September 16: Tehja is Nine

Hi there Tehja.

 

A Poem from Grandpa:

Oh me oh mine

Tehja is nine

Which is a sign

That she’ll soon want to dine

In a fashion that’s fine

But of course not with wine.

 

A Poem from Grandma:

 

In a place called Beaumont

On street sixty-five

Lives a lovely young girl

Who really knows how to dive.

 

Yes, she knows more than that.

Yes, the list is very long.

But this poem likes to rhyme

And “drive” would just be wrong.

 

Here’s to Tehja, who’s a swimmer

And a granddaughter sublime.

And today we’re celebrating because

Today she turns nine!

 

 

Happy Birthday, Tehja!!

We look forward to visiting you while you are still nine.

Loads of love from

Grandpa and Grandma Sailor xx

August 16, 2012

Dear Tehja and Taylor,

 Hi you two. This was a different sort of Sweet 16 day. We were in two countries – Laos and Thailand. We started in Vientiane, Laos and ended up in Nong Khai, Thailand, and were in about the middle of our three-week vacation.

And you were probably wondering about what you should pack for your vacation in PEI.

Grandpa made this map for you, showing (in yellow) some of the places we went.

 

We did lots of moving around on this day:

·        Mini-bus to the Laos bus station

·        Big bus across the bridge between Laos and Thailand

·        Tuk-tuk (small open-air 3-wheeled tax) to the Thailand train station to buy our tickets for the overnight train

·        Tuk-tuk from the train station for a tour of Nong Khai area (to pass time while we waited for the evening train)

·        Tuk-tuk back to the train station

·        Overnight train to the city of Ayutthaya, Thailand

 

Guess what train seat Grandma was in. You guessed it – number 16!

The weirdest thing about this day was the park that we visited in Nong Khai, called “Sara Kaew Ku”. It was full of strange statues. You probably would have thought it was very interesting. We certainly did.

We met a young lady from Okinawa, Japan. Her name was Himi and she joined us for lunch and for the tour of the strange statues. She was sweet and friendly and very brave … travelling around Laos and Thailand all by herself. She said we are lucky to have a granddaughter and grandson. She’s right!

 

We didn't have a good picture of a tuk-tuk, so borrowed this one from the internet.



We passed this street in Vientiane on the mini-bus.

The Vientiane bus station.

Grandma on the bus to Nong Khai, Thailand.

A pretty building in Nong Khai.

Our new friend, Himi, from Okinawa, Japan.

Is this statue playing peek-a-boo?

Looks like the littlest mermaid on this statue.

These guys are riding strange creatures.

Do you think this guy is two-faced?

You're pulling my leg ... um, I mean, my tail.

You'd think one nasty head would be enough.

 

By 9:00 p.m. we were sound asleep in our train berths, enjoying a smooth ride through the night. We don’t remember our dreams, but they were probably sweet, probably about you.

 

The overnight train.

The train from the inside.

 

Bye for now. Hope you having a great time in PEI!

 

All our love,

Grandma and Grandpa Sailor

July 16, 2012

 

Dear Tehja and Taylor,

We have some exciting things to tell you about this July’s Sweet Sixteen Day.

 
Grandpa and I went to the Rain Forest in Kuching (which is in Borneo, Malaysia) and went to a World Music Festival. The festival was three days long, and then we spent one day touring the city and its river, and then another day visiting orang-utans.
 
“World music” is pretty cool … not rock, not pop, not rap, but a combination of many instruments and sounds and rhythms that we enjoy very much. We think you two would love it because it makes you want to dance.

People dancing at the Rain Forest World Music Festival.

 Kuching is an interesting Malaysian city with great restaurants from all around the world, amazing buildings that make you go “wow”, a pretty river running right through downtown, colourful shops, and friendly people. We had a lot of fun touring the city and cruising the river on a little boat called a “sampan”.

Grandma's cousin Elaine (visiting from England!) at a shop at the festival.

Grandpa in a Sampan on the river in Kuching.

Some other little boats on the river.

Interesting buildings in Kuching.

Some other people catching a sampan.

The visit to the orang-utans in a small patch of rain forest was very special. We saw about eight of them, with one being a large older male, another being a small youngster, and the rest being somewhere in-between. They were all show-offs and we enjoyed watching them do their acrobatics in the trees. We visited them in a special park because much of the rain forest, where they like to live, has been cut down for other crops.

This little orang-utan looks like he's zip-lining!

A large orang-utan picking up his fruit.

These critters can really "strike the pose".

 
On the evening of the 16^th, we saw some children in the park in Kuching practicing some singing and dancing, getting ready to do a show for an upcoming “Flag Day” (something like our July 1^st). They were very cute and entertaining, and of course that made us think of you two! But we didn't have our camera so we can't show you how cute they were.

But here are some other photos from our amazing trip to Kuching:

Steve, Julie, Grandma and Elaine at the festival.

