Sizzling Tandoori

Today, Donna and Neil came over from Vancouver for a visit for a couple of days. They are staying at the Grand Pacific and we met them downtown for an East Indian meal at the Sizzling Tandoori on Johnson Street. This was the only East Indian restaurant open on Monday! It's only been open a year and we were impressed with the food. Some rather unusual things like pomegranate lamb curry( which Donna tried) and tandoori calamari which we all shared. Very yummmy!

Happy 34th Birthday, Richard!

My Mom, Richard, and my Dad in 1988.

I picked out this photo because of the balloons and figured it was a birthday of my Mom's and Richard's since their birthdays were both on Oct 17. Then, when I was scanning it I saw my Mom's writing on the back (she was always great at doing that and I wasn't...!):

"March 27th Arnold's Birthday...79th. Boy! Looks pretty good."

I agree, he did look pretty good!

So, have a great birthday with your friends in San Francisco. Dad and I will be thinking about you...and also my Mom.

Love you.

Enjoying the great weekend...

When I was driving around Beach Drive on the weekend, I just had to stop to take this photo of this house with this fabulous blue roof. The light was such that it doesn't look quite as bright in the photo. It is my favourite colour for painting, Cerulean Blue. Then I realized it was just a few doors down from a house we could have bought in the early 70's that was right on the water for $38,000. We didn't want a house and a "disadvantage" to us was that there was a suite in the lower level that could be rented and actually still looks like it is. How times change!


Partial side view of the house.


View from the house.


While I was taking the photos, I met this neat cat who lived in this house and took this little video.

Autumn mon amour....

I have always loved Autumn even though it meant back to work or school for many years. Something about the coolness, the colours, and new beginnings. As Mary reminded me today at lunch it also means days getting shorter, many months of rain and cold. All true but some how my mind is tricked into forgetting that. A few photos I took on the way to the post box to mail a letter.

Old family photo

Ian brought this photo over the other day and we all enjoyed looking at it. It was taken at Christmas in 1965, two years before Jim and I got together. I immediately began to fatten him up!



Jim's Dad, Mom, his maternal Grandmother, cousin Maureen, friend Evelyn, maternal Grandfather, friend Charlie, Jim.

The end of an era...

Richard will be very disappointed to hear that the Willow's Galley Fish and Chips shop is no more but at least I did manage to snag a photo on the Internet of the famous "Sunbather Burger" which was Richard's favourite. One reason for its fame was no doubtedly the two types of cheese.



Our favourite was always the fish and chips and we usually got a few shrimp on the side.

I was down at Jennings Florist in Estevan yesterday and noticed the "Closed for Renos-New Crew" sign and asked them about it. They told me the Galley was sold a year ago to the people who own the Demitasse in Oak Bay. It seems the quality went down and the prices went up and that annoyed the locals. Guess we didn't get to The Galley last year with all our own goings-on. Will be interesting to see what the new reincaration will be.

Now, Jennings Florist is another story. They now have had five generations working in the business. I began using them in 1971 when we first moved to Victoria and because of their excellent customer service I haven't changed. It was great when they moved to their current location in the Estevan Village.

For Jacqueline

Today, Monique gave us the very sad news that her mother, Jacqueline, passed away. She was 94 years old.



Jacqueline in our villa in Carqueiranne in 2005.


Jim and I have many happy memories of Jacqueline. We first met her mother and father, Robert, in Bandol, in the south of France, in 1976, when we were all staying at the Hotel Splendid. We loved them very much and spent many happy times in Bandol and a few weeks later in Annecy, Monique's hometown and where they still lived. Jacqueline and Robert had found us a wonderful apartment to rent right on the lake of Annecy that we shared with Monique for the month of June that year.

Monique brought her parents to Canada a number of times and we all enjoyed each other's company so much. My parents invited them to spend a few days at their retirement home on Gabriola Island. It was such fun for all of us even though all the translating was up to the three of us since neither set of parents spoke any of the other language other than Robert, who pointed to Jacqueline and said "Pin Up" and to himself "Playboy". We had such laughs over that!

We were very sad to hear of Robert's passing.

Jacqueline met a wonderful man, Roger, and they were together until the end. We met Roger when Jim was teaching in France in 2003. They were living in Annecy and also had an apartment in St. Aygulf, on the French Riviera, an hour's drive from Carqueiranne where we were living. Jacqueline and Roger invited us up for lunch and it was so wonderful seeing her again and meeting Roger. He cooked a wonderful veal saute for us. I took this little video at time.




Jacqueline and Jim enjoying a conversation in their lovely apartment in Aygulf.


Jacqueline, me, and Roger enjoying a seaside walk in Aygulf.


In 2005, when Jim was again teaching in France and we had the villa in Carqueiranne, they came to visit us and we had another super visit with them.


Roger, me, and Jacqueline in our villa in Carqueiranne in 2005.

We will always cherish our memories of Jacqueline and the special relationship she and Monique had together.

Ian and Binky

My brother-in-law, Ian, has started a blog. Take a look.

Ian and Binky

Richard comes to visit

We stayed up way past our bedtime chatting with Richard last night. Brought us these cool mugs he got at a visit to the Boeing plant in Everett, Washington. Then today, he helped Jim get up the storm windows while I made stock from the turkey bones. Now, he's off to help Ian start a blog so someone else will be in the blogosphere soon....

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Turkey in the Straw - animated Flash ecard by Jacquie Lawson: Jacquie Lawson animated e-cards

Wasps, snow tires, and fish bait?

Now what do these items have in common? Well, it seemed strange that yesterday I was sitting outside having to swat away the wasps, today I bought and had snow tires installed, and then I saw the fish bait at Capital Iron while I was waiting for the tires.

