Thursday, May 31, 2018

Who knew?

Carol and I had lunch at Sweet Somethings on Dunbar today and with much scoffing and very little faith we decided to try the avocado toast more to say we had tried it than having any expectation we would like it.

Well, it was actually quite good!  And now that I've looked into it I see that it is really kind of like a pizza in that you can add anything really.  Now that makes me particularly partial to it.  And I can see not even using avocados.  Just get creative with a toasted open face sandwich.

Our version had a bit of lemon juice and rind in the ricotta cheese topping...quite yummy.



Here are some variations.



https://www.thekitchn.com/11-easy-ways-to-fancy-up-your-avocado-toast-219143





Humour is the best medicine

I always admire people who can bring humour to messy situations. You gotta laugh regardless of  your views.


And next is sitting in the sunshine enjoying a meal and a bottle of wine at Las Margaritas.  Yesterday was a perfect day for it.  And we saw our favourite server....we missed her last time.  







Wednesday, May 30, 2018

The joy of just stumbling across things when travelling


I think we actually did stumble upon it, and yes it was fantastic!   It was before I took up calligraphy I think, but you can't keep me out of such a store. LOL. 
-- From Susan K. yesterday in response to my blog

We may have been in it ourselves as we are always attracted to pen and paper shops just like bookstores. When we were in Wales we made a special point of going to Haye-on-Wye, the famous bookstore town. And while it was very worth the trip, the real excitement for us is when we come across a great bookstore when we least expect it. It definitely ranks as one of our greatest pleasures.

Hay-on-Wye (WelshY Gelli Gandryll or just Y Gelli), often abbreviated to just "Hay", is a small market town and community in the historic county of Brecknockshire in Wales, currently administered as part of the unitary authority of Powys.[2] With over twenty bookshops, it is often described as "the town of books", and is both the National Book Town of Wales and the site of the annual Hay Literary Festival.

In our travels in Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, we did sometimes encounter road signs without a translation in English.  





I knew I had a photo from our Ireland trip with Elaine looking bewilderd at a Gaelic only sign and I found that in our album along with a few other bookstore finds of Jim's.



In Galway, Jim was looking for a bookstore and Don was looking for a pub...both successful! The student Jim met in the pub was working there for the summer and served us.  It's a small world!






Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Now this is an idea

Little video by Leighton Ginn of the Andy Warhol exhibit.  It could be something I could do instead taking a gazillion photos of something that impresses me.  However, I have had trouble posting videos.  Great to see this wonderful exhibit again!

https://www.facebook.com/ginnandtopics/videos/1985683361505397/


"A Paris Year" by Janice MacLeod...

A part of me says I wish I had this book when we were in Paris in the dozen times we were there which points to all sorts of places, shops, etc. in Paris that we didn't discover but another part of me says we were right in just wandering and enjoying the amazing ambience of Paris,  After, of course, seeing all the usual tourist things. That's what's wonderful with numerous visits to the same place. You don't HAVE to see anything and Paris is perfect for just soaking up that ambience. But I think it would have been fun to visit this place and Susan K, I know you would have loved it!

This is what the proprietor said to the author:

I had asked for the "best pen". He didn't give me the most expensive or the most beautiful. I inquired about those. He dismissed them with a wave and reminded me I had asked for the best. Beside the pens lay a massive book provided for pen testing. With a flourish he flipped to a fresh page, dipped the pen in the ink and wrote 'Calligraphy'.  He turned to me. "The most beautifully written word with the best pen. This is your pen."

Melodies Graphiques...a paper and pen store in Paris.







Monday, May 28, 2018

A walk at Spanish Banks yesterday evening

It was great to see all the people enjoying the wonderful sunshine.  Lots of picnics going on. And it was great to see the Blue Jays win their series with the Phillies.



These dogs were having a good time.  Lifeguards were at the beach and the posted temp for the ocean was 61 F.  We did see someone in swimming.



Nice wheels!  We don't see a lot of convertibles in Vancouver.


I haven't seen an ice cream truck for a while.




Sunday, May 27, 2018

Love these sculptures of driftwood and especially the stone eggs!

I picked up a lot of interesting pieces of driftwood over the year when at our place on Gabriola Island but I never thought of making a sculpture.

From the TC today:
Paul Lewis has transformed Esquimalt Lagoon into an art gallery. Over the past six weeks, thousands of people have come to admire and photograph his driftwood bird sculptures.The 16 sculptures delight. An osprey chick sits on a nest of seaweed, white pipecleaner feathers blowing in the wind. A great horned owl stands guard over the ocean, while a flinty-eyed raven croaks over the large stone eggs in her nest.






More photos on the artwork at Granville Island

Ron Grender posted these on FB....love them!







Saturday, May 26, 2018

A new diner for us....Deacon's Corner

We sat out in the sunshine on this deck yesterday.  I noticed a Travelzoo  and it sounded like a good deal.  Even without the it they offer a pint of beer and a burger for 10 bucks.  And they have Red Truck Ale on offer except they were out of it today.  Blue Buck is a pretty good substitute. They also have Jambayla which we'll have to try.  It's very close to us on Broadway and Trutch.  

We went to the driving range today and both hit pretty well so figured we deserved a treat...


Our food today.  I got the salad and stole a couple of fries from Jim  The fries were excellent.



We parked on 10th and I loved this house and garden.




Friday, May 25, 2018

Lots of fun with Nicki and Stan and Brian and Susan.

We started at our place then went to Mahoney's for lunch.  It was a pretty good day and we sat outside.  It's graduation week here but so far pretty quiet where we are and it was pretty quiet in the pub but it was early.

The ladies look wonderful.  The men are chowing down.





Well, lots of proud parents will be around I'm sure and some will even be ordering the Veuve Clicquot at Mahony's I'm sure.

CHAMPAGNE 

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Incredible Transformer costumes

This post is especially for Richard who just loved Transformers when he was a kid!  It would have beat out the "Headless Horseman" for sure :)





http://mostwatched.trendolizer.com/2018/05/bored-panda-incredible-transformers-costumes-credit-viralsnare.html

Explanation of the "Headless Horseman".  One Halloween when Richard was quite young he wanted to go as the "Headless Horseman" and nothing would do but to have a real pumpkin on his head.  After many tries scooping it our more and more as it just was too heavy and uncomfortable, it finally fell apart.  Some tears but he was persuaded that a paper pumpkin made out of orange construction paper as a mask would be "ok".

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Thank you so much my very dear old friends!

We went to Minerva's last night for dinner with Linda and Cec and Donna and they insisted on treating us for our 50th Wedding Anniversary.  We had a wonderful time with lots of laughs and sharing old times.  The food was fabulous as usual.


Greek salad to start


Donna and I had the beef souvlaki.  We both took some of it home.  I just might share some with Jim today...



Jim had his usual chicken parmigiana with spaghetti.  He didn't leave a crumb... should have taken a photo of the empty plate!



Linda's garlic prawns.  They did look delicious.



Cec had roast lamb which also looked wonderful.



I couldn't resist taking a photo of this beautiful orchid in Donna'a lobby.