Big Weekend!

Some situations just call for champagne!

On April 15th the sale of our house in Calgary officially closed!  It was a long haul 7 months while it was listed for sale, and the six weeks from meeting all the conditions to having the final sale felt like it was just as long.  It is a strange feeling to know that we no longer have a home in Canada.  It was a house that we both loved very much, but it really feels good to know that we don't need to worry about getting the sidewalks cleaned in the winter or having the eaves cleaned in the spring, no concerns with tree maintenance after a hard winter or taking care of a 1/4 acre garden.  It is a very good feeling...not without emotion, but a very good feeling.  We went out for a big dinner on the 15th here (the 14th in Canada) and celebrated with a 9-course tasting menu!  It was all very delicious but after course number 5 we were wishing that we had both worn either mumus or fat pants.  It was a lot of food!

We also had a big work celebration on the 16th (the 15th in Canada) so we pretended that everyone at the party was celebrating with us.  It was a fancy evening like neither of us had ever been to before.  The highlight was in the reception lounge when we all arrived, there were circus girls hanging upside down from trapezes, pouring champagne for all the guests.  It certainly made  our home parties look pretty tame.

April 15th also marks one year since we left on our two month trip to Europe, realizing a dream that we both had to have an extended European vacation.  No worries about schedules or going back to work, just enjoying travel.  Hopefully we will get a chance to do it again, but for even longer.

It is amazing how quickly the year has gone and it is amazing to look back at what was going on: the evil Icelandic volcano was spewing away, disrupting our travel plans and destroying many others; the BP well in the Gulf Coast was about to blowout, setting in motion millions of dollars in damages, many destroyed livelihoods and taking 11 lives; Silvio Berlusconi was involved in a personal scandal that threatened to topple his government and the austerity measures were hitting Greece and the other PIIGS countries, causing many of us to stare in wonder at the protests, unable to comprehend why a nation of people who retire at 50 and never pay tax are surprised that the government is bankrupt and starting to crack down on taxes and work hours. 

One year later the volcano is dormant, BP executives gave themselves some nice bonuses, a couple of Greeks have paid taxes and somehow Silvio is still in power, bunga-bunga parties intact and defended.  It makes our move to Australia seem almost unimpressive!