Saturday found us at Bear Creek Park which boasts running track, a pleasant garden and a small train for children to ride on.

Beginning next week there will be a Christmas train operating. We may be able to go and get a photo. The venture is the product of some local rail enthusiasts who have a steam train hidden in one of the sheds. The steam train is brought brought out once or twice a year; the work horse is a diesel. Another similar facility is at Sutherland which was once a stop on a line running through from the Fraser River to Chilliwack .Enthusiasts for transit want to have this line revived. They have been able to purchase one of the old electric tram like cars. This is being lovingly restored and will make exhibition runs. It is all one of those great idealistic dreams that regrettably are far from any sense of reality. The Rail company that owns the line is far more interested in using it to bring cars into the Port laden with coal !

Sunday at University Chapel. Our main motivation being to meet with old friends Andy and Pat Dymond.  Andy was the Best Man at  our wedding in 1990. We had expected to be able to listen to their new preacher, a South African who is a student at Regent,  delaying his qualifying to fill this slot. But found he had taken a heart attack last week. Thankfully, he is now out of trouble and on the road to recovery after an angioplasty and two shunts. Instead an interesting service with a very informative presentation on the Wise Men or Magi. Lots of factual and interesting information from a very knowledgeable lady doctor. Followed by their version of the communion which features input from the Anglican side with a general confession and prayer of humble access -- all a long way from their original PB roots!

Andy and Pat have three daughters. Andy is the last of his Dymond clan so in the patriarchal ways genealogies are set up this is the end of the line.!  Carol the oldest looked  initially to be first to get married as she was a very attractive teenager. But this has not proved to be the case. Some years ago she graduated in music, specializing in flute and now teaches students as well as playing in one of the Symphony orchestras of the town She was at at the Chapel a very capable and accomplished young woman.

Debbie, qualified as a nurse, has married a woodwork teacher. They spent a period in the Artic and now have a son and daughter. Their interests are on an island near Gabriola in the Gulf area. The long term plan is to teach in Naniamo as well as use the facility on the Island as a Christian retreat center. In the meantime Rob is teaching up north again as the income is very useful for their plans.

Christa,, the youngest, in classic fashion. has chosen to pursue a different divergent path. The most entrepreneurial of them all, she has taken a great interest in horses. She also got in with a jazz band and some years ago shocked and surprised herself and the family by becoming pregnant with an Iranian fellow. It was all a mishap she said. What looked like a disaster has gone on into an interesting story as the family all pulled together around her. She married the fellow and then later Andy sold up near the University and has begun with her a Horse Stable in Richmond. They have an Arab stallion and are involved in breeding and training. Excitement all around at a new foal born in August. With an ll month incubation period it is an annual event. . Zarah, named after her Iranian grandmother is a lively little girl who goes with Andy and Pat to their Sunday School. 

Andy is a telecommunications engineer who spent some time in Iran before the revolution. When the revolution collapsed the business interests,  he went back to school in Leeds UK and qualified in development. From this base he has built a business in telecommunications operating largely overseas for groups like World Bank and others. His specialty is rural communications. The latest venture being to complete rural cell phone communication to the outback in Uganda. Telephone ladies borrow $200 setting themselves up with a phone and aerial selling time. Messages are also received and then a cyclist dispatched to the recipient. Previously secluded woman ask for the phone which is taken to their home where they telephone from their seclusion breaking the barrier previously around them. He does not call himself  a tent maker but his ministry is in this area. He takes on many contracts which do not have great economic prospects but assist countries like Nepal and Bangla Desh to spread effective communications.

Pat is by profession a Lab Technician but has majored on being a Home Maker for the family and now for her aging Mother. Andy's Mother lives quietly and keeps good health. Pat's Mother has considerable resources but is declining and is much less able to function. Like many of her kind she would rather depart but that is not in her hands.

Monday we were in Langley to pick up a couple of books I had ordered as well as collect a pocket watch Janette had put in for repairs. The watch is an old Waltham which has come down from her grandfather so somewhat of an heirloom. We were pleased to go again to Michaels and this time to be able to get a suitable frame for the tapestry Janette is passing on to her singing teacher. We gave her the choice of three and she chose the one I would have predicted but we wanted her to make the choice.

Tuesday we were at our former pastor Bobby Ogdon's home. He  has been a help to me with the Ph D which is again in motion and looks closer to where it ought to go than it has for a long time. My supervisor is making more favorable noises. But time will preclude doing too much until next April when it may be possible to move it on to the final stage. At the moment my other committee member is in Pakistan so rather in accessible.

Bobbie is into Hebrew, very interested in Israel ancient and modern. He formerly had a very good rhododendron collection but now lives in a town house, so limited to bonsai and a small garden. He has rhodees at his daughter's rural home on Mt Lehmann in Abbottsford.  His other interest is in sailing. The pictures show some really magnificent cruises up the BC coast.  He has a boat of his own to keep him happy. Judie his wife is a retired school teacher now very active with two lively grand children.

Tuesday evening we went down to our investment advisors at White Rock who were having the annual wine and cheese Christmas party for their clients. Complete with a local Korean lass playing violin with aspirations to be a concert violinist. They are very zealous in promoting and supporting local interests. Their next event will have a $5 price tag, held in the Peace Arch Church auditorium with the proceeds donated to the Homeless outreach from the Church. According to their web site they are watching our interests with eagle eyes precision! Since leaving Scotia Mc Leod they have done well taking on more partners. This appears to be a business where small niche operators can prosper. They belong to a wider group called Wellington West. We do not have the interest, expertise or energy to do these things ourselves and to date have been satisfied with the services we have received. We do not do as well as Janette's friend Jo who has has own system. She being an accounts person has much more insight into finances than we do. For the moment our major interest is to preserve the capital.