Dianne and Steve come for the weekend! March 1 - 10th

The weather has turned into spring weather. Warm days and showery weather with the odd sunny day thrown in. We did manage a campfire in between days of rain.

Someone trying out fishing before the Frostbite Derby on the weekend!

With the nicer weather, I fired up my pizza oven on the deck.

Ta Da! Only one edge slightly over toasted this time. :)

It was a bit of a cooking week for me. I even made fresh pasta for the first time in a long while. Used my new food processor I got for Christmas and of course used my pasta maker attachment for my mixmaster. Turned out delicious with my homemade tomato sauce from last year's harvest and mixed with ground beef and mild italian sausage. (Description for you Frannie!)

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday Ray spent getting stuff ready for Steve and Dianne's arrival on Thursday. Steve is coming down to go in the Frostbite Derby on Saturday and will help launch the boat Friday morning. Ray managed to finally get ahold of this guy across the lake from us, Dennis, that actually catches fish all the time. After a great conversation on the guys boat, Ray took a bunch of pictures of his gear. Then it was off for a quick trip to Nanaimo on Tuesday morning to Harbour Chandler for more fishing tackle lol.

Boat batteries were dead as a doornail .... someone forgot to turn off the battery switch over the winter and did not periodically put the charger on them????? They were dropped off on Monday and we picked them up on Wednesday as I had some grocery shopping to do in Duncan. Fortunately, as they were only a year old, the charge came back up ready for launching the boat Friday morning. 

My Aerogarden is doing well on my counter. Soon I will have fresh herbs outside at the end of April.

Jason dropped Olaf off about 9:30 am as we have him for 5 days while the kids are in Vancouver. Dianne wanted to meet him forever..... Olaf turned 2 years old on February 2nd. Part of the deal if we took him, Dianne would have to help walk him. lol

Steve and Dianne arrived around 2:30 pm on Thursday and we were able to sit outside on the deck and enjoy the fire table and heaters.

I made a Prime Rib Roast on the barbeque for dinner with the fixin's.

Hang on Dianne!

Friday morning after a big breakfast, the guys pulled the boat out, and installed the bimini cover. Soon after, they headed out to launch the boat. Fortunately it started easily and Ray was soon at the dock, while Steve drove the car and trailer back.

Here he comes.

Ray got the boat all tied up and then Steve and Ray put the trailer back into the garage. Now my greenhouse can move up to the front of the house. :)

Steve helped Ray get the greenhouse bolted to it's platform and then they pushed it up Mike's driveway and down ours to in front of the boat garage. Got a little snow on it Monday morning. lol

Since the sun had come out we decided to go for a drive to Duncan (Ray need an extension to his downrigger power) and have lunch at Arrowsmith Brewing for a little outing. Tonight will be beef dip leftovers anyways. Thanks for lunch Dianne and Steve. They had this cool sign there as this used to be motorcycle shop, now a brewery.

Back home we were back out on the deck for the rest of the afternoon. Good thing I got those heavy poly curtains. :)

Friday morning, the boys were out of the house and in the boat for 7:45 am to hopefully catch a fish for the Frostbite Derby. Unfortunately 4 hours in the morning and a couple more after lunch they were unsuccessful. It was a windy, grey day but at least it didn't rain. Ray was warned by Dennis that this time of year is not great fishing. There were 20+ fish turned in though, but we think they caught them at the end of the lake near Shaw Creek or Bear Lake, and it was too nasty on the water for the guys to go that far in our boat.

These guys stayed out really late, we saw them come by our dock later in the afternoon.

2 guys fishing from shore

The guys were in by 3 and called it a day. After sitting outside for an hour or so, they headed out to the legion at 4:30 for the weigh in and prizes. Dinner apparently was disapointing. Dianne and I just relaxed and had leftover Split Pea Soup with buttermilk biscuits I'd made earlier in the day to warm the guys up.

There apparently were lots of prizes to give out by a number drawn. Steve got a fish gaff/bonker, Ray got a pair of boots that hopefully he can exchange for a proper size. There was probably 100 people there that had entered. They guys sure didn't see that many boats out though, but you were allowed to fish Bear Lake too.

While the guys were out, Dianne and I chillaxed. :)

Sunday morning I made crepes for breakfast after a relaxing morning.

