Zara and I went to the gym at least once last week, and we also went skateboarding by the lake, which was really fun. Zara was doing some cool manuals on the pier and accidentally slipped, and her board went into the lake! Offerings to the water goddess, I suppose, haha, it happens. At least I got some pics of her skating on the board for the last time before it sank!

I have also been spending quite a bit of time with Zara’s family. It was her nephew’s birthday on Saturday, and we had a great time. We ended up hanging out at the house for a bit and eventually went to Mongolian Grill for dinner. It was a very enjoyable day.

Then, on Sunday, Nana, Pierre, and I went out to the Durham Arsenal supporters bar in Oshawa and watched Arsenal win the EPL! It was a really fun experience!

Nana had a great time holding up the trophy! They made the day quite fun at the bar, but it was also packed! The food was also very yummy, even though it took over 2 hours to come. They definitely have to do better with organization for next weekend (Saturday is the Champions League finals and Arsenal might also be Champions of Europe if they win that)!

And that about sums up my week. The weather wasn’t the best; it was a little cold during the week, and it ended up raining all weekend. Today, though, is a gorgeous day (Monday), and it is supposed to be nice and warm all week. Spring is in full swing, and Summer will soon be upon us! Speaking of spring…

And pups doing pup things:

I love you so much, Aimery, and I hope you are doing well. Sending you all the hugs and kisses from up here in Canada, hope you can feel them Buhbuh <3

Love always,
Dada

We went dancing again this week! Ballroom instead of Latin. Was a lot of fun. And we walked with the siblings again, too. Nana and I went out to try out a new gelato spot as well. Wonderful week of yummies.

The gelato was so good! I will definitely be visiting there again soon! We went on a hike with some friends as well, and Harmony loved all the freedom and being out and able to run around. It was a really fun week! I am glad we were able to get up to so many activities.

We were skating at the Whitby dock and went on the pier for a bit, and Zara lost her board in the water!!! It happens, but it sucks when it does. Funny, memorable story now thought!

Lots of pretty flowers this week as well.

I hope you had a wonderful week, Aimery and I love you so much! Can’t wait until we get to experience life’s adventures together.

This week was quite relaxing for me. Zara and I went to the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) for their “free night” on Wednesday evening, and it was a lot of fun! I loved seeing all of the art, but we only got to spend a couple of hours here (the event was 6-9, but we got there at 7). I am definitely open to going again. I think that was my first time checking out that gallery, though. So many beautiful paintings and works of art.

I also made a bit of art of my own this week! I usually just take pictures of all the flowers I see that inspire me in a week, but this week I tried making some flowers as well. They didn’t come out perfect, but turned out good enough! They were fun to make, and I want to try some other types of flowers next time, like lilies (which should be a little easier than tulips, I think).

Saw lots of other pretty flowers this week, thought. Many were seen on the Friday walk in the forest. Harmoney did SO well this week. She was playing with Pumpkin more and even jumped across a small creek! I am so proud of how she is doing in the pack as a little runt.

Look how well she is doing!

After Friday walkies, I went with Zara to her sister’s house and met her mom for the first time. It was very nice, and I also met that sister for the first time, he sisters husband, and their twin children. They were all so lovely. I hope that you get to meet them someday as well. I am sure that you will, one of these days.

Then, today is Mother’s Day! Made breakfast for Nana this morning and then took her out for lunch to my favourite restaurant. We had a great time, although I am so stuffed now!

Closeups of my favs:

This upcoming week should be quite chill, also. Hopefully, I will get more info about refereeing, and I will hopefully be able to go see Auntie KT on Wednesday evening as well.

Miss you so much Aims.
Love, Dada.

My week started quite well. Nana took me out to suchi, and we had lots of yummies. She ate most of the rolls, and I had most of the sushi/sashimi.

I also spent a lot of time this week at the bike/skate park with Zara (my girlfriend) and her little nephews. I hope you get to meet them someday. They are quite cool kiddos.

We also went on a date to the first-ever Toronto Tempo game! It was really cool to be a part of history, but sadly, Toronto lost. It was still a lot of fun, and I think I will be going to another game with Nana and Pierre later in the season.

Friday means family walk times! Harmoney did alright, and Zai was super cute as always. So much fun to walk with the siblings and catch up as the pups zoom around.

Saturday night was for dancing the night away. Zara and I went out to a salsa social night, and it was a lot of fun. The first hour was lessons, and the next 2 hours were free dance, and we had a blast! Only got my feet stepped on a few times, teehee <3.

They should have the dancing social nights every two weeks, so hopefully we will get out to another one. Next time it probably won’t be salsa, but I am sure it will still be fun!

