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We arrived at 5.30 pm., just at the end of my soap!
A little hitch at check in. A few days ago I found an envelope
from ‘our Resort’, reminding us that some annual fee was due. It
had not been opened. It was from October.
Stuck between some other unimportant mail.
Hubby comes back from checking in and gripes about having to pay
extra bucks late fee.
Well, I said, the letter was there in my computer room awhile.
He put it there. Letters from this place and those from our
financial adviser he should keep, even if they are also
addressed to me, since he takes care of things like that, not
me.
O.k., now we’ll have to find our apartment, it’s close, also
near the inside/outside pool.
This is mainly a winter vacation resort, ski lifts, lots of
runs, skating etc. – what are we doing here?! We don’t do
either, don’t even have the equipment anymore, the lithe, young
bodies included! Have been seniors for a few years now.
Hubby brought his ATV – at least he’ll have fun.
I’ll content myself with laps. Maybe I’ll walk a little, it
looks beautiful out there.
Hey, I need a drink! The Vodka bottle is in the freezer already
– and chocolate –
I’ll indulge.
The way this all started was that this year Hubby had the great
idea to try and rent out our ‘fractional vacation ownership’ (2
apartments) instead of trading, to some eager skiers.
We thought maybe we use the rent money to book a ‘proper’
vacation, somewhere exotic. We offered it on the internet, we
had more than 100 hits, but no takers! None of our friends
wanted it either, not even the studio.
Well, here we are. Somebody had the heat turned up to over 80
Fahrenheit! We like it cool. After opening windows and turning
the thermostat to almost freezing it’s better now...
At first glance, walking in, it was disappointing. This
apartment is not as nice as the one we were shown when we bought
or the one we used on 2 weekends.
Since I did not want to do this to begin with, apart from the
swimming, that pretty living room was the only other thing I was
looking forward to.
Oh, I really want to be in my own beautiful house right now!
I usually try to make the best of a situation – but how can this
be good?
When I should be at the beach somewhere in Florida. But, here we
are, 45 minutes from home. I can go home if I want.
Well, I’ll wait and see, I suppose, what tomorrow brings. I hope
we’ll get some company during this week.
And no computer either!
Day 1
It’s morning, but dark in the room, the drapes close nice and
tight.
I always wake up several times during the first night in a
strange place, but all in all, I am rested.
Blue skies, plenty of snow on the ground, a skier’s dream –
well, as I said, we don’t…
A phone call! We are invited to one of those promotional
meetings this afternoon (what about my nap?) – how many have we
attended in different places? Well, there is always coffee (I
don’t drink coffee) and sweets (I am diabetic) – great. But you
do get compensated for your time, so we’ll go. Everybody can use
some extra bucks.
Now we’ll have to let friends and family know our telephone
number here, using our cell phones. They can call us back, with
the cheap numbers everyone is using these days.
We can’t do that from here, and regular rates are high.
Just reading up on things in the folder pertaining to our unit,
well, every unit.
There is free high speed internet connection in every one of
them, yeah, it’s time I got a laptop!
The swim was great, haven’t been in the water since we closed
our pool at home by the end of September. Too many kids, though,
but the little ones with a parent stayed in the kid’s wading
pool or the hot tub, just a couple swam bravely in the deep end,
and even out through the divider, to the outside. Last time I
did that it was snowing – it is amazing to swim and have snow
falling on your head.
The group of six or seven youths cavorting was loud and
annoying, a few times I had to interrupt my laps and warmed up
in the hot tub, because they made such a nuisance of themselves
throughout the whole pool – where were their parents?!
On the other hand, it was nice to see them having good, healthy
fun, no sissies, these boys, climbing out of the outside pool
and running barefoot through the snow, into the outside hot tub
and back many times.
I just have to get there in the morning when they are still
sleeping.
The Restaurant where we ate at that evening sure had the same
wonderful tasting meals as always! Kudos to the chefs.
Day 2
Where is the sun? It tried to peek through the clouds a few
times without much luck.
It’s Sunday. Make it Lazy Sunday – if I go to the pool, it will
be in the afternoon.
Hubby is out on his ATV.
I am going to soak for awhile in the whirlpool bath tub.
A grey, lazy day, watching TV, reading – a game (we play
Rummy-Q) in the evening - . Never got to the pool.
Day 3
Aquarobics starts early, we have to be in the pool by 9 am.
