Sunny at the moment, but as they say, wait a while.....It has been off and on rainy and grey, cloudy and chilly since we got home, though we have been out for walks and other doings in between rain showers. Not much of it is heavy rainfall, but it keeps the temps down and the days grey and somewhat dull and drab.
Over the weekend on Saturday we went out with friends to a pub for a beer and burgers benefit for the Child Development Center, it was enjoyable, and we came home with a gift basket, some fresh chicken breasts, yum yum, and some gift certificates for a bakery cafe down in Chemainus. It's called the Utopia Bakery Cafe, and is Dutch. Chemainus is a mill town that has been transformed by many many historic and natural history murals, and is very attractive because of that, and a very nice theatre that kind of anchors the town. So we will have to go down and investigate that soon. After the fund raiser we went back to friends for coffee and cake. It was a lot of hard work done by Long Lake Chiropractic, and I think a lot of folks bought some nice merchandise and had a good time too.
Sunday we started by meeting our camping friends for breakfast at the Qualicum Golf Club, they put on an inexpensive and nice buffet, and then we had a walk along Qualicum's pretty seaside. Nice fresh air and good to stretch our legs too. Great to catch up with friends at the same time over breakfast. Later we attended a seniors trade fair which was interesting.
Not much else remarkable, except to say that the wildflowers are blooming all along the bypass highway here in town, a friend Jet and I walked along a few days ago, from the Northfield Road parking lot we headed north, and there were fawn lilies, shooting stars, some other pretty things like Oregon Grape in bloom, and Jet even found a trillium, which I convinced her not to pick.
Sister Sue's renovation of her kitchen/dining room is coming along fine, it's a huge job as she had the whole thing ripped up and transformed from a pokey small awkward kitchen- taking out walls and encompassing the dining area into a large new kitchen with a nice island eating area, all bright white cupboards, from Ikea. The walls aren't painted yet, they will be a soft greenish yellow I believe, but it's all coming together wonderfully. Flooring was installed, and new countertops and sinks to come as yet.
Our niece Gill will be married in Victoria at the end of July, she lives in Dubai, UAE, they are arriving with Tristan's mom Mrs H in tow this coming weekend, and they will be here for a night, then off to Victoria to stay in the rustic, very rustic family cottage for a night or two, and check out the wedding venue which will be outdoors in the meadow at the lake. The church is downtown in Victoria, and the reception will be out at the family lake, so the logistics of all that with some international and out of town guests will be very interesting. They promise to transport folks from the church to the lake for the reception, and back later to their hotels, which is quite a distance. Luckily she has a wedding planner for the logistical challenges, as they aren't living here on the island.
Our front garden is very pretty right now with pale pink flowering rhododendrons, pink heather, pieris, and other pretty shrubs like azaleas springing into bloom gradually. It's a pretty time of the year on the wet coast, as everything springs back into green life once more. We can still see the sea in glimpses from the house, but later as the deciduous trees get more and more leaves on them, we lose a bit of our view. There are both wild and domestic rabbits that hop around wild in the townhouse complex gardens, and at times the deer stroll through to make a meal out of our gardens too. We share things with them, often the deer come later in the evening when we have the blinds closed.
Lary and I have decided to host a monthly flute circle, so this coming Friday night we will have visitors to get together and play and enjoy our beautiful flutes. We hope that people will come, and we plan on holding our get togethers monthly, first Friday of the month, 7PM, like Annie does down south. Perhaps that way we might have some regular get togethers to play our flutes, and develop the Nanaimo Flute Circle as a regular event on the Nanaimo music scene. That way we can also utilize our home, as we can meet either upstairs or downstairs.
That's it for now.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Friday, April 20, 2012
Phone call from the past
Well what do you say when your ex husband calls after 35 years? Hello seems a bit inadequate, but that's how I responded when he called this morning. It was a call totally out of the blue, he and his wife of many years now live here in Nanaimo though he is originally from Vancouver. He is still interested in motorcycles and sailing. I am not.
