A busy month

It’s been a while since I posted, so I’ll keep this succinct. Life’s good; my health and the weather are both shaping up, and we’re happy. Shannon and I spent a week at the end of February visiting all the people in Ontario we didn’t get to see over Christmas what with my having thrown myself in front of a car and all; we dropped off the last of our presents and received a few in return (although most had already been sent by post). We spent time with our families, had dinners and drinks with friends, and I caught a concert featuring one friend’s piece on the program and many other friends in the audience. We made our bi-annual pilgrimage to our favourite tea & tisane supplier to purchase a six-month supply of rooibos and fruit teas, visited the charity thrift shop where Shannon’s father works in Guelph, and in general had a enjoyable if tightly scheduled time. It was still less hectic than a typical Christmas visit, though.

We returned home from our visits to play host to two friends for a week, who got along well despite not having met before. One was my sister’s old friend Liz from Kitchener, who wanted to relax, watch Six Feet Under, and graciously volunteered her car to run us to MEC and Ikea on shopping runs we’d long put off. With her help we purchased a total of eight simple wooden shelves and now have a place to display the aforementioned tea collection, not to mention most of the spices (a great improvement). The other guest was the friend who moved to small town New Brunswick last May after living in Montreal for years, and she kept herself busy seeing old friends. It was an unexpected second week of vacation-like time, and although we were sorry to see them go we were also ready to take a break.

Last week featured what was probably the last serious snowstorm of the year, so pretty! It was even pleasant, without the high winds it brought some parts of southern Ontario. Still, it’s nice to see winter’s hold begin to release; it’s a sunny 4°C right now, and a welcome change. More has happened here since I’ve last written, of course, but I think that’s enough for now. Time for a very late breakfast…