Julie blowing up a "Sponge Bob" balloon.
We used them as cushions.

We set up a comfy picnic area for the 5-hour outdoor show.

We were entertained by talented musicians from all over the world.

Grandma and Elaine were born 12 days apart.
We live thousands of miles from each other.
We first met forty years ago!
And we love it when we can get together.

The five of us had a GREAT time in Kuching.

We hope you are having a GREAT summer. Bye for now.

All our love,

Grandma and Grandpa Sailor xx
(TIP: If you click on the photos, you can see larger versions.)

June 16, 2012

Dear Tehja and Taylor,

Since it is nearly summer-time in Canada, you probably aren’t spending much time reading blogs from the computer. When Grandma and Grandpa were your age, there was no such thing as a home computer. In fact, for the first few years of our lives, we didn’t even have a television! Or a stereo! We did have telephones but it wasn’t until we were married and Dylan was in school that we had a cell phone.

Right now, we have two computers on the go, have just uploaded photos from our digital camera, and the battery for our cell phone is charging alongside our DVD player. Times have changed.

Our June Sweet 16 Day was a “flash from the past”. In our condo, we enjoyed homemade cheese and bacon hamburgers and then had chocolate ice cream. We read a little, worked out in the gym, went for a bicycle ride, worked on some logic puzzles, had a game of chess, and later went for a stroll along the beach where we saw a beautiful sunset. There was no technology involved (oops – I forgot about the digital camera), and it was a day that could have happened in the 1900s.

Other things we have done since the last Sweet 16 day:

·        Got a new air pump for our bikes (no more soft tires!)

·        For the second time, helped the staff of the Dewa resort clean up the beach.

·        Played a lot of Chess.

·        Visited CanKata a few times to make sure she is okay.

·        Celebrated Grandpa’s 59^th birthday.

·        Survived a very bad storm, but the beach has suffered a lot of erosion (that means a lot of the sand was washed away and many trees fell into the sea).

·        Used Skype for the first time – nice talking to you!

·        Asked you guys if it was okay to spend the summer of 2013 with you. (Yes!!)

We’re looking forward to chatting with you on Skype again, and we hope you enjoy your last few days of school.

All our love,

Grandma and Grandpa Sailor

An artsy shot by Grandpa - a buried tree on Nai Yang beach.

Grandpa reading on the balcony.

Grandma working on a logic puzzle.

What should we have - chocolate or chocolate?

Grandma reading on the top deck.

Grandma playing Chess.

Grandpa on Nai Yang Beach at sunset.

Grandma on Nai Yang Beach at sunset.

Thai children enjoying the surf at Nai Yang Beach.

Grandpa checking out the coconuts in the Dewa grounds.

Grandma in the gym - not really working out.

Grandpa in the gym - also not really working out.

Our daytime view of the pool.

Our night-time view of the pool.

And that's all for this month. G and G xx

May 16, 2012

Hi Tehja and Taylor. We just heard that a “strep bug” is visiting your house. We hope it doesn’t stay long!

We are doing our best to stay healthy and fit. Grandpa still does push-ups and Grandma still does head-stands. We love swimming and going for bike rides. We hate strep bugs and hope they don’t come to visit us.

Grandma standing on her head



Grandpa doing push-ups



We eat well. In fact, for this Sweet 16 day we once again caught the bus and went to “Wine Connections” and had some red meat. It was a rainy day (we are in the “wet season” now) so we had to use umbrellas and our ponchos.

Grandma on the bus

Grandpa on the bus

Our friends Julie and Steve from “Aqua Dreams” joined us again. Afterwards, we worked off our meal by taking the escalator up a couple of flights and enjoying some ice cream at another restaurant. Like I said, we eat well.

Grandpa, Steve and Julie toasting Sweet 16 Day

Grandpa getting ready to dig into the lamb shank

Grandma enjoying her tenderloin

Waiting for our ice cream.

We then said good-bye to Julie and Steve and then went computer shopping. We are now the proud owners of “Toshiba III” – our third Toshiba Satellite laptop. Our other two, which are both suffering from computer strep (they’ve been sick for a while), are no longer reliable. But they gave us many years of good service so we aren’t complaining.

Other things we have done since the last Sweet 16 day:

-        went to the dentist to get our teeth cleaned

-        ordered two Kindle e-book readers

-        went sailing and actually sailed (there’s often not enough wind here)

-        enjoyed Loretta’s homemade Key Lime Pie

-        tucked CanKata into a marina and moved into our condo unit

A different boat in Phang Nga Bay, after the winds calmed

Now that it is spring in Canada, you are probably spending more time outdoors and riding your bikes. When you do, just imagine: Grandma and Grandpa will probably be riding their bikes that day, too!

Grandma in the Nai Yang park

Bye for now!

All our love,

Grandma and Grandpa Sailor