Beautiful Day in Victoria

I have to admit that the weather hasn't been stellar until today... pure blue skies and warm sunny weather...very nice for coffee on the deck and a little "Be a tourist in the town" afternoon. Kaleigh volunteered for duty at the Highland Tattoo and games being held in Victoria this weekend. We picked her up this afternoon to the bleating of bagpipes in Topaz park... loads of people attending and from Kaleigh's retelling...there was everything from sheep herding with border collies to Hagus tossing. We didn't partake ...just picked up Kaleigh and headed into the city to eventually go to the Imax theater. We parked down in ther harbour and walked back along the harbour front, checking out vendors and hawkers of every sort.(I will post pics when I get home!) We picked up our tickets, then wondered back up to the mall and the food court for a sushi lunch that wasn't looking like it came from a stall screaming"Ptomaine Poisoning!"I have to say that the waffles smelled great and Kaleigh had to go to the giant Lemon pod for a drink of Lemonade!
We returned to the theatre, loaded up on a giant pop and popcorn that did us all and settled into our seats for a three-D showing of "Hubble" This was amazing ! It first showed how the astronauts trained in a 16million gallon tank of water four stories deep on how to make repairs to the huge Hubble telescope once they were in outerspace. Then it showed the launch of the Spaceshuttle Discovery and the tedious job of repairing the lens of the Hubble telescope while they were in orbit The images were real and the view of our planet earth was spectacular! The astronauts experienced a new day every 90 minutes, so they often worked through darkness before getting back to daylight within the next 90 minutes. Then the show explained through actual images taken by the Hubble, how vast our universe is... how galaxies abound, and how they are being formed and how they are dying...The mesmerizing thing about the whole show were the real images of stars and nebulas and galaxies and how the telescope Hubble has sent us those profound images. It could have never been possible if the space program hadn't of continued after the deaths of the whole crew from the Columbia shuttle.
All in all, we are such a small entity in a sea of stars in our own galaxy, the "Milky way", but that is only one galaxie of billions out there... Makes you think that more planet earths are not only possible , but totally probable...but how do we find them? ( Of course if you are a regular subscriber to Spaceweather.com, you will know that scientists are working hard to track the shadows of planets fourth from the aclose by star and - being reflected onto that Star(sun)...to check the revolution times...are they similar to earth's 365 days around the sun? If they are, then they could be another planet earth? Their job has only just begun,and it is a theory, but a good one....lots of stars out here to track..
"The Creator"

Flying beats driving! Happy New House Annette and Shawn!

Yes, I have seen the light...Flying to Victoria certainly beats the long drive down! I arrived feeling fresh and happy and it was sunny and my daughter was at the airport to pick me up... all very good indeed. I had a deja vu kind of moment whe I entered the airport and looked up to the second level to see a couple of little girls waving down at the people coming in fromt he plane. In a flash I had a vision that it was Kaleigh and Maddie there all excited about my arrival... then I woke up... those girls couldn't have been more than seven or eight years old!! Instead, my beautiful Sonia was there to give me big hugs... so nice to see her and to be in Victoria within a few hours of leaving Castlegar... all good, and definately worth pursuing the next time I wish to come down for a visit.
Both Kaleigh and Madeline were home sick from school that day... more colds and sore throats... some strep throat going around their schools. Maddie's face was all flushed from a bit of a fever... She took another day off school today...poor kiddo! Sonia made that delicious
When we left Castlegar, it was pouring rain and again in Vancouver it was coming down by the bucketful- however fifteen minutes by air and we were in the sunshine in Victoria. sonia cooked up that delicious Phyllo roasted fresh salmon and we enjoyed a delicious dinner.
Today is another story...grey with showers. We ventured out to LA Vie en Rose... a lingerie store that I usually buy my bras at on-line...so it was fun to go to the real store and see all of the bargains! I had to get a couple of new nighties and found a special blue bra that I have been looking for, for three years now so it was a succesful shopping trip!
We hit up Super store and I nearly cried when I saw all the bedding plants... Multiply everything we have in Nelson by 10 and there it all was , right before my eyes.I guess that is when I thought that having a car here would have been beneficial! Sonia found wave petunias for her flowerpots.
I made a batch of Chocolate chip cookies ( see sidebar under chocolate chip cookies ( Sues) .


