The last leg...

Today went perfectly and we can't say enough about this company and these particular guys.  It's all going to fit in the end and is looking good even with all the boxes at the moment.  Enjoying the sunshine with a well deserved scotch.  I think in a week we'll be pretty much sorted.

Well...was going to post some photos but they don't seem available....weird things going on with our iPhones.

Ok...there they are...finally.

 Binky enjoying her forest.  Saw Ian the day before the big day and pleased he could use the TV we bought last year....you know,  when we were going to live in Victoria...

 We had a tremendous number of boxes but still not too bad given the space available.

Our fabulous moving guys...last thing was the cabinet we were worried about but no problem with these guys.

Home!

The move went very smoothly yesterday and we were very impressed with the fellows with Two Small Men With Big Hearts.  Very nice guys and very competent and helped ease the stress of it all.  We caught the 3pm ferry and arrived to our wonderful view of the ocean, freighters,  loads of sailboats with spinnakers flying and even a rather nice sunset over the mountains that we can now see from our new place.  Photos not great from iPHone...soon to get good camera!

Hoping everything will go smoothly today for the move in.

 Last dinner as residents of Victoria.  Shepherd's Pie at the Penny Farthing.

 Quite a lovely sunset....we do get some fabulous ones.

Our first morning as real residents of Vancouver!

Wonderful dinner with our neighbours...and final lunch at Uplands with Monique...

Very special times...soon be locking the door on our very beloved home in Victoria...lots of emotions...

 Wonderful rose de Bandol.

 Beau looks great at least...

Perhaps it's best we're in shadow....!

Marching bands everywhere...!

Went for a swim at the Grand Pacific this afternoon and just happened to arrive when marching bands were EVERYWHERE!   Great fun to see and hear them.  Walked out and took a few photos but doesn't capture that moment.  Very cool.

Winding down to the end...

We signed the transfer papers and stuff for the house the other day and we ended up with a total of "4" pieces of paper.  Now contrast that to the over 1,000 pieces of paper we had for the Palm Springs purchase.  Our lawyer did say the buyer would have a few more.

Our lawyer went to law school with Chris and seems like quite a cool guy...loved his car!

Staying in for dinner tonight...

We have often done this on our anniversary....just decided to stay in.   Not a perfect night for the Marina and Elaine brought over lots of goodies for us today so we are sipping good wine and just enjoy the evening together at home.  It's been a tiring time.

Funnily enough I got a few DVD's from from the library and one of them is "Superman Returns"...that's the one where the actor looks very much like Richard as Clark Kent.  Should be fun to see.

Wines from France, of course.  A very special bottle of a rosé de Provence.

A lovely single malt...!

Jim's colleagues,  Nigel, Tim, Tom, and Raj, took him for lunch today at the University Club and they had a good chat about old times and gave  him some cool cards and a bottle of Robert Burns single malt.  We have been enjoying it!

How do men manage to retain those adolescent bums!    The card is perfect especially since we celebrate our 45th Anniversary tomorrow.

It was very sweet of Jim's colleagues to do that....I was very touched...thanks,  Guys!

There was quite a lot of mention of Bill Thomas....we know he would be approving of our plans.

Lunch with friends...

Heather treated me to a great lunch at the  Yacht Club Wednesday and we could even sit outside in the sunshine.  She'll be coming into Vancouver a week after we move so will see her again soon!

Then back to the Hotel Grand Pacific for a last regular lunch with my dear friend, Elaine,  on Thursday.   We will swim and lunch there from time to time when we're in Victoria but it is the end of an era and I felt rather teary afterward.   We had more things off their wonderful new lunch menu,  tuna tartare, and split a halibut burger ...both to die for!

 Tuna tartare

Our amazing halibut burger

Remembering another amazing election result: 1972

We spent the summer of 1972 travelling in Europe and when we came back to London for a couple of days before heading home Aug 30,  we went to B.C. House to catch up on some local news and were amazed that an election had been called  July 24 and election day was Aug 30.

In those days about the only North American news we could get while travelling was picking up the International Herald Tribune from time to time.  And the only news out of Canada that summer was a leap frog contest on Vancouver Island somewhere.  I remember being struck by how unimportant Canada seemed to be in the world.

 We had been very disappointed in 1969 with the NDP not being able to wrest power from the iron grip of the Socreds and I remember commenting to Jim that I would bet my year's salary that we'd be having more years with the likes of Wacky Bennett and Flying Phil.  Jim's parents (fervent NDP'ers) picked us up from the airport in Vancouver  and were very excited and hopeful about the NDP winning and whisked us off to vote.  We had moved to Victoria in 1971 but were still on the voter's list in Vancouver.

As tired and jet lagged as we were it was an amazing night to watch the election results with Jim's parents and see the NDP become our government.

The wild and crazy world of B.C. politics

All the pollsters were wrong and the Liberals win a majority.  I love the fact that the pollsters were wrong....maybe this will set a trend!

Great dinner at the University Club tonight with our dear old friends

Had a super time tonight with Don and Elaine and a wonderful meal.  Photos not so great other than the lovely deer who came up to our window to say hello (couldn't get the iPhone out fast enough but she nibbled for quite a while).  Should have taken photos of the food!  Delicious smoked tuna and salad to start,  then 5 mushroom sirloin steak,  then chocolate croissant with ice-cream.  Fabulous.

A taste of Cuba

Terry's photos from Cuba.  Also,  Jim noticed that YouTube has the entire film "Our Man in Havana" based on the novel by Graham Greene.   We've seen it quite a while ago but will be fun to see it again.

