Merry Christmas from Canada

From all of us in Canada to all of you: Merry Christmas! We love you, we miss you and we will raise a glass (or two) to you today!

We got back this week from our trip to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos - a fascinating part of the world and long overdue on our bucket list. Natural wonders such as the limestone pinnacle islands of Vietnam's Halong Bay, caves in Laos filled with Buddha statues and travertine tiered waterfalls in the forest were all wonderful. The cultural experiences were awesome: Angkor Wat justifies its global icon status, the temples of Luang Prabang are havens of tranquility and the the cities of Saigon and Hanoi are crazily buzzing with vitality. But it's the people who are the stars. The Vietnamese excitedly breaking out into the global scene; the Cambodians endless forgiving and able to move on from their killing fields; and above all, the Lao people whose quiet and gentle kindness is the number one reason to experience Southeast Asia. Loved it all!

Happy Thanksgiving from Canada! It was so great to have everyone here for the Roast Beast and Nut Loaf feast. All is well with the clan. Tim & Maddy are working all kinds of shifts to save up for their planned European trip in the spring. Pip flew Zurich to Las Vegas, L.A. to Zuruch, Zurich to Toronto in a week, so he's keeping busy! And Anneli is rapidly becoming much more fluent in German.
Dara and I are just back from recording a show in Virginia, a 'battlefield state', where - if the lawn signs we counted are a predictor - Trump will just win ahead of Jesus Christ, with Hilary far behind...

The photo is St Basil's in Red Square, Moscow........haven't got any photos of me in St Petersburg!

Anyone else having trouble blogging? I was unable to write anything to accompany my photo.
Anyway, I was very impressed with Russia.......the cathedrals and churches were mind blowing, and St Petersburg must be one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Russia

Congratulations!

Mrs Deputy-Head Wood.........well done, Gabi!

Tim Robinson B.A. (Hons)

Tim graduated this week in Kingston where he was awarded his degree (major in History, with a minor in Philosophy) by the Chancellor of Queens University. The event was full of good-natured pomp and ceremony and the day was cloudlessly perfect. Afterwards we caroused with some of his old housemates in Kingston and then drove on up to the cottage to recover!

Happy 100th!

I close my eyes and I see you, and I will always see you.  And so will Dara.  And so will Pip.  And so will Timmy.  And so will their kids, because they will tell tales of their Poppa Jim to the generations to come, as they sit on the banks of some river, with the fresh breeze on their cheeks, the tang of a deep pool on a lively river, the flash of multicolours as a kingfisher flies by, rods in hand beside a swirling torrent just coming off a flood, and with a good hour of daylight left before the end of a perfect late summer’s day...

Happy 100th birthday Father - we will all be raising glasses to you tonight and telling happy tales.

100 years old today!

Happy Birthday, Pop........still miss you every day.  xxxxxxx    Bev

Swiss Family Robinson

The hills were alive with the sound of Robinsons last week... We had a wonderful time with Pip & Anneli in Zurich. They have a wonderful place on the top floor of a building just a few minutes uphill from Old Town Zurich...and we do mean UPhill! Their views are breathtaking over the city, the lake and the mountains beyond. They are both thriving and really enjoying being in the heart of Europe. Pip's job is going well in the nearby city of Zug and Anneli is doing some part time English teaching with a local family. We explored Zurich together (bottom pic), ascended to the Top of Europe at Jungfraujoch (middle pic) and did a wonderful hike in the hills high above Lake Lucerne (top pic). They have promised to post a few more pix soon, so we won't steal any more of their thunder, other than to say we had such a good time!
Next big event: we are off to Tim's Graduation on Thursday in Kingston. He's currently back home with Maddy with both of them working to save up some loot for their planned Big Trip to Europe later this year.
One last thought: this Wednesday will be Jim's Centenary - I think he'd be very happy to see how his global family is progressing...We'll be raising a glass or two in his honour of course!

We made it!

Just back from Bhutan......a very lovely country. At the Paro festival the King of Bhutan actually said Good Morning to us......perfect English, like everyone else in this amazing country. The highlight was, of course, managing to climb to the Tigers Nest monastery........a wonderful experience which tested our hiking skills to the limit! I don't ever remember being quite so exhausted but it was more than worth   

the pain!

Glad your trip went well, C and D.......sounds awesome.

Love to everyone     Xxxxxxxx

Bright Angel Trail, Grand Canyon

Just back from a 5,000 km road trip to 13 National Parks and Monuments from San Francisco to Albuquerque: Muir Woods, Golden Gate, Presidio, Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, Death Valley, Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, El Morro, El Malpais, White Sands and Carlsbad Caverns. Simply breathtaking! 
The highlight was a full day hike on the Bright Angel Trail from the rim of the Grand Canyon at 7,000 feet down to 3,000 feet over 10 miles of switchbacks, tunnels and cliff-hugging trail - awesome!

Winter Wonderland at the Cottage

This past weekend was the perfect mix of sun and snow at the cottage! Lovely to hear of Pete & Paul's adventures in the South Pacific and excited for Bev & Owain's trip to the Himalaya.
Love Chip & Dara

HAPPY NEW YEAR ONE AND ALL!

Love to all the family far and wide, from the Singapore Slingers + 1    xxxx