Friday 24 February 2017

Famiglia Dronkers Sumptuous Summerland Blues: Friday, February 24th!

We're here to put a dent in the universe. -Steve Jobs, entrepreneur and inventor (24 Feb 1955-2011)

Photo: Matt

Lollygag (also lallygag)

MEANING: verb intr.: To fool around, waste time, or spend time lazily. I agree mom needs to stop and look at dad when talking to him because neither can hear well, and they just yell at each other. Enjoy your pampering day...what time r u coming in on Sunday? Are you going straight to airport or could we meet up? I have to see when Greg curls on Sunday. I could also take you to the airport. Pam

Hello The Sisterhood! Sounds just like Lady Dar, [Her entire life is a "pampering day", in case you didn't know!], dealing with her Love Slave, although he has 20-20 hearing! Just said good morning to Ellen, our next door neighbour, scraping frost off her car windows and asked her to do The Marriage Mobile as well. Bill, her husband, isn't back from Hawaii until March 2nd! Cheers, "What did you say?", Patrizzio!

Hello Pampering Day Goils! Gather you are off to Winnipeg today. Fondestos to Noreen. If you have a moment, please try to call Sally/Filmer to congratulate them on the birth of their grandson, Kellan, to Kaitlyn and Scott. Fondestos and Cheers, to The Luncheon Crowd, Patrizzio!
 
Hello Sumptuous Feast Summerlandians! Just a quick note to thank you both for the wonderful, wonderful meal, most quaffable wine, whiskey, java and spirited, rousing conversation, all serenaded by the Minstrel Meister! Fondestos and Cheers, Patrizzio! Pics: Dinner and More!

Hello Jacobi Transfer People! I'm working on putting together two tables for this coming Wednesday. With Summerlandians, Josinta & Olga Polga, Naramata Goil, Famiglia Robson, Lady Dar and I, we will have seven players. I have asked Cora Lee to contact her friend, Judy, from Flatlanders, to ask her if she is interested? If not, we can manage with dummy. As far as I know, from earlier messages, everyone else is confirmed. If not, please advise. One more thing, starting time will be 7:00 pm. You are welcome to come earlier but anyone so doing will have to do supper dishes! Anyway, please let me know what you think. We're definate to be there. Gill and Phil Patrick,7 works for me (better actually). Pam I will be there on Wednesday! Jos

Hello Bibliomaniacs! Trust everyone has a copy of February. If not, I still have two books here. Furthermore, just wish to confirm menu. Lady Dar and I will provide the main course; Dame Judith a green salad; Albariña a vegetable dish; Luigi scalloped sweet potatoes; Von Bingen a fruit platter. If you are coming for dinner, Jake, perhaps an appetizer. See everyone on March 16th, around 6:00 pm. Thanks and Cheers, Patrizzio!

Pics: Luigi popped by this morning to pick up book although Duke didn't think she should have it! Oops! Forgot to attach snaps! Sounds like a wonderful feast to me…….Cheereo from Von Bingen
In vain is right!! Well you certainly illuminate the way to a fun and engaged retirement! Dave is certainly looking forward to it! And you made me REALLY miss my cats :( but will see them soon! Been a busy week getting ready to leave on Monday - hate the 5 am flight!! Have to wait 6 hours in Vancouver to connect to Comox.

Went to a very wacky moving last night - up for a foreign film academy
award - "Toni Erdmann" - very funny yet poignant. Out to dinner tonight at our fav resto - call "Chinched" which mean full to busting! which we usually are. can't wait. Then back in BC - really looking forward to it - going out watch the
herring spawn next week - takes all kinds :) Luise 


Hi Chinchers! Restaurant sounds wonderful. Thanks for movie tip. I'll keep an eye out for it. With your considerable layover, you might consider leaving your baggage at the airport and taking the Sky Train to Olympic Village Station, at the south end of the Cambie Bridge. Lovely walk along the Seawall to Granville Island. Lots to see there and then you could take Aquabus to the other side of False Creek, (or walk over Granville Bridge), to make your way back to station on north part of Seawall. Great liquor store, Legacy, at Olympic Village, as well as numerous pubs, etc. Science World is near-bye as well. Will depend, to a certain extent, on weather and how you feel after your 5:00 am flight!

