We have arrived in Ellenton, Florida

We finally made it to Ellenton, Florida (which is near Bradenton, and south of Tampa), after our nice visit with Linda (and Caitlin). Traffic was very bad in Georgia - a 70 minute trip took us over 5 hours. We had some major issues with the place that we were originally booked in to, but our agent moved us to another unit which we are very happy with.

Since arriving on Sunday, as well as lots of unpacking, cleaning then packing and moving and unpacking again, we have been to a cocktail party with Lori's friend from line dancing, and went to the New Years Eve party, which actually lasted past midnight. Everyone is very friendly, and there are lots of activities here, and I expect to join the pool, computer club etc.

I will be getting hi speed internet and cable TV hookup on Saturday, so until then I am using the wi-fi in the Community Hall, with the exercise class going on as I type now (very scenic). I will also get phone hookup with unlimited long distance (only in America), so we will be better able to keep in touch with you all.

Will post more photos when I get connected.

Happy New Year to the Crawford and Storey clans!

Christmas Day, 2007

Lori and I had a most enjoyable Christmas Day dinner with Colin, Lynda, Martin and Alison at the Waring House Inn, (which also has a winery and Cookery school). The Inn is located near Picton, just south of Belleville, about 3 hours from our cottage.

After dinner, Colin, Martin and Lori played their guitars and gave us a most enjoyable concert of Christmas and folk music.

Today, Boxing Day, we crossed the border at about noon, and have made it as far as Wilkes-Barre in Pennsylvania, where we are staying at a nice Hilton Garden Inn.

The last week or so has been hectic with all the packing, moving and unpacking for our move from Ottawa, and then packing again for 4 months away in Florida. If our car had gills, it would certainly be packed right up to them.

My next post will be after we arrive in Florida and get (hopefully soon after that) high speed Internet access.

Best wishes to all our family for the New Year, and now that I am retired, we hope to see more of you all in this coming year.

5 Days to Go

And I am so looking forward to my "retirement". This will allow me more time to travel, visit my family and do more project management training.

I also am in discussions with an ex colleague to do some consulting in the New York area in January, which I am excited about. It will involve helping them to develop their project management methodology, Program Management Office and project management training, all up my street.

Finally, some more seasonal pictures from the family archives . . .

!4 Days to Go

Like Cher, I am ready for my second retirement, with maybe a few more to go after this.

After almost three years, I am ending my current contract on Dec 14th, which means there are only 14 more working days left. It has been a good assignment, and Lori and I have enjoyed Ottawa, but I want to retire while I am still healthy and able to travel and visit our family scattered around North America.

I am also planning another project management course which I think will be in higher demand than my current course. It will be on "Why Projects Fail" and based on the feedback I get from my courses, almost every project seems to be having problems. I have developed a neat Project Health Check" tool to diagnose the problem areas in a project that I think will fit well in the course.

So I will not be in full retirement mode, but Lori and I will still be able to travel and spend our winters in Florida or some other sunny location, go on cruises in Europe and visit friends in New Zealand and England.

I have no pictures to go with this post, so will include this one of a very cute little boy and his even cuter big sister. No prizes for guessing who they are.

And in case my little brother gets jealous, I am including a cute prized photo of him also. Who knew that England had its own Wild West (Bristol)!

Baby Pictures - Round 1

Whilst others may exploit their children for blog material, like some cartoonists (For Better or Worse, so to speak), I have always resisted the temptation to sink to such low depths. However, after going over two miserable weeks with no news to post, I am embarrassed to say that I have finally succumbed and am posting some baby pictures.

To protect the innocent, I will not put names to them, but Lori has provided the captions and you know who you are (as probably also do those closest to you).

Trick or Treat

One Foot Out

Togetherness

I Love Pasketti

I Love Pasketti Too

As you can guess from the title of this post, there are plenty more cute baby pictures where these came from, so you have been warned.

Dinner with Martin

This evening Lori and I met up with Martin, who is spending a couple of days in Ottawa. We went to a really nice French restaurant for dinner near our condo, called Le Panache. Afterwards we went back to the condo and Martin showed us pictures from his trip to New Zealand.

He is an excellent photographer and his pictures of the flora and fauna and scenery of New Zealand were awesome. You can see these pictures on his blog (link added to the "Family Blogs" section).

Back to the Farm

I went back to the Ottawa Experimental Farm and Arboretum today, to see if I could see the lady painter with the bike again and give her an autographed copy of her photo, but she was not there - it was a bit cold to be painting. I also wanted to see the Photo Exhibition of Trees by Richard Hinchcliff that ended today. It must have taken a lot of skill, patience and perseverance to get such beautiful pictures.

I cannot hope to match his expertise, and the day was kind of dull and grey, but above are my attempts.