Trip over to Vancouver on the ferry to visit friends and family.

Busy weekend visiting Garrett and Kat, then John and Joane and finally Aunt Norma and Uncle Ken.

Ray and I were up early at 5am Friday morning to catch the ferry from Nanaimo to Horseshoe Bay to spend a couple of days with Garrett and Kat. It rained a little on the way but by the time we arrived in Squamish at 11 am it was bright and sunny. Garrett was home but Kat was working in Vancouver and would be home later in the afternoon. After dropping off Freya and our luggage it was time to meet our good friends Delle and Chris at Howe Sound Brewing for lunch. Garrett came with us. (We have known Delle way back when Garrett and her daughter Jodi, went to preschool together.)

Garrett, Ray, Chris and Delle

After a great lunch we went for a short stroll to stretch our legs. What a great visit catching up.

Once Kat got home for work it was off to a new restaurant in town called the "Salted Vine". One of the best meals we have had at a restaurant in a long time. We all had different entree's and shared them. My cocktail was called a "Vegetable Garden", a fancy caesar.

Back home watching movies and to bed at 10. Freya certainly had fun with her sister.

Saturday morning we were all up to 7am. Garrett and Kat made waffles and bacon for breakfast. Yumm. We sure are getting spoilt. Coffee with Carolan's was also on the menu.

Kat getting to hug Freya ... Kira does not tolerate this so Kat loves her time with Freya.

The "expert" waffle maker.

After breakfast our tour guides took us for a drive to the spit and then after to the Mamquam River to see where Kat and Garrett go to beat the heat in the summer with Kira. What an awesome sunny day.

Yup, going for a car ride.

Looking up the harbour towards Mt. Garibaldi.

The metal container is for the wind surfer club's gear.

Next off to the Mamquam River.

Squamish sure has beautiful scenery, surrounded by water and mountains.

Back home to chill out for a couple of hours so Ray could rest.  Went out for a lovely dinner at the new sushi place near their home called Sushi San. Lots of laughs and good food. We ate early to beat the rush at this restaurant. By the time we left there was a lineup to get in.

Back home, Kat served her homemade peach tarts with ice cream for dessert. What a great day.

Sunday morning we were all up by 7 am. After coffee, Garrett and Kat made Eggs Bennie for breakfast. Fabulous guys. By 10:30 we were on the road heading to West Vancouver to meet up with our good friends John and Joane Mahon. We chatted for an hour or so before heading out to their favourite sushi place, Kin Sushi in Ambleside. The food was wonderful, some of the best sushi we have had. Very fresh. Forgot to take a picture of them .... so I stole one from Joane's facebook from this past Christmas. lol

John and Joane Mahon

Before heading off, Ray and I took Freya for a short walk down the Ambleside Seawalk. What a gorgeous day. They have great little sitting areas in shaded gardens.

As well as great views of Vancouver and the Lions Gate Bridge.

Lots of people out enjoying the sunshine.

 After hugs goodbye, it was off to Coquitlam to see my Aunt Norma and Uncle Ken where we are staying overnight. We had a lovely afternoon catching up before taking them out to dinner at Mr. Mikes. My cousin Pam and her boyfriend Rick joined us. Another lovely visit and it was nice to meet Rick for the first time. Back home and in bed by 9:30 pm. This has been a long travel day for Ray and myself. 

Norma, Ken, Rick and Pam

Monday morning after a leisurely start and breakfast it was off to Langley to exchange our hot tub cover and a few other stops. We tried to make the 12:45 pm ferry back to Nanaimo but ended up being the 11th car that did not make it on and had to wait for the 3:15 pm ferry... bummer. Fortunately it was a lovely sunny day so we were able to leave the tailgate open for Freya and Ray and I just stayed in the car with the windows open reading. Made it home at 6:15 pm. It was 18C when we reached the house. We left with it still winter with a lot of snow still on the ground and cold on Friday morning, to come back on Monday with most of the snow gone and hot. Felt like it was summer! Wow what a change. 

It was a fabulous visit with everyone but both Ray, Freya and I were happy to be home in our own beds. Long days for Ray and we are very happy to be back in Lake Cowichan. Fortunately I did all the driving and our car seats are fairly comfortable for Ray but he still was a hurting unit.

Is it still Winter! or is it almost Spring! March 11 to March 14

After the spectacular weekend we just had weatherwise it was unbelievable to see the snow falling again Monday afternoon. It melted as it hit the ground at first and then it stuck as the temps dropped.

