There and back again

The day after coming back to Victoria I received a phone call informing me that my beloved Grandad (pictured, with me and Maya, in the previous post) has passed away. It wasn't really unexpected - he had been in the hospital for over a week - and there was definitely a few indications that it was his time ... but of course there was still some sadness in hearing the news. I stayed in Victoria until Wednesday morning, and then flew back to Ontario so that I could be with my family for the wake and the funeral. It was wonderful to get to spend some more time with them, as always, and the service in celebration of Grandad's life went very well and smoothly. I love that he can finally breathe with ease. Nanna is thankfully doing well, and is nicely settling into a retirement residence (as is Gruffy, her cat :)).
As a side note - there's nothing quite like a fire to put one into a musing mode. That and the hottub ... I won't lie: they are two of the reasons I enjoy being home :) I flew back to Victoria on the Friday evening (the 11th) ... and was a bit glad to think I wouldn't be on an airplane again for a while. Since I got back my days have been an interesting mix of church-related things, work, school, and hockey, with a bit of other sport mixed in. I've been busy, but am working on more properly scheduling my time, because I definitely waste a bit too much of it ... and yes, I've been convicted of it.

a new year

Wow, talk about lax. Anyway, I guess since the majority of people who ever read this blog are in Ontario, there wasn't much point in me writing while I was there. That's my excuse for not having posted in over a month. The last month of last year went by pretty quickly, me muchly enjoying being back home, getting to spend time with various family members (Sam included :)), and even getting some skiing in (thanks, Dad!), which is something I didn't get to do last year because of lack of snow. It was a relaxing time - after I got my paper done - and it was almost nice to have a break from playing so much hockey ;)
It was great to be able to participate in a couple of advent services, and I actually didn't find that I'd lost my lip too much when it came to playing baritone in the S.A. band. Christmas Eve was a special time, as usual, and Christmas morning it was nice to once again be able to head over to Parkview and play carols for the residents as they opened their gifts. Then Dad and I graced Luke, Anne, Maya, and Everest with our presence for a nice Christmas Day visit. In the week following Christmas there were some lovely get-togethers and dinners and the weather was never such that it made driving very dangerous.
So yeah, a lovely vacation, and I came back to Victoria on January 5th ...