More Role Mach

The sax is featured a bit more in this cut. And also we got a real kick out of the "dancing girl"...according to Richard there is always one in all their concerts. I was pretty pleased with the results of my little Canon Digital Elph on film mode...not bad considering the lighting etc. wasn't great. Of course, the memory card would get full just as Richard was playing a solo part.

Hey, everyone...all your digital cameras can do this film thing but I never see anyone using it.

Ducklings walking across the road

The other day I had to stop for a mom and ducklings to go across Cedar Hill XRoad...well, it is a "cross" road after all. This took place just before Shelbourne so a pretty busy place to cross. Perhaps they were looking for treats at MacDonalds. I didn't have my camera but found this one on the internet.

The Christening of Linden Harry

Richard had quite a busy weekend in Victoria with the band playing and Kristen and Karen in town for their son's Christening. And yes...he is named after Trevor Linden (the great hockey player for those who don't know)!


Linden and Kristen



Karen, Kristen, Linden and godparents Mike and Mary

Tasty Treats for deer...

This deer decided to have a gourmet lunch at our neighbour's garden. It didn't bother with me at all. I had to shoo it away. Looks like he's heading to our old house across the street for dessert. Richard got quite a laugh out of it.

Role Mach

We met the fellows in Richard's band yesterday...all really great guys! And we went to Logan's Pub on Cook St. last night to see them and it was a fun evening even if the music was crazy loud. We were impressed with their playing and the fact that all their music is original. I'd actually like a copy of the lyrics since they seemed pretty interesting but hard to understand. Also, really good to see old friends of Richard's from Victoria, Kristen and Jamie.

Super job, guys!

P.S. Richard is playing sax on the far right in a red shirt.

Itty Bitty Book Review: "The Uncommon Reader"

"The Uncommon Reader" by Alan Bennett

Another one of Claire's piks and a charming little jem. It's a bit of a satire on being the Queen and the format is that she becomes an avid reader much to the dismay of the people around her since she just isn't quite as keen on all her boring royal duties. After being discouraged from reading, she takes up writing...a good conclusion and a little book that was a lot of fun.

I particularly liked the part where she met Canada's Alice Munro. A bit of a taste of the book follows. This takes place after one of her staff makes sure her books get to be lost luggage while she's on a visit to Canada so she is left with nothing to read:


"Don't you want to look at the St. Lawrence Seaway?'" said her husband.
"I opened it fifty years ago. I don't suppose it's changed."

Even the Rockies received only a perfunctory glance and Niagra Falls was given a miss altogether. ("I've seen it three times") and the duke went alone.

It happened, though, that at a reception for Canadian cultural notables the Queen got talking to Alice Munro and, learning that she was a novelisst and short-story writer, requested one of her books, which she greatly enjoyed. Even better, it turned out there were many more where that came from and which Ms. Munro readily supplied.

Introducing Oscar

We had a Neighbourhood Watch lunch today and so we found out the name of our friendly cat. The owner wasn't there but a neighbour knew the name and it appears our pal is known as very friendly to people but not so friendly to their three cats. It seems they have had a number of vet bills since he moved in last year but apparently there is a bit of a truce lately.

Unbelievably, his name is Oscar...the same name of a grey cat that the Curlings love who was the neighbour's cat when they lived in their house but since moving they still go to visit. Their Oscar is very special to them and I'm sure my readers have seen photos of Oscar on my blog. And our Oscar likes Medi-Treats for cats too. So now we feel good about giving him something healthy to eat and we just give him a bit. I'm amazed at the price of these things...like gold.


Such a handsome fellow.



He never tires of being rubbed.

Itty Bitty Book Review: "The Outcast"

"The Outcast" by Sadie Jones

A pretty amazing first novel by a young woman who lives in London. Not as good as Zadie Smith's first novel "White Teeth" but then maybe Jones will surpass her accomplishment in her next novel. I haven't been impressed with anything Zadie Smith has done since.

A very compelling and heartbreaking portrait of family life and community in the stiltifying post war 50's. Thanks, Claire, for the recommendation.

Experience Music Project

This was a lot of fun to see and I love Frank Gehry architecture so what a bonus. Jimi Hendrix is a big feature and I even came away thinking I might take up the electric guitar...I did think better of it! We took the monorail to it so that was fun for old times sake and seeing the Space Needle again made me think of the time many years ago when we had lunch at the top and were horrified they only had wines from Washington State. I can see the point now to feature local good wines but I still think one should have a choice.











Great sculpture...a bit blurry since you weren't really supposed to take photos.

A vast wasteland

We returned our PVR (glad we were just trying it out renting) since there just doesn't seem to be much on TV even if you can tape things and edit out commercials when you watch them. Depressing to go through the schedule to see what's on and seems like such a waste of time. Even programs that might be somewhat interesting we found we really didn't feel like watching them...guess we're just not really into TV. We did keep the digital terminal part so we get all these music stations and we like getting the NYC news and other things.

One great tech find was this adapter I bought at XCargo for 10 bucks that allows us to listen to our iPod in the Mustang since it doesn't have an MP3 possibility only a CD player. Great technology...just plug it in the cigarette lighter (finally a use for that) and tune a station to the adapter and voila...iPod! The Concorde has a cassette player as well as the CD player so we can listen to the iPod there with a cassette adapter which also cost about 10 bucks. I love technology when it's so cheap and useful.

Airforce One

There was also an old Airforce One plane from the Eisenhower to Nixon era...quite fascinating. I wonder what major decisions were made in these spaces? I think taped conversations from Airforce One could be pretty darned interesting.

