British Bookclub group on FB

Susan K. is really into this now and it has started her reading a lot again. Someone mentioned they were reading Tana French's "In the Woods".  This is how it starts. Reading reviews of French it seems that once you start you end up reading all her novels. A pretty good beginning. I think I may become a fan.  And I love that it is set in Ireland.

"Picture a summer stolen whole from some coming-of-age film set in small-town 1950s. This is none of Ireland’s subtle seasons mixed for a connoisseur’s palate, watercolor nuances within a pinch-sized range of cloud and soft rain; this is summer full-throated and extravagant in a hot pure silkscreen blue. This summer explodes on your tongue tasting of chewed blades of long grass, your own clean sweat, Marie biscuits with butter squirting through the holes and shaken bottles of red lemonade picnicked in tree houses. It tingles on your skin with BMX wind in your face, ladybug feet up your arm; it packs every breath full of mown grass and billowing wash lines; it chimes and fountains with birdcalls, bees, leaves and football-bounces and skipping-chants, One! two! three! This summer will never end. It starts every day with a shower of Mr. Whippy notes and your best friend’s knock at the door, finishes it with long slow twilight and mothers silhouetted in doorways calling you to come in, through the bats shrilling among the black lace trees. This is Everysummer decked in all its best glory."

Finally a swim in the ocean yesterday....

It was sunny and the water was very warm. We went around 5pm and the tide was pretty much in by then. We had a very persistent seagull stalking us for food even before we started our dinner from the concession. He didn't get anything and did eventually make a very loud vocal protest...still to no avail. Poor thing. He even pecked in the sand to make himself more pathetic, I guess.

Itty Bitty Book Review: "The House of Unecpected Sisters"

"The House of Unecpected Sisters" byAlexander McCall Smith

Very light summer reading but his usual wisdom which never gets old somehow.

Empire Landmark and Cloud 9 Restaurant....end of an era for us.

We had so many wonderful times in the revolving restaurant. We always went there when we visited  Vancouver when we were living in Victoria and then so many times when we lived in the West End.  The bar had $7 appies and three made a dinner for the two of us.  Good-bye, old friend. I think the final end of the demolition was a month or so ago. I didn't really want to think about it. but it is gone from the landscape now that is for sure.  

https://www.straight.com/news/1242586/gradual-demolition-vancouvers-empire-landmark-hotel-captured-time-lapse-video

Bon Weekend from France

I found it quite interesting to read about the Opal Coast that she mentions and a bit surprised I hadn't heard of it before.  With seals basking on the sand no less!

Bonjour

Hope you had a great week.

Here it’s been sweltering as a heatwave has hit France and in my area, the top of northern France, Thursday was officially the hottest day on record and way hotter than in the south of France. My chickens dug holes all over the gardens and fluffed dirt all over themselves to keep cool and the garden now resembles the surface of the moon, craters everywhere, ready to catch me out.

There was only one thing for it – head to the beach. We have the most glorious beaches on the Opal Coast, and they’re surprisingly not that well known. Most visitors to France head straight to the south to seek the sun in Normandy and Brittany and all along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coast - they completely miss the far north. It means our beaches are rarely crowded even on the hottest days, and the seals that bask here often have the sand to themselves.

When I went on Tuesday night though, at 8 pm it was still over 30˚C and many others had the same idea as me, dinner on the sand and a cool dip in the water (see it here on Instagram, the beach I mean not me dipping, I wouldn’t do that to you!).

Despite the heat there were still queues at the friteries (chip shops) – not even the hottest weather on record stops northerners going for their chips (preferably in a baguette with a foot long saucisson)!

We’re set for a summer of sun here in France apparently, interspersed with thunderstorms like the one that’s going on at the moment as I sit here talking to you and writing posts for the website, huge drops of rain are falling, creating a miniature waterfall off the roof and onto my thirsty pot plants. 

Wishing you a very bon weekend wherever you are and I hope you enjoy this week's posts...

Bisous from France and wishing you a happy World Friendship day on 30 July. I really appreciate you subscribing to my newsletter, your messages and following me on social media...
Janine

Editor 

Katey and David come from London yesterday.

 Richard and Grace and Liz jointed us. Just once a year with Katey and David but always so much fun and talk of old times!

Amazing heat wave in Paris

Climate scientists warn this could become the new normal in many parts of the world. But temperate Europe — where air conditioning is rare — isn't equipped for the temperatures frying the region this week.

