This one's for you, Patty

Our living room view of Oscar making friends with a classic van one day this past winter.

Peter's vehicle of choice these days. Speaking of classic!

Disclaimer: this blog post is not about bicycles, or food, or the wonderful flowers constantly blooming all over the city of Victoria.


Funny how habits come and go. Like this blog. We used to update it regularly, then over time, the blog posts got posted less often and then ... not for over a year!! Were we lured away by Facebook? Or was it life in general? It certainly wasn't an intentional snub of the blogging world. I know there are many avid bloggers out there who, even if they don't blog every day, they blog on a somewhat regular basis. Or at least when something interesting happens. Maybe that's going to be our excuse, that nothing, or too many, interesting things happened and pulled us away often enough that the urge to blog was snuffed out. One wonders, doesn't one?

Speaking of interesting things that happen, we had one this week. Thursday morning I got up and as usual wander into the living room where my computer sleeps to log in and let it warm up while I perform some necessary morning rituals. This particular morning I could hear what sounded like someone tapping metal on metal and noted this was not one of the noises I am accustomed to hearing at 6:00 or 6:30 in the AM. To satisfy my curiosity I took a peak out the front window. Surprisingly, I saw my neighbours at their truck across the street in the process of changing their passenger side front tire. Knowing this was about the time they usually leave for work, I imagined how it would affect the rest of their day. Then, it dawned on me that given about a year ago, a person of questionable mental/emotional stability was seen vandalizing our very own Oscar, our well loved 1993 Subaru Loyale.  So, I moved my gaze over to Oscar and it occurred to me he wasn't sitting as tall and proud as usual (see photo above). However, since I was not yet in any way ready to leave the apartment and some necessary morning rituals to attend to, I did not go down and investigate. Besides, I figured if they were changing a tire, they could still be there when I was ready to go down and investigate. So I went about my routine.

Sure enough, the neighbour's truck was gone by the time I was dressed. I pledged to remember to check on Oscar when I left on my bicycle for work, and gave it no more thought.

When I did leave for work at 7:30 this is what I saw:

 

It's kinda hard to see here, but there is a distinct lean towards the curb. My heart sank. 

Upon closer inspection, this is what I saw:

Two, not one, but two (2) slashed tires. Dead flat, both of them.

Slashed tires! Really??? I parked the bike and ran upstairs to report the situation to Peter. We talked about our options and realized we didn't have to do anything that moment. Neither of us need the car for work or to get around town. Heck, I can even ride to my squash games! I already do the grocery shopping on the bike and last week, I am very proud of this one, picked up 11 shirts from the dry cleaners and rode home with them draped neatly across the handlebars and over my basket!! Only once did I have to snuffle the attempt of the top shirt to fill with air and fly away. (wish I had a picture of that)

So, here it is Friday evening and we still haven't done anything about fixing the tires - mostly because we've been busy and haven't needed to do anything. Now it's the May long weekend and we wouldn't be able to get much done in a timely fashion in any case. We have reported the vandalism to the VicPD but it's not like they can catch the perpetrator and make them pay. We just have to pay. Our neighbours lost a brand new tire.

We didn't do anything wrong. We're even parked legally. Still we have to pay. It's not even that it is a bad neighbourhood. In fact, it's a wonderful neighbourhood! Our backyard is the famous Beacon Hill Park and our front yard is 6 acres of St. Anne's Academy (lots of trees, small orchard, office building, national historic chapel, tended gardens and a parking lot). It's just the luck of the draw, really. Random acts of vandalism. No rhyme or reason. The end.

Poor Oscar :(

Late September

A study in proportion (and beautiful weather).

I remember it was a Thursday late in September, when I left the office and was quite taken aback by the warm temperature outside.  I decided on my bike ride home that I would just HAVE to take my tea and go for a ride.  Usually, I get home right after work and Peter and I share a pot of tea.  Sometimes we take the tea with us and ride to the beach.  I talk about my day at the office and he tells me some of the things he's learned throughout the day. However, this particular Thursday Peter was in Red Deer, Alberta being a responsible uncle and 'looking after' his nieces and nephews while their parents went on a wild and crazy week in New York city to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary.  It's amazing what people have time to do after they're 4 children grow up!

