Hi Everyone! First off let me say that Anne and I are well. We have moved into our new home, and found that our builder is not a builder, and the people he deployed to build our house were unskilled laborors (well, most of them - I think we had one master carpenter, but that's all that I can recognize. The builder has not provided any proof of any skilled workers). Every room has issues, and almost every installed component has been completed poorly. Anne and I will be performing recovery actions for at least the next year. Many of you [View Full Entry]

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I have had some trouble starting this entry. As I write, I watch the goat herders with their flock pass outside my window. I hear my neighbors’ roosters crowing. The sun is shining, yet there is snow on the not so distant Stara Planina ranges. The air is cool, and is mixed with the unmistakable smell of livestock and the sweet smoke of wood burning stoves. The bees are pollinating the beautiful cherry blossoms; I can hear their collective buzz outside my window. We arrived in the small village of Dzhulyunitsa outside Veliko Tarnovo about two weeks ago. This was our [View Full Entry]

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What does Bonnie mean anyhow? According to Google, the highest rated definition refers to a benchmark which measures the performance of Unix file system operations. Now I don't know about you, but I don't think the Unix filesystem has been around for as long as the Scottish dialect. This is just one of the many things that would confound me throughout our journey in Scotland. Luckily I have a better half that is more than capable of helping me out in this area whilst at the same time giving me the quizzical look of someone who has just been asked a [View Full Entry]

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Once again I need to be beaten for slacking off again in terms of Blog updates. Anne and I are still in Fernie, but sadly, today is our last day! Tomorrow we leave for 3 months in Scotland prior to heading to the Balkans. Fernie has been our home for the last 18 months, and whilst we are sad to go, we are excited about our next adventure. We have had a terrific time over the last 3 months since our last post. We took another jaunt into the 'wilderness' with Ian to Glacier National Park. A beautiful place, but alas [View Full Entry]

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Hi to all. It seems like it's been forever since we last made an update. Apologies to all who like to see what we are up to. We have had a lot of lazy summer days here. High temperatures for the last 2 months, but that's all about to change - Summer here lasts only about 2 months before cooler temperatures set in. Anne has continued to slave away at the Salvation Army, and both of us have been hitting the streets and trails with lots of miles to prepare for the Toronto Marathon. Anne will be walking the 1/2 marathon [View Full Entry]

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The last time I posted, Anne and I were happily skiing our asses off, and enjoying Christmas. Wow. That was a long time ago! Now it's Spring, and all the snow has disappeared from town, and is starting to leave the mountains. It's bittersweet, no more skiing, but now I get to start enjoying the beautiful trails again on my runs. Bitumen can get so boring. Also, I'd like to officially state that I now hate shoveling snow. It only takes one season here to thoroughly get that right out of my system. Even with our wonderful neighbor snow-blowing our driveway [View Full Entry]

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It's been a while, and apologies to all those that are using the blog to keep across our comings and goings. Truthfully, Anne and I have settled into our new routines nicely, with the pace of Fernie lifestyle exerting it's influence over the speed at which we accomplish activities. It's like our pace is as equally influenced by sub zero temperatures as are water molecules. It's above zero today, (1 degree), which brings me up to about typing speed, hence the blog update... :-) The season has been absolutely awesome. Local's say it's the best since 2000. (The one's that ski [View Full Entry]

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Anne and I have been busy as usual. Well, Anne has been slightly more busy than I. She has been doing heaps of charity works - either with the Salvation Army or wrapping gifts for underprivileged kids. In addition to this, she has also been preparing for the arrival of our very good friends Marc, Lena, and Marcella from Melbourne. They are swinging by for 10 days from their holiday's in the US. Oh, and Anne is also preparing for another of her terrific dinner parties. This time with 28 very close friends :-) What have I been doing? Well. As [View Full Entry]

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Anne and I have been relatively quiet over the last few weeks. Fernie is starting to ice over, although there has only been a single day when there has been any snow on the ground in town, in any great measure. Last week we received a few inches of snow. It happened to be the very day I sat for my BC Driving License. Visitors to Canada have only 6 months in which their foreign drivers license is valid. Owning a car also meant that insurance in invalid if your not legally licensed. So I had 6 months in which to [View Full Entry]

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After all that traveling, what could be better than being taken out for a 'stroll' into the mountains? We booted up, put the leads on the dogs and went for a 3.5 hour hike with Ian. We have been giving the dogs a liquid form of Glucosamine and Chondroitin, and that has helped dougall's leg immensely. Surprisingly she managed the hike with minimal soreness - not a great deal more tired than Otis. Hopefully she continues to improve, given the cold winter days here. Speaking of those, there has been no snow in town yet. Very disappointing. Although the locals are [View Full Entry]

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