So tourists frolicked in fountains to seek relief, and authorities and volunteers fanned out to help the elderly, sick and homeless hit hardest by the heat. Trains were canceled in Britain and France, and French authorities urged travelers to stay home. 

One by one, heat records are being broken across Europe. On Thursday afternoon the Paris area hit 41.6 degrees Celsius (106.9 degrees Fahrenheit), beating the previous record of 40.4 C (104.8 F) set in 1947. Authorities said the temperature was still rising, as a result of hot, dry air coming from northern Africa that's trapped between cold stormy systems.

From John's blog...

So many years of driving the Hope-Princeton Highway to get to our camping holiday in Penticton.  I hadn't thought about the city? town? of Hope being a ghost town now but it does have a Tesla charging station....amazing.

July 22nd, 2019 — At one time if you had to go anywhere in BC east of the Fraser Valley you had to go through Hope. It was a thriving community filled with 24 hour restaurants and gas stations plus a busy little downtown to serve the locals. Then the Coquihalla Highway opened and Hope died along with lots of small businesses such as the gas station above along Highway 1 at the entrance to the city. Totally unconnected but interesting was the Tesla charging station below, just a few blocks away from the above gas station.

Woodward's $1.49 Day

From"You Grew Up In Vancouver"

I guess $1.49 Day was the first of the "dollar stores" except it was only on a few days a year. Wonderful specials that we all enjoyed.  Good for them!

Ah yes....summer reading.

But then, reading is always a great thing to do!

Itty Bitty Book Reviews: "The Quiche of Death" and "A Distant View of Everything"

"The Quiche of Death" by M.C. Beaton

I recently joined a FB group called the British Bookclub. Someone asked for something really funny to read and someone suggested the Agatha Raisin series. I see she's written 25 of these and there is a TV series. Well, I didn't find it very funny and the humour was rather cruel. I skimmed most of it as it was really rather trashy. It made me realize how amazing Alexander McCall-Smith is. His novels aren't "great" literature but always interesting and the humour is gentle.

"A Distant View of Everything"  by Alexander McCall-Smith

I haven't been reading these in order. I pick them up here and there at various book sales. I do enjoy reading about Edinburgh and her musings on a variety of topics that occur to her. And then there is always a bit of a mystery when she gets involved helping people.

One thing about not reading them in order is I forget what I've read. I think I need to go back to listing what I've read in a journal . I actually came across the journal I was using to do this a while ago. I stopped doing this when I started doing the "Itty Bittys" on my blog but it's too cumbersome to go back over my blog posts.

Dinner with Linda and Cec and Donna at The Vault

We had a great time last night at a super restaurant and started with appies at Linda and Cec's then after dinner her wonderful homemade blueberry pie with fresh local blueberries.

Linda and Donna had the seafood salad...looks absolutely great..

Jim and I had the seafood gumbo which was wonderful except a bit too spicy for me. Jim will have a nice lunch tomorrow with the leftover.

Lots of laughs as usual...thanks, Linda and Cec!

I actually did two sketches....!

Susan is always suggesting I do some sketching. Well, she does this VERY well. Just for fun I thought I would give it a try. Now, I would never try to actually sketch anything realistically but if I could capture a sort of essence that would be satisfying.

This is my subject.

My first attempt...

My second attempt...getting a bit closer to the essence, I think.

From Jody Paterson's blog

"This is what I now think of as the Oak Bay scene. Destruction, construction, house moving, house building, urban habitat destruction, noise. Weird thing to happen to "quiet" Oak Bay. #downsideofparadise #enoughalready"

Of course, this has been going on for a long time in Vancouver. We feel like we're in a little oasis in our little piece of paradise in this part of UBC but who knows what might be coming down the pipe. There continues to be lots of construction at UBC as well but so far nothing close to us.

It is quite wonderful to look out on Pacific Spirit Park from one window and then  see Vancvouer Island and the Pacific Ocean  and mountians from the other windows.

Good on the people who renovate these older homes rather than taking them down and replacing them with large houses that often don't suit the neighbourhood. Perhaps this one is being moved rather than destroyed?