BA cost-cutting measures: 800 staff offer to work for free - Telegraph

This article was in the Telegraph today just as I was about to post my photos of the Concorde that I toured when we were in Seattle. There is a very interesting Museum of Flight that I hadn't visited before. Loads of things but what really attracted me was being able to tour a Concorde. I was always fascinated by this plane and was fortunate enough to see it flying on a special run in Vancouver and seeing it on the tarmac a couple of times in Heathrow. Those heady days of flying being fun and exciting are now over with the security problems and now the economic downturn. Makes me glad we've done lots of travelling.

BA cost-cutting measures: 800 staff offer to work for free - Telegraph


This photo doesn't do it justice but it's still beautiful to me.



Not exactly luxurious seating but think of travelling at supersonic speed!



I hope at least the bathroom furnishings were real marble...

The cat came back

I guess Puss-Puss thought we abandoned him but he came back this afternoon and seemed to want to settle in permanently. He has chosen my wicker chair in my den/sunroom as his "lazyboy". We did remove him quite soon as I don't think he would ever leave on his own.






I took this little video before we went to Seattle. Puss was helping Jim with his research.

What Puss Puss really thinks...

I got a real laugh out of this from John:

"It's not even your cat and it gets up on your lap. Really! I've been
showing that film to Mr Darcy hoping he will get the hint and pop into my
lap a few times in this lifetime."

Sea Cruise to Seattle

We just got back from taking the Victoria Clipper to Seattle for a couple of days...saw lots of new things! Blogger doesn't seem to want to upload photos so those later.


A rather blurry look at Victoria Harbour through the window.



This scene may be one of the past if they replace the blue bridge...I hope they do come up with a great new design.



In Seattle now and thought this building looked very much like the Marine Building in Vancouver..actually quite a lot of art deco in Seattle even the Roosevelt where we stayed.



The wonderful new Seattle Public Library and it's a super facility with lots of stafff around to help. Certainly well used. I'm always very attracted to unusual architecture but it didn't quite feel right to me but if I lived in Seattle I may have comed to love it.



What a wonderfully bathed in light reading room...and I think it would be quite wonderful in the pouring rain too.



This is the fifth floor which is all meeting rooms and yes, the halls are all red. Rather gimmicky and also a weird sensation. I think it could be quite unpleasant and disorienting for some people.

Amazing cactus

I planted these cacti last year just for fun and to remind me of the desert and there were three and one had died but the other two are just amazing this year. One has bloomed and the other is almost ready to bloom. Imagine...after all this cold weather this year and I didn't do anything...just left them out.

Our regular visitor

Our new friend is quite a regular visitor now. We get quite a kick out of him (or her).


He finds me in the morning checking my email.

Three Itty Bitties

"Selected Stories" by Alice Munro
"The Spa" by Fay Weldon
"Embers" by Sandor Marai

I started reading through Munro's selected stories after she won the Booker International Prize recently. We have all her collections and I've read them all but I thought the selected stories would be a good way to give me a taste of the various collections. When I mentioned this to Claire she asked "Did she develop as a writer or was she just always great?" I had to answer she was always great. In fact, one of her earliest stories, "The Dance of the Happy Shades" is just amazing.

"Embers" was a novel originally published in Budapest in 1942 and was translated into English and released in 2001. It's a very engaging story with wonderful descriptions but I was beginning to feel it was rather melodramatic and predictible and felt it needed an Alice Munro touch. Well, lo and behold, it ends up that way!

I was very amused by "The Spa" but picked up Embers half way through because it was due soon, couldn't put it down, loved it, and then found Weldon quite tiresome and silly when I picked it up again so read a bit more of it but think I will put it down.

Obama just might make it with health care...

From the Whitehouse blog:

MON, JUNE 15, 4:19 PM EST
Why Reform, Why Now
Posted by Jesse Lee

This afternoon the President gave a landmark, sweeping speech on health care reform to the American Medical Association in Chicago. More so than at any time before, he explained his vision for comprehensive reform that addresses every weak point in our health care system. It is a vision that implements best practices that have allowed some towns and companies to cut costs by as much as half compared to others. It is a vision that makes sure everybody has access to quality, affordable coverage, whether your family hits a rough patch or you have a pre-existing condition. It is a vision in which patients’ and doctors’ interests are aligned. And it is a vision where Americans’ choices of doctors and coverage are maintained, and they also have a choice of a public option that can help keep private insurers honest. It is a vision that focuses on prevention, making sure Americans stay healthy throughout their lives.

No. 1 not so No. 1

I have loved the McCall Smith series of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency but I was somewhat disappointed with the HBO series. It is big budget, well cast, and quite well done but somehow it doesn't work for me. The novels are light and fairly predictable but have a charm that doesn't quite translate in the TV series. I think the TV series is going for obvious broad stroked humour whereas McCall Smith goes in for the light ironic touch. A shame but I'm sure they will be very popular anyway.

Snow in June?

The other week at the University Club there was an amazing amount of cottonwood fluff around...more than usual.




We're assuming this is a cottonwood tree.

Our new friend...Puss- puss

This very friendly cat wandered into our back yard the other day and was comfortable enough to jump on our laps and hung around until we left. We decided to call him/her Puss-puss. Then the day after we were sitting outside and Jim went back in the house and he was in the kitchen making himself at home! We gave him a bit of cheese which he wasn't too fussy about but loved the tuna. Then he went darting down to the basement and Jim had to find him. Rather like our old cat friend, Tigger, except Tigger wasn't a lapcat...just wanted to be around and also made himself completely at home.