Great news about Ian!

Binky will be glad to see Ian home.

Ian has been moved to the Rehab floor and making great progress.  He might be able to go home and to his beloved cat,  Binky, as early as the end of May.

Best Musicians ever at The Sylvia…Holly Burke and the Naturals

At our local tonight and loved this band!  Beautiful, beautiful evening…

Bad light for photos but we're looking at the sunset,  freighters,  English Bay…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SxTlvMnz6I

Dinner at The Fish House last night

We took Grace and Richard to the Fish House last night and we all had a super dinner and what a wonderful evening to stroll over to Stanley Park.  They brought the makings for mojitos…Cuban sugar and fresh mint from Grace's mother's garden….a perfect night for tall drinks.

Next time they're going to take us to The Fish Counter on Main Street for what is known as the best fish and chips in town.  I'm always on the lookout for great fish and chips.  Richard says it's as good as The Galley in Victoria.

Looks good….can't wait!

Tapas and beer at Cloud 9 last night...

Just an amazing day and evening yesterday.

Dick and Susan joined us tonight so a special treat …good friends and one of our favourite places in Vancouver!

A few new discoveries...

I'm going to physio at Davie and Hornby…good location for parking in our resident only parking.  On the ground floor of the building there is a business called "Breka Cafe and Bakery"…wow, what  a find!  I've been missing Pure Vanilla in Victoria for special company desserts but this will fill the bill quite nicely and is open 24/7.  I was particularly attracted to the chocolate peanut butter cheesecake.  They get excellent ratings.  Also have some interesting sandwiches and bread.

And there is also a little Chinese restaurant that I picked up some hot and sour soup from to take home for lunch.   I had to wait a few minutes and was offered a cup of tea…a nice touch!

An evening with Donna and Neil

It was great to see Donna and Neil the other night and we were treated to drinks and dessert at their home that we have probably seen for the last time as they will soon be in their new condo.  After having dinner at Minerva's (super Greek and Italian restaurant in the area) we went to see the condo in the "before" stage.  It is completely gutted so they will have the space exactly as they want…what a treat!  They will be looking out at magnificent chestnut trees and will have a pool they won't have to maintain themselves…paradise!

 Their old home which will sadly be demolished but that's the reality of Vancouver these days.

 I just loved these wonderful trees!

Can't wait to see the "after"….

Itty Bitty Book Review: "Kowloon Tong: The Last Days of Hong Kong"

"Kowloon Tong:  The Last Days of Hong Kong" by Paul Theroux

Picked this up in the "free room" in our apartment and enjoyed it very much.  It takes place around the takeover in 1997…about 10 years later than when I visited Hong Kong.  I really quite loved Hong Kong so it was enjoyable to read this story and it brought back memories.

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