We Made it!

As you might imagine ,it was a trip of many adventures...mostly having to do with snow. Our first challenge was to make to Kelowna with our all season tires. Yep. it pretty much snowed or was snowy the whole way with the worst being over the Blueberry Paulson and the entire road from Rock Creek to Beaverdale. We just took it easy and for the most part,there was very little traffic which at least gave you peace of mind that someone wasn't going to plow into you,should you spin out. Our new Saturn did well, with very little slipslidey going on, and we didn't really notice the all wheel drive feature kicking in. I think driving at less than normal speeds was the key factor.
We left at eight,and made a few stops along the way and by 1:00 we were crusing into Kelowna, in time for our appointment at 1:30 to get the new winter tires put on. The dealership is so good there, they had a car waiting for us to borrow while they did a complimentary first oil change and also put on the new winter tires.(not complimentary)
We took advantage of the hour and a half to go visit our dear neighbour, Heavy Duty Bill, who just underwent a serious operation for cancer, where the doctors removed 2/3rds of his stomach and his spleen and part of his Pancreas.
Amazingly, he looked very good for just five days after his big surgery, and he was so pleased to see us. We spent some quality time visiting and assuring him that all he was missing was a big dump of snow.
He was greatful to have good neighbour support and family support during this ordeal. Us too, as now Peter will be doing snow removal for three houses and we were lucky enough to have Emil's co-worker, Janice, house sit and watch the cat for us.

Once we had the winter tires on, we had a laugh, because the sun was out and the roads were bare!
We drove up to Vernon to John and Rondas. They were all ready for us with a lovely dinner and a toast to our upcoming anniversary, complete with chocolates and a Trojan on our bed pillow that night...(mmmm...I wonder where that came from!)
Yep, January 4th was our 38th year of being married. Seems like a long time in numbers, but it all went by so quick, that our memory recalls the best and the worst times and forgets many of those "moments" that floated by as though it was a wave in an ocean of happenings.
We had a few laughs on the drive up...glad we didn't invest in a dry cleaning business one time, nor chose not to sell Redkin products for Maureen, and pretty happy that we didn't buy that huge truck with the dual wheels on back. We did say we loved the amount of happiness our tent trailer brought us, with every so many camping trips to all the little lakes around in the Kootenays,as well as a many a summer spent at Shuswap, or in Saskatchewan. Like a turtle,we had our home with us wherever we went.And so we reminisced.

Back to John and Rondas...we played a new game,called Sequence. Wow! It kept us amused and nearly blinded for hours. A great game for many or few players, involving cards in a Pente like game where you use tokens to get five in a row. Two fives and your team wins. Simple, but hard on the eyes as you san the board over and over for a place to play your token that will improve your row of five tokens, or block the opponents chances. Good Game...Highly reccommended!
The next morning, John Suggested that we take the road to Vernon, then the bypass that goes to Merrit. Probably less chance of snowy roads,than taking 97c...the coneector, from Kelowna. He was right and those roads were frosty, but snow free. Yippee.
The situation changed when we crwled up the Coquilhalla. At first, there was no snow, than one snowfree lane,and pretty soon,after the big Larson hill, snow and snowing and general whiteout. First vehicle off the road was a large van that hit the corner too fast and slid into the snowy lane and flipped when it hit the snowbank. No one appeared top be hurt. We kept motoring along, thankful for the new winter tires as the roads got worse and worse as we neared the toll booth.
That is the photo that is all white.
On the other side of the toll booth,the slush was a foot deep and traffic was dense and both lanes were not good. Before you know it, we were heading downhill. Emil paseed one slow poke and another,and then were alone on the road. Again, thanks to good snowtires, we could travel along, just being careful as one lane was shear ice and the other a half foot of slop. We chose to drive in the slop lane after a rock smacked our windsheild from oncoming cars close to the shear ice lane.
Just before the first tunnel, we could see two guys hopping around near the road trying to keep warm,as their budget Rent a truck was overturned on the side of the road. No stopping as it was ttoo dangerous. The roads were a mess and we were heading into the first snowshed. The ambulance and police were screaming up the other side of the hill to attende one or both of the overturns.
By now, I could have kissed the winter tires.
As we got down in elevastion,t he snow flakes turned to rain and the roads went from ice to slop to bare roads...Yippeee.
We left John and Rondas at 8:00 am and here it was noon, and we were filling up with gas in Hope. I don't recommend driving the Coq in winter, but if you have to, take it slow and have good tires.
We took the shortcut from Costco in Aldergrove,along Vye and turning onto 16th which takes you into Whiterock. In an hour we were at the LAdner and Highway 10 intersection. Great shortcut,thanks to Annette and Trina. It cuts off over an hour to get to the ferries.