Through my sunglasses.

In any case, I was on my own for this tea ride.  I rode towards Ogden Point and came across the sight above - one of the last cruise ships of the season, the Victoria Clipper ferry heading off towards Seattle, a pretty decent sized said boat motoring back to the Inner Harbour (no wind to speak of), and a small motor boat out fishing.  The size of those cruise ships never cease to amaze me.  I did my best with the point-and-shoot Canon to catch all 4 in the same frame ... without over-exposing the shot.  I am finally learning how to use some of the features on our 10 year old camera but as I don't have filters to play with, I tried using my sunglasses as a filter for the bright sunshine because I wanted to try and capture the sun dog to the left of the sun .... can you see it?  I even rested the camera on the cement wall in an attempt to avoid blurring the shot.  The sunglasses mess it up a bit.  But I hope you can see it, now that I've pointed it out to you.  And really, you had to be there to get the full awesomeness.

City bike and the full moon rising.

Between the sun, the light, the tea and having my camera on hand, I was pretty happy.  Very quickly the light changed a little bit more and I used my lovely city bike as a prop to catch the moon rise in the background.  I played around a bit more trying to capture the light and some of the interesting spots at the water's edge.

Mural on the side of the seawall.

As the light faded, it got quite cool fairly quickly.  That was my sign to pedal on back home.  Still smiling.

Ah, September

Well, it seems I mispoke.  Summer is not over.  It may be winding down, but it is definitely not over.  Thankfully.

Tickets and a backstage pass.

Last weekend we had the great pleasure of spending time with our friends James and Eve from Vashon Island.  They'd come to spend the weekend visiting Victoria before the k.d. lang concert on Sunday evening.  James is a part of k.d.'s crew, and the Sunday concert begins a month of touring for k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang gang.

James and Eve had their road bikes with them and Peter joined them on Friday for a nice ride out through Saanich to Sidney and back.  Friday evening was spent sharing salad rolls, some wine tasting and stories and a slide show of their recent bicycle tour of New Zealand, as well as a different trip spent in France.  Nothing like some awesome photos and good stories to get the travel bug active again!  Not that it ever is very far from the surface in this home.

View from the Laurel Point Inn.

Saturday was a lazy day for me.  I'd had a hectic week with 3 days on-the-job training, meeting new people through work, and walking the picket lines for a day (Wednesday - a first for me).  I even got to fly to/from Vancouver Friday via Harbour Air!  Peter met me at the terminal and had a good laugh that it was now my turn to be getting on/off planes, and him greeting me at the terminal at the end of the day.  In any case, Saturday was my down time; time to catch up.  James and Eve, on the other hand, checked into their hotel (great view), changed into their cycling clothes, fueled up with a good cuppa joe and rode off towards Sooke for a ride.  We met them later for some great tapas and live entertainment at The Superior.

Sunday morning was a lazy one for us.  Midday was spent wandering around downtown Victoria, checking out the Eat Here Now: Victoria Harvest Fest, and popping in and out of stores we don't normally venture into.  More stimulating conversation and some of the best coffee around.  It's at Habit on Pandora.  Then more stimulating conversation, some noodles at a Thai restaurant, then off to see k.d. lang at the Royal Theatre that evening.  The show was fantastic - what a character that k.d. is;  and that voice!  Boy, I wish I could sing like that.  Actually, I wish I could sing. Period.

Sweet Spots and Sun Spots

Today started out cold and windy, maybe even a little wet.  But, about mid-afternoon the sun peeked through the clouds and came out to play.  So we got on our bicycles with tea a plenty, and headed for the beach. 

During our ride around searching for a spot away from the wind, we stopped to take a peek at the transit of Venus across the Sun.  There were several cameras with huge long lenses, special glasses to look at the sun, fancy telescopes, and many keen astronomers willing to share their equipment with anyone passing by so we could catch a glimpse.  What a lovely treat!

