Blog for Friday, September 13, 2024
Summer Road Trips, Seeing, Puppies and Pink
What a beautiful day out there today. It feels like we are experiencing the last gasp of summer as we head into Fall. It has also been a while since I last blogged. There is so much to tell. Where to begin?
Summer was pretty good. It was fairly low key for me as I underwent two eye surgeries in June and July. I am on track for a good recovery, which is anticipated to be up to six months long. Some would say having to lie face down for 22 hours a day for the first week and 14 hours a day for the second week was the hardest part. For me it is the lack of activity that is the most challenging as I am not great at sitting around. I did watch several television series with my good eye during my two weeks of downtime. White Lotus was interesting. Succession was intense and annoying and very good all at the same time. Kate Winslet was decent in the Regime and The Mare of East Town. I was rivetted by Brian Cranston in Your Honor.
I have been cleared for a couple of weeks now to walk and ride the Peloton so I have turned the corner on that. No swimming, trailer, boat, golf, working out or any form of strenuous activity. My doctor thinks I should be okay to ski come December. Yeah. Overall, I am happy to have the opportunity to continue to see and appreciate the value of eyesight. The world is a beautiful thing to see and I am very fortunate to have some great eye specialists in my life. I have also learned I am not the only one with eye issues as I have had a number of conversations with clients that have faced similar challenges.
Denise and I took a couple of road trips once I could drive again. No flying per the doctor. We were in Canton, Ohio to see Carrie Underwood and just happened to also stop in at the NFL Hall of Fame as well. Although resistant at first, Denise enjoyed the experience except maybe for the Hall of Busts, which we both agreed was a bit creepy. Life like heads of the inductees from wall to wall. Eek. It was interesting to learn the history of the game and soon realized the Hall is in Canton as football essentially started in the area back in the 1920’s.
We also went to Pittsburgh on that trip. I wasn’t the only pirate in sight this summer. We went to take in a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game. I fit right in. We got the swag, got rain delayed, and left without seeing a single pitch. Oh well. It is a pretty cool ballpark to visit.
Next up was Chicago for Addison’s 16th birthday. It is one of our favourite cities to visit. We drove her and two of her girlfriends down for a few days to celebrate. The purpose was to go see country star, Luke Bryan at Wrigley Field. He was a bust as he was suffering from bronchitis and couldn’t sing after a few songs. As he said, “I don’t want to reschedule or give your money back.”. Not cool after travelling so far. Wrigley Field was amazing. It was built in 1914 and still in use by the Chicago Cubs. Very historic.
Thankfully the weekend was saved. We saw Back to the Future on Chicago’s Broadway, which was fantastic. And the highlight of the weekend was the last minute ticket purchase to Pink’s concert at Soldier Field. Wow! What a show!!! She was simply amazing and it was one of the best concerts we have ever seen. She has great theatrics and does her own acrobatics while singing upside down I might add! She flew around the 100,000 seat stadium on a guy wire to end the show. Crazy stuff. If you ever get a chance, get tickets to see her. You won’t be disappointed.
We haven’t got anything else scheduled yet for the Fall. That’s a good thing because we are going to be focused on our new male puppy coming next weekend! Yup. We bit the bullet. Weimaraner. Need to have a matching set. We have a choice of either a gentle suck or a big bruiser. I am sure you will be seeing pictures in the next blog.
Alex finished our basement in Whitby over the summer and it looks great. What a great space for me to watch football and for us to work out. We have set up a sweet gym down there. The day after it was (mostly) done, he and his wife, Yvonne, promptly set off for Squamish, BC to make a life and apparently loving it out there. Great mountain biking and they have met some nice friends as well. I am happy for them, and it sucks to not have your kids close by. I know I am not the only one dealing with this.
Speaking of far-off places, did you see the billionaire take the first commercial space walk? Very cool. Now we know what a billion dollars buys you.
My mother, Judy, turned 94 the other day and she’s doing really well especially after getting a pace maker a few weeks ago. This was a sudden occurrence as she has been checked up by her cardiologist yearly with a full work up each time. Her heart got down to 30 beats per minute. Yikes. She’s back on track and doing well after the surgery.
Not sure if you watched the USA Presidential Debate the other night. 67 million people did. Trump won of course “by a lot”. But then again, he believes illegal immigrants are eating people’s dogs in Springfield. I liked one newsfeed’s assessment of the debate writing that “Kamala was the only grown up in the room.” She was exceptional in her debate skills in my opinion and effectively baited Trump into revealing (again) who he is really is. I really think America (and the world) need to move on from him. It would be nice to have a Republican candidate who could properly debate the issues, discuss their policies in depth, and have true debate about issues that matter. “I have concepts of a plan” just isn’t good enough. That is all I have to say. Sorry to upset any Trump loyalists.
The stock and bond markets really haven’t been paying attention to the election. Investors are more focused on corporate earnings, the economy and direction of interest rates. Not sure which president said, “it’s all about the economy stupid”, and that’s true for the markets.
Global central banks are now in the interest rate cutting phase with the ECB and Bank of Canada cutting rates recently, and the USA Federal Reserve is expected to cut rates next week. Inflation is cooling off, employment remains firm albeit cooling, and the global economy is slowing nicely. A soft landing is in sight, however, there is the risk that interest rate cuts are late or too slow in coming, and the global economy slips into recession.
At this point all signs point to a soft landing, which is good for the stock and bond markets as we have seen over the summer. Portfolios have done well this year overall as a result. Bond yields have come down significantly with yields over 4% hard to find these days. As yields come down, prices on bonds have gone up in a nice recovery.
That’s it for now. I am off to grab a beer and start a fire in the firepit up here in Collingwood. Week two of football starts Saturday for college ball and Sunday for the NFL. I will be watching.
Enjoy the great weather. See you soon (pun intended!).
Miles…