Lady Dar Sings Her 71st Birthday Blues: Thursday, July 19th!

The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude. -Aldous Huxley, novelist (1894-1963)

Happy Birthday from Duke!!! ❤️😘❤️ Happy 71st to a Lady who is as young, in spirit, as this curious feline! Love and Cheers, Etta, Duke and Patrizzio! Beverley Wittwer happy birthday Corinne have a great day Bev Carol Riera Happy Birthday Corinne Durston! I hope you have an amazing day. I know Chloe, Patrick, Colleen and Alan will take care of pampering you and spoiling you. Wishing you another blessed and amazing year of health and travels and love. ❌⭕️❌⭕️🙏❤️🎉🎂 Hi Dad I have Polka Dot Flowers in Osoyoos delivering flowers for Mom to Spirit Ridge today. I've already handled the tip for the delivery too. I'll call tonight, enjoy lunch at Kismet and kiss the birthday girl for all of us!! Love Ayn

Hi Lara! Lovely to meet you both, if only briefly. Please feel free to pop by, when in Penticton, if timing works for you. Just wanted to send this snapola along so that we can keep in touch more easily. Off to the pool now. Cheers, Patrizzio! Thanks Patrick, We will see what time we are able to sneak away from the family tomorrow. Really appreciate all your tips - and your prairie friendliness! Cheers! Lara

Dear Pat How are you? And how was your road trip through the wild wild east? I started my new job in the beginning of July and am very happy in the new team. Also my new journey to work is fabulously short. Summer is still wonderful and very hot and I often go swimming in the Aare. When the weather allows it, I'll go hiking in the Tessin with Max and Monica this weekend. Blizzards are announced, we'll see. It was wonderful having you here! And I hope very much that all did go well with the nasty trains and your fast bike. All the best and much love to you all! Fiona
 

Dearest, Darling Fiona! How lovely to hear form you and know things go so well, with respect to new job, team colleagues, travel time, etc. Of course, with delightful visit, I know just how short is your commute. I do apolgize fro not being in touch sooner but things have been rather busy, not to say hectic, since I've been back home. [I believe I did send along some of the pictures I took the afternoon you served me such a delicious lunch, shortly after I left Switzerland, but if you did not receive it or I misrembered actually sending it, please let me know.] Most recently, we went to the Folk Fest at Jericho Beach last weekend and had a wonderful time. Sarge joined us but Flamin' was back in Nova Scotia for a friend's retirement party.

On Monday we drove back to Penticton and close friends, Colleen and Al, from Burnaby, spent night with us, even though we don't have a kitchen and house is a mess! Lady Dar decided to completely remodel kitchen while I was away in Europe so all the other rooms are filled with boxes of kitchen utensils, furniture, etc. This on top of the fact that our place was already stuffed to the gills with all of Chloë's furniture/possessions that we have been storing since she moved to Penticton last September. Big news here is that she had a call from developer, building her townhouse, a few days ago, and she will be able to move in on August 8th, as opposed to the end of that month as originally projected. Once this happens we will be able to put our house back in order as we trust the kitchen will be finished by then as well.

Tuesday we drove down to Osoyoos, about an hour south, with Colleen and Al, to spend three nights at our "fractional condo", [A recreational property we bought last November, in a resort called Spirit Ridge, which allows us two weeks occupancy every six weeks, if we choose to stay. If not, suite goes into rental pool and we receive revenue based on total occupancy rate for entire resort over the fiscal year. Chloë, and three of her girlfriends spent the weekend there while we were at the Folk Fest.] Lady Dar celebrated her 71st birthday today we had a wonderful, wonderful lunch at Kismet Winery, not far from Osoyoos. Winery and restaurant, Masala, are owned and operated by an East Indian family from the Punjab so food was terrific. Both Lady Dar and Chloë had been there before but this was my first time and I was greatly impressed with a number of their red wines.

On Friday, Colleen and Al will leave to visit more friends near Salmon Arm, north of us, and we will drive back to Penticton as we have a meeting with our bank to arrange mortgage for Chloë's place. We will co-sign loan as she does not have the financial resources to qualify for mortgage on her own. Even bigger news on this front is that two weeks ago she passed the Strata Management exam, [on-line course was through UBC's Sauder School of Business] that she requires for her job, working for a property management company, Pacific Quorum. She is now a licensed property manager and hefty increase in salary, as a result, will certainly help with mortgage payments!

In addition, we want to attend the wine club appreciation party thrown by Poplar Grove that night. It is usually a wonderful affair with live bands and about seven or eight food stations serving all sorts of dishes paired with their marvellous wine. Gorgeous setting and loads of fun seeing friends and meeting new people while wine flows freely.

Saturday night is another wine club appreciation party, this time at Upper Bench Winery. It will be a much smaller event than one at Poplar Grove but Shana and Gavin, owners, are simply tremendous people, along with all their staff, so it will be a great gathering, based on past events we have attended. Sunday afternoon we will head back down to Osoyoos until Thursday.

Michelle Dunn Happy birthday Corinne! You look fabulous! Heather Fraser Happy Birthday, Corinne! Would love to see you when you are in town next! Colleen Trimble Schneider A great way to celebrate! Happy Birthday!
 

Clan Sutherland will already there, all three children with spouses, Ryan/Megan, Nicole/Marvin, (both live in Kamloops now), and Rebecca/Corey, [They are currently waiting for their house to be built in Sendero Canyon, just half a block from where Chloë's townhouse! They are both RCMP officers and were transferred from Lower Mainland to Penticton this past April.] Not to mention five grandchildren, with Nicole's second child expected in December! Whew, if it's Thursday it must be Bern and I'm swimming in the Aare! Anyway, that is a quick overview of life over last few weeks.Fondestos and Cheers, Patrizzio!

I usually would toss this out but my curiosity got the better of me. I want to see what is so funny. Cheers, Dawn Sorry but this was a hoax. I never got anything back and checked with my friend who sent it to me and they didn’t get anything either. Hopefully I will not pester you with something like this again. Dawn