This morning was breakfast, then church, then working out at the YMCA. I only have a pic of breakfast tho haha.

Other than that, I saw some pretty flowers while on my Harmony walks. I always love seeing pretty flowers when I am out and about. I am hoping to get out to see the tulips more this season, but I am glad we got to at least see a few after dancing on Saturday. I hope you have lots of pretty flowers where you are, Aimery.

I love you so much Buhbuh, and I hope your week was wonderful and eventful. I hope you are enjoying school and loving any extracurriculars you are participating in. My favourite was always soccer, but I am sure you will find your own favourite.

Hopefully, I will start refereeing soccer soon, actually. I got my course done last weekend, so now I am an official Canada Soccer Referee. I got all my gear as well, so now I just need to start getting booked for games.

52 weeks of writing to you, a whole year! Looking forward to 52 more!
Love, Dada <3

It has been lovely to be able to spend time with Harmony again. She is technically Nana’s pup, but we have so much fun together. She sleeps with me in bed every night and loves to hang out in the park with me. We are going to have a wonderful summer together.

I have also been hanging out with family and friends! I got to see your cousin Zai (Darnell’s son) on Friday, and we all went out for a walk with the pups in the park. It was a lot of fun, and it was nice to see everyone. Malcolm came too, and he brought his dog as well.

On Friday night, I went out for dinner with Zara, my girlfriend. We went to our favourite restaurant, Portobello Road, in Whitby. They source their ingredients locally and have a fully vegan menu. We are going again for our next monthaversary, and I am taking Nana there for Mother's Day in a couple of weeks.

It has been a busy and enjoyable week! I can hardly believe that we are already at week 51! I actually think I am going to pause this type of post after week 52. It has been wonderful and really fun to write to you like this each week, and I hope that you find these letters one day and that you enjoy reading them about my life. It has been quite cathartic to write to you in this way. I miss you constantly, and taking the time to slow down and share with you about my week has been a great way to feel like we are connecting. You can Google your name, and now all of these posts will come up; that was the goal. I want to make sure you know how much you are loved.

I hope you have a wonderful week, Aimery. I hope to see you soon. This upcoming week will probably be a little less busy, but I will start refereeing soccer soon, which should keep my days quite full.

Love you lots, Buhbuh,

Love, Dada

Wow! So much colour this week! I suppose my life seems to always be so full of colour these days. I remember, not too long ago, when a life full of colour seemed like just a dream. And now, it is surely a reality. Mango season is slowly coming in, kinda sad I am leaving, but I will be back for the height of it. I will also enjoy the season thoroughly, don’t you worry!

I really miss Luffy… He went missing and hasn’t been seen in days. We think he got sick and passed away. I went for my first walk since he’s gone missing, and it wasn’t the same without him. I am glad he had a good life, even though it was short.

Diving has been going great. I have been feeling more comfortable driving the boat and leading dives. Almost done with my Divemaster course, just a few more skills needed.

I hope you are well, Aimery, and that you are loving life in the new house and enjoying being surrounded by love and kindness. You are so very loved. I miss you constantly, and everything I do is for you.

Love always,
Dada

The best part of the week was all the beautiful flowers that I was able to enjoy. One of the many things that I love about Antigua is all of the pretty colours that I get to see daily. Most of these pics were taken on my walks to pick up the dive boat.

I have been bringing the scuba boat around to the dock most mornings now. It feels great to be trusted with the responsibility. I also usually drive the divers out to the dive sites and bring us back to the dock after the dive session as well.

This past week, we also did a lion fish hunting dive! We caught a bunch of kion fish and brought them back for a fish fry! What a wonderful day! It was my first time trying lionfish, and it was delicious. I would definitely have it again. I don’t really eat fish anymore because I feel bad eating the beautiful creatures that I see every day while diving, but lionfish are invasive and destroy the reef.

I hope you have had a wonderful week, Aimery! I also hope that we get to have our own little lion fish fry one of these days <3. This upcoming week should be a busy one with diving, which is great. I should also finish my Divemaster program this week!

Back in Canada soon!
Love you so much, Aimery,
Dada

My Easter has been quite quiet. I got some hot cross buns from my boss this morning and ate them at the beach before taking a quick dip. I love my quick dips at the beach in the winter/spring. In the summer, the water is very warm, and I enjoy staying at the beach for hours, but the water is still quite chilly currently.

I also got to go for a long walk today! Luffy is doing so much better after being hurt a couple of weeks ago, and we all had a great time.

I was also on boat cover a lot this week because I got a small diving injury, so I stayed dry to help heal. And on one the days we saw a huge pod of dolphins!

