The xmas cards are in the mail and some may have arrived already with no pictures included.    So in a quick attempt to share a bit of the family with you we've put a slide show or two on this blog.    We will do better next time, having spanned the learning curve.

We moved into the new house for sleeping purposes around the 15th of November as Linda had invited some surprise guest for Gary's 70th the next day.    Not everything is ready for comfortable occupancy, but we all had a wonderful time proving its who you're with and not the surroundings that really matter.

The house is getting a little redecorating including new kitchen appliances, counter tops, and an expanded deck.     The kitchen became a bigger problem than anticipated when we discovered the difficulties of installing an overhead exhaust system for the new range top to replace the old down draft system.   What started as a simple expansion of the deck and a resurfacing of the old area has turned into a complete rebuild.   And that landscaping project that we'd anticipated to be completed by Xmas will be delayed until spring after running into severe problems with a rather immature landscape architect.     But we are here, sleeping well and making snails progress daily.

I'm sure that daughter Nadean will kill me for her picture, because she never scowls and has a beautiful smile that lights up her face and those of those  around her, but this was the only one in our immediate stash.