Ken & Bev
2021 – From Our Point of View
Our second Pandemic Christmas is looking a little brighter with us being vaccinated. Ken & I are fortunate to be able to get our booster shots today, too. It seems like Covid 19 has dominated every conversation or it sneaks into every one. So that being said, I am done with it. In spite of the year Ken & I have enjoyed many mini holidays in Manitoba. Some were work related trips but we usually managed to do a hike, or just enjoy the scenery of a new location. We have been involved in a few new Heritage work related projects this year, some volunteer, and again have met some new people, always a joy. We sometimes have trouble distinguishing between work & play. We started keeping track of places we have visited and were surprised by how much we experienced. Our “Local Tourism” log is online here: http://www.virtualmanitoba.com/MB2021/index.html Ken also continues to work for the Turtle Mountain-Souris Plains Heritage Association on various projects. His latest project, the next booklet of the Vantage Points Series, came out in December. He was also quite involved with the Manitoba Heritage Summit. Aside from writing a report on Heritage Activity in our Province, he presented the findings, via zoom, at the Second Annual Heritage Summit in October. Some summer highlights. We were able to have our 23rd annual 3 day Storie Family gathering in Minnedosa with 41 attending. Jonah, Geoff, Ken, & I also enjoyed a week with Linda, Cynthia & family at Steep Rock. This was our 3rd year there. Ken & I rented a cabin at Sandy Hook for a week this summer, enjoyed a mini vacation at Hecla Island and enjoyed a night at our favorite Mb. B&B, Aaron’s on Lake Wpg., We stayed a night at the South Beach Casino hotel, another great hotel & location to visit the beaches. We made several day trips to our favourite lakes in Mb. and enjoyed many day hikes to our favourite trails. We even discovered a few new ones. We had to miss a very special cousins wedding due to C! But they were able to go ahead with it with immediate family. That was our only disappointment this year so we are very fortunate. Jonah has been with Canadian Tire over 7 years now. He walks a lot and on his days off he usually walks up to our place for a visit. I mean UP, as it is a good climb up the hill. It takes him about 1 3/4 hours. So I usually reward him & feed him a home cooked meal, lol ! Geoff met the love of his life during the Pandemic (oops, wasn’t going to mention it again). He, Kim, and her daughter, Abby, moved into a lovely new spacious apartment in Sage Creek Aug.1. He had been working from home with RBC since Mar 17/20. He was offered a similar position with CIBC only in-branch with an office again, close to home. He started on Nov 1. After 13 1/2 years with RBC it was a huge difficult decision but he’s happy he took the leap. Looking forward to Christmas Day at Cynthia’s with all of our family, Linda & Ron. Tim & Debbie are hosting a gathering Dec 28th so hoping to be in touch & catch a visit with the Stories that day. Ken was thrilled to be able to practice music again & his band has a booking for New Year’s Eve. He is hoping it is just the start - it has been a long time since he played. Maybe next year we can travel out of province to visit some special family members & friends. We’ve been lucky to have had a few visits over the year with some of them. We feel blessed and look forward to 2022! From our house to yours, Merry Christmas, wishing you good health and happiness in the New Year! |