Seems he's moving and wants to get rid of lots of stuff, and some of the books he had about sailing were written by friends of my parents, or else gifted to us from my parents. So I guess he kept them til now. Nice of him to return them, however. I'd like to sell them myself, as we are also trying to downsize what we have here in the house.
We went out for lunch down to Duncan, and while we were gone the books arrived, so guess we won't see each other for another 35 years or so.
It was truly a bit surreal, but there you go.
Had lunch at the Good Company Steakhouse in Duncan, the first get together for our camping group, the restaurant is now run by a young Dutch fellow who is very personable, and the food was good, and plenty of it. Service also good for our table, but another table waited nearly an hour for their meals. Erg. It's pretty hard to handle a big group smoothly for a kitchen I guess.
Good to see everybody once again, after that we headed down to Victoria, I wanted to pick up some books from a series I am reading currently, by J.A. Jance, the Joanna Brady series about a crime fighting sheriff from Cochise County, near Bisbee, Arizona.
Russell Books in Victoria has super used books, one of the ones I bought was the Publishers release book before the public distribution, so that is interesting. I had never seen one of those before, and it said not for public sale, but I guess that limitation had expired long ago, as the book has been out since 2003 or so. No art work on the cover, not sure if the story was edited after that, but oh well, at least I get to continue with the series I am enjoying.
It was a lovely sunny day here on the island today, everybody is saying that the cool spring is long and warm weather is slow arriving. I agree with them.
That's it for now.
Seems he's moving and wants to get rid of lots of stuff, and some of the books he had about sailing were written by friends of my parents, or else gifted to us from my parents. So I guess he kept them til now. Nice of him to return them, however. I'd like to sell them myself, as we are also trying to downsize what we have here in the house.
We went out for lunch down to Duncan, and while we were gone the books arrived, so guess we won't see each other for another 35 years or so.
It was truly a bit surreal, but there you go.
Had lunch at the Good Company Steakhouse in Duncan, the first get together for our camping group, the restaurant is now run by a young Dutch fellow who is very personable, and the food was good, and plenty of it. Service also good for our table, but another table waited nearly an hour for their meals. Erg. It's pretty hard to handle a big group smoothly for a kitchen I guess.
Good to see everybody once again, after that we headed down to Victoria, I wanted to pick up some books from a series I am reading currently, by J.A. Jance, the Joanna Brady series about a crime fighting sheriff from Cochise County, near Bisbee, Arizona.
Russell Books in Victoria has super used books, one of the ones I bought was the Publishers release book before the public distribution, so that is interesting. I had never seen one of those before, and it said not for public sale, but I guess that limitation had expired long ago, as the book has been out since 2003 or so. No art work on the cover, not sure if the story was edited after that, but oh well, at least I get to continue with the series I am enjoying.
It was a lovely sunny day here on the island today, everybody is saying that the cool spring is long and warm weather is slow arriving. I agree with them.
That's it for now.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Feels a bit weird to get home
Well we spent a nice night with our pals Sal and Russ in Sooke, and we licensed and picked up the truck, so we both drove home to Nanaimo in separate cars on Friday as we stayed overnight with them. It felt great to be home again, but of course after a long interval away we had some catching up to do.
The dock area down by the water in Port Angeles, Washington on a foggy morning.
It had been quite foggy in Port Angeles, so we couldn't see the majestic Olympic Mountains, but catching the afternoon ferry at 2 PM was so much easier than catching the early morning one after 3 or 4 days of travel, it worked much better for us. And we spent the whole 1.5 hour voyage aboard the Coho Ferry visiting with a couple who also winter in Desert Hot Springs at a nearby park, and live in Victoria. They were Enid and Drew. Small world indeed.
All well here at home, it is a nice home that we are very proud of. The spring flowers like heather and pieris are blooming, and the pale pink rhododendron too is starting to bloom, but hey it's only mid April, and March here was rather chilly, so a lot of things normally blooming at this time of the year aren't ready yet.
Nanaimo is pretty in spring time
The trees at the front corner of our complex are totally bare so far, but the neighbours beside us have a magnolia that is trying to bloom already.
