Time flies.....

Wow, time does fly and I'm a bad blogger. All is fine with me. Life's ups and downs. I'm still living with my middle son for the next few months. He and his older brother are heading to Thailand for 3 weeks and I will be here until he gets back. Then I will start looking for my own place. As Josh says, there is no great hurry. We can look until we find the perfect place for me.

I would like to find a place that is within the shopping core. Right now I have my car but I may not always have it and so I have to make sure I am close to shopping. I also have my kitty and dog. Both are litter trained and house pets so we'll see how that goes.

I have been up to Celista once already this summer for 3 weeks and I am heading back up this week. Pete's mom Sandy passed away last week and they will be holding a Celebration of Life for her out at Sue and Pete's place. Lots of family and friends. She was a lovely warm person who will be greatly missed.

Mom's birthday is coming up in a few weeks and my brother and his wife and mom and I will be going out for dinner to celebrate. Then the first week of September mom and I are going to go over to Victoria and spend a few days at the Empress. With my brother Steve working for Fairmont it gives us good rates. My cousin Michael who lives in Victoria has cancer and mom and I would like to go over and have a visit. We are going to take the bus I think because we really don't need the car and it is expensive. This way we can just relax and enjoy and let someone else drive.

The girls and I want to have a camping weekend too. We are thinking we might do it at Judes as she has a nice big private back yard and we can lock ourselves in, pitch some tents, fire up the grill and just vegetate and read and visit and eat.....mmmm sounds heavenly. She has a hot tub too so we can just enjoy!

Now I am making some potato salad and then I am going to take Miss Lacey and a blanket and head over to the park on the corner and read and relax.

I love this little face.

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.

Sunny Sunday

I do like the rain. Good thing too considering I live in BC where there is usually rain in abundance. This year we have hardly had any rain. Today we have had gorgeous warm sunshine without a cloud in the sky.

We took Lacey for a walk aound the lake and of course she managed to get a swim in. She was dry by the time we got around the lake and back to the car. She needed the run and the fresh air. Pretty soon it will be dark by the time I get home from work so unless Josh takes her out during the day her walks will be confined to the weekends.

The new Diana Gabaldon book An Echo in the Bone is out now. Looked online and Coles had it for $39.95 so I went to Costco first and found it for $23.49 so I was happy! :)

A year ago and a bit in July when we went on our cruise I was reading the first book in the Outlander Series and last night I finished book 6 so the timing was perfect for the new book to be out.

I am going to spend less time on the computer and more time doing some of the things I enjoy such as my scrapbooking, sewing and getting back into the drawing. I enjoyed it and still enjoy it so rather than coming home night after night exhausted and sitting in front of the computer I am going to do something else. I want to get some of my scrapbooking stuff organized before the Quebec trip gets mixed up with the cruise. I also want to keep my first Victoria trip seperate from my second so I think I am going to get the large clear freezer bags and get the stuff separated and then go through my supplies and see what has dried up and needs replacing.

Christmas is coming up too. And Thanksgiving. I have a turkey in the freezer so I think we'll have a turkey dinner and invite Dave and Christina and Ryan and see how that is. Maybe I can even get back into cooking and baking.........we'll see. :)