Messing with paradise....

We split a cinnamon bun today for breakfast along with our usual cereal and fruit.  I picked one up at  Cobb's yesterday while shopping.  Well,  not bad but nothing like the famous "sticky buns" at UBC that the old "armpit  cafeteria" sold.  I see they're still going strong...introduced in 1954,  but they have made them smaller  and apparently charge less.

http://old.ubyssey.ca/news/cinnamon-bun-trimming-sticky-business-but-it-saves-dough/

What a lovely surprise!

Susan and Chris sent these wonderful flowers to remind me of the south of France....it worked,  dear friends!   Thank you so much.

 Note that the lavender tray that Elaine gave us in the background...with my provencale tablecloth I bought in Carqueiranne....a perfect combination,  don't you think?



And the  florist included this complimentary Kalanchoe plant so our balcony is brightened up as well.

Cards and bookmarks for the Fishers

It started out with me thinking of doing cards and bookmarks for some art Lexi did on Linda's phone and then I thought it would be fun to do them for Cec's art as well.  I know their friends and family will have fun receiving these!

Artwork by Lexi,  Linda and Cec's grand daughter.

Artwork by Cec.

Lunch at The Boathouse in Horseshoe Bay

We drove up the slow way,  Marine Drive, and came back the Upper Levels.  It took about a 1/2 hour going up and we were amazed it only took about 10 minutes coming back.  And we noticed there is a C-Lovers there so it takes just about the same amount of time to go to Horseshoe Bay as the one in North Vancouver and Horseshoe Bay is a much more interesting place.  When we went up as kids to go to Gabriola Island,  we were taking the Iron Worker's Memorial Bridge so that was longer of course.  Nice to look at the ferries and not be waiting in line....so many of those times going to Gabriola then also having to wait for the Gabriola ferry....not fun for kids or anybody.

Cec's paintings

Cec has done some amazing paintings so I asked Linda to take some photos and I know their friends and relatives will enjoy the card and bookmarks I'm making of them.

From a print Linda had.

Garry Point in Steveston

I love cats!

This is from a photo a friend took of Cec fishing off Sechelt.

Itty Bitty Book Review

Well,  Louise Penny does it again.   I really do love these novels!  The Acknowledgements are very touching as her husband,  Michael,  is doing very poorly but she focuses so much on all the kindness and support she gets.  I admire her as an author and person.   Thanks,  Donna,  for suggesting we go and see her at the Vancouver Writers Festival a couple  of years ago.  It was a great evening!

Wonderful day out with Linda and Cec

It was just so much fun today and of course an amazing meal at the Bacchus Bistro at Chaberton Winery.  We bought a case of wine mainly their white Bacchus which is fabulous sipping wine.  Linda and Jim had their amazing boeuf bourguignon,  Cec, the ribeye,  and me the trout almandine.  Wow!  Cec and I had the table d'hote so we shared our apples and dessert.  For me a wonderful terrine,  Cec.  a squash soup and then desserts,  bread pudding (to die for) and an apple crumble.  The desserts sound very plebeian but,  trust me,  nothing is plebian at this place!

Some photos.

In the tasting room

Terrine

There's the beef!

I took half the trout home. Every dish came with these wonderful scallop potatoes.

Our desserts.

Fish and chips and a sunset

We went off to C-Lovers today on North Vancouver to get our Ultimate Platter for two and mushy peas.  We made tremendous time over the bridge.  We were there in little more than  10 minutes.  A little bit longer coming back.

Then this evening went for a walk down to the beach.  Just a wonderful temperature and I was pleased to see that someone had been rock balancing.  There has been almost none of that this summer for some reason.

