ROW BOATS IN USE HERE AGAIN

 It's funny....every November Port gets unimaginable amounts of rain.  I have a massive deck.  Half of it has a roof over it yet there is a lake right outside my roof covered sliding door.  I checked the drain...clear.  It was the scary horrendous wind that blew that rain train (the latest newspaper jargon for lots of rain) right into the covered deck.

The day before the huge storm the dogwood tree across the street was loaded with its rusty red coloured leaves.  The rain and wind storm started late that night, complete with very bright lightening and loud thunder and by morning that tree was bare!!!

I feel like the two extreme storms we have had so far are my fault.  Before Halloween I was praying to the weather gods for just such storms to happen on Halloween night.  I hate halloween.  I have hated halloween since I was little.  And I now think  that my prayers were inefficiently answered by coming but on the wrong dates.  Dammit!!!

So now there are freaking leaves everywhere..mostly in neighbours yards who don't even own a tree.  Row boats are needed to get to and fro on the low roads.  Giant seals are all over peoples wharves, escaping the swashing waters.  Upper roads are flooding due to leaves plugging up the drain grates. 

  Not so long ago on garbage day you could daintily slip out early in the morning in cute sleeping pjs and slippers and wheel the bin out to the street.  Now you have to bundle up with hooded rain coats, long pants, gloves and gumboots and bend over against the wind and battle your way out to the street.  Now I am praying to the weather gods to knock it off.

We are in desperate need of a tall book case to be shared by Monte and myself.  I ordered one from Amazon which arrived quite a few days ago.  I asked  Monte to bring it in which he did and left it at the bottom of the stairs leaning on the wall.  I asked him to bring it upstairs.  A couple days later he did and  leaned it on the wall at the top of the stairs.

 I had suggested we build it on the dining table.  He agreed.  I spent most of an afternoon cleaning all the crap that was on the table off of it in preparation.  Then I tried to get him to put it on the table.  A couple days later I walked the box over from the top of the stairs and leaned it on the table.  I can't lift it as it weighs a ton.

Over the next couple of days I waited for him to unbox it and start to build it.  I offered several times to help but he refused and said he could do it.  Finally last night he started.  Unboxed.  Removed packaging onto everywhere on the floor.  Sat on a chair and started to read the instructions and put it together.  As he read he started to get frustrated then mad then threw the papers down and ranted about how stupid and impossible the instructions were and walked away. 

Now somewhat in his defence in the reviews of this book case it's mentioned several times how bad the instructions were.  I had warned him but his brain isn't good with things like this.  I knew this wasn't the time to brain storm on how to move forward.  I can live with unmade bookcase pieces and large pieces of cardboard  and styrofoam everywhere.  It should be just for a couple of days.

Then I had a solitary brain storm.  ANGE!!!!  She is brilliant.  She is always solving my problems for me.  So I phoned her and suggested that she help me by interpreting the instructions and pointing out to me where I am going wrong with the physical side of the project.  She was all for it.  So at one pm today we are starting.  I will update in the next post.  Not that you really want to know or care.  I am aware of that!!  lol

TFL&TTYL

AUNTY JOAN RUSSELL. LORRAINE JENNIFER APRIL MYLES AND ME

 I left out the dinner we all had at Pier 7 at the bottom of Lonsdale.  On purpose.  I wanted to make a post just about that.

Well let me start with the least important thing...the food.  I kind of am leery to go there because they specialize in truffle fries.  I have actually had the waitress move us to a different table because people  at a table beside us ordered them and I hate the smell of truffle oil.  I don't like the taste either.  But I love raw shaved truffle.  Go figure!

But I sat between Aunty Joan and Myles and Myles ordered them, the bugger!  lol!!!  When they came I tried one off his plate and there wasn't much truffle taste and there was basically no smell.  Sure not like the time before!

Jennifer, being originally from BC with free access to seafood now lives in Alberta, landlocked North Trumpville with little or no access to fresh sea offerings.

So naturally we ordered the seafood tower and let me tell you, it was SPECTACULAR!!!!!! Raw oysters with minuette (sp?), lox, scallops, prawns the size of my head, candied salmon, mussels, clams, crab legs  etc....Truly a masterpiece. I had the poke bowl.  It was delicious but not as good as Maui's from the Costco poke bar.  No Canadian poke bowl will measure up to that.

