Christmas Letter

December 11, 2023. St Marys

This note is late – Christmas season is upon us and there’s much to do. So, we’ll try, but fail, to keep it brief. Here’s an update on what we’ve been up to this year.

January. Started with an eventful trip to Ottawa for Gord and Leslie’s “Hair of the Dog Party” (a sort of NY Day Levee/Jam session). We were all pretty tired of COVID restrictions and were looking forward to finally being with people and a return to normal. We hadn’t seen Gord or Leslie in a while and met with Vince, Eva’s beau (Eva is Gord’s youngest – more on her later). Unfortunately, soon after we find out that one of the guests had come down with COVID and shortly after we had the same. Which meant for a pretty crappy January.

February. On the plus side, we thought, we’ll recover and we might as well go to Austin, TX (we hadn’t been since 2020 when the pandemic began). We had arranged a place for February and had made a reservation for 2024 (we are definitely going this winter). Unfortunately, our Honda had other ideas. A major computer component failed, the car was not safe to drive, and the dealer couldn’t get the part and might not be able to get it for some time (computer chip shortages were affecting all sorts of supply lines). We were without the car for a month or so, we had read about others in the same boat who were without for 6 months! But by mid month we were back on the road. For Reg’s birthday (1952) we had a naughty weekend in Niagara and a conducted tour of the wine region. The tour was a lot of fun – there were 7 of us and Reg was the only guy! Later that month there was a fancy Emily Murphy fundraising event at the Café Buffon in Stratford and the BOOM-X one man stage show by Rick Miller at the Grand in London. Sadly, February was also the one-year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine; worse yet, not much has changed there. We continue to reach out to our colleague in Kharkiv.

March. We went to the Stratford Chef School’s Graduation Dinner at the Bruce. With COVID behind us we made a trip out of the country to visit our friends Deborah and Jerry in Ann Arbor, MI. There we met a gaggle of wild turkeys in their yard who were proudly flaring their plumes as they court the hens.

April.  We met with Andy Szilard & Pat at Museum London for lunch (Andy was Reg’s prof and thesis supervisor in Computer Science at Western). Peter & Colleen, who had worked with Reg at IT/UWO were dealing with an aged parent and were able to visit us as well. The Beefsteak and Burgundy wine club came out of hiatus with a dinner at the Baseball Hall of Fame here in St Marys.  We went to see our favorite country band, the Rizdales, at the Richmond Tavern in London. But Kate came down with a mysterious illness – it turned out she had a blood infection (a sepsis, hospital for 3 days) and this delayed a planned ankle replacement surgery which was to happen in May.

May. It’s a good thing Kate didn’t have her surgery for we had several visitors. Alison (Kate’s childhood chum) and Barry (her partner) came to visit from Winnipeg. Chris, or No.1 son from Germany, came on a trip to a conference in Florida. We put him to work helping with the garden and moving plants outside. It’s been a year since Reg had his knee replacement surgery, he’s much better but still not 100%. Reg’s wine club met at the “King of Pigs” – a favorite Portuguese restaurant in the east end of London. To top the month, we went to see Grievous Angels at an afternoon gig at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto. Charlie Angus (NDP MP and leader of the Grievous Angels) and the band were in fine fettle.

June. We both have a regular weekly get together with friends. Kate’s group continued to meet outside throughout the pandemic even in winter. Reg’s group, a “Bunch of Old Geezers”, are not made of such firm stuff and met regularly with Zoom. But with the warm weather regular outdoor gatherings resumed. June is also the month for Pride events. We attended a parade in Stratford and an outdoor Pride event with the Friends of the Library (the library has been doing a Drag Queen Story Time). At the Stratford Forum they had several Pride events. We saw “Agit-Pop” again and enjoyed it just as much as the last time. Our sister-in-law Judy came to visit and a grade school chum of Reg’s, Sam Bell, dropped in. Sam, who lives in BC, is quite the character and has led an interesting life working in the mining industry around the world. Reg had not seen him since high school, there were lots of stories to tell.

