
In February, Mike & I went to Costa Rica, both the beach (Tamarindo), and the interior. Mike learned to surf, and we went zip-lining for the first time (they're not big on allowing cameras that high, but rest assured, we had a blast). Trekked around mountains and volcanoes, through jungle and forest. Amazing time, truly! We're hoping to get back soon, maybe November.
The marina where we stored our boat closed in May as the city of Hamilton really wants to re-purpose the land, so we had to get our boat to its new home. While we had it all painted and ready to go in good order, it took the marina owner quite some time before he managed to get the boat in the water. The city had deemed his forklift and crane unsafe, leaving many boats high and dry while the city kept issuing eviction notices. Luckily, our boat got in just before that nonsense, so at least we weren't stuck on land. We did have to wait to get our motor fixed and running, but at least the boat sat in the water by then. Anyway, we eventually had everything together, and sailed off to our new marina, about an hour and a half sailing away (only about an extra 15 minutes drive time, but then, that's the nature of sailing). That comprised our biggest sailing adventure this year, given some nasty summer colds that lasted a couple of weeks, rainy days, and other medical emergencies.
In May, Mike's mom had a bad fall, broke her leg and wrist, and spent the next couple of months in hospital recovering. That saw many trips to and from Peterborough as Mike (and sometime me) helped his brother and sister look after their parents, and keep his dad sane in the upheaval. After much debate and searching (soul searching as well as physically looking), the parents have found a temporary home in a lovely retirement home that offers exceptional physiotherapy for mom, and three spectacular meals a day for both (and any visitors), and they moved in almost two months ago. We'll revisit things in the spring, so that they don't have to worry about trying to drive the back roads that would get them to their house in the middle of winter.
