Christmas Eve eve

This is just a really quick blog on one of the busiest days of the year - the day before Christmas Eve. In our family Christmas Eve is also my grandson Owen's birthday which makes that day doubly exciting when they are in town - as if more excitement and stress were needed at this wonderful time of year!
Today was the day booked for our family photograph, which was duly done at Life photography in Beacon Hill. An endlessly patient photographer dealt with 7 adults, 2 children and one 6 month old baby, not to mention a large puzzled dog! The phrase "herding cats" comes to mind but she took loads of photos and hopefully at least one will result in a picture where everyone is, if not smiling, at least facing the right way and not crying! When I get the winning picture I will post it here.
The previous few days have been amazing with the dog sledding (check), tobogganning (check) and generally enjoying this Christmas season in a truly traditional Canadian way and the best is yet to come.
Have a wonderful Christmas. My next blog may not be until after Christmas and it may even be written from Mexico. Stay tuned.

Munching and Mushing in the Mountains

Ever done something truly memorable? Try dogsledding. I did it this weekend and I would recommend it to anyone!

On Friday evening a group of friends and I spent the night near Canmore. We went to dinner at the Trough (check!) and had a superb meal. Excellent food, great service and while not cheap, it was definitely great value. I have paid far more elsewhere and got far less quality. I would go back in a heartbeat. Just look at the presentation of the red snapper!

The next morning Pat Bedry and I went dogsledding with the Snowy Owl tour group out of Canmore. The weather was perfect - sunny and warm but enough snow to be picture perfect. We piled into the mini van with the rest of the would be mushers and headed up to the Spray Lakes area. Here we were introduced to our dogs and given the necessary driving instructions. 3 people to a sled and 6 dogs pulling, with 8 sleds leaving together. Imagine the noise when all 48 dogs were getting excited and ready to go! Our instructions were to yell "Hike" to start (not "mush", who knew?), "Whoa" to stop, "Easy" to slow down and lots of "Good dogs", "way to go" and other appropriate words of encouragement.
We took turns to drive and to my surprise I was chosen to start off with driving our sled. Watching the enthusiasm and excitement of those dogs was wonderful and being in control (loosely speaking) of our team was incredible. We started off with a jerk and before I knew it we were moving. Skimming along the trail standing at the back of our sled was the most amazing experience and the scenery was simply spectacular.


If you are ever looking for something to do with children or out of town guests this is the perfect outing and a truly Canadian experience. There was a couple from Florida in our group and they were almost speechless with delight - well, perhaps not "speechless", but very enthusiastic!

After this amazing experience I drove home and then went to the airport to pick up my son, his wife and my 3 grandchildren. What a truly fabulous day!

Work in Progress

It is now December and I am again feeling guilty for not having updated my blog recently. In fact I have been working hard on several items on my list but do not yet have the right to check them off nor do an online brag about them being completed.
For example, at the end of November we opened the 2nd of my 6 bottles of champagne to celebrate my son Adam passing the California Bar exams; a huge achievement of which we are justifiably proud. I have also booked several things to be done in December: dog-sledding on the 17th (really excited about this), dinner at The Trough in Canmore on the 16th, family photo shoot on the 23rd (Jonathan just broke his nose kiteboarding especially to spoil this one!) and I am also diligently buying myself a gift every month, visiting new restaurants and checking out new spas. It is a tough job but someone has to do it! Fortunately I have many good friends who are volunteering to help with many of these items. You Guys are awesome!

I promise to write more details about each item as they are completed. Once I am in Mexico I will have more time, although somehow the days just seem to fly by down there as well.
Stay tuned.

From the Bahamas

I have been feeling guilty because I have not been keeping up with my blog posts and I have a couple of new checkmarks to update. My excuse is that I am currently in the Bahamas visiting my grandchildren (and their parents) and life has been a little hectic; wonderful but hectic! This trip was my October gift to myself - bought and paid for in October and now being enjoyed. My November gift to myself was a lovely duty free bracelet that called out to me as I was killing time waiting for my plane. I love this part of my challenge!

Before I left we went to see "To Kill a Mockingbird" at Theatre Calgary. I had read the book as a child and, of course, seen the movie with Gregory Peck many years ago but I had never seen the stage play so I looked forward to it with great anticipation. We went out for a nice meal at "Catch" beforehand - very good but did not qualify for the "excellent new restaurant" I still have to discover.

