Summertime....the fish are jumping and the livin' is easy....

It does feel so good to get sunshine in the bones and immersed in ocean water.

Taken from our balcony this morning...nice soft warm weather....not too hot yet.

Britain's just having a terrible time with weather and now it seems to be affecting the Olympics....as if there wasn't enough to worry about.  I hope the skies will clear and everything goes smoothly.   I will heave a sigh of relief when it's all over and will never quite understand why we have to have these events.

Back to Paradise....

A wonderful trip back to Vancouver and am now looking at our Palm trees and lovely garden and a sunset incroyable.   We went for our first swim in the ocean today and it was very warm and refreshing...just loved it and looking forward to many more.

Our new beach towels the Curlings gave us that have been used in our first ocean swim this year!

Words of wisdom from Auntie Acid

Don sent me this and Jim and I thought it was hilarious.

Another day...back to Vancouver tomorrow

 Enjoyed Fern's lovely garden on the Gorge then capuccinos from her new machine...delicious!


 Derek and Mary and us enjoying Guinness and good pub grub at the Penny Farthing.  Pulled pork highly recommended.  I broke the pattern and had the seafood sliders (oyster, salmon, shrimp) and the clam and cod chowder....also an excellent choice.

Return to old haunts

Elaine and I had lunch outside at the Hotel Grand Pacific and caught up on all the news of our servers.  We both had their wonderful calamari.  Apparently the kitchen was given strict orders to "make it absolutely right" as it was for "the ladies" as we are known there.  They delivered.

We're going to miss the Taste Victoria Festival but Don and Elaine are really looking forward to the Swine and Vine which they have attended from the beginning....suckling pig and other pork delicacies and many wines.

They are also taking advantage of "Seafood Sips"...another favourite of theirs.


Then Tim and Ann came over for drinks at our house and I was really thrilled to meet her and to learn we are actually neighbours so they walked over and then we walked to Uplands Golf Course to have dinner.  A beautiful evening for it.  Jim and Ann tried a new item on the menu...butter chicken...excellent!  It was a fun evening for everyone.

And on it goes....

Sunday,  Heather and I had an excellent lunch basking in the sun at Olive Olio's and I heard all about her cool trip to Peru.  She's now off on an Alaska cruise...first time cruising so will be interesting to hear about her take.

Heather

Then a really fun dinner at Chris and Susan's.  I gave them The French Dog (same person who did The French Cat) and they adored it.  They really are super books for people who have travelled in France and love dogs and/or cats.

 Jim and Chris.

 Beau enjoying the yard and the company.

Susan enjoying the sun...finally!

Halibut in parchment...yum.

A great B. day....

We began with great beer on Ian's deck overlooking the ocean then headed up to The Beach House (previously McMorran's)  We were very impressed with the renovation and the  food was excellent although we did have quite a wait since they were very busy and the kitchen seemed overwhelmed.  They have a few kinks to work out but it was really pleasant to sit in the sunshine and enjoy the view and chat.

Then Monique came round later with some goodies she couldn't eat since she's leaving on an Alaska cruise tomorrow,  Richard phoned, and we enjoyed talking to neighbours we haven't seen for a while.

A very good day.

 Binky and Ian.

 Binky enjoying basking in the sun on a favourite rock.

 View from the outdoor terrasse at the Beach House.

View inside the Beach House.  The photo really doesn't do justice to the wonderful renovation they've done.

Go go go....

We had Monique over for dinner last night and had a great feast of fresh crab...too busy eating and savouring to take photos...

Don and Elaine came over tonight bearing birthday gifts for Jim and me and it is Elaine's birthday Sunday so it was like Christmas opening the presents.

 Elaine holding this very cool card I found on Granville Island that make a bubbling and popping sound like champagne (Elaine loves bubbly) so of course a bottle of Veuve Cliquot had to accompany it and I also found a bottle of lobster oil that they serve  at the Stanley Park Fish House.  We enjoyed a super dinner at the Fish House together the last time Don and Elaine came to Vancouver.

 Jim with his double page booklamp (great idea!) beach towel, and Spicy Pita Crisps from FEY & HOBBS ( he has already gobbled down most of them...)

 My wonderful cat beach towel, French beach bag and individual tea cup and pot with a Van Gogh sunflower design....all perfect.

My first cup of tea...just love this design... Elaine does find the most amazing things!  Merci chers amis!

Great to be back in Victoria for a while....

Arrived yesterday and managed to get everything unpacked from the the car at least and getting settled in.  Trish and Don left the house sparkling so great to come home to.  We saw their new house today...just a block down on Burdick.  A house we've always admired.

Had a super lunch at the Yacht Club today with Patty and Terry.  A new chef apparently and we all really enjoyed our meals.

And we met our new neighbour, Beau....what a sweetheart!

From the people who brought us Ikea....

Very interesting idea for independent schools...from Sweden no less!   Sounds very much like the Year 2000 initiative that had some good ideas about it but just couldn't really be implemented.  Perhaps it needed the "free market".

http://www.economist.com/node/11535645?story_id=11535645

Bon Anniversaire, Monique!

Jim and I wish you all the very best on your birthday, Monique.

Monique on Pender Island....her very favourite local place.


Of course there is another place that is very dear to her heart and that is France.  We've had many good times with Monique and her family in France and thank you for introducing us to all the following things we enjoy so much!

