It was another action packed year for the Stones’. January and February were rather quiet and uneventful. In March, the Pipe Band travelled to Boston to take part in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. We marched the six miles without much incident although the Drum Major damaged himself with the mace near the end. We had to wait about an hour before we set off and it was at that time it began to snow. Suffice to say that tropical dress is not particularly helpful, even if it is Scottish.
The day before we left Ptolemy Xavier, a ruby Cavalier King Charles Spaniel arrived from the UK. This little bundle soon took over the household and everyone in it. He is quite a jumper and quite routinely surmounts objects 3 feet high or more. The other animals have grown up, although Matthias is still quite a small cat at 10 pounds. Artemis looks big, but is mostly fluff.
At the end of April I was off again, this time to Adelaide in Australia. The Regiment band was playing in the South Australia Police Tattoo. It was a great experience and I made a few friends along the way. The travelling however was not so pleasant as it took in the region of 40-42 hours, 12 time zones, loss of a day (the 25th April 2008 did not exist for me and the 6th May happened twice). All in all it was a long way to travel for 8 days, but the experience was well worth it.
June saw another short visit to New York. This time we stayed on 55th St, the Shoreham, which was very nice indeed. We, as usual took in a few Broadway Shows including, Gypsy, Xanadu, Curtains and In the Heights, which had won the Tony award the week before. In the Heights is a very good show. We also met up with Marisa’s friends Carrie and Peter and caught up with news.
On a more sombre note, Marisa’s grandmother Lucille (‘Cille) passed away and was buried at St. John’s cemetery in June. We were very glad that we were able to spend time with her at our wedding.
The summer was hot and humid as always and the days went by one after the other. We didn’t manage to accomplish a lot over the summer, but looking forward to our next vacation was certainly a motivating force. We had two God-children born during July and August. The first, Veronica and Pete’s daughter, Emilia was born on 13th July. The second was Saffron & George’s daughter, Tayla, born in South Africa on 9th August.
In September, for our anniversary, we travelled to Italy and spent time in Rome, Florence and Venice. Rome is an interesting city, with its many ancient buildings. We toured the Coliseum and the Vatican museum and Sistine Chapel during our time there. I also admit to becoming very partial to Italian cuisine. In Florence we took a cooking class, where groups of five people put together a meal and then ate it. The food was very good and it wasn’t just due to my prowess making gnocchi. We also visited the Ferregamo museum. I also spent too much time (and …….) on the Ponte Vecchio, the jewelry centre of Florence. We caught the number 2 bus to Fiesole a small town on the mountain above Florence, with spectacular views and an impressive Roman amphitheatre, which is still used today.
From Florence it was off to Venice, where we had to get used to some very different modes of transport. It feels strange getting off a train and onto a motor boat to take you to your hotel. In Venice we visited the Dome San Marco, the Doges Palace and Bridge of Sighs. The highlight for me was the trip out to the Venetian glass factories, where glass objects are blown and moulded by hand into the most intricate of patterns and designs. We also took the traditional Gondola ride through the canals.
After leaving Venice we travelled to London for a time, to take in a couple of shows (Zorro, the musical and Avenue Q). We also met Roz and Alan for dinner with Josue and Kerry. The following day we travelled down to Dover and visited Dover College. Unfortunately everyone was out on a charity walk, but I did manage to catch Mr (Rupert) Hill who gave us the ok to look around. Then we caught the train to Walmer to visit Leo Forsdyke. We sat in his living room for ages catching up and then he took us to lunch at a favourite pub, The Hare and Hounds. Unfortunately we were unable to stay as long as we had wanted as we had to get back to London for Zorro. However, I have pledged to myself to not wait another 15 years and will probably attempt a longer visit next time I am over there.
Other than as spectators we have not really been involved with much theatre this year as previously. However, we did take in the Bermuda performance of the Full Monty. It also appears that we will be involved in the pantomime which begins in early December. Also in October I received my Efficiency Medal for 12 years service in the Bermuda Regiment.
My business appears to be rolling along quite nicely and it seems as I will have enough work to get us through the current financial slump, but only time will tell.
I wish everyone a very Happy and prosperous Christmas season and wish good health and happiness for the New Year
Showing posts with label Christmas Letters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas Letters. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Monday, December 31, 2007
Christmas 2007 Letter
It has been a very eventful year for us, with some highs and very low lows. We flew to the UK in January for a quick visit in order to attend the wedding of one of my university friends, Roz Harvey who married one Alan Sermons. The wedding took place at a small church in Hemel Hempstead. It was great to see the people there, some of whom I hadn’t spoken to in about 12 years.
