PICTURES

THIS WAS IN MAUI.  IN A FIELD. A COWPIE AND A THISTLE.   THE CAPTION WAS 'IF I EVER OWN A BRITISH TYPE PUB, THAT IS WHAT I AM GOING TO CALL IT'.  THISTLE AND COWPIE.  PLEASE REMIND ME IF I OWN ONE AND FORGET.

THE SALMON I COOKED.

THE MONSTROCITY BEING BUILT DOWN THE BLOCK A WEE WAYS

MONTE'S BULGOGI AT THE KOREAN RESTAURANT

BEST SUSHI I EVER HAD

MY LOBSTER AND BRISKET RAMEN.  THAT LOOKS LIKE A GIANT TOUNGE STICKING OUT OF MY SOUP

MY NEW BELL BOTTOMS.

 

ALMOST TIME TO START SMOKING AGAIN

 Back when I was a naive (read ignorant) youngun' of about forty years old I quit smoking.  Finally the fear of lung cancer outdid the jonesing for a cigarette.  I soothed my frantic early cravings by telling myself that I would smoke again when I hit my mid seventies. You are so close to death what does it matter if you smoke?  Well guess what?  That is NOW!!!!

I had pictured myself sitting in a senior establishment, a fancy particularly beautiful one, at a card table with three other old ladies playing bridge.  On that table were ashtrays and we were firmly ensconced in the smoking section.  It was a pleasant future to look forward to, all of us sucking back that elixir.

And now it's time. Firstly, I am not in a fancy senior establishment.  I am still in my house.  Secondly there is no such thing as a smoking area in these establishments anymore.  You have to go outside suffering the elements, far away from the front door.  Thirdly, who knew a pack of smokes would end up being half your weekly allowance.  Holy Hannah!!!! they are mind numbingly expensive.  And fourthly I still have the deadly fear of lung cancer and a very faded urgency for a cigarette.

Plus, I thought in my mid seventies I would feel more like an old feeble blister. I was wrong.  I have not ended up that way.  I don't feel old enough to justify smoking again.  Plus when I am cooking mildly spicy stuff it seizes my throat up.  I can't imagine assaulting it with smoke.  A couple of years ago I tried a puff from a mild vape, flavoured with raspberry and I still cough when I think of it.  I have become a weenie,

So now I have to give up a long held dream.  I looked forward to that day in that lovely place with other old lady blisters. But I think I will stick to just visiting the old folks place here in Port.  I am starting soon with the old lady who took Monte in a few years back when he desperately needed a place.  Shirley is now in a senior place and her grandson and I are going to start visiting.  A much healthier endeavour I would say.  TFL&TTYL

COSTCO FINALLY HAPPENED....FOR MONTE....NOT ME SO MUCH

We had a great day...from start to finish.  We went all the way down to the Asian store downtown Nanaimo.  We had a right heyday in there.  Bought all kinds of fun cooking stuff.

I had made a reso at Horangs the Korean restaurant.  As usual it was an amazing meal.  I won't talk about it here. I will make an attempt to put a couple pics on or maybe I will make a separate post for the pics.  It's so much easier.

We went to Costco and because the list was so short I just stayed in the car and Monte went in.  He's crazy...he actually likes shopping.  I sat in the car and played my piggy game on my phone.

We went straight home after.  He had bought a giant piece of black cod and a massive package of fresh prawns.  He was going to make a hot pot in our newly bought hot pot as soon as he got home....which he did.  

I was sitting in my bedroom doing something...maybe piggy... when I heard a serious screaming and yelling violent fight outside.  I hopped up and went outside in my Little House on the Prairie nightgown I might add and listened.

  They are building a monstrosity just down a few houses, a fourplex, and this one guy in the place was absolutely going ballistic.  I don't think I have ever heard someone going crazy yelling like that...not even Monte at his worst.  It went on for at least twenty minutes.  I was going to call the cops and say don't bother coming but if later you find a dead body in there you will know why.  I think they were East Indian so I couldn't understand what they were saying.  I did hear one phrase a few times. GET UP GET UP GET UP AND GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!!!!!!! Maybe there was a hobo sleeping in there.  And so it starts!!!  

I am a wee tad disappointed with something.  The Baumers from HGTV did a town improvement thingy.  Took three months.  They were going to reconfigure the Quay.  So the shops closed, missed their only tourist money making time and let them have at it.  I saw what they did yesterday and I must say that what they did do was beautiful but it was so little.  I was shocked.  It is nice but the quay was already nice.

