No Plan and No Map

Week One 

Lightning, thunder, rain,  and life in a small trailer turns into a car trip to Kelowna to shop, eat, shop, eat and stay in a hotel.

We had one day of boating, tubing and wake boarding and the other nice day we went to a pool party at the neighbors.

Several cocktails were consumed - it's okay I was on holiday!

Week Two
This is the Without a Plan and Without a Map part and done in a borrowed not too modern motor home.

We drove 

We shopped

We drove

We ate

We drove

We saw where The Husband grew up -yikes! (quite remote and a very small village)

We took the ferry

We saw a snake (I HATE snakes)

We saw bears, deer and a raccoon

We drove

We bungeed - well not me I'm afraid of heights

We zip lined - again not me  (heights)

 We hiked

We travelled in a motor home which is an experience not to be missed .  ugg

We stayed in a resort

We surfed -not me - (someone needs to hold the stuff)

We skim boarded - (not me - someone needs to keep Archie the Dog out of trouble)

We ate

We laughed.  And laughed and laughed - I think too much fresh air is not a good thing for your brain it makes everything funny.

We played in the tidal pools

We ran into our neighbors who were as stunned to see us as we were them.

I did laundry

We stopped in Lytton, Savona, Vancouver ,Nanaimo,  White Rock, Tofino, Uculet ,Cathedral Forest, Parksville ,Coombs, and Hope,
In Lytton I tried to buy cheese and the clerk said the only cheese they had was inside the smokies.   ?  !  

We are glad to be home.

I am putting all the photos at the end so that you can silently say, "Oh God here she is with slides of her vacation" and then quitely slip away to get a cold beverage...........

Too close to home to get out of the motor home.

Maybe we'll just drive and never get out.

Anyone want to hike to the waterfall?  no..  no.. no.. sigh.

Parksville sand castle contest.  We were not the builders, just the gawkers.

Driving to Tofino

  No. no echo here.

This is where Son #1 lost a $50 filter to his camera and we had to convince him The Vacation was not ruined.

It is 32 deg C here while you wouldn't know that by the attire.

The husband is an adventurer - he rode his bike from London to Greece and back! (he didn't cycle the entire way he did take a couple of ferrys). I would have flown home from Greece.  Well, to be perfectly honest, I would have flown back from the first ferry crossing which is the English Channel.  

I think there's something dead in here - or maybe someone's sandwich - but Archie the Dog is determined to get it.

Archie the Dog hopped onto this log by himself and the nearby tourist thought he was an agility dog.  HA!  He only has to be agile enough to hop up on our bed.  He had fun though.

This is Tofino.

This old boat has been turned into a "hotel".  They were calling a B & B except they didn't offer the second B.

MacKenzie Beach where we stayed in the motor home and also found the great Crystal Cove Resort.

Chestermans Beach.

See the tiny black dots in the upper left side of the photo - this is where the surf lessons were taken.

Arm indicates 'I'm going that way'

Leg indicates "darn it!"

Wet sand indicates its not as easy as once thought

Five hours was just about enough of this for them.

ahhhhh, the smell of dead ocean things!

A bit chilly.  Next year Florida? 

Crystal Cove Resort.
Much more comfortable than the motor home......

....which we had to leave at the front gates as motor homes not allowed.

They are always waiting for me they say but when we get to where we are going it's "mom did you bring the....?"

Things I hate to step on when I'm in the water.

This kite surf almost drove Archie the Dog insane!  He ran off down the beach to attack it and when he saw just how large it was he spent the rest of the day growling but with his tail between his legs.

Long Beach surfing was most unsuccessful but they had a wonderful time.

Long Beach - 22 km in length

More Long Beach

Downtown Ucuelet

Cathedral Forest

Zip lining over the Nanaimo River.

 Bungy over the Nanaimo River!

And finally, the video of the Bungy Jump.  The voices are myself and Son #2.  Speaking was very difficult but considering the dry mouth, while holding back the urge to puke, I think I did okay.

Okay, that's it.  Back to reality.
Next post - vegetables and crafts (or maybe not).

Bungy!

I don't know how to download a Vimeo video to Blogger and my 'still holiday' brain is not co-operating but if you click this link below you will see the reason for my greying hair and chronic upset stomach.

I think my kids are trying to kill me off before I become a burden.....

Photo above is Son #2 at the end of his jump and

this video link is of Son #1 jumping 

The bridge is 150 feet over the Nanaimo River.

