Nature teaches more than she preaches. There are no sermons in stones.
It is easier to get a spark out of a stone than a moral. -John
Burroughs, naturalist and writer (3 Apr 1837-1921)
Hi Royal Bank of Loving Parents! Yes, I recall you mentioning that Rhoda had been related by marriage I believe to Martha and Will. She was my 6th grade teacher at OLPH. Martha was tall, thin and very attractive with long auburn hair to her shoulders Hope Chloe gets some meds at the doc today. Love Ayn
Looks fancy!! The neighborhood is similar to mine but it's coming up and the price is right. I like that it's close to the freeway to get around easily etc. Hi again, Panorama Goil! I do remember Martha but I don't have the slightest recollection of the connection to Ski. I will certainly ask her, however. I agree, place looks fancy! Did Wole and I ride through this area before New Year's, do you remember? You may already know that Chloë has bronchitis and is now happily snorting with an inhaler. Duke has a sympathetic cold as he has been sneezing! Lady Dar ate too, too many beets so she is suffering and is already in bed, reading. I will join her soon as I want to put a dent into our latest book club selection, Five Star Billionaire, to be discussed next week. Again, Happy House Hunting. Buona Fortuna from the RBLP!
Hi Donna Maria and Heraldo! Glad
you enjoy the JL cards. Funnily enough, Jim Hillson, [He of Terrace
United Church Conference Fame!], was visiting Penticton last week and we
had a lovely time. He was staying with another very close friend,
another retired United Church minister, Linda Ervin and we had dinner at
her place on Tuesday evening. It turns out he doesn't like the JL cards
so I told him I would strike him off the list! No wonder you don't like
those those Commie Pinko Tree-Huggers!
Hi Al, if you and Colleen want to come for a visit it will have to be this coming weekend the 7 & 8. As Patrick leaves on the 16th and will be driving into Vancouver probably with Chloe on the 14th. Would love to see you Corinne
This quite typical Dutch .... good initiative WITH results! How Amsterdam is reducing child obesity - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-43113760 Aart
Hi Aarturo! How are you and Josinta? Are you now going to run for Mayor of Summerland to implement these Dutch policies? How was your Easter weekend?Fondestos from Lady Dar to you both. Cheers, Patrizzio!
Morning, Patrick -- And a happy Easter Tuesday to you and the family! We greatly enjoyed the wonderful spring greeting (especially now that the rain's come back to the Lower Mainland). Best always -- Jane & Jack Hi Rain City Folk!
Hi Royal Bank of Loving Parents! Yes, I recall you mentioning that Rhoda had been related by marriage I believe to Martha and Will. She was my 6th grade teacher at OLPH. Martha was tall, thin and very attractive with long auburn hair to her shoulders Hope Chloe gets some meds at the doc today. Love Ayn
Found another townhome to see...3 bedrooms and one is downstairs so it would be great for your visits :) It's off Nordhoff near the 405 freeway but between Sepulveda and
Van Nuys Blvd on Willis Avenue. A little father from work but still
doable down Woodman Avenue in 30 mins.
Looks fancy!! The neighborhood is similar to mine but it's coming up and the price is right. I like that it's close to the freeway to get around easily etc. Hi again, Panorama Goil! I do remember Martha but I don't have the slightest recollection of the connection to Ski. I will certainly ask her, however. I agree, place looks fancy! Did Wole and I ride through this area before New Year's, do you remember? You may already know that Chloë has bronchitis and is now happily snorting with an inhaler. Duke has a sympathetic cold as he has been sneezing! Lady Dar ate too, too many beets so she is suffering and is already in bed, reading. I will join her soon as I want to put a dent into our latest book club selection, Five Star Billionaire, to be discussed next week. Again, Happy House Hunting. Buona Fortuna from the RBLP!
 |
Dust jacket from the first edition of
A Clockwork Orange
Image: Wikimedia Commons
|
Your
Easter weekend sounded exciting. How was Rod? Back in the early '70's,
when I was in London, I tried to call him, drunk as a skunk, from some
pub, to tell him how much I liked Maggie May! Operator was
extremely pleasant and I think I talked to her for about ten minutes
while she "pretended" not to be able to find a listing. Great customer
service. I think she was probably bored so my ridiculous request was a
bit of a late night diversion on slow shift . Anyway, I do hope you
were invited backstage to pass along my belated greetings!
