Saturday Walks

It was another magnificent day in Victoria. So Peter and I celebrated with a walk in the park. So many ducks ... so I took this picture for our duck-lovin' friends out there.





Then a quiet stroll along the beach,
with a few moments of quiet reflection ... waiting for the sun to shine on us.



Doesn't it look like were sitting at the front of a cruise ship sailing out into the ocean?




Then we finished off with fresh corn tortillas at Hernande'z Cocina on Yates. Soooo good! Anyone know where we can get a tortilla press for use at home? Fresh is way better than store-bought.

All Things Yellow

One day, on my way to work, I saw the most wonderful thing!

Yup you guessed it, the one and only John Lennon Yellow Submarine. There it was, sitting right there in the lobby of the Royal BC Museum on Thursday morning. It really is quite something. Quite something, especially at 7:30 in the morning on a grey, rainy day when you're least expecting it. I was there for a government function and the most exciting thing I was expecting was coffee. But they wouldn't let me take it for a spin. :( So, all things considered, I was rather pleasantly surprised. Made my day in fact! Yellow IS my favourite colour.

Moonlight

St. Ann's Academy at night .... kinda eerie! This is the view from our living room window.

New Beginnings

Sometimes it's the small things that make a big difference.

First it was the little swivel head spray thingy on the kitchen tap. We enthusiastically tried attaching the plastic thingy a month or so ago, but it kept 'blowing' off whenever I turned the water on - you know, just when you need it the most! This disappointed me greatly, but with Christmas upon us, I persevered with the original nozzle. However, shortly after the New Year rolled in, Peter very wisely asked the sage advice of our trusted Mr. FixIt himself (who just happened to be over for dinner i.e. Frank) and lo and behold, we have contact!! The precious little plastic swivel thingy is still holding on. Thank you Frank and Peter.


Then, last Friday night a little birdie told Peter about a special Saturday morning furniture sale at the Fairmont Empress Hotel. Unfortunately, we didn't make the 8:30 am opening, so perhaps we missed some of the larger items, but there was still a small selection of tables and chairs, curtains, some bedding and a few floor lamps. As it happened, I had been on the lookout for a floor lamp for our apartment and decided to take a closer look. The sign indicated the lamp shade would be free if we purchased a lamp - nice bonus. So we chose a rather handsome base but had to pick through the lamp shades a bit since some were showing their age. I'm quite sure some of them had wonderful stories to tell, but we didn't have time to start figuring out where all those stains, dents and rips came from as it became obvious the sale was about to close. So, we scurried up to the cash desk to pay. Turns out everything was on half price for the last half hour of the sale so we walked away with a new (old) lamp for $7.50!! We are now the proud owners of a piece of Fairmont Empress history - although I'm still waiting for the stories to go with it! We celebrated with lunch at Bon Rouge (which I highly recommend).

Life is good. Here's to new beginnings.

January 1st 2011

What a gorgeous day for a walk in the park and a visit to the beach .... hot and sunny!



Okay, okay, maybe it was just sunny and not too warm. In any case, it was a wonderful day for a walk with one's sweetie. Especially since he had enough energy to go for a walk with me.


So we cruised through the backyard (also known as Beacon Hill Park) to check out the ducks in the pond.


Most of the fountains were working well, but upon close inspection you can see some had their challenges with the frosty weather.


Others still had created beautiful sculptures made of ice.




While some sculptures were large and awesome, others ice creations were on the small side, but nonetheless amazing.


Oh, and just to prove it really was sunny and warm, here is a photo of the peacock we found sunning itself in our backyard garden.

Not bad for the first day of the year, eh! We came home tired, made some of Pete's famous corn chowder, and sat down for lunch with a bowl each. Then later I made up a rather large batch of filling for Turkey Pot Pie ... my new favourite way to finish up the last of the turkey leftovers. All good.

Welcome 2011

Happy New Year from PeJu!