After breakfast, the fabulous kitchen crew did the dishes, then the group took Olaf for his walk in the park next door. I went shopping for some dinner ingredients. Baked chicken quarters and fried rice and lots of veggies. I prepped for dinner when I got back from the store. Lots of chopping for a quick cooking dish. :) and the rice had to be made and cooled in the fridge until cooking it later.

Since the weather turned out so nice although very windy, we decided to go into Youbou and have a late lunch at the Youbou Pub. Our treat this time. With the time change last night the day got away from us. Good thing today was not the derby with the wind. Whitecaps everywhere.

Again the rest of the afternoon spent on the deck.

All too soon the visit was over. It started snowing this morning while the Colibabas were getting ready to leave. Apparently it was only snowing here and once they hit Duncan, it was dry roads and sunshine all the way home to Courtenay. We had on and off snow showers, hail, wet snow and sunny periods all day. What wacky weather. Only here though. A delivery driver came at 2:30 and it was still sunny in Duncan, while snowing here.

Tomorrow our car goes in for servicing in Duncan for an oil change and regular maintenance. Hopefully the roads are ok, more snow forecasted for tonight.

Jason will be here around noon to pick up Olaf. 

Tuesday morning, snowing at the lake, but as soon as I was on the hill on Highway 18 there were dry roads all the way to Toyota. Glad I left early.

The snow started in Duncan at 8:20 am, an hour after I left the lake. Ray took a picture at 8:30 and we have more snow.

Our maintenace took 6 hours, from 8 am to 2 pm. Good thing I went instead of Ray. After doing a couple of errands and lunch at Whitespot, I managed to get back home by 3:30. No snow in Duncan and 6C. Coming home I hit heavy snow about 13 km from home. It is only 1C here. There was apparently a big 3 car accident earlier this morning on Highway 18 and one of the trucks was still in the ditch. Nice to be home safe and sound.

Hard to believe another month has gone by! - Feb 19 - 28

Thursday is a pretty cool day at 2 C (35.6 F) with a very cool breeze. Defnitely toque and glove weather. Next week is supposed to warm up and be more like spring.

We managed to sit outside on our deck a few times, with the new curtains and heaters on, it is very pleasant.

Not much happening here the past week or so. We've been to our exercise class Wednesday's and Fridays. Ray's working downstairs finishing up the greenhouse base and making shelves for his antique tools in his workshop.

Had to place the shelves and buckets so he knows where to drill drainage holes in the base and then slap some waterproofing on the bottom and in the holes to prevent rot later. He only wants to build this once. :)

Tuesday, February 24th, we decided to go out for lunch to Mother Hen's BBQ on the way to Chemainus at Russell Farms. We'd heard that they have great BBQ. Ray ordered a huge meal platter, so he could try everything! It was expensive, and not the best smoked meat I've had. It lacked seasoning. They do have great fries and large quantities of food. I would definitely be back for some of their sandwiches and breakfast, but not so much the smoked meat.

Enough food for 3 meals for the two of us!

On Wednesday, the 25th, we met up with Jason and Amelia in Duncan. They were on their way back from a doctor's appointment in Victoria. We met up at Bright Angel Regional Park to give Amelia some exercise since she'd been sitting around all day.

We'd decided to have dinner at OJ's Bar and Grill. Amelia used Ray as her personal jungle gym.

By the end of dinner, Amelia was definitely tired, you could see her just slump. Time to go home.

Thursday, we met up with Ray's cousins, Brian and Sandy for lunch at the Sawmill Taphouse in Chemainus. A great 2 hour catch up.

Friday, a stay at home day and Debbie's Diner is open for business lol. After exercise class, I spent the afternoon prepping and cooking for a big dinner for us. It's quite a blustery day with off and on showers and lots of wind. White caps on the lake and rainbows!

Pecan crusted chicken thighs with a honey mustard dipping sauce, mushroom risotto and grilled veggies with a garlic and herb vinaigrette. Ray tells me it's delicious.

Saturday morning, low clouds again. At least the wind stopped. Ray decided we were going into Duncan for a few things and a walk through the farmer's market since the sun is out for a change. First though he had a dump run to get rid of all the cardboard boxes stored on the boat. 

The boat is being launched next Friday for the Frostbite Fishing Derby, Saturday March 7th. Ray and Steve entered and Dianne and I will just stay home and yak. We also get Olaf next Thursday as Jason and crew are in Vancouver for the weekend. Dianne is excited about Olaf time. :) Goldies have always been one of her favourites. Be prepared for lots of petting duties and OMG the hair!