We were at the ferry terminal before 2:30 and easiily made the three ferry.
Ok...time to eat breakfast. We had an eventful day at Sonia dn Steves, plus I got my hair done yesterday and visited Annette at her new job. I'll try to post a few more pics before we depart tomorrow morning for Astoria and then to Long Beach.


We
"The Creator"

Happy New Year!

As you can see, a fun time was had by all on New Year's eve and for our Polar Beer Dip on New Year's Day.
We started the pre party at our house with linda and Peter and Elli and her mom and Gord and Janice. We checked out the music on the new Sirius radio and had a toast or two to the new year before proceeding over to Anne and Dick's house. The music was blasting and the table was full of munchies. We added our efforts to the array of foods and before we could hardly get dancing, everyone dug into the yummies and sampled the wings and sausage rolls and crackers and cheese and dips and veggies and so on. A whole table full. It is always hard to walk away from something that grand!
However, Dick had satellite radio playing, and alternated between that and his collection of a hundred cd's,all in one player.
Witht he tunes going, everyone got into the swing of things and started to dance up a storm. Anne organized four winter boots in the middle of the floor for us to dance around, when a scottish tune came on,complete with bagpipews playing. That was Anne dancing in the photo with her dress hoisted up!
T'wasn't long before Anne donned her New Years Butt shorts and wrapped a scarf around her head and put on the shades. We all roared as she pranced around showing off her "Sweet Cheeks!"
All was in good fun as we counted down the seconds and watched the big ball drop ,in Times Square..then we all hugged and gave each other our colds and flu.
Anne was a little under the weather at this point,and had to make a departure to bed, and Emil and Dick and Richard, shut the party down at some wee hour in the morning. I came home before that and hit the hay as I was pooped and my sinuses have been giving me hell,thus a Sudafed was in order.

On New Year's Day ,the crew re-assembled for the big Polar Beer Dip. At first it was to be Lynn B. showing the way with Anne and I following and at one point, Dick and his son Richard were all aboard. By 2:00 on dipping day, the only one sporting a bathing suit was Lynn...and it was snowing like crazy. Emil dutifully made the hot rums and was ready for her to emerge from the lake. I was ready with the camera and towels and in less than a minute, Brave Lynn was in, dipping, and out again. Her feet were freezing and she was all ashiver! We wrapped her up and got her boots on and led her back up to the hot tub, with her hot rum toddy! I have the best video of her whole dip, so I will try try try to upload it to YouTube so we can see it on the blog. So, I will try to do that now. If it doesn't work, then I will have to figure it all out when we return from our little vacation. So no more emails or jokes for a week or so,and I shall return with tall tales...take er easy.
Fancy that ...we have to drive to Kelowna to get our winter tires...keep your fingers crossed.According to the highway cams, the rest of the roads in the province looked bare. I have a link to highway cameras on my sidebar after recipes.
"The Creator"

Visit to Lynn's today

I almost got an early start this morning...but even with a couple of stopsalong the way, I made it just after noon. FYI, the roads between Nelson and Trail are less than desirable. Large sheets of cobble-stone ice that bumps your vehicle along and could send you off into Outer limits if you go to fast. A couple of vehicles were in the snowbank after they did just that.
Little Matthew and Abbi came running up to me...so sweet. Abbi is getting much older looking and Matthew is the cutest little guy around. Hard to believe he is in kindergarten! Robert is the "Lean Machine" with the best red locks on the planet!
It was great to see all three of them and Shayne and Denise and of course, Lynn and Bob too!

Lynn's house was a Christmas pressent with all of her cute decorations and nice tree all done up. We dined on a fab lunch that Lynn and Denise had all ready. The Pizza buns were a hit with the kids and the adults stuck to the gourmet spanokopitas and sausage rolls and chicken wings...all a big Yum, not to mention the cream cheese layered dip that Lynn and Denise had made. Extra tasty with those "Scoop" tortilla chips! I went straight for the Pizzelles ...a Lynn specialty that comes from her kitchen every kitchen...Thanks Lynn...They are great with the aniseed flavour.
After lunch, Lynn and I played a game of Cadoo, the kids version of Cranium...not to be confused with the updated version called "UCranium!"...
...kept us amused as we tried to make something out of plastercine, or do a pantomine to describe something. Matty was my helper, but unfortunately couldn't help us to beat Robert, who won on a sneakey diagonal play!
We said our good-byes and I headed home before dark, as I didn't want to drive the washboard ice capades in the dark.No-one was rushing over the icy parts anyhow, but one always worries about the crazies on the highway coming at you.

