A week of artwork and visits with friends - March 9 - 18

Wednesday was sunny but definitely a very cool wind. Started out at -1C. After morning chores and a little grocery shopping, Ray and I were able to find a spot on the front driveway against the garage door which was out of the wind to enjoy the sunshine. 

Thursday, blue skies with a little cloud. Today, we drove to Victoria to meet up with our long-time friend Jayne, from Terrace. Before meeting up with her we walked a short distance along the harbour. Unfortunately, most of the walkway by our parking lot is under construction. Carrying on before our meetup we stopped in at an art gallery. They're displaying several E.J. Hughes originals for sale ... at $200,000 a piece! Now if we just won the Lotto Max 50 million. lol

The cherry blossoms are starting to bloom here in Victoria.

Love looking at the boats.

We met up with Jayne at the Irish Times Pub, downtown Victoria. After meeting 40 plus years ago and not seeing each other for 8 years, the time passed seemed meaningless. (sorry for the fuzzy picture, the only one I took.)

 A lovely day before the next week of rain.

My "dapper" looking guy. :)

Friday cloudy with showers and a balmy 2C Burrr. Mask mandate lifted today for BC and on April 8th, the Vaccine Passport will also be rescinded. It will be nice to get back to "normal living" at least for the summer before things could change again in the fall. I think a lot of people will still be hesitant to go maskless as we have done this for almost 2 years and there is another "new variant" starting up.

Popped over to Pat's for coffee first thing this morning to catch up before heading out for my hair appointment. They will be busy this next week with company from the mainland and their grandson's hanging around with spring break

Saturday another wet morning with low clouds. A quick run into town and otherwise very quiet day.

Sunday time change. "Spring Ahead"! Time changes always take me 2 weeks to acclimatize to. Fortunately with being retired it doesn't matter. :) It rained heavy at times overnight but cleared up somewhat in the morning. More rain predicted. 

It cleared up by 10:30 am. so we decided to take a drive to Cowichan Bay for lunch at the Cow Bay Pub on the water. A new place for us to try. We also wanted to go there to see Mud Works Pottery as we would like some smaller coffee mugs made to match the other things we purchased from her.

Lunch was great although a little more expensive than we thought lol. Ray and I ended up buying this original painting from a local artist that is displayed on the walls at the pub. :) A very happy, vibrant painting that both of us immediately gravitated towards. This painting depicts the Maritime Museum dock at Cowichan Bay. It definitely brightens up a dark corner by my chair and I can see it working in my kitchen.

Fits perfectly.

Monday morning, wet again although our weather guy "Mark Madryga" says that you can take your snow tires off as there is no more possibilities for snow now. Nothing exciting happening here. lol 

Tuesday woke to it finally not raining for a bit. It absolutely poured all day and overnight, even waking me up with it pounding on the roof so hard. Still seems pretty wintery around here. The days are going by fast though, already Mid-March. With the time change early Sunday morning and being very dark outside again longer in the morning, it's hard to get motivated. Ray headed off to Duncan for some errands while I puttered here.

Wednesday morning, finally the rain has stopped! At least for the morning. Ray and I headed up to Nanaimo for a baby visit and then lunch with our RV friends, Dave and Cheryl at Original Joe's. The sun came out on our drive and stayed sunny all day until time to come home. We spent 2 hours with Amelia and then headed out to OJ's.

Cookie time with Grandpa

Chewing everything ... found out she popped out 2 more teeth yesterday.

Practicing standing with the table we have lent them for now.

Dave, Cheryl, Ray and I ate the lunch special at OJ's for St Paddy's day, Guinness battered fish and chips. Spent 2 hours catching up. They will be heading back to Alberta at the end of the month. Safe Travels!

Back home by 4 pm. Another great day.

Thursday morning, very rainy again. Our RV tech is supposed to install our sunscreens on the outside of the motorhome today, we shall see if he comes as it's miserable outside. Mike came and voila. Ready for the hot sunshine to not heat us out of the coach and need A/C!

The two bathroom windows done as well for privacy and keeping the sun out. Now all the screens are in the garage drying. It was a miserable day. Next month we are having the coach washed and waxed as well as the roof deoxidized. Sure needs it after this year and hot summer.

The dock guys showed up next door at 8:30 am to make their ramp to their new swim dock. Things to watch as we stay nice and dry. lol

For St. Paddy's Day, I made an Irish Stew, using beef instead of lamb. It was delicious.

Doesn't look like much but sure was tasty.

Friday just cloudy so far. Our gardener was supposed to come and start pressure washing our concrete, the driveway, sidewalks etc., getting ready for spring. As it turned out he was not planning to come until 2 pm. I told him we would need more time than that as the driveway alone probably will take him 2 hours. He has opted to give us the whole day next Friday instead. Meanwhile we had moved the motorhome to the street and took the boat out of the garage so we could take it in to have Ray's new downriggers installed, fix gas connection on the trolling motor and the 3hp motor for his floaty boat. He tried to go fishing and the motor would not stay running.... We moved the MH back into the driveway after moving the utility trailer into the boat garage so it is out of the way for now. A lot of moving parts lol.