The play was most enjoyable although it was disappointing that Merv and I could barely hear the dialogue spoken by the children in the play, but the main adult characters were excellent and the play itself is timeless in its appeal. It is hard to believe that it is not that long ago that the storyline of this play was actually a reality in the States and many other parts of the world. It seems as long ago and foreign as the Roman Empire or the Napoleonic wars, and what a good thing that is. We've come a long way Baby, thank goodness. I wonder what our grandchildren will watch in 40 years about our time that will seem as foreign to them.

The other small item that I have checked off is "Discover a new Spa". I went to the Oasis Spa at Mt Royal Village to have the required pre-Bahamas pedicure needed for sandal wearing tourists and it was wonderful - full paraffin wax treatment, salt scrub, oil massage and more. Definitely a pedicure, not a "ghettocure". I will go back.

Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park

Yesterday I discovered that I had a free hour, the sun was shining and the weather forecast was for snow on the weekend so I made a quick decision to visit Alberta's newest Provincial park. We are fortunate to live just a short drive from the entrance so I piled Blu into the car, grabbed my other walking accoutrements and headed to the Park.

The first challenge was finding the turning off the highway due to the fact that the highway is currently being twinned and there were weapons of mass construction going up and down in front of the turning, with no useful signage for the hopeful hiker. Being a local however, I knew approximately where it was and headed bravely south through the construction.

The approach to the Park, Glenbow Road, is long, steep, gravelled and unbelievably dusty but once you get to the park it is beautifully paved with a large parking area, washrooms, informational signs and more. Even the walkways/bike paths are beautifully paved with yellow central lines! Interesting priorities here.

The lists of rules for use of the Park are long and all seem to start with "Do not". Dogs have to be leashed, no horses are allowed, stay on the paths, etc etc. So far Blu and I are not impressed as this Park is hard to find, uncomfortable to get to and difficult to use!

Once we started our walk, things improved. We quickly found ourselves in the beautiful river valley with amazing views, unexpected groves of trees and incredible peace and quiet - until the train went by of course, but I have always found the sound of a distant train to be quintessentially Canadian.

We walked a 45 minute circular route - downhill there and an incredibly steep uphill shortcut back! I was glad for my water bottle. The Park is huge and you could walk all day and I would recommend a bicycle for longer excursions, but the gravel pathways (no bicycles allowed) are the prettiest. Even at the end of Autumn, this Park is beautiful and I can't wait to go back in the Spring - if they haven't banned people by then!

On top of the world - in Mexico

I just got back on Sunday from a wonderful week at our Mexico home in Loreto Bay in the Baja. Many of the items on my list are Mexico based as I will be spending the winter months - or some of them - down there. This was such a short visit that I only had time to complete one of my tasks which was to climb the Nopolo Rock. This is a large rock promontory that dominates the skyline at the south end of the beach and is reached from the golf course.

The view from the top is spectacular and while the climb is more of a scramble than anything more technical, the challenge is the loose shale and the sheer drop that the route gets close to - and we all know how I love sheer drops! My friends Penny and Bill Davies agreed to do this with me and we met on the beach at 8.30am clutching cameras and water bottles. The climb went well but the temperature was over 30 degrees by the time we were halfway up but we soldiered on and were rewarded by these views of the golf course and the development.

As always, the climb down was harder than the climb up. I have often wondered why this is so and I have decided that it is probably because you have to look down and see just how far you have to fall, but we made it without mishap having sweated off at least 3 margaritas and several quesadillas worth of calories which we replaced at lunchtime. Another check mark but still lots more to go.

Rosebud

This weekend took the Rosebud dinner theatre off my list. As luck would have it, I picked the most glorious weekend weatherwise and the drive to Rosebud, a tiny hamlet an hour and a half north east of Calgary was beautiful. The farmers had been busy and the crops were in, the trees were a stunning mix of green and gold and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

Rosebud itself is situated in a small river valley and consists of about 6 streets, a handful of houses, several small gift shops and galleries, a couple of eating places, a tiny museum, the School of the Arts and the Rosebud Opera House and Mercantile - all as pretty as a picture and totally centred around the theatre. I had booked us into a local B and B which turned out to be a clean but tiny bedroom in someone's basement and we left before breakfast, but other than that, the visit was most enjoyable.