They were so cute! Love seeing them when I am out. I am very excited to be diving again on Tuesday, though! It has been much too long without it. One more day off tomorrow, and then back into the swing of things.

I also saw some beautiful flowers this week <3 which always brightens my day, I hope it brightens yours, too.

There was also a pretty full moon this week:

And an interesting tip that I got this week hehe:

Love you, Aimery, and hope you had a wonderful week and are doing well. I miss you so much and can’t wait to see you soon. Hope you have a wonderful week ahead!

I have also been moving along in my divemaster course. I am leading multiple dives a week and have my favourite dives to lead. I even mapped out a couple of dive sites for the course.

One of my tasks is to water Oscar every two days, so it is nice to check on him and make sure he isn’t tangled. He LOVES to tangle up his chain among the trees and shrubs. He is a cutie, though, so I enjoy checking on him.

It was such a beautiful week out on the water. I see the Second Star Sailing boats out quite often when I am boating around, and the views in general are so beautiful. I can’t wait to show you all around the island, from the water as well as the land.

I have had another wonderful week, but I always miss you, BuhBuh. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me in my life, and I am so glad that you are surrounded by love, but I hope you know that you are so so so very much loved by me as well. I can’t wait to see you again, to give you the biggest hug, and to get to know you again. I will always be here for you.

Love,
Dada <3

Since I have been working so much, my walks have mostly been around the property. I usually try to take a walk after lunch, even if I cannot go far. The foliage on the property is so beautiful! I am grateful that I do not need to go far to see such pretty things.

On Friday, I went out with a local charity, and we helped with some reef cleanup. We brought up a large trawler net and quite a bit of various trash. There was a lot of wildlife that came up with the net. We tried to get most of it back into the water, but there was a little mini starfish, so cool!

The more I dive, the more I respect the ocean. I rarely eat fish anymore, either. It isn’t nearly as fun to eat them when I get to see them having fun, living their lives, free on the reef. I am also starting to load a lot more dives! So far, I have led dives at 4 different dive sites. I am really enjoying showing people the reef and all of the wonderful things to see there.

Oh! I also officially submitted my law school application today, with Nana’s help, of course. So, we will see how that goes.

I love you so much, Aimery, and I hope to see you soon and give you a big ol’ hug!

Love always,
Dada <3

I love going out for walks with the pups and seeing all the different flowers in the valley. Every week, I feel like I am seeing different ones.

Diving has been great as well, just passed my 50 dive mark and am well on my way to becoming a Divemaster! Most notable fish sighting this week was a bunch of cowfish on the night dive I did last night! First time I have seen them, and they are super cute.

Also, Oscar is doing quite well! I am in charge of giving him water, and I also try to make sure to give him some dumdums (mini apples) when I go see him. He broke free last week and had a few hours of freedom, which was great, but now he’s back, just chilling and being cute.

Oh, and I caught a beautiful sunrise the other morning!

I love you so much, Aimery, and I hope that you are doing well. I pray that I get to see you soon!

Love, Dada.

After a morning of visiting various cafes for some yummies and treats, we stopped by the St. John’s Cemetery to visit Gramgrams and then went to The Hut for a delicious lunch!

Mocktails:

Fancy appetizer:

After eating lunch, we hung out at the beach for a bit before heading back to the mainland and getting Nana and Pierre back to their boat.

I also got my hair done on Monday <3.

And went to the Antigua Youth Orchestra Symphony with my friend yesterday!

Overall, it was a wonderful week. I also dove and did some teaching as well. I am almost done with my Divemaster training and should be an official Divemaster within a couple of weeks!

Some pretty flowers from the week:

I really hope that we can dive together one day. I am sure we will! The underwater world is so beautiful and peaceful. I am sure you will enjoy it.

Love you, Buhbuh,
Love Dada.

Shorter post this week because I didn’t do much aside from prep for the exam, take the exam, and then recover from the exam, but I did get out for a walk yesterday, and went to church with my landlady this morning.

The beach was wonderful today. I feel so blessed that I can just pop over to the beach for a quick dip whenever I want. God is so good!

Love you so much, Aimery.
Love always, Dada <3

I also got some really fun videos of the pups, Oscar, and some new doggies from one of the nearby farms!
Oscar:

New Doggo friends:

The pups playing in the pond:

Luffy chasing after my car with a ball in his mouth. So cute!

A beautiful butterfly that was on the lawn <3

Some pics from my first solo charter!

And then sailing moments from yesterday and today:

I also stopped by Gramgrams’ house, which looks pretty good, and also her gravesite. I want to start stopping by more often, probably each time I pass by (usually about once a month). I usually whistle “One Day at a Time” at the site and just remember how loving she was.

