The Timms Times

HEADLINES in this Issue

Jan 2012 Continental news

Feb 2012 Mexico

July 2012 Cancer ride

Aug 2012 Scary birthdays

Sep 2012 House renovators

May 2013 They‘re back!

Dec 2013 Party of the year

Feb 2014 They’re gone

Nov 2014 32 Years

Jun 2015 Party v.2015

2015 Civil War

EDITORIAL

So what’s up with TIME these days? It seems like it was just last month I was publishing the 2010 issue of this newsletter, and I know that Ellie was just born last Christmas, so how did she get to be 5 years old?


Has some mad scientist discovered how to speed up the earth’s rotation? And not told anyone except a few of his closest friends -- by email.


Did the U.S. National Security Agency read the emails? And pass the information on to the Wall Street traders who then built their high speed line into the New York stock exchanges?


Good grief! Do our entire lives have to be speeded up so the banks can make a few gazillion more dollars?


OR ...

... is it just that I’ve turned into a grumpy old woman?

THE TRAVEL SECTION

We would hate to bore you with our travel photos, but if you are interested, clicking on any of the destinations will take you to a very short slideshow of that place.



Newfoundland in 2013

An amazing place. We liked it so much, we are going back in 2016.


Cyprus in 2014

History, history everywhere.

Almost better than going to Greece.


Cotswold Way 2014

Some of us hiked the whole way, and some of us took several ‘rest’ days. Your guess as to who did which.


Denmark and Norway in 2015

Roger's amazing genealogical research skills discovered several of my mother's relatives living around the Trondheimfjord in Norway, who insisted on treating us to meals and taking us on sightseeing tours to visit the Skjei farm where my grandfather, Einar Hansen Skjei, grew up, and then the Heimveg farm where his father, Hans Kristian Sakariassen grew up.


Did you know that until the 1920’s, Norwegians didn’t have fixed last names? They used their patronyms (Hansen, Sigurdson, Einarsdottar, etc) after their first name/s and then added the place where they lived. If they moved, their last name changed!

THOUGHT of the YEAR

President Obama speaking in Newtown, Connecticut in December, 2012:


“They are ALL our children ...”

Entire Timms family living on the same continent

January, 2012

Arran and Orla in Montreal, living just down the block from Laura and Steve. Stefan and Kate and the girls in Chicago. Well, it’s an improvement. Travel time to Chicago or Montreal is much shorter than to Dublin. Plus, it means that occasionally everyone gets together at the old family homestead in Ontario.

Birthdays are Getting Scary

Cycling for Fun and Profit

July 7-8, 2012

MONTREAL to QUEBEC CITY


It was deja vu all over again for us, as we stood in the crowds cheering the cyclists. Only this time they weren’t racing for triathlon glory, but to raise money for the Segal Cancer Centre at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal. Arran did the riding while Orla did the real work, helping to set up and take down the overnight camp. We were told the two-day, 229 kilometre ride was a lot of fun, which must be true, as you can clearly see in the photo of Arran taken just after he arrived at the finish line.

A ‘GRAN’ TIME IN MEXICO

SCIENTISTS TURN TO HOUSE RENOVATIONS

They’re Back!

September, 2012

TORONTO


Not only are we all on the same continent, we now have one offspring living in the same province! Laura and Steve have returned to Toronto and are turning their scientific research skills to the question of making their very own house livable. It’s just across the street from the school Laura attended until grade 5 and she says that every time she hears the recess bell she wants to go outside and play with her friends.

February, 2012

PLAYA DEL CARMEN

Oh, my! We had such a good time escaping the snow and slush for the gorgeous white beaches of the Mayan Riviera. The only downside was that Arran and Orla couldn’t join our week in the sun. He wisely decided not to take a vacation after only three months in a new job, and Orla opted to stay with her husband in snowy Montreal.


We even managed to stop Roger from bringing back the ugliest thing he could find.

August, 2012

NEW YORK


You might find this as hard to believe as we do, but Roger and Kathleen have two FORTY year old sons!


We met up in New York to mark the occasion by staying in Harlem in an apartment with a real doorman; taking a lovely long walk along the High Line park; visiting the Museum of Modern Art, the MOMA store, the New York Public Library; and sharing a very special dinner at Riverpark restaurant.


The boys themselves marked it by going to the London Olympics.

May, 2013

TORONTO


Three went to Chicago in 2010. Four came back. Ellie, our little American, seems to be adapting well to life in this kinder, gentler country of ours, even when her parents do crazy things like entering her in triathlons.

48th year

The 2012-2015 Issue

last updated December, 2015

THE ADVICE COLUMN

Forget love.