We spent a hot couple of hours walking around the village (30 minutes would have been enough!) and visiting the galleries and gift shops. Merv was seriously dragging after an hour so we spent the second hour on the patio of a little Bistro that served beer and wine, which was very pleasant. Several large Harleys bumbled through the village which is obviously a favourite destination for elderly bikers.

Finally it was time for dinner which turned out to be a better than passable buffet in a surprisingly large and busy restaurant in the Mercantile building and we were entertained by 3 young women with beautiful singing voices who also worked at the Opera House.

The play, "Queen Milli of Galt" was a gentle little story set in Galt, Ontario after the Great War about a young woman's supposed "affaire" with the Prince of Wales. It was well acted and professionally presented and the pretty little theatre was almost full of an interesting demographic mix of people, most of whom were obviously regulars and who laughed loudly and enthusiastically.

So, another item checked off my list and I now know that if I ever go back to Rosebud (and I may) I will do the matinee!

A Tale of Two Cities

Yesterday I finished the book on my list that I had set myself to read during this year. I chose this famous Dickens novel because in spite of being an English major and in spite of having read most of the Dickens classics, I had never read this one. I thought I knew the book well, knew the story line and knew the ending, and I thought there would be no surprises. I was wrong. I was not expecting to be so riveted and appalled by the descriptions of the French revolution, the graphic descriptions of the massacres and the brilliant depth of the characterization of the evil Mme Lafarge and her supporters. Why is it that the villains and rogues in literature are so much more memorable and 3 dimensional than the heroes? What does that tell us about ourselves? Anyway, I enjoyed the book and am inspired to read more classics that have slipped by me - maybe I will even read War and Peace... or maybe I will just watch the movie!

This weekend I am taking Merv to Rosebud to experience the famous Rosebud Dinner Theatre and stay overnight in a B and B; something I have promised myself for years and I shall write all about it here. Stay tuned.

The Odd Couple

My apologies to those loyal followers who have been waiting for updates. I am beginning to realise that writing a regular blog is almost as challenging as finding the time to do the things to write about! Anyway, I have been making progress, albeit in baby steps and not all items on my list are blogworthy - isn't that a great word? Blogworthy. I think that should be added to the OED or at least the official Scrabble dictionary.

So Saturday was the day that I had bought us 2 tickets to go see Scottie play Oscar in the Odd Couple at the Pumphouse Theatre. I was very keen to see this performance as I was myself a cast member in the Odd Couple, Female Version some 20 years ago with the Bearspaw Drama Club. The plan was to go out for dinner and then on to the show. Well, true to form in the life of a Realtor, the phone rang as I was getting ready and I had to spend the next 30 minutes dealing with an offer. We eventually got to the restaurant, ordered and waited.... and waited.... and eventually after the 1/2 litre of house red was finished we got the waiter to pack our untouched meals up in styrofoam, paid and left. Merv was not happy. My fault. Nothing new there then. We ate it when we got home at 11pm!

We then proceeded to get lost trying to find the Pumphouse Theatre, not for the first time, and finally arrived as the play was due to start, but good old Pumphouse, they made the actors wait for us!

The performance was wonderful and Scottie was a scarily convincing Oscar. The whole cast was great and I have to admire the actor who played the Cop as he had broken his arm that very afternoon and played his part with his arm bound up and didn't miss a beat. What a trouper! I must say that I enjoy all live theatre, but amateur and small rep companies can be the most satisfying and the most fun because these guys are doing it in their spare time because they love it. Great job Scottie.

Ziplining - check!

I did it! This was one of the more challenging moments of my life when I had to walk down those steps and stand on that removable board while they hooked me on to the zipline. Hanging there above the drop that you can see, waiting for them to throw the release lever was - well, memorable! Once I got past that moment the ride down was fun and I am delighted that I made myself do it and I can now face the rest of the challenges ahead with supreme confidence because the worst is now behind me. I (of course) immediately bought myself the T shirt that says "I survived the zipline" and wore it to dinner that evening at the Bear's Den. Not "dress code" but who cares - I did it and I am proud!

Be afraid, be very afraid...