All well here at home, it is a nice home that we are very proud of. The spring flowers like heather and pieris are blooming, and the pale pink rhododendron too is starting to bloom, but hey it's only mid April, and March here was rather chilly, so a lot of things normally blooming at this time of the year aren't ready yet.
The trees at the front corner of our complex are totally bare so far, but the neighbours beside us have a magnolia that is trying to bloom already.
Saturday we headed back down island to Brentwood School to meet our California cousins from Dana Point, there was a memorial sculpture unveiled in honour of our Dad, and I hadn't seen it, neither had the Californians.
My aunt was a first cousin of my Dad, so also enjoyed seeing the newly installed sculpture, which is an eagle, with its wings wrapped around its front.
The four of them, and my sisters Sue and Jen, together with Lary and myself had a pleasant lunch visiting and catching up with the latest with them all. Such a pleasure to keep in touch.
Sunday morning found us out with our Sunday morning group of friends for breakfast and at lunch there was a luncheon for Veterans, so we attended that too.
Today I was working on my I Pad trying to get it going and our pals Jet and Harold came over, he was helping Lary with our RV batteries, and Jet was helping me with the I Pad, trying to get that going for me. Big help to us both.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Left our park late on Sunday evening
Well we had a very hurried last few days, with a flurry of activity, both in the old place and the new one. Up stairs and down stairs is what I remember most of all, then very hot as we did our final pack up into the car. New place was summerized by previous owners, so no air going through as all windows and doors covered by styrofoam, we crept about in the lights, and put things kind of everywhere. It was very warm, nearly 90 degrees.
Wendy and Dave came over to see our new abode Sunday afternoon, and at the last minute we decided to bring our newish bed from the old place to the new place using Dave's truck, and the newish end tables seem to have migrated to the new place too. The other stuff got swapped into our old place, and the old place duly cleaned and washed up for possible sale or rental in the late fall. Thank heaven to Dave for his truck, and his help moving the furniture too.
Not sure exactly where we put all our stuff from the shed, but most of it went into the new place, not at all well organized, just inside the house. The new house seems to use the bedroom as the access to the outside area behind the wind wall, so we will have constant traffic past the end of the bed.
Put the new bedspread on the bed, and that was kind of it, things went in to cupboards, perhaps not the right ones, but away nevertheless. There are things that we want to change already, but that can wait for a while.
We left Sunday evening around 7 PM, into very heavy traffic westward toward Los Angeles, it was Sunday of Easter weekend, so roads were very busy and we were stalled quite a few times in extremely heavy traffic. Decided not to cross the desert up through Yucca Valley and across Mojave Desert, instead opting for Hwy 10 west, then Hwy 210, then I-5 north.
We got as far as Pasadena, dropped and flopped into bed, and Monday we were in warm shorts and A/C weather as we headed northward, arriving in Williams, CA, a small town, where a very friendly Highway Patrol officer directed us out to the Coast Mountains foothills for a pretty scenic drive along winding rural roads, beside bright green rolling hilly pastures, and pretty flowering dark, dark pink trees along a creek. Cattle country.
We had a visit to nearby Maxwell, in honor of brother in law Ian Maxwell, and snapped photos of everything 'maxwell'. I will attempt to post some photos, the most remarkable of which was a flowering cactus in a front yard right in Maxwell.
Lary, Di, Judy the ranger at the San Jacinto Monument, Annie,
Marty, Chip and Barbara - we played our flutes on Easter Saturday up on Highway 74, in the midst of our moving from house to house.
Some scenes from the small rural town of Maxwell, California
These cactus flowers were the size of cereal bowls, an incredible sight.
Likely the stage line doesn't use horses any more.......
Looks as if brother in law Ian opened an Auto Parts store.
Wendy and Dave came over to see our new abode Sunday afternoon, and at the last minute we decided to bring our newish bed from the old place to the new place using Dave's truck, and the newish end tables seem to have migrated to the new place too. The other stuff got swapped into our old place, and the old place duly cleaned and washed up for possible sale or rental in the late fall. Thank heaven to Dave for his truck, and his help moving the furniture too.
