Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

 2013 was a great year for holidays. In August we travelled to England and stayed for two weeks at this country manor, called the Wychnor Park Country Club. The home was built in the eighteenth century, and is a resort managed by Diamond Resorts. It is conveniently located within an hour's drive of the city of Stoke-on-Trent where most of our relatives live. Many visited us there.

I managed to get a story about our stay there published in the "Renaissance" magazine, the publication for Ottawa members of the Retired Teachers of Ontario.

 In January we travelled to San Francisco where we met up with neighbours who had moved there from their old home across the street from us. We enjoyed meeting with them again and exploring parts of California.

 Our third holiday was a two week jaunt to the Acadia National Park in Maine. We took our bicycles with us and explored many sections of the park on the well maintained bike trails, by bike, on foot and by car.

At home in the warmer weather we spent most Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings in excursions with the Glen Cairn United Church's cycling group, The Wheels of Fortune. The season's rides culminated with the group taking part in a 25 or 50 km "Ride for Refuge" where we raised funds for the Ottawa Mission, a shelter for homeless men. In 2014 the group will once more take part in this Ride, raising fund for the Kanata-Stittsville Refugee Sponsorship Group. I am a member of this seven church sponsorship group on behalf of Glen Cairn United Church.

We have three holidays planned for 2014. In February we head to Myrtle Beach with my golf clubs. In June we return to Maine and the Acadia National Park. In late August and early September we take a cruise on the Rhine River from Amsterdam to Basle. 2014 should also be a great year.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all the readers of this blog. May your 2013 have been as great as ours, and 2014 be as good as ours promises to be.