The Last Few Months - June to September 2009

Since May we had a unbelievable summer in Vancouver. It was a extra special summer with beautiful weather and unusual for not much rain. Roz and I visited David and Talia in Oakland and had a super time with them for a long weekend. Our celebratory five star dinner at Restaurant Gary Danko was unbelievable. We also had quite an intense visit to take care of deal with Joel's mom in Florida. She has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. It has been quite an ordeal negotiating her care and support required. It has been difficult for David and Jonathan. Roz and I also visited Detroit for Rosh Hashanah and had a super visit with the Leibovitz sister clan. We always seem to have a super time with the family in Detroit. We then went to down to Cincinnati for 2 days and reconnected with some friends and enjoyed seeing Caitlin and Jonathan and having some time with them. We are getting into Vancouverisms in many ways - Bard on the Beach, the Vancouver International Film Festival, the Artsclub, our fun and happening neighborhood and a sailing club that we will join in the spring. What a super hobby and great way for us to spend our weekends.

We now live in Vancouver and are living in for the first time a urban city that is living and breathing and is quite alive and well.  We are living in a typical Vancouver condo of 1,080 square feet. We find ourselves in the vicinity of a very trendy area of town called Kitsilano and South Granville area. It is a super section of town with many restaurants, galleries, boutiques, stores, coffee houses, a repretory theater, movie, bookstores and so much more. What more could we ask for...well...my office is only 3 blocks from where we live. So I can walk or ride my bike to work. We both have been walking so much more.  How much fun is that!!!  We are trying to live with one car and so far we have made it work.  We feel great about contributing something to the environment. 

Since the last blog was written May 2008, Roz and I have been busy.  I applied for a position as the Executive Director of JFSA in Vacnouver and was offered the position in late October, 2008.  I started on March 23, 2009 after a long period of negotiation, due diligence and review of all issues, such as social security, medical, etc.  We drove across country from Cincinnati to Vancouver in six days and had a fabulous transition from the USA to Canada.  On the road we had some super experiences.  We visited Mt. Rushmore, stayed at a historic hotel in Buffalo, Wyoming called the Occidental, visited the Badlands National Park and took a wonderful loop drive to Phillipsburg, Montana and had lunch at a hot sauce specialty restaurant. We sold our house in Cincinnati in 10 days, we were so fortunate to have done so.  Instead of Roz and I having to live apart and commute for many months we were able to move up to Vancouver on April 26th.