Capital Iron was funky as usual but when did they go rather upscale on many items...a b-b-q for over $10,000 at Capital Iron! Prices on household items seemed rather high too. I guess in this past year I've been at too many dollar stores, thrift stores in Palm Springs, and Ikea. Sticker shock for sure.

All photos are of the funky part of Capital Iron...

For Steve Jobs

Painting again

I started a couple of paintings today...one of our paradise beach and the other of some rock balancing sculptures which will allow me to put my beloved freighters in the background. I needed to relax and take my mind off things...it worked!

Pet humour

From tastefulyoffensive.com (good site!)

Thanks to Bronwen who posted this on Facebook today.


tastefullyoffensive.com

Laughter is an Instant Vacation Movie

flickspire - Laughter is an Instant Vacation Movie

Comfort foods chez Derek and Mary's

It was a perfect day and occasion for comfort food. Mary made this great meal of meatloaf, cornbread, salad, and apple crisp from her own apples. Just what the doctor ordered for all of us!






*Photos from the web since I didn't think to take them.

Camosun English Dept TGIF

We had a TGIF yesterday for Jim's colleagues and a good time was had by all! Great to see some people I don't see that much.

Binky's on the mend....

Binky was having some bladder problems but an ultrasound showed no tumors so great news and now being treated. An injection from the vet once a week and drops in her mouth every day. You can see she wasn't exactly liking having the drops...poor thing! Jim did the dirty while Ian held her.

Photos: The 12 coolest libraries in the world

In the TC today as part of their Raise a Reader campaign. We've been in a few of these wonderful libraries...the one's I've posted photos of here.

Photos: The 12 coolest libraries in the world


British Museum Reading Room. Probably hadn't seen too many libraries when I first saw it in 1972.


Vancouver Public Library...my all time favourite, of course!


Seattle Public Library. Saw this a couple of years ago...absolutely fabulous!


Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Well, I wouldn't want to be a student in New Haven where Yale is. We had a heck of a time finding it and got lost. While Jim was in the Beinecke doing research I explored the town which has almost nothing of interest that I could find and it even seemed hard to find a place to have a drink. Guess it's a good place to be studious....


Trinity College, Dublin. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful...and made even more wonderful by The Book of Kells.

Autumn came in with a roar...

Autumn certainly came in with a roar yesterday...ferries cancelled, our power out, mucho rain and wind! All of a sudden I notice lots of trees that have already turned colour...when did this happen?

I'm still in the mindset of the folks with the badminton net still up and the summer chairs out.

Itty bitty book review: "Half-Blood Blues"

* Power back on now after being out a few hours. Went to Uplands to warm up and have lunch.




"Half-Blood Blues" by Esi Edugyan

Pretty impressed by this second novel of local Edugyan which is on the short list for the Man Booker. I hope it wins the Booker...wow, how exciting would that be! The Julian Barnes which is touted to win is only 150 pages...come on...this isn't a novel. And a review in The Guardian seems to agree. Winner announced Oct 18...keeping my fingers crossed.

Takes place in Germany in the 30's, Paris, 1940 and Poland 1992. The story is about a brilliant jazz musician is arrested by the Nazis in Paris, 1940 and is never heard from again. He was black and German. Flash forward to 1992 when he turns up in Poland and a couple of his old band members seek him out. Mostly, it's all about jazz, and blacks, anti-semitism, and all that stuff going on in the 30's and WW II. Beautifully written...I highly recommend it.

The Saylor Foundation

Jim has been very impressed with what he's seen on this free online university that is sponsored by the Saylor foundation....even a course on using the iPad!


The Saylor Foundation

So many books...so little time....

Five of us from the bookclub went to hear Michael Ondaatje read from his new novel, "The Cat's Table"...wow...an enthralling book and Ondaatje was the opposite of what I expected. I was expecting someone very intellectual and celebral and he was very down to earth and accessible. His novels are so wonderfully crafted that I thought he spent most of his time working them out ahead of time but it seems he makes stuff up as he goes along then does numerous rewrites so things fit and make sense.

I think perhaps his publisher got impatient with his last book "Divisadaro" and just said "give me what you have"...I felt it need a few rewrites.

This one seems perfect and I can't wait for it to arrive from Amazon.ca (I've bought books recently from Bolen's and Munro's so felt I could indulge myself in cheaper prices for a couple of books.)

I also ordered Julian Barnes "The Sense of an Ending" which is favoured to win the Booker prize. Jim is more a fan of his but he is also always interesting. I'm taking great interest in the Booker this year as two locals from the Victoria are short listed...yes...amazing as that may be! They are Esi Edugyan and Patrick de Witt. De Witt is currently living in Portland so not quite as local anymore but I immediately went out and bought Edugyan's "Half-Blood Blues" and am enjoying it immensely.

Then Guy Vanderhaeghe has a new book, "A Good Guy" and also Wayne Johnston with "A World Elsewhere". Vanderhaeghe got lots of recognition and a film made out of "The Englishman's Boy" (very well deserved) but Johnston should have won everything going with "The Colony of Unrequited Dreams" but didn't get much from it so I'm really hoping he scores with this new one.

Good luck to them all and merci, merci, merci, my beloved authors for giving me so much to read this year.

A good laugh this morning

I received this from Don this morning and got a real laugh. The subject line in the email was "0" (the number 0)



Many people will walk in and out of your life but only a true friend will leave footprints on your computer!
Forward this message to 5 other people...... And you will get......


Bugger all!

That's right bugger all.

You won't get good luck or a nice surprise, 5 grand or a bloody holiday in Jamaica , just bugger all...... it's true...... It works.....!


I sent it and I got........


Bugger all. Yes that’s right. Absolutely BUGGER all.


Don't break the chain! It's the only one of these things that actually does what it says!


Your Friend Don