Hurry Hurry Hurry Sidewalk Sweeping Blues: Tuesday, December 29th!

In the case of good books, the point is not how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you. -Mortimer J. Adler, philosopher, educator, and author (28 Dec 1902-2001) 

 
Hi Patrick, Great to hear from you in the snowy wilds. We are enjoying balmy weather in midtown Manhattan. On Christmas and Boxing days I was out without a jacket. Insane!! 

[Patrick James Dunn Had a message from a friend who is in New York, at the moment, and he was in shirtsleeves! Took our tree outside this morning. Hope to plant it in the spring. Healthy New Year Sylvaine!]

Peter showed us pix and videos of the India trip. It looks like you guys had a great time. Glad you are close to Cannery Brewing; I have never tried their beers (although they are available in the liquor stores) so I will do so soon. Have a great 2016. Cheers, Robert.

Hi again, Rolly Polga! Healthy New Year, RPOP. At least there will be lots of you to hug when you finally return. Lady Dar sends along best wishes. Cheers, Patrizzio! 

Hello Sun-drenched Manhattanites! Lady Darjeeling is most envious of you as she took her first trip to New York this past June and certainly would love to return, especially to get away from the cold! We thought that the snow had stopped but it is still coming down, albeit much more lightly than over last few days. Poor Peter will be having to clear his driveway from morning til night. He was away a week or more ago, to Mount Polley, and Lynne was stranded! Fortunately she was able to survive on wine! All the best. Continue to enjoy your stay. Travel safely. Cheers, Patrizzio!

Phuket, Dec.29, 2015 Hi Patrick, Thanks for your report on your Christmas Potluck and invitation to your Open House Party.Sorry that I couldn't make it, but nevertheless I'm sending you and Corinne my very best wishes for a Very Happy New Year.
 
Dream Hunter is on the hard here at Phuket Premier Boatyard and gets a new exterior paint job (paint roller and brush done myself with 2 workers). Since my helpers are Muslems and need constant supervision I did not participate in any Christmas holiday activities. At 35C it's too hot to think about drinking malt wine and eating Christmas goose or turkey. I expect to relaunch Dream Hunter at the end of January and then sail to Langkawi, Malaysia to renew my Thai visa before returning to Thailand. Since I have not seen much of Thailand yet, I will sail between Malaysia and Thailand for a couple of years, perhaps longer if Burma opens it's border to foreign yachts.
 
Tommy wrote me that this year the weather is very warm in Montreal so that my grandson cannot build a snowman but has to play with his new robot toy. Tough life being a kid these days! Are you still planing to visit India? Whereever you are stay Healthy and Happy! Cheers, Henning (aboard s/v Dream Hunter)

Hello Henning! How lovely to hear from you! Trust you are well. From the sound of it, you are fine. Wonderful news indeed. Thanks for the best wishes as well, of course! For our part we have already been to India. Left on October 27th, from Vancouver, and returned on December 10th, then drove back to Penticton next day. Quite a trip. Quite a country. Much to tell but need to wait until we are sharing a drink and a meal.Best wishes for a Healthy New Year, to you, Henning, from Lady Darjeeling and I. Take care of yourself and we certainly looking forward to seeing you, in the not too, too distant future back here in Penticton. Cheers, Patrizzio!

Hello Dunbarites! Trust you are enjoying the "grey and the rain". I thought you Albertans were tougher than that!!! How lovely to hear about Ron and Colin's wonderful meal. (Fond regards to Di and Gaz next time you are in touch.) Pleased Eric will be with you for a reasonable length of time. Do say hello to him for us. Sorry to hear about your floor washing blues! What a drag. Best wishes for a speedy recovery. Chloë asked to be remembered to you and wishes you well in 2016. Healthy New Year, to you, Jo-Anne, and Colin, from Lady Darjeeling and I. Cheers, Patrizzio!