July. Over the summer we caught quite a bit of theatre and many Festival Forum events (e.g., CBC Ideas recorded for a week). There’s a small professional group in Stratford, the “Here for Now Theatre”, that started during the pandemic when the Stratford Festival shut down. They first staged small productions outside on the lawn at the Bruce Inn. This year they set up an event tent at the Stratford Perth Museum with a small stage seating an audience of 50 or so. This year, they did the best theatre we had ever seen in quite some time: “The Myth of the Ostrich”. If you ever see it playing, do go (it also fit with the Women/Pride theme). We had our friends Erich (from Reg’s UWO years) and his partner Lisa down to see “Grand Magic” at the Tom Patterson Theatre (a $100M rebuild which was to open in 2020). In November we had them back to see “Spamalot” (more on that in a moment).

Our gardens were lush this year with lots of plump wild blackberries and currants for Reg’s jam making. We had a huge garlic harvest and made Garlic Scape Pesto when the garlic flowered. Our tomato garden was especially productive – we’ve just finished up the last of tomatoes which were picked green at tend of season and left to ripen when the frosts came.

August. Our anniversary is on the 2^nd (it was our 43^rd) and our brother David and his wife Gail celebrated their 50^th this month. Reg’s brother Tony and his wife Pat from Victoria BC came out to visit, for the 50^th anniversary), and stayed with us for a bit. We arranged a Dixon Cousins’ reunion (Reg’s mom’s side of the family) while they were here. Reg took Tony and Pat on a backstage tour of the Tom Patterson Theatre and we four went to see “Spamalot” (the Monty Python musical/revival play) at the Avon in Stratford. It was so much fun (we went with our coconuts to participate) that we went again later when tickets were very reasonable, and then again with Erich and Lisa in November on the last night! We also took Tony and Pat to see “The New Canadian Curling Club” at the Huron County Playhouse, Grand Bend (it’s part of the Drayton Group). We had seen the play when it premiered in Blyth several years ago.

Kate had her ankle surgery in late August at Victoria Hospital in London. This did not go as planned. Her recovery was very painful with many visits to ER here and in London where many different casts were tried, then removed. Ultimately, she ended up in a plastic boot that she could loosen (even remove) at will. The swelling aggravates a pre-existing condition and caused further nerve damage.

September. Kate is coming along, she’s “Not dead yet” (a reference to a bit in “Spamalot”), but struggles continue with casts and recovery. Reg attends a funeral in Markdale for our cousin Ruth Wheildon (Dixon side). Kate could not attend but does have her friends over for a tipple on our deck which is lush now with lots of flowers and greenery. Kate and Sam (her work colleague) wrap up the data collection phase of a study that has been upended by the pandemic. They want to get some data on attitudes and behaviours of male bar-goers in London. During the pandemic most bars were closed!

October. The annual Thanksgiving Gathering of Reg’s family in Walter’s Falls (his childhood home) is Kate’s first “long” car ride. It’s about 2hours due north of us and Kate is comfortable enough in the back seat. But the gathering is somewhat subdued -- there aren’t as many in attendance, the weather is crappy, raining and cool. Kate is uncomfortable with her foot down and we head home early.

Back at home we are preparing for the first frost and clearing plants from our deck. Many we give away (Reg divides plants in the spring, gets them to thrive during the summer, and saves only a few). Over the summer Reg had bought a vintage camera (from the 1960’s), had it restored, and shot a first roll of film. He found a place in Stratford that would develop the film but his first roll jammed the processing machine and was ruined. He’s not been deterred and continues to collect vintage film camera gear (for no good reason, it’s entirely senseless).

Our niece Eva and her partner Vince have a baby Eloise this month. She’s the first great niece/nephew on Kate’s side of the family (Reg has many with the great and great-great designation). But all family are equally great. Gord and Leslie are especially chuffed to be grandparents.

At the end of season, we saw “Much Ado” at the Stratford Festival. We’re not great fans of Shakespeare but this play was updated with lots of contemporary changes. We really enjoyed it. When Kate’s surgery was originally scheduled for May we had deferred much of the theatre events until late in the year. Some of these, e.g. the Margaret Atwood Forum event, she missed.

