This is Lily she is our new dog. She arrived in May. I didn't want a dog but my wife got her anyway. She is really nice. Our two exchange students from Australia and Austria enjoyed her when she was a younger pup in May to July. Exchange student from France arrived in September. Maybe I will post more later going swimming now.
I'm back.
So year started off with Austrian international student in place. Nice girl but a bit difficult to connect with. Spent alot of time in her room on internet. So much so that we had to increase our GBs. Very social with peers. In March we welcomed girl Australia because things were not working out at her host family place. She was friends with girl Austria and we had her over a number of times so we already knew her. She was facing being sent home if she couldn't find a place and it seemed we were her only option. She was pretty brash at times and had a bit of a history but we took her on anyway. She was good at drawing girl Austria out of her shell so it ended up being a win. Both girls stayed past the end of school because their parents wanted to come and visit. Austrian parents came first. Nice people. Lots of tears when they left turns out Austrian girl really was quite attached to us and had a great time. She never seemed miserable but we were worried at times she wasn't as happy as she could be. After they left Australian parents came. They were interesting. Father was unapologetic Trump fan. Lots of gritting our teeth leaving that one alone. They stayed for four days then group back to Australia.
Decided to do the international student thing again in late July. Wife and daughter were reluctant to try again because daughter is in last year of highschool and lots of things to do like visit Unis etc. Which was kind of funny because last year I was the one who was not too hot on the idea. Initially offered girl from Estonia but she was allergic to cats. Then nice girl from Italy but she bowed out. Finally very nice girl from France. Fits in nicely with our family as her family are French Protestants. Super social and impecable manners.
Looking for recreational property/investment property last four years. Goal was land with trout stream. Looked at five properties this year and found one that was ideal and not scooped up before I could get too it in November. 112 acres of Maple bush with 1000 ft of stream. Deal closes in two days. Pretty happy about that. It is adjacent to conservation lands on two sides and forest from neighbours on other two sides. I plan to preserve it as bush and maybe do some selective horse logging to pay property taxes.
Went to New York city during March break. August was France. Did Ironman distance triathlon while there but didn't make it to the top of the mountain on bike leg in time and had to drop out of the race. Got to bike 100 K in the French Alps though so it was a win. Raced 7 other times in olympic tris and road races and a 5K swim. Sept was Italy with wife as 25th anniversity trip. Italy rocks. The art in Florence and Milan wow just wow. We saw alot of Michelangos work including the last major thing he did which was unfinished. I didn't realize this until I was told but he died in his early 90s.
Despite having great job and great wife and great kids remained depressed. This all started in 2015 after my dad died and my best friend from med school got divorced and a colleague with whom I shared hospital call with for over 20 years died at age 53 from ovarian cancer. Sometime in early summer got myself on anti-depressants and it has helped alot.
Had the pool dug up and the hole filled in.
Took up painting to cope with depression. Did about 5 Van Gogh copies in oil so far. I like it but have not done much in last few months on that.
They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot