Dale Chihuly has nothing on the Chinelkins installation at Paul and Lisa's!

Happy New Years from PeJu, and we look forward to more adventures in 2010!

Post Christmas!

Today we woke up refreshed and ready for action! The president loaded up Oscar and we made our way to the dump and as always the second best part after seeing friends, about the dump is discovering treasure like this Homedics Samurai Shiatsu Portable Massager (all it needed was a good cleaning and a little TLC) at the free store. It was like Christmas all over again! I guess everyone is purging this week, as the free store was full to the rafters in used goodies. Judith came home with some nice patterns to makes some clothes in her new sewing room. She may even make you something if you ask nicely. And we both discovered the mother load of magazines today, including ones that are still on sale in the grocery store. Note to self, "hit the free store post Christmas 2010".

We skipped lunch today, for obvious reasons, but dinner was this "mother" of all sandwiches including some bread Marc gave me called "Squirrelly" filled with left over Turkey and fixings with homemade Judith mayo! Yummy... Who doesn't like left over Christmas dinner, I mean really...

These two little rascals showed up for tea and treats with their parental life support system and aunty Martha today, so we had a great visit with the Gerow and Enhorning clan, code named "Enhornrow's"! Hopefully we will see them more this year now that things are settling down.

Tomorrow, is a town day and after that it is back to work for us self-employed types. So business as usual on Tuesday. We've had a great holiday break, and looking forward to a late January full repeat when Rob & Amanda return from Australia.

PS, Julian beware of the "South Sandpiper Anarchist (SSA)" sending rockets up when you're "RC'n" at the beach!

Island Snickles Christmas

A very busy Christmas day, starting at 0700 hrs to ensure we had good seats to watch the gang discover Santa had dropped in with some serious loot at Paul and Lisa's! Only in BC, would someone be thrilled to get a new pair of gumboots!

Judith and I "crafted in the afternoon". Christina Laffin gave us the idea, and got us on our way with some snapping noise makers and hats! Everyone seemed to really enjoy them before dinner, especially when Doug organized the group pull.
Doug decided to spend his day getting Rob's rockets working, for a single 700 foot blast off on Tribune Bay Christmas day, including various skeptics hanging around the launch site waiting for some action. Doug of course didn't disappoint and hit 800 feet no problem. We will be at the beach on the 29th for some more fun, and maybe Julian will drop by with something "RC" for us to aim at!

Check this out. You can't tell me it wasn't worth getting out of bed at 0700 hrs and heading up the street in our PJ's to see Colm's surprise when Santa dropped in with this "bad boy" crane!
After watching the boys open gifts we headed over to a special event next door for more treats and even more Christmas cheer, island style. Warm fire, homemade goodies, and friends to share the fun with all before 0800 hrs. Thanks...

Santa gave the ladies oyster shucking kits so if you are looking for the President or Rachelle I am sure you will find them at the water edge on low tides for the next several months mastering their shucking technique and eating raw oysters off the half shell.

At a more reasonable hour, 1000 hrs, F&Mj dropped by our house to open stockings. I was pleasantly surprised when I opened mine, and found a "signed" Wade Davis book, thanks mommy.

The president receive bottled "magical hugs and kisses" for Christmas. Santa obviously favours Judith because, as we all know she is "just" a little nicer! All she has to do is pop the lid and "shazam" hugs and kisses go everywhere.

We did however find out today that we must open the bottles with caution after a couple of little girls whom shall remain nameless popped the lids filling the room with endless hugs and kisses, to the point we couldn't see the bottles to put a lid ons! It was close, but Chris dived through the kisses in the nick of time to save us all from being smothered in hugs.OK, little brother this is how you rip the paper off your new bicycle! As always kids say the funniest things; " You where good too, cause you got a bike" I guess that old saying " Santa is watching and checking to see if you are naughty or nice" really works on the under five group.

Rachelle and Doug shares their locally grown bird with everyone for an early supper at our place, which was very yummy and Ann made sure we had our annual"flaming pud" followed by "Happy Feet" and loads of fun, laughs and stories!

Christmas 2009 was a success and now it is time to start planning the New Years Party including the now famous balloon "money" drop! Be their or be square as they say!

Happy Holidays!

Christmas Eve Island Style

Rachelle out did herself once again and whipped up this little number for Christmas Eve. It is a Tourtiere, a Quebecois tradition and something she does every year. Served after listening to Fireside Al, "The Shepherd" on CBC. A tradition, we're excited to be included in, for sure! Even the cat "Sterling Silver Foot" got in on a piece of Tourtiere!

SANTA: "Judith, I L.O.V.E you!"

After a hard day at world headquarters signing bonus cheques, the president was whisked into the local Co-op store to give "Ol Saint Nick" a little cheer, ("if you what I mean") cause even Santa needs a little Judith time this time of year ("I mean, they do get together in the summer for the reindeer "summer" games, but that is just not the same, if you know what I mean"), before getting on Air Force One ("She has a friend that has a friend. if you know what I mean!") to ensure she will arrive at the North Pole in time to help the elves with Peter's special Christmas gift! Rumour has it, Peter has been "so" good (if you know what I mean!") this year he is getting something really special from Santa, (" I mean REALLY special, if you know what I mean")! So stay tuned..................

Birthday Boy!

Thank you Thank you Thank you

What a day, starting with early morning presents left by elves (see earlier post), loads of birthday wishes from friends and family from around the globe, finished off with a small gathering of close friends and family to share Doug & Rachelle's wicked BBQ ribs (Rob & Amanda Skype'd in from Australia just as they where being served, it was like Rob could smell them on the other edge of the planet) followed by Judith's over the top chocolate cake with a steady mix of conversation and laughter throughout the evening. Due to Rob being incarcerated in Australia I almost missed the annual Christmas Pud and then Ann arrived with the above Pud, including 100 proof fire starter to warm it up with a blue flame before digging in Christmas night! It just doesn't get any better! Thank you everyone for helping me celebrate my 42nd birthday!

Justice! What is the right thing to do Judith?

Big Pete's Birthday!

Only here, would one come downstairs on their birthday to find a handmade birthday card, handmade carved porcelain mug and platter, locally roasted coffee beans, homemade Christmas cake complete with a gold candle. Thank you birthday elves (AKA, Rachelle and Doug)! Yummy... Note: They did break in if you're wondering, no charges pending. :)

Fiji Diving Incident

You can reach Amanda & Rob while he is in Australia @ 011-61-4-5108-5921 or Skype "Duck Town" The best time to call is around dinner pacific standard time. FYI, they're eighteen hours ahead. Or you can email anytime at info@hornbyislanddiving.com.He is recovering from the bends while diving in Fiji! We are hoping to have them home in February at the latest, as Rob can't fly for a few weeks.

Happy Holidays!

I know, hard to believe this is yummy chocolate from the kitchen of PeJu!

"Portuguese Chocolate Salami"

Questions: Alex, do you think those look like something other than "Portuguese Chocolate Salami"? What was Judith thinking.......

Answer: ................

Pre-Christmas Dec 2009

Saturday we enjoyed a nice day in preparation for Christmas. It started with Doug volunteering to take us in his truck to cut down a tree. We found a beautiful hemlock that is one notch above a Charlie Brown tree! After that score, we stopped at the Community Hall to drop in the Winter/Christmas Market and browsed around, had a quick chair massage, some tasty lunch and lots of socializing. After lunch we dragged Doug back to our house to help us install Christmas lights. We were well on our way with this year's installation on the house, the fence and in the apple trees, and along came our friend Robert for a visit. So, after a tour of the estate (and some garden planning tips) we went inside to warm up and have a cup of tea. Doug scampered off to pickup Rachelle from a day of wowing people at the Market and hang some lights at their neighbour's house. Soon after that Frank and Mary Jane dropped by.

Well! With that many people on hand, we realized we had a full crew to prepare, mount and decorate the tree. There was only 1 minor glitch in the tree prep, as a slightly misplaced hammer swing put a hole in the plastic bowl that holds the tree's drinking water. Being the resourceful crew that they were, a glue gun was found and applied, along with a proper seal of duct tape, and presto, it was good to go! So up went the tree and we got busy preparing the much anticipated meat loaf for dinner. The wine was poured, hot apple cider was served and the oven was turned on. After about an hour of tree decorating, we realized the oven wasn't working properly, we decided to turn on the BBQ to cook the meatloaf. And voila! It's beginning to look a like Christmas. :)
The meatloaf was delicious, and everybody went to bed tired and happy. Sunday morning we woke up to a beautiful tree, Christmas songs playing on the stereo and, you guessed it ... Rain. A long winter's rain. So our outing on Saturday was well timed. Then to the kitchen I fled and what did I find? Charred loaf tins. Ya gotta love the meatloaf :)

Happy Holidays!

Other than missing Whistler ski days this weekend with Don/Don, Zizzy, Judith and I are doing very well as we approach my birthday on December 23rd, Christmas and the end of 2009! We're busy at headquarters with lots of new projects underway to increase the fun factor and new business to hopefully generate more resources to ensure we can have more ski days with family and friends and better serve our clients and community!

FMJ are coming tomorrow, Fin is showing up this weekend, Rob and Amanda will return on Tuesday from four weeks in Australia and Fiji, and we're expecting lots of ex-pat friends heading up to the island to be with family over the holidays that we look forward to visiting with. Consider this an invitation if you need one!

The holiday socializing is in full swing with the school concert tonight, Joe King and the Fire Hall tomorrow night for holiday celebrations and Parkers 25 year firefighter retirement celebration, community caroling Friday night, Holiday market at the hall on Saturday after a treasure hunt community bike ride, a party at our house and party at the Cox's next week and at least five new years parties etc etc etc! We always smile when people ask us what we do all winter! It seems like a lot of socializing, mixed in with all that nature and healthy living...........

Judith is dead set on not working this weekend (if you didn't know, she works sixty hours a week to keep this place going) to attend the farmers market, chop down a ditch tree to decorate, and ensure the old school holiday lights (boxes and boxes) Amanda's mom Val gave us she was throwing out are going up this year! All this and I am sure she will send out a few cheques/invoices and answer a couple of hundred e-mails, while entertaining our family and friends. Did I mention I am married to an Award Winning Trophy Wife? I know you already all know that Judith is perfect....

As most of you know, I'm living with Ankylosing Sondylitis and will be unfortunately until we find a cure. The good news is I have found some medicine that has allowed me to get out and about resulted in more energy to look after myself. Thank you everyone for keeping things moving and all the heavy lifting in 2009, don't forget the flashings!

We're hoping for snow, did I mention snow, I mean we're really wishing for snow. The famous "Hughes Road" sledding hill and hot cocoa stop is just not the same without snow. So if you're wondering what to send this year! Yup, that's right send snow, well....or hard cash to help buy a snow making machine we're hoping to pick up for a song post Olympics!

So that is about it, we miss you, we're happy, healthy, and having fun as always. All the best to you and your family and here is to an even better 2010 full of fun, happiness, snow/ski/beach/hammock/cycling/hiking/swimming days with friends and family, and loads of sunshine and good fortune!

Happy holidays,

PeJu & Zizzy

PS, don't forget to visit us in the winter, we have a couple hundred empty houses you're welcome to stay in, the hot tub is on line, and lots of great fun, food and laughs to share!

This will make you smile!

Gourmet Livin' on a Tuesday!

Well, here it is only Tuesday night and we managed to come up with an absolutely lovely, simple meal. It was so good, it felt like we went out to dinner! Really. And the nice thing is, it was good for us too. Pork Tenderloin smothered in Tomato-Pesto Sauce with a side of Simple Lettuce Salad dressed with Walnut Dressing. Yummy! Life doesn't get any better than this.

This will make you smile!

1936 Victoria And Vancouver: Gateways to Canada

WANTED

WANTED
Sticky Bun Thief!
Last seen leaving the scene of the crime in a rather large and loud silver truck! Beware: He is hungry!

Sticky Buns

Judith whipped up a stack of sticky buns this morning. Now all we need are some friends to drop by for tea!

Charter for Compassion

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensible to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.

Life is good

Sunny Days and Sunrises

Yesterday was a beautiful Fall day, made even more beautiful with a magnificent sunrise. A walk in Helliwell Park revealed the last of the morning's sunrise. Is there a more inspiring way to start the day?

Another fall harvest of apples has come and gone and our pantry is now FULL of bottles of sweet, sweet apple juice. We're going to follow the old adage of 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away' in a wonderful way this year ...

Scrumpdilicious!

After a wonderful afternoon spent at Tribune Beach for the International Day of Climate Action rally (www.350.org), I went home and prepared one of Peter's favourite meals - Tarte Lyonaise with salad. We invited our friends Doug & Rachelle to share it with us and they brought a wonderful nutty coleslaw that Rachelle 'whipped up'. I am still experimenting with the pastry and this one turned out as beautiful to look at as it was yummy to eat. Might have to do this one again!

AED Location Database Points to Nearest Life Saving Device

Smart idea, don't ya think....

AED Location Database Points to Nearest Life Saving Device

Entertaining

What's new?

There I was, just sitting at my desk, minding my own business this morning, and what do I see out of the corner of my eye? A rather large bird flew across our backyard and up into a tree just outside my office window. So I took a photo of it, studied it for a while and watched it dive down to the ground, catch a garden snake, then sit there in the tree and devour the snake. Ah, how wonderful to have nature right on your own doorstep!

The only other thing new these days, is that Peanut came to the rescue and got our genuine German-made Cuckoo Clock working again! I was quite excited as it hasn't been cuck-cuckooing for many years now with all our moving around and whatnot. So now we have both the grandfather clock and the cuckoo clock ticking away in our living room. Tempus fugit!

Good Days Work

Chickens, Garlic, Apples, Eggs, Fun, Fun, Fun!
27 Milk crates of apples and another 30+ to go........

Looking for meaningful employment

NEWS FLASH "Plan 2.0"
As much fun as island life can be, fall is in the air, the harvest is in, so it's time to get back to searching for meaningful "paying" employment! If you're aware of any suitable employment opportunities (contract, career, or temporary) anywhere please keep us in mind.

Fall Harvest

Ann dropped off these Fraser Valley tomatoes. OMG, they are good!

"Dog Patch" apple picking in progress. We should have thirty plus gallons of apple juice in a couple of weeks if anyone is thirsty. Above is a photo of a perfect apple eaten immediately off the tree after a "fine" shinning.

Lunch is served.

OMG, This bread just keeps getting better. This time it was full of little bursts of olives and sun dried tomatoes.

Pimped Out

This is what happens if you have no video games in the house. The kids next door came over, and in their words "All Pimped Out" to show us some attitude!

Envy, island style

New toy in the driveway envy, not a chance here in "Dog Patch". When we look up the road and see a pile of freshly split seasoned fir, well that is a different story!

Judith turns 21!

Judith celebrating her 21st birthday last night with a couple of friends.

Mr.Fix It

Yes it is true, I had to fix something for Rob rewriting history.

What better way to start your hot summer day on Hornby Island? That's right ... a ride with three intrepid Social Climbers all the way to top of Mt Geoffrey. We celebrated with lots of water and some fresh apricots. After the ride down, Liz scampered off to catch a ferry off the island (under protest, mind you) and Judith went for a quick swim in Lambert Channel. Ah, so refreshing! Life doesn't get any better than this :)

Check this out for fun.

APPARATI EFFIMERI Tetragram for Enlargment from Apparati Effimeri on Vimeo.

New garden at PeJu's

Back before our trip to Vangroovin, I managed to take the time to put some of the plants we had in pots in the ground, before it was too late. Then last week, Rob dropped off a load of bark mulch and it finished off the garden beautifully. Ta Da! Amazing what a little hard work can do for a lawn :)

Presidential Retreat

We're back from the city for awhile and enjoying spring on the island at the presidental retreat.

PeJu's Next Big Adventure Update

May is almost over, we're homeless at the end of the month, and still no jobs. Good thing the nice weather is here....

Royal Palace

It is almost June and that means we're going to be homeless in another week. So I am thinking this fine looking machine hidden away on the east side is starting to look good right about now as Judith's new royal palace. Of course we will add a roof top deck and BBQ for entertaining dignitaries and a tent for guests!

Royal Picnic

Last week we discovered this stunning community garden in the east end of the city, right by our rooming house and within the poorest postal code in Canada! We decided it would make the perfect destination for a royal picnic. You will note the new royal sandwich technique that includes stuffing a whole tomato in a bun and then gingerly squeezing it together...