A Kenmore Christmas
For North Americans, this is not an offer from Sears! In the middle of the year I discovered I had a new address. No, I have not moved again. The new city (municipality in Australia) of Kenmore came into existence, and I am a part of it. So, just after changing my address, I have the joy of doing it again. It's just as well I kept a list of the changes I made after the move. But one advantage of these times is that many organisations allow address changes to be made via the internet, which is so much easier than filling in a card and posting it, or calling up, going through many levels of voice mail, and finally reaching "Please wait on the line for a human ....."
While 1997 was the year of travelling, 1998 was the year of not much
travelling. Only two trips -
One to Sydney in late January, to celebrate mum's 85th birthday, and another
in June to New Orleans
for a computer conference. The weather in the two places was very similar -
hot and humid. Which doesn't bother me too much.
I had a grand time in Australia, catching up with many friends, and
enjoying the life-style. The trip to New Orleans lasted two weeks - one
at the conference, and another to visit some friends in
Alabama.
While it was very enjoyable, I had the "good luck" to pick up a cold on
the way down. Consequently, two of the major attractions of New Orleans
were wasted - one is the food, the other is the jazz. The food because
I lost my taste; the jazz because it starts about 10PM and goes on. But
my cold made me want to be asleep by that time. 'Twas such a pity. The
time in Alabama with Shirley and Kent was very enjoyable. I had not been
to Alabama before, and it turned out to be several days of low key activity,
which was good after the conference, with its 12 hour days!
Shirley and Kent's house is almost on the shores of Mobile Bay, and is "out in
the country". A hurricane came through the bay later in the year, but their
house escaped without loss, although the shared wharf and boathouse was
destroyed, but is being rebuilt as I type this.
Another major project this year was landscaping the back yard of the
new estate! We had probably the nicest summer since I have been in Seattle
- almost 4 months of sunshine. I think we had one rainy day during the
whole period. And that was the day my neighbour and I started our backyards!
We hired a bobcat, and ordered dirt and sod delivered. Driving the bobcat
was fun, although neither of us had the guts to put it into high speed.
In both cases, taking dirt from the driveway to the backyard involved passing
within a few inches of the gas meter on the side of the house! Collecting
that would not have been a good thing.
I also installed a sprinkler system in the back yard, which delayed things by a day or so. Even hired one of the neighbour's kids to help dig. The soil here is not fun, even if digging just 12 inches (30 cm) down. I use a pick to break it up, then shovel it out. A shovel, on its own, is just about useless.
But the grass is down, and mostly green, and looks much nicer than this time last year. I had a landscape architect design the yard layout - I am not very good at that sort of thing. The design is quite nice, and much to my liking. The only plant/shrub/tree in the back yard is the one I moved from the corner of the garage. I needed to move it because it was where the bobcat needed to go, but in any event, it's a cypress, which will easily grow to 40 feet (12m) in height, and having such a tree 2 feet (0.6 m) from the garage was not a good idea. I guess I must have done something right, because I have not transplanted a tree before, but it is still alive, and doing quite nicely in the far corner of the yard.
Of course, with the new house, there are a myriad of things which need doing, apart from just moving in! Many have been done, more are on the list. But this is indoors time, so that's the part of the list being worked upon now.
I had several guests stay with me.
Long time friend and business partner Rob Michael was here, on and off
over a period of several months. We mostly seemed to be working on technical
things, but certainly had our share of enjoyable meals. And Rob even helped
with the back yard.
And my
Aunt Dot arrived in October, for a week, as a side trip on her visit to her
son Garry in Toronto. We did the usual tourist type activities, and had
a good time. It's nice having visitors - it means I visit some of the places
I should go to more often.
The work front is keeping me busy. I had a fair bit of catching up to do after the two trips, but things are now on an even keel
And just to prove the years are advancing, mum forwarded a letter from high school friends - announcing the 30th anniversary of finishing school. It does seem a long time ago.
Well, I'm just about out of room, so I will finish by wishing you all the best this season has to offer, and may 1999 be a wonderful year,