I also decided to resign and leave my job of 12 years at BAC to pursue an opportunity made available to me to become my own boss. It was something that I felt that I was unable to give up and so I left BAC on 15th February. It took a couple of months to set things up and get established, but I am now able to keep a steady flow of work in and out, with quite a few major projects on the horizon.
In mid-February, we added a little dog to our menagerie, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Deaglan Balthazaar. He was a happy little fellow, always wagging his tail and loved everyone he met. Unfortunately, after we had had him for about three weeks, he started to show signs of disorientation and confusion. He was diagnosed with a porto-systemic shunt of the liver, but despite many visits to the vet we were unable to fix him as the problem was found to be untreatable during exploratory surgery. We also lost Loreley to an attack, we think from a feral cat in the area a week before Deaglan, so it was a very sad time for us both.
We have recovered from our losses however, and have acquired another cat, who is all white this time, named Artemis Penelope, who like her first name implies is the goddess of hunting – anything and everything. Despite her rather rotund demeanour, she is very active. In October Bronwyn Anastacia arrived on British Airways from England, another Cavalier, and she is fitting very well into the family. She and Artemis spend many hours running around the house and garden. Mathias is well, but tends to be more sedate these days.
In April, a contingent from Bermuda travelled to Virginia to celebrate the 400th Anniversary of the colonisation of Jamestown (1607). The Bermuda Regiment Band and Bermuda Islands Pipe Band played for the Virginia International Tattoo in Norfolk. It was an exhausting visit with not a lot of down time and seven shows crammed into 4 days, with rehearsals for about 4 days before that, private engagements and the like. We rushed from one place to another and even changed uniforms part way through the show. Unfortunately, we never got to Jamestown.
Another trip to the UK in May for Brendan’s wedding to Suzie at a little church overlooking the North Sea in East Anglia. It was a rather chilly day with a NE breeze, but my father, Pete and myself still managed to wear Bermuda shorts as is customary. Brendan wasn’t so brave and settled for a more traditional English look. The day following, Marisa and I travelled to Dublin, Ireland and spent a week driving, bicycling and exploring Dublin and its environs. We drove up into Wicklow and Valleymount where my grandfather was from. It is a reservoir now of course, but the hill tops are probably quite similar. We also made contact with our Irish cousins and had dinner on our last evening with Dermot and his three children, Hugh, Alexandra and Rory at Thalius and Alexandra’s house. On our way back through London we met Roz and Alan for tea at the Savoy and saw Wicked for the second time.
The summer began and Marisa began rehearsals for Dreamgirls in July. The show opened in early October and I was tricked into becoming the crew boss. The stage manager was borrowed from the West End in London and did his utmost to make himself thoroughly unpopular with the crew. Unfortunately when you are working with volunteers you can’t treat them the way you do employees, and especially not in Bermuda. The show went very well and by the weekend of the first week was completely sold out.
In late September, we jetted off to Boston for our anniversary and had an enjoyable time seeing the sights and traveling around Marisa’s old post-graduate stomping ground. We even visited Babson College and met some of Marisa’s former colleagues in the Admin offices. For our anniversary evening, we took a gondola ride on the Charles River, complete with champagne and a basket of cheese and biscuits.
More recently, we travelled to New York to see the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes Christmas Show, which was absolutely fabulous and also a Chorus Line on Broadway. Fortunately, the stagehands strike was over. Marisa and I went ice skating at Bryant Park. Marisa did very well for her first time, in fact she looked like a pro at the end. I was still trying to find my balance. We also went for a walking photograph tour with a local guide who had us stand in the middle of the road in Times Square for photos, a walk through Central Park and on the Brooklyn Bridge, ending up at Rockerfeller Center.
All in all, it has been an eventful year. We have a general election coming up next week and then it’s full speed ahead into the Christmas and New Year season. We wish you all the very best for a Happy and prosperous 2008.
I also decided to resign and leave my job of 12 years at BAC to pursue an opportunity made available to me to become my own boss. It was something that I felt that I was unable to give up and so I left BAC on 15th February. It took a couple of months to set things up and get established, but I am now able to keep a steady flow of work in and out, with quite a few major projects on the horizon.
