Frosty Morning...

Almost a sunrise... I was up at 5:45 am to take Silky out for a pee and the moon was so bright, it lit up the yard. As well, I could see the new comet over our garage, in the south eastern sky. It is a distinctively yellow large blob in the sky.

Our little Oak tree is turning a perfect Fall orange...intensified with the frosty morning.

looks like a light snowfall, but it is only frost...-2* last night...cool this am for sure, and cooler again tonight.

A little of the frost on the glass railings on the bedroom balcony.

Today was a busy one with a brief visit from Joyce and Morgan's sister Marlene. She flew in to see her brother , Brian , who was also here for a visit...thus a mini family reunion. It must have been 25 years since I last saw Marlene! She looked great and I only wished we could have sat down for a real visit. At that moment we had two or three other customers in the store, so I couldn't chat.
Marlene and Rick were both so good to our family over the years...from the time I was at BCIT in the old days , and ended up on their doorstep for a New Year's Day dinner after bussing for an hour and a half to North Van from New Westminister with a Yankee boyfriend. She took us in and fed us and then we were back on the bus to New Westminister... Crazy kids,we were! Upon our return to Vancouver, a hundred years later,( this time , married to Emil), w e made countless trips from Richmond to North VAncouver to have dental work done by Rick...
It was nice, today to say hello once again to Marlene.Thanks to Joyce for popping by with her, and thanks to Marlene for helping Joyce out so much during her knee surgery this past spring. Amazing how families bind together, as friends, and helpers and support when it is needed.

I guess I better head to bed now. Emil crashed on the couch earlier, while we watched the old Movie "Stand by Me". I have to be in fine shape tomorrow night for the Hallowe'en party. Looks like we will be taking in the festivities out in Proctor this year, after a pot-luck dinner up at Ed and Linda's. We could still end up at the BBI, but somehow I think the lure of our bed will be stronger... or maybe it will be nightcaps and a little more Spooktacular dancing once the coffe table is shoved out of the way in our living-room.
Good night everyone and watch for name in the headlines under "Big Lottery Winner! I am keeping my fingers crossed... the ticket is at work still, but it did feel pretty lucky!

Tomorrow we will empty the hot-tub and clean it out, then refill it. We do that twice a year to keep it reasonably fresh.
Also, I have to invent costumes for Emil and I. So far I have a witchy Lee Valley hat and I bought an animal nose to glue onto Emil's real nose... It comes with fake blood...maybe to run out of the nose... creeping me out already... I'll try to find the stomachs from last year...Maybe they can pass as a batch of brains this year...ha-ha. Oh yes, I have lots of glow-sticks... they add a new dimension to a costume...that is for sure. We were Aliens last year. We'll be ghoulish this year ...maybe accident victims.! "Oh Darn ...we crashed, and your nose turned into Rover's nose, Honey !"

If you have Sirius Radio,you'll be able to pick ghostly music and sounds on channel 119. I will check that out tomorrow. On Sunday, we are meeting up for lunch to celebrate Joyce's Hallowe'en birthday . Happy Pre-hallowe'en Week-end!

Drive BC

Drive BC
This is the new Highways BC link that will get you up to the minute information on the highways...web cams to the left in the sidebar . So far it doesn't look too impressive, but in the winter it is supposed to give more details about the road conditions and specific details regarding times until it is passable, if that is the case. we'll do a wiat and see ! Meanwhile I'll add it to my sidebar under Drive BC (Highways) information.

Good Morning

Silky woke me up at 5:40am , in a big rush to get outside...and voila...a giant moon in the west still lighting up the whole sky. I thought I could make it into a picture, but as you can see, the moon still looks kind of small in the photo. You'll have to use your imagination. It was a beautiful site on my way home last night...shining out over the mountains and lighting up the whole lake. Also ,one is supposed to be able to view a new comet that erupted, called Comet17P/Holmes... and yes, it is in the constellation Perseus . Just look up in the sky for a yellowish blob the size of a planet in the North east sky after sunset. It was still there this morning! No tail on it yet, but it could grow as it matures.

