Year: 2026

First Trip after C: Canada

October 1, 2026 – Canada

Our first ‘baby steps’ trip after the cancer journey. Nothing strenuous, but long enough to get a change of scenery and pace. And what better than a family visiting trip to recharge and just BE, with no obligations to do a lot of stuff.

I got my passport renewal submitted! This required a day in Toronto at the start. So we also met up with Lothar’s friend Eric and went to Dielo for a lovely Chinese French fusion chef tasting menu! This was not a meal, it was an EXPERIENCE! Thank you Eric!

Once in Peterborough, we started relaxing and catching up with everyone. One day we did mini golf. It was a really nice course, a new one in the region, and it was really well done. The weather was perfect and everyone had a great time.

Afterwards, we went to Leahy’s farm market. The pumpkins were perfect and the lake behind the property was just lovely! A real fall feeling.

Lothar found a small town nearby – Millbrook. We went with Paul and Maria as the kids were busy at school. We walked around a bit, saw the dam and nature park there. It also has a few hikes in the park along the creek. Then we sat down for a bit of lunch at the Pastry Peddler. I had a delicious open-faced gravlox sandwich.

Had lovely strawberry beer at St Veronus, and later a movie. We saw the Avengers.

Around the house, the lake was lovely as always. We had some really fantastic family dinners, thanks Maria and Paul! And Simon and Claira are growing up fast. So cool to see Simon in his Firefighter school uniform!

So from here, more recovery, but also onwards to normal life! Our next trip might be another family trip, this time to Lothar’s family in Austria, but if not, then a short Boston trip for the first PET scan, where we expect nothing but positive results. Cheers!

Cancer Journey

July 28, 2026 – Bermuda

Well, I’m not going to go long here, but suffice it to say, after a long and drawn out diagnosis period, we found out that Lothar had cancer (base of tongue). It’s a very curable one, so we set hopes high, and just went about getting through the treatment.

It was physically gruelling, and equally difficult to watch happening to someone you love and live with. The treatment was brutal, as were the side-effects of both chemo and radiation. The pain medications were multiplying, as were the side-effects of all of those.

I thought I’d be fine, I’d be the strong one, but I was also blindsided with how much it knocked me down emotionally. I took a much needed trip to Canada to see my sister and family, and Lothar had many friends come by to talk and visit. It gave us both the emotional reboot that we needed to figure out how to cope.

Then finally, on July 28th, the treatment was over, and the bell was rung.

Through it all Lothar wrote a book! It’s self-published here: Love under Pressure

Now, on the other side of it, we find that we are much stronger as a couple. That’s one win we got from it, and we are slowly starting to look forward, and toward rebuilding normal.

Cayman 2026

April 3, 2026 – Cayman Islanda

Lothar had a business trip to Cayman, and of course I tagged along!

They have these cool water sports cars out on the water!

The same day I went for a wall dive! 2 dives actually. With the usual Off the Wall Divers. I was so happy I didn’t get motion sickness at all during the entire surface interval! I didn’t even think of it till later!

The hilights for me were 2 stingray sightings. One was large, majestic and slow moving, but there was no way we were going to close the distance between us! Slow but fast! The other was a smaller one one that was under the sand, and wouldn’t come out for us to see even after a diver nudged her wing tip! You could just see the outline and eyes looking at him and saying “nope, not going anywhere”.

Oh and another fun part was the garden eels. There was a whole “field” of them, and I swam through them as fast as I could, watching them retreat into their little holes as I wend by.

I also finally replaced my 20+ year old dive suit (that was purple by the way, but lost all its elasticity) and replaced it with a modern (black) one. I look forward to using it next time I dive! I really should do a few dives in Bermuda each year. It’s lovely here too!

I walked over to Veranda at the Mariott next door for a lovely lunch by the ocean. It was hot but very beautiful.

We visited Jason at his new house. I also tried out his Aquaplane that he will be reselling in the US and Caribbean! Very neat. No pictures though.

We also met up with Lothar’s friends Juan and Sarah again, like last time. Interesting couple! Lovely meal together, plus sunset at their house beforehand.

The business meetings got moved a bit, so we had time to do some sightseeing together! There’s an actual place in Cayman called Hell. Because it looks like it! They even put the little devil there. LOL

Lovely walk on the beach and around Camana Bay. The walkway there is close to the hotel, and Lothar’s work is right there, so we met up and walked around a bit.

And many lovely dinners and sunsets in lovely places.

They have more ferral chickens than we do here in Bermuda! I guess they especially liked this parking lot.

Nice trip overall, but as always, it’s wonderful to come back home to Beautiful Bermuda too.

Boston

January 30, 2026 – Boston

Did you think this was sandy beaches? Think again! It’s approaching Boston from the air, and it’s SNOW!

Boston got buried the day before our arrival – the drifts on the side of the road were chest high and higher in places. Our flight got delayed one day due to the storm on our way there. But BermudaAir got us on the next morning, and we were still in time for the test in the afternoon, just less break.

Yes, we were here for a test at the hospital. After that was behind us, with a GOOD result, we had some fun!

We had QUITE an adventure at the end of our stay – read on below!

It was freezing so our activities were indoors. We tried walking somewhere for 17 minutes and I couldn’t move my face!! I thought my forehead would freeze off.

Museum of Illusions was cool!

We even found a mini golf to play!

Saw a lovely art collection museum. More great indoor stuff!

Of course some lovely dinners like this one at Mooncusser.

But the big adventure was the day before it was time to go back home!

On our last day, the power went out on the whole block where our hotel was! We walked up to floor 12 (they were on emergency lights only at that point). Puttered around the room for a while, then we went out and about, did the museum and dinner.

But the power was still out when we got back! At least they were on generator power by then, and elevators were working. We borrowed a flashlight and packed – they transferred everyone to another hotel!

And in Bermuda, they were warning of storms, so we were thinking oh, no, our flight may be delayed again!

We tried online checkin, but only Lothar was on the reservation! So we were like – OMG, did the travel desk not book both of us on the way back?? We had to use a different airline to get back, so it was possible! But we decided not to worry – there were still spots on the plane, we checked, and we could buy one in the morning if it came down to it.

Sure enough, in the morning at the check-in kiosk, I scanned my passport and BAM, yes I had a flight. Just the silly web site could not retrieve it using anything but the confirmation number, and we only had one number.

So yey, we made it home! Lots of adventures.