There were five of us. The instructress, Linda, was very nice,
just a little slow. She said she hadn’t done anything for three
weeks. Well, it’s been 3 months for me, but I enjoyed it very
much. Especially later my swim outside with the snowflakes
coming down. It’s cold and crisp - I find it a wonderful
experience.
But I would still rather be at the beach! Definitely.
Today I am going home, but just for the few minutes it will take
to pick up some things we forgot. But it’s not an extra trip:
tonight is choir practice in Brampton, don’t want to miss the
first one of the new year. Friends will wait for me in Barrie,
where I’ll switch from driving our pickup for a ride in their
car. Guess I will be late coming back.
Dinner at 1 pm. or thereabouts would be a good idea, I can take
a sandwich when I leave, to eat later.
It is quieter here now, a lot of people have left yesterday
after spending the weekend. What a relief.
Friday seems a long way off.
Day 4
Brilliant sunshine, azure skies – when I left to go swimming I
realized that is was warmer: water dripping from eaves, forming
icicles.
I did all my laps outside, hoping I could get a bit of a tan in
my face. That was wonderful.
After my workout in the pool I was too tired for a walk, but
Hubby went out on the ATV while I slept.
Looking forward to the next couple of days, we’ll be busy!
Day 5
It really looks gray out there, and it’s snowing.
Our friends arrived before noon, so we went right over to the
pool. Ursula has never been in an outside pool in the winter,
that was a new experience for her: swimming while snowflakes are
falling on her head. Willi has a bit of a problem: he is
practically bald and did not like the cold, wet stuff on his
head very much – understandably.
But we all had fun, warming up in the hot tub (another first for
Ursula).
Then back to the apartment, where I had a nice lunch waiting,
tea as well.
Afterwards it was time to bundle up for the sleigh ride. Well,
‘sleigh’ is a little far fetched, it was a flat bed on gliders
with bales of hey in the middle.
Of course, I would have much preferred a real old fashioned
sleigh for four, with blankets on our knees – maybe one of these
days, if I’m lucky – I can dream, can’t I?
Two were filled, 15 persons on each one. Teams of two of
magnificent Percherons were pulling, in full regalia, with bells
on.
Another first for Ursula, and for the rest of us as well.
Another one for U. was the short ride to and from the farm in a
school bus.
The horses, well, they are just huge and beautiful. There were
several in the barn we could actually pet. The hot chocolate was
very welcome. I had a second cup – we added some rum to warm us
up faster after the 45 minute ride through the forest.
It kept on snowing, so the hoods were up.
Getting back in, we played ‘our game’, finished one and I won!
Time to eat, again. The restaurant we had picked was closed, so
we drove back to the resort and had great food at the ‘Crazy
Horse Saloon’ again.
Sitting there in the restaurant, at a ski resort, watching the
lifts go up and skiers and snowboarders coming down, with all
the lights – another first for U., who has spent the last 30
years in Spain.
She had quite a day, but we all enjoyed it!
Day 6
Gray out there again, I will take my time today.
By 11, I was ready to go swimming. It’s snowing lightly, but the
wind is strong.
Not so pleasant to swim outside. The hot tub is closed for
cleaning. I did not feel like using the outdoor one.
After lunch I had my nap which left me with about an hour to
start packing.
Tomorrow morning we are checking out.
We are invited to dinner at the house of friends in the area,
enjoyed a roast beef dinner with all the fixings, and apple pie
for dessert. Everything was very tasty, we dug in.
Phoenix, their beautiful, large poodle is being strange, has not
seen us for a while. Came later to be petted forever. After he
came back in from doing his business outside, he played strange
again. Funny.
We are hoping for a good night’s sleep. People above have a
nasty habit of being noisy the minute I want to sleep!
If I wake up early enough I might go for a swim at 8 – oh,
really?
Day 7
8 am. – we easily could be out before 10 – wish I could take one
more swim, guess not.
Better get breakfast started.
Now I must say: it was a vacation after all. No cleaning or
doing laundry, no errands.
The snow looks so pretty, on the trees and bushes – everywhere.
Why on earth were they making snow on the runs last night?
Weekend is coming, new people will move into the apartment by
tonight, and upstairs, one bothering the other with noise.
They would not let me fall asleep last night again, so when I
got up at 7 this morning I stomped around, viciously and loudly
opening and closing all doors and drawers – people like that
make me mad! I hope I woke them!
I am usually considerate, really.
So, back to the grind, so much to do, especially starting on the
New Year’s Resolutions!
Vacation is over.
Irene Kenkel
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