And now the people.  It was as wonderful  as our so special visit with Aunty Jan and Uncle Jim...mentioned in the last post.  Aunty Joan is mid eighties but you would never know.  How does a woman reach that ripe age not looking a day over 65.  She just doesn't change...and the same with her sense of humour!  She is a pure joy to visit with.  And we visited...boy did we visit!  We both can talk our socks off and we did!

The only less satisfying time was not enough of it to visit with Lorraine. She is probably one of the nicest most interesting people on this planet.  She used to work in the classy fat lady store, actually I do believe she managed it, in Park Royal.  But she changed occupations in the middle of her working life, such courage and smarts, and is now an IT person.  I so admire her and one of these times I AM going to get a chance to visit properly with her.

Then there was Russell.  He is the head guy from what I know (which might be a tad off but I don't think so) Rick and Morty.  He has some pretty impressive awards under his belt!  He is a gifted animator...thus April and he are close.  He is such an amazing influence and mentor for April.  And it doesn't hurt that he is so very much like Bill!  He definitely inherited the Heyman genes!  He rates as one of my fave nephews!

And Jennifer I have already described in my previous post.  What a freaking live wire she is!  And she plays the piano too and she is in a serious band and can sing like the dickens.  All my kids turned out to be musically talented one way or the other!!!  And to watch her enjoy that seafood just made me happy!!

The next day I drove (or Jen drove...don't remember) out to the airport for her afternoon flight back to Calgary.  Before leaving I phoned Cookie for directions to her place from that direction.  I was driving the van and it does not have a thingy that tells you where to go.  I know I could probably get Surrey (my East Indian man helper on my phone. I call him Surrey not Siri) to tell me where to turn and drive etc... but I really don't want to stop using my brain and memory.  So she gave me instructions and I got it all except I ended up going through the Deaz (sp?) Tunnel instead of the Alex Fraser bridge but I found myway to her anyway.  When I can't spell a word I just write it phonetically.

Anyway it was an incredible evening.  We left stuffed and satisfied and happy.

TFL&TTYL

NOT MY FAULT!!!!!

 Usually my hair stands on end when I hear that phrase 'Not My Fault'.  I have a real true blue beef with people that don't take accountability seriously.  And sometimes it isn't actually their fault.  But that phrase still bugs me.

And now I am using it.  Blogspot somehow lost the sign in button.  I tried tried and tried a hundred different ways to get into the guts of my blog so I could write a timely post.  But nope.  I really hate blogspot for lots of reasons but I am not a techie type of person and any other blogging site is so not user friendly.  Anyway one magical morning, upon the hundredth attempt, there it was, back again.  Now I am going to be nervous every time I click on my blog to make a post.  Grrrrrrr........  I know how freaking annoying it is to keep checking your blogs you read and they don't consistently post.  My apologies.  

I had a good time in Vancouver.  Firstly I took Jen out to the airport and then on to Cookie's.  Jen was pretty glad to be heading back to her youngest.  He was going through a lymphoma scare which has turned out to be mono thank Ohm.  His older brother beat lymphoma which makes siblings subject to it as well apparently.

As usual I had a fantastic visit with Brian and Cookie.  The food and drink and visits were fabulous.  And speaking of drinks, I drank all their PC  root beer flavoured sparkling water.  No sweetening.  Normally I don't like drinks like Bubly (sp?)  but the pc root beer one is amazing.  Cookie kindly took me to Stupidstore and helped me buy them out of their stock.  One ended up being a diet A&W diet root beer case.  Monte was quite happy to take care of that for me.  I love visiting them.

I was privileged enough to be shown all of her quilts she has made.  She is truly gifted.  They were stunning!  And now she is making me not one but two quilts in the next year or two.  One for my purple bedroom and one for out here in my living room.  I already am the proud owner of two of her quilts...in fact I received her very first one she ever made on my fiftieth birthday!  And I love it!

Back to April's for a couple of nights and then home James.  It was good to be back home.  Ange and Monte were happy and I was happy to dig into cleaning and cooking again.  Not so much tv.  Now with Roku I find I watch tv sporadically, stuff I really enjoy and the tv is off as much as it is on.  Not like before when it went on first thing and stayed on whether it was being watched or not!

In spite of my tailbone, which really does limit my physical activity time lengths, I came home with the resolve that I wasn't going to let it slow me up anymore.  I need to be on my feet the majority of the day doing stuff.  It is just too easy to sit in this chair to the point of getting bedsores on my backside!  lol. just kidding.  But I started yesterday.