Snow has started but there is still green grass.

Snow is now sticking and the grass is covered.

 Hopefully this is the last gasp of winter ... tired of the snow.

Today we had a delivery from Canadian Tire. When Ray and I were at their store last Friday, they had tool chests on sale with more than 50% off. I have been hearing Ray vacuuming like crazy in his workshop, trying to keep all of the sawdust off his tools everytime he uses his saw ... seemed a big waste of time so I encouraged him to buy something to put his tools in that would help with this problem. It did not take too much to convince him especially with the price tag being reduced so much.

Old way of storing his tools.

New way of storing his tools.

The delivery guys were awesome and as they were not very busy they took the chests down the sidewalk and right into the workshop for us. The chests were unpacked and they also installed the legs and lifted the second chest on top for Ray. All Ray had left to do was put the corners on the unit to attach the two pieces together.

It kept snowing all afternoon but only accumulated about 1/2 inch. Took Freya out for her last walk and she loved the new snow.

You coming mom?

We have David Coulson and the deck contractor coming on Wednesday to see about addressing Ray's issues with the deck and finish putting in the last of the tile, we hope. Thursday, the ceiling guy should be coming to fix the corners of the suspended ceiling as they are too thick and the ceiling tile does not seat well in the corners ... apparently his tool to deal with this properly when the tile was installed was stolen with some other tools he had previously that week. So not coming back to fix this since he knew about it ?????? Still have the window frame to be fixed and now that the weather is warming up hopefully this also gets fixed soon. By next Monday we should have a few days between 13 and 15C. It will feel like summer.

Wednesday morning it was a cool 1C that felt like -2C. There is fog on the water thick enough I can't see the other side. Ray had his meeting with David this morning while I was at yoga.  Things will be fixed regarding the deck and the downstairs fireplace that was poorly cemented in. We are going to get a slate slab like we originally intended. The meeting was a "little heated" apparently .... Freya had a "hard day" at her office. lol

I gave up letting her on the couch. She has spent the previous 6 years on the couch of the motorhome and when she is hurting (arthritis) it makes her feel better. lol

Thursday Les and his team from Gordon and Gordon arrived at 7:15 am to fix the corners of the t-bar ceiling. They were done in 10 minutes ... too bad they did not get it done before. Much later in the day the drizzle of rain began. We certainly need it for the lake levels, actually we need three days of torrential rain to fix the low water ....

Tomorrow it is off to Squamish to spend a couple of days with Garrett and Kat. Looking forward to it. 

Visiting Martin and Suzanne in French Creek

Ray and I got the invite to drive up to French Creek and spend the afternoon and evening overnight with our good friends Martin and Suzanne Blyt. What great hospitality we received.

First was the drive to Nanaimo where we dropped Freya off with Jason and Kristi.  They are in the middle of a major main floor renovation Jason is DIY. New kitchen and bathroom countertops, new flooring and taking the texture off the ceiling. Their house is totally upside down now, with only the basement bathroom functioning. Fortunately, they have the suite downstairs where Kristi hides from all of the dust as it affects her asthma. Freya was excited to be with her "packmates". Apparently she slept all night on the bed with Kristi, one of her favorite places. lol



On the way to Blyt's we saw a sign at the French Creek Marina for sidestripe shrimp so we pulled in there first. The herring fishery is about to open in the next day or so. The harbour is filled with boats. Managed to pick up a couple of pounds of fresh frozen shrimp off the boat and then went over to the fish market for a few more things.

One shrimp boat in one crowded marina.

The marina is only a few minutes from Martin and Suzanne's and we arrived at 3pm. Lots of laughs and catching up with each other was achieved. They served us a great dinner of barbecued steak and fixin's. (Awesome mushroom caps) It was to bed by 9:30 as we are all early risers and the time change was tonight! We slept in their downstairs  rental suite and had a great sleep. With the time change we got up at 7am. Yeah back to normal time. lol We were treated to Crab Cake Bennies for breakfast. Yummm.

Entrance to their BnB suite.

Martin helping cook our breakfast.

After breakfast it was off to the Parksville boardwalk for a little bit of fresh air. What a beautiful day. There were quite a few fish boats using the sonar for the herring and the Coast Guard was also cruising around. Apparently the fishery was opened yesterday but we did not see any nets deployed.

All the fishing boats getting into position off French Creek yesterday.