Back home and onto the deck with the heaters for a couple of hours. 

 

Valentine's Weekend and Snow! February 13 - 18th

For Valentine's Day, Ray booked us into the Coast Bastion Hotel in Nanaimo for two nights. We're there for Valentines Day and also attending the April Wine Concert on Sunday night. The last time we stayed at the Bastion was Valentines about 25 years ago. 

Friday we left about 10 am so we could get our shopping done, Costco etc. before picking up Amelia from daycare. We're looking after her for the rest of the day and evening as her parents have plans to go for dinner and attend a Ballet in Duncan. We also wanted to leave our purchases at their house, so it wasn't left in the car overnight at the hotel. We'll pick it up on Monday before heading home to the lake.

Amelia's happy to see us and the daycare released her to us after showing our ID. Glad they have security measures. Her daycare is just a short ways from their house. It's a really sunny warm afternoon so, after her snack, we took her to the cul de sac a block away. She rode her bike and Olaf got a bit of a walk. 

Her choice for dinner is to have sushi, even though Jason tells me she had it with him the day before lol  Both Ray and I played a bunch of games with her for the rest of the evening.

Amelia even has her own chopsticks.

Olaf is a big suck, always craving attention, which Ray's happy to give

Jason and Kristi ended up not going to the Ballet.... their friends they were going out with have a sick kid so their babysitter cancelled. The restaurant they booked don't take kids, so they had to change restaurants for food that wasn't so good as baby had to come with. After all this, they were not in the mood to go to the show, so came home. 

Saturday morning they were out the door by 8:30, heading to Victoria for the day, visiting family and friends. We moved a little slower and headed out about 9, hitting a bakery for breakfast before heading to mall to just wander around. We usually go in different directions and meet up in an hour or so.

We decided to stop in at Carlos O'Bryan's Pub on the water for lunch. They were extremely busy as it's Valentine's day and had lots of reservations for the whole day. Dinner time especially. We were lucky that we got there at 11:30 and were able to get a table. Ray had their lobster roll, which was just OK. I had the flatbread margarita pizza which was tasty.

After lunch, we took a chance to see if we could check-in early and were in luck. We have a very nice room on the 14th floor facing the inner boat harbour. Ray hoped we would face north as the view is better, but this isn't too bad at all. The hotel is fully booked this weekend, being Valentines and the Victoria Symphony playing tonight. All 44 members stay in the hotel. Sunday night is the April Wine concert, so more people staying.

Our view.

We can even see Mount Baker.

and the Hullo Ferry.

Ray slipped out to the liquor store just down the road to get me some Carolan's for my coffee tomorrow, at least that was his excuse. lol He came back with flowers, champagne and Purdy's chocolates that he had stashed away without me noticing from the mall. What a guy! Love you too.

The hotel even dropped off a Valentine's gift for us, Nanaimo's famous "Nanaimo Bars".

We had a nice afternoon watching the world go by out our window. Ferries going back and forth and small boats coming into the harbour. I certainly enjoyed my champagne. :) A beautiful sunny and warm afternoon.

Ray managed to get a 7 pm reservation for dinner at a restaurant two blocks away, the Melange. All the restaurants were totally booked as it's Valentine's Day and the Victoria Symphony. Dinner was delicious.  They had a special menu for Valentine's. Ray ordered Confit Duck Leg and I the Cornish Game Hen.

A bit of a sunset and night lights from our hotel.

The Bastion

Sunday, we had coffee in our room, mine with Carolan's :). Ray went to the bakery around the corner that was supposed to be open for 24 hours, but it wasn't open as one of the baker's didn't show up.  He made a second run later in the morning bringing back stuff for us to eat.

Once it warmed up a bit, we headed out to walk the waterfront promenade for an hour. Ray of course took pictures at the beautiful view. This hotel is so close to everything downtown within walking distance. A little more cloud today. but it's not raining or snowing so we'll take it.

The Nanaimo Harbour is where a guy was arrested a few weeks ago breaking into a remodelled tug boat, causing lots of damage. Then arrested again for returning to the same spot. (Ray here, out justice system is such a joke for repeat offenders).

The Coast Mountain Range on the mainland.

Spring has sprung in Nanaimo with the flowers starting to bloom.

Back to the room to warm up.