Thanks Lynn and Family for the lovely afternoon...Nice to see the kids and kidlets before they head back. Speaking of back, poor Denise fell down the basement stairs and hurt her back and tailbone, so she wasn't doing much sitting. Hope you get all better soon.

Sorry I haven't been able to write individual comments under each photo. Blogger is still working out bugs for uploading photos and as far as I can tell, I can not load them up from Picasa, like I used to be able to....a pain, to say the least.
"The Creator"

Dinner at Fusions

They should make a musical note that one can type, because that is what I'd be typing as I sing "Happy Holidays to Me!"
Chris and Carolyne invited us out to a wonderful dinner at Fusions, a rather new restaurant in Nelson,located kitty corner from the Bank of Montreal, in the old Rice Bowl location. Lets just say the food lived up to its name...a Fusion of ethnic cuisines to make totally new dishes with poignant flavours enough to make your mouth sing!
We started with many appies ranging from Tempura Battered Shitaki Mushrooms , to a Meditaranean Putine with a plate full of angel hair french fried potatoes topped with goats cheese and a spicy sauce. Yum! Also Carolyne ordered Prawns stuffed with a soft cheese ( goat again?) and surrounded by a cilantro and tomatoe mango lime salsa. We shared all of the "Tapas" and then enjoyed our entries. The three of us ordered the seafood special...(the photo of the food on the plate)...Salmon, a Prawn and a piece of Halibut...all very delicious and done to perfection. Thanks Chris and Carolyne for the delicious night out. The martinis were yummy too...Kooteny Kisses.MMMMMM.
The owner and chef off the restaurant is only 27 years old. Our compliments to him. A full page write up in the Friday's Nelson News tells all about him and the restaurant which probably contributed to the full house by the time we were ready to leave.

"The Creator"

Xmas in Alberta

Joyce sent me these very sweet pics of her little grandsweeties. looks like it was all a bundle of fun...and a sidebar note to say that Correna looks fab without her glasses! How goes it with the new eyes?
"The Creator"

Happy Boxing Week

Christmas was the quietest we've had, but we made up for it on boxing day. Emil went out for a x-country ski along the beach again and thoroughly enjoyed it. We both went over to Ron and Phoebe's, (Ronda and Lori's parents)for a little Boxing Day party.
Certainly was wonderful to see all of their family and the little kidlets.Ronda and John were there and already had established who "The Real Bosses " were! Pretty funny,since Ronda had hung signs all over the place demoting Ron and John. Ron and John were ripping them down, and Ronda was putting them back up! Nice to have a few laughs and see everyone again.

We left at the beginning of the snowstorm and drove back home over snowy roads.It was really coming down!
I got dinner organized even tho we had stuffed our faces at Phoebes with chicken wings and veggies and chips and dips...Yum, but I knew we would be hungry for real food sooner or later. Emil made the salad and soon, John and Ronda arrived...and yes, it was still snowing out...only worse now.

We opened gifts and had a few laughs when I couldn't figure out what this odd shaped package was that they had given me. It looked like a spice rack or a picture hanger,in cubes . Turned out to be three wonderful smelling Body creams from Victoria Secret.
Ronda orders from them all the time and there seems to be no problem with having it delivered right to your mailbox. Thanks Ronda for the tip... MMMM...a new place to shop online!
In the pictures, we are toasting Ronda and John's engagement with champagne that has been mellowing in my downstairs fridge for a few months.
We enjoyed the leftover turkey and stuffing for dinner, then headed for the hot-tub. It was still snowing out,so quite beautiful.

The snow continued for the night and by morning it was pretty hideous out. Fortunately John and Ronda didn't have to drive back home.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to me, Joyce and Morgan were having the drive of their life back from Alberta. Many accidents and cars off the road, including a huge cattle carrier around Moyie Lake. They never made it home till eleven o'clock at night.
Derrick and Barb, beat them home by a half hour. That is from Edmonton to Prince Rupert! How is that???
The snowstorm was hanging out in southern BC.
Enough blab for now. I better head to the shower,then off to work...It is my last day for two weeks! YIPPEEEEEE...a holiday finally, after two years of work. I'll be enjoying myself wherever I am.
Hope to visit all of you! Just joking! I plan on getting over to Lynns tomorrow to see Shayne and Denise and kidlets before they head back to Calgary.

"The Creator"

MERRY CHRISTMAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!

