T’is the season and the Christmas letters from far away friends have been arriving, by email these days although it is a delightful surprise to also find cards in the “real” mailbox. I’ve always loved reading Christmas letters and hearing the year’s precis, particularly from people I don’t hear from (and vice versa) at other times of the year. I love the idea of catching up, and following the family’s lives from afar.

I’ve never done it myself but I have been thinking back on the year now passing and what I would put in or leave out. So here goes, a trial run. My First Annual (maybe) Christmas Letter…

We spent much of 2013, enjoying our home on Vancouver Island and continuing to create the garden. Summer was spent on terra firma for the second year in a row, as events conspired to wreck our sailing season once again. For much of the spring and summer I was a full-time gardener and loved every minute of it. While the time at home was relaxing, it was also a year for quite a bit of travel; all told we spent about six weeks exploring.

In January, a year and a half after leaving Manila, we broke our no-fly zone and returned to Asia to spend three weeks in Burma, where we had not yet been, and a few days in Hong Kong. While visiting Burma/Myanmar, now in a period of such transition, was fascinating, it was also the most difficult trip I’ve ever been on, hard on me physically and emotionally. But I’m glad I went. I also enjoyed our time in Hong Kong, a city I had only know previously as a transit lounge in the airport.

In the spring we spent a long weekend on Salt Spring Island, the largest of the Gulf Islands and also had some city time in Vancouver in June. We made many day trips to other towns on Vancouver and the Gulf Islands, exploring local marinas, cideries, wineries, garden centers and nurseries as well as some of the many art and music festivals held in summer months in these parts. We also had some good visits with friends and family who came to stay for a few days in The Bunkie – lots of fun.

In October we went on a 10-day road trip to Portland, Oregon, stopping overnight in Port Townsend and Seattle on the way. Portland is now one of my favorite cities, way up there on a very short list. We rented a 2 storey, 2 bedroom apartment through Vacation Rentals By Owner in a large, newly renovated 3-storey Victorian in a great neighborhood. We were within walking distance to everywhere, and if you want to go beyond everywhere, there’s a great transit system. The restaurants are wonderful as are the Portland food carts – this is a town that takes good food with local ingredients very seriously. Craft beer is huge and both Oregon and Washington State are making some great wines.

I visited art and photography galleries in the Pearl District and stocked up in a couple of huge art supply and hand crafted paper stores. I also saw a thrilling exhibition of antique Samurai armor and costume at the Portland Art Museum. Portland is also the home of Powell’s, billed as the largest independent book store in the world, and if that isn’t bliss enough, just down the street is Everyday Music, also an enormous store where I spent hours, on 3 separate occasions, flipping through the racks of CD’s, finding all kinds of wonderful old stuff. Some of my findings were gems that once upon a time I had been looking long and hard for. Bought lots. When questioned by Customs on the way home we declared “used books, used CD’s and beer”. We visited the Japanese gardens in the hills above the city, which were glorious in this mid-October when the hundreds of Japanese maples were in full color. At night we ate and drank and popped into sidewalk clubs to listen to live jazz.

I also loved being in a place with so many young people, it has a great energy and real creativity. It also helped that we were hanging out with a couple of 20-somethings – #2 Son Mike up from the Solar Decathlon in California and his old friend from high school who had met up with him for a visit. Great fun and lots of laughter.

We did get out of the city one day to explore further. An easy hour and a half drive away is the Columbia River Gorge, with its stunning towering cliffs, waterfalls and … brewpubs.

I’m a city girl living in a small town, and my usual small town relaxed mode makes these visits to The Big City even more special and exciting. I look forward to a return visit to my new fave rave, Portland.

The Boys are both living in Ottawa. Steve is a carpenter who builds houses and had a year of big changes himself as he moved into a new townhouse with his girlfriend Kate. They also adopted a puppy, Rosie. I haven’t met Kate or Rosie yet, but I trust that 2014 will take care of that.

Mike defines the word “busy”. He works for the federal government on a project to build a new scientific research station in the far north at Cambridge Bay, a challenge no doubt for his practice of environmental and sustainable engineering. He also is working on his Master’s part-time and is involved in many other projects, including the just-completed Solar Decathlon.

It was a great year and I look forward to a wonderful 2014 and more travels to come, (we’re talking about the next big thing) as well as continuing to enjoy this geography we’ve landed on.

Thanks for all the best wishes, notes and Christmas letters. To all my friends and family, and to their friends and families who check in here, and to those of other degrees of separation, all the very best for this holiday season.

Love, as ever, Jeannie