30.... Year 30

For our 30th Anniversary, Ian decided he'd rather be in another country. He spent the month of May in Kingston, Jamaica for work, living in a furnished apartment that was devoid of any personality, with spotty internet, eating poor fruit and drinking Red Stripe. He also had a view of the mountains and the ocean, got to fly out of three strips on the island, and ate fresh caught fish for breakfast.

So I went there for a weekend, because -- why would we each be alone if he's on a Caribbean island nation during this amazing milestone?

I flew there on Friday and returned on Monday. In the middle Ian and I spent the weekend at Goldeneye, the resort developed by Ian Fleming and where he wrote the 007 novels.  Ian is a huge James Bond fan, (even if the novels and movies reflect the sexist, racist times) so getting to lay on the beach, snorkel, swim in the lagoon, and eat yummy food just put him in a happy place.  Every cabin was unique and our beachside home had a classic mosquito net draped bed, outdoor shower, and full kitchen. 

It takes a bit to get from Harrisburg to Kingston, including an all day stop in Atlanta, which works out great for us with Becca and Max a short hop from the ATL airport. In all, my trip was actually three trips: a visit with Becca, time with Ian, a visit with Becca. 

Jamaica was Jamaica.  A super late arrival, a two+-hour terrifying drive to the north side of the island on pitch black twisty mountain highway with a driver who did not care about potholes, talking on the phone, getting pulled over by the cops and paying a bribe to avoid a speeding ticket, passing into oncoming traffic thereby forcing the oncoming traffic to PULL OVER, and crunching over detritus all over the road from a head-on crash that had just happened and being more annoyed with the delay and having to drive over the sidewalk than the fact that someone was just in a horrible crash probably due to speeding into oncoming traffic and swerving to avoid a pothole.

The resort is unmarked. The exterior wall is broken only by a wrought-iron fence that says "Private Property" and opens to a windy one-lane drive to a small open-air welcome building lighted by oil flame torches.  Ian Fleming's books are featured prominently, along with pictures and news articles of at his home which still exists on the property.  At one point, the home was open to tours when it wasn't in use, but unfortunately that stopped a few years ago.  Down the main road a bit is Bond Beach, where the first James Bond film has the famous bond girl rise up out of the ocean. The nearby airstrip is also Ian Fleming airport.  When Ian got home one of his comments was that everyone he met seemed to have no issue with his name, never even asking for spelling.  I wonder why. 

One of the phone calls the driver had received was from the hotel asking us whether we wanted a dinner waiting for us.  Dinner at the resort ended at 9:30pm and we expected to arrive close to 11pm, so dinner wasn't really a focus, however when we entered our room there was a plate of fruit ready to snack on which was so welcome.

Saturday was our full day at GoldenEye and we spent the day just enjoying the perfect weather, the water, and the food. We discovered that snorkeling without prescription goggles is a challenge, and that swimming in the lagoon was delightful. Dinner was a barbeque out by one of the pools with live music. GoldenEye isn't an all-inclusive like many of the resorts on the western coast of the island, but it didn't matter.  You only hit 30-years married once so the weekend was meant to be an indulgence. 

The next morning the hotel had a driver take us to Ian Fleming airport where and instructor had parked the Cessna that Ian flew the weekend prior.  Rather than take that terrifying highway back, Ian flew us 20 minutes back to Kingston, a turn over the ocean and through the mountain passes. It was gorgeous.  I will never be a calm flyer, but he had a such a delight in flying, and the fact that he could fly in Jamaica and earn hours towards his license was so perfect for his month away.

Because the fact is that a month is a long time for us.  We made it through his year in Baghdad with visits home every few months, but we also had told each other we wouldn't do that again.  Yes, a month is a long time. I had too many people ask me why I didn't go with him.  My job is remote, I could have easily, in theory.  And whenever I gave my answer I got the same level of confusion mixed with disbelief and a chuckle.  We have fish. Tanks need care, and we didn't figure that all out in order for me to go to Kingston with him.  Even a week or two would have made the whole thing better for both of us, and we know that now.  Like most things since moving to Lebanon, we're figuring things out, seeing what works, and what doesn't. Kind of like my garden - survival of the fittest and the rabbits have moved in.

At 10 years we went to Las Vegas for the perfect amount of kitch.

At 20 years the Maldives was a bucket list check.

At 25 years Lake Tahoe provided all 4 seasons in a day. 

Now at 30 we have GoldenEye.

Ideas for 35?  I've already suggested Antarctica.  Guess we'll see.

Still waiting for spring...

To the point where I put my little seedlings out and LAST WEEK we had a freeze and I lost our baby cucumbers.

One of the things we agreed to before moving to rural-ish Pennsylvania was that we wouldn't let ourselves feel stuck here.  After a lifetime of travel, buying a house here and working from home has a real risk of causing our lives - or what we've come to understand as our lives - to come to a screeching halt. Our house is a new build, so at least it doesn't need repairs and basic maintenance is minimal 6 months in.  We are going to take care of the yard this year, so, watch this space.

The early months felt easy as trips to Philadelphia were built in every couple of weeks for work. It's an amazing walkable city. Since moving here we've done a couple trips down to DC for Marymount stuff, a weekend to Pittsburgh where we met up with Nicholas for a Caps-Pens game, a weekend in Buffalo/Niagara Falls (the Canadian side) for a Caps-Sabres game, and a weekend to Atlanta to see Becca, Max, and Paul McCartney. We've gone ahead and planned the rest of the year too, so again, watch this space. Of course, our goal is to regularly see our kids, and Ian's future pilot license will go towards that.

I probably shouldn't attempt to write posts on a Sunday night.  Next month we'll have a fun update.