  I made a giant pot of applesauce, dressed up a shoulder pork roast and got it into the little oven (my stove oven door is duct taped), butchered a fifteen pound salmon, vacuum packed the pieces, cleaned then cleaned the kitchen again and again.  Today I will be making corned beef hash for our communal dinner.  Ange donated the roast last night and is donating the corned beef today, bless her heart.  I am also cooking a big tail off the salmon to make salmon burgers tomorrow.  But before that I am going to tackle all my music books.  Holy doodle I have stacks and stacks.  Not sure what I am going to do with all the ones I won't be keeping.

Well enough for today.  I have a mass of music books and a very messy room to tackle.  TFL&TTYL

BRAIN FARTS ARE SO ANNOYING

 Not only are they annoying but at my age and our family's history they are scary.  Is it dementia?  Is it not?  When I was younger it didn't matter but now at 74 brain farts have a whole new meaning.

I got out the door early on Thursday.  The ferry was right on time and I got to April's by four.  Jen and she were well into their cups!  They were so happy to be together again.  Sisters to the core...crazy sisters I might add!  We had an amazing dinner of schnitzel and crispy baked wee potato pieces and a gorgeous salad.  Myle's makes the best schnitzel!

But speaking of brain farts...I made three pans of brownies and went to extreme lengths with Monte to get frozen Yorkshire puddings from No Frills before leaving port.  I had bought a very expensive (worth every penny) beef tenderloin at the butchers.  I needed the Yorkies for the sliders.  I cooked that roast very carefully, it only took fifteen minutes to reach medium rare!  When it had cooled I sliced it all into slider size and made a litre of gravy.  I then left the five bags of Yorkies in the freezer that were alongside the brownies and there they stayed.  I was too far down to Nanaimo to go back for them.  I could have cried!  The only other thing I was bringing were the condiments!

So, before heading out to Rosedale and the venue we had to find our way to Superstore..the only other store that sells President's Choice, thus PC Yorkies.  And thank goodness they had them.  Finally on our way!  In Chilliwack, just before Rosedale Jen and I decided we were hungry so we found a C-lovers and stopped for fish and chips.  Jen, being a landlubber but originally from here, missed seafood like the dickens!

And then we hit the venue.  It was a massive bougie type house with many bedrooms.  It claims to sleep 17...we were 16 and I sleep on a couch.  And then people started to arrive.  Did I say people?  I mean food.  Holy Doodle!!!  Get that many women with their fave dips and cookies and casseroles and just delicious food and it's the reason I like to get there first and claim fridge real estate.  Ohhhhhh the food...the yummy yummy food.  Incredible.  I am so impressed by what they all brought.  I will see if I can make a list:

hot chili dip

brie and blackberry

cowboy caviar

twenty pound lasagna

beef tenderloin and gravy sliders

a plethora of rolls, pot stickers and dips

meatballs

charcuterie

croissants, baking, chips, baklava,

sausage eggs hash browns

cream puffs and Nanaimo bars

spinach salad and dinner buns

and waaaaaay too much booze to list

and way way more than I can remember at the moment.

The fun began.  One thing we did thanks to Steph and Jocelyn, we each were given a blank painting canvas and water paints and set up at the table.  We drew names and had to paint something that would be recognizable as that person.  It was a guessing game. But some were a tad obvious.  Someone drew a chocolate chip cookie for Cookie.  hahaha!  I drew Leeloo for April.  Man did we ever have some laughs.  The whole weekend was fun.  And loud!  They had decible measurers in the house and on the deck.  Neighbours.

Jen and I left around 11 and headed straight to fat burger in Ladner.  We were actually hungry believe it or not!  You'd think we hadn't seen food for weeks.  jeez!!!

We then went to Aunty Jan's and Uncle Jim's.  It was so freaking amazing to see them.  It reminded me so much of Bill it was almost teary.  They haven't changed a whole bunch and Jan was her feisty self!  Uncle Jim was exactly the same.  Their house is so homey and full of good memories.  It was lovely to catch up on all the kids goings on.   She made a well needed cup of coffee and cookies and butter tarts and we had about an hour and a half talky visit.  I loved it and will see if we can do it again.  Jen was so happy to see them.  It had been a while for her too.  I love rellie visits.