Not sure exactly where we put all our stuff from the shed, but most of it went into the new place, not at all well organized, just inside the house. The new house seems to use the bedroom as the access to the outside area behind the wind wall, so we will have constant traffic past the end of the bed.
Put the new bedspread on the bed, and that was kind of it, things went in to cupboards, perhaps not the right ones, but away nevertheless. There are things that we want to change already, but that can wait for a while.
We left Sunday evening around 7 PM, into very heavy traffic westward toward Los Angeles, it was Sunday of Easter weekend, so roads were very busy and we were stalled quite a few times in extremely heavy traffic. Decided not to cross the desert up through Yucca Valley and across Mojave Desert, instead opting for Hwy 10 west, then Hwy 210, then I-5 north.
We got as far as Pasadena, dropped and flopped into bed, and Monday we were in warm shorts and A/C weather as we headed northward, arriving in Williams, CA, a small town, where a very friendly Highway Patrol officer directed us out to the Coast Mountains foothills for a pretty scenic drive along winding rural roads, beside bright green rolling hilly pastures, and pretty flowering dark, dark pink trees along a creek. Cattle country.
We had a visit to nearby Maxwell, in honor of brother in law Ian Maxwell, and snapped photos of everything 'maxwell'. I will attempt to post some photos, the most remarkable of which was a flowering cactus in a front yard right in Maxwell.
Marty, Chip and Barbara - we played our flutes on Easter Saturday up on Highway 74, in the midst of our moving from house to house.
The next night found us in Cresswell, just south of Eugene, Oregon, and it had been pouring rain most of the day, somewhat disappointing as we had been in shorts and sandals up til then on our northerly homeward trip.
Tonight Wednesday we are in Sequim, near Port Angeles, tomorrow afternoon we will catch the Coho ferry over to Victoria, and head out to visit our friends Sal and Russ in Sooke, pick up our truck, and head home. Again today it was raining, sometimes heavily, though tonight here in Sequim it is heavily overcast, so not that cold.
Just seems chilly to us sun worshippers fresh out of our sunny desert winter. We have heard that southern California today got heavy rains, too which makes us feel a bit better.
We broke our journey today by stopping in an Indian Casino near here for about 1.5 hours, and playing the slots, Di nearly recouped her investment, Lary lost about $20. We are not big gamers, that's for sure. About $20 - $40 is our typical daily expenditure when we are in a casino.
Welcome to the 'wet coast' once again. It's either overcast or raining, green, green and there is moss on the trees here on the Olympic Peninsula.
I think I may continue the blog once we get home as I am enjoying my journaling experience.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Happy Easter to you all
Today has dawned as innocently quiet and sunny as yesterday was blustery and blowy. What a land of contrasts the desert truly is. And the speed with which it changes is also mind boggling too.
Well Happy Easter to you all, and have a lovely one.
Love and hugs, Di and Lary
xoxo
Well Happy Easter to you all, and have a lovely one.
Love and hugs, Di and Lary
xoxo
Took some things to the new place today
This will likely be our last post til we get home, as we're turning in the modem tomorrow for our internet, and moving house. Today we had a chance to put 3 carloads of things into the new shed over at the new place, so we did that, and it felt great to get started. They are working like furies to get out of there for us in a timely fashion.
Coffee and donuts today was a very reduced crowd, only a few of us. Went to Home Depot and got a swamp cooler cover, it's like Air conditioning but cheaper. And the unit needs to be covered when not in use, as it allows dust and grit into the house if not covered up. Put some of our things in the shed at the new house, 3 carloads of boxes, then we went up and had a swim, even though the wind had come up and it was quite windy there in the pool. Met a nice lady called Judy from Centralia, WA.
Came home, showered and went over to Dave and Wendy's for ham dinner, and to celebrate Wendy's birthday a few days early, dinner was yummy, and we always enjoy their company.
The positive surprise is that Lary managed to get a bit of paint on his bird, it's not nearly finished, but at least some paint is on. The bird is not on his permanent stand, nor does he have his legs on as yet. We bought a very pretty manzanita burl to mount him on when he is completely finished.