Hello Happy holidays. The Education Library is closed. I am currently away until Dec. 29. I will be working from home Dec. 29, 30 and 31st. I will be checking my emails at that time. Best for the new year! Jo-Anne

Hello Minnie The Pug and Perth Humans! Pleased to hear everyone is well. Thanks for the Christmas greetings and New Year's wishes. Best wishes for a Healthy New Year, to you Bev, Lisa, Minnie the pug, and last but not least, Kev, from Cora Lee and I. Cheers, Patrizzio!

Yes....thanks Patrick....we also had great Christmas with one son and his family visiting with their daughter Holly a 3 yr old toddler which brought the average age down somewhat!
 
After return from Kauai have been skiing fairly regular but taking a couple of days off to rest and today am doing volunteer duty driving cancer patients to Kelowna (where I am waiting for them now) for their treatments then returning them to Penticton and Oliver. 

Also have new snowshoes and have tried them once......so far so good as I have snowshoes before but these are much smaller and lighter so hope to get out with OF gang in January. Of course I love the snow so not going to complain about that....just glad to have a snowblower for the big ones! Cheers and all the best in 2016 and onward Kilian

Gave them your name and phone number. Paid for it (whopping CAD28 for
the smallest ... I obviously must love Jos a lot!) Thank you very much for doing this. See you soon Aarturo 

Pronto Patrizio! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and the family too! It is a shame to have missed the famous Boxing Day Open House - maybe next year; we have been talking about having a northern hemisphere Christmas...
We've had the Aussie family over for the week, so a house full with 7 adults and 2 toddlers has been keeping us rather busy and on our toes. It has been amazing weather; in the mid 20s, sunny and, surprising for Wellington, almost no wind, making it very pleasant. No snow to shovel down here ;)

I did see some of your Indian adventures on Facebook and did get one installment of the Maharaja Diaries. It sounds like a smashingly good time. We have certainly been enjoying some Sauvignon and Riesling (there is a great Marlborough winery that does Riesling in about 5-6 different styles that are all simply mahhhhhhhvellllllous.

We are tentatively planning a week or two in the motherland in July this coming year; will keep you posted and we can plan to swing through Penticton. All my best to the goils, and I will try to be a better emailer too! Happy New Year Pedrito & co   

Corinne and Patrick, Thanks for the Christmas phone call. It was great to hear from you. We had a very nice time with the family. Photos include: The Timbers championship scarves that Elizabeth bought; The fleece blankets Elizabeth designed on Snapfish website; Amanda and Paul wearing their Galapagos blankets; Katie, Milton, and Paul snoozing before the fireplace; Paul fiddling with the candle pyramid thing; MVZ preparing his roasted Brussel Sprouts dish; P&A checking out the Galapagos photo album; Milton; A pile of wrestling VanZantens; The paella that my sister and I cooked on the 26th. Seems we got no pictures of Mike or of me. Typical

Elizabeth has had a really tough 7 months. Although the area of her back where the implant was inserted to replace the damage disc crushing her nerve has pretty much recovered, she has developed chronic pain in her coccyx. No one seems to know why. She has had a variety of treatments: different shots to determine if an "ablation" would help. (no), 10 very painful shots into her sacrum (I thinks those are the 10 holes in the lower portion of her spine). They did not work. She has tried acupuncture, and she's resorted upon occasion to chewable medical marijuana.

She has gone to physical therapy. Both on land and in the water. The situation seems to be getting worse. The next treatment will be a shot in the coccyx (some time in January). After that, if there is no relief, they are recommending trying an electrical device implanted in her back which can be programmed to negate the pain impulses. That would be a last resort, and before she undergoes a "trial" of that therapy, she is having a consultation at OHSU (Oregon Health Sciences University) for a second opinion. 

