Dateline: 2017 December 31st Toronto, Ontario
This trips travelling map
Just another year, Family,
January - December
Here's the dynamic quintet
Martin, your correspondent, Don De Klerk, David and Philip
I've been playing with Dave since before Aiden was born (1986), Martin since I worked for him at Rogers (1996) and Don & Philip since maybe 2005
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| Many years later, my collation of all things pix is still years away from completion |
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| But it is winter, what to do except batten down and wait until our flights leave |
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| An inauspicious beginning to the new year |
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| It appears that there isn't much excitement around the new year so far |
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| Burns Night. My middle class (upper as Kayla demands us to be) project of excess is still here to be paraded in front of lesser mortals |
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| Sylvie, Ilge's aunt from the New York branch of the Koplimae clan, has her ticket punched one last time. As I always recommend, I give her a verbal send off, Thankfully, to much amusement and lightening of mood |
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| February. Still nothing more exciting than a funeral so far |
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| And the back of the house with cat and no real chance of parole |
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| Street scene at Margarets Deep mid winter or what? |
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| As ever, Margaret Bargaret in fine form for her 84th. Maybe |
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| Kayla's cat takes revenge on the humans |
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| I've be guarantor for Gerrys mortgage. Today we celebrate his exorbitant sale He takes me out to Spoon and Fork. It's opening day, so free |
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| We are back from our first Indian adventure |
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| Every year its naked bike ride Toronto |
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| I'm not quite sure what's being celebrated or remembered, but I'm all for it |
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| I guess life gets back to same old.... And why not, as retirees our job is to consume |
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| This must have been at Kayla's house Andrew, Kayla's tenant and ex friend took his with him The Nest was the final selling detail, so I had to donate mine |
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| A friend had a "friend who is really good at framing He was a real butcher who destroyed some of our more artistic stuff from Africa |
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| I have used mine at Kayla's, so have to buy a new one |
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| Rita & Arvind, our gracious hosts that put up with us (including Kayla and her outrages) in New Dehli |
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| We do our sad imitation of reciprocity for their hospitality. Here at a Kitchener market |
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| One night we hear and incredible CRACK! I find this destroyed sunroom window in the morning |
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| Our back yard continues to be mistaken for "The Cottage" |
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| I'm back biking at the lighthouse. Mid July |
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| Annie & Gary arrive and after about 5 minutes, are straight back into action exploring |
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| The reunion takes place |
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| There's only 3 takers for biking Annie and Gary try their luck on the TTC I have to come and rescue them from the Kingsway |
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| Shakespeare in the Park As I remember, it was dire |
A brief camping trip, this time Oastler Lake here
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| Back from our Canadian camping trek to Ostler lake |
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| And it's SURPRISE! BBQ I get but totally Rat Arsed, so much so that we are still talking about how burnt everything was years later |
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| And general party time |
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| Pretty much everyone is welcome |
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| Some are no longer here in cogent form |
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| All parties enjoyed and suitable recompensed |
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| Deity parent and subject |
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| Long since mates from the way past |
Another trip, this time VIA Rail to Vancouver in here
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| I've no idea |
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| Katherine & Jean. Kayla's previous life of free summer camp as stable intern |
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| The local artistry of Humber Bay |
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| All materials salvaged or donated by locals |
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| My old Nemesis Rus gives me a lot of professional get off your arse advice Finally I do and we measure and organise through Lowes |
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| I order individual doors to try out the look and feel |
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| Another summer downpour. I start demanding an extra catch basin drain |
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| Eventually, the city agrees |
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| Toronto always fascinates along the lakeside bike path |
Another trip to Hawaii, Japan, India and France in here
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| Thin pickings at our regular Christmas tree farm |
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| Isn't that cute. Some kind of blanket with Kayla's (Aidens?) cat motif. Where did I go wrong? |
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| I guess it was a regular Christmas |
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| An old friend asked if we could look after his grand daughter and her friend (yes, grand daughter) during her stay in Toronto Ilge got up at 4AM to take them to the airport Unfortunately, this hospitality was not reciprocated We are no longer old friends |
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| The guy at Lowes was fantastic. So was Rus He even told us a special discount was coming soon, so wait to pay The doors, seen here, were incredibly cheap and worked perfectly |
And that's it.
Huge amounts of travels, just like we love doing
Annapurna with Kayla was so much perfect magic
The finale and fall out were not so great, but you learn and move on
Where's 2018?
From your correspondent