Loved this post from Kate Soles today.

To all my fellow perfectionist moms I offer some profound words courtesy of author Sarah Kovac: "Because I'm flawed, I can perfectly prepare my kids to deal with the imperfect boss, the imperfect spouse, the imperfect child...Because I struggle in front of them daily, my children will inherently know not to run from the difficult things in life...You might be an imperfect mom. Don't be afraid! Don't wish you were someone else. You're the mom your kids need most. You're the ideal person to prepare your children to thrive in this often less-than-ideal world. Love an imperfect mom today, especially if that mom is you."

Brunch at Richard's for Mother's Day

Richard had us over for brunch at his new apartment.  Great space for him and almost next door to Meinhardt's on Granville.  Would love to have the Wolf gas stove and in-suite washer/dryer!  And he upgraded our iPhones, iPad…didn't think he had much more tech stuff to do for us but…!  Perhaps his friend who is getting the Catfé going should offer "Borrow a kid" services for us old folks and all our tech devices.  Thank you, Richard!

We gave Ian a call and he was sounding good.

 Front door….an interesting space with skylights and a view of the mountains on the end.

 Love the kitchen!

 Large balcony

 Now,  if I could have found a coffee table like this I wouldn't have painted my old one but I love my Mondrian table now that it's done.

 An old Mac Plus that still works with Hypercard…where all the computing stuff began with Richard and me.

 Good old reel to reel film projector.  Amazing to think that when I first started teaching,  teachers weren't expected to even be able to work this technology themselves.  And an old piano type thing that Ian picked up somewhere.

Blast from the past...

In an email from Hayne today:

Janice and Jim…. today I was a judge at the Vancouver Regional Heritage Fair held at Killarney Secondary.  At lunch I looked around the school halls for the grad class of ’65.  Look what I found not too far from the cafeteria! 

And so we live on in the hallowed halls of Killarney School...

Treasures….

I was wondering where these things went.   Richard found them when he moved out of his apartment so I guess we stored them at his place and forgot about it.

 Some of my Dad's old hand tools.  I've got them back in my china cabinet now.

And my brother's old dinky toys which also got a lot of use from Richard.  A number of rubber tires are missing.  Richard liked to take them off and some got lost in the sandbox….the main place where these were played with.

A Catfé posting...

Medical updates

Ian:  Ian is doing amazingly well after being gravely ill.  It looks like he may be released from hospital in June at some point.

Jim:  Jim's knee is making very good progress with physiotherapy.

Me:  I started physio yesterday and had her work on my right arm first.  It took quite a beating in the fall and I've been aggravating it by using my arms to take the weight off my knee to get up etc.   I'm walking quite well but stairs are still painful so I hope the physio will help that.  I'm really missing our frequent daily swimming but I don't want to put strain on my arm so will wait until that settles down.

I'm very pleased with my physiotherapist who is from Dublin originally and lived in England for quite a while.  So we had a nice chat about favourite places in Ireland and England.

Looks like a dull day today so will think of the warmth and sunshine of Palm Springs.  Can't complain really as we sat out in the sunshine yesterday and enjoyed the sailboat races that take place Wednesday evening.

Early morning in Canyon Sands.

Morocco West

We went with John to the soft opening of his partner Nourdine's new restaurant.  We enjoyed the food especially the braised lamb couscous and enjoyed sitting outside in the sunshine.  The breakfast menu might even entice us out for breakfast!

It's located at Jervis and Robson and will eventually be open for breakfast,  lunch,  and dinner….just breakfast and lunch at the moment.

I loved the pumpkin coloured paint they've chosen.

Cinco de Mayo

Well,  it only seemed appropriate to go to Las Margaritas today for lunch (first time since we got back from Palm Springs).  Always great food and great fun!

 Lots of flags up for the occasion.

This nice dog was waiting patiently at the entrance.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Richard

In between bites of pizza and sips of wine,  Richard spent several hours sorting out our various technology challenges and messes….what would we do without you!

P.S.  I got this image by googling "technology mess"….

Thank goodness for Jimmy Buffet and noise cancelling headphones

BMO run today and we're treated to a brass band including drums playing the same couple of songs I guess for several hours…ah well,  part of living in paradise.   Guess we should have put our car out so we could escape.  Trapped now.

Cool!

CATABLE: A TABLE THAT DOUBLES AS A CAT PLAYGROUND

Saturday in the big city...