Raclette

Moules-Frites

Bandol

Gambas of Bandol

Pastis

Bouillibaise

Hotel Splendid on the Renecros Beach in Bandol

This is not my photo as I couldn't seem to find a good one in my iPhoto library but of course the wonderful thing about the internet and keeping a blog is that I could do a Google Image search which not only brought up this photo but also two old photos of my own that were taken in 1976 on slides that I had converted to photos and that I scanned for a blog post at some point.  So,  quality not good but the memories remain the same. 

We knew Monique from Victoria but we met up with  her in Bandol that year at the Splendid and met her parents, Robert and Jacqueline, for the first time who both overwhelmed us with their charm and gentillesse.

You can see "The Snack" where we had gambas every day for lunch while we were there.  I forget the price but they were very cheap compared to the fortune we paid for the gambas we had with the Curlings that are pictured here. 

Jim, Robert, Monique, & Jacqueline having breakfast on the terrasse overlooking the Mediterranean.

Happy Canada Day!

So this is where Max turned up....modelling.

Couple of good movies lately

We were interested in seeing this because it looked pretty interesting and we enjoy Judi Dench and Maggie Smith but we were prepared for it to be a bit corny.  Actually,  not at all,  it had some depth and was great fun to watch and of course the colours and sights and scenery were spectacular.

Well, Sarah Polley seems to have done it again and created quite the movie with Take This Waltz.

It was cool to see Toronto and the beach and I loved the funky settings with all the primary colours and a man actually cooking great food in copper pots...wow!  Visually,  wonderful for me.  Michelle Williams was amazing as usual.  It's hard to believe it's the same actress that  played "Marilyn".   I thought it was quite a wonderful, sensitive portrayal of a woman who falls in love with another man even though there's nothing much wrong with her husband.

I found the last 10 minutes or so odd and didn't quite see the point unless Polley is trying to not alienate the "morally uprightous"...I wouldn't have thought that was important to her.  I'm sure Polley will be asked about the last part.  Her answer will be interesting.

Well,  I do have to clarify something...the actual very last scene is perfect.

Palm Springs North

Our new garden is really shaping up here.  They moved in two large Palm trees yesterday and filled the old fountain area with sand.  Cactus and possibly more Palms coming soon.    We're going to have the best of all worlds here....the Dogwood not blocking our view,  our Pacific Ocean to look at and a touch of Palm Springs in the garden.

*Update:  Well,  it may be more like Florida South.  The so called "succulants" they have talked about seem to be more like tropical leafy plants.  Perhaps these are succulants too.  I just always think of succulants as cactus type plants.

Merci, Don!

Don sent me a whole load of rouget recipes...thanks so much!  This is a photo of one meal of rouget and another one of Jim at the table.  Can't tell whether this is Carquieranne, Bandol, Sanary, Cassis, or Le Lavendou....all on the Mediterranean and all places where we would have ordered this.

And here are the four of us lunching in Le Lavandou....it's quite likely one of us had rouget...

Fern and Carole come to visit!

Fern and Carole came over from Victoria and it was great to see them and show them our digs in Vancouver.  Fern brought her yummy cheese appy dish with tomato chutney and Carole bought me some wonderful local strawberries when we were at Granville Island.  The weather wasn't great but at least it didn't rain and it didn't matter anyway...it was just so super to be together.

Carole used to come in for summer holidays at The Sylvia and remembers the house beside us here.  I wonder how many people in who live in Vancouver,  have lived in Vancouver, visited Vancouver have commented "Wouldn't it be great to own that house!"    I think the numbers would be very high.  I see people every day stare in wonderment.

Jim went to UBC to some some research for the day and took Car2Go.  Picked one up on Pendrell here and they have a designated drop off at the bus loop at UBC and he had no trouble picking one up for the way home.  And all on free minutes!  We got another 90 free minutes at the booth at the Jazz Fest.  It seems members are welcome to take advantage of all promotions.  We're planning on going to Canada Day celebrations and I'll be they'll be there, then they will definitely be at the fireworks....I love this company!

 Good for Fern for using the timer feature on her camera.

 Took the little ferry to Granville Island.

 The red fish are "rougets" and we often have them in the south of France.  I've never seen them here.  I'll have to get a recipe or two in case I see them again.

These were so good on our cereal this morning.

Enjoying the weather...

Predictions were not good but yesterday was spectacular and we spent most of the day outside at the Jazz Fest downtown and seeing the Hotel Georgia's new renos...wow, so impressed.  We did stay at the Hotel Georgia about 40 years ago.  It was wonderfully restored last year.  My photos just don't do it justice so take a look at theirs:


http://www.rosewoodhotels.com/en/hotelgeorgia/gallery/images/

The rest of the afternoon we spent on our deck here enjoying the comings and goings and everyone enjoying the unexpected sunshine.  Well,  even today wasn't bad and we had our tapas and beer at the Cloud 9 Revolving Restaurant.  Our server was from Paris and we had a great chat in French along with the view.

 We had two skewers of the lamb shoulder (below)...wow, what a deal...very tasty and cheap at 5 bucks.

 The downtown, Art Gallery location was a first and people loved it.  Places to sit and you could see the bands at the two stages.  Gastown was restricted and the merchants didn't allow the Festival to put on a beer garden.  We enjoyed this a lot because we could sit down and sip and enjoy the music.  Lots or revenue for the Festival I'm sure.

So glad we finally got to see the Hotel Georgia's restoration.  Just amazing.