Must
away as I've scads of things to do. Clean gutters, chop/move firewood
and put a new retaining wall around one of our raised garden planters.
Have vowed I will take down the large bag I will use in Europe from its
storage spot in garage as I simply must start the process of packing.
Bag is one we bought for Chloë for her trip to Brazil, way back in 2011.
I has rollers but also straps that allow one to use it as a knapsack.
Of course, she wouldn't use it, preferring, instead, a bag, like a
hockey equipment bag, so heavy, when packed with far too, too much, that
I could barely lift it. She realized the error of her ways on the first
bus ride they took after they arrived! Anyway, it will be perfect for
my coming trip as I can have it on my back and then have my hands free
to wheel my bike. At least this is the theory! Will let you know how
things turn out as I plan to be in daily email contact with you!!! All
the best to you both from Lady Dar and Chloë. Take care of yourselves. Cheers, Patrizzio!
Hello Pentictonians! and a belated happy Easter to you all :). Finally catching up on the last few emails Patrice and the recount of your ride with Ski was making me misty eyed and missing the fun visit and riding time we had last. Do miss you all very much but glad life seems to be treating you well and you have been having some great adventures down south as well as there and back.
We had a really nice Easter weekend at the cabin although we did have to do a return to Langley for a housewarming / birthday for Colleens brother Sean and his girlfriend Wendy. Colleen and I had driven up Friday morning and then back for the 2:p.m. gathering , Jerry and Sue picked up our boys in Burnaby then met us there and when the party was done travelled via convoy back up to S.V. It started snowing on Sunday...Again!! and we received another 6 inches over the day. Although everyone has had their fill of winter it was very beautiful and made it a lot of fun for Clover who romped around with boundless energy. She loves burrowing through the fresh stuff and then snorting and snuffling before lifting her head with a pile of snow on her muzzle like Max the Grinch's dog from the famed Dr. Suess cartoon. I have a Chuckit soccer ball that I tied a 4 foot piece of rope around so I can whirl it around and throw into a nice fresh area for her to take off into. Brings a big smile to our faces and she is loving it to no end. The snow also made it extra cozy inside with the fire and we enjoyed a screening of Coco the academy award winning Pixar animated movie which was absolutely amazing and highly recommended if you have not seen it.
We had a rental at the new place over the weekend as well which was welcome. We had to turn down a couple would be guests as they had brand new airbnb profiles with no reviews and did not respond to a request for more info and references so we turned them down. This in light of a problem recently where a couple and their young son rented it last minute for a weekend and broke some things, left the place a sty and pretty sure stole a whole bunch of our toilet paper to boot. We gave them a bad review and it got ugly from there with them demanding their money back and accusing our cleaners of being jealous of us being in Mexico while they were stuck in the snow in the Sunshine Valley!
They even alluded to causing trouble for us saying the Valley was "not that far away". We contacted airbnb and had them pull the review as we did not want to be watching our backs and be going to war with someone over one bad rental experience. if anything it was an education and we revisited everything in how we are dealing with the rentals and thus the rejection of two potential rentals last month. Fortunately the last guests were fantastic and left the place very nice and tidy, We took advantage of being there on Sunday to go in and clean ourselves and I repaired a couple small things and siliconed the counter which was still on the to do list.