March supposedly ushers in springtime

You'd think after 2 years of living in Toronto we'd know better, but we still toss around the idea of moving to Canada. Ontario to be precise. Vancouver, Nanaimo, are so amazing but feel too far.  Same with Nova Scotia and PEI, and while Newfoundland and Labrador is amazing, but is essentially a rock where everything besides whales, puffins, and icebergs have to be brought in. Quebec has a lot of hurdles. Not really vibing with Saskatchewan, Alberta or Manitoba.  And going further north is a big No.  Ian went to Nunavut for a work trip and has no interest in that bitter bitter cold.  Maybe New Brunswick if not Ontario?

As cold as Canada can be, we feel like we're onto about month 13 of winter in Pennsylvania. And we've only lived here for 6 months. We're not sure what to make of this part of PA.

We've had someone come by to look at our yard and are now waiting for an estimate on fencing and managing the steep hill.  I say we just ignore that corner of the yard.  Plant a tree.  Surround it with tall native flowers and grasses that will keep erosion at bay.  Now's the time to do all the things that an actual HOA might try to argue, amirite?  We've also thrown out ideas like putting in a shed, a fire pit, and a pergola, just to get ideas of what dealing with the yard may cost and how much we can get away with.

I also have three sections of grass blocked out and covered with soil (free from the construction sites!) where I plan to grow Things.  In the fall I sprinkled some wildflower seeds in two of them and I'll do more once the ground thaws a bit. The kids got me an assortment of vegetable seeds and gardening gear I'm itching to break in, so once I can feel my hands when I step outside it's game on between me and 416 sqft of growing plot. Ian wants a couple barrel blueberries as well. 

Do I have any idea what I'm doing? Not in the slightest.  But it's going to be fun.  If only spring would come.

Squeaking in a February blog post

Over the winter holidays we had the family up/over over the course of 2 weeks.  Some were here the whole time, others came for one part or another.  It works best this way for us when everyone has lives in different parts of the country. 

Living where we do, we had to make some of our fun.  This area is no Toronto.  We played a lot of cards, poker, and Codenames.  The offspring decorated a gingerbread house.  We visited Lititz and the Green Dragon, and the adventurous ones went off for a day of snowboarding.  On a quiet day after some had already departed for home, we sat around the table and drafted up some 2026 bingo cards. 

What I noticed after the fact is that most of my squares are either year-long projects, like "blog once a month" or projects that take a while to plan, like "have a garage sale."  

Read two books a month.  Kinda cheated on this one already.  In January I finished one I started in December and then read three more... in January.  In February... none finished but I have three I'm working on.  I blame it on 28-days.

Mail something every month, from me not Amazon.  I want to write more in general which is why I have blogging, mailing, and drafting a story on three different squares.  I had an idea for a story, but now I kind of hate it. Good thing I have a year... 10 months... to figure it out.

Plant a garden.  Our awesome kids gifted me an amazing wheelbarrow and a full set of gardening gear and seeds before they left for home.  If only we didn't live in a land of perpetual winter.  I told Ian that we've lived in our house for 5 months and 12 of those months have been winter.  It needs to stop. So I've taken to rescuing succulents from the bargain trays at Lowe's, and repotting them into their own little pots.  And rinsing all the dirt off the roots of the peace lily my parents sent as a housewarming gift... and popping it into the fish tank. And growing a potato in water like a kid doing a science experiment.  And trying to grow a lemon tree and avocado tree from seeds...   We have three plots marked out in the the yard, I just need it to not be freezing and/or covered in a foot of snow.

Do something creative every month. This is left open to interpretation.  I did something kind of creative in January, absolutely creative in February, and have no idea what March will be. 

And so it goes for the other 18 squares.

We're here.

Back in July 2025 I drafted a blog post about where we were with everything since January 20.  It wasn't good then, it's still very much not good for many many more reasons.

We are no longer with the federal government, and our departure was by choice.  In that, I am grateful.

We built a house in a small community in central PA, where even the locals ask "why here?" Our neighbors are divided between Came From Away (a few) to Moved 10 Minutes Closer to Mom Who Lives Down the Way (many many more).  There are a number of homes still being built - notably in front and behind us so we have at least a year of construction to contend with, but to the right we have a couple from New York, and to the left a couple from Vermont.  The diversity in this neighborhood is better than I expected too, so grateful for that.

The family visited over the holidays.  I don't use the term "blessing" much because of its religious connotations, but last year we had the whole family visit in Toronto, and this year in a far more remote place -- so yes, the fact that my parents and our kids still make the trek is a blessing.

Ian's retirement didn't last long.  He's been part-time since October and just started very flexible full-time.  I'm full-time as well, and we're lucky that we can work from home.  

As I look over the icy moonscape that is our yard, I do have moments of wondering if settling so far north was the right move.  But then people say that this winter has been an odd one.  The entire month of December was freezing and snowy with an ice storm thrown in for good measure over the holidays.  Now in January we've had a giant snow dump and it's so cold it has frozen into a hard shell. And the wind, oh the wind. The wind is beyond anything we expected.

OK.

Let's be honest, it's hard to launch blogging again -- about our new fish tank, plans for the yard, how do you even set up for a yard sale? -- when the country's institutions, its people, and the constitution is under a full attack from our own government, without turning the blog into a political commentary?  Truly there's no point in avoiding it, it's going to seep in no matter what I do.  

https://www.signsofjustice.com/products/we-the-people 

https://makerworld.com/en/models/119995-loud-whistle?from=search#profileId-129140

Sometimes I wonder if the anger and anxiety are why I've been so sick lately too.

It certainly can't be helping.