Happy Birthday Annette on May 5th!

Well, my baby is getting all grown up...  . Sooooo...Happy Birthday, Birthday Girl... and I know I can't be there to help eat the cake and make merriment and joy, but I'll stop at Dairy Queen and indulge in a Buster bar in your honour! So have a great day and your present will arrive via Sonia with bells and whistles on it...or maybe hangars and bows... too funny...enjoy and we'll talk to you in the morning or after work! Love ya loads... Mumsie and Dad(sie)


Sitting on the dock in the bay...watching the time sail away......

Peggie's cove maybe...

Annette's photos from her trip.

So everyone knows that I went into Labour with Annette the day before Lynn and Bob got married and I missed the whole wedding...boo-hoo. The wedding party came up to the hospital to visit me and we all had a big cry. The best thing was that I had a perfectly cute brand new baby girl, and Lynn and Bob had a great wedding! Emil partied for both of us! May 6th will be Lynn and Bob's anniversary... 37 years and holding! Way to go!

"The Creator"

The Bon-fire and Bruchettas

Friday night was a perfect night to move the Happy hour to the beach over at Deba nd Ashley's

Here is Mike, roasting his Italian sausage. Everyone else was already done roasting... and they were delicious! Mike and Alissa brought the left over chili from last week's party,so we dined like kings on a beach!

Now here is where it gets serious... Emil brought out the Cohiba cigars that we brought back from Cuba...and you guessed it... we smoked them around the fire! They should have been accompanied with a little scotch, but it seems like wine was just fine. The cigars were a pleasant surprise to us all, as we aren't smokers anymore..and of course, never inhaled...but they somehow were pretty good...aslong as they stayed lit! It was all pretty much funny and a good way to get in the bonfire beach spirit!

Mike and Alissa were yukking it up witht he cigars too... all pretty funny. I thought my mouth would taste like horse poo this morning, but miraculously, Colgate did the trick and all was fine!
I took off early to town to have my Mamos grammed...then did some groceries, ansd walmarted for peat moss and sunshine mix and a rosebush,then set off to Save on for some odd ball things that I was out of...Panko crumbs. You can buy them there. Then I stopped at Safeway and the LCB. That would be two more stops than my normal ability to handle shopping at once. I had the car full, so had to quit shopping at any rate!

When I returned home, a car pulled into the driveway ahead of me and it turned out to be Emil's buddy Wayne, from Cranbrook and his new flame... Sheryl, who took over Emil's job.Weenjoyed the sunshine outside with a few Caronas and then I made some of NAdine and Lynn's bruschetta... so easy. I had found the garlic flavoured ( brushetta style) diced tomatoes in Save-on. They are
by Aylmer and called Accents. (diced tomatoes)

I flavoured them up a little more with more fresh garlic, and a cube of pesto for the nice basil flavour...plus 3 or 4 finely chopped green onions, and a quarter cup of light olive oil. Reserve mixture until you toast the bread slices. I then sliced my baquette on the diagonal, brushed the slices with a light coat of olive oil, and broiled the bread slices on a cookie sheet until they were lightly browned. Watch carefully...or charcoal brickettes will happen!
Top each bread slice with a few tablespoons of the brushetta mixture, (spread across the slice of bread,) then add a sprinkle of parmasean cheese and I added a few sprinkles of grated cheddar cheese. Once they are all topped, just place back under the broiler and watch carefully. toast until the cheese melts a bit and quickly take them out and serve. These are a delicious, easy to make appi, and you can feed a lot of people with it, as one can of diced tomatoes does almost a whole baquette if you are frugal! Five of us inhaled what I cooked on one smaller cookie sheet!

Sheryl and Wayne stayed for BBQ'd smokies and a big salad and fresh strawberries for desert. It was good to touch base with them ,as we hadn't had them over for ages. Sheryl was excited about returning to Victoria tomorrow, as her daughter is due to have baby #3 as we speak. Sheryl hopes her daughter holds out until she arrives, but has a sneaky feeling that the baby will arrive before she does!
well, I think the canucks stunk tonight.. It was such a bad game that I fell asleep on the couch! Now I have to go to real bed. I didn't get to my garden today so have a prayer in for the sun gods at least for the morning!
Love ya all...have a good week-end...



