Scene and Done

Dick was born in Canada, the eldest child of Dutch immigrant parents.  His family were farmers, and from his early teens they owned and operated a dairy farm in Southern Ontario.  Dick attended Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, graduating in 1976 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.  He went to work for an industrial rotating equipment manufacturer primarily supplying the oil and gas industry, and stayed with them for his entire career, although there were several iterations and changes of location over the 40 years.  He met Louise (that’s me) at Queen’s and we were married in 1977.  Dick’s career took him around the world, and included expat assignments in England, Czech Republic, Malaysia, France, and Brazil, as well as several assignments in Calgary, Canada, western New York State, and Houston, Texas.  He retired in 2016.  Being a Mechanical Engineer with a keen interest in how things work was an excellent qualification for owning and living on Nine Lives, our boat.

I (Louise) was born in England, but was transported to Canada with my parents at the age of 3 as they went in search of a better life with more opportunities.  After growing up in suburban Toronto, I attended Queen’s University, where I met Dick, and graduated with a degree in Arts.  My early career was spent in various accounting clerical jobs; and a brief stint selling real estate, before I discovered my true calling and started work in scientific research libraries.  Eventually I earned the qualification (Master of Library Science degree) to go with the experience.  I worked for research companies that included Xerox, an oil and gas joint venture, and a National Laboratory on Long Island, NY.  Ultimately, Dick’s various overseas assignments stopped my career progression as I dutifully followed him around the world.  In later years, I reinvented myself as a photographer, specializing in landscapes and wildlife, and I continue to sell my images to books, magazines, newspapers, and various internet buyers.

Dick’s parents left the Netherlands shortly after WWII in search of a better future in Canada.  They began their new lives managing a chicken farm and were able to keep a few cows of their own.  When Dick was a teenager, an opportunity arose to buy a dairy farm and Dad was able to settle into the life he had always wanted.  Over a relatively short time he improved his dairy herd and was able to buy a second farm.  Dick was never going to be a farmer (although he loves all animals), but his teenage years taught him about responsibility, teamwork, and making a contribution.

Louise’s father joined the UK armed forces late in WWII, and after discharge, he was able to take advantage of education offered for returning soldiers and earned multiple engineering qualifications.  He gained expertise in what was at the time the new field of gas engineering.  Louise’s mother left school very early and went to work in a bank, but during the war her career took an interesting turn, and she joined what eventually became MI-5.  I did not know this until her last years.  Those women took an oath to keep silent, and they stuck with it long after the war was over.

In 1957, Louise’s Dad was persuaded by a friend that there were great opportunities in Canada.  He and Mum sold their home and all their possessions and loaded their small child onto a boat and set off for Montreal.  Dad had some introductions, but certainly no job waiting for him.  His specific expertise stood him in good stead; he was hired by the company that was building a new gas pipeline across Canada.

While Dick was baling hay, milking cows, and being an all-Canadian boy, playing football in summer and ice hockey in winter, I followed a fairly conventional upbringing as a middle-class girl living in suburban Toronto.  Eventually there was a cottage on a lake for weekends and summer holidays.  However, my parents always enjoyed travel, and there were trips home to England as well as camping holidays to Canada’s east coast.  They chose to take their children with them, thus ensuring that I grew up seeing new places as well as being very familiar with the country of my birth.

Dick and I knew quite early that we wanted to retire to Hilton Head.  We had been moved to the United States and then overseas some years earlier, but our future, and our retirement, was tied to the USA.  We discovered Hilton Head Island through timeshare exchanges when we were living in New York State, and in order to keep our place on the property ladder, we ultimately bought a home on the island.  (We never lived in that house, instead it was rented full time.)  In 2013, we bought a different retirement home in Hilton Head, with the plan that I would move there immediately, while Dick continued to work for a few years, commuting between Houston, his then current assignment in Brazil, and Hilton Head.

We continued to travel, with at least one trip overseas every year.  We also spent time in North America, visiting nearly every state in USA, and all but one of the Canadian provinces.  After retirement, our boating journeys reduced the time available for other travel, but we spent most winters at the home we bought in the Yorkshire Dales in England.

Now that our Great Loop odyssey is complete, we are beginning to make plans for the future.  This autumn, in addition to time in Wensleydale, I will visit Northumberland, Norfolk, Derbyshire, and England’s Lake District.  Over the Christmas period, Dick and I will spend time in Devon and Kent.  Plans are already being formulated for a road trip next summer that will take us north to New Hampshire and Ontario, into Michigan and Wisconsin, then north in Canada as far as northern Alberta.  From there, we expect to circle around through the mountains of British Columbia and then south to Idaho before returning east to South Carolina via Asheville and the Appalachians.

I look forward to sharing our travels.