"The Creator"

Thursday's Laugh! Baily does Rackelle

"She's a fine looking bitch to me!" "What do you mean she ain't a dog?"

"The Creator"

No Pardon for Karla Homolka a.k.a. LEANNE TEALE - Signatures

No Pardon for Karla Homolka a.k.a. LEANNE TEALE - Signatures

Her and Paul Bernardo should never be pardoned for their horrible crimes. Click on the above link to sign this petition

"The Creator"

Happy Mother's Day weekend!

Happy Mother's Day to all you mom's out there!
Share my beautiful bouquet of flowers that Annette adn Shawn sent me yesterday.
Have you ever seen a flower like this before? She asked for orchids so maybe it is from the orchid family... It is five inches tall and the other one is short and more ripply... very unusual for sure and they feel quite soft.
Thank-you Annette and Shawn for this magnificent arrangement!
My sweet Sonia is taking me somewhere special when I go down in a few weeks....so we will celebrate then...since we are BOTH mothers! Have a great weekend out there.
There is a Mother's Day tea and plant sale out in Proctor if anyone is out this way tomorrow.
I am still a sickie with this darn cold so I am sticking pretty close to home!In fact, I think I will go have a lay down right now... Its the ear.........What?







"The Creator"

Happy 38th Anniversary Lynn and Bob...

Hope you have a wonderful day and a big Congratulations for hanging in there for 38 years... thats a good role model for the younger generation... I didn't have a pic of Bob recently, so just imagine that you are looking at him instead of that White bird of Paradise!






"The Creator"

Happy Birthday Annette!

Happy Birthday to my sweet Daughter who is so far away! We love you! Hope your day is absolutely the best Annette!




"The Creator"

Monday, Monday

After Lynn helped me so much in my garden by weeding out all the dandylions in my raspberry patch, Emil came along and rototilled the parts that weren't planted yet. I need to cover up the newly cultivated parts with new black plastic to keep the weeds from appearing. My next plantings won't be for a few more weeks, by which time the weeds could be two feet tall!

My beautiful Mayday tree that Correna and Joe bought me. The blossoms are opening up
in time for Mother's Day!


A new structure appeared on my walking trail today. Looks like an omen from the show "Lost" ( Is it the part of an old ship? a rail car accident? a piece of a sawmill? Who knows?)Not there last week, but clearly a sign to warn trespassers... Wait a minute... that beach is public below the property lines and high water mark anyhow?
As I walk, I clear away the stones to make a nice walking path. Two weeks ago , the horse lady starts riding her horse along my new trail and redistributes many rocks. A week ago, along comes several ATV's and a Jeep of some sort who totally wreak havoc and rocks on the trail. After that, the mystery person whom I call "Trailbreaker" has come along and put five or six long pieces of driftwood across the trail in order to block it, as one ascends or descends the steep bank that brings you from the main road to the the beach or visa -versa.

Days later the trail is littered with huge rocks to disguise the trail, and days after that, the twigs and branches appear to obliterate the start of the trail along with more large rocks. Today, the skelton was there. Who is the Trailbreaker? I only want to walk there with my doggie.

The dark side of the Rock Trail

Deliberate rock blockers

The warning... If I disappear after one of my morning walks, you'll know it was the "trailbreaker who did it!"

"The Creator"

The Blue birds are back

Lynn sent me her photo of the bluebird



It looks like we have a little flock of about 6 bluebirds that have returned. They are loving the newly cleared property next door. it must be full of little insects that are getting stirred up after David goes over the grassy areas with his mower/chopper machine.

Use your bifocals to see these ones in the brush



Lynn came out for the weekend and we had a mini belated birthday dinner last night.
Here she is with her strawberry shortcake!




