Hello friends,

We went from +30 to -30 in about 48 hours by flying from Malaysia back to Canada and landing in a cold snap. Its nice to be back in Calgary, but it has been a busy two weeks since we arrived.

Jan moved into our new house last May, slept in it for a week and then flew to Australia to join Dave on Harmonica in Cairns. Dave had already been in Australia for 2 or 3 months and had hauled and repainted Harmonica in Gladstone, and sailed up the coast of Queensland.

We spent an interesting season sailing round NE Australia to Darwin, through Indonesia, and finally to Langkawi in Malaysia. (see www.techco.ab.ca/harmonica)

We flew back to Calgary via Hong Kong on 4th/5th December to find the mountains looking patricularly white for the time of year, and daytime high temperatures which wavered but stayed below -20. We needed transport so we headed down to the car auction and waved and nodded at the right times to end up with a Toyota van that we had never sat in but appears to be working well for us. However, the night before that, we were woken by the sound of an indoor waterfall arising from the garage. Dave bleerily wandered downstairs wondering why there should be plumbing in the garage roof, and turned off the house water supply. There was, of course, a pipe to a garden hose that had been left on in May but froze in December and sent such a jet of water at the garage ceiling that it drilled a hole in the drywall, flowed around on top, and came back out of any light fittings it found! That all kept us busy. There have been many calls of "where are the ..." in the last 2 weeks.

Meanwhile for light relief, we tested the mountain snow-pack and found it to be the best in several years. Unfortunately, Jan pulled something in her knee her first day out, but Dave has now had 5 days on skis (2 at resorts and 3 in the back-country including a week end with Neil in the Rogers Pass).

One result of Jan staying indoors is that there have been sightings of much Christmas preparation & baking. Tomorrow morning, Christmas Eve, we shall take our new old van out to the cabin. We know the order will be 1) light all the fires & stoves, 2) go outside and cut a Christmas Tree to keep warm, 3) go back inside to unpack. Neil will join us and we hope to have various freinds out to visit on Boxing Day.

Mark & Heidi will spend another Christmas in Port Hardy at the north end of Vancouver Island with Heidi's family. He always seems to like surfing in bays that are accessed by truck and canoe down the logging roads and small rivers, but surely not this time Mark?

Harmonica is snuggly tied to the dock at Rebak Marina, Langkawi, Malaysia. She will stay there until at least March 2010. It was a grunt sailing up the Mallaca Strait from Singapore and Johor Baru, with head winds all the way, grey skies, and occasional thunderstorms. We saw one twister, and other boats saw more. An Indonesian ferry sank not too far from us one night, but they must have been badly overloaded or in some freek local weather conditions. However, there were several interesting stops on the way. One was the ancient colonial town of Mallaca (Melaka as the Malaysians write it), where Portuguese, Dutch, and British influences were all clear. Several anchorages were really pretty. We saw monkeys, big lizards, and otter-like animals on the beaches.

Seasons greetings to you all and best wishes for a more peaceful 2010

Dave & Jan

Our new address is

tel 403 282 4686

email