7:29 and Christmas is here...In fact, I noticed that Santa came and left us a present of about a half a foot of snow...mmmmm...I let Silky open her only present under the tree, a set of pink doggie boots...Too funny...It was like she was walking on another planet! Her instincts told her to bolt, once she hit the door, in order to run away from those damn little stinkers,stuck on all four paws! Around and around she ran- over to the spare lot, around the garage and back and forth,and voila...only the back two held fast. Front two were gonners in the snow!After 45 minutes of shovelling walks, I traced her steps and found each of them. This morning she could have used hip waders, because the snow was up to her butt!

Last night we played Stocking Stuffers with the kids while the phone was on "Speaker" . Thus it was a play by play of the going's on! Such fun, but nearly as much fun as it would have been if we had been altogether! Emil and I both got arm bands that not only are reflective, but they also have blinking red lights...apparently that is so we don't lose ourselves when we are night skiing with our x-country skiis! As well, we were blessed with pills that would improve Emil's performance and get me out of the ittybittytittyclub! Pretty funny! we were so pooped that we never had time to take them. I'll let you know how they go.
Emil's mom spent a few days with us..poor dear, just getting more and more frail, but still happy to give Emil a wave or happy to eat a plate of koubassa and toast and eggs for breakfast, that Emil cooked up for her. In fact she ate very well, all considered. Yesterday, Emil met Lawrence in town, so Emil's mom could spend Xmas with their family and John and Ronda.
It won't be the same without the kids...first time in all of 37 years. I worked right until four o'clock yesterday. The day was more quiet, but we had a lot of fun,opening gifts and eating. That was the nice thing about the week, Carolyne, my boss, ordered in lunch every day for the whole week for all of us. Also, we were joined by Annie who is a jack of all trades,specializing in cooking and catering, but faithfully, returns each year to help in the store at Christmas. She was a delight to work with, and I'll be sad to not have her around next week.She brought me a whole tin of baking as she knew I had done not a stitch this year. Thanks Annie. Lynn B.gifted us with a box of her famous rum balls on Saturday! Yum! The baking is pretty near done!
The big elf is still hanging out in bed, but I suspect the little grandchil elves will be up and at it momentarily, to phone and have an early morning chat with Grumps as they usually do.
Time to stuff my turkey and then return to the outdoors and shovel more of the white stuff...athere is a dump of it...plus we are taking care of Bills too, as sadly he has to go to Kelowna for emergency surgery. He'll be in our thoughts and prayers.



"The Creator"

Thanks Sue

Nice to hear from you Sue! I have your letter in my email, but it also doesn't give me your email address,so Check my comment to you where you left the original,and I'll send you an email,after you send me a quick note.... I,m pooped now, so I have to fall into bed. Yes, working in the jewellry shop is pretty darn nice, I have to admit. Sort of like working in a candy shop all day!
Talk to you soon...B.

"The Creator"

Mexican night

As you can see by the pics, we all had fun at our little Mexican party last Sunday night. I made a wonderful Mexican Seafood soup that everyone loved, by the sounds of it.

Seafood Soup Basics
One litre of veggie soup broth or fish stalk.
a variety of seafood,including prawns,a white fish,trout or salmon,and whatever other seafood you have on hand...including 2 lobster tails if they are kicking around! Otherwise,at Safeway,they have a bag of mixed seafood that includes cuttle-fish,squid and mussels and shrimp...It costs about $6.00 and does the job.I also used a half bag of scallops.
Then you will need either fresh,frozen or canned tomatoes ( abouat a quart) and 2 cooking onions, and 3 stalks of celery, a green pepper, acouple of jalopenos, two potatoes, peppercorns, clilantro and lime juice and lime rind grated. The rest of the veggies can be chopped up. Olive Oil to fry the veggies in. Salt and pepper.