The three of us at Jackson's Hole... whats with that cheesy grin, B?
Lynn met Joyce and I after work on Friday and we all enjoyed a yummy dinner out at Jackson's Hole in Nelson. I have to say it was noisier than I would have liked with little kids running around and screaming. I guess we should have stayed in the lounge part of the restaurant. However, the caesers were very good...came with two fat green olives instead of celery, and they do serve good sized portions.
Friday night after we arrived home, David, the new neighbour had started a bonfire and emil and Lynn and the two doggies all went over for with our refreshments. Around 9, it did get cold on the butt,so Lynn and I came home.
For breakfast on Saturday morning, I made blintzi which I served with fried up ham and boiled eggs and then fresh strawberries and sour cream for the blintz... All very good as I hadn't made those in quite a long time.
Lynn helped me immensely with my weekly household cleanup and laundry and then I spent some time in the kitchen preparing the Phyllo wrapped salmon from the Whitewater cookbook. I heard it was quite delicious. I used a filet of Emil's nice rainbow trout and substituted spinach for the kale. So essentially one cleans and chops up the white and a bit of green of three leaks, then fries them up. Steam the spinach ( I used one med bag)( in the microwave) (and drain) and cut the salmon into 6 pieces. You lay out one sheet of phyllo dough with the short end horozontal in front of you. Brush it with melted butter and lay another sheet on top and brush it with butter too. Place your piece of salmon a few inches from the front and in the middle. I sprinkled on a little lemon pepper and then put a sixth of the fried leaks on top, and then a nice clump of the drained steamed spinach and then abunch of dill I had frozen, but fresh would be good. top that off with a few tablespoons of fresh lemon juice and the lemon zest from the peel..
Next fold the left side over top of the salmon ( I brushed on a bit more butter and then folded the right side side over and another brush of butter and then start rolling it up into a neat packet from the the bottom to top. These lovely bundles can be made ahead and frozen or kept in the fridge until ready to cook. You bake them on parchment paper for 20 minutes or until lightly browned and sizzling. The fish was very nicely done, good and moist and a good portion for one person
The sauce that accompanied the salmon packets was a white wine sauce made from fish or clam stock, ginger,a shallot ,all reduced and strained, then cream added . At the end you add fresh lemon juice and dill. I served it with brown and wild rice mix and the sauce over top of all. I have a doozy of a cold still so I couldn't really taste anything but the lemon in the sauce. I think I would try a lemony coconut cream sauce next time... as it seemed pretty fishy to me ! (It was my own homemade fish stock)
Have a good Sunday!


"The Creator"

Chelsea's Grad Exhibition! Occular!

Yes, it could be described as Mega Occular... all about the rose coloured glasses without the roses! Chelsea is my bosse's niece who just completed 2 years at the Kootenay School of Arts in the jewellery program,and I'd say she was the top notch student in the class! Her work is creative, fresh, and well accomplished! She will go far in her trade, if she takes after her Uncle!


Crazy but true... all these pieces are for your eyes, and the littel one in front hangs from a chain and you hold it up to your eye and look through a beautiful clear gemstone to see a kaleidascope world... very amazing. The one on the left is made of brass and actually telescopes in and out... Don't you think these fine pieces could be in the next Star Trek movie?


My boss Chris, and his sister Audrey...mom of the star Chelsea

Chelsea -proud grad... Beautiful work. The piece behind and to the right is a magnificent magnifier with candles tucked into her personal leaf motif... very beautiful!

Audrey, Chelsea and Tibo, in front.

Emil and I took in the grad show on Friday night, then after our schmozzing, we went to Bogus town for a bite. By then I was starting to notice I couldn't smell anything and my head was feeling quite stuffed... ( not to mention my belly)

We spent the night at our town huse ( Stan's) and that was sure nice... Thanks Stan... We even brought Silky there and she spent the night as well. One thing I didn't count on was the downpour of rain and hail first thing in the morning whe we were leaving... I didn't bother with a coat since it was so pleasant and warm on Friday... Even Silky wouldn't stop in the rain to take a pee!