I don't know if any of you read reddit.  I don't but a friend of Ange's does. She let us know about this.  They do a thing called 'who's that guy in .....the name of a town.' It's sort of like the Bumblebee guy in Simpsons. Well they did Port Alberni and 'that guy' was Monte. The comments for the most part were awesome.  He dresses eccentrically, he does swordplay and makes videos.  And other things.  The comments were really nice....for a while and then they started to change.  A guy mentioned that if you sit next to him you will hear strange ramblings and something that sounds like Chinese.  And it kind of went down from there.  The lady that put the original comment on came on and took the post down and added a very supportive kind post.  And if anyone out there has sat beside mumbling Monte...it IS Chinese.  The guy has taught himself mandarin and he also can write it.  And he does mumble to himself.  He is on the spectrum and it seems to calm him.

I just wrote that last bit right now.  The first part I did the other day and got interrupted.  In my mind I had finished it.  Gettin' old and brain feeble.  So before I forget I will post this and work on a picture post.  TFL&TTYL

A QUICKIE TODAY

 Been somewhat busy.  Also somewhat on my butt.  My tailbone gave out on me again.  And it has been forever going away this time.  Today is feeling much better for the first time in ages.

Well we made another abortive attempt at a Costco trip.  Plus Monte had to go to the cpap place and pick up a bag of goodies for his gasper.  He was right miserable and cranky all the way down.  He was freaking yelling at me before we even got out of town for heaven's sake.  I quietly asked him not to yell and he just yelled louder.  So I finally took a deep breath and screamed it as loud as possible to STOP YELLING AT ME....I CAN YELL TOO!!!!!!.  I have never done that before.  And guess what?  He stopped.  And was cranky all the rest of the way.

Then getting all that stuff for gasper cheered him up a bit and on our way to Costco he suddenly whipped into the Rutherford Mall and stated that he was going into Fairway...they specialize in Asian condiments and foods. I stayed in the car.  My tailbone was too sore.

When he came out he was almost hyper happy.  Thats the bipolar at work.  He had a bagful of asian drinks...teas and juices.  So he popped some of them open and we drank.  It was fun and he was happy.

Actually I have to back up a little.  After a little while, past the hell that Cathedral Park has become, he suddenly remembered something.  At the last moment we decided to take the van.  It needs its nose cleaned now and then.  And he suddenly remembered a very important part of our trip. 

We were actually heading to ICBC in Nanaimo for a scheduled appointment.  He lost his wallet several days ago.  His drivers licence needed replacing.  And why Nanaimo?  Some idiot got a blowtorch and ran around in the Bc Services building where drivers licences are given or replaced.  Burned the whole building down.  Thus..the Nanaimo alternative.

And what did he suddenly remember?  His passport, his only regulation id was in the car's glove box.  He felt really stupid and would have turned around but there wasn't time.  I told him there was a cancel button on the website and a reschedule one too.  So we are off again next Tuesday.  And we heard somewhere in there that Costco was having one of the busiest days they have ever had.  So we vetoed that and we will try again on Tuesday.

So instead we went to Shanghai City restaurant and had a lovely high sodium and carb buffet lunch then off to Chapters.  We love it in there and they have a Starbucks with tons of seating.  So we had a great look about and a great short dark and spent way too much money and headed home.  Happy as clams.

Next post will be Tuesday's adventure.  I think we are planning a couple of stops.  We will see if we can get there without yelling.  Geeze Louise!!!  TFL&TTYL

'We have become so terrified of burdening people with our belongings that some folks are erasing themselves.'

One of the articles I read led with this line.  It rang a pretty big bell in my mostly empty head.

I was looking over my way overcrowded and over stocked kitchen stuff.  I don't need or ever again going to use ninety percent of it.  But I love every single piece dearly.  I have not contributed much of anything of value in this life except four amazing kids, some super step kids, an inside out knowledge of mortgages as an investment tool and the occasional piece on the piano that is pleasing.  That doesn't leave much of a legacy. 

 As a result my fave physical activity, cooking, became my chosen sport.  And there lies the rub. I love every single piece of equipment I own and trying to get rid of it is making me pretty unhappy. 

