Toronto
December 2009
Another year-end, another festive season, another opportunity to greet friends and family.
GREETINGS!
We've had another busy year here. In January I went off to my usual winter working meeting of the ABACyberspace Law Committee, this time in Santa Clara, California. I was able to take the opportunity of going across the Santa Cruz to visit Toronto neighbours on sabbatical there and an old friend from undergraduate days who is also in SC. Nice place.
The next week I flew off to The Hague for a conference on international authentication of legal documents. Lynn joined me for a few days of Dutch tourism, including a lovely weekend in Amsterdam. We are great fans of the city and the wonderful bicycles, which we are starting to see on Toronto streets as well.
Other ABA meetings were held in Vancouver and Chicago. The former opened the new Convention Centre overlooking Coal Harbour. We had spectacular weather. I took an early-morning seaplane flight out of Coal Harbour to the Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island, which picked up a couple of passengers and took the (very) scenic route back in time for the day of meetings
The latter gave Lynn her first look at Chicago. Again we rented bicycles to see the sights, including a stop-off at the outdoor dancing class, which gave a couple of hundred people - including us - the chance to dance to live music in a park by the lake.
This was the hundredth anniversary of John's family acquiring their cottage on Lake Huron, for which a small party was held. The whole family toasted our (great/great-)grandfather who had the foresight to buy in in 1909.
My other activity for much of the year was leading the development of the annual meeting of the Couchiching Conference, this summer on the the Global Politics of Food. . As usual at Couch, the combination of expert speakers, knowledgeable participants and fabulous summer surroundings produced a memorable event.
Lynn had an opportunity this fall to teach English composition at Centennial College, a task she much enjoyed despite its heavy workload of preparation and marking and despite the long commute to Scarborough for her 8:30 a.m. Monday start. She is looking forward to a repeat in the winter term. She also volunteered at New Circles, providing used clothes, including fancy ones, to those in need.
Liam went off to University of Waterloo in software engineering. He's finding it a challenge, especially since he had a hard bout of H1N1 flu in October that put him on his back for two weeks. Fortunately he has a lot of family support in Kitchener/Waterloo to keep him fed and medicated.
Eve transferred to Jarvis Collegiate for her final year of secondary school, where she is enjoying the work and finding time for the cheerleading squad as well. Decisions are due but not yet made for her destination next autumn.
Lynn and I celebrated the 20th anniversary of the merger of our spice collections (January) and the making it legal (October). Just a start ...but a good one!
P.S. Not so much luck inserting thumbnails this year. Photos of some of the highlights are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/euclidca/sets/72157622869360935/ and a live-link version of the letter is at www.euclid.ca/xmasletter2009.html.