From Wikipedia:

The film was shot on location in Havana, just two months after the overthrow of the Batista regime, and on 13 May 1959 Fidel Castrovisited the film crew when they shot scenes at Havana's Cathedral Square.^[5]

Our Man in Havana is a 1959 British film shot in CinemaScope, directed and produced by Carol Reed and starring Alec Guinness, Burl Ives, Maureen O'Hara, Ralph Richardson, Noël Coward and Ernie Kovacs.^[2][3][4] The film is adapted from the 1958 novel Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene. The film takes the action of the novel and gives it a more comedic touch.

Havana...Cathedral Square

 Havana

 Havana

 Trinidad Plaza

 Trinidad Plaza

 Cayo Coco Beach

Cayo Coco Beach

A working Mother's Day...

I wanted to work today on the packing, cleaning, etc. because we were so close to pretty much doing everything we can until closer to moving day.  Jim worked like a trojan and did all the dirty work.   I got all paintings and posters in one small and one large picture box and some other smaller stuff that needed doing.  So,  we've pretty much done it!

And to make the day especially perfect,  my wonderful son called me and he and Emily will make a special brunch for us when the dust settles and we are in Vancouver.   I was really pleased to hear they were taking a break this weekend and having a get-a-way at Harrison Hot Springs.  They have both really been working hard so it was a great present to me to think they had some well deserved relaxation.

Jim and I also worked very hard in our working lives but also took mini-breaks.  It's so important for mental health and the relationship.  Seems to have worked well for us....this Saturday we will be celebrating our 45th Wedding Anniversary!  We plan to celebrate with dinner at the Marina Restaurant as we have so very often done during our 42 years in Victoria.

And they've got their famous chef back so all looks good...

Wonderful evening with Patty and Terry

We had a super time last night and Terry cooked some fabulous steaks and we were treated to an absolutely delicious banana liqueur they brought back from their recent Cuba trip in a dessert and as a digestif...to die for!

It was fascinating to see the photos and hear about Cuba.  Havana is in the process of major restoration of buildings and you could almost think you were in Europe.  And I love all the blue and yellow colours they use a lot...surprise, surprise!  I've asked Terry to send me some photos which I will post but in the meantime here's one I picked off the Internet...could almost be Paris!

They stayed in that blue and white hotel.

And a fabulous dinner last night

Monique took us to the Thai Lemongrass for dinner last night.  The food was excellent as usual.  It really is great there is now such a good restaurant there for the neighbourhood.  We started with a drink at her place where Ti-Loup amused us with his new "chicken" toy that he loves.

The most amazing lunch today at the Hotel Grand Pacific

Elaine and I had a wonderful swim (almost no one in the pool) and a fabulous lunch from their all new lunch menu.  Everything was to die for!

 Bar-b-q duck spring roll

 Donna,  our wonderful server.

 Crab cakes in a butter chicken sauce with mango coleslaw...wow!

Finally,  they get the calamari perfect.

Great lunch with good friends at the Yacht Club.

Yesterday we went to the Yacht Club for lunch with Fern and John and Carole and Don.  We ladies all had the Fisherman's Stew....wonderful!  The men went more meaty with Jim a steak sandwich,  Don, scallops and braised ribs, and John had a Ploughman's lunch...he's had several of those lately on their trip to the UK and Deven and Cornwall.

It was great to catch up.  Talking so much I forgot to take photos but John took a great one of Fern.

Nautical Nellies for dinner tonight

It was great to sit outside and enjoy this amazing weather and possibly one of the best paella I've ever had.  Drove along the waterfront tonight and noticed this garage door painted in a sunflower theme...love it!

Elaine came over today and we got the dining room and a lot of the kitchen packed up....thanks so much, dear friend!  And she insisted I take a photo of the SOLD sign...yes, quite a memento.

A great evening with neighbours after a day of packing and sorting

Chris and Susan had us (mainly me) talked into taking this fabulous sounding cruise starting in Venice and ending in Istanbul.  Love the ports of call...almost none we've been to.  They are going next May.   Maybe one day.

http://www.seabourn.com/find-luxury-cruise-vacation/FindCruises.action?cfVer=1&destCode=EM&dateCode=5_2014&shipCodeSearch=SO&durationCode=&portCode=VCE

Next year will be pretty taken up with decorating the condo and after we take down a load of stuff in November to PS,  we'd like to trade in the car for a Eos convertible.  Seems like the perfect  car for Vancouver and PS.  We'll be keeping golf clubs in both places so won't need too much storage room.  We have friends who have one and love it.  It has a hardtop with a sunroof...great design.

The Snug...ugh!

We had a  lot of laughs and a great time with Derek and Mary last night at the Snug but I think it might well be the last time any of us go there.   Still bad service and mediocre food.  We waited an hour to get our dinner and they brought Derek and Mary's dinner 5 minutes before we got ours.  This was happening at other tables as well.

It was a glorious evening and a great break from packing!

Treasures

Well,  the lovely person who bought our house is a treasure!  We met her the other day and she just absolutely loves and appreciates our house...that means so much to us because we have loved our house as well.  And a real bonus is that she wants all of our heavy furniture that we can't use since her plan is to take in students.  This makes it sooo much easier for us and we will be able to enjoy our house as it is and not worry about having to get rid of stuff.  Two days dealing with the Craigslist crowd makes us realize how valuable this is.

And while cleaning through stuff I found a card with a letter that my mother wrote!  When my parents retired to Gabriola Island my mother wrote me every week...it was really kind of like a blog.  I wrote her and my Dad most weeks myself.  But these letters seemed so ordinary they got chucked out with the newspapers.  In recent years I've often said I just wished I had one of these little notes.  And now I do.  It will give me strength while sorting through all this stuff.

And another thing that is so cool is new owner of our house was happy to take Jim's beloved leather bound Encyclopedia Britannicas.   I'm not even sure you could get rid of these free on Craigslist.  She has a four year old granddaughter that she feels will love them.