The wind was howling tonight, and the dust and grit was flying around, the gusts were up into 60 and 70 MPH speeds, so quite violent. I think that wind is pretty typical in springtime around here. April often seems the same each year in that respect.
We went to Walmart on the way home from Wendy and Dave's and bought a new shoe rack and a new rolling rack to hang clothes, we suspect that the new house doesn't have anywhere near as many cupboards as we have had here, so we are preparing for that eventuality. It feels weird to think about leaving our cozy home here and moving, even if only one street over. We have become very fond of our small winter home, and the friends here on our street that we have met and gotten to know a bit, too.
So bye for now, we will likely not blog for a week or two, but thanks for following us during our sunny winter down south. After Lary paints more on his bird I will photograph it again, and post it then. Stay tuned for that after we get home.
Glad I have my sunshine quotient stored up, I will need it once we make our way northwards into the chilly and grey weather. Ah me, springtime on Vancouver Island and the Wet Coast. Can't believe my tan, it will soon be rusting away into happy memory.
Cheers for now,
D
Coffee and donuts today was a very reduced crowd, only a few of us. Went to Home Depot and got a swamp cooler cover, it's like Air conditioning but cheaper. And the unit needs to be covered when not in use, as it allows dust and grit into the house if not covered up. Put some of our things in the shed at the new house, 3 carloads of boxes, then we went up and had a swim, even though the wind had come up and it was quite windy there in the pool. Met a nice lady called Judy from Centralia, WA.
Came home, showered and went over to Dave and Wendy's for ham dinner, and to celebrate Wendy's birthday a few days early, dinner was yummy, and we always enjoy their company.
The wind was howling tonight, and the dust and grit was flying around, the gusts were up into 60 and 70 MPH speeds, so quite violent. I think that wind is pretty typical in springtime around here. April often seems the same each year in that respect.
We went to Walmart on the way home from Wendy and Dave's and bought a new shoe rack and a new rolling rack to hang clothes, we suspect that the new house doesn't have anywhere near as many cupboards as we have had here, so we are preparing for that eventuality. It feels weird to think about leaving our cozy home here and moving, even if only one street over. We have become very fond of our small winter home, and the friends here on our street that we have met and gotten to know a bit, too.
So bye for now, we will likely not blog for a week or two, but thanks for following us during our sunny winter down south. After Lary paints more on his bird I will photograph it again, and post it then. Stay tuned for that after we get home.
Glad I have my sunshine quotient stored up, I will need it once we make our way northwards into the chilly and grey weather. Ah me, springtime on Vancouver Island and the Wet Coast. Can't believe my tan, it will soon be rusting away into happy memory.
Cheers for now,
D
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
I keep losing days
Pack, pack and more pack. That's the mantra that we are following these days. It has been windy, dust swirling everywhere, the packing boxes outside are full of gritty stuff once we haul them inside, and our shed is quickly filling up with packed boxes waiting for moving day.
And we are taking things off the walls to move to the next house. And painting the holes that we leave behind when we remove the decorations. Hmmmm.
Transfer of funds went smoothly, as did paperwork here at our park to transfer the new place into our names. Park is emptying out as the snowbirds go north, but there was concern recently when we all heard that the mountain passes like the Siskyous were snowy that day. Hmmmm.
Nanaimo weather was holding this week at 8 degrees, and overcast or rainy, and here we are in the 70s and 80s. More hmmmm. And soon to be 90s....
Not much interesting to tell about packing, just to survive it and come out smiling after it's all over with. Distant move or short move, it's almost the same thing really, stuff out, clean, stuff in at new place. End of discussion.
Lary has been carving furiously trying to get it done, and now the blue jay is sealed, and ready for painting, which won't happen til we get home I guess. He doesn't have legs yet, but his eyes make him much more realistic, as does the woodburning on the feathers. Big project.
Had a nice swim a day or so ago, unusually for our park the ladies chatted in one group together, and the men chatted in their group together in the pool, it was odd. Normally we all mix together. Today the pool was closed for the day so that the bottom of the wall enclosing the pool could be tiled, it had become discolored, and didn't look nice any more, and tiling from the ground up about a foot seemed a good solution to the problem.