Ray and I managed a walk before the rain started again. Sure would be nice to have some sunny days.

Our neighbour's daughter, Tara, stopped by late afternoon to bring us a painting of Freya as a thank you for signing her documents for her daughter's passport. Certainly did not need any thanks. Freya's expression is exactly right.

Another otherwise quiet day here on the lake.

Amelia has hand surgery, and another e-bike adventure March 1 -8

Hard to believe March is here already. Today is Amelia's hand surgery, which proved successful. Poor little tyke's both hands are in a soft cast for a 3 to 4 weeks. Saw her on video last night and she told us all about, it holding her bandaged hands up and babbling away. Hopefully she heals quickly.

Reading books with Mommy

I spent the afternoon making a ham with potatoes au gratin and braised carrots for dinner. Trying to eat down my stockpile of meat in the freezer. :) 

Zeus is pretty happy here with all of the treats we have for him and all of his walks with Grandpa.

Treat ball ... yumm

Wednesday, still raining and the clouds right down to lake level. Today we went to Nanaimo to see Amelia and return Zeus. Our little darling is doing well. Hardly any tears as long as she stays close to her mommy. She holds her hands up to us and babbles like crazy telling us the story. We spent the morning there, ate lunch and then came back home once Amelia went down for her nap. I think the rest of their household is going for a nap too, as they all looked totally worn out. Only person out of their jammies is the baby. lol

Kristi modified socks to cover her bandages, as she was chewing on them with those little teeth.

Thursday the rain finally quit, at least for now. Cold out though, with the clouds parted at 0C. Tomorrow we should get a stretch of sunny weather again. By 10:30 the sun came out, so we started a campfire just to spend some time outside and ate our lunch looking at our view of the lake. Beautiful, we never tire of this.

Later n the afternoon it clouded up so we went inside. Ray managed a picture of a rainbow.

Painted Hills

Amelia seems to be doing ok with her hands bandaged up from her surgery. She is managing to stand by herself. This picture is in her room looking out the windows. So cute. Jason pushed the bed tight against the wall so when she falls she doesn't hurt herself. They are trying to keep her entertained while keeping her from crawling too much putting pressure on those hands.

Friday once it warmed up, with clear skies and warm temps of 10C. After morning chores, we managed to sit down at our dock for the first time in months. The construction across the lake quit early this afternoon so it's quiet and the lake too. With the recent rains, the lake rose about a foot, nothing to worry about though. We want it to be full for the summer, just not overfull. :) With the lack of any major precipitation in February, it did go down somewhat.

Saturday we went on an e-bike adventure on another section of the Cowichan Valley Trail. This time we started out at Skutz Falls and biked to the 66 Mile Trestle and the 64.7 Mile Trestle. (Mileage from the start of the old rail line in Victoria.) A lovely sunny but cool day under the trees on the trail. We did 9.1 km. We stopped several times for Ray to take pictures. Good thing to work out the "numb bum". lol

66 Mile Trestle.

Warming up in the sunshine while Ray is off taking pictures.

Frosty deck

Looking down at the Cowichan River

The Cowichan Valley Trail is very well-maintained. Nice and wide. We only saw about 6 other people using the trail.

Back on the bikes to the 64.7 Mile Trestle. This is the creek the trestle goes over.

Ray taking a trail down to the river to get the next picture.

We turned around at this point and headed back to the car. Once we loaded up the bikes, it's back to town and lunch at Jake's on the Lake.

A great adventure again. Once we were back home, the stiffness began to set in. We both went for a hot tub and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing.

Sunday started out clear and then the fog developed, but by 10 it's clear and sunny. We attempted to sit down at the dock at noon, but the neighbours on both sides of us were cleaning up their beaches and burning the wood. Totally smelly smoke. :) Don't blame them though, it needed to be done and as they all still work, the weekend is the time. Then we tried to sit out in the front, but the other neighbours had their wood stove going and unfortunately the smoke is drifting down onto our driveway. We retreated back into the house and looked at the lovely day through the windows while I did our laundry. Not my first pick of spending our day. lol

I noticed this on our wall .... we have a coating on our window to provide some privacy. Great temporary wall art. :)

Monday, high cloud, Ray planned to go fishing in his little boat, but the wind is up, so very cold outside. Amelia got her casts off today and healed so well that other than putting Vaseline on her hands and socks on at night, her hands are bare. She apparently heals very quickly like her Dad.

Tuesday we went up to Nanaimo for a visit with Jason and Amelia. Seeing her on the google duo video yesterday, she was trying to get to us on the phone to hug us, so we are going up there in person. We arrived just as she was waking up from her first nap. Lots of hugs and cuddles for me. Kristi is working from her office so is able to eat lunch with us before heading back to the hospital, so that is an extra perk.

While we were there Amelia took her first steps and a new word "Bye". 