Made our way back yesterday and now back to catching up on communications re work and volunteer stuff to do with the Valley which seems to take up a disproportionate amount of my time as of late trying to put the final touches on the new security system for the community center. I have another project for my artist friend Germaine whom I did the Spirit Trail piece in North Van with. I recently finished another one as well where we installed a concrete curb and another company installed a rubber product for the permanent installation of the seesaw I built for her in 2009. It now lives at 51st and main on the northwest corner of the Sunset Community center grounds. The next project is called an errant cloud and is a cloud sculpture that is going into the roof of the new Minorou pool complex. The cloud will gather moisture from the atmosphere and at random intervals rain down on patrons in the pool. I am quite pleased to be involved in these projects and Germaine has just been appointed the artist in residence for the city of Vancouver overseeing all art installations in the city. I hope to continue to be involved in her future endeavours as well.
I just wrapped on re-shoots of Predator last Thursday after a one month stint , glad to have that one behind as it involved a fair bit of commuting out to the Pitt lake area. Beautiful place to be if you don't have to try and go back and forth during rush hour. Fortunately we worked some odd hours and was not the case.
Patrice, I hear you are heading off soon on your big bike trip but was not sure of the dates. We would have liked to come have a visit before you left but we are committed to going and seeing the island people on the weekend of April 14th, (on the motorcycle, weather permitting), so don't know if this leaves time. anyway hopefully we can but if not we wish you a safe and fun time and look forward to catching up an lots of great adventures when you return. Take care for now and we'll ttys. xo Al pics. : Clover and her favourite toy; Me in my machine ready to overturn cannoned vehicles, decapitated soldiers in the aftermath of having their jeep flipped through an electric fence.
Hello Pentictonians! and a belated happy Easter to you all :). Finally catching up on the last few emails Patrice and the recount of your ride with Ski was making me misty eyed and missing the fun visit and riding time we had last. Do miss you all very much but glad life seems to be treating you well and you have been having some great adventures down south as well as there and back.
We had a really nice Easter weekend at the cabin although we did have to do a return to Langley for a housewarming / birthday for Colleens brother Sean and his girlfriend Wendy. Colleen and I had driven up Friday morning and then back for the 2:p.m. gathering , Jerry and Sue picked up our boys in Burnaby then met us there and when the party was done travelled via convoy back up to S.V. It started snowing on Sunday...Again!! and we received another 6 inches over the day. Although everyone has had their fill of winter it was very beautiful and made it a lot of fun for Clover who romped around with boundless energy. She loves burrowing through the fresh stuff and then snorting and snuffling before lifting her head with a pile of snow on her muzzle like Max the Grinch's dog from the famed Dr. Suess cartoon. I have a Chuckit soccer ball that I tied a 4 foot piece of rope around so I can whirl it around and throw into a nice fresh area for her to take off into. Brings a big smile to our faces and she is loving it to no end. The snow also made it extra cozy inside with the fire and we enjoyed a screening of Coco the academy award winning Pixar animated movie which was absolutely amazing and highly recommended if you have not seen it.
We had a rental at the new place over the weekend as well which was welcome. We had to turn down a couple would be guests as they had brand new airbnb profiles with no reviews and did not respond to a request for more info and references so we turned them down. This in light of a problem recently where a couple and their young son rented it last minute for a weekend and broke some things, left the place a sty and pretty sure stole a whole bunch of our toilet paper to boot. We gave them a bad review and it got ugly from there with them demanding their money back and accusing our cleaners of being jealous of us being in Mexico while they were stuck in the snow in the Sunshine Valley!
They even alluded to causing trouble for us saying the Valley was "not that far away". We contacted airbnb and had them pull the review as we did not want to be watching our backs and be going to war with someone over one bad rental experience. if anything it was an education and we revisited everything in how we are dealing with the rentals and thus the rejection of two potential rentals last month. Fortunately the last guests were fantastic and left the place very nice and tidy, We took advantage of being there on Sunday to go in and clean ourselves and I repaired a couple small things and siliconed the counter which was still on the to do list.