"The Creator"

Lynn's Birthday Lunch

We all congregated in Castlegar at the Black Rooster for lunch on Sunday afternoon to clebrate Lynn's big 60! I must say she is looking like a Spring Chick! She is taking after her Aunties, who never have changed over the past however many years.. they keep their youthfulness...and their usefulness..ha-ha.. I thought that was funny.



Lynn with her birthday bouguet!



Lynn and Moi...



Lynn and Joyce

A happy Birthday Crepe!

Blowing out the candle...and making a wish!

Her new bling!

Standing under Big Blackie! Lynn brought along her friend Tommy Lynn, which I realize I don't have a photo of... many because my camera wouldn't turn on. It has been on the fritz since I returned from Victoria... not good at all.

We had a grand lunch, lots of laughs, and lots of stories and then we had to call it a day, because we were all stuffed with birthday crepe!

Happy Belated to you Lynn... we are blessed that you are in our lives! Hope it made your day a bright one! Joyce and I enjoyed getting together with you...it had been a long time!

"The Creator"

Appi Party at Mike and Alisa's

I brought a veggie pizza for my appi. It is a make ahead kind of munchie that feeds a bunch. You'll need about two packages of crescent rolls ( pillsbury). Arrange them like pie pieces on your pizza pan or baking stone so as toform a crust. You can pinch or press the edges together so there are no holes. Bake about 12-15 minutes at 350*. Let cool.
In a bowl mix up a large package of light cream cheese, and a half cup of miracle whip. I added a full package of Dry Uncle Dan's ranch dressing mix, but found it to be overly salty. I'd start with half a package and check for taste after mixing it all up with the beaters. Spread that onto your crust as evenly as possible. Now, here is where I went wrong... I added way to many veggies. It was a trick to slice it when it was that thick with veggies. Soooooo , here is a case where less is better. I used shredded carrots, chopped green onions, a small red pepper diced, some grape tomatoes sliced, celery finely chopped and then I did cauliflower and brocoli. I steamed the brocoli for a minute in the nuker, ( till bright green) then cooled it down and blotted it dry. I also blotted the sliced tomatoes. Same if you were to use cucumbers. Sprinkle it all on and slice into bite sized pieces, then wrap with saran wrap. It can be stored overnight to let the flavours soak in. You can use which ever veggies you like, and even some black sliced olives would be good as well. So ,all in all, you just need a few veggies for a big pizza!

Dick and Emil

Most of the neighbour hood

Alissa and Mike , the hosts with the mosts!
They have moved into their new kitchen , hence the reason for celebrating... It was a fun night and as usual , Dick and Ann provided us with many laughs...especially when the convo led to talks about viagra before they came out to the party... so funny, we were all in stitches...

I have to go to bed a little earlier tonight as Silky seemed to keep me up for the first half of the night, last night, and I was tuckered out when the alarm went off this morning..and don't feel much better now!

My blog is probably going to come to a slowdown or maybe a halt . Seems I don't have the NRG to get on it very often these days. I have taken an interest in completing our family tree on Geneolgy.com. I have new software, not yet loaded in to the computer, with which I can continue my Family tree project. If I sent a request to you for information regarding proper names ,birthdates and birthplaces, I thank sthose that replied, but would still appreciate hearing from those who haven't replied. Otherwise your limb will be lame.

"The Creator"

Abbi has a new Blog! Check it out!

New Blog for Abbi... Check it out!
http://abbisaceupdates.blogspot.com


"The Creator"

Happy Birthday Virginia!!!!

Happy Birthday Virginia ! Don't worry, You don't have a chicken neck yet!


And here is Miss Busy Body ...showing off her Easter wares!




Whats the lower lip doing there?


It was Happy Hour for Morgan!

Dats a Velly nice pose Joyce! Thank-you for the home made apple pie and ice cream...

It was nice to have a little visit with Virginia and Corey and Miss K.,even if it was rather short... Last Sunday was so busy... We did dinner over at Deb and Ashleys after my visit to Joyce's and it was the day after I drove back from Victoria...rather pooped all in all.

Hokey Dokey Virginia ...Have a wonderful day...and you don't look a day over thirty + something...