Those of you who know me and are kind enough to be following my blog will understand that there are a few items on my list that are particular challenges to me, the largest being the Zipline at COP. Well, I had the choice of letting this task hang over me for a year like the sword of Damocles (literary reference for my more erudite readers) or getting it out of the way as soon as possible and to me the choice was obvious: I would, of course, ignore the whole thing for as long as possible but then I got an email this morning from my dear and soon to be former friend Becky that she has booked us in for this Friday morning!

When I left the bathroom after throwing up, I realised that in this, as in many things in life, the only way out is through so I will be there at 10.30am on Friday appropriately dressed (Red like Mary Queen of Scots I think) and clutching a packet of Depends. I hope Becky can take some photos as my hands will be shaking too much to hold the camera, not just from fear but from drinking hard liquor too early in the morning! Stay tuned, pray hard.

On a happier note, one of my more pleasant tasks is to buy myself a present every month and in August I bought myself a beautiful new Persian rug for the dining room. I am also now becoming quite skilled at downloading music to my Ipod and making Playlists for myself so all in all I think I am on track to get this whole challenge done on time and with flying colours - all too literally on Friday.

Big Hill Springs Provincial Park

Today was the warmest day of summer so far and I decided it was the perfect opportunity to complete another task and keep working on my Geocaching. I bundled Blu into the car along with Stephen and his trusty I-phone with the appropriate "app" and we headed off to Big Hill Springs Provincial Park on the north edge of Bearspaw. The park is set in a beautiful valley with a lively stream running through it over several small falls and rapids; perfect for a hot dog to cool off in and take a long drink!

The trail winds up and down through the trees and makes for an energetic hike on a hot day, especially when you are constantly diving off the trail and scrambling up steep slopes to find buried treasure. Blu kept up with us manfully (or should I say "dogfully?") and we found 3 caches bringing my total so far to 6. One picture shows Blu and I by the waterfall and the other shows Stephen proudly holding a Cache that took a particularly steep climb to find.

Big Hill Springs Park was somewhere that I took all three boys to when they were growing up and was the site of kindergarten and playschool outings, picnics and pumpkin hunts. Imagine my surprise when Stephen said that he had no memory of the Park or ever having been there in his life. How vain we can be as parents thinking that our children appreciate our efforts at entertaining them and are treasuring all those memories and revisiting them through the years with a reminiscent smile. That job falls to the parents and unless reinforced with the unpleasant trauma of an incident such as falling in the stream or being stung by a wasp the child's memory fades into the rosy mists of childhood; which after all, is just as it should be.

Another task accomplished

Yesterday, August 13th, was the most beautiful day of the summer with clear skies, warm temperatures and not a breath of wind which made it perfect for hosting a party for all our Calgary based Loreto Bay neighbours. Some 40+ people showed up at our place bringing salads, desserts and appetisers and we cooked burgers and hot dogs and a great time was had by all. The best thing about hosting a party like that is that everyone has something in common and we all share a love of many of the same things. Merv and I met lots of new people and everyone had a lot of fun - which, after all, is what this project is all about.
I have been looking at my list and trying to decide which tasks need to be done soon before the end of the summer. Some things on the list I have bought (or been given) tickets for and others I am working on scheduling such as my trip to the UK next year. I have to admit that a couple of items on the list are beginning to take on an alarming size in my brain - the COP zipline for example is beginning to terrify me! I looked at it from the highway and got a creeping sensation of nausea in my stomach which was made worse by a couple of You Tube videos! I am not sure what inspired me to add it to my list in the first place... Stay tuned on that one.

Horcruxes and Geocaches

My first Task is complete and I have started several others. Yesterday evening my son Stephen and I went to see the last Harry Potter movie and thoroughly enjoyed it. We have both been fans since the third book was published and avidly read all the books as soon as they hit the stands. The movies have been well done, faithful representations of JK Rowling's vision but in my opinion, no movie is ever as good as the book because I think the pictures in my head are better!

In the movie, Harry and his friends are searching for Horcruxes so they can destroy the evil wizard - which segues very nicely into another of my current Tasks: Geocaching. This is a worldwide Treasure Hunt where people hide caches and put GPS co-ordinates on the internet site so that followers can find them, open them and add or remove items, write in the log and post the event on the website. Stephen has been doing this in Japan and he informed me there were many around this area so it was added to my list. Finding them is really fun because they are well hidden and sometimes as small as a thumbnail! I found a tiny one at the Cochrane Lookout yesterday. To add to the amusement, it is important to search surreptitiously so as not to alert non-Cachers or "Muggles" as they are known! There are apparently some hidden in the Loreto, Mexico area and I am sure there are lots in the UK. Any volunteers?