I took Silky to work yesterday to enable me to take her straight to the vets for her yearly. I can say that she didn't particularly like being on a rope all day with only enough length to greet customers, but not long enough to run amuck. And our shop is far too hot for her. She kept hunting out a cool corner to nap in. The customers, however, all loved her, but she didn't help sell any excessive amounts of jewellery! Ok...time to get a few things ( like moi) ready for work. Emil will be back home tonight and then we have to start planning out our costumes. Looks like the gang is all going to Proctor Hall this year to avoid the smoke of the BBI. They are all meeting at Linda and Ed's first for a potluck. We'll probably take it all in, tho we love the nonsense and general confusion of the BBI...not to mention the characters that come all dressed up... always good for a laugh, that is for sure.
Have a great Friday...yea! It is Friday!

how to import a Car into Canada...

how to import
Here is the guide offered by the Federal Government on Importing a car into Canada from the United States... There could be lots of savings in it, if you have the patience...
it doesn't end there... You need to identify which vehicles may come into Canada and also you need to be aware of the Border Crossing Regulations

Below, you will find a guide that you can purchase, published by a Victoria woman who has simplified the gobbley-gook . However it will cost you $9.95... So choose your method, but be sure to know the rules and the costs incurred.

Importing Cars from the USA | UCanImport.com

Importing Cars from the USA UCanImport.com

Thinking of buying a car in the states to save $5000.00 or so ( on a Toyota LE)?
This gal has published a book on how to do it... Cost $9.99.
Take a look first at what the government offers in resources and information,as published in the above post.

Fabulous After 40: The Glam Plan E-Booklet

Fabulous After 40: The Glam Plan E-Booklet
Check it out if you are feeling a little out of touch with what to wear this fall... Just check the blog archives on the left and click on something like Accessories to see what is new for the fall...
Oh yes, you can let me know if my new little mini "Snapshot" of the link is a pain in the butt, or too small to see or somewhat helpful... its a new gadget that I am checking out called Snapshot.

First the story,,,pics to follow

So I laughed my butt off when I read Correna's story regarding her HAllowe'en party that she is getting ready to host this week-end...of course this involves a little decorating... but here it is in Correna's own words...she said I could share it... thanks Correna...you will have us all in stitches... Now I can't wait for the photos...


My Hallowe'en Rant:

I may have gotten carried away with Halloween this year. I say this with hesitation because I really can't be sure; And in my own crazy mind, I actually think I'm sane....It goes without saying that I love Halloween. It's simply a great holiday - it comes with candy and dress up - what's not to love?Anyway, for several years I've tossed around the idea of throwing a Ghostly party - complete with a haunted house and the works. Joe is less than enthused with this idea and so he has pacified me in the past by dragging all my decorations to my office to help me with a creation of some dreadful scene that celebrates ghosts and witches. In any event, this year was the party year. We reached a compromise on the haunted house theme and I agreed to a few indoor decorations but with most of the Halloween fun stuff outside on the deck of the house to greet the arrivals to the party.

So last Sat. marked a week before the party and so it was time to put the decorations in place. The inside of my house got draped in black ratty curtains, giant spiders on the walls and ghosts hanging from thec eiling. Joe was conveniently downstairs while I did all this and so getting consensus on whether I could put holes in the ceiling or pin stuff into the walls was quietly asked but without any response, I assumed he was in total agreement. He walked upstairs to find a rather transformed house complete with a pool of fake blood dripping off thefireplace.

