The Canterburys - Christmas 2023
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Merry
Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Friends,
welcome to post-pandemic life! I don’t panic anymore if someone gets too close
to me, although someone coughing near me still gives me pause. I’m sad for
those we lost and their families, and for those still suffering the effects of
long COVID. I still think back on the book I read in 2020, The Great
Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History by John
M. Barry. A key learning is that a pandemic doesn’t suddenly end, but tapers
off and becomes less deadly until it falls beneath public notice.
We have been in our current home just shy of 11 years, a new
record in a single location for us – the previous record was 10½ years in
Twinsburg, Ohio. We love our home here in central North Carolina, an area we
moved to 15½ years ago. Even so, we felt compelled to spend some time away from
home as we tried to catch up on deferred travel. We spent many weeks traveling
together to faraway places this year, as you’ll see below. Jerry had a few
additional weeks of travel for cycling adventures.
February brought the return of our annual Groundhog Day party, the
11th annual version of this event. We then continued the month with
a trip to Florida for a family reunion and an 80th birthday for
Jerry’s dad.
One week in March was very stressful as two of our three cats
stopped eating. Spats (left) and Chaplin (center) are littermates and we
thought were going to lose them both as they started losing weight quickly.
Four costly visits to the emergency veterinarian later, we finally had the
right combination of nutrition and medication to return them to normal. They
are fully recovered and a little too heavy since once they started eating
again, they never wanted to stop. These two have been with us for nine years
now and are about 11½ years
old. Tiger on the other had perfect health for the year. We still think of him
as the ‘new’ cat and it came as a surprise when we realized it’s been five
years since he entered our lives. He is now seven years old.
In late May and early June, Jerry jetted off to Belgium with
friends for two weeks of exploration of breweries while riding bicycles with a
specialty tour company called Beercycling. This was Jerry’s second cycling visit to
Belgium but to a less hilly section than last time. Much of the trench warfare
of World War I was fought in this area so history was a recurring theme of this
trip.
After a
brief visit home, Jerry and Nancy visited Iceland for the first time. After a
few days in the capital city of Reykjavík, we took a driving tour that
circumnavigated the island nation by traversing the Ring Road while also
spending some time on the tourist route called the Golden Circle.
It was a trip full of waterfalls and glorious scenery. Even though it rained
frequently, and even snowed on the Fourth of July! – we made the most of it and
enjoyed our time in this beautiful country. The most adventurous part of the
journey was snorkeling
at Silfra, in the crack that separates the North American and European
continents. We wore dry suits as the water temperature was about 35°F. We just
missed Iceland’s Litli-Hrútur volcanic eruption which began not far from
the airport as were sitting on the plane waiting to depart for home. In fact,
our flight was placed on a brief hold until they confirmed there was no risk to
our plane.
After
another brief visit home, Jerry left once again, this time for the annual
RAGBRAI event, a week-long, 500-mile bicycle
trip crossing the entirety of Iowa in late July. Starting at the western
border, 50,000 people cycle across the state, either the full distance as I did
or just certain days, typically camping overnight in a small town before
heading out the next morning to the next evening’s destination. This was Jerry’s
fourth time completing this challenge and this year was the most challenging as
the week was exceedingly hot with temperatures above 100°F. A thunderstorm on
the evening before the final day of riding knocked down his tent and soaked his
belongings. Fortunately, he wasn’t in the tent at the time and found alternate
sleeping arrangements on a concrete floor, but even with minimal sleep, he was
able to pull everything together to reach the eastern border, the Mississippi
River.
After spending a few weeks at home to rest, the two of us ventured
out again for a brief trip to the mountains of the Blue Ridge Parkway (“America’s
Favorite Drive!”) to experience fall colors.
While Iceland was supposed to be our big vacation for the
year, an unexpected offer arose that was too good to pass up which led us to
venture to Antarctica for our third time. This cruise started in
Argentina and focused on the failed 1914-1917
Endurance expedition of Sir Ernest Shackleton and thus included
visits to the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. And, while we unfortunately
bypassed Elephant Island, we instead visited A23A, the world’s largest iceberg
– 32x40 nautical miles in size. The trip was full of penguins, seals, whales, seabirds,
and glaciers. At nearly four weeks long from mid-November to mid-December, this
adventure was our longest ever. We don’t expect to stretch a vacation that long
too often.
Around
these adventures, we continued our regular activities at home. Nancy volunteers
at Safe Haven for Cats, a local
non-profit cat shelter; sings in three local choirs; and serves in leadership
positions for the Woman’s
Club of Raleigh, the Cary
Community Choir, and TeamCBC, a local
bicycling club. Jerry has continued his athletic activities of swimming,
biking, and running, and has continued to learn to play piano for another year.
Please hug all your friends and family this holiday season and
tell them you love them! We wish you the
happiness and joy you deserve this holiday season!
Nancy and Jerry Canterbury
PS: If you want to see more photos of our trips, check out our
Facebook pages or travel blog. (The blog is new but expanding soon!)
https://www.facebook.com/jerrylcanterbury