After our lovely stroll it was time for Ray and I to head back to Nanaimo, pick up Freya and come back to the Lake. Ray can only take so much sitting in the car and it is over and hour and a half drive from French Creek and with the stop at Kristi's it will be 2 hours before we get home. A fabulous visit. Thanks guys for a wonderful visit.

First weekend of March ... come on Spring!

Saturday was the Legion Fishing Derby. Freezing cold out but we saw several boats braving the cold heading out down the lake. Across the lake from us there has been quite a bit of activity as Cliff Gibson's guys, (who did our dock) were busy putting in concrete supports for what I think will be a dock system on the reserve. I don't know where people will park though, as it is located down the bank from North Shore Road.

This boat going by trying their luck. This spot I saw a big fish jump last summer, so there must be a hole there. Lots of other people seem to try their luck over there as well.

Hard to see but there is stairs coming down from the road.

After it warmed up a bit, Ray and I headed into Duncan to do a bit of shopping at Canadian Tire (man cave stuff lol) and then went to the Duncan Farmers Market. What a gorgeous morning. A little chilly but nice in the sunshine. Back home by lunch. On the way to Duncan we stopped to take pictures of a herd of elk, right beside the highway. Very cool.

Whatcha doin down there Dad?

In January I purchased tickets with Pat and Darryl to go to the Chemainus Theatre for dinner and see the Sound of Music production. What an awesome performance, dinner was fabulous as well. They even had a chocolate fountain ... yumm.

Darryl managed to squeeze into his seat. I had booked seats on either side of the aisle so Ray and Darryl would have more legroom.  

There really is not a bad seat in the house. 

Ray and I had such a good time with those guys. Didn't get home until way past our bedtimes though lol. Coming home on the highway close to Lake Cowichan we saw more elk on the side of the highway. Thankfully they stayed off the road. In the dark they are hard to spot before it is too late.

Sunday, I got busy getting our Prime Rib and fixings prepped for tonight as Jason and Kristi are coming for dinner. I bribed them with the beast. :) I called Kristi from Super Store on Thursday when I saw this beauty 7 1/2 pound 3 rib roast on sale. This oven cooks beautifully, I love it. Kristi says hers never turn out as well as mine so she just comes here. lol

A great dinner was had by all. This roast was huge ... enough that after we all had our fill they took a whole rib home for leftovers including the fixings (hands off the yorkies though) and we had a whole rib left over and fixings for us for tomorrow's dinner.

Monday cold and clear again at -7C. A beautiful day. Bernie from Coulson's came by to shovel off the sun deck in hopes of installing the last 10 tiles ... I guess Dave did not believe us that it was still so frozen. Bernie shoveled off a bunch and we put some Alaskan De-icer down, so hopefully it will melt. Checked it again later in the afternoon, it still seems to be frozen. We don't get any sun on the deck at this time of year.

Andrew and his apprentice showed up from Kurtis Electric to change out the breaker that keeps popping on Ray and actually moved one of the 20 amp plugs to the other side of his workshop that will work better for Ray.

Everyone was gone by 10am and we headed to Duncan to meet up with Katie and Brad from The Rogue Less Travelled. Today they came over from Salt Spring Island with their coach and jeep to have it "Safety Inspected" to transfer insurance to BC instead of Alberta. We had lunch at Original Joe's, always a great place to go for good food ... a little pricey though for a pub. While at lunch they heard back from the shop and their motorhome needs a "King Pin" replaced and some bushings ... not good news. They live in their motorhome full-time and manage a campground on Salt Spring Island, so leaving it at the shop to wait for parts not an option. They don't have relief hired yet to have any days off so need to get back. Here is a picture of them from December ... forgot to take a picture today. lol

Brad, Katie, Ray and Brad's service dog Robbie.

Tuesday another cold clear morning. Apparently this high pressure ridge that has been holding for the past month is the kind you get in the summer ... not this time of year. This could pose some lake level issues for the summer as the lake is currently only at 40% capacity. What you would see in August. Catalyst Paper is asking for the weir to be closed as of March 11 to retain whatever they can... three weeks earlier than usual. Hopefully more rain will come to fill the lake before the summer season. 

By 8:15 am I was out the door headed to Nanaimo for my two doctor's appointments my GP and our daughter, Dr. Kristi Kyle for lunch. lol  She only had 45 minutes between patients, so we ate at the Country Grocer a short distance from her office. Another great day.