Wow...quite a poem and quite someone to watch.

what the dead know by heart

By Donte Collins

lately, when asked how are you, i

respond with a name no longer living

Rekia, Jamar, Sandra

i am alive by luck at this point. i wonder

often:  if the gun that will unmake me

is yet made, what white birth

will bury me, how many bullets, like a

flock of blue jays, will come carry my black

to its final bed, which photo will be used

to water down my blood. today i did

not die and there is no god or law to

thank. the bullet missed my head

and landed in another. today, i passed

a mirror and did not see a body, instead

a suggestion, a debate, a blank

post-it note there looking back. i

haven’t enough room to both rage and

weep. i go to cry and each tear turns

to steam. I say I matter and a ghost

white hand appears over my mouth

Copyright © 2016 by Donte Collins. Used with permission of the author.

http://www.startribune.com/st-paul-poet-wins-young-poet-award-from-academy-of-american-poets/392828781/

Happy Hour at the Alberni Keg for dinner last night

We do love the bar in this Keg and love being right in the heart of downtown...and a bonus is Jim gets to glance at the progress of the Blue Jays every once in a while.   They were playing in New York...almost seemed like we were in New York ourselves.

Quote by Iris Murdoch

I loved the novels of Iris Murdoch.  After being introduced to her (forget which novel I began with),  I immediately went to Ivy's Bookstore in Oak Bay (which is still there amazingly) and bought every novel she had by her,  then started to buy her new releases in hardback.  Ivy's was a wonderful place run by "Ivy" who could be rather intimidating for a a 24 year old which I was at the time.  I believe she made some snarky comment like "Obsessive, are we? " I'm not really into rereading but I might just reread one of her novels one of these days.

I do agree very much with the quote!

"One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats."  - Iris Murdoch

I was interested to read this article on Ivy's Bookstore celebrating 50 years in business.   I did know some of this stuff was going on but would have been way too intimidated to insert myself into these discussions.   Any young person like myself probably would have been thrown out.

http://bcbooklook.com/2014/06/09/a-bookstore-named-ivys-celebrates-50-years/

Dinner and sunset

We had dinner tonight at Olympia....the platter so lots of goodies left over for tomorrow.  The last  couple of nights we've gone up to the Observation Deck to watch the sunset.

The feeling of Autumn

The other day I commented to a young woman in the elevator that looks like she just missed the rain  and her reply was "Tod bad...I was really looking forward to it!".  Carol sent me a note today saying how she enjoys summer but loves the cosy of Autumn,  rain,  and cooler days.  As much as I love warm sunny weather I also enjoy the crispness of cooler days,  the leaves turning,  and usually new beginnings that come with Autumn.  Even though it meant "back to school"  I always began with lots of new ideas and projects and full of optimism for the coming year.  Well,  some worked,  some didn't and the daily grind of a challenging job didn't make for a lot of easy carefree days.  But it was a good career all the less,  even though myself and none of my teacher friends don't seem to miss it in the least!

I really look forward to seeing the leaves turn with all the deciduous trees  in front of our place but not much happening yet.  Here's some photos I picked up on an image search.   I'm sure I will soon have lots of my own!

Ain't that the truth?

And you don't even have to collect points!

Itty Bitty Book Review

Elizabeth George is usually a pretty good read.  She does create a nice British atmosphere which is fun and Barbara Havers is always amusing.   I think this plot was a little overly complicated and the whole thing went on too long.  Louise Penny's new release arrived today from Amazon in hardback so really looking forward to starting that.  Penny usually gets things just about right for my taste.

Walking around Davie and Thurlow....some cool stuff!

Lobster Summer at the Keg

We took Richard and Grace out to the Keg last night for lobster.  Very dark so no people photos turned out.  I ordered the whole lobster and they gave me this monster that must have been four pounds!  Everyone else had a steak and half lobster and they all had to help me with mine.

All washed down with Sandhill wine.

Grace brought over these plums from  her mom's tree.  Absolutely delicious!  Our neighbours in Vancouver had some plum trees like this and I always loved it when plum season came around.  Yum.

For my old teacher friends...

Isn't it great not to be "back to school"!