.... she's 3

 

 

... and it's time to party...

Under the grape vines ...

We had so much under these now bare grape vines. Late night drinks with friends, a magical night with all the candles lit. Family barbecues, shucking peas and beans and  lovely cool shade from the burning sun. 

Til next year!

A lad for the ladies...

You would expect a person who raises chickens and allows those chickens to hatch their eggs would have a plan on how to deal with the potential of having several roosters and chickens hatch. If you don't know, you can only have one rooster in one chicken coop. If you have more than one rooster they will fight to have control of the chickens.  Well it seems that a neighbour of mine has found a new way to rid himself of roosters, he just throws them out of the coop to fend for themselves. My heart broke when I found out he threw 3 out, two went missing in no time, one survived, a friend and I tried to catch him but to no avail. It would seem we have a feral rooster in our neighbourhood and I sure hope he makes it.

In the meantime I found out that said neighbour has two other roosters ready to be chucked but luckily I was able to rescue one. So my ladies have a new and very handsome lad in their midst, a bantam rooster. They did not even blink an eye when I placed him the hen house late one night, next morning it was just business as usual in the coop.

Floyd's Diner

I own a diner ... so when I travel I will eat in a diner...not sure if I'm supporting other diners, scoping out the compitition or just looking to compare my food to others and copy said others, if the food is worth copying.
I know...I can't believe I just admitted that!

Floyd's Diner in Victoria is a cool looking place, very colorful, lots of seats, and a great menu...but wow...I can not find their website...don't they have one?

I had the Ranchero eggs and Art had eggs benny, both were good but ...  mine are better! No copying this time around.

We beat the storm...

On our way home on BC ferries from Comox to Powell River we beat the storm and headed towards sunny skies...

Townsite Brewing Co.

Powell River now has it's own craft beer...brought to us by Townsite Brewing Co.

The first keg was delivered to Mckinny's Pub at the Rodmay hotel on March 24th. I was lucky to have a taste and oh boy, it's really delicious!

A very colorful parade took the first kegs to the pub...the parade was led by a bag piper, followed by two goats, a biker and carriage, carrying a bride and groom...they were having their reception next to the brewery and were asked if they wanted to be in the parade...

And the mastermind behind this hugely anticipated event, Karen, owner of the brewery, way to go Karen!

A day at the park...

All she wants to do is swing ...my oh my what a fuss she made when it was time to go!

Uniquely West Coast

Heading to Earls Cove from Saltry Bay on BC Ferries....wind blowing...making it hard to take a breath...the clouds gather between the mountains...this is the West Coast of British Columbia.

Mourning...

I have been absent for some time....but I'm mourning the much to early death of my friend. She fought hard, for eight months, but in the end cancer won. Deirdre was diagnosed with a very rare type of cancer, small cell carcinoma in the cervix, so rare that in 2010 out of 11,000 cases in the USA of cervical cancer, only 100 women had this particular kind of cancer...scary statistics.

There are so many things I want to say about Deirdre but it all boils down to one thing, Deirdre was an angel here on earth and I will miss her forever.

She was quite often present at one of the famous sister parties...after all she was the point to the pyramid!

Rest in peace Deirdre and fly with the angels in Heaven.

The lay-about and the troublemaker...

This is the layabout....

...and this is the troublemaker...

Simple pleasures.....

In this very busy life of mine there a few jobs that I take true pleasure from but which were a real chore to me in my past life...

Really basic things like cooking a simple meal... I used to like cooking fancier meals and found simple everyday meals a bit humdrum but now that I cook for a living I look forward to simple meals. We had such a meal last night, a stir fry of leftover steak, some mushrooms, zucchini and red pepper in a black bean sauce with rice. It was really lovely!

Monday ramblings...

...as the owner/operator of Magpie's Diner,almost every minute of my day it spent on the business...why oh why did I ever complain about my EASY work at home job.

You would think that working on my feet all day I would be able to loose weight or at least not gain any weight...but you would be wrong. After two years of hard work all I have to show is weight gain and really sore feet, willpower is not working for me so I'm thinking of starting PGX...thoughts?  

I went to the doctor about my foot, he thinks it's a weird form of planters fasciitis so he put me on prednisone, a strong anti-inflammatory steroid, worked wonders on my back, tennis elbow, and all sorts of pain and aches but my foot although not as sore, still hurts, so back I go on Tuesday.

I know that exercise is key but with my sore feet I can't get out walking, and if I do a 90 year old can walk faster...and exercise is key and must fit it into my daily schedule. There are only two types of exercise I can think of that will not hurt, swimming and biking. I'm not a good swimmer but I figure that if I jump into the deep end, dog paddle out a few meters, I'll work so hard at staying afloat that I should get as much exercise from not drowning as I would from swimming laps. After about 30 minutes of trying to stay afloat I can make my way to the stationary bike...just love the thought of biking to nowhere...

Of course my diet plays a huge part in all this...well lack of diet...I used to eat lots of veggies and fruit...now I survive on cold fries, tomato ends, bread crusts and broken eggs...yum!

So time for a change...as I write this I'm just finishing a donut and coffee with cream...in my old life I ate the occasional donut and drank my coffee black...so my first change, no donuts and back to black...

Then ... I will stock the fridge with lots of fruits and veggies, right now my cupboards and fridge are empty except for dog food, cat food and olives (for my martinis)...

Start exercising...I know I should start today but I work from 11am to 9pm...so I'll go to the gym tomorrow...after I buy new runners, a bathing suit and some new shorts, ugh!

Well one thing at a time...Happy Monday everyone!

Waiting to board...

...the ferry to Powell River and it's cold outside, -7 with a brisk wind...my face is frozen as I try to catch the waves pounding the shore.

Happy Birthday...

Mia did not want to wear her birthday hat but Seiko felt very stylish with it....

A gift of snow

It doesn't snow in my part of the world all that much...and if it does...the snow quickly turns to rain because most of the time the weather warms up when the clouds move in.

Not today... the snow fell, the clouds moved out, the sun moved in, the cold temps remained and the snow did not melt, well not all of it, a real gift.

The bathroom can wait...

I have a day off today and cleaning the bathroom is on the ...things to do... list. But guess what? After days of rain I woke to a clear and sunny day. The bathroom will still be there tomorrow dirt and all but my friends the sunshine might not be...so I'm playing hooky today and going for a long walk.

Vancouver Island snow covered peaks in the distance with Savary Island to the right.

Glorious!

A toasty pot...

Toasty and warm in an empty pot....

Powell River Sea Fair

aaahhh...the fair is in town and with some nice weather, some good (bad for you)

food, some great people, and some time off, we could not help ourselves but have a good time! Fireworks on tonight but way past my bedtime...maybe next year.