We have Christmas and New Year celebrations in the books for another year. The tree and the decorations have all been stowed away and now we are beginning a mega project in the basement...painting. Our goal is to finish before we head to Mexico at the end of the month.
I have been making good use of the generous snowfall this winter. I think I have been out about twenty times which is a record for me. The only other winter when I skied this much was in 20-21 when there were covid restrictions. Last weekend (January 17-20), Linda and I were at Elk Ridge for the coldest weekend of the year. In true Canadian fashion, I snow shoed 4 days in a row. Linda and I also skied at Elk Ridge and we skied the Fisher Trail (7.3 km) at Waskesiu. Although we had cold fingers and cold toes at times, the scenery was breathtaking. There was a significant snowfall on the day before we arrived so the trees were snow covered and glorious.
In six more sleeps, we will be flying to Mexico where we will spend 16 days in San Pancho, north of PV, then we are spending 12 days in Bucerias before returning at the end of February. I am going to miss my grand kids immensely, but I take comfort in knowing they will be away for 10 days during February because Mary and Morgan are going with the kids and Morgan's mom to Palm Springs for a vacation so I wouldn't have seen them during those days anyway. I have been stockpiling some grandkid time in January. Luvisa and I had a date night last Thursday. We had hot chocolate at the Sheraton, then skated at the outdoor rink by the Bessborough. On Tuesday evening, we had both kids over for a few hours. Linda has become Gunnar's personal barber so part of the time was spent lowering Gunnar's ears.
Mary and the kids will be at our place this afternoon, then we will be going with the whole clan to Malanka to watch Gunnar and Luvisa perform their Ukrainian dance with the Rushnychok Dance School. The performance is followed by a dance; therefore, we will be dancing until we drop.
This weekend has a definite Ukrainian flavour. Last evening, we were invited to a Ukrainian feast with the rest of my adult ukulele group. Natalie and Blain, our hosts, have a son who sings with a Ukrainian choir. After our meal, the Ukrainian choir arrived and sang a number of traditional New Years songs. The performance was amazing as was the meal. I felt so blessed to enjoy an evening with great friends, Ukrainian singing, and Ukrainian food.
As you know, I have a regular gig at Luther Heights performing for the Alzheimer's group in Luthercare facilities. I usually do a solo performance singing gospel tunes and folk songs, but this time I will be joined by my ukulele group. I think I have mentioned in past posts that I taught a group of adults who wanted to learn how to play ukulele. Now they are surpassing my expertise. I no longer lead the group. They choose the songs they want to learn. If I am not able to attend, they meet without me. I am just a member of the group and I like it that way. We have nine members now and really can't accommodate more members at this point because we would not fit into a living room practice space.
In other news:
1. I continue to play pickle ball at least once a week on days that I am not playing hockey.
2. We finished a mega project in January. We painted the whole basement and changed the outlets and switches to decor white.
That is it for January.
