One week in Cuba at the Blau Varadero was wonderful but too short.  The hotel was beautiful and the food was great.  They have a very friendly staff and try to make you feel very welcome.  The beach and pool areas are beautiful and have a good number of lounges and activities.  Th weather was not as perfect as we would have liked but we had a majority of nice, hot sunny days with a breeze.  There were only two days of the seven that weren't ideal beach days.  You could still go for walks and do other outdoor activities though.  It's amazing what one week away can do to rejuvinate your body and soul. 

With only 21 days until Christmas Eve, "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas".  The lights are up, the snow is falling and, with a high of -16, it definitely feels like winter.  Getting ready for this Christmas has brought back some of my favourite childhood Christmas memories.  I remember my Dad taking me for a walk down Candy Cane Lane in Edmonton on Christmas Eve when I was about seven years old.  When we came back into the house, I heard the bell of the Christkind (Christmas Angel) ring and I knew that my gifts had arrived.  What impecable timing that she would just be ringing her bell as we came home!  Surprising that my mom didn't see her though, since she was at home...

 

As a child, we always had a real tree ("Oh Tannenbaum") and a real Advent Wreath.  There were always lots of cookies, stollen and lebkuchen.  My favourite gift as a child was a dollhouse that my dad made for me that had real carpet and wallpaper.  The following year, I got a second story add-on for it. 

Two days of skiing in Banff (early season) leave us weary and happy.  Lake Louise on Saturday had horrible conditions and less than half the runs open.  A great surprise was that the World Cup (men's downhill and GS) were being held at Lake Louise.  There were teams from all over the world competing in this world cup event.  It was incredible to watch the competitors while we were on a lift or coming down a run.  Sunshin on Sunday was much better.  The conditions were very good for such an early time in the season.  6cm of snow overnight and continutous snow throughout the day kept the snow powder and in great shape.  Overused areas (such as the ski out) weren't in great shape but it was a warm, snowy wonderful day.  Stace and I managed not to fall while skiing (always a bonus) and had the first of many wonderful ski weekends together.  A great bonus to the weekend was that the Keg was located in our hotel (Banff Caribou - pretty nice) and even better was that November is wine month and bottles of wine are priced at liquor store prices.  We took advantage of that great deal and really enjoyed a J. Lohr Shiraz on Saturday. 

Check out some other great spaces.  Let me know if you see some great spaces that I should look at. 

The book to start of my book list is very important in my life as it was written by my father.  It is a very interesting and humerous collection of short stories from the author's youth in Germany.  I highly recommend this book.  It is only available in German at this time and details on ordering it can be found on the link attached to the title above. 

Try the wines on the newly added Wine List and let me know your comments and recommendations. 

Welcome to my space!!!