"The Creator"

Beach Bonfire

It wasn't a heat wave,thats for sure, but we made the most of it, and roasted the hotdogs and filled our faces till we could eat no more at our first hot dog roasting bonfire of the year!
Everyone brought yummy salads and deserts, so no shortage of good food! Note, Deb wearing her winter touque!

I realize that I never did get a photo of us roasting weiners. My camera has been on its deathbed for weeks now and after the first few pics, it would not turn on...grrrrr....

Ann and Dick are so funny...kept us laughing She was saying the when Dick was working, he might have been the boss, but now that he is retired she is at least HALF the Boss of everything!

The good thing is that it wasn't windy out...freezing cold, but not windy. We packed it in by eight. Anyhow, it was anice little get together to start summer off..Well, at least to start spring off!
The weekend was productive. I planted many little seeds and here is hoping it all grows now. At least my garden is all properly fenced this year. The deer and the varments will be on the outside, not the inside!
I just found my Swiss chard, s o maybe I can get that in one night or morning. I was early enough this morning that I first walked Silky to the beach. She just pooped and turned around to go back home. I left her on the balcony and I returned to the beach then found my way right out on to the big sand bar that is almost showing as much as last year. A narrow bridge of sand keeps your feet dry enough to traverse about fifteen meters of muck, until you are onto the sandbar proper. A huge Immature eagle took flight from the west point of the bar and when I looked more closely, I could see that amongst the geese was another huge bird that was all puffed out, as tho he had just immerged from the water or a fight. I think it was another immature eagle.. It had to be over two feet tall and was brown and speckly with a bit of white here and there. He looked like he was too wet to flyand didn't seem overly afraid, tho I got quite close to him. That sight one killdeer, started my day off just perfectly!

"The Creator"

More Victoria photos

What a lovely way to spend a few days off, than a trip to Victoria to see my sweet family for Easter. Last year, I missed my spring trip and was totally family deprived for months until they came for summer. It is tricky ,not seeing them at Christmas anymore, but as our lives change, these things happen. All I can say, is that I am so happy that I went. I got to see the day to day lives of K. and M.. and we had Maddie's birthday party and then we celebrated Easter and Costco...and I had my hair cut by my old hairdresser who has moved her shop out into her home way out in Langford, but still do-able. So, here are a mixed up bunch of photos, in no particular order.. although Maddie's birthday did pretty much come first.. no, it was second.
I met my friend, Francoise and her partner for breakfast early Sunday at a cute little restaurant called Shine. Breakfast was their specialty and on Sunday morning it was jam packed with line ups out the door! The service was fast and the food delicious! That was the first time I met Paul,and he was easy to chat with and it was no wonder that him and Francoise got together...they are a good match! My camera wasn't working at that moment and my pics are on my phone...so I will post those ones, when I get them off my phone...a whole other procedure...

Maddie getting the ballons blown up



Three MAddie's at one party! How cute is that!



Maddie and Granny B.





Happy Birthday to you-u-u-u-!

Blow out hte candles and make a wish!




Kaleigh and Annette at our Easter dinner which was mighty darn delicious Thank-you Sonia for making it and thanks to Nonie for bringing all the veggies! Yum, Yum, Yum!


Soni with her new haircut... she always looked good in red as a young'in and now she looks fabulous!



That's me with my eyes closed and my new striped hair and Nonie, always with a big smile to greet you! Nonie and Don came down from Mill Bay to join us for dinner. It had been at least three years since we saw visited. It was fun to catch up on everything and we look forward to seeing them up our way in June when they come for a big Legion get-together in Trail



Maddie and her good friend, Ashley...playing the game of Life at the computer. It was afree game in a box of cereal and it provided hours of entertainment!



SPRING HAS SPRUNG!!!!

Looking out from Sonia's doorstep across the cul-de-sac. The trees which were blooming late this year were in their full pink blossoms..a happy scene to greet you in the morning when you walked out the door!

Here's Mr. Spike...he couldn't leave Silky alone, but secretly, I think she liked all the attention!


The trees were all so beautiful in their spring "pinks"



That's my Annette... now she is off in Halifax visiting her new fellow! Woot!- Woot!

And the daffs were all abloom

Soni ,getting MAddie's cake all set up...