Itty Bitty Book Review: "Ayesha at Last"

"Ayesha at Last" by Uzma Jalaluddin

Goodness, another high school teacher writing a novel...this time from Toronto. This was really quite fun and it is always rather facinating to learn about arranged marriages. They have their place for sure  and I do know a couple of people who had them....young professional people. And I loved the references to Pride and Prejudice and Shakespeare.  Ayesha's grandfather is a Shakespeare scholar and encouraged her to think she was in a Comedy rather than a Tragedy when troubles came. Shakespeare's Comedies have twists and turns but always turn out well.

Some reviews:

“Come for Darcy reimagined as a hyper-conservative young man and Elizabeth Bennet as a wannabe poet frustrated by family obligation; stay for Uzma Jalaluddin’s warm portrait of life for twentysomething Muslims in suburban Toronto struggling to honour their heritage while pursuing their dreams.” (The Globe and Mail)

“An uproarious romp, filled with farcical cases of mistaken identity, disastrous proposals and a big Bollywood wedding.” (Toronto Life)

“This is the book I’ve been waiting for since my long-running Jane Austen obsession. Move over Darcy, Khalid’s in town.”  (S. K. Ali, author of Morris Award finalist, Saints and Misfits)

“Uzma Jalaluddin blazes a brilliant new trail with Ayesha At Last, a captivating romance set in the Muslim community, brimming with humour and heart. You will fall in love with Ayesha and Khalid—an Elizabeth and Darcy for our times.” (Ausma Zehanat Khan, author of A Dangerous Crossing)

At The Sylvia yesterday....

It was fun to have lunch and go for a walk on the seawall. Someone was even in swimming at Bikini Beach even though it was a bit breezy.  We met Anna on the seawall...one of our old Beach friends.

I think it's probably been a year since we've sat out on the patio at The Sylvia.

I had the salmon burger and Jim had the Sylvia burger.

Anna told us the Stanley Park Brewing Company Pub is scheduled to open July 29. This is the old Fish House Restaurant that everyone was sad to see go. But the new place looks like it will be quite cool.

This bar is made from one of the old trees that came down in windfall in Stanley Park.

Our usual lunch at Jericho Sailing Club

It was great to see so many people out enjoying the sunshine and Spanish Banks. I hadn't seen a freighter painted blue and grey before (the one in the middle)...rather attractive.

Carol and John went for a swim in the ocean yesterday evening. The water was warm but the outside temp wasn't ideal. Funnily enough, Jim suggested a swim yesterday evening but I felt there was a coolish breeze. I like my ocean adventures ideal!

Richard and Grace come for dinner last night

Always so much fun to see them...did manage to think of taking a couple of photos at least!

Creativity takes many forms!

My friend, Linda, is game for lots of things and I think I'll have to watch Let's Make a Deal when the show airs. The costumes she posted are great. "A Kissing Booth" as a costume...now, that's thinking out of the booth...I mean box.

 The "tooth fairy" and the "tooth"....very funny.


Linda and Cheryl.

We both dressed as pigs.  As you can see, Cheryl was "Pig Latin".  I went as "Pig English" and together we were Canadian Bacon.  We got to the studio around 8:30 and were the 38th and 39th people in line.  They give you a number to wear for identification.  Cheryl said "39 is my lucky number!".  The guy said "well, I've never heard that one before".  She said my daughter was born on March 9th!   We entered the studio and then the fun began.


The complete post here:
http://linfish69.blogspot.com/2019/07/lets-make-deal.html

The season for sunsets....

We haven't had many good sunsets lately but the good thing is it's been cooler and some rain so good for keeping down the forest fires and resulting smoke. Katey and David arrive from London soon and I hope they won't experience the wild fire smoke this year. It was really bad in Victoria when they were there...they were pleased to get back to the clean air of London, UK.

The moon was looking good too. We do have an amazing view. Roger and Kerry loved it.

Back at UBC together 50 years later....

Roger, Kerry, Jim and I all went to UBC together and have many happy memories getting together and playing cards and for a big treat sharing a bottle of Baby Duck. We were really pleased they could come out for lunch yesterday.

I see Baby Duck is still available.  I think it was the cheapest wine you could buy but at 7% alcohol it wasn't a "cheap drunk" :)  I think I remember having it with pizza mainly. Now, this was a treat since pizza wasn't cheap in those days.

Launched in the 1970s, Baby Duck once dominated Ontario's burgeoning wine market. It still holds its own, with forward sweet fruit and lively bubbles. Enjoy aromas and flavours of sweet table grapes and ripe pear. Serve well-chilled with Asian cuisine, jerk chicken or smoky barbecue.