Kate, who is chair of the Board for Optimism Place (a women’s shelter in Stratford), had a retreat near Goderich where we stayed overnight. On the way we dropped in to Maelstrom Winery near Clinton to sample their wares. We hadn’t been in some time (hadn’t been anywhere in some time!) and gosh they’ve improved and expanded. We’ll have to go there sometime for lunch. Reg spent the day of the retreat tromping around the area taking film pictures with his vintage camera – these actually worked well and were developed without the machinery jamming.

Kate has been retired for several years now and the closing of their office in London has become a reality that cannot be ignored. Kate and Sam worked closely with their colleague Sharon who has just announced her retirement. The office space at the UWO Research Park is no longer viable and will shutdown soon.

Local theatre by the St Marys Community Players can sometimes be outstanding. Their fall production of Norm Foster’s “Opening Night” is one of their best in years. In partnership with the Friends of the Library (Reg is the current chair of the FOL) we had a dinner theatre event with dinner at the Westover Inn that was very well attended. Shortly after the play, which is staged in the Town Hall Auditorium, the FOL had another successful Fall Book Sale.

November. The first snow of the year was on the first day. Reg has been tending to the “Thai Greenery” which grew to over 12’ in our garden – it’s hanging up drying in the basement but there’s a lot of greenery and not much “killer bud” to pass on to family and friends.

You might be excused for wondering what year it is: the Rolling Stones have a new album out and the Beatles have a new single. We go to a Westland Gallery opening and a Mexican restaurant in our former neighborhood. Our old home looks much the same but the trees have really grown.

Reg’s obsession with vintage film camera gear is out of hand. He’s bought a Black Nikon F2 (eBay) and then later in the month a black Nikon F (but he already has a silver Nikon F). That makes three entirely senseless camera, and assorted gear, when we ought to be down sizing! He promises to quit but we’re not convinced.

We went to dinner with our friend Joan at the last night of the Braai House in Stratford. A “braai” is a South African wood fired grill/BBQ and the food here is unique. This is/was one of our favorite restaurants (we took Chris when he was visiting) but, unfortunately, they are closing.

Late in the month we made an Ottawa trip to stay with Gord &Leslie. We met up with Eva, Vince and baby Eloise. Paula, Eva’s sister (the postie from New Brunswick), was visiting as well. We met up with Judy again and together we watched the “Barbie” movie which we all quite enjoyed. We met up with Peter & Colleen on our way out of town and have arranged to see them again, and perhaps stay with them, when we’re back for the “Hair of the Dog” party at New Years. Fingers crossed.

December. This year we’ve been trying to spiff up the front entrance to our house. We had replaced the door and the post on the deck and had been waiting on a landscaping crew to redo the steps and deck (it looked tired with the original shabby outdoor carpet). While we were in Ottawa, we got an email note from them saying, “We’re starting your project tomorrow”. This seemed pretty crazy as we weren’t there and there were decisions we hadn’t made. Nevertheless, they had a plan and moved forward with replacing steps, concrete driveway slabs, etc. We were somewhat distressed, especially when we got a panic call from our neighbor telling us that someone had driven a cart or bike through the wet concrete. Nevertheless, problems were addressed and we are happy with the result -- it really looks nice.

We moved Kate out of her office reclaiming some of her gear (desk, printer, etc.) for office space set up in the basement rec-room. We had gotten rid of the basement pool table earlier in the year (we could not sell or give it away and ended up paying to be done with it) and have recarpeted that area. Our plan is to redo the guest bathroom, we’ve got fellows who will do it, not today but someday soon. After that, we can recarpet the bed room.

Lastly this month Shane MacGowan (Pogues), the singer and writer of many fine tunes, has died proving that, apart from advertising, “Guinness is NOT Good for You”. He was an incredibly good writer and performer in the 1980’s but spent the last decades in an alcoholic fog. The funeral service, there’s lots to watch on YouTube, was quite the event. You would have thought that it was an Irish Pope and not an Irish poet who had died. But his music lives on and many tears have been shed. We’re sure “A Fairytale of New York” will be a Christmas hit again this year. And rightly so.