roadquill1

March 15, 2013 (Actually, today is March 16, but the note was written yesterday.)

Dear family and friends,

This blog note was supposed to go out yesterday – hence the silliness about the date. However, today we found a Starbucks, and perhaps Noah’s sibling is still in the waiting room. (Too cryptic for you? Read on!)

Throughout the winter we dream of the sun and heat available in southwest US. This winter, however, as we watched the daytime temperatures of Arizona, we were shocked to see snow in Scottsdale. “Tough luck, Baby” we chortled from in front of our electric fireplaces as the mist and chill hung heavily over Vancouver Island. However, the Arizona weather picked up, and once again, we counted down the slow creep of days until our departure for the south.

Now we have arrived, and with our return, so has a blazing hot spell in the Yuma area. This makes it imperative to get our biking time in early in the morning, but I guess that this morning, we had not quite learned that lesson. By the time we had finished our first ride of season, the 16 km had melted off some of the hibernation poundage I had acquired – I hope! The temperatures are keeping us rather slow paced – well, stopped, actually – except for reading.

Our favourite used book store in Yuma had never heard of Jo Nesbø, (“there isn’t much demand for foreign writers”) our latest favourite writer! (Think ‘Steig Larson’! Thanks, Cindy and Karen!)

Many members of our Nanaimo family are now also “idling” in far off places – like Maui, and Mexico! Enjoy the break, all of you and don’t get burned in the rush to acquire a “healthy” tan. (Dr. Jenkins, the Nanaimo skin specialist would heartily dispute the word “healthy”!)

Meanwhile, the other side of the Island family is getting ready for other events, and are not quite so idle! Mother is getting ready to move into new residence, and is busy packing up and shedding accumulated treasures and furniture, while niece Katie, rather than being idle, longs for labour to bring forth a new member of our family! Hang in there Katie, and best wishes for a speedy delivery of Noah’s sibling!

I hope that decent weather is allowing those at home to enjoy some pre-spring days of sunshine and time outside before new growth erodes the idleness of winter.

Much love and best wishes to you all – et tu, Brute! (For all you Latin scholars, I hope that that is the correct ending for the “Vocative” case! Let me see…nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, vocative, ablative? Right?)

Tony, the Quill, and Sandy, the Quilter

From a California highway…a CHiP

And a…