We managed to beat our way through Vancouver to April's.  We had a delicious dinner of leftover beef and Yorkies and salad then watched a very interesting documentary and off to bed.

So now we are going to meet Russell, Lorraine and Bill's brother's wife..aunty Joan for supper down on the pier.  This is so nice for Jen who is sorely missing family out there in North Trumpville...I mean Alberta.  I can't wait until she can move over here to BC.  And with any luck she will bring her youngest with her.  He is now training to be a welder like his talented Mamma.  Lots of work here for them.  And I love that boy.  He is the most interesting person and very witty!

Well thats it for today.  A good time was had by all.  Can't beat women's retreat and relatives and tons of food.  TFL&TTYL

A GANDER BACK

Once in a while when I go to bed I cruise around in my head.  I try to think of every person I know and take note of the ones I need to connect with soon and which ones may need help or most of all which ones I may need to make peace with.  I have done this since my mom put us through the first five or six lessons from the Amway business course when I was twelve.  It was all about empowerment and self awareness and the power of what you think.  It truly was a life changing event for me.  One of those things I learned was the importance of the people in your life and to take care of those connections.  So now and then I would do what I did the other night.

And I realized that I had not properly connected with and THANKED Bill's sister....Auntie Jan (we still call her that in the family).  Bless her heart she took the money needed at that time, now it's free, and herself to the genetic testing place and got tested for the Bracc gene (sp?).  It is the gene that causes breast and fallopian tube cancer in women. 

Bill's daughter died in her early thirties from breast cancer.  Bill's mother got breast cancer.  Auntie Francine got breast cancer.  Auntie Jan got two types of cancer.  So she went and got tested and tested positive.  She convinced Bill to get tested and then both Jen and April tested....positive and both have had total mastectomies.  

I had not talked with Jan since Bill died twelve years ago.  Actually to tell you the truth I didn't really think she liked me much...which I totally understand.  I don't like me much a lot too!!!  lol!!!  I respect her dislike and kept my distance.  I missed her though.  I liked her a lot.  She is the kind of woman I like...strong and very family oriented.  I like those traits. No milque toast here!!!  Thank god!!

So I messaged her and I thanked her.  Because of her both my girls are alive and well.  There is no doubt about that.  I am so grateful for her perseverance in testing and convincing Bill to get tested. I figured if she chose not to answer that would be totally okay and I sure could understand.  But she did!!!!  And she sent such a lovely message.  I was so happy!!!  We had a lovely little convo and after the retreat on the twentieth of October in Chilliwack Jen and I are going to go over to Ladner to see her.  Both Jen and I are super excited to be seeing her and Uncle Jim again.  I can't wait!!!

So now I am up to my toothless gums in retreat preparations.  Plus cleaning and readying the house for the cleaner.  Tomorrow we have to make a trip to the butcher in town here.  I need a long piece of super expensive tenderloin beef to roast and cut into proper sized pieces to make Yorkie sliders at the retreat.  We did it for April's wedding but they never got used.  No Frills sells bags of frozen already cooked Yorkshire puddings.  All you do is put them in a hot oven for six minutes!  They are delicious and the perfect small size for sliders.  Along with some goats on the roof horseradish and thinly sliced onion and pickled hot pepper rings...can't beat it.

So I am signing off and next post will be disgusting stories of antics at the retreat!!!!!  Pics will have to go on fb.  They sure as hell can't go on here for eff's sake.  TFL&TTYL

 

SO POST NUMBER THREE

THIS IS THE ONLY PIC THAT WENT THROUGH.  MY FAVE PICTURE OF BILL.

 

A PS TO THE PREVIOUS POST

 I sent the previous post ages ago earlier today.  Since then I have been in this chair so long my ass hurts in a new place, trying to put pics on this stupid blogpost.  To make matters worse they updated my laptop, an apple, and you no longer have iPhoto...it is now apple photo and it freaking sucks.  You cannot put photos anywhere.  They don't drag and drop.  They do not email.  They do not insert.  No matter what I do they don't effing go anywhere.  I am so pissed off.  So no photos.  Even AI when I asked slapped his head with the palm of his head and said okay here we go....and proceeded to instruct step by step about twenty steps you have to follow.  Which I carefully did and it still didn't work.  So I am about to throw this freaking computer out the back door so I am going to quit trying.  You will have to go to fb.  I think they will drag and drop from my pics there.  I will go see.  Sorry about that.    HP