 Those pieces are my true identity.  I love love love to cook.  But now I am basically only cooking for myself and sometimes the three of us.  I get company to cook for maybe once or twice a year...not enough of an excuse to hang on to anything but the smallest frying pan and smallest pot I own.  I finally put together a big big box of redundant kitchen accoutrement.  And there it sits out on the deck.  It will probably be there when I die.

I am still having trouble getting rid of my massive stack of old old raggedy shirts too.  My heart freezes as soon as I pick up a shirt in my right hand and hold an open garbage bag in the left.  These shirts are not even good enough to donate.  I sure as heck should not be wearing them.

Okay I can't do this post anymore.  There are two things totally distracting me.

One...there is a constant  LOUD massive amount of geese flying over our little town, honking loudly.  Thousands upon thousands.  Winter is definitely coming.  They are reminding me that this was the fastest summer I have ever experienced.  Even way up north where I grew up the summers seemed longer.

The other thing is what is on my ever running little bedroom tv.  I am on my bed writing here and sipping coffee.  The tv is on quietly.  I usually can totally ignore it but this time it keeps distracting me.

The program that is on is Dr. G...a medical examiner that explains what she is doing  as she performs autopsies.  Massively interesting.  But what is distracting me this morning is the realization that there are so freaking many ways to die!!!!  How the hell do we manage to get old?  Holy Doodle!!!  It is a really interesting show which I have watched many times over the years.  But this morning it is getting into my head.  Brain atrophy, fistula infection, suicide by weird methods, dementia wandering etc....

I shall distract myself thinking about the company we are having tonight for dinner.  Monte won't come but that friend of Ange's is.  I have mentioned her before.  I really like her, although they talk about cats.  A lot.  Me...I just talk a lot.

Dinner tonight is chicken and stuffing.  I make stuffing in the roasting pan and cover it with tin foil and pack it down.  I then poke holes in the foil.  On top I place two plump organic perfect halal (meaning killed nicely, if there is such a thing) chickens.  No I don't.  They are cheap Walmart chickens that are possibly missing a wing due to disease.  Cheap chickens.   Then roast them. The drippings drip down into the stuffing under the tin foil.

Ange is roasting wee taters and I am making Luz's pea pods.  Luz was our Filipino nanny for a few years and she lifted our culinary needs out of the protein starch and veg on repeat to lovely more exotic meals.  In a wok you firstly fry chopped onions and garlic then add the peas and pea pods.  When cooked but still a bit crunchy they are done.  Drizzle with a tad of sesame oil.  Yummy!!

Dessert is haagen daaz caramel cone explosion and two bite brownies.  I did that with K&K and it was a hit.

So that is it for today.  The housekeeper and lawn guy were here yesterday so the house and yard are looking spiffy!!!! As good as it gets around here.  TTYL&TFL

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I READ A LINE THAT RESONATED A LOT

 AGING GRACEFULLY IS HOW YOU DISAPPEAR.

I have been thinking for the last while how invisible you become the moment you aren't worth chasing for sex, information or amusement anymore.  How many grammas, women who led lively talky busy lives, sit on the end of the couch, nodding and vacantly smiling at family gatherings.  Occasionally a younger member will talk briefly to them in patronizing tones, patting them on the hand.

But occasionally an elderly gramma type comes along who is somewhat brazen, outspoken, opinionated, sarcastic, doesn't give a crap what people think and even somewhat annoying.  Well guess what?  She ain't invisible.  She is the kind of woman that after she goes to bed first, (after all she is old) everyone talks about her, calls her a 'broad', is even maybe somewhat amused but most of all she isn't invisible.  So there!!!!  Hahahahaha!!!!

If only I was mayor of this crap hole for a year.  We have a local fb page called 'the Chatterbox'.  At least fifty percent of the posters on it are neanderthal units, as my mother would call them, with iq's lower than their shoe size and the worst grammar humanly possible.  And they bitch and moan about everything possible.  It amazes me how they can take a perfectly fine thing and turn it into a great big ugly accusing whine.

At the end of the year, as mayor, I would see to it that every crosswalk was rainbow coloured, every busy intersection was turned into a round about, every tourist attraction improvement would be even more improved, and we would have a clinic that was open all day.  Can you guess what the brunckles complain about the most?  A beautiful pride parade that was planned got scuppered at the last moment due to the incredibly terrible comments by the lowest common denominators in this town. The town leaders were very concerned about the safety of the participants. Canceling was probably a smart move on their part.  But all the old men with tattoos and goatees and short sleeved black t-shirts get their classic car parade and their motorcycle parade and their xmas lit big truck parade and their fishing derby parade.  Dicks!!!!

