In addition, due to the pandemic, I’m way behind at work. Since May I’ve been out of town every second week trying to catch up and it’s going to be that way throughout the summer. I travel to Dauphin, Elphinstone, Russell, Ebb and Flow, Rolling River and a few more places.

I’ve gotten so used to my schedule over the past couple years. Working from home gave me plenty of time to devote to my hobbies. I did more bike riding last year than I’ve done in the past twenty years. A friend of mine and I would go on 20-30 Km rides every few days. It was fun, entertaining and I got a lot of exercise. This year I’ve only been out three times and I’ll try and squeeze a few more in.

As well, last year my garden flourished. I was able to spend a lot of time on my patio taking care of my roses, cherries, vegetables and flowers. I cut down a bit this year as I knew I wouldn’t be around to have time to take care of them. They are getting plenty of rain so that’s one good thing. Being away from home so often feels like I’m neglecting them. I am still proud of them however. I enjoy sitting on the patio and taking in the surroundings when I can.

Normally when I travel for work we leave on Sunday so we can get a round of golf in before we start work on Monday. We work long hours so that is our only opportunity. This year with the rain, we’ve only managed three nine-hole rounds and one was in the rain. Pretty disappointing.

So this leads me to my main focus here. I am going to live vicariously through you, our members. What have you been doing so far this summer and what are your plans for the rest? I really want to hear about them. Are you gardening, hiking, or going for walks? Have you been traveling or plan to travel in the near future? Are you taking in any events around this great province? Fringe Festival, Jazz Festival, Folklorama are all events I’ve been to in the past and am going to miss this year. With things opening up this year, there should be plenty to do.

We are not serious all the time here at CCI Manitoba. We like to enjoy ourselves just like everyone else. So please, drop us a note on what you’ve been doing and maybe we can run a feature in the newsletter. If you have the energy, write an article and we’ll look at publishing some of them. Oh and make sure you send pictures. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. I’ll even try to convince some of the board members to do the same.

I also am a big sports fan and used to go to a lot of Bomber and Goldeyes games. Do You? Or maybe you play yourself. I’d love to hear about that.

On another note, our Annual General Meeting is scheduled for Thursday September 22 at Fort Gibraltar. It is a Halloween theme this year and although you don’t have to come in costume, many will and I will be one of them. In addition we are having a “Let’s Get the Party Started” meet and greet the week before on the 15th. I have talked with many of you or communicated by email over the past year and it will be fantastic to finally see everyone in person. I hope all of you will register and come to our first in person Annual General Meeting in two years.

We have been busy here at CCI Manitoba. Our committees have been meeting with City and Provincial officials on a variety of issues including Waste Disposal and Short term rentals. The committees are the backbone of CCI Manitoba and without them I would have an extremely difficult time keeping up. Thanks to all of our board members for the time and devotion they put into their volunteer positions.

A lot of things are happening on the National front as well. CCI National has hired an Executive Director, Laura Pacheco to run the day to day operations. I met Laura via Zoom recently and am anxious to start working with her. The National executive will transition to in person meetings soon. While their AGM will still be by Zoom, the Executive will be meeting in person August 24 and 25. The entire National Council will meet in person for the first time in over two years from November 23 – 25 in Kingston Ontario. I’ve only participated via Zoom for all the meetings so it will be a great opportunity to finally meet all the councilmembers in person. Hopefully I’ve caught up on my work by then.

So remember, send us your stories or articles on your summer activities, and tell us all about what you’ve been doing and where you’ve been going. And send pictures.

See you at the Annual General Meeting in September Until then, stay safe.

JOHN POPOWICH, President CCI Manitoba Chapter