CHECKING IN

Not much to report.  This last week has been a pretty quiet one.  More unpacking.  More can't find anything. More paying bills.  More cooking.

Speaking of which....One morning I decided to make a giant vegetarian shepherd's pie.  So I boiled up spuds, cut up onions, whacked up celery and veggies into tiny pieces, made a pot of mushroom gravy and assembled a massive huge pie.  As I was doing this Kathy dropped in with Stirling.  He was asleep in the stroller (she walked down).  so she left him outside and came in for coffee.  It so reminded me of the days gone past where we would leave our sleeping babies outside in their buggies!

When he did wake up Kathy went and got him and brought him in.  He was so full of happy smiles! What a sweet child.  After a bit Jo dropped in with Ainsley.  Ainsley is such a hoot!  She was decked out in a sparkly Ariel costume.    I love listening to her talk.  Its so interesting.  She tends to leave the first consonant off her words.  I could listen to her all day long!  And she says the most interesting intelligent things for a three year old!

Much later or the next day I went into the living room to drink some coffee.  And the spot on the couch where she had been sitting was covered in sparkles!!!  

Anyway as they were leaving Kathy was kind of moaning about having to think up supper.  They are leaving for India for a month tomorrow and of course she doesn't want any food left  in her house. So I jokingly said she should take some  shepherd's pie home...and then she said maybe they could come down for dinner.  I felt kind of stupid...I should have asked them to come for dinner!  Duh!!!  I LOVE having them for dinner.  They are always so appreciative and seem to like my food.

I was excited that it was my very first sit down dinner at the new table.  So I set it all up and we had a lovely dinner!   Pics below.  And I have to go.  Making a banana cake!  TTYL

THE TABLE HAS A HUGE LEAF I DIDN'T USE

Add caption

AREN'T THEY ADORABLE?!!

BIRTHDAY GOODNESS

What a wonderful 65th I had!!!  Kathy called me in the morning of my birthday and asked if I would like to go to lunch, which of course I leaped to!!  Then she asked where we should go.

One year ago she took me to that awesome garden/gift shop/cafe called the Pond for lunch.  Then on her birthday in April I took her there for lunch.  So we went there again this birthday.  Its TRADITION!!!

After a lovely lunch we stopped at a couple of interesting stores.  One of them was like a very badly organized Liquidation World.  There was crap of all types...from food, to gum boots, to tires, to drinks, to.....well you would never guess what we found at the back of the store, mixed in between baby cribs, rubber boats and crap.  Tucked under the back wall, mushed up with a load of junk was a bright shiny, metallic silver coffin.  Yup!  A coffin!  I tried opening it but it wouldn't!  Yikes!!

But we had a hoot looking around in there.  Then we stopped at our fave Asian store and bought chilli stuff, ponzu sauce, weird rice stuff, tofu, vegetarian oyster sauce.  Its always fun going there.  Came home and watched Major Crimes, my fave show for the rest of the day.

The next day Kathy and I went to the Dirty Jersey to meet with the other Kiwanians to present cheques to deserving people, proceeds from our fund raising efforts.  We also held the weekly meat draw.  And as I mentioned last time I won twice...a turkey and a ham.  This time I won again!!!  Twice!  And we had such a good time.  I have a feeling Kathy would have rather been out hiking the gorgeous mountains on such a gorgeous day....but she had a good time too.  She won once too!!!

Then today Anne picked me up at ten this morning.  Unfortunately on my birthday my driver's license expired.  So bless her she drove me over there and I renewed.  And guess what?  Instead of it being 75 bucks it was only 17 because now I am a senior!!!!  Woot Woot!!!

She then took me to Service Canada.  I couldn't successfully change my address on my account I obtained there back when Bill died.  Without changing it you can do nothing about applying for CPP and OAP.  But...they needed a  piece of ID with my address.  I don't have one.  So I go back tomorrow with my new license.  Actually I put this wrong.  We went down to Service Canada first.  I hadn't renewed my license yet or I could have used it.

So all in all its been a good few days I would say!!!  The next issue I must deal with is Alice, the housekeeper.  I can't afford her anymore.  What I pay her monthly is exactly what I now have to pay in strata fees.  So if she is willing to cut the visits here in half I would love to have her still come.  I feel bad...she is such an amazing housekeeper.  Well gotta bounce...its late and I am tired and my horse is tired!  TTYL

BUSY BUSY

It always amazes me how much time goes by between posts!

I have had four stellar memorable meals and evenings since the last post.

I met with Emily and Dorothy the first night after Aryn got back.  We went down to a place near here called Rogue.  OMG!!  We ordered three starters and three meals and two desserts and shared them all.  So delicious, calamari, tacos, dips, charcuterie board, fish and chips, tuna stacks.
And we had amazing conversation.  I love spending time with them.  Emily had undertaker stories and Dorothy had moving to Montreal stories.  Loved it.