Well enough complaining for one post.  Sorry bout that.  I had to get it off my now undesirable chest.  Okay I am sitting in my bed drinking yesterday's cold coffee chuckling to myself.  I am a loser. hahaha. TTYL&TFL

P.S.:  I am not going to Vancouver.  There is a possibility that the Snurzins (Kevin and Tandy) will be evacuated and they will be coming here if that is the case.  And I get the feeling that April is okay with me not being there.  She wouldn't be able to entertain me and knowing her she would feel bad.  So we shall go over at the end of August for the PNE. 

I AM PROLLY GOING TO LOSE SOME READERS WITH THIS ONE

 I will make a declaration first to expose a bias for my opinion on what I am going to write about.  And secondly to get it out of my head.  It involves, probably a very unpopular, opinion and what some, including myself, will call this opinion judgy.

I think parents of all ages of children should not have alcohol or dope in their homes.  It's funny if I had said cocaine or heroin people would probably totally agree with me.  But from my tiny little biased world, in other words because I don't drink it's easy for me to say, what I see is the gateway to bad shit is either alcohol or weed or both.  But especially alcohol.  But for some reason adults don't see alcohol bad enough to keep it out of their kids lives like they do coke or heroin.

Mom and Dad get home from a long day of work and pop the top off a bottle of beer or haul out the wine glass and pour themself a 'well deserved' relaxing drink before dinner.  What the heck do you think your kid learns from this?  Lots of kids are able to understand and exercise restraint....but lots can't when they are still very young out partying with friends.

I think it is the ultimate double standard.  Do as I say not as I do.  Why does that not apply to especially alcohol?  We don't do fun drugs in front of our kids so why do we relax drink?

What brought this to my attention is Roku.  I have watched a plethora of tv shows that I normally wouldn't have with regular tv.  And I noticed that in almost every show, especially the British ones, they show the adults coming home from work, grabbing that beer or wine bottle and guzzling it back.  Or they use the excuse that it's the week end, like week end drinking is okey dokey okay.

Have I lost you yet?  My opinion does NOT matter to anyone but me.  If I see you drinking every day after work it won't change my opinion of you! lol!!!  It is just an amateur's opinion.  God knows I may never have drunk in front of my kids but I sure as hell smoked so who the heckadoodle am I to talk!!!!??

Did you know that extra large glad garbage bags full to the tits sitting on your oversized too big deck propagate?  When rolly bin is full I put the occasional bag out on the deck.  I am decluttering so there are extra ones and no way can they all fit in the bins.  So out to the deck they go.  Unfortunately sometimes kitchen ones get out there too.  

Yesterday I took the time to arrange someone to take them to the dump.  In preparation I went out to organize them and get them down to the driveway ready for Jonathon to pick up.

Well, what I thought had been the neighbourhood nuisance cats tearing little holes in the sides of the bags, I was wrong.  Boy was I wrong!!!

I lifted the first bag and between the two bags was about ten pounds of rat shit!!!! So now as I am lifting the bags one by one and putting them in a new bag I was on the extreme lookout for abandon ship rats.  First though I got the broom and beat the crap out of the bags to scare any of those critters out the holes.  I think if one did come out, and none did, I would not be here writing this post today.  I don't think I am that far off heart attacks.

Well now I have exposed my not so nice side.  I have strong judgy views and I have rats.  Sigh.  (shovel list).

 Reminds me of a time back when Aryn was a baby.  For some ridiculous reason I decided to get cloth diaper delivery.  They came with a diaper pail that they would pick up when they delivered the new batch every week.  It was pick up day so I took the lid off the pail to check to make sure Kevin, who was two, hadn't put the cat or toys or something foreign in it.  It was crawling with maggots.  I immediately started crying.  I felt like the worst losing est mother ever.  I cancelled the service immediately.  Plus I gathered up about a month's worth of unused clean diapers.  For three month olds they give you ten diapers per day.  I changed my babies three times a day if they were lucky.  That was like 680 diapers.  I know this because they count them and if they are short any you get billed a ridonculous amount of money for them.

Anywhooo I digress.  Gotta bounce...I am making pulled pork today and I have a dirty kitchen and a broken sink tap.  I love challenges.  (no I don't. shovel list). TFL&TTYL