I used one opf Emil's trout and a one litre tetra pack of Campbell vegetable broth. I never realized that these tetra packs offered such a variety by the time you consider the brands. Safeway had them on sale at 2 for $5.00...and certain ones were lower sodium than the others.
So I boiled up the fish with the broth and a little more water and an onion all chopped up and ten peppercorns. After simmerring for twenty minutes or so, the soup is poured through a strainer. The onion and fish bones get tossed and the liquid is reserved,separate from the deboned fish meat.
In your big soup pot,fry up the onions and celery and green peppers and jalapenos, and when soft, add the tomatoes. Simmer a bit and add the remaining soup broth from your fish. bring to a light boil and add the cubed potaotes. Add your cuttlefish and mussle mixture and let simmer for ten minutes after it comes to a boil ( turn heat down). At this point, you can chop up your white fish ( cod, halibut,bass) and add it,then add your scallops and lastly add the prawns and your cooked trout or salmon pieces that you used for the initial fish broth. Add 6 sprigs of cilantro and more ground pepper and a little salt...taste it and you will see how nice the cilantro gives flavour to the broth. Don't boil it to death, just cook until the prawns are pink or heated through if they are precooked.Your soup is nearly done. Grate the peel of a lime and throw that in,as well as the juice of a lime ,or about a !/4 cup of bought lime juice. To serve the soup, remove the long cilantro sprigs, and top the soup with chopped bits of cilantro for colour, or so that each scoop of soup has a little color on top.
So try it out when it is a cold winter day. You'll enjoy the fresh flavour, and the seafood was delicious.

So back to the party..
We started off with loaded up natchos,followed by the soup, and then it was a freeforall as everyone fixed their own fahitas after I prepared the chicken and peppers and onion mixture.
In additon, I made coleslaw with cilantro,thin sliced cucumbers,and thin slices of red onion, topped with a dressing of lime juice, vinegar, garlic, sugar, and salt and a dash of hot sauce.

Janice and Linda brought platters of Xmas baking incuding a fruitcake made with chocolate in it, and also a pile of beautiful truffles and biscotti that Janice and Linda made together. Yum. We were like fat little piglets after each truffle was tested!
Instead of our usual Train game, we tried our hand at Texas Hold'em. That was fun as you never know which cards will turn up. Ed was up ato tricks with his shades on and a toy revolver to keep everyone honest! JAnice and Gord and then ed were the big winners. I had only two hands that were reasonabley bidable, and the rest was just a bluff into oblivion. Out of desperation, I went "All in" and that was it! I was "All in!"
It was a fun way to spend an evening...We bought our ten bucks worth of chips and that lasted us through till 10:30 when everyone called it a night.

Sometime after that, I came down with a Sinus/Cold thing. Sinutabs and miVitality are keeping it at bay, but at night my ear begins to ache...which is what is going on right now, so I'll say good night.
If anyone was waiting for a Christmas letter, most of our news can be found right here in this blog...just check the Archives.

And if I don't get back on here...two more days of work...I would like to wish all of my dear sweet friends and relatives a very Happy Christmas. It won't be the same this year without Sonia and Steve and Annette and Kaleigh and MAddie, that is for sure. I hope we can have fun via phone and pretend we are there.
In the meantime, Emil brought his mom over for a few days prior to Christams, then she will spend Xmas day at Lawrences. She is getting more frail, but seems to enjoy all the food and especially the cakes and cookie and chocolate parts of the meal!
Feliz Navidad Everyone!

Take your turkey out soon if you want it thawed for Monday,but don't let any of the meat get warm...nor should you leave it where the cat can chew away at it. I have mine in the roaster downstairs, on the freezer. Once it thaws a bit, I will put it in cold water and just keep turning it over and adding new cold water...or maybe this year, I will try brining it. You add about 1 cup of course salt to a large pot of water that will hold the turkey and cover it all....,and let it sit for 4 or 5 hours just prior to cooking . The meat is very tender and juicy when cooked this way, but the white meat often has a pink tinge that looks uncooked when it really is cooked.Also, if you check out the recipe link above and follow the instructions for roasting the turkey, you'll see that the cooking time is cut way down, but the thickest part of the white meat should still measure 170*


"The Creator"

Blue Sky week-end

Annette's cat, Soleil makes herself at home under the Christmas tree. She has been remarkabley good,and has left it standing. She does,however,take pride in removing one tiny Santa Claus figure that is in the garlands on the rail behind the couch. Nearly every day after work, I find Santa lying on the couch blanket. It must have a little cat nip in it.
As you can see, yesterday started out with the sun shining and it continued all day,until about one o'clock,when the sun falls too far behind our mountain. We still get daylight( ha-ha) but not much sunshine. Soon it won't be visible on our side of the lake until January tenth or so. This is one small sacrifice we make for having sunshine on our beach until 8:30pm in the summer....hence the name Sunshine Bay.
Yesterday was chore day with much accomplished,including a good start to a Mexican seafood soup that I am making for our Mexican dinner tonight. I just have to add Prawns and Scallops to it and the rest of the fish. Then a spritz of lime juice and some grated peel of a lime. My afternoon will be spent chopping and grating for a dinner of Fahitas,natchos, coleslaw and of course,pre-empted by the soup.
In the meantime,enough procrastinating...back to my cards...

"The Creator"