Son #1 used his GoPro cameras so we could experience the jump with him.

http://vimeo.com/47259642

More holiday fun to come as vacation brain returns to normal.

Summertime and the Livin' is Easy.....

I know.  Boo hoo to me and yes,  there is some comfort in knowing I am not alone.

Well, maybe not comfort....

Four weeks.
That is my time off for good behaviour.

One week at Christmas, one week at Spring Break and two weeks in the Summer.

For the past couple of  weeks it has been very hot here.

Very Hot.

I am on holidays for the next two weeks and because of karma (or some past life indiscretion) the weather forecast for next week  is cool with rain, thunder and lightning. 
Great! (sigh)

The boys and I and Archie the Dog will be in the trailer at the cabin on the lake.

The Husband will be at work.

The boys will expect me to drag them around the lake behind the boat while they wakeboard, tube and whatever else it is they do back there.

I will be worrying that I am going too fast or that I will hit something or someone.

Have I mentioned that I am a neurotic worrier?

Hopefully there will be too much lightening to go on the lake.
Don't tell them I am wishing for this.
They think I am a fun mom.

The Husband will come out after work and stay over and go back to work each morning from the lake.

He gets up at 4:30 AM.

The trailer is small, he is not, that means we will all be up at 4:30 AM.

Up and angry.

"Yes, please! we would love it if you could stay with us",  I forced myself into saying.

The second week The Husband is not at work.
The plan was Tofino and kayaking and surfing.
Unfortunately there is tsunami debris washed in with the tide from Japans disaster last year - big and little debris.
Shipping containers, large fishing vessels, docks and plastics and other floaty things.
Sad really -  bits and chunks of peoples lives.

This year as well there will be No Lifeguards!!! on Tofino's Long Beach to save us when we decide to do something we are not capable of.  Like surfing.

"Discontinuing the Surf Guard program at Long Beach puts surfers in danger and will discourage visits to the park," says Bob Jackson, PSAC Regional Executive Vice-President, "The four Surf Guards employed by Parks Canada perform an indispensable service: on average they perform 8 water rescues and make 800 contacts with people on the beach per season. What will happen when they're not there and a surfer gets into trouble?"

I know we will be one of the eight.
Have I mentioned I am a worrier?

So with Tofino off the agenda we are now trying to find another fun relaxing place.
Whistler?  mountain biking, zip lining, hiking?
Salt Spring Island ? kayaking, eating, biking?
Canmore? caving, hiking, biking?


The boys choice?

West Edmonton Mall.

Good Lord.  What are they thinking?
Drive 8 hours to spend a week inside a mall?

I don't think so.





See that? on the edge of the pool?  I'm sure that's the Plantars wart virus.

Have I mentioned that I am a neurotic worrier?


Anyway I will be gone for two weeks.
Don't do anything fun without me!





Summertime - Sam Cooke

Typos and other Things

Let me start by saying I ama a terrble typist and will leave in tthe typos so you will see I am not making this up.

Okay maybe not.  It would be too hard for you to read.




Son #1 is at a family reunion this week.  

He has always been one for wanting to be surrounded by family and friends. 

 The more the better.  

The family reunion is not for our family but someone elses - he doesn't care.  

He will be in his 'lots of people' glory.

Here he is getting an award for principals list - all marks over 90.
He wore this ugly yellow hat last year too.

When Son #2 was young he wanted long hair and didn't cut it until he was 12.  It got very long and he was often mistaken for a girl.  He didn't care, he just thought those people were crazy. He knew he looked like a boy.

 Over the past three years his hair has been getting shorter - first the Goth, then the Beiber, then the Beckham and last week he shaved it off.

This is his new look.

Here he is, also getting a principals list award.

He was really proud of himself.



 Last week a bird flew into our window and died.  He (Son #2 ) picked it up and buried it under the cherry tree because "I know they love cherries, mom"

He showed me the 'gravesite'

"I said a few words" he said.

I didn't ask what he said but I am very curious.



Here I am pitting cherries, I need a hair cut.
Story of my life - sigh.

I wonder if The Husband got cherry juice on the camera.  He'll do anything to get out of pitting cherries.
Or picking raspberries.

This is the sweet cherry tree three weeks ago.

There is also a sour cherry tree in the front that is covered in cherries and while I picked about a thousand pounds of them yesterday I still have another thousand pounds to go.

I 've tried to give them to neighbours but they look at me like I'm trying to sell crack.

