Famers' Market 42nd Birthday Blues: Saturday, August 18th!

Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the human heart can hold. -Zelda Fitzgerald, novelist (1900-1948) 

Bit of a sleep-in this morning after wonderful birthday dinner at Front Street Brasserie last night. Lady Dar was already up, watering, the felines chasing each other around the yard as she tended to the plants. I put on a a carafe of java and while waiting for the brew to be ready I left a message for Chloë inquiring what time she and Katie were planning to come down for the Farmers' Market. She called a few minutes later and told Lady Dar they would arrive in half an hour so we both had a bite of breakfast. When they were here we collected our bags and strolled down White to Main. The Super League Triathlon is on this weekend so vendor stalls have been moved back two blocks to Eckhardt so we didn't have quite as far to walk to start buying vegetables. 

Had a lovely time, in spite of the heavy smoke, visiting with many of the vendors and admiring all the attractive fruit and produce displays. Meandered all the way to the bottom of Market as I wanted to say hello to friend, Jake, outside the Bookshop. Introduced him to Katie and after The Sisterhood left to scope shoes, Vittoria, his wife, came by so we had a visit. Back home to rinse cherries and clean the radishes and carrots we'd bought. The Goils were off to Sendero to ready themselves for drive to Oliver as they were planning to have lunch at Masala. They might join us for dinner but will wait and see how rest of their day unfolds.

I'm planning to spend most of the rest of the day making inroads on my backlog of messages and unpacking more boxes now that we can finally use the upper kitchen cabinets. The last section of counter-top, along with the sink, were put in place on Friday afternoon. Needed shelf pins for the set of cupboards closest to the Rumpus Room door and had to remove all the wine glasses we had placed on the glass shelves of the cupboards to the right of the sink. The bottom supports of these shelves had to be sanded down to accept the counter-top so we thought it best to have the shelves empty in case this approach didn't work and the cabinets had to be taken down! Fortunately, this wasn't the case and they are now ready to accept most of our glassware. However, will change the spacing as I found, when first placing glasses on them, that there was not quite enough space to put glasses back without danger of knocking rims against edge of shelves. Will enlist Lady Dar's help when she is back from performing her ceremony.

Hello Masala People! Lovely to meet you! Trust you enjoyed your take-away later! None of our meal left so we had to make do with wine from shop! Our youngest daughter, Chloë, and her close friend, Katie, headed down to Oliver, after the Farmers' Market, here in Penticton, this morning, to have lunch at Masala. Chloë had been there, a month or so ago, and is now as taken with the restaurant as you two!

If you are going to be up in Penticton, at some point, give us a shout and come by for a java or something stronger. We live on Burns Street and here is our home phone: 250-XXX-XXXX. Janet flew back to Vancouver yesterday evening. Until next our paths cross, stay well. Fondestos from Lady Dar, just off to perform a wedding at the Lakeshore. Cheers, Patrizzio!Pics: Lady Dar and Janet at Church & State, just before we arrived at Masala; If it's Thursday, it must be Masala! Katie, Lady Dar, vendor Leigh, (Balsamic Bliss), and Chloë, at Farmers' Market; Lady Dar off to be her Marriage Officiant-self!

Hi Patrick, (& Masala luvers ) Thanks very much for the photo's! Nice to meet you guys also.. Always a little special when you meet new faces who are familiar with your roots from another country! Will no doubt see you again at this wonderful location. Till then take care and be safe Paul & Colleen Hi again, Paul!

Meant to send along a couple of snaps from this past April's visit to Cornwall. Cheers, Patrizzio! Pics: Gayle and Derek, from Blackwater, on our hike out of Fowey and then next day at Bedruthen Steps. Dinner with mutual friends, Gudrun and Steve, from Redruth. Ahhhhhhh Nice... As far as vistas goes, the Cornish coastline takes some beating !.... Can smell the ocean! Best.. Paul & Colleen

Hi there Patrick! Haven’t heard from you directly