Walking to Grandpa

While we were commenting on her walking, I received a text from Kristi in her office down the hall. "You better be filming this". lol I did.

Grandpa playing "catch me if you can". 

Story time.

Ray picked up sushi take-out for lunch. Yumm.

We enjoyed a great 3 hours with Amelia and after I fed her the bottle and Jason put her down for a nap, we headed back home to the lake. A spectacular visit.

Stella gets a puppy, Road trip to Maple Bay February 21 - 28

Monday, Family Day, We just received pictures of our granddaughter Stella and their new puppy Charlotte. I think they are, and will, be the best of friends. So cute. Stella is now 21 months old and Charlotte, 11 weeks.

The tiny puppy is 2/3 the size of Stella. lol

Kisses for my sister.

Stella really is a tiny little girl. Reading to her best friend Charlotte.

Garrett teaching Stella and Charlotte about sticks.

Momma Kat and a well-loved puppy. Charlotte's ears are trying to straighten. lol

Yup, best buddies

Tuesday woke up to cold temps of -2.5C with a chilly wind. Nice and warm in the house though. :) I headed to town for some grocery shopping and Ray played in his shop for the morning. Lunch was at Jake's at the Lake for their fish and chip special. Great day.

Wednesday, another cold one at -7C (19F) very cold for the south coast. Not too much on the agenda today. Too cold to ride our bikes, batteries do not like the cold. :) 

By 10 am it was a little warmer outside at 0C and the sun was gorgeous. We decided to go on a bit of a drive to enjoy the sun while it is out as Saturday the rain begins for the next week. lol

Off to Cherry Point Beach and then to Maple Bay Marina to have lunch at the Shipyard Pub and Restaurant. They have a pretty good menu online, with quite a few seafood choices.

First up a walk on Cherry Point Beach. We managed it before the cold winds started up again. Nice to clear out the "cobwebs". We passed by Cherry Point Vineyards on the way to the beach. The vines pretty dormant still.

Mount Baker in the distance.

Who is that dapper looking man?

Close up of the teredo wood.

Back in the car to Maple Bay for lunch at Shipyard Pub and Restaurant. 

The inside of the restaurant looks like a ship on the ceiling.

We decided to have a bunch of appetizers to share. The even had non-alcoholic beer for Ray.

After lunch we did a quick walk about for some pictures of the marina. The wind is up, so it's pretty cold.

We watched a show some time ago, called "My Floating Home". One of the float houses here at the marina is featured during it's build. https://archello.com/project/maple-bay-floating-home. It is the dark grey three story house. Certainly not the old float houses of the past. I think this cost close to a million to build. Very modern interior.

The "swirly" looking water is ice.

Notice the ice on the water.

Thursday we woke to a cloudy sky with some wind. Sure glad we quit chores yesterday and took a drive instead. We are having our Security company come today to reformat our video camera computer. We are having trouble with our internet so Shaw sent us a new modem. Ray installed it and unbeknownst to us, this means we have to have the security's hard drive reformatted and reloaded due to security concerns. The only reason I realized we have a problem is that I couldn't access the camera from my phone anymore. Who knew! So now we suck up a $130 house call from Telus Custom Security Systems (formally Price Alarms) because of Shaw's equipment problems. by 10 am all fixed. 

Cold and breezy outside though, poked my nose out and made a retreat. The sun did come out by 11 though so nice just looking at the lake from inside. lol Amelia had a terrible day with a sore tummy and she is also aggressively teething. Look at those red cheeks. She fell asleep on Jason for 45 minutes, all worn out. Daddy looks tired too. So different from the mostly happy baby.

Friday morning we were out of the house by 7:45am for Nanaimo. We needed to do a Costco run and of course baby time. We managed to get the shop done and were at Jason's by 10:15 am. This allowed Jason to go and do his Costco run while we babysat. Fortunately she was much happier today than yesterday where she had cried most of the day. I bought her a new book just in case we needed a new distraction for her. :)

Reading with Grandpa

We were back home by 2:30. A great outing.

Saturday morning cold and cloudy. It ended up trying to snow all day until dinner and then the heavy rains began. Ray drove to Duncan on the hunt for some parts before it got really ugly and brought back a bunch of seafood from Mad Dog Crabs. Dinner plans changed. lol I spent the remainder of the afternoon in the kitchen creating. Crab cakes with remoulade sauce, roasted acorn squash with parmesan and brown butter walnuts, prawns in a garlic and ginger cream sauce with a side of pico de gallo for freshness. Ray's a happy man. :)

Happy baby, mommy is home from work.

Sunday woke to more rain. It teamed down all night but surprise, surprise the sun actually came out at 8 am for an hour or so but shortly after the rain began again. By evening it really poured, almost drowned out the TV with the pounding on our metal roof. lol

Monday morning the heavy rain has subsided for a while anyways. lol Ray headed to Duncan for some errands and met up with the kids to pick up Zeus before coming back home. Amelia gets her hand surgery tomorrow so they are staying overnight in Victoria. Otherwise a quiet day.