I went to the Lawren Harris exhibit today….excellent and just arrived in time for a tour.  Stayed with that for a while.  Then just as I was leaving to get the bus home a pot demonstration got in front so a slow ride down Robson.  When I saw them turning up Denman I got off and walked.  I figured there were lots of resting places if I needed a break but my knee held up well and walked the whole way home.   So far no ill effects…perhaps  it was the second hand smoke…:)

I love this old former courthouse as the Vancouver Art Gallery but too small and a new much bigger gallery has just been award to an architect firm.

And now the dreaded demonstration.  They just had one last week and hopefully  won't be every weekend holding up traffic.  Just make it legal already…goodness,  if a state like Colorado
 can do that surely the home of BC Bud can!

600 and counting, sushi outlets in Vancouver

It is amazing really considering in 1969 almost no one was even familiar with the word "sushi".  When my Japanese friend, Judy, got married in 1969 she took her friends aside and "warned" us that at the reception there would be the usual Western style buffet (The reception was at Frank Baker's) but that her grandmother would be making some food that was considered very special by Japanese people but we wouldn't be expected to eat it.  She described it as cold rice,  raw fish, and dried seaweed.  I think we all went "ugh".

I tried some and felt it wasn't too bad.  My first experience with "sushi" although I didn't know the word then.

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Metro+Vancouver+sushi+explosion+counting/9801640/story.html

I really miss Tsunami Sushi that was on Robson.  You sat around a bar that had these boats of sushi dishes floating by and you picked what you wanted.  A fun experience.  You were charged by the number of small plates you had accumulated at the end.

For my cat and dog lover friends….

"Happy" video with 12 dogs and one cat…good way to start the day!

http://www.dogheirs.com/george/posts/5534-pack-of-dogs-play-on-beach-to-pharrell-williams-happy-video#03ihl9t9rCvBfXBM.01

A great sunset in Victoria…compliments of the Oak Bay Beach Hotel

At our local tonight….

Sitting out in the wonderful sunshine then off to our local for a split fish and chips,  Red Truck,  and music,  and more views…watching so many people enjoying the lovely evening.

Another beautiful day in Vancouver...

Yesterday evening we sat out on our balcony until almost sundown and we were just in shirtsleeves…sipping red wine of course.

Wonderfully warm today and the day made even warmer by joining Hayne and Jenny for Dim Sum at Long's Noodle House.  As usual,  we left the ordering to them.  Lots of great goodies including these two dishes that come highly recommended by a food blogger.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/11/must-order-soup-dumplings-wine-chicken-longs-noodle-house-chinese-vancouver.html

 Wine chicken

Soup Dumplings

I love this concept...

Placemaking comes to Vancouver

http://www.vancouversun.com/Placemaking+comes+Vancouver/9785228/story.html

Calling all cat lovers…Cat Café coming to Vancouver!

A friend of Richard's is trying to get this started and is doing crowd source funding.  I think it's a super idea so take a look and help her out if you agree.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/catfe--2/x/7305812#home

Video on Cat Cafés

http://www.wimp.com/catcafes/

A relaxing lunch at The University Club in Victoria

We saw Ian in the morning and he was enjoying the iPod shuffle we brought him.  Richard had downloaded lots of his favourite music on it.  Then we met Elaine for lunch at the University Club.  It was a very relaxing place to be and the cherry blossom trees at the entrance were just fabulous.  They are the variety of the late bloomers as most have already seen their best in the city.

 There is some wonderful First Nation's art at the club.

 Cherry Blossom Trees

 Lots of wonderful rhodos as well.

 The pond is always soothing to look at. On the left there are some turtles but hard to see in the photo.

Into Victoria

Jim,  Richard,  and I came into Victoria yesterday to see Ian.  We stayed overnight at the Coast Harbourside and had a great dinner at the Blue Crab.  I had the Dungeness whole crab and Jim had the Seafood Bowl.  When we arrived we were greeted with a poster that said we were "Guests of the Day" which meant an upgrade to a waterfront room and a $20 voucher for the restaurant…great stuff!

And we had some great swims.  I think the swimming was really good for my knee.  The pool is indoor/outdoor and has wonderful views of the harbour…a real treat.

It also just happened to be Richard's good friend, Kristen's birthday yesterday so he stayed with him and his family and celebrated his birthday.

We've really been enjoying the view and watching the Coho come in,  the whale watching boats, the seaplanes,  etc,

 Yesterday,  the day began with the Sun Run…nice to miss the several hours of cheering and "whoo hoo".

 A lovely surprise!

Views from our room.