Wednesday, cold and cloudy. Pat, my neighbour said it was -8C out when she took her grandchildren to the bus this morning. Brrrr. Possible snow flurries tonight. Pat and I attended my first yoga class at 9am this morning for two hours. Hoping this will help my neck and get the muscles working together instead of "fighting" in my back and neck due to my scoliosis. A quiet afternoon getting all of the slips together to send to Dad's accountant for his final tax return, a little sad.

Thursday morning -4C and SNOW! Out I went to use my snowblower by 7:30 am before it melted and froze to the driveway. Unbelievably by 10:30 am  there was brilliant sunshine and most of the new snow had melted as the temps rose to 7C.

I'm having quite a bit of trouble with my neck as I have mentioned and my new Lazyboy chair arrived today. Yeah, feels like I am getting a hug and it fits my neck so much better. The back is not as tall as my old chair. In fact Ray finds it too short for his back when he tried it out.

New Chair

Old Chair (This one is Ray's)

Friday morning cloudy and -1C, a little warmer. There was another snow event overnight that missed us this time. Duncan and Ladysmith did get about a couple of inches whereas Surrey and some parts of Coquitlam received a foot. The winter that never ends ... The sun came out for the afternoon so we had a campfire for a couple of hours to enjoy being outside. Freya certainly appreciated it.

That was our week and hopefully the last week of WINTER!

Last week of February 2019 and hopefully the last of winter.

Not a very exciting week lol!

Saturday at noon received a phone call that our blinds for the downstairs are in and would it be possible to install them later this afternoon. Well yeah! Another thing off the list.

Kitchen side windows.

Now you see the neighbours, 

and then you don't. lol

Bedroom window blinds.

Not a bad day weatherwise until 4 pm when first it rained, then it snowed, back to rain and back to snow!

In the wee hours of Sunday morning we received 2 inches of snow, so once the temps warmed up I was out using my new snowblower again. A little more work this time as the snow was the wet slushy stuff we are more used to. The forecast is for sunny and cold for the most of this next week and I did not want it to turn to ice on the driveway causing Ray or I to slip.

Not a bad day weatherwise until 4 pm when first it rained, then it snowed, back to rain and back to snow!

Monday, a beautiful but chilly day. I headed out into Duncan once it warmed up at 9:30am to pay for our deposit on our cruise..... yes a cruise, the first week of September to Alaska.  Hopefully this will include our daughter and son-in-law and our son and daughter-in-law. I have the booked for now but Garrett has to get his passport for the first time. lol This will be a test to see if Ray can handle cruising before we go longer and further afield. So excited. Ray and I are treating them to this trip with my Dad's life insurance money. A fitting way to spend it I think, all of us together.

Tuesday sunny and -7C Burrr. Nothing much to report ... just usual house stuff ... what used to take me an hour in the motorhome takes me considerably more time now. lol

Wednesday, cold and cloudy with possible snow later this afternoon and tonight. Yikes. Ray headed to Nanaimo for a doctor's appointment and lunch with Jason and his fly fishing's club luncheon. I stayed home and went through my freezer for meat that needed to be used. I came out with italian sausage, ground turkey and ground pork .... so I made a batch of homemade red pasta sauce (also threw in shredded carrots and zucchini to cover the veg!) which simmers for 4 hours, and mixed up a batch of Italian meatballs baked in the oven. Fresh pasta dough was also made to run through my mixmaster pasta attachment at dinner time for fresh noodles. An all day endeavor. Love my kitchen, my happy place. Ray will sure enjoy his dinner tonight.

Thursday, the snow forecasted overnight did not materialize here at the Lake. A little warmer this morning at -1C.  The sun made an appearance today, and temps actually got to 6C. I shopped in Duncan and Ray played in his man cave. Out for lunch at our favourite water hole ... and that was our day. Saw two motorhomes parked in the Walmart parking lot with the generators on to stay warm. I bet they wished they stayed south for a couple more weeks. lol

Friday, wow March 1st already!  Another clear cold day although it warmed up to 6C here at the lake. Ray and I took a drive into Chemainus to check out the antique store to see if they have an old library card stand that he could use for his bits and pieces. They did have one but for way too much money for something for his workshop. lol But we did find a framed Carl Brenders Print of a fox and her kits for a steal ... so we bought it. I am going to hang it in the window that is covered in our dining room. We never open up this blind anyways as you only see the side of the neighbours house and into their office window. So it will be a frame in a frame and I think it looks fabulous.

The fox and her kits.

That was our week. Okay spring you can come now!