Made our way back yesterday and now back to catching up on communications re work and volunteer stuff to do with the Valley which seems to take up a disproportionate amount of my time as of late trying to put the final touches on the new security system for the community center. I have another project for my artist friend Germaine whom I did the Spirit Trail piece in North Van with. I recently finished another one as well where we installed a concrete curb and another company installed a rubber product for the permanent installation of the seesaw I built for her in 2009. It now lives at 51st and main on the northwest corner of the Sunset Community center grounds. The next project is called an errant cloud and is a cloud sculpture that is going into the roof of the new Minorou pool complex. The cloud will gather moisture from the atmosphere and at random intervals rain down on patrons in the pool. I am quite pleased to be involved in these projects and Germaine has just been appointed the artist in residence for the city of Vancouver overseeing all art installations in the city. I hope to continue to be involved in her future endeavours as well.
I just wrapped on re-shoots of Predator last Thursday after a one month stint , glad to have that one behind as it involved a fair bit of commuting out to the Pitt lake area. Beautiful place to be if you don't have to try and go back and forth during rush hour. Fortunately we worked some odd hours and was not the case.
Patrice, I hear you are heading off soon on your big bike trip but was not sure of the dates. We would have liked to come have a visit before you left but we are committed to going and seeing the island people on the weekend of April 14th, (on the motorcycle, weather permitting), so don't know if this leaves time. anyway hopefully we can but if not we wish you a safe and fun time and look forward to catching up an lots of great adventures when you return. Take care for now and we'll ttys. xo Al pics. : Clover and her favourite toy; Me in my machine ready to overturn cannoned vehicles, decapitated soldiers in the aftermath of having their jeep flipped through an electric fence.
Hi Al, if you and Colleen want to come for a visit it will have to be this coming weekend the 7 & 8. As Patrick leaves on the 16th and will be driving into Vancouver probably with Chloe on the 14th. Would love to see you Corinne
This quite typical Dutch .... good initiative WITH results! How Amsterdam is reducing child obesity - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-43113760 Aart
Hi Aarturo! How are you and Josinta? Are you now going to run for Mayor of Summerland to implement these Dutch policies? How was your Easter weekend?Fondestos from Lady Dar to you both. Cheers, Patrizzio!
Morning, Patrick -- And a happy Easter Tuesday to you and the family! We greatly enjoyed the wonderful spring greeting (especially now that the rain's come back to the Lower Mainland). Best always -- Jane & Jack Hi Rain City Folk!
Lovely to hear from you and know you are well. Cheers, Patrizzio!
Lady Dar and I spent most of the morning on correspondence of one sort or another, recovering from being away for the long weekend and by the time I'd had a bite of lunch it was close to 1:00 pm. I wanted to clean the gutters, a chore that should have been done in the Fall after most of the leaves were gone. However, since I never managed to discharge this task I was determined to do it before the next rain, predicted for most of the rest of the week. Started on the south side of the house as the neighbour's tree accounts for most of the leaves here. In fact, when I clambered up to take a look, was pleased to discover that the gutters were not too, too bad. A short section, closest to the front of the house was quite full but from there to the other end, the previous owner had installed a porous mesh product that allows rain to penetrate but acts as a leaf/gutter guard. These strips sit in the gutter, almost up to the edge, and prevent leaves and other matter from clogging the channel. Here all I really had to do was brush away what little silt and plant/tree material sat atop the guard. Took more time moving the ladder along than it did to remove the offending debris.
Gutter along the garage was virtually empty except for a short length next to the Rumpus Room wall. However, I will hav eto wait until I move the stacked firewood from benaeth the window before I can move the ladder close enough. Gutter over the front door was absolutely clogged but it is only a short run and easy to reach so it took no time to clean it. Side of house next to duplex was filled across the entire length but the leaves were almost completely decomposed and mixed with fine silt, either wind deposited or from roof run-off. I think these leaves were from the oak tree that used to be in the neighbour's front yard but Bill cut it down last year so they were the last reminder of the large tree. Was sorry o see it go, of course, but won't miss the leaves!
