One of the new cats….

From Michelle:  "Happy to see Pansy has found her own special spot and is settling in nicely at Catfe."

What a beautiful cat!  The Fisher clan goes to Catfé today….I wonder if they really will be able to resist getting a cat?

First adoption at Catfé!

LADIES AND GENTLEMEOWS we are delighted to announce our first Catfe adoption! It comes as no surprise that Larry the charmer is the first to leave us. Larry's new family messaged late last night to say "Thank you so 
much for this fluffy bundle of joy!" 

Description of Larry:

Larry probably got his name because he is hil-LARRY-ous. This wide-eyed, personable fellow is just brimming with personality. He's very easy going, and just his presence in a room makes everything more light-hearted. He loves to play and keep humans company.

Tonight's sunset

-Eric Norland photo

Golf and dinner tonight….

We played golf then split our wonderful "Western Burger" and had our two glasses of wine each that came with our golf….with the view of our wonderful mountains.

Thinking about Calder Sudy #3

These are a couple of the paintings I'm considering using as my initial inspiration.

Green Ball

Spiral with Black

Meet the cats at Catfé/

Catfé is closed Thursday and they bring in new cats.  This is the current roster.  Read all about them!

http://www.catfe.ca/cats/

Bigfoot

Jinxie

Jose

Larry

Mittens

Another Calder study…great fun….I think I'll do a large one next and really splash around!

I used the top one for inspiration…from the exhibit Susan and I went  to.

Calder Study #2

8 x 10 acrylic on canvas

Dec/15

Well,  may have to touch up the blue a bit.

Susan's "Doodled Flowers"

Strathmore Watercolor Pad, 6" x 9"

Watercolor, Sharpie Pens

 

Hot on the heels of Alisa Burke's $5.00 journal, I thought I'd try some of her doodled flowers.  Poinsettias for the Christmas season.  Fun, fun, fun!  (And with that 140 lb. watercolor paper, those Sharpies don't bleed through the page, either :))

Now,  I wonder what Calder would have done.  The painting I based my painting on was called "Flower".

Behind the scenes at Catfé

 Enjoy these very special photos...

 Michelle doing all the hard wok of being a first business owner.

 Grace in the kitchen…she made lots of cookies and cupcakes for the Opening.

 Richard fixing the wireless and other tech stuff.

First painting in PS

Inspired by Alexander Calder's "Flower 1974"

1.                                                               Calder Study #1
2. 8 x 10 acrylic on canvas
3. Dec/15

I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus"!

Woody's last night

We went for dinner and music at Woody's last night and saw The Smooth Brothers for the first time.  A couple we had golfed with last year had recommended them.  They play Sunday nights.  We really enjoyed them…very talented and versatile.  Woody's kind of replaces our Sylvia music nights except we do have to drive downtown rather than just walk out our door.

http://www.thesmoothbrothers.com

Catfé opens today…a video from yesterday's soft opening and the press

So glad they're getting lots of coverage.  Michelle's mother makes sure of that although Michelle is shy and finds that the worst part of the job.

https://www.facebook.com/VancouverCBC/videos/950815254956029/

Definitely a tradition now….our Christmas wreath compliments of Erna

Thanks so much,  Erna,  it looks great!

Oranges and grapefruit

 We have so many oranges on our tree this year, well over a hundred, that we are starting to use them.  Last year we saved them for when Richard came.

Lots of grapefruit trees in Canyon Sands so don't have to worry about going short of those!

Pizza and whist at Dick and Susan's last night...

Dick and I waffled Jim and Susan mainly because I kept getting dealt aces all night and often Ace, King, Queen. Jack  in the same suit.  Now,  if I had been playing a high stakes poker game I may have become rich with those cards all night…

 Handmade Christmas stocking by Susan.

Catfé opens officially tomorrow.

Great to see this article in The Province today.  Richard and Grace were helping Michelle this weekend getting last minute stuff done.   It looks like it's going to be a great success and can't wait to visit it myself when we return.  Michelle has very kindly offered to arrange something special for me since I missed the opening.

http://www.theprovince.com/life/whisker+away+from+opening+sneak+peek+vancouver+first+café/11586018/story.html

Back home is really being hammered by weather….

Dallas Road in Victoria….apparently houses are being flooded and 20,000 people in southern B.C. have lost power.  Well,  they say Southern California is in for a wild ride as well come January.  I hope things settle down soon for folks back home.

https://www.facebook.com/debbie.gascoyne/posts/10156268490225142?notif_t=close_friend_activity

We spent some wonderful times in Annecy…looks like they really do up Christmas!

Christmas Advent Calendar Day 12 - alpine Annecy, Haut-Savoie, decorates the streets in style…

Sunflowers instead...

Almost bought a poinsettia at Trader Joe's yesterday but decided on sunflowers.

Friday night dinner at La Tablita

Erna,  Jim and I all went for dinner last night at what is the favourite Mexican restaurant for all of us.  We had a lot of laughs and the food was good as usual except for the paella which we wanted to try but we have come to not expect too much.  I ordered a combination dinner which Jim ate most of along with the paella.  We both started with the tortilla soup which was even better than usual.

 Erna had the very wonderful campechana (seafood cocktail) and took half of it home.  Marvin and her usually share it.  Marvin is in Baltimore this week and the weather there is about what we're getting at the moment….rather coolish 60's but very sunny and blue skies so far today.  We even had some rain yesterday that wasn't predicted and we heard a roll of thunder.

I figured there would be snow on the mountains and just went out to snap some photos.  I haven't gone on Facebook yet but I'm sure Hal and Eric will have posted some great photos.

And now the food!

 My combo (the paella isn't worth a photo….)

Erna's campechana….yum,  but it was a day for hot food for Jim and me.

I'm usually not very interested in cars but this is kind of cool.

Janis Joplin's psychedelic Porsche, which she "drove everywhere" and was parked outside the Hollywood hotel where she died, sold for $1.76 million — more than $1.3 million more than expected — at an auction in New York City Thursday night.

The iconic 1965 Porsche 356C 1600 Cabriolet, which the Texas-born rock star purchased in 1968 and had it painted with a "kaleidoscope mural," was a featured lot at RM Sotheby's Driven by Disruption auction that kicked off Dec. 10.

Being a golf widow...

Dick and Jim have played three games of golf in the past week.   I haven't played at so far so we went out to hit some balls yesterday just to see if I could actually hit a ball.  I didn't do too badly although that doesn't mean I won't be hacking away when I actually get playing.  The course is in great shape and it is so beautiful with the mountains and everything.

Susan came to our book club Wednesday and really enjoyed it.  It was a fun discussion….people talked about books they had been given or given as gifts.  Next time's discussion is "2016 Reading Resolutions".  As usual,  Kathy gave us lots to think about with Cassandra Rose's list:

http://www.quirkbooks.com/post/new-years-reading-resolutions

Wonderful sunset tonight….

Back home is being hit with a lot of storms….another one tonight.

Up to 80 km/h winds may hit Metro Vancouver tonight

A real baked potato….how soon we forget...

We had wonderful steaks Dick did on the bar-b-q and real baked potatoes with that wonderful skin that gets all crispy….yum.  I'm not sure why I stopped doing baked potatoes without putting them in foil.   I guess you sometimes just get into a routine.  Super dinner and conversation….stayed up way past out bedtime and we didn't even get to playing whist which was the plan.  Next time.

Forgot to take photos so this is from the Internet….just to make you hungry.

Christmas decorations up in less than 15 minutes...

Ah….the old days of choosing and bringing home a real tree,  getting it balanced in those old stands that were useless,  putting the lights on,  decorating.  And being completely exhausted by teaching.