It's Finally Decorated

Okay, it's a bit more of a Charlie Brown tree than anticipated ... but I like it!  It reminds me of Hornby Island. And, and it makes my decorations much easier to see :) 

Fall in the City

The Empress in Red

Thanksgiving

We were lucky enough to be invited out to our friends pub for Thanksgiving dinner today, so I had the opportunity to take my sweet old time doing whatever I wanted.  We slept in and had a late breakfast with our Sunday latte.  It was the Victoria Marathon today so we also spent some time looking out the window at the runners and their families coming back from their run.  Some had medals around their necks, some were limping a little bit, but almost everyone was enjoying the sunny Fall day.

After breakfast I started to clean up by washing the dishes.  I do this 'chore' almost daily, usually in the evening before bed as we have no automatic dishwasher in our little kitchen.  This is not an unusual situation for a rental apartment, especially in an older building like ours.  I don't mind as it reminds me on a regular basis how to be careful about how many dishes we use, how much soap we use to clean our plates, and besides, we only have so much counter space!  Because the dishes need to be done daily, I like to do them once only and leave them to air dry.  In the morning I put them away and start the whole process over again.  One of the things I enjoy the most about 'doing the dishes' is finding a way to put all, or at least as many as I possibly can, on the dish rack.  I treat it as a 3D spatial puzzle.  First I have to plan the order in which to wash the various pieces that require cleaning so they can be appropriately layered on the drying rack.  Since the best laid plans do not always work, I have to find a way to actually make them fit. I try use every available inch of the rack but still provide enough room for the air to actually dry the dish.  Included here is a photo of today's creation.  Can I really call it a creation? I'd like to think so.

Another of today's creations was we made our first batch of almond milk.  Yup.  Grind your own almonds, add water and little something to sweeten and/or flavour it and strain it through a nut bag .... ta da!  So no more hunting around for the best price on Almond Milk.  We make our own.  No extra packaging either.  Probably fewer calories, too!  However, I will have to find room on the drying rack for one more bottle, won't I? You can see the gauze nut bag hanging to dry beside the rack of dishes above.

Well that's it for today - a glimpse of some of my life's small things.  I have so much to be thankful for.  Happy Thanksgiving to all Canadians!

Pie Confessions (or is it Concessions?)

Blackberry/strawberry pie

Seems I have a confession to make about this past week.  It is almost embarrassing to admit it, but hey, that's how it goes with confessions, isn't it?  Well, here goes .... it was 2 pie week!  Yup, I first felt the urge last weekend and because I had Monday off from work, I took the time to make gluten-free pastry and fill the cake with the last of the frozen blackberries we had hiding in the freezer.  I considered making it a bumbleberry pie as we didn't have quite enough blackberries for one pie filling, but ended up just adding some strawberries that were crying out to be included.  Since I wanted to make a pie with the lattice top, I doubled the recipe.  To roll out the pastry, I cut the ball in half and started rolling.  It became obvious that I had enough pastry for both the bottom shell and the lattice.  (Now, you know where this is going, right?)  Result:  One delicious blackberry/strawberry pie!  Plus the added bonus of one ball of pastry in the freezer ready for an impromptu pie baking at some later date.  I was very happy with this result and Peter agreed, although he didn't know about the frozen supply. Yet.

Well, maybe it was because I was generally pretty happy having a Monday off AND having some lovely pie that we easily consumed on our own in just 2 days, or maybe it was because Peter felt the same way, but I must have let it slip at some point that there was the 'backup' pastry in the freezer.  Maybe it was because Peter loves blueberry pie and he knew we had filled the freezer with this years bounty of frozen blueberries.  I don't know how it happened, but on Thursday I came home from work and Peter had made dinner including the best potatoes I have ever had, and had pulled the frozen pastry out of the freezer to thaw.  So, of course, we had blueberry pie that night before we went to bed.  All in all, a good time was had by all.

Blueberry pie

Peter's Dream Home

I knew it the minute I saw it - this is Peter's dream home.  It's got everything!