"The Creator"

Susan Boyle

She's a hit on the news, so I thought I'd share it here...a huge surprise at the British has Talent show with Simon Cowell. Listen to her sing and you will be amazed as well... Susan Boyle

"The Creator"

Nosica Nosica Sonia wins by a Nose!

Yep, Maddies egg went down, smashed, kuputz!

Sonia was the grand winner! Note that nice Chocofeller Egg. We cracked it open and ate it all gone!

Annette inspects the damage that Sonia's egg inflicted

Kaleigh is paralyzed when hers broke!

So once again it was fun fun fun at Easter at Sonia and Annette's house. Don and Nonie joined us for a delicious dinner of turkey and dressing and gravy and potatoes and all the yummy veggies that Nonie brought..we filled our faces till we could eat nothing more but apple pie!
The Nosica Nosica game was rivoting as usual as everyone put their best egg's nose up to the nose of another player and smacke,smack smack...till you heard that aweful squinch as someone's egg broke.
We usually like to play with two hard boiled eggs each ( large white ones preferred) Colour them up but never apply any decals or anything to the pointy end as that will be your weapon end. Usually we colour then decorate them as a group, before going ahead with the game. Any two players can go together,as long as they keep their elbow on the table. The idea is to tap or smash the other player's egg until either yours or his breaks. There is no set rule how the breaking happens...sometimes it is the smasher and sometimes it is the smashee.
So, if there is a great number of players, every two players can tee off with egg # 1. The winners of that round go against each other in pairs. No real rules here, but everyone should play their egg. The winner is the owner of the last egg not broken. The prize used to always be a giant chocolate filled Purdy's egg, but they don't make them anymore. The winner gets their picture taken and eventually hung on the Nosica wall of fame ( maybe posted to my blog?) Then the idea is to drop the big egg so as to break it open and then everyone helps them selves to a hunk or two or three of chocolate...no covetting of the prize...it is meant to be shared. Figments in Nelson carries the big one that Sonia won and shared...and it was filled with about 6 chocolates. ( See photo above) Otherwise, any good quality egg will do the trick. The rule ussed to be that the winner would be the one who supplies the egg next year. However that is not always workable, so I just buy our egg. my mom used to play it with us as kids, on Easter morning ,before we ATE our coloured egg! No prize in those days, just bragging rights!

Try it out and you'll see that it could be fun any time of the year! And no quail or duck or ostrich eggs allowed!
"The Creator"

Hello from Sunny Victoria

Nice trip down in the sunshine with Silky  and made it to the ferry  by 4:45...minimal lineups and right onto the five ferry. Of course, it was only four days after the fairs were hiked back up!  The kids and kidlets were so happy to see me...makes your heart go pitter patter! I am sure that Maddie has grown a full six inches since fall and Kaleigh is slimming out and really looking like a full fledged teenager...I have already inheirited a pair of her runners that she doesn't like... We have the same large sized feet...a little scary...since mine weren't this long at her age, but I think she came upon it honestly! Both girls played the piano for me... and they already sound so professional! Brings me to tears when I hear them! We had a busy Sunday with a birthday party for Maddie's 11th birthday.  Her friends came over and helped decorate the dining room in balloons and fancy tablecloth and placecards...and guess what? Of all the girls here, three were named MAddie! Different spellings, because some were Madisons, but they all get called Maddi in one way or the other. That was pretty cute! The kids all went with their dad and mom down for a go at the climbing wall for  a couple of hours and then followed it up back at the house with pizza  and two flavours of cake...chocolate and yummy lemon.  Sonia and MAddie were the lemon lovers,as was Kaleigh...and myself...Say no more ...a half cake of lemon was  all gone at the end of the party!

While the kids were out climbing, I found some time to work out in Sonia's flower-bed, trimming back some vines and dead heads and will try to get back out this afternoon to do a little more. I now have gardening gloves, thus it will be a little easier on the hands ! Sonia is working, so I did driving to school and will pick up MAddie and then get dinner ready for when Sonia comes home.

Annette is off work today and has a million things to do. I will go with her to drop off some stuff to the Sally Ann and pick up her food basket that she won at a silent auction...Yum... sounds delicious already! The weather is supposed to go back up to 16* ! Yea! I will go back out for more gardening fun!

Hope you are all having a brilliant day!

"The Creator"