Then the next night A&B took me to the most amazing restaurant.  Its called Chicha.  It is a Peruvian, true Peruvian (not fusion) restaurant.  I can't even begin to describe the menu or the food we had that night.  It was all served tapas style which makes for an even more friendly and intimate evening.  Then when we walked back we walked along a few blocks of restored Victorian houses, with twinkle lights in their front gardens and on the ornate gates.  Magical!

Then the next night we had a full on turkey dinner.  We had missed thanksgiving and so did two friends of theirs that attended as well.  So all day Arnie and I made this delicious turkey dinner.  And Aryn is just so insanely busy right now but she managed to throw in a turkey dinner!  And let me tell you, she is one hell of a cook.  Her food is well thought out, gourmet, seasoned beautifully...absolutely divine.  What a delightful delicious evening!

Then last night...oh my god!!!  She made turkey pot pie.  It was so good!  It smelled good while she was making it, and then baking it then served it.  Mmmmmmm....I could eat that all day long!

On Sunday I went to North Van and had a special and wonderful time with Clare and Tish.  We had to go to a different place as they are renovating our usual watering hole.  They are such special people and unfortunately it was really loud in the new place.  I am meeting with them in mid November and we must find a quieter venue.  I have one in mind right near there.  I just love those two people and I want to hear them!!!

From there I headed over to Cookies place.  What a wonderful time.  Monte was having a really distressful evening, which meant I was on the phone a lot.  They were so understanding and kind about it.  Her mom was there and we had such a good visit.  Pam came over the next evening and the three of us had a good old visit.  Its so nice to hang with two ladies the same age, from the same high school, from the same town.  Awesome!!!

I left this morning for home.  Mamma Sidhu came with me as far as her home in Merritt.  We had THE BEST trip ever.  She is such a hoot!!  For 87 we could all take a lesson from her!!!  We stopped at the Flying J truck stop.  I bought corn dogs and onion rings to share.  She dug right in and had onion rings and catsup!  We had THE  BEST time!!!  More tomorrow!  TTYL

ARYN DIDN'T LIKE HER PIC SO OUT OF RESPECT I BLURRED HER OUT!  ISN'T BRADLEY CUTE???

CHAIR SHARING

ARNIE PUT AN M ON MY TURKEY POT PIE (ITS UPSIDE DOWN) AND A B ON BRADLEY'S!!!

RANDOM HAPPENINGS

I woke up in the middle of the night and happened to glance at a paper bag beside my couch where I am sleeping.  I knew what was in that bag.  Ridiculously overpriced apples from Whole Foods.  Suddenly I was craving an apple like crazy!

So I pulled one out, a golden aurora, and proceeded to clean it off.  Still sitting in my bed, I took a huge bite...and then remembered I didn't have my teeth in.  So I have two teeth on the top on each side way at the back.  I have one tooth on each side way at the back on the bottom.  And four front teeth on the bottom.  Thats it.  I didn't want to get up.  So I ate that sucker with basically hardly any teeth.  It was hard and took forever but I finally did it!  This morning my gums are sore.

A couple of nights ago, around three in the morning I was rudely awakened by shouting, running feet and what I swear was gun shots.  Suddenly there were screeching tires and sirens and lights flashing.  I am up on the third floor.

I dashed out onto their deck here and peeped over the side, carefully, I was leery of stray bullets at this point.  Things calmed down a little and I could see a man laying out just below...looking dead.  Some of the cops kept running down the alley and out of sight.  After a few minutes an ambulance arrived and they rushed over to the layed out dude.  They worked on him for a long time and then finally put him on a stretcher and into the ambulance...not covered so not dead.  Then the cops hopped into their vehicles and took off.  Voila!  Done.  Back to bed.

Whole Foods.  What can I say?  I am aware that they have been bought by someone that promises to make it more usable.  I get it that some of their stuff is going to be a little more pricey because it isn't main stream.  But some things just don't make sense to me, other than its just a cheesy price grab.

For example:  their roast chicken.  Their roast chicken is fourteen bucks.  FOURTEEN!!!  Costco's, which are free range healthy chickens, are 8 bucks.  Safeway's are 8, Superstore's are 8.  Whole Foods are almost double!

They have zero pop...no coke, no pepsi, no ginger ale etc...  But they have aisles of sugar loaded juice and other trendy drinks...drinks that are even less healthy than soda pop.

They have aisles of hot cooked food and different size boxes you fill.  They charge by the ounce.  I went along and had a good look.  Its all variations of vegetable and healthy versions of normal food.  The stuffing was bread of course, but also fruit and nuts!  Bleh!!!  They must have had five different versions of Brussels's sprouts.  And what the hell is with chick peas?  And sweet potatoes instead of real ones.  Oh, and five or six variations of squash.  It was the oddest most unappealing line up of food choices I have ever seen.