I also randomly got some food from the landlady this week again! I got fried fish, but I forgot to take a pic, but I got a pic of the seasoned rice <3. So very much appreciated.

Overall, a wonderful week! This upcoming week will be very busy, but should be a lot of fun as well. Sailing all week and then my exam on Thursday, so lots of studying this week. Then over the weekend, I will probably start some divemaster stuff so that I can get working and leading dives soon! Very much looking forward to the near future!

I love you so much, Aimery. I hope that I get to share more of my life with you soon, but for now, I am grateful that I get to share my life with you in this way. I hope you are doing well and that you know that you are LOVED.

Love,
Dada.

Also got a cute video of Luffy playing in the pond.

Hopefully, I will get out for a nice walk tomorrow morning as well. It is the same walk pretty much each time, but it is always so beautiful, even when I get rained on, haha.

The charter was for a couple, and we went to Great Bird Island to hang out and then Little Jumby Island for some drinks. I am not drinking for 2026, so I just hung out in both places, haha. I also spent some time watching the boat because the dock was getting busy.

The Hut was quite fancy, and we just hung out at the bar for a bit. I will take Nana here in March when she comes for a day trip.

We saw a couple of Antigua Racer snakes in Great Bird Island, which was really cool. They are endangered and only found on Antigua’s offshore islands. Apparently, they are more active in the winter when it’s cooler.

We also saw a pelican diving on our way out, which was really cool! I always love watching them dive. Although I’ve heard that they need to keep their eyes open when they dive so they eventually go blind, which is a bit sad.

On the way back, one of the guests tried water skiing, and they did pretty great! The water was kind of choppy thought.

Friday’s Diesel engine course was a lot of fun! I learned so much and had a great time taking apart and putting back together the engine they had at the school.

It was really cool seeing how the internals worked and how things move to try to understand it all. There’s more to learn, but it was a great start.

I got asked on Friday evening if I wanted to race for the Regatta on the weekend, and I love hanging out on the water, especially with the Second Star Sailing crew, so I said sureeee. It was a lot of work, but it was really fun. We came 3rd and won a case of beer, haha.

You can see how there was almost no wind on the first day. We only got 1.5/4 races in, but we got 4 on the third day, and the wind was a lot better. After the race, we got some food at a nearby burger place, and the sunset was super pretty as I arrived home.

Race Day 2 was a lot more exciting! We knew what we were doing and worked better as a team. We got pretty close to some other boats, which is always a bit exciting, and we went out for Mexican food after in the Harbour before prizegiving. We also had some snacks in the office after the race, which was one of my favourite parts of the day, haha.

Today was a wonderful day! I also got asked to captain a snorkelling charter for Wednesday! I am very excited to finally start taking guests out on my own. I will let you know how it goes.

Luffy is super cute lol. He almost always greets me at my car when I arrive back home after being out.

Also, if he hears me coming early, he will chase my car down until I park, haha. He is so funny.

I get a bit nervous that I might hit him, but he seems to keep out of my way, which is good!

Saturday was also Valentine’s Day! One of my favourite holidays. For a few years, I didn’t really have the heart to celebrate, BUT I had probably my best Valentine’s Day ever this year. I am sure next year will be even better as well. I think I already told you about Zara, my girlfriend, but I suppose thingsa re getting more serious… It was a lot of fun celebrating with her this year, even though we were far apart from each other (3,400 kilometres). I still felt quite connected to her, and it was a lot of fun showing her my love for her from so far. I got her a few small gifts, which she seemed to enjoy, but the nig gift was dinner for her and her mom at a fancy restaurant that we really like. They seemed to love the dinner, and that made me really happy.

I am excited for you to meet Zara one day. She is so wonderful.

Oh, and also, my landlady brought me food a couple of times this week. I only got a pic of the one meal, but it was so delicious. I eat soup 3 meals a day at the moment, most days, but once I have a real kitchen again, I am very much looking forward to making a larger variety of meals. Soon, haha.

Another wonderful week down, and another wonderful one to come, I am sure. I miss you and love you so much, Aimery, but I love writing to you each week to keep you updated on my life. I hope you had a wonderful Valentine’s Day and that you got to get some fun gifts for your mommy, and that you got to celebrate at school as well.

Looking forward to chatting next Sunday!

Love you, Buhbuh.
Dada.

I am so grateful that I have been getting so much practical experience on the boats, but it is time to do my exam! The countdown is on!

I have also been driving the boat a lot more for the scuba school.

I am quite comfortable driving the motorboat now, which is awesome. Just need to make my sailing experience official by becoming a Yachmaster.