In the meantime, no one will prescribe any painkillers. Her primary care physician gave her a 10 day prescription for Vicodin and for a muscle relaxer to get through the plane ride and some of the activities in the Galapagos. She prescribed one more round two months ago, but will not prescribe more. Immediately following the surgery they put her on Oxycodone, which was not a good choice because altho' it alleviated the pain, it increased her depression. Last April (I think you know this part of the story), she quit her job and checked herself into an outpatient clinic at a local hospital for depression and pain management. A genome test showed that her body chemistry is such that it takes more than the recommended dose of oxycodone (and Vicodin for that matter) to be effective. Increasing dosage is not a permanent solution.
 

When we were in Vancouver two summers ago, we bought some of the codeine coated Tylenol that can be had in your pharmacies. The druggist suggested Acetaminophen plus caffeine and codeine. Altho' it doesn't completely alleviate the pain, it does have a slight beneficiary effect. He also sold her a muscle relaxer called Robomax (purple pill in purple packaging). The Robomax was sold over the counter in the regular aisle of the pharmacy. The Acetaminophen was behind the counter. He was willing to sell us an unlimited amount, altho' he pointed out that we theoretically could only take 30 pills back into the US. Since there were three of us, I reasoned we each could take 30. Of course no one stopped us to check luggage or anything. They were mostly interested in the documentation we had to take Paul and Amanda over the border (true both ways . . we had passports and notarized statements from the their parents).
 

So to make this long tale short. Elizabeth is not out of her Canadian stash. If you can mail us some, we would be so grateful. As much as you deem doable . . maybe you'll need to package it with some old underwear or tea towels. I'm sure you know all the customs requirements from sending packages to Ayn and her kids.

If there is a Tylenol w/o the caffeine, but with the codeine, that would be preferable. Frankly, I don't know the difference between Tylenol 3 and Tylenol 4. A couple of bottles of Robomax shouldn't be a problem since it is not a controlled substance. However, here it is not available over the counter. Let us know what you think . . and how much we owe you. I will mail you a check.  

And if you decide that you are uncomfortable with sending it, that's OK. We will muddle through. Happy New Year to you both. Hopefully we'll get up your way this summer. Would love to see the new place. Marilyn

Hello Digitale and Fingare! Terrific to chat. Thank you for the lovely Christmas snaps although we are both dismayed, of course, to hear more about Elizabeth's dire back trouble. Our thoughts and best wishes go out to her. Mme Coriandre will be out later this afternoon to see what she can procure and we'll let you know as soon as she has scoped situation. 
 

Must away as I need to pour myself another glass of Cannery Brewing Paddles Up Pale Ale! [We spit on Oregon micro-breweries here in The Okanagan!] Will be in touch anon but until then, best wishes for a Healthy New Year, to you both, Marilyn and Michaelo, and family, (particularly Elizabeth!), from Lady Darjeeling and I. Take good care of each other and we certainly look forward to seeing you, in the not too, too distant future, here in Penticton. Cheers, Patrizzio!         Hello Wisenheimer from Manisnowba! Quit whining about Winterpeg! I thought you Prairie Folk were tougher than that!!! How lovely your Greek brunch sounded. I trust it came off without a hitch.
 

Picked up two bottles of Old Monk, a delish rum from India, [Had been knocking it back over course of trip and developed quite a taste for it!], at Duty Free in Delhi so I hope you will come west to sample it, being the rum aficionado you happen to be! Best wishes for a Healthy New Year, to Famiglia Filmer, from Lady Darjeeling and I. Take care of yourselves and we certainly looking forward to seeing you, Sally and Filmer, in the not too, too distant future, here in Penticton. [Your Kenton Cousins made it this past summer so don't let the hayseeds better you Uptown People!] Paradise beckons so get out of pot-hole city and return to BC to bask on the shores of Okanagan Lake and/or tipple at all the wineries, distilleries and breweries that abound!! Cheers, Patrizzio! Pic: Note local quail, on back fence, just managing to keep its tasseled head above snow line! 

Hi Raymond!  Trust you spent an enjoyable Christmas. Any cake left? Chloë, asked to be remembered to you and wishes you and Sylvia well in 2016. Best wishes for a Healthy New Year, to you and family, Raymond, from Lady Darjeeling and I. Cheers, Patrizzio!