Just as we started on this side Lady Dar noticed Stormin' Norman, neighbour, across the back lane, and we said hello. He came over and we chatted as I worked, Lady Dar taking each bucket I filled, and so on, all the way along. Had not seen Norman since before Christmas so it was good to catch up. He was working on a garden project, building a pergola, so after a few minutes he said goodbye. We were finished by about 3:15 pm so I suited up and went for a ride, leaving just after 3:30 pm. Wind was out of the SSe at 21 kph, gusting to 28 kph so I decided to stick close to home and once I'd completed my standard PTC/Lakeshore/Riverside Loop I headed for the SOEC and spent the remainder of the ride hamsterizing myself around the complex seven or so full times, with smaller loops around the adjacent parking lots for added distance. Must admit that my legs felt a tad weary, the toll of Anarchist, I suspect, so I was pleased to have this "maintenance run" even if it wasn't overly exciting. Still, I was pleased to have managed a ride as it looks like I'll be back at the pool, deep-water-walking, if the weather forecast is correct. Cheers! Map and Stats for ride:
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2599538202#.WsRFSMuJx4o.email
Lady Dar and I spent most of the morning on correspondence of one sort or another, recovering from being away for the long weekend and by the time I'd had a bite of lunch it was close to 1:00 pm. I wanted to clean the gutters, a chore that should have been done in the Fall after most of the leaves were gone. However, since I never managed to discharge this task I was determined to do it before the next rain, predicted for most of the rest of the week. Started on the south side of the house as the neighbour's tree accounts for most of the leaves here. In fact, when I clambered up to take a look, was pleased to discover that the gutters were not too, too bad. A short section, closest to the front of the house was quite full but from there to the other end, the previous owner had installed a porous mesh product that allows rain to penetrate but acts as a leaf/gutter guard. These strips sit in the gutter, almost up to the edge, and prevent leaves and other matter from clogging the channel. Here all I really had to do was brush away what little silt and plant/tree material sat atop the guard. Took more time moving the ladder along than it did to remove the offending debris.
Gutter along the garage was virtually empty except for a short length next to the Rumpus Room wall. However, I will hav eto wait until I move the stacked firewood from benaeth the window before I can move the ladder close enough. Gutter over the front door was absolutely clogged but it is only a short run and easy to reach so it took no time to clean it. Side of house next to duplex was filled across the entire length but the leaves were almost completely decomposed and mixed with fine silt, either wind deposited or from roof run-off. I think these leaves were from the oak tree that used to be in the neighbour's front yard but Bill cut it down last year so they were the last reminder of the large tree. Was sorry o see it go, of course, but won't miss the leaves!
Just as we started on this side Lady Dar noticed Stormin' Norman, neighbour, across the back lane, and we said hello. He came over and we chatted as I worked, Lady Dar taking each bucket I filled, and so on, all the way along. Had not seen Norman since before Christmas so it was good to catch up. He was working on a garden project, building a pergola, so after a few minutes he said goodbye. We were finished by about 3:15 pm so I suited up and went for a ride, leaving just after 3:30 pm. Wind was out of the SSe at 21 kph, gusting to 28 kph so I decided to stick close to home and once I'd completed my standard PTC/Lakeshore/Riverside Loop I headed for the SOEC and spent the remainder of the ride hamsterizing myself around the complex seven or so full times, with smaller loops around the adjacent parking lots for added distance. Must admit that my legs felt a tad weary, the toll of Anarchist, I suspect, so I was pleased to have this "maintenance run" even if it wasn't overly exciting. Still, I was pleased to have managed a ride as it looks like I'll be back at the pool, deep-water-walking, if the weather forecast is correct. Cheers! Map and Stats for ride:
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2599538202#.WsRFSMuJx4o.email
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