A Life, Lived

Travel Tuesday - London

Some more shots from our last vacation pre-COVID to London.

Travel Tuesday - London

Our last real trip was in March of 2019. We spent a week in London. Somehow that trip popped into out minds this weekend and we spent some time reliving the memories.

I'm doing the same for Travel Tuesday!

Travel Tuesdays - Berlin

Last week I posted about the post Christmas my friend and I enjoyed in Amsterdam and Berlin. After a week in Amsterdam we hopped the train to Berlin. Note to self: don't take the train from Amsterdam to Berlin. While it looks to be a short distance on a map it is LONG. It didn't help that I was sick. We were in a train with private compartments - I slept in the corner and Nancy enjoyed herself talking to all of the folks who joined us for a part of the journey.

Here are some shots from our time in Berlin.

Travel Tuesdays - Amsterdam

The Facebook memory feature reminds me that I was in Amsterdam 8 years ago. It was the perfect post-Christmas gettaway.

Travel Tuesdays - Hamilton

Back in December Paul and I had a bit of an outing in Hamilton.

We started with brunch at a restaurant called the Electric Diner. I head read about on social media and it was listed as one of the top diners in Ontario. The restaurant is located in Hess Village - a lovely area of restaurants and bars in old Victorian houses.

Brunch was fabulous!

The plan was for us to meet up with friends at 2 at the Art Gallery of Hamilton. Our one friend is a docent there and he was giving us a private tour of the Maude Lewis and Tom Thomson exhibits.

We had time to kill before we met our friends so we wandered around downtown Hamilton a bit. I used to live in this area but when I lived there I never really took the time to wander about. It was nice to have that gift of time now.

It is amazing what you see when you stop and look around you.

Travel Tuesdays - Christmas in Rome

Here is another collection of shots taken the year we spent Christmas in Rome.

Advent Calendars

An Advent calendar is a special calendar used to count the days of Advent in anticipation of Christmas. Since the date of the First Sunday of Advent varies, falling between November 27 and December 3 inclusive, many Advent calendars, especially those that are reusable, often begin on December 1, although those that are produced for a specific year often include the last few days of November that are part of the liturgical season. The Advent calendar was first used by German Lutherans in the 19th and 20th centuries.

We always had an Advent calendar when my sister and I were kids and we would take turns fighting over who would get to open the door and eat the piece of chocolate behind it. It was a tradition that has really caught on in recent years and now you can find Advent calendars for almost anything.

Here are our Advent calendars this year:

I have two cheese ones. If I had purchased a wine Advent calendar life would have been perfect! :-)

The two chocolate ones are for Paul.

Of course we bought Advent calendars for the cats. We hadn't intended on buying two but you can see from the one on the right happens when I buy a package containing freeze-dried liver bits and don't hide it away immediately. I know, bad Jerry. In my defence, I had to go to the bathroom really badly. By the time I had finished washing my hands the damage was done. Of course I had to buy a replacement which might have been their Machiavellian plan all along.

Travel Tuesdays - Venice at Christmas

9 years ago (my lord, how is it that long ago?) Paul and I spend most of December and the first week of January in Italy. We visited Venice, Bologna, Florence for short trips and then stayed in Rome for the remainder of our time. European cities go all out at Christmastime.

Here are some shots of Venice at Christmastime.

We're Getting Ready . . .

It is difficult to believe that Christmas is one month today!

I will say that trying to stay on top of the Christmas preparations as a retiree is a hell of a lot easier than when I was working! I don't know how parents manage it. It's no wonder the festive season is so damn stressful for so many.

Last week I was focused on making cookie dough. We now have logs of dough to slice, tubs of dough to scoop, and dough to roll and cut as we need it throughout the holidays. It sure makes things easy!

Each one is labelled with cooking instructions to I just have to pull out what I need, slice (or scoop or roll) and bake. Easy peasy.

I also made Christmas cakes.  They are in a cool spot, wrapped in brandy drenched cloths, waiting. I made a large cake this year that I plan on icing in the old English style. I mean, if you have time in retirement why not try new things?

One thing that has NOT changed in retirement . . . I am still challenged by food colouring and end up with more on me it seems.

:-)

 

 

Travel Tuesdays - Florence

Last week I was chatting with a friend who is approaching a challenging anniversary. As often happens it is fraught with family drama, emotion, and stress. Like the brilliant woman she is she has decided to leave the Florence and spend the week on her own in Florence where she can relax, connect with things she loves, and be distracted from the reminder of her husband's death.

You know what happens, right?

Immediately I start to think about my last trip to Florence (on my 50th birthday so 7 years ago - ACK). Here are some pics from that trip.