Welcome back to the QuickStar blog. Thanks for dropping in!
Here’s our catch up while we’ve been on land for the past six months…We had a wonderful Fall/Winter in Canada starting off with a 6 week road trip across Canada to Ottawa and back through the States touring the National Parks. It was great to connect with so many of our friends who winter at Silver Star, but live elsewhere for the summer months. Thanks so much for your hospitality. It was also wonderful to visit with each of our siblings, in-laws and assorted nieces and nephews.
The highlight of the trip was getting back just in the nick of time to be with Danny and Ashley when they had our first granddaughter. Addison Grace was born a few weeks early, but all was well. We have had an incredible winter spoiling her rotten and volunteering to babysit anytime, anywhere. We will miss her like crazy while we are gone – thank goodness for Skype and webcams.
Adorable and brilliant Addison!
I hadn’t mentioned anything in my blogs from last season, but a great deal of my time both last season and the season prior was spent writing a book. I didn’t want to say anything, just in case I didn’t really have a book in me. However, I got “Financial Fitness for Beginners” – a 12-week training program - published this past December and was able to get a copy for Christmas to each of our kids and our nieces/nephews for whom the book was written. Since then it has taken on a life of its’ own and is selling very well.
The book is designed to be used over 12 weeks to help those who are beginning their independent life with the financial tools to keep them debt-free and in good financial shape. It is also written for those who have strayed off the path, either because they didn’t know the fundamentals of financial management or got caught up in our consumerism culture. While I had anticipated that the market would be for 20 – 40 year olds, what I hadn’t counted on were the many people my age who are buying the books for their adult children and nieces and nephews. I invite you to check out the details and book reviews on www.financialfitnessbooks.com and even buy a copy online if you feel so inclined. If you prefer you can email me directly at svquickstar@shaw.ca and I’ll arrange to have one shipped out to you. I will be working on the second book in the series this cruising season, so stay tuned.
Our daughter Kylie and her boyfriend Taylor came over from Australia for 5 weeks in December. Our whole family had Christmas at Danny and Ashley’s. It is really heartwarming to pass the torch on to the kids to host these major family gatherings. On a sadder note, in early January, just after Kylie and Taylor returned to Australia, I got the bad news that my brother-in-law was in the hospital on Walpole Island, Ontario. I flew out and spent almost a month with my sister and niece going back and forth to the hospital and arranging home care. The good news is, in addition to spending lots of quality time with my oldest sister Debbie and my niece Elizabeth, Joe got to come home and although he is diabetic and on a walker, he is home safe and sound and all is well. Once home, our grandson Kieran flew out for his annual 10 day holiday at Silver Star and we all had a blast.
Just a couple weeks after returning from Ontario, we had some tragic news. My very good cruising friend, Cindy Stolnitz, from BeachHouse lost a battle with depression and died on March 17th while in California. We drove down to L.A. for her memorial. We are still in grief over the whole situation. Hard to find a positive side to this, however, Cindy was able to successfully donate four of her organs, including her heart which went to a Canadian boy in Edmonton. Now that we are back in Tonga, which is the last time we hugged Cindy, it is sad to go in the stores, visit the cafes and go on the hikes that we did together. Her memory is really strong here and I will not forget what a kind and loving person she was. We look forward to meeting up with her husband Scott once we get to Fiji. He is currently on a crossing from New Zealand to Fiji and sending in his daily position reports to us.
Danny, Ashley (my future daughter-in-law), Peter & I at SunDance
We spent our first April in Canada for 5 years and we enjoyed doing some renos on our condo, as well as travelling in B.C. on weekends. We went to two different dude ranches, our highlight being SunDance with Danny, Ashley and Addison. We also went to the coast for Easter where Peter went in a sailboat race with Joe on his boat Opus and we had a family dinner at Donna’s, Ashley’s Mom. It was great to see our son Ryan before we headed off. One weekend in Williams Lake, we watched Danny ride bucking broncos for the last time (I just can’t do it anymore!)
33rd anniversary weekend - wearing my old anniversary dress
The final weekend of April we had a wonderful time at Sparkling Hills resort celebrating our 33rd anniversary. I still get a kick out of wearing my old anniversary dress for one dinner and my old wedding dress for another (thank goodness for Spandex!). I bought it for 19.99 so I guess that works out to about 75 cents a year. Not a bad investment.
A little old and faded...but if the shoe fits..
We took a bit of a milk run to get to Tonga as we flew to Brisbane for a week to watch Kylie graduate from Teacher’s College. We also got to spend our special day together – Kylie’s birthday and Mother’s Day. She was my best Mother’s Day present ever 23 years ago!
We were so thrilled to be with Kylie to watch her graduate from Teacher's College
As if that wasn’t enough, Taylor proposed to Kylie while out at the beach and earned many bonus points with all the well-thought out romantic details including hiding the ring in a shell, covering the walkway with rose pedals and having friends set up a champagne breakfast for all of us including Taylor’s parents. A very special day indeed and we are thrilled to welcome Taylor as our future son-in-law.
"I Do" - Mom lucky to catch this historic moment
Taylor's Mom and Dad - us, Kylie and Taylor and family friends
We were happy that QuickStar survived the cyclone season without any damage. We have spent the past couple of days setting her up again and getting provisioning. It is wonderful to be back here with bright blue skies and smoking hot days. Now that I’ve caught you up to date, my plan is to continue to update the blog each week on Fridays (North American Friday’s) so that you can drop by and visit any time over the weekend. I thank our many loyal followers and appreciate the many emails from your end keeping us in touch. We love to hear from you to help you celebrate your joys, share in your life and lend a virtual hug if needed.
We did just receive a couple of very sad emails. A very good friend of ours from Peter’s college days has been diagnosed with a brain cyst – prognosis unknown at this time. Kylie emailed to let us know that Taylor’s Grandma died instantly of an aneurism while having her morning coffee with his Grandpa and her husband of over 60 years. We were fortunate to have met them last week and are sadly reminded, yet again, that none of us will make it out of this life alive, and we can’t take any days for granted. We have the choice to live a life by design and not by default.
We will be heading out sailing tomorrow to the out islands and I look forward to reporting on life here in the Kingdom of Tonga. This may be one of the poorest nations on earth – but the amazing people are rich in love and totally prioritize the important things in their lives. We could learn a lot from them.
The next update will be coming to you Friday, May 27th and hopefully every Friday thereafter – assuming internet connections, good weather and the other myriad of details that keep the cruising life flexible and spontaneous!
Tonga at Sunset
Until then…..Go Canucks Go!!!!!!
P.S. If any of you die-hard golfers would like to be at the Masters in April, 2012, email me. My very good girlfriend and travel agency owner has organized the trip of a lifetime and you could be part of the excitement!
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