I went to the beach on Friday with Kathleen after helping out on the scuba boat. It was a wonderful time.

The tourism school is at a wonderful location as well. It is just past the airport, so it is pretty far (about 45 mins away), but it is such a blessing to be able to be learning in such beautiful locations.

Overall, another amazing week! I love you and miss you so much, Buhbuh <3. I hope to see you soon and give you a BIGGGG HUG!

Love always,
Dada

And some more! (and the pups having fun!)

I am so glad that Runty is doing a bit better. I only walked once this week, because the pups LOVE the walk and it’s difficult to send them back, lol. So, to keep Runty on his recovery path, I don’t want him walking too much and overexerting himself. To keep myself fit, I have started jumping rope, and OMG, I am so sore! It is great, though. I will definitely keep it up.

Some vids of the pups this week…

The pups love playing in the pond, so cute!

And they have started being so cute together, too!

Luffy is such a gem <3!

Runty is too <3. You can see he is still weak and limping, but he is getting stronger every day!

At Antigua Scuba School, I have started driving the boat more often. It has been enjoyable, and I am learning a lot. I helped on the boat on Friday, and they went to do a lionfish hunt! They came back with so many!

I was in charge of emptying the fish into the cooler, which was all fun and games until the “Lion Tamer” opened up on deck when one of the fish jumped and spilled all over the deck!! Lion fish are quite poisonous, so we had to be careful about getting them back into the cooler. Only their barbs are poisonous, though, so luckily no one got stung. One of them tried to jump out of the cooler and get payback on me, though!

I was quite scared (evident from my scream lol!), but I shut that cooler SO FAST!

Some other fun pics from the week:

I love you so much, Aimery, and I hope that you have an amazing week ahead. I hope school is going well and that you feel loved every single day, because you are!

My tourism ambassador course starts this week as well. It is going to be a busy one, but I am looking forward to it. It is fun to be busy.

Love you so much, Buhbuh.
Love, Dada.

While on the diving boat this week, we saw some baby turtles floating by! They were so cute!

Other than that, nothing too exciting this week. I haven’t been walking much because of the rain, but I did get out a couple of times. I am choosing to enjoy how calm things are now; they should be getting quite busy starting in February.

Runty is also not feeling that well at the moment. I hope he is feeling better by next week! Having the pups around and able to come on walks with me is such a blessing.

I hope you have a wonderful week, Aimery.
Love you so much Buhbuh.
Love, Dada.

The squalls are well worth it when they bring a beautiful rainbow with them!

It has been a great week, though, and I hope next week is even better!

I have a RYA PPR course to complete, and I have my Yachmaster Coastal planned for February. So, by the end of March, I should have my Divemaster and Yachmaster both complete! I am excited about how things are turning out.

Today has been a rainy one. I wanted to go out for a walk today and look for fruits, but it seems like I will have to go tomorrow morning instead. I also have to start training for my 25 K trail run in April (I also have the 4 K swim, but that will just be me forcing it, haha).

The more time that I spend on the water, the more I learn, and the happier I am. Luffy is also getting HUGE! Speak next week, Aimery!

Love you lots, Buhbuh!
Love, Dada

I got to get back to my walks with Luffy and Runty! Luffy is even now starting to splash around in the pond. The owners of the scuba school got a new puppy. Her name is Shadow. I hope she and Luffy get to play together one day. I got to sail for a day on Monday, and have been diving as well. Hopefully, I will have Divemaster and Yachmaster complete by the end of the spring!

I hope you are having a wonderful start to the year as well, Aimery! I hope the holiday season was enjoyable, and that getting back to school and seeing your friends is fun as well. I miss you terribly, but loving you has taught me so many valuable lessons about relationships and patience. If I can wait 9 more years to see you again, I can wait for anything. The main difference is potentially that the love I have for you overshadows the feelings I have for pretty much anything else, haha. Still, it has been valuable to learn the value of waiting and the value of love over distance. This blog has become my main way of coping with the distance between us. I suppose creative outlets are what I turn to most. I am grateful for them; it is quite a healthy way to channel my emotions.

I am settling into life here, though, and I am getting hot water tomorrow, God’s willing! Which is super exciting, because I have officially been here for over a year without it! I get out on walks multiple times a week to go hunting for fruits, I sail and dive every week, I have a place to live that I love, and I am making friends. I am quite happy with my day to day life, and things seem to be improving all the time. It took quite the leap of faith to come out here, alone and jobless, last year. It seems to be working out, though.

I hope that I am able to continue building a life that I love and that I am proud of, one that I can share with you one day. 9 more years <3…

Love you BuhBuh,
Dada