In mid-February, we added a little dog to our menagerie, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Deaglan Balthazaar. He was a happy little fellow, always wagging his tail and loved everyone he met. Unfortunately, after we had had him for about three weeks, he started to show signs of disorientation and confusion. He was diagnosed with a porto-systemic shunt of the liver, but despite many visits to the vet we were unable to fix him as the problem was found to be untreatable during exploratory surgery. We also lost Loreley to an attack, we think from a feral cat in the area a week before Deaglan, so it was a very sad time for us both.
We have recovered from our losses however, and have acquired another cat, who is all white this time, named Artemis Penelope, who like her first name implies is the goddess of hunting – anything and everything. Despite her rather rotund demeanour, she is very active. In October Bronwyn Anastacia arrived on British Airways from England, another Cavalier, and she is fitting very well into the family. She and Artemis spend many hours running around the house and garden. Mathias is well, but tends to be more sedate these days.
In April, a contingent from Bermuda travelled to Virginia to celebrate the 400th Anniversary of the colonisation of Jamestown (1607). The Bermuda Regiment Band and Bermuda Islands Pipe Band played for the Virginia International Tattoo in Norfolk. It was an exhausting visit with not a lot of down time and seven shows crammed into 4 days, with rehearsals for about 4 days before that, private engagements and the like. We rushed from one place to another and even changed uniforms part way through the show. Unfortunately, we never got to Jamestown.
Another trip to the UK in May for Brendan’s wedding to Suzie at a little church overlooking the North Sea in East Anglia. It was a rather chilly day with a NE breeze, but my father, Pete and myself still managed to wear Bermuda shorts as is customary. Brendan wasn’t so brave and settled for a more traditional English look. The day following, Marisa and I travelled to Dublin, Ireland and spent a week driving, bicycling and exploring Dublin and its environs. We drove up into Wicklow and Valleymount where my grandfather was from. It is a reservoir now of course, but the hill tops are probably quite similar. We also made contact with our Irish cousins and had dinner on our last evening with Dermot and his three children, Hugh, Alexandra and Rory at Thalius and Alexandra’s house. On our way back through London we met Roz and Alan for tea at the Savoy and saw Wicked for the second time.
The summer began and Marisa began rehearsals for Dreamgirls in July. The show opened in early October and I was tricked into becoming the crew boss. The stage manager was borrowed from the West End in London and did his utmost to make himself thoroughly unpopular with the crew. Unfortunately when you are working with volunteers you can’t treat them the way you do employees, and especially not in Bermuda. The show went very well and by the weekend of the first week was completely sold out.
In late September, we jetted off to Boston for our anniversary and had an enjoyable time seeing the sights and traveling around Marisa’s old post-graduate stomping ground. We even visited Babson College and met some of Marisa’s former colleagues in the Admin offices. For our anniversary evening, we took a gondola ride on the Charles River, complete with champagne and a basket of cheese and biscuits.
More recently, we travelled to New York to see the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes Christmas Show, which was absolutely fabulous and also a Chorus Line on Broadway. Fortunately, the stagehands strike was over. Marisa and I went ice skating at Bryant Park. Marisa did very well for her first time, in fact she looked like a pro at the end. I was still trying to find my balance. We also went for a walking photograph tour with a local guide who had us stand in the middle of the road in Times Square for photos, a walk through Central Park and on the Brooklyn Bridge, ending up at Rockerfeller Center.
All in all, it has been an eventful year. We have a general election coming up next week and then it’s full speed ahead into the Christmas and New Year season. We wish you all the very best for a Happy and prosperous 2008.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Christmas Letter 2006
Hello! We cannot believe that a year has passed so quickly. Well, it has been another very eventful one. We include an overview of what we have been up to in 2006:
The Regiment went to Jamaica in February and Aidan was forced to endure another two weeks in the heat with the mosquitoes. Fortunately, they were up in the mountains and the temperatures were not so bad (eighties instead of nineties) Whilst there they did a bout of river rafting as well, which was rather exciting, especially the rapids. The last three nights were spent at a rather nice resort in Montego Bay.
Aidan accompanied Marisa to her 10th College reunion at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia in May and was introduced to some of her old friends from College. Spelman has a very picturesque campus on the eastern side of Atlanta. We also visited the new Georgia Aquarium, which is absolutely superb. The highlight was seeing the Whale sharks in the enormous central tank built especially for them. They were only small though, about 15 feet in length. They will eventually grow to approximately 30 feet. One of the exhibits is a tunnel, where you walk underneath the large tank with all of the fish around and above you, just like walking on the ocean floor.