Yesterday, had a message from friend, Jane, who lives on
Hall Road, a tad north of Courtenay, near ocean, not all that far from you. [I gather you take ferry from Buckley Bay. I have often ridden past there when we house sit for friends in Parksville.] She and her amore, Kjell, (They have a long-distance relationship, soemwhat like you and Dave, as he lives in Stockholm!), are just back from two weeks, in Cuba: "Lovely to see snowdrops, more eagles, sea lions. Herring run is not far off and days are longer, and spring is coming even though there was snow last night and this morning." I'd like to see herring spawn myself.

Plan to ride to OK Falls later today. Bright and sunny so should be a lovely outing. Maybe I'll see some Mountain Sheep if not herring. When Kjell visited this past January we saw quite a few off McClean Creek Road, in a pasture beneath Peach Cliff, just outside OK Falls. Travel safely. Fondestos and Cheers, Patrizzio!

Pics: Dinner last night. Jos is holding a bowlful of walnut shells. One of chaps in hiking group shares them. I was given a bagful and they are delicious.
Aarturo sang the song he wrote for his daughter, Bodil, who was married this past summer. Book Club member, Lou, came by yesterday to pick up a copy of February. Duke was busy rolling around on the sidewalk, entertaining our visitor! Part of Vaseaux Lake Herd, I understand.

Thank you, so much, Pat, and I will pass your greetings to the family. If everything stays the same, we will plan to visit this summer. When the children were, Penticton and surroundings use to be our vacation ground - Shewa and me do have fond memories with days trips to Osoyos, and getting lost and crossing the US border accidentally- those were the days before 911. Enjoy your cycling, and keep smiling, man! egn

Hi Eyob! Great that you will probably visit this summer. We love the surrounding area as well. Cheers, Patrizzio!

Hi Pat! Well, we're back! Had a great trip and survived both Cuban sidewalks and taxi rides. It is an amazing country in every way. Kjell, of course, loved it. He was right in his element and any time he found an english speaker he was away with political discussions. We stayed in casas and that worked out really well. I'd done quite a bit of research finding just the right ones, and it was worth it, as they were all just right, more or less! One thing I'd done was try to find places where the host or at least someone, spoke english, which was a huge help.

We spent a lot more money than I'd expected, but hey, we were on a holiday! Money flowed out mainly in the form of taxi rides and food. Public transport would be way easier if you spoke spanish. Like everything there, "it's complicated", the usual refrain. Food was more or less the same cost as here and you had to be flexible about it, but really it was fine. Weather was terrific! I loved being too hot, and especially the warm evenings. You learn to walk slowly!
 
Now I'm up to my eyeballs sorting things out after our return. Lovely to see 
snowdrops, more eagles, sea lions. Herring run is not far off and days are longer, and spring is coming even though there was snow last night and this morning. I'm inspired to get all kinds of things done around here too. Must be more spring feelings. Big hi to Corinne! Jane 

Hi Herring Run People! Glad you enjoyed Cuba. Trip sounded wonderful. Know exactly what you mean about "spring coming"!Yesterday, had a message from friend, Luise, who lives on Denman. Both she and her husband, Dave, teach at Memorial and she is flying back on Monday. I guess her courses are over for now. Dave will retire at the end of April but she is staying on for another year. They will have a long-distance relationship, somewhat like you and Kjell. Anyway, she wrote: "Really looking forward to being back in BC - going out watch the herring spawn next week - takes all kinds!"

Had planned to ride to OK Falls later today and thought that I might see some Mountain Sheep, if not herring, like we did when Kjell visited. Not quite what happened. Must away as the chicken dish I have in the oven is almost ready and I need to put the rice on. Salad is already made. Buona Fortuna with projects around house! Fondestos and Cheers, Patrizzio!

Thx for the update. Do be careful! I assume the Surgeon knows you love to ride very long distances over various terrains. You certainly don't want to break your new hip!! I have heard it's been done many a time.