His one question was whether the "bride ghost corpse"hanging in the living room was actually wearing my wedding dress? She wasn't but I don't think that made him feel any better about the deadly puncture wound in the middle her stomach. When I told him that I was ready to put up the "outside" decorations he looked at me from over the top of his glasses and very quietly asked whether he would need his drill...?
The fact that he did is irrelevant.I made my very best efforts to minimize the need for holes in our house in order to hold up the tree branches that I wanted to overhang the deck but sometimes, string just doesn't cut it. After the tree drilling, he got electricity out there for me to plug in orange strings of lights and engaged in a discussion about where best to put speakers for the Haunted Music to creep up and around the arriving guests. (I'm thinking under the deck but neither of us has volunteered to crawl under there yet.) I haven't figured where the fog machine will be placed either but my idea of the roof or under the steps will have to be carefully approached???
We had to buy another extension cord... we needed one anyway. The lighted pumpkins at the front gates require power and Joe agreed to put hooks in the overhead gate (20 feet up) in order to hang such extension cords in the event that we need power for other things - like Christmas or Easter. I guess he's looking to make his life easier in the future.Last night I did some last minute shopping at West Edmonton Mall. Theyhave a great store there called Spencer's that loves Halloween as much as I do.
I bought a rat that flops around in a trap and a costume for Simba dog. It's an Elvis costume! - and this is where I think I mighthave gone overboard. My dog can't talk but he does have a way of communicating with me. I tied the bell bottom jump suit on him, complete with sequins and a cape with a high collar. He couldn't walk very well, which actually added to his look because he would fling his front feet out in front of him or to the side which was pretty much justl ike the real Elvis. It was quite funny to watch. However, I don't think Simba was amused, nor do I think he likes Halloween to the extent that I do. He managed to find a way to shed the costume rather quickly(much like his hair) and headed out the door of the house. I never saw him again for an hour. I guess that's his answer to dressing up for the party... "if I can't go as a super dog, I'm not going as anything"....I'm returning the dog costume today. c.


"The Creator"

Annette's photos

Annette and Jen

Annette looking Irish!

Whistler Village...where Annette and Jen were this past week-end...

Does it look like the Olympics will all fit in here?????

Sunday doodlings

I missed the best part of this photo...it happened two minutes before I grabbed the camera. The clouds above the mountain have a tinge of pink from the sunshine, but moments before the underside of the clouds were bright pink. i think that was the only sunshine that came out on Sunday, however it was still a pretty decent day. Emil picked up leaves with the lawnmower and put away the canopy on our bedroom balcony. It looks bare out there now, but at least we won't be shovling snow from around it. Speaking of snow,the snowbelt was way low this morning... A customer from Rossland said they woke up to snow this morning! I planted some garlic cloves in my garden from these huge garlics that Janice brought us. Carolyne suggested a layer of straw on top of them to prevent them from getting frozen... I'll do that next week-end.
I concentrated on vacuuming and washing floors this Sunday... the joint smells fresh now! We spent an hour or more in the hot-tub, just getting thawed out... a good way to wind down a Sunday afternoon.


After taking down light fixtures and washing them, I moved into lining some of my shelves with this very sticky shelf liner ( aka MActac) It was stickier than hell, but could be moved a bit ,even after it was in place. I had some old stuff in the under the sink cupboard. It looked like it was totally dead and disgusting, so it came out and now the whole cupboard looks 100% fresher.

My finished cupboard.

I have been downloading tunes from ITUNES and their new I tunes Plus sight. The sound quality is excellent... even downloaded the theme to Linus and Lucy! I am listening to "The Wall" by Pink Flloyd. Although titled that way, it really is a compilation of songs found on variously distributed albumns... Now I have to get my headsets up and running....or maybe listen to it on my new ipod,thru the earbuds. I love having the new Ipod... I can play my spanish lessons on the way to work and home every day... Stupendo!
ok...time for bed... I have an achy neck again tonight... from sitiing ,I think. Horizontal feels good. I did my yearly today and the doc gave me a clean bill of blood pressure health. 110/70...like a young'en... must be all of that porridge I am eating for breakfast!
I talked to the kids tonight...all is well down in their world. Annette returned from a nice weekend up at Whistler with her friend, Jen. She is all relacxed after having written her exam earlier in the week.
Sonia was in her happy element that started early this morning, She opened the door to take out Spike, and there on her front lawn, looking back at her were a Doe and a Buck with a sizable rack on his head...both looking back at Sonia and Spike ,before they bolted towards Tillicom Mall. Then she saw a double rainbow,and lastly found a lucky penny,just before opening a really good news kind of letter that came to her in the mail! I told her to get out and get herself a lottery ticket!
Thats it for tonight...Love ya all and miss everyone... Besos to all...

IKEA Dream Kitchen

IKEA Dream Kitchen
This is a fun site if you have the patience for it...slowly move your mouse towards the top of the screen to advance into another kitchen... cute...