Steve & Gabrielle

My brother Steve and my niece were here from Quebec last week. We had an excellent time seeing them. Gabrielle is 14 now and a very pretty and very nice girl. It was Steve's birthday on the 11th, the morning they were leaving. Mom wanted to get us all together for dinner so we went to the River Rock in Richmond. It is a Casino/Hotel and has a very nice buffet style restaurant. We went downstairs and played the slots for a couple of hours afterwards. Had lots of fun. Willy and Joy (my brother and sister-in-law), David (my oldest son), Mom, Steve and Gabrielle, and I.

 

Dave

 

Steve's Birthday Cake

 

Steve and Gabrielle

 

Joy told us if we keep our heads up our double chins won't show!
Steve & Dave in the back, Gabrielle, Me, Joy and Mom in the front


Me, Steve, Mom and Willy

Finally some sunshine

The sun is shining although it is supposed to be gone by tonight and the rain starts again. I just took Lacey and we went for a walk around the lake. Then we headed to another park and sat out and ate some lunch and read for awhile. It was very nice.

Mom and I have signed on for a repositioning cruise in September. The Norwegian Pearl will be on the Alaskan run all summer and then in September they reposition the boat to California and we have signed on for the Vancouver to LA 5 day cruise. It looks like fun! We leave on Sunday night and we wake up Monday morning in Astoria, Oregon and spend the day there. That evening we set sail again and spend all day Tuesday at sea. On Wednesday morning we are in San Francisco and spend the day there and then that evening we are back at sea and we sail all day Thursday. Friday morning we arrive in LA.

We are then going to spend a couple of days in LA and maybe take a tour and then we fly home on Sunday night. We haven't book hotel or air flights yet but the cruise is booked. I am going to go in and spend a day or two at mom's and we'll figure out where we want to stay and get our flights booked as well. Something to look forward to.

My brother Steve and niece Gabrielle are driving out from Quebec. They are travelling the last week of June and the first two weeks of July. They'll be staying at Mom's in Richmond which will be very nice for all of them. Can't wait to see them both.

The bread

It rose 3/4's of the way so it's a bit heavy and doughy but I am going to try again today and use a bit more yeast.

I've been reading the Hyperion series from Dan Simmons and loving it. Excellent! I've read the first two - Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion and now I'm onto Endymion and I have the Rise of Endymion waiting for when I'm done. I've got a favourite spot to sit and read and the dog comes and snuggles up with me while I read. Sometimes I fall asleep and have a bit of a nap too.......

Spring!

Today is the last day of the Olympics and Paralympics and it sure was fun while it lasted! I am extremely proud to be Canadian and am proud of the Olympics we put on.

Now it's Spring and the flowers are blooming (although they were blooming during the Olympics too!) I can't wait to be able to get out there and enjoy the sunshine. I am going to try and get to Stanley Park and get some pictures of the trees in bloom before they are all gone. Also up the the botanical gardens at UBC. I haven't been up there for quite awhile now and would love to go when all the Rhodo's are blooming.

Today I've been baking. I think the bread is not rising in the breadmaker! We'll see. I made some bran muffins too. They at least look great! Mmmm nice warm muffins with butter on them.........mmmmmmm.