But...Whole Foods saving grace is in one item they sell.  And that is butter.  Its a butter made in Quebec.  On a whim I bought it.  5.69 for a half pound (if that).  I brought it home along with a small baguette.

The moment I opened that jar I could tell by the smell that finally I found a butter equal to the butter in France.  It was divine!!!!  I bought one for each of the girls and tomorrow I am going back to buy a few to take home with me.  I am going to take a picture of the little pot it comes in. Totally reusable and cute.

Yesterday I headed over to April's.  Myles had to work so she and headed out to find dinner somewhere.  That somewhere ended up being the Cheshire Cheese...all food english, down at the Quay.  Their menu has not changed in over thirty years.  Bill and I used to go their on occasion when our office was at the Quay.

They serve Poughman's Lunch, Fisherman's Pie (my fave), steak and kidney pie, bangers and mash, fish and chips, etc.....

Well I got my fave, fish pie but April ordered something called Toad in a Hole.  Its a sausage sticking out of yorkshire pudding covered in gravy.  There is no way can I decently describe the dish that arrived, not without being graphically rude.  Jeez we had a hard time not looking shocked then not laughing rudely.  So I shall post a pic at the bottom!  The meal was delicious and I had such a good time!  I always do with her. TTYL

SEE?  HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE THAT!

ACCIDENTLY BOUGHT THE UNSALTED...BUT ITS STILL SUPER GOOD!

SEE THE CUTE LITTLE POT?

ALL I WANT FOR XMAS.....

As my facebook friends already know, a visible almost front tooth fell off of my bridge...and I ate it!!  I was eating left over pho when I accidentally bit into the piece of lime in the soup.  I think thats what knocked it off and even though I spit out the lime, the tooth clearly didn't go out with it.  Now I have, yet again, a gap.  And as one of my fave FB friends labelled me, Hillbilly Helen,  so suitable.  sigh

Its funny, just one of the reasons I gave Molly to Aryn (and this will sound silly but...) was because of the way she would steadfastly sit and stare at me for hours on end.  Drove me crazy.  Well she can't hold a candle to Fred (Aryn's cat). That cat gets about ten inches (for you metric folks thats REALLY CLOSE) from my face then stares.  And stares and stares.  Not moving.  Not meowing.  Just staring.  And staring.  And staring.  sigh He really is quite the cat.  I put some stuff at the bottom of this that explains a lot.

Well I managed to get Tank out of the basement here.  I must admit I was a tad nervous.  But it all went well!

I headed over to April's.  We ordered greek food and Jess and baby Mabel came over.  We had a lovely time!  Mabel is totally adorable.  And she is one chunky little lady!  Roly poly arms and legs and roundy cheeks...she is so huggable.  Not that I got to.  She took one look at me and started to cry!  All babies do that with me.  It takes a while for them to warm up.

April gave me my birthday present.  It is a beautiful rose gold pandora ring.  I had admired it in a store we were in the other day and she got it for me!  I am so spoiled!  I absolutely love it and don't want to take it off.  I will post a pic below.

Well I am going to cut this short.  My left hand pinky finger and the one next to it are numb.  This problem started back in 2003 and comes and goes.  Not sure why...probably something to do with my neck.  Its really annoying and I can't feel with those fingers so typing is hard to do.  TTYL

UNSURE MABEL AND OBLIVIOUS  MOLLY

MY BEAUTIFUL RING

I THOUGHT CATS WERE SMART

I HAVE SEEN MORE CAT POOPHOLE IN THE LAST FEW DAYS THAN MY WHOLE LIFE PUT TOGETHER

STARING

MEOWING...LOUDLY

MORE POOPHOLE

INTERESTING EATS, BUT I NEED MY BOLOGNA

It's been a real food adventure around here.  I see that most of it is either Asian or Greek.  I have been to the Pho place a couple of times now.  Their pho is phonomenal.  I purposely spelled that wrong as a joke.  Haha!  Sorry.

Thank god they serve two sizes.  Finally a place that sells smaller bowls than the usual ones you get.  The usual ones are so flipping big and I find it kind of shocking that those tiny asian peeps can just chow the whole thing down like they do.  I get half way through, the small one at that, and get stuck.  I always seem to be carrying a little bag home with me these days, either full of soup I can't finish or dog poo.  One or the other.

Speaking of dog poo, such an adventure it is to pee and poo your dog here in the city.  At home I have always been able to throw them out the door and a few minutes later let them back in.  Then I would force either Bill or Monte out there once a week to pick the little (or not so little with some of our dogs) nuggets.

I have walked through that front door of this building more times in the last few days than I have walked through my own front door at home since I moved.  And I am familiar with every single patch of grass or dirt between here and the corner down at the end of the block.