Only Day 3 and I am already having a blast!

My Birthday Eve

An exciting day today that involved two separate trips to the airport to pick up two of my sons who are visiting in Calgary before heading on or back to other places. Spending time in the arrival area at airports fascinates me. I love to see the emotions in the waiting crowd; the young children dressed up to the nines to meet grandparents, the large family groups arriving to be greeted with screams, hugs, tears and flowers and, of course, the young couple who stand locked in a long, passionate kiss right at the centre of the arrival area that goes on about a minute too long for the comfort of observers. Far better than the departure gate where the tears are of sadness and there are no flowers.
So tomorrow I start my challenge and I am excited to begin. I promise to write about every task as it is completed and I beg your patience and indulgence if I occasionally head off at a tangent and start to philosophise, dramatise and pontificate about things that have little or nothing to do with my list but are suggested to me by my experiences.
Tomorrow I will share my first of (at least) 6 bottles of Champagne to be drunk in celebration throughout the year and part of the Champagne toast will be to the success of my challenge. My list is still about 6 items short but I have decided that I have to allow some space for opportunities to do new things that did not occur to me in advance, but I will keep track of everything and hope that you will follow me in this adventure.
The countdown begins.

Only one week to go...

As my birthday approaches it is beginning to sink in what a huge challenge this is that I have set myself. Even coming up with the 60 new fun items for my list is proving to be more difficult than I thought, but I am getting there. Some of this week's items need some elaboration to explain the challenge.
The COP zipline was suggested to me by Becky Walters who has volunteered to do it with me. This is a HUGE challenge to me as I have a fear of heights, of edges and of falling - all of which are integral parts of a zipline. If I can do this, I can do anything (maybe!). When I did the Inca Trail in Peru a few years back I was forced to overcome those same fears which I was able to do, but only because there was no alternative. The only way out was through. I dug deep inside myself and found strengths that I didn't know I had and hopefully, they will still be there for me when I am standing at the top of COP! Thanks a lot Becky.
The item "Be awake at midnight on New Years Eve in Mexico" was inspired by the fact that last year, thanks to Bill Davis' world renowned recipe for margaritas, I was fast asleep long before midnight and missed it all. This year I will see the new year in somewhere in Mexico unless we get stuck in the snow on the drive down there, in which case I will have a great story to write in this blog!
Keep those suggestions coming.

Stampede Week

Today is the middle of Stampede week and hopefully the weather will improve for the rest of the Stampede. I can honestly say that I have never seen so much rain as we have had this spring and summer. If next year follows this same weather trend it could take the edge off some of the fun experiences I have planned. The accompanying plague of mosquitoes does not add to the enjoyment of the many outdoor events that are part of this season. Ah well, bring on the Deet!

I have been diligently adding a few items every day and am up to about 44 on my list. It has occurred to me that some serious scheduling, planning and purchasing of tickets will be required to make this run smoothly and I can see that spontaneity may have to be scheduled in between 3pm and 5pm on Wednesdays...! Hopefully there will be days when I get get several items checked off in one go which will definitely help; for example I should be able to ride on the back of a motorbike to a fabulous new restaurant where I can discover a really good, expensive new wine and celebrate with a bottle of champagne, but it is probably not then a good idea to drive a mercedes sports car home afterwards.

I can see that more planning is required.

For Kayleigh

It is Monday after a busy working weekend and I am wondering when I am ever going to find the time to complete my list, let alone do all 60 items when my year starts, but then I remember the way to eat an elephant: one bite at a time. I am working on the basis that if I get enough people following my progress and supporting me with ideas, suggestions and even volunteering to do things with me, I can't possibly fail; in fact, failure is not an option because my pride simply won't let me!

On a sad note, Merv flew to Brandon to attend his great niece Kayleigh's funeral on Saturday. Her untimely death on the Canada Day weekend in a car accident was part of my motivation to start this quest and make my own affirmation of life. Her funeral was apparently an amazing tribute to this young, talented 17 year old and over 1700 people were there to support the family and express their love and sorrow at her loss. I cannot help thinking how special a person she was to have touched so many people in such a short life span and hopefully her family can take comfort from knowing that. She will be missed.