We spent some quality time in town, had a little A&W breakfast and did some groceries and were back home by noon...in time for me to get down to my garen. The sun had poked its head out intermittantly..enough to give me courage to plant some seeds!

After that, week-end went by in a frenzy, especially once I felt this nasty cold/cough/earache thing coming on... I hope you don't have it yet! Seems like everyone in our neighbourhood has had it, including Emil ,who mysteriously is getting better!


Here is hwat happened to my nice "Stokes" weeder tool when I tried to dig up a nasty dandylion... yep, she snapped right in half. The Stokes folks will send me a replacement free of charge... how nice of them!

I worked my hiney off on Saturday in my garden and actually accomplished a ton... planted some salad greens, and fifty gladiola bulbs... Now who was the crazy who bought all of them? Now I have to plant some sweetpeas, which I discovered that I never ordered from Stokes. Thats ok...they will be sent with my replacement weeder. I still have about two thousand dandelions to weed out of my raspberry patch. For some reason they have a knack of lodging themselves right next to or on top of another plant. I already hacked off about five lilies just trying to remove one dandelion... It was a biggy and wasn't the one that broke the tool...just broke my heart instead!

By the time I came in from gardening ,every body part was frozen cold and aching and my cold was worse than ever... I headed for the jacuzzi and some muscle soak and some nice smelling eucalyptus bath salts that Annette sent me.

On Sunday morning , I awoke , feeling much better ...not so achy in the joints!

I cooked up a big pot of beet borscht for John and Ronda, who popped over later in the afternoon. We heard the whole story of Ron's surprise... getting a brand spanking new ATV from his thoughtful wife, Phoebe! Such a nice treat for him... he certainly deserved it!

I called it an early night after dinner with John and Ronda as I could feel my head getting stuffier every minute ( like it is now) .

Thanks to John and Ronda for coming over... always nice to have a little visit with them. We will see more of them this summer as they have some camping and golfing in mind!

Ok... its past my bedtime and Silky has come looking for me to go to bed...

Have a good week everyone and try not to catch this miserable germ. I can't complain as I think it has been well over a year or maybe two since I have even had a sniffle!

"The Creator"

Just in Case you aren't:

IF you are using a bum email client, how about making your life easier and switching to Microsoft Outlook Express and experience the freedom of email?
If you have it already, you can check by clicking Help in Outlook express and then at the bottom, click "About" to see which version you are running. It should be version 6.
http://outlook.express-email.info/outlook-express-6/index.php
"The Creator"

My Wed.Morning walk

'Bout the only thing blooming in my garden...Globe Primulas


Ring Necked Ducks that made a funny Breeping quack...well, only one was doing the quacking and it sounded more like honking. I haven't seen these kind of ducks here before. They had quite a pompador Knottop...one female and five male suitors...She must of been the queen or high priestess.

More than half the week gone already,so have a good remainder of the week...and enjoy this warm weather!

"The Creator"

Big Sale at La vie en rose

If you are near a Store, check out my link for a dandy coupon that can save you 50% on Sleepware or 30% on other products... It doesn't seem to apply to online shopping...boo-hoo... but I recommend the magnetic clip bras... they work like a hot damn and are easy to fasten and unfasten! ( Not so great if you are buying them for your 16 year old daughter:-)) Anyhow... get a coupon and save a bunch at in store shopping.
Ok...time to go check and see if Lost is really on...
Have a great warm week
http://magneticattraction.lavieenrose.com/vip/VIP_web_2010_en.pdf
"The Creator"

Just checking...

I am using a new template from Blogger in its Beta state so it may change from time to time as Blogger tweaks up the templates. One new feature they will have is links to other pages... so maybe I will be able to link to a recipe a little better. I will work on that. If anyone can't view it at all, then let me know...like Eileen did this morning. I changed a few things so we will see how it goes.. I'll play with the colours some more as I have time. In the meantime, have a great weekend out there!


