2008:a pearce odyssey
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more – if you can stand another instalment of the Pearce (Senior) Christmas newsletter. We’re running out of steam for movie titles to encapsulate our year’s activities, so we’ve grabbed whatever suggested itself – songs, Christmas carols, TV shows, cliches – and stitched together this crazy quilt of our 2008 experiences. (Psst – Kim and Simon think they beat us by sending their Pearce [Junior] newsletter right after Christmas. Since we’ve waited til the new year to get ours done, we contend that we’ve already won the 2009 race!)
Nicky Deborah Vancouver – We enjoyed watching Vicki Christina Barcelona, but Nicky Deborah Vancouver is far and away more satisfying, at least to us! This weekly show began in April, just before our grandson Kynan turned a year and Kim’s and Simon’s shared parental leave ended. Despite the annoying stretch of water between them and us, we were determined to be part of the babysitting team. So Deborah wangled Wednesdays off (she works one weekend day instead), and Nick volunteered for Thursdays and Fridays to start out with. We are now intimately familiar with several of B.C. Ferries’ vessels (the new Coastal Cavitation, oops, Celebration, is our least favourite, as it shakes, rattles and rolls worse than Elvis ever did).
Young Sherlock Holmes – 
And what a joy to spend time with Ky, now 20 months, whose determination to unlock the world’s mysteries makes him a fascinating little person to be around. This year he learned to run (he seems to have skipped the walking stage entirely), to climb the companionway stairs in his sailboat/home in less time than it takes his grandparents to draw breath, to distinguish between a plane and a helicopter that look like specks in the sky to us (and to show us the sign language for each), to call us on the phone (speed dial is a marvellous thing), to put together a sentence about his favourite train (“Thomas coming!”), and to pet the dog gently (most of the time). What hasn’t he learned? To sleep. He apparently agrees with Virginia Woolf, who called sleep “that deplorable curtailment of the joy of life.”
The Young and the Sleepless – 
That would be Kim and Simon, who share a bed with Ky, the way we did with Simon when he was little. They’ve managed to find liveaboard moorage for Wild Goose on Granville Island, so the bed is actually a V-berth. Sim ’n’ Kim are both working for Transport Canada – Simon as training pilot for the region’s civil aviation inspectors; Kim as a boating safety officer. Simon’s job includes flying small planes during hurricane season to reach a flight simulator in Kansas (as parental units develop more grey hairs); part of Kim’s is to swoop down on boaters just as they’re about to launch their craft, to make sure they have the safety equipment they need.
Oh Come, All Ye Painters – 
Meanwhile, Nick continues to paint and teach (to see what he’s been up to, have a look at his updated website: www.pearcepaintings.com). In the spring, he was thrilled to be chosen as a life member of the annual Painters at Painter’s, hosted at Painter’s Lodge in Campbell River. Each year, over 1,000 guests come to the resort to meet and talk with some of B.C.’s well-known artists, who give demonstrations, take part in panel discussions, and generally eat, drink and be merry as guests of millionaire Bob Wright and his Oak Bay Marine Group. Nick (and Deborah) not only had a fabulous time, but word of Nick’s workshops and classes spread far and wide, and he’s had waiting lists to get in to many of them, and offers to teach more. He’s also had offers from galleries in B.C. and Ontario to represent him, a show at The Old School House Gallery in Qualicum Beach, and ideas for new classes, which he intends to try in 2009.
Bottoms Up – In his spare time, Nick took on the job of replacing the flooring throughout the entire downstairs of our townhouse. Most of it is now cork planks, set on the diagonal, with tile at the front entrance for soggy boots, this being the Wet Coast. The bonus? When it came time to get rid of the old mismatched flooring, we chanced upon someone who wanted every last bit, and took it off our grateful hands.
Bolt! – Cute movie, and an even cuter trick by Deborah, who had suffered through five changes of directors at her job in two years, and was getting crabby with the upheaval. She decided it was time to move herself, competed for a job in a different ministry, and is now senior public affairs officer for the Ministry of Technology, Trade and Economic Development. (The senior is meant to refer to her skill level, not her advancing years!) She’s still writing speeches, news releases, communications plans and the like – mostly focused on groundbreaking B.C. research.
Thumbelina – She is also pleased to report that her fibromyalgia is under control. Her “trigger thumb” has been eradicated, partly by accident. She’d refused surgery, opting to work with a physiotherapist who prescribed a splint, plus exercises for six months. All went well, but the final stages of healing just didn’t happen, to the physiotherapist’s chagrin. Then one day, Deborah was going down a slide with Ky in her lap. The splint caught, ripped apart and made a royal mess of the thumb, which swelled til it looked like a blue and purple sausage (the air turned roughly the same colour). There was no question of wearing a splint anymore – just a pressure bandage to bring down the swelling. By the time that happened, the trigger tendon had miraculously healed, and the physio says she’ll recommend all her patients play on the Granville Island slide!
Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow – 
Naturally, it snowed furiously on the Alberta trip in April. Rather LESS naturally, it snowed here in Victoria in December, and as usual, the rest of Canada laughed like hyenas at the snow virgins trying to cope. Thanks to everyone who forwarded us the mocking emails circulating at the time. We particularly liked the rash of sprained wrists in Saskatchewan from people high-fiving as they watched the evening news of West Coasters up to their, ah, ankles in the white stuff.
Friends – We were delighted to hook up again with Tim and Jane Tottenham, friends from way back who moved to Ontario and hadn’t been to B.C. in close to two decades. But we had to say goodbye to another good friend, Doug Bond, who shared many of our most exciting sailing adventures, including circumnavigating Vancouver Island. Doug’s unexpected death saddened Canada’s sailing community, and the stargazing scientists from all over the world he’d worked with at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory. Nick emceed the farewell service at the Canadian Forces Sailing Association, and despite rain and gale-force winds, an overflow crowd stood outside for half an hour to pay their respects to a man whose generosity and willingness to lend a hand touched us all.
And that’s it from us. All the best to you for 2009 –
Deb and Nick