November is here! Nov 1 to 8th.

 Sunday, November 1st

As this was the last day of sunshine, after morning chores, we decided to take a little walk along a creek with Freya. This short trail is in behind our Country Grocer, a lovely fall morning. Freya sure enjoyed all the new smells.

We decided to have lunch at Jake's at the Lake on their patio as it was such an nice warm sunny day. This is the first time we have eaten there since Covid broke out last March. It was way too busy this summer with all of the tubers in the Cowichan River.

This could be the only time we eat here this winter. lol They do not have heaters on the patio and are having trouble procuring them. Ray and I will not eat inside.

Spent the rest of the afternoon having a campfire in the back yard enjoying the day. Ray however put his bathing suit on and climbed down the ladders on the dock to secure a rope so we could pull them up for the winter... that was cold! We should have done it when the big boat was still in the water. :) He first tried from the dinghy but almost launched himself into the water.

Monday, the last dry day before the monsoons begin tonight. Ray worked in the workshop in the morning and I played in my kitchen making homemade beef burritos with Mexican Rice and Refried beans. Of course lots of cheese. Delicious.

Not very sunny later in the afternoon so I stayed out on the deck with the heaters on for some fresh air. While we were sitting there, Ray and I saw a bunch of fish rise in the lake so off he went to cast a few times. lol The water was so still so lots of reflections.

Overnight it started pouring, we could hear it on the roof. In the morning Ray had to take my hot tub pump and empty out the dingy of water at the dock. Worked like a charm. Most of the day we spent puttering around inside as it was so miserable out.

Here is a picture I received of Stella for Halloween, "The Gangster Bunny". So cute at 5 1/2 months old.

Wednesday, more rain and wind. I spent the morning making sushi for Ray and I with tempura prawns and veggies and Japanese mayo and eel sauce.  He has been missing his sushi, and my sushi molds arrived yesterday from Amazon. :)

This mess translated into this 3 hours later. lol 

Ta da!

Later in the afternoon, Ray headed to Duncan for a dental appointment while I dealt with laundry and the massive kitchen clean-up. :) Otherwise I just watched the wind and the rain out the window, making sure our dinghy stayed put. lol There was quite a few things floating by on the lake, a float tube, some kind of box and a huge blue tube??? The neighbours Roy and June's dinghy almost came off their dock so I phoned them. :) The first of the big winter storms.

Thursday morning the rain had quit and no wind. Last night it poured and blew most of the night. There must have been some thunder as Freya was very unsettled and woke me up several times. All good this morning though. Today I headed to Duncan for my grocery shop and my monthly pedicure. Ray worked in the shop on Jason's Christmas gift. Mostly cloudy today.

Kristi arrived with her dogs at 8:30 pm. She is here for the weekend as Jason is staining things and she hates the smell of the paint. :) 

Friday, we had a lazy morning and then I started prepping dinner and making another apple pie with a crisp topping ... still using up the apples I was given by our neighbours. :) Kristi worked on my computer and making phone calls for work. Ray of course, was downstairs in the shop. A beautiful sunny but cool day. Nice to have Kristi here. She gave me a recipe to make for dinner, sausage and bean cassoulet and of course I Debbiefied it! It turned out delicious. Enough for tomorrow too.

Saturday Kristi, Ray and I piled into the car and headed to Duncan. Our destination the sawmill to get a maple slab for a shelf in the laundry room. We also stopped at Blue Grouse Winery, but the tasting room was by appointment only, The main reason for going there was for Ray to take some pictures of the colourful vines, but after this week's windstorm everything is off the vines.

We decided to take Kristi to the Lion Rampant Pub in Maple Bay as they have a patio. Unfortunately, they did not have their heaters on with their window panels in so too cold to sit outside. We all had to use the washroom lol from our morning coffee so ... as we were the only ones there, we decided to break the rule this once and eat inside. By the time we left there were only 2 other tables well away from us with people after an hour. We all enjoyed our lunch and then headed back home to the lake. 

Sunday woke up to clear skies but pretty cool with the north wind. Quiet morning everyone just chillaxing. lol 

Later on, Kristi headed out to visit her friend Robyn and Amalia who are in "our bubble". Darryl called and took Ray out fishing in his boat at 10 am on the lake. Brrrrr.  Hopefully with all the sunshine it is not too cold.

Once both of them were back, I made lunch and then Kristi headed back to Nanaimo. Another great visit.