Tiptoeing towards 2025

When I logged in to start writing this, the first item was my stalled letter from last year. Oy Vey! Yes, well, sorry about that, but 2023 was too hard to sum up and not sound depressing at the same time. Dad unexpectedly punched his express ticket out in April, and things did not improve from there. Enough said. 

The main lasting bright spot from last year is Sarah's new cat.  Meet Helga, a ball of the softest fluff I have ever met. 
Given how tumultuous her life was before she arrived here, she is surprisingly at ease with her new life. Hopefully,  she finds it refreshingly peaceful, and not too quiet. She loves to watch the action, and doesn't even hide when the vacuum cleaner is running.
The shelter told us she was about two, and she was seized with her kittens from an 'unclean' home by the health department and then evacuated through 3 shelters because of the forest fires last year. When Sarah got her to our vet to clear up a lingering case of ear mites, we learned that she was wasn't even fully grown and that she had probably had her kittens at 6 months. So worse than being a teen Mom, she was child bride! In spite of all that, she loves people, and best of all from Sarah's point of view, tolerates being dressed up!

This year we hoped would be pretty low key. We got in a quick trip to Ecuador (gotta pay the property taxes!) and had the excitement of seeing Jeremy graduate with a B.Eng. In spite of the hundreds of graduates, it was still pretty easy to spot Jeremy though...

We have been slowly sorting through my dad's house (So. Much. Stuff.) we managed to moved a load out in July. Serge and I now have matching bedroom furniture, and Carl has a dining room table, and all the accessories! We moved everything ourselves, mostly because we didn't trust a moving company to treat my grandmother's china cabinet with any more care than a $10,000 insurance payout as the curved glass door is irreplaceable at any price now.

Starting at Ottawa and finishing in Troy with a pit stop in Varennes, it was a very full day, but we got everything unloaded in the same day, and beat the rain that arrived the next day. Even returned the truck a day early.
And then we did absolutely nothing for 36 hours!
After recovering for a day, we then took a quick road trip to Boston and did the Freedom trail again after 24 years. This time we didn't have to carry Jeremy!
 And Serge could put his feet in the ocean
it was very strange taking a vacation in July. Getting home, there was still a month of summer! It gave Jeremy time to prepare for starting his Master's at the French university Ecole de Technologie Superieure. He is doing something with AI. Ask him. I don't understand any more than that!

September was very rough for Serge because his mother, who, although having very little memory left, had been stable, and just happy to be with family, went into a steep decline and passed away at the age of 93.
Since then, Serge and Jeremy have been dedicating a lot of time to supporting my father-in-law. Losing your other half after 76 years is not an easy transition! Jeremy was already living with them as living on the island means more transport options when going to university. Serge goes in both days on the weekends and Sarah and I drop by occasionally. Getting into Montreal these days requires a significant expenditure of time now, with the Lafontaine tunnel construction project, which they have just extended by another year.  Oh joy. 

Still, in an effort to shake up traditions a bit, I had everyone come here this year. Well, not Eric.  He had originally planned a trip to Iran with his family because Roz's parents are also getting up there, but airlines are leery of that airspace these days, and the flight was cancelled.  So they went to Disneyworld instead. Hmm. Not sure what I think about that.  It did mean I didn't have to worry about a whole chunk of presents though, which was welcome because Serge, Sarah, and I, all got flattened by whatever it is that is doing the rounds this year. Is it still a flu if there is no fever? Is it still only a cold if it knocks you out for a week, with an additional two weeks of recovery?   

Carl drove up though, so along with Serge's sister and father, and a couple of significant others, we had a bilingual Christmas dinner! It was a happy chaotic party, where a good time was had by all, including the cat.  Christmas is all about family, after all!Now, a tumultuous couple of years are on their way out. Hopefully, things will be more stable in the coming year. At least on a personal level. Politically, things look, umm, interesting. I foresee much hot air being generated!

All the best for a wonderful New Year!

Karen

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