Saturday September 24th

Last week PeJu were smart and purchased a case each of Campari tomatoes and freestone peaches.  All BC grown.  Naturally, our meal choices this week have been influenced by these purchases.  Friday night Judith realized the box of frozen puff pastry in the freezer might make a nice companion ingredient for some of the peaches.  Besides, it really had been in the freezer too long anyway!  It HAD to be used up.  So, Judith did her best to make some peach strudel.  Needless to say, it was heavenly.  Unfortunately, we neglected to take a photo of it and it was gone by 10 am Saturday morning.  But we wanted you to know that these kind of good things happen and brighten up our lives.  May you all be blessed with strudel too!

Monday September 19th - Flex day

Every second Monday is Judith's scheduled flex day at work.  Theoretically, this means a 3-day weekend every other week.  We think this is a great idea!  On September 19th, it was a gorgeous day so PeJu headed down to one of their favourite spots (Clover Point), folding chairs and picnic in hand for a wonderful gourmet lunch (quinoa salad with fresh salsa).

September 12th - Full Moon

Full moon by St. Ann's Academy.

Tuesday September 7 - the day after Labour Day

Sooke Potholes - view from way above the potholes, from the road.

PeJu walked down a path and waded into the river to an island of rocks.  It was perfect.  Picnic lunch and a swim in the river.

Drying off in the warm sun after our swim.

Monday September 5th - Labour Day

Labour Day was quiet for us.  PeJu needed to relax and recover from the Saanich Fair. Did I mention it was really hot and dry? Anyway, part of R&R was juicing fresh local bounty. Mmmmm!

Here is our juicing machine and setup.  It is an attachment to the Viking mixing machine.

Sunday September 4th - Saanich Fair

The Saanich Fair is huge! And it was packed too! Lots to see, hear, taste, smell, and touch.

Llamas of all kinds and sizes ...

Rides ...

Fun for the whole family.

I wanted to go on this one ...

Did I mention it was really hot and dry?

A classic Ferris wheel

This woman had been doing this one for years!

Saturday September 3rd

BluesFest arrives in Victoria - we start our Saturday walkabout here.

... and check out the Classic Wooden Boat show in the Inner Harbour. I think 50 to 70 feet would be enough for me. LOL

The walkabout takes us to Beacon Hill Park for the lunch picnic where we devour half a small watermelon each. Judith is still wearing her wonderful Hornby Island birthday t-shirt.

In the evening, we end up at Clover Point again watching the waves caress the rocks.

And wait for the sunset. A beautiful day.

Another relaxing and satisfying sunset at Clover Point.

August in a nutshell - Part 6

Back to work - Peter seemed amused by Judith riding her mountain bike with a long dress and fancy sandals!

Another lovely evening picnic at Willows Beach.

Aug 20 - it's the weekend! Is there any better way to start the weekend than a stop at Fol Epi for a latte and pain au chocolate?

August in a nutshell - Part 5

Aug 13 - mmmmm, roasted bananas for breakfast.

Aug 13 morning - we drove out to La Push, which is on the other side of the Quillayute River mouth about one mile south of Rialto Beach.  Here you can see we are waiting for the fog to burn off and testing the water.

Aug 13 afternoon - Just after our picnic lunch at the beach the sun managed to shine through.  Here we were visited by a flock of pelicans.

Aug 13 - a view toward the mouth of the Quillayute River.

Aug 14 - time to leave the campsite and head back to Port Angeles. On the way out of the Olympic National Park, we stopped at the Salmon Cascades on the word of a young Park Ranger that she had seen salmon jumping.  We did in fact see salmon jumping and in this photo you can just see one below the surface of the water. Really!

Aug 14 - in Port Angeles the Snikles dropped PeJu off at the ferry terminal for their ride home. Here is Peter all packed up and ready to go!

Aug 14 afternoon - after a lovely sunny ride back to Victoria we arrive at the breakwater. So many times PeJu have stood on that very breakwater and waved at the Blackball ferry!