First of all we want to wish all our friends and family a happy and healthy 2011 with lots of fulfilled wishes. May good adventures and close friendships create a year not to forget easy!
2010 Was an adventurous year for us but also there were some sad events that will not easy deleted from our memory. In May my aunt, the oldest sister of my mother and also my god aunt, died unexpectedly at the age of 92. Although she was staying in a caretaking place at the time, she was still very bright and interested what was going around in the world. The extra sad thing was that she died at the moment we were over in the US for a visit to Leslie’s mom. Luckily I was able to be back in Holland to arrange and attend her funeral.
Than one month later, when I was sailing off the coast of Devon in England, I got the message that Leslie’s mom died in peace after a long and happy life. Luckily Leslie was still in the US when it happened so she was able to be with her mom during the last hours of her life. I left the sailboat as soon as there was an opportunity to fly over to the US again for attending the funeral. After the funeral there was the unexpected pleasure of a real family gathering that already was planned before.
When it comes to traveling there were also lots of happy and memorial moments in 2010. At Easter we camped in the Belgian mountains. Although the weather was not good we enjoyed the warmth and cosines of our Tipi a lot. As already said, in May we went over to the US for a two weeks family visit and in June I went sailing with my friend along the Devon and Cornish South coast of England. The weather was magnificent for sailing and we visited many scenic little harbors during this trip.
In August I went climbing in Italy, France and Switzerland with a group of friends, mostly from my work. Our big goal was to climb the highest mountain of Western Europe, Mont Blanc. Unfortunately the weather was not cooperation when it needed to do so most so we did not reach Mont Blanc’s summit but some of our team did reach the summit of Gran Paradiso in Italy and at the last day of our trip the whole team of ten climbers reached the top of Breithorn (4267 meter) in the most beautiful weather.
Finally in November Leslie and I went back to the US for a combination of family stuff and a two weeks sailing adventure along the Georgian barrier islands. The weather, the scenery, the sailboat, the company during the weekend in Savannah and the wildlife was just all amazing and very rewarding. Weather-wise we got the biggest shock when we returned in the Netherlands. We wet from temperatures into the 70’s to temperatures into the 20’s with snow and ice! Luckily the memories and photo’s on our sailing trip (see photo above) kept us very thankful for the possibilities to experience it all!
Stay happy, healthy and……………in touch in 2011
Frans & Leslie