MY BACK ALLEY VIEW

TRYING TO LOOK LIKE JACK NICHOLSON

TRYING TO DECIDE ON OUR DINNER

POSER!

PRETTY GIRL

THE NIGHT TIME MARAUDER WHO KEEPS ME AWAKE!

THE ONLY KIND OF SELFIE I CAN SUCCESSFULLY TAKE

THE START TO AN AWESOME EVENING

SO PRETTY

  I am also becoming familiar with every one of the 150 dogs that live on this block and I am getting onto first name basis with the homeless fellows that live within this same radius.  And if I am watching a cop show I can't tell if the sirens are on the show or outside.  I have been tricked a few times now.  Such a different life this is.  I am even getting to know the people that live in this building.  Everyone is so friendly and half of them know I am Aryn's mom. Its kind of cool.

So Cardero's.  The kids picked me up and down to the waterfront we went.  I knew I had been there before...only it was called the Boathouse back then.  Bill had taken me there on occasion. When we got seated, a very tall lovely waiter brought us a glass of champagne..delicious champagne!  What a lovely surprise and fantastic way to start my birthday dinner.  

The whole evening was magical.  The location, the amazing food, but most of all the company.  They are such an awesome fun couple to spend time with.  We laughed and visited and ate and criticized, and gossiped until we were so full we could hardly move.  And I had oysters!  Buttermilk fried oysters!  OMG!!!  Unbelievably delicious!

I stuck pretty close to home here since that evening.  I have a couple of pho runs, falafel lunch, bank depositing, crap runs for Molly, garbage removal (that one was a trip in itself I tell you...living in a loft in a building is crazy).

I have actually been enjoying Molly, now that she isn't mine!  She is so funny.  She is pretty scrappy looking and is really very blind and deaf.  But boy she still has a lot of spunk in her.  Just a few minutes ago I was typing away here, completely absorbed by what I am writing, when her big squeaky toy landed right on my lappy, startling the hell out of me.  She had been over on the other side of the room, shaking the shit out of the toy and clearly she let it go in mid shake.  Crazy little mutt!!!  Gotta bounce...TTYL

AWESOME DINNER AND DAY

What a fab day yesterday was.  (I hate that abbreviation 'fab' Used it anyway....shovel list).  April and Myles picked Molly and me up at around 10:30 am.  We headed up to Edgemont village to the most amazing bakery I have been in since Paris.  We had lunch and coffee and wandered around the Village.

We then headed over to April's.  Tea and convo.  Can't beat it.  Spent the whole afternoon there.  I love their place.  Its so cozy and homey.  Molly behaved herself thank goodness.  She can be a real stinker.

We then headed down to Pier 7, a lovely restaurant right on the waterfront at the bottom of Lonsdale.  And there we had amazing food.  Calamari, truffle fries,  bouillabaisse, wine and beer and absinthe.  And such fun.  Boats going by, seagulls, upwardly  mobile couples, Mr. Washington's yacht (with a helicopter on the back of it) setting off for a jaunt, the Q at the quay not turning,  giant condos being built in every parking lot they can find (thanks Paragon) our old office (almost made me teary, Bill was so proud of that office), an old public piano not being played, and.....no screaming kids.  Weird.

We left Molly in her carry case, big carry case, in the car in a cool parking garage.  We were gone maybe an hour and a half.  When we got back there was a brochure on the window about not leaving dogs in hot cars.  Hot. Okay.  I guess I should have left her home all day, no company, nowhere to pee in a loft that is ten times hotter than that car was.  God people are stupid and annoying.  I take that back.  I actually mean dog people.  And if there are any of you out there reading this that are dog people, you can freaking knock it off now.  CARS ARE NOT HOT ANYMORE.  You all need to mind your own business.  At this point you are causing more damage than good. 

 As a matter of fact I lump you all in with the bear people.  Everybody knows you don't leave dogs in hot cars and you don't feed bears.  Those that are still doing it are either unfixably stupid or just do what they want.  They know.  So stop allready.

Anyway, today was a quiet awesome read books day.  So relaxing.  This morning, really early, I was sound asleep when a particular noise woke me up.  Meowww, meeowww, meowwww.  And next thing I know a certain Fred was walking up and down me, meowing to beat heck.  Then he actually came over and booped his nose on mine!  Then he plopped down on my chest and I scratched his head and talked to him for ages.  Then he got up and ran upstairs.  What an awesome way to wake up!!!!

  At five thirty the kids are picking me up to go to dinner at Cardero's.  Oysters...mmmmmm.  I shall report back tomorrow...if anyone is still reading because of my bear and dog rant.  LOL!!  TTYL

and ps...I am leaving poor Molly home in this hot condo with nowhere to pee and no company.  Fortunately I shant be gone that long.