"The Creator"

Photos that Joyce took

Joyce sent me these adorable photos she took while on her little trip to visit the kids and grandkidlet... and she took her new partner in crime... Little Amigo. She said that Kendra had a ton of fun with him and made sure she explained that he was a rescue dog from Mexico! Someone asked her if he spoke Spanish and she said: "No, but he loves rice!"


Kendra and Amigo


Wow...check out C's new shoes! Right out of the Wizard of OZ and Beyond! I love them...

She is a bold woman and maybe has a few of those Grandma Romas shoe genes lurking in her system
...A gal after my own heart!

Joyce and Kendra having a swing!

Here is Eva's husband , One of the newly formed group called "Bald Eagles!" Way to go Dave for shaving it off for cancer...We all love ya for it...not a bad shaped dome at all!

"The Creator"

Blue Birds of Happiness...

But first, my clean and clipped Silky after her bath today!



Look what the wind blew in... a flock of about 6 Mountain Blue birds...now aren't they beautiful? The males are the bright blue ones! You can't miss them!

They never stayed more than ten minutes.. just hopped from one tree to the next, but the amzing thing they could do was to flutter their wings and hover in one spot like a hummingbird would do... very amazing. Most of them were brilliant blue,and a few were more grey...the poor females, I guess! Anyhow I felt blessed to see these beautiful creatures, and so many all at once. Makes me want to set up bluebird houses now!



"The Creator"

Bear with me...Grrrrrrr

I am trying out a Beta version of blogger that allows this template, but as you will notice, there are a few problems...mainly with my videos.. you can still click on them to view the photos, but certainly they are not working right. I will either delete them or try to improve the situation. Same with the photo I had in my header... it seems to cause problems, so I will stick with the mountain scenery available in this template and may change it from time to time... or maybe I'll jsut go back to my old template... who knows???? it is all in the day of a blogger!
So Bear ..grrrrr With me...
"The Creator"

Hawaii meets Harrop

Five young'ens were out on Saturday doing some fabulous Kite surfing/boarding ( that's what I call it!) The winds were strong and the waves big, and they were performing a few tricks when they could catch a big wave.It was quite the phenomena for this area.. and yes, they were all wearing wet suits! I was amazed that they hung on for over an hour... Their arms must have been dropping off!




The water is at its lowest now and as you can see, the sandbar is showing
and the sand bridge to get out to the bar is completely out of the water... but perhaps not for long. Soon the lake will begin to fill up and that will be the end of all the beautiful beaches for another two months nearly. I guess it all depends on our snow melt. The cool weather of last week brought 40 centimeters of new snow up to Whitewater ski hill,which might help to keep our forests from burning up this summer!

Last night we had a lovely bonfire in Ashley and Deb's burner that they set up in the courtyard... The wind wouldn't abate, but we all stuck it out! Randy and Frances came and later our new neighbour, David joined us with his two sons for hot dogs roasted over the open fire... Yum! it wasn't without the gourmet touch, as Frances made an extra thick home made pizza dough pizza stuffed full of feta cheese and pineapple and good meats... yum! Also she made a home cooked apple pie that was pretty tasty too! Deb and I brought wieners and buns and she made her famous lemon squares... a thin layer of shortbread type buttery crust, and a layer of real lemon filling topped with a very thin layer of something sweet to give it a topping... very delicious also.
Seeing how I worked on income tax stuff most of yesterday and filing, I made a quickie pizza with a Naan bread crust topped with tomato paste, spices, mozzarella cheese, sun dried tomatoes and yellow peppers and sliced mushrooms... It was tasty too and with all that good food, I can honestly say, there weren't a heck of a lot of left-overs.
Ok, on with the day.
I had a nice chat with Annette this morning, and a little Blackberry chat with Sonia who sent me pics of her and Lawrence walking on the beach... how cool was that?
Time to bath the dog, then back to shredding up more paper while Emil sands the deficiencies in the Men's lounge. I love this annual clean out of the file cabinet...no mi favorito!
It is windy and freezing out, but if it warms up, I might go try to stick in a row of spinach.
Have a great Sunday!
"The Creator"