Although we had a cat at home when I was in Uni & then when our middle daughter, Stephanie, about 16, brought one home after a date when the guy's father was going to euthanize the box of kittens in his garage, I venture to say I'm not really much of a cat person. I don't like the element of surprise. I much prefer dogs!!

I married at 23 but didn't have kids until almost 29! Allison was born in '75 when Frank was 26. Your kids must have had their kids very young to be old enough to get married. You says one was 4 when you married. I believe you have at least one other together, no? I was 31 when Stephanie was born in '78 & almost 35 when Beth was born in '82. There was one miscarriage at 20 weeks before Beth came along. That was so traumatic for me!! That pregnancy had been a surprise but Beth was definitely planned. She & I are the closest since she was just 14 1/2 when Stephanie left home at 19. In fact, all three left home at 19!

Only our eldest Allison has a Uni degree. She started out with a diploma in Early Childhood from Grant McEwan C C in Edmonton & then left for U Vic to continue those studies. She wanted to catch children & families before problems arose. However, after only a year into the program, she realized that too many kids had slipped through the cracks & changed to a program focusing on the whole family starting with young teens to young adults. Now, she works as a 'Social Worker' at Chimo, a government granted agency. Stephanie is a Master Hair Stylist & owns her own Salon, Behind the Purple Door, in Edmonton. Beth has her ECS diploma & runs a Day Home, The Martyn's Nest.

I miss our family a lot, as much as I do love the island. It's so beautiful & green!! I do love Penticton though. I likely told you my paternal Grandparents, as well as two Aunts & Uncles, Dad's 2 older brothers lived there for years as well as my one Leslie cousin, who married a childhood sweetheart from there. Grandpa & my Uncles built The Shielings, a tongue in groove log panabode, aka Auto Court, in 1952. Like a motel, the cottages are home to low income families & could certainly stand to be fixed up. It's sad that it was never recognized as a heritage site. They're next door to Joey's.

Penticton was also at the top of our list as a place to move from Sherwood Park but I hate temps over 85!! I don't sit out in the sun & don't swim. I loathe A/C as it gives me headaches & I get colds from extreme changes in temps. 


Hi Maggie! Thank you for your concern regarding my new hip but my GP gave me the "back to normal" green light when he looked at the stitches in my nose. My specialist had noted a tiny fracture near the top of the replacement, six weeks after initial surgery, so I had to discontinue a number of my leg exercises until a follow-up set of x-rays six weeks later. Had them taken a day or so before we left to drive to LA.

Lady Dar and I were married in Victoria in May, 9176, on the last day of my high school practicum. [I obtained my Library Degree as well as a Teaching Certificate in a joint program offered by the Faculty of Education and the LS.] My sponsor teacher allowed me to miss the day. Funnily, enough, although I didn't know it at the time, he was married to a close nursing friend of my mother. They trained together as St Boniface. 
Lady Dar was first married when she was 20. Ayn, now VP of Programming for The Hallmark Movie Channel, was the child of that marriage. She and Chloë are nine years apart. Lady Dar was six months pregnant when we were married. We flew to Victoria on a float plane that morning and Ayn announced to all the passengers that Mom and Dad we getting married in Victoria! Chloë works for a non-profit, Aunt Leah's, which deals with young adults who are aging out of care. However, she has completed a property management course from UBC's Sauder School of Business and hopes to write final in next month or so. Her Mother hopes she will move here, at some point! I do as well but realize she has to come to that decision herself. We might help her make it as we are moving in the direction of selling the loft which we own in East Van and in which Chloë lives at greatly subsidized rent!

Your Penticton connection is an interesting one. I'll have to take a look at The Shielings. From what you say it is not far from Heartline Medical where my GP has his office, corner of Galt and Skaha Lake Rd. Must away as I need to put another log on the fire and go and collect a bit more firewood.  Fondestos and Cheers, Patrizzio! Pics: Corinne's wedding picture with John Vogt. Our wedding and that Christmas with Ayn.


 


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