Ready, Set...

   Hello friends! We were at a restaurant recently where all the staff greeted us with "Hello friends!" so I've decided my New Years resolution would be to steal someone else's greeting and, there, I've done it. Success. First time in years I've actually accomplished one of these things. I can't wait for next year.

  It's been six weeks since my last missive and, since we're gearing up to hit the figurative road again, I thought this would be a good time to wake you all up with some, more or less, coherent ramblings now that the somnambulistic effects of a week's worth of turkey have worn off. 

  We've spent the past five weeks at Jen's and we've enjoyed the holidays with the fam and seeing all our friends as much as we can while we're here. I've also become addicted to the Great British Baking Show and have taken to baking bread, only three years after everyone else took it up during COVID. Better late than never, I say. I may get more involved in baking more complex things now that I know the difference between puff pastry and rough puff pastry and short crust pastry and hot water pastry and phyllo pastry... I'm already exhausted and the flour's still in the cupboard. Maybe later.

  It's finally turned cold here in balmy Southern Ontario. This morning we woke up to -15C which is loads better than the -35C people are dealing with in Canada's west. Now, -15C isn't crazy cold as winter temps go but, after a month of mostly above zero, it certainly feels cold! The nice thing about it being cold is we finally get to see the sun. I think I could count the number of sunny days we've seen since returning home on one hand and I don't think I'd have to use my thumb either.

  Two weeks from tomorrow we hie ourselves off to the nether regions of Toronto's Pearson Airport so we can trust ourselves, and baggage, to Air Canada's capable(ish) hands and wing our way to Athens.

  We have a month-long house sit booked near Paphos, Cyprus (the Greek side) starting Feb. 4 so Jan. 30 sees us take off for a couple of days in Athens then off to the eastern Med on the 3rd. It's our first overseas sit assignment after touring North America last year. Also, it's the first one where the homeowners are supplying a car for our use. Without a car we're limited to assignments close to a transit hub which significantly reduces our  opportunities.

  At the end of the sit we have another nine days in Greece which we have yet to plan. There's some embryonic ideas of going to Meteora to climb up to a monastery or two as well as Vergina to see the recently reconstructed Palace of Aigai where Alexander The Great was crowned 2,400 years ago. We're also talking of touring the Pelopponese Peninsula, the home of ancient Sparta and maybe hitting a Greek island or two. Stay tuned as weather will play a large part in our decisions.

  We return to Toronto March 13 and we'll hang out at Jen's (again) but only for two weeks as we have another month-long sit booked for coastal Virginia in April. Following that we have another few days booked in Baltimore so I can add two more baseball parks to my list when the Jays visit Washington and Philadelphia in early May. After that trip the only MLB parks left to hit are Tampa, Miami, Atlanta, Houston, Denver, San Diego, LA Dodgers and NY Mets.

  Our Spring house sitting schedule concludes with two weeks sitting for son David and his wife Sarah, who will be off with near two year-old Nora in Norway for a wedding then a week in England. Following that, our plan is to stay in the Toronto area until Thanksgiving when we hit the road once again. We don't figure to stay with Jen through the summer as we think she'll have had enough of the old folks by the time June rolls around. We'll figure something out.

  That's about it for now. Stay tuned for when we set off for the wild blue yonder Jan. 30 and I'll return to being your intrepid blogging house sitter. Until then, find a spot in front of the fire and grab a glass of the good stuff. I've got some Costco tequila I'll be breaking out to keep me warm.

Cheers!