Try good manners.

Rebecca Wells

2012

1972

32 Years on a Bench

FROM THE ARCHIVES

They’re Gone -- again

The Party of the Year

December 5,6,7, 2013

CALGARY


Talk about birthdays getting scary -- try SEVEN ZERO on for size! The only saving grace to turning that age is having a sister who will throw a huge party to celebrate.

Most of my favourite people were there -- all my siblings and their spouses, all Roger’s siblings, all our children, and grandchildren; many cousins, nieces, nephews, grand-nephews and old friends from university days.

And the party did go on for three days. As we septuagenarians liked to say in the sixties, party hearty!

Brother Greg took a whole album of gorgeous photos, which you can see by clicking here.

February, 2014

DUBLIN


Seems like living on the same continent as the rest of the family is just too much proximity. So -- back to Dublin, where Orla, in possession of her brand new McGill Master’s degree, is practicing her legal profession, and Arran is practicing his by managing a couple of new hospital projects at Ireland’s Health Service Executive.

Feeling nostalgic?

Indulge yourself by reading an issue or two from our archives.


The 1997 issue

The 1998 issue

The 1999 issue

The 2001 issue

The 2002 issue

The 2003 issue

The 2007-8 issue

The 2009 issue

The 2010 issue






Any comments?


Please send them on to us.

We love to hear from you.


Simply put any of our first

names in front of

@timms.ca


For example:

mcgriffen@timms.ca

PLUMBING REVOLTS

CIVIL WAR ERUPTS

November 10, 2014

OSHAWA


Fifteen years here, 9 years there, 8 years on a completely different bench. Not quite the same as 32 years a slave, but now it’s over. Well, sort of.


On November 10th Roger officially semi-retired (went ‘supernumary’ in the quaint language of the Superior Court). Which means he is still working, but only half the time.


It is going to be an adventurous year ahead, as we figure out what to do with him during the other half.

The 2015 Party of the Year

June 7, 2015

OSHAWA/PORT PERRY


Another 70th birthday, a big promotion for Stefan, and the official almost-end to a judicial career. Could there be three better reasons to have a party?

Our friends; Stefan’s friends; professional colleagues; they all made for a hefty crowd. Plus, after toiling in the vineyards of marital discord for his entire career*, it was a joy to see so many of the couples Roger had married with all their beautiful children. That really was his best work.

February, 2015

The water pipe from the well freezes. This has never happened to us before. Was it really the coldest winter in 27 years? We retaliate by dropping a heat gun down the well. Peace is restored. Temporarily, as it turns out.


May, 2015

5:00 a.m. We wake to the sound of water dripping through the ceiling.

Attacking with hammers and axes, we find the source -- an undetectable

slow leak from a bathroom faucet above. We are then bombed with

insurance adjusters, contractors, plasterers (with collateral plaster dust

-- LOTS of plaster dust), painters, and of course, plumbers.
They have no sooner retired from the field when ...


September, 2015

... the laundry room drain backs up, and the toilets won’t flush. Oh, oh. Looks like the septic system has joined the rebels. Time to call in the heavy artillery -- except they can’t come until tomorrow (“Just cross your legs”) and when they do, it’s disclosed that septic experts don’t dig to find their target -- which in our case is two feet down under the lawn.


Well, what’s a girl gonna do? Showering outdoors under the garden hose is all very well on a sunny September morning, but it’s hardly a sustainable practice. So the girl’s gotta dig.

Roger would do it, of course, but he is in Quebec on his annual French

course. Miraculously, help does arrive from a neighboring ally and we

eventually get the septic tank lid exposed.

A little emotional blackmail gets the pumping artillery back and we

defeat the clog.

Life returns to normal.

For now.


Was it Stewart Brand who wrote,

“When it comes to houses, water is the source of all evil.”

Wait! WAIT!


Have you read all the way to here? Even through the yucky bit above? You are either totally masochistic or incredibly determined. In any case, thank you for your interest in our family. We feel truly blessed to have someone like you in our lives.

All our best to you and yours in the coming year.

SCIENCE NEWS

November, 2013

Credit Valley Conservation has been lucky enough to snag entomologist Dr. Laura Timms as their new ecologist.

* One wag shouted out “And that was BEFORE he went to the office”. We know who you are, Jim McPherson, and where you live.

And anyway, no discord in this vineyard -- at least not before or while he was at the office.

September, 2015

Venturing out of the academic world for the first time in ? how many? years, Steve is putting his analytical skills to work for Angoss International Software.

©2015 Kathleen Timms