So far in a day they completed 3 walls of the 4 to be done, and also did the walls in the covered area where the hot tubs are located. Will be nice when it's finished. Don't know if it will be shut again tomorrow.
We are trying to think ahead to if we manage to sell the current unit, or have to rent it out. The sales down here in our park are often "turnkey" which means you bring your suitcase and can basically live in the unit, it's furnished right down to dishes, cutlery, sheets, towels, pots, pans, TV and furniture of course. So that is what we are coping with, decision making about what to take with us, (the new stuff we have acquired), and what to leave behind, (the basics that we inherited when we moved in).
Of course we have changed all living room furniture, bought a new bed, new TV, had the painting done all throughout the inside, even the ceilings, changed the drapes to verticals, and for that we get to list it for nearly the same price we bought it at, 3 years ago. Hmmmmmm......
Win some, lose some. We'd like it to get sold, but there is steep competition here in our park and elsewhere too, and part of me wishes we keep it to rent to family and friends so they could come and visit and enjoy our nice park and area in the sun zone down here. Realistically we have to shoulder the costs of maintaining 2 houses, paying the monthly costs, and the other blah blahs.
We'll see what the passage of time brings us. Meanwhile pack pack pack, and my thoughts are turning to friends and family at home, not long now til we hit the road ourselves.
Hope you enjoy the bird photos taken today, with the bird carving how to book in the background of the photo.
And we are taking things off the walls to move to the next house. And painting the holes that we leave behind when we remove the decorations. Hmmmm.
Transfer of funds went smoothly, as did paperwork here at our park to transfer the new place into our names. Park is emptying out as the snowbirds go north, but there was concern recently when we all heard that the mountain passes like the Siskyous were snowy that day. Hmmmm.
Nanaimo weather was holding this week at 8 degrees, and overcast or rainy, and here we are in the 70s and 80s. More hmmmm. And soon to be 90s....
Not much interesting to tell about packing, just to survive it and come out smiling after it's all over with. Distant move or short move, it's almost the same thing really, stuff out, clean, stuff in at new place. End of discussion.
Here is the handsome fellow
Had a nice swim a day or so ago, unusually for our park the ladies chatted in one group together, and the men chatted in their group together in the pool, it was odd. Normally we all mix together. Today the pool was closed for the day so that the bottom of the wall enclosing the pool could be tiled, it had become discolored, and didn't look nice any more, and tiling from the ground up about a foot seemed a good solution to the problem.
So far in a day they completed 3 walls of the 4 to be done, and also did the walls in the covered area where the hot tubs are located. Will be nice when it's finished. Don't know if it will be shut again tomorrow.
We are trying to think ahead to if we manage to sell the current unit, or have to rent it out. The sales down here in our park are often "turnkey" which means you bring your suitcase and can basically live in the unit, it's furnished right down to dishes, cutlery, sheets, towels, pots, pans, TV and furniture of course. So that is what we are coping with, decision making about what to take with us, (the new stuff we have acquired), and what to leave behind, (the basics that we inherited when we moved in).
Of course we have changed all living room furniture, bought a new bed, new TV, had the painting done all throughout the inside, even the ceilings, changed the drapes to verticals, and for that we get to list it for nearly the same price we bought it at, 3 years ago. Hmmmmmm......
Win some, lose some. We'd like it to get sold, but there is steep competition here in our park and elsewhere too, and part of me wishes we keep it to rent to family and friends so they could come and visit and enjoy our nice park and area in the sun zone down here. Realistically we have to shoulder the costs of maintaining 2 houses, paying the monthly costs, and the other blah blahs.
We'll see what the passage of time brings us. Meanwhile pack pack pack, and my thoughts are turning to friends and family at home, not long now til we hit the road ourselves.
Hope you enjoy the bird photos taken today, with the bird carving how to book in the background of the photo.
Palo Verde tree bursting into bloom in the Walmart parking lot a couple of days ago.
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