Dear OF'ies, Here they are the links:
 
Roddy Flats:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/99264714@N02/23405062774/in/album-72157662771462731/

Cartwright Mountain picnic:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/99264714@N02/23306162244/in/album-72157660399683773/

Winter Solstice:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/99264714@N02/23921367262/in/album-72157660563059534/

3-Bears, Homecoming:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/99264714@N02/24033074815/in/album-72157662737845232/
 
Enjoy! Cheers and ... if we do not see each other before hand, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Aarturo the low flying Dutch-now-Canadian-man "Cool" pics, Aart! Thanks for sharing. Happy 2016 to everyone! Vlado & Anna

Thanks Patrizzio! for the good wishes.. but I was wondering if you could  do me a favor.. and have all the snow gone before we get home... that would be much appreciated.. lol.. Sounds like you had a great trip to India... can't wait to hear about..  Yes we are looking forward to seeing all of you upon our return.. heading out to Golden Gate park to take in the museum and Height & Ashbury for a few beer today... cheers for now...  Ken & Joyce in Sunning San Francisco..

  

Dear Patrick, So good to get the updates! I was amazed at your travel to India, but more amazed at the snow country you now call home. How is replacing cycling with splitting wood and shoveling snow? Ah, in the summer time there is plenty of good wine within easy reach I hear ... Corinne looks great! I'm sure Chloe is still shifting between disapproval of her parents' move and attempt to accept the reality?
 

So Randy has spent the last 2 Fall semesters in Taiwan, helping a university to start an international college with focus on business and liberal art. While he has managed to come back to the US about once a month, often for a combination of business meetings/conferences and home visits, we are finding it too much time apart. So he will scale it back to minimesters of ~ 6 weeks in late Spring/early Summer.

Adrian has been working for about 4 months, having set up a small but swanky apartment by the hottest retail/restaurant urban neighborhood redeveloped from the old Pearl Brewery. The apartment complex sits by the river (remember Riverwalk?) across from S.A. Museum of Art. His girlfriend Andie still lives in Brooklyn (and works on her own art, and part time at Christie auction house in NYC) but comes to visit frequently. Adrian declared his plan to quit this job at one-year anniversary prior to his starting, but now may have softened a bit with the lure of rising bank account.

Miranda is in her 2nd year of psychology program and has started her "practicum" -- with 8 clients she sees regularly. Has a boyfriend, also a grad student at UT Austin, who came to the US as a teenager from Bulgaria. I am glad to report that Corinne need not be concerned with bulimia - she is into muscle building these days and is at least one dress size bigger than me!

I moved to a new role (still finance) within AT&T and now support our Digital Experience operations, which can be thought as our new sales channel. It used to be retail stores (i..e mobile phone) and call centers, but this on-line channel is the cheapest way if we can do it smartly. This is a much welcomed change as I was in the previous role for several years. Looking ahead, I'm only a year and a half from retirement eligible. So I have started dreaming about what to do next ...

We enjoy Vail very much and look for every opportunity to go. We plan to spend 6-8 weeks there in the summer (not continuously, but with us and kids coming and going), just like last summer. Dallas also proves to be a cheap route to and from Denver, so Randy and I will ski with 2 trips planned so far. It is rented in the winter via a property management company to subsidize the mortgage. Come see us in the summer!

We found out about Gregg's bladder cancer ordeal through their Christmas letter a couple of weeks ago. Tried calling, but didn't connect as they may have picked up their travel again. Do you two travel back to Vancouver much? Kids still can't believe they don't have a couch to crash on any longer!

I saw a photo posting of Dusty and Clara, and they look better than ever! Please tell them hi for us. We miss Clara's great cooking and Dusty's paintings! Love to you, Corinne! We get updates on the LA clan via Ayn's facebook. Love to Chloe!​​ Ruth