Musically, Aidan began his “professional” singing career at a couple of funerals. He has also been involved in several concerts with his clarinet, accompanying the St. John’s Youth Choir and a chamber concert with the Bermuda School of Music which included such works as Haydn’s Missa Sainte Nicolai. The bagpipes are also going well. He even has a student who is progressing quite nicely. Aidan hopes to have him ready for the next summer season.
Marisa is technically in the home stretch of her doctoral work with 5 classes to go in 2007. She completed her final residency in Atlanta and has identified "Knowledge Retention in Bermudian Knowledge-Based Organizations" as her dissertation topic. She cut back on dance classes in 2006 but continues to teach Highland Dancing and a Bellydancing course. Unfortunately, she has not been on stage (or backstage) all year!
Of course, the biggest change this year was that we were married on 22nd September. The ceremony went off very well, with everyone remembering what to do. Both the Regiment and Pipe bands played for our reception, along with Marisa’s highland dancers and belly dancers. We danced a choreographed piece to “One” from 'A Chorus Line' which was fun. Everyone appeared to have a great time. Video of most of the performances are on our website.
For our honeymoon, we took a canal cruise across Europe, starting in Budapest in Hungary and continuing through such places as Bratislava, Slovakia; Vienna, Durnstein, and Salzburg, Austria; Nuremburg, Bamberg, Wurzburg, Miltenberg, Rudesheim and Cologne in Germany and ending up in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We traveled along the Danube, Main and Rhine rivers and the intersecting canals. We would strongly recommend this voyage to anyone wishing a two week relaxing vacation. All of our pictures are available on www.marisaandaidan.com
Now we are back and settling in to “real” life again. We have adopted two kittens from the local SPCA, who busily try to get themselves into trouble on a daily basis. The gardens are shaping up and everything appears to be going well. We have moved into our new home and the weekend projects never seem to end.
We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and prosperous New Year, 2007.
The Regiment went to Jamaica in February and Aidan was forced to endure another two weeks in the heat with the mosquitoes. Fortunately, they were up in the mountains and the temperatures were not so bad (eighties instead of nineties) Whilst there they did a bout of river rafting as well, which was rather exciting, especially the rapids. The last three nights were spent at a rather nice resort in Montego Bay.
Aidan accompanied Marisa to her 10th College reunion at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia in May and was introduced to some of her old friends from College. Spelman has a very picturesque campus on the eastern side of Atlanta. We also visited the new Georgia Aquarium, which is absolutely superb. The highlight was seeing the Whale sharks in the enormous central tank built especially for them. They were only small though, about 15 feet in length. They will eventually grow to approximately 30 feet. One of the exhibits is a tunnel, where you walk underneath the large tank with all of the fish around and above you, just like walking on the ocean floor.
Musically, Aidan began his “professional” singing career at a couple of funerals. He has also been involved in several concerts with his clarinet, accompanying the St. John’s Youth Choir and a chamber concert with the Bermuda School of Music which included such works as Haydn’s Missa Sainte Nicolai. The bagpipes are also going well. He even has a student who is progressing quite nicely. Aidan hopes to have him ready for the next summer season.
Marisa is technically in the home stretch of her doctoral work with 5 classes to go in 2007. She completed her final residency in Atlanta and has identified "Knowledge Retention in Bermudian Knowledge-Based Organizations" as her dissertation topic. She cut back on dance classes in 2006 but continues to teach Highland Dancing and a Bellydancing course. Unfortunately, she has not been on stage (or backstage) all year!
Of course, the biggest change this year was that we were married on 22nd September. The ceremony went off very well, with everyone remembering what to do. Both the Regiment and Pipe bands played for our reception, along with Marisa’s highland dancers and belly dancers. We danced a choreographed piece to “One” from 'A Chorus Line' which was fun. Everyone appeared to have a great time. Video of most of the performances are on our website.
For our honeymoon, we took a canal cruise across Europe, starting in Budapest in Hungary and continuing through such places as Bratislava, Slovakia; Vienna, Durnstein, and Salzburg, Austria; Nuremburg, Bamberg, Wurzburg, Miltenberg, Rudesheim and Cologne in Germany and ending up in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We traveled along the Danube, Main and Rhine rivers and the intersecting canals. We would strongly recommend this voyage to anyone wishing a two week relaxing vacation. All of our pictures are available on www.marisaandaidan.com
Now we are back and settling in to “real” life again. We have adopted two kittens from the local SPCA, who busily try to get themselves into trouble on a daily basis. The gardens are shaping up and everything appears to be going well. We have moved into our new home and the weekend projects never seem to end.
We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and prosperous New Year, 2007.
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