to the World Rally Competition. Walter is a big car rally race fan and I wanted to go somewhere warm so this seemed to work for us both. We spent a few amazing days in Athens, 4 days watching the car rally, followed by a few more days in Athens and then a few days on the Island of Rhodes. The weather was perfect....hot and sunny, and the scenery was spectacular. It was just incredible to see everything and then try and fathom the actual age of it all.
To keep on the car theme, Walter and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary this year. Time sure does fly! So for several years I have been saving money to be able to purchase Walter a little sports car. The problem with "little" sports car is trying to fold Walter small enough to fit inside one. After looking at TR6's, Miata's I finally decided just to give him the money so that he could purchase what he wanted. So in Sept we drove to Montreal to pick up his new summer toy, a blue 1970 Porsche 914 with a 1978 Porsche 911 engine. Okay, I admit the car is LOUD, very peppy but the smile on Walter's face every time he gets into it made the saving all worth while. Don't tell him but I do enjoy driving around in it with the roof off and the sun shining (it is much quieter with the roof off). Unfortunately, picking the car up in September did not give us too many days of roof off drive time before we had to put the new toy away for the winter. I think next year will give us many days of enjoyment, but for right now Walter can only go visit his car in the underground parking garage.
Well, I have run out of paper and will not bore you any longer. Again, I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy 2008. If you would like to chat through 2008 you can reach me at pat.firby@cogeco.ca and I love emails!
Patricia & Walter