Well Lesley is on her way as I write this to New Zealand to spend about five weeks with her mum. She goes every year, mum is 90, so every visit is important. The one son there and his two girls have also recently become more a part of the family. Lesley is an only child, so her mum is a bit lonely, and really looks forward to Lesley's visits and longs for contact from the son and great grand daughters. It has been a point of frustration with Lesley and I that they have been mostly ignoring mum, but that seems to have come around recently and mum is on cloud nine as a result. Now that we have Skype and hi speed internet, Lesley calls her mum everyday.

My main news about myself is that I will be having knee surgery at the end of April. A bit of cartilage is missing. The surgeon showed me the MRI and explained what he wants to do to fix it. I am not in any real pain, but it "clicks" a lot and sometimes gives out unexpectedly. This is bad when I am carrying a canoe or backpack, so getting it fixed is important. The bad news is that he expects a 4-6 week no weight on knee recovery period, due to the holes he is going to drill in the bone where the cartilage is missing. He says that often simulates the bone marrow to grow new cartilage, but he wants me off it for that long to give the new cartilage a chance to grow. I wanted to do it immediately, but since Lesley will be gone, she went ballistic when I suggested that. So, I decided to schedule it the day after she returns, but the surgeon is not available that day. So we compromised and I will have it done 5 days before she gets back. I'll just have to tough it out for a few days and depend on friends. She was not happy about that, but that is what compromise is all about.

This has not made me happy. Summers up here are short and now I will lose some of mine due to the operation. As some of you may remember I have a scheduled camping trip near the end of June with a friend that has his own medical problems. I contacted him and gave him the option of finding another partner since I expect, but cannot guarantee I will be able to do the trip now. He immediately replied and said not to worry, if it doesn't work out this time, we'll do it another day. Now I just have to not overdo the rehab PT. As a stroke survivor I know something about rehab as anyone reading this does as well.

As longtime readers may remember, I am a great believer that life has seasons, and when a season is over, it is over. And just like the seasons of the year, life seasons change and don't last forever. So, since Lesley and I are (thank the Lord) in a good season at the moment., we have decided to sell our present motorhome and buy a new one. Our present one is working fine, but is 14 years old, and I no longer like to do the maintenance on it. To replace it we are buying a new modern model that should last as long as we do. Lesley will be able to drive this one as well since it is about the same size as our present one. I am also a believer that we should be as the saying says "to thine own self be true", what that means to me is that we need to recognize who we are and what we do and like to do. Tent camping, canoeing, etc is our first love but when the ice is 3 feet thick like it is now, we like to travel in a small motorhome. I told Lesley that is who we are and what we like to do, so while we are in a good season which we know will not last forever, and we have already seen some bad in our life, we need to get on with it

So we are selling the present one, building a garage for the new one, and will likely buy it sometime in the winter or next spring, whenever the right price comes along.

Well, I need to wrap this up since Lesley should be landing in New Zealand soon and after many hugs with the family will likely call me. Plus, my coffee cup is empty and you all know what that means.

P.S. I came very close not to writing this entry because of all the sadness on this forum recently, but maybe a bit of better news will help some of you deal with the immense difficulties you are facing at the moment. My heart goes out to all here.

George