Lunch today is at the Old City Station Pub. We'd heard they have great Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwiches. (They did!) Again a 2 minute walk from the hotel. They also have daily lunch specials for $10.99. Today's is a BLT and fries. Great deal for us seniors. They have 24 beer on tap, including Ray's Iota N/A, and TV's everywhere. Definitely a sports bar atmosphere. Beautiful decor with brick walls and lots of old looking woodwork.

"The building originally housed the Nanaimo Daily Free Press, a historic newspaper established in the late 19th century and instead of moving all the printing presses when they sold the building in mid-1900's, they just cemented them into the floor in the basement so the basement is now only 4 feet tall."

Lots of old buildings in this area.

After lunch we wandered into a few of the stores on the way back to the hotel. 

Back to the hotel for the afternoon. Dinner tonight is here in the hotel's restaurant Minnoz, at 4:30 as all other times were taken until 8 pm. That's when our concert starts next door at the Port Theatre. I snagged the last reservation yesterday when we arrived.

We shared Chef Allan’s Tableside Seafood Chowder. "A soup with Quebec roots and a showstopping experience! B.C. salmon, Salt Spring mussels, and succulent shrimp in a creamy chowder, flamed tableside with vodka and Pernod for a dramatic finish." Served with garlic bread. Quite the show making it tableside.

First goes in the vegetables and flamed with orange vodka.

Second flameup with Pernod.

Next seafood and cream sauce.

TADA! Ray said it's one of the best seafood chowder he's ever had.

Ray had the Sous Chef Rob’s Braised Short Ribs. "Melt-in-your-mouth Canadian boneless short ribs, braised and glazed with black cherry demi-glace. Served with yam and rosemary gnocchi and market vegetables." He said it's delicious other than he's not fond of any gnocchi.

I had the Crab & Lobster Ravioli. "Served with lemon–tarragon, grainy mustard cream sauce, Parmesan, and garlic bread." Unfortunately the mustard overpowered any seafood flavour and was kind of gummy. Not the best meal for the price.

Eating so early we had a couple of hours to wait in our room before walking next door to the Port Theatre. Our first date 50 years ago was April Wine at a concert in April 1976. 

The show started at 8 pm and the band played straight through for 90 minutes before leaving for the night. No 20 minute intermission as described. lol I would be surprised if there was many people under 50 years of age there. You could tell by the grey/balding hair and how many people had to leave the performance to go to the bathroom :) Apparently it's a sold out concert.

Security is pretty tight about filming with phones and were always circulating telling people to shut their phone down. I took some pictures before it was announced to video lol The Band even said the audience could take pictures of them. but security still went around talking to people anyways. Pretty weird for a rock concert.

Here is a short video of their opening song, Oowattanight, Ray's favourite song of theirs.

Near the end of the concert they had all us old farts up dancing in the aisles. What a great concert.

Back at our room by 9:45. I drank some wine and we watched some TV with the Olympics before turning in at 11. What a great Valentines weekend. Thanks a bunch sweetie. I'd booked this concert mid-July, so definitely didn't expect all of this at the same time.

Monday morning we slept in later than usual and had a quiet morning before packing up and heading to the kids to pick up our Costco stuff before heading back to the lake. It is supposed to snow later today so it will be nice to be home before it starts.

We arrived home by 10:30 am after stopping at Country Grocer for something fresh for dinner.  After unpacking we relaxed for the day. I was dissapointed in some of the food we ate, so decided to make a great rib steak dinner for the two of us for tonight. Rib steak with a mushroom demiglace, roasted tomatoes with some balsamic, mashed potatoes with fresh dill from my aerogarden and sauteed carrots and cauliflower in a curry spiced honey orange sauce. It was delicious!

Ray has finished my greenhouse. The platform is done as well, only problem is that the greenhouse does not fit on top of the platform under the sundeck lol He only had 7" leeway and with the platform it is too tall. This means that we (he lol) will have to unbolt the greenhouse (4 bolts) from the platform to store in the winter time.

Now for spring to come so I can plant. :)

Tuesday we had a skiff of snow a couple of times, nothing substantial. 

Recieved this picture of our Granddaughter Stella from Squamish, enjoying the hover soccer ball we bought her in November when she was over visiting.

The next few days we did inside chores, laundry, exercise class etc. Ray spent a bunch of time doing his puzzle. His shoulder is still pretty sore after wacking it last week.