So my list is growing slowly but surely. I have had many suggestions from friends and some I have adopted and others I have declined or put aside for another year. When I go through my list I am struck by some of the things I have not yet done in my (almost) 60 years. I have never been on a motorbike - even my 89 year old mother had been on a bike as a teenager! I have never climbed a tree, not even as a child. I have never made a Playlist for my Ipod. Why not? Because I don't know how! I refuse to be embarrassed by my failure to do these things because I am proving that I am still willing and able to try and besides, making this list has also shown me how much I have already done because it is so hard to come up with 60 new things!

So keep those ideas coming. I need lots of smaller, non life-threatening suggestions that can be done without huge investments of time or cash and that will bring fun and laughter to me and to those sharing the moments. Above all, I need your support and your participation to help make this a year to remember.

Stay tuned!

Halfway through making my list.

July 6th; This afternoon I attended Brent's funeral. It was held at Christ Church in Calgary, a beautiful old Anglican Church by the Elbow River and being there brought back memories of my dear friend Barbara Sherringtons funeral in 2009, one of the people that I am honouring with this quest.

Brent's funeral was amazing; positive, powerful and a true tribute to the man that he was. The church was packed to overflowing and I heard many people say how proud they were to have known him and how he had filled his life and those around him with energy and fun. It made me think of one of my father's favourite poems, "If" by Rudyard Kipling:

"If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds worth of distance run
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And -more than this - you'll be a man my son"

Goodbye Brent, it was a privilege.

So back to my list:

There are only 25 days to go before I start working on my 60 fun things so as you can see, I have been diligently writing down ideas. Already I have been getting emails and phone calls from people offering their support and suggestions. I am including my List-so-far in today's blog so that anyone out there can make suggestions for new ideas or offer me help in completing some that I have already written.

The list will undoubtedly change before the deadline and it is not, and may never be, in any order of precedence, but some items are starred because they are location dependant. I plan to visit both Mexico and the UK during this year so I will be looking for more ideas for those locations. Not everything on the list is high on the Wow and Omigod factors but hey, I only have a year and I am still working, but there are some biggies in there and I am looking for more. Keep those ideas coming!

How it all began...

First of all, let me introduce myself: My name is Lesley Fleming and I am a long time resident of Bearspaw, near Calgary, Alberta. I was born in 1952 in London , England on July 31st, thus sharing a birthday with Harry Potter amongst others less famous. I am married to Merv, have 3 sons, 1 grandson, 2 granddaughters and a large extended family all of whom live far, far away. I hope they will all follow this, my first attempt at writing a blog.

Today is Tuesday, July 5th 2011 and I am recovering from a difficult long weekend. On Friday we learned that Merv's 17 year old niece Kayleigh had died in a car accident in Manitoba and on the same day I learned that a dear man, Brent Brown, 56, had died from a massive coronary. Both wonderful people, both taken too young and both with so much more life to live. They leave behind devastated families and mourning friends but in both cases, they left behind a world that was better for their having lived in it.

I read Brent's obituary yesterday and was struck by the quotation, "The shame is not how short life is but how long it takes some people to start living". This set me thinking and I realised that as we get older we do more things for the last time than we do for the first time and an idea began to form in my mind... I would set myself a challenge and I would dedicate this challenge to all the dear friends that I have lost over the last few years before they had had time to do all the things they had dreamed of doing. I would make myself a list.

In one month's time I will turn 59, thus entering my 60th year. I have decided that during this month of July I will compile a list of 60 fun things that I have never done before, I will publish the list on this blog and I will spend my 60th year doing those things and crossing them off my list. I will write about each event and maybe do a little philosophizing, ruminating and pontificating as well - wherever my e-pen takes me.

So at this early stage I ask for your help in compiling my list. My criteria are that the events are things I have never done before, that they are fun (or why bother), that they are printable (this is a family blog) and that they are acheivable and measurable. I also reserve the right to choose the events that I add to my list (I will not skydive, feed sharks or eat goldfish). This whole exercise is an affirmation of life and in 30 years time I want to be able to look back on this coming year and say "now that was a great year!

Stay tuned...