Even the food bank does not want sour cherries.

They will take my radishes, lettuce and spinach,
but no cherries.

Back to my bad typing skills.

 I have never had good keyboard skills.
 I thought if I didn't learn then I would not be stuck at a desk.
That plan didn't work out so well for me.
Not only am I at a desk but  I fight with the keys every day and sometimes end up with words other than what I meant them to be.

Today is not a good typing day but it is a lot better than the time I sent a mail to a client.
 I proofed everything except his name.
When he received the mail he phoned me
and said,

'Joy, one must never leave the G out of the name Angus.'

I turned him into an asshole.... shhh don't tell anyone.

Yikes!

 I was embarrassed and he was a good sport.

... and I never think of him without changing his name.

Do as I say, Not as I Do.

Words of wisdom.

Seldom followed.

This past weekend was a cooker in the sun and heat department.

34 deg C  around 100 deg F for those of you who don't Celsius

Great weekend for boating and playing in the water and eating melon and drinking beer

(but not at the same time)

"Did you put on sun screen?"

"Yes, mom."

This question was asked and answered several times over the weekend.

When we got home late last night my shoulders and chest were too burnt and  too sensitive to the flash of the camera to show you a picture but this is similar to how my skin looks.

When I found this picture I also found this recipe - looks good doesn't it?

Red Beets  

http://aromacucina.typepad.com/aroma_cucina/2008/03/red-beets.html

Red Beets
Is there a more pain in the ass tuber? Probably not, and yet, they are still worth the trouble and the red hands and the stains on the cutting board. (And if you eat a lot of them, you pee red, which in the middle of the night, when you’ve forgotten that you’ve eaten the beets, can give you quite a scare.)  But, I digress.

Here’s a flavor match made in beet heaven.

Roast Beet, Blue Cheese and Walnut Salad
2-3 fresh, smallish red beets
1 chunk of good blue cheese, firm and sharp
1 handful of walnuts
2 bowl sized portions of salad greens
Olive oil, vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper

You’re making a salad, ok, so you really don’t need exact quantities here. You like a lot of blue cheese…add some more. You prefer goat to blue, go for it.

Turn the oven on to 350. Wash the beets, don’t go crazy, and just get off any obvious dirt lumps. Pierce the skin of each beet a few times and put them in the oven, directly on the rack. Roast until soft (not falling apart soft, just resilient soft). When they are cool enough to handle, peel the beets, the skins will just come off without a lot of struggle.  Slice into ¼” thick slices, then cube.  Place the cubes in a bowl with 2T olive oil and a dash of vinegar. Coat the beet cubes and let stand at room temperature until you are ready to serve the salad.

The walnuts. Here you have some more options. You can use half walnuts, or roughly chop the walnuts and serve them like that. You could also melt a small amount of butter to a pan, melt it, add some sugar and then caramelize the walnuts, coating them in the melted sugar and butter.

Crumble the blue cheese.  Make a simple vinaigrette dressing: 4 parts olive oil, 1 part good red vinegar and a little bit of mustard. Some people like a little salt and pepper added to the vinaigrette.

Throw the salad into a bowl and add the dressing, toss well and divide the salad into two serving bowls. Add the beet cubes, cheese and walnuts on top of the bowls and serve. The reason that you need to serve this in individual bowls instead of family style is that you just know your dining partner is going to snitch all the walnuts, or the beets, and this eliminates any bickering at the table. See, I think of everything.

Anyway enough about beets. 

 I was also going to post a picture of fried bacon which my skin also might  resemble but I can't eat bacon and wouldn't have a recipe to include so never mind........

Remember, put on that sun screen!

Grand Epiphany

She is an RN in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

He is on the city police force.

They are a beautiful lovely couple.

They are my niece and her husband.

and they are having a baby.

She sent the ultra sound picture by email two months ago and announced "you're going to be a great-aunt!"

I am very excited but don't like that they live on the other side of the country.

Over these past two months I have been sewing and buying baby things and thinking about being a great-aunt and then it hit me.

If their mother is the grand mother and their grandma is the great grand mother then shouldn't their aunt be the grand aunt?

I'm don't feel old enough to be the great-aunt.

I think the 'greats' should be grey and wrinkly and the 'grands' should still be dying their hair, sucking in their bellies and only have a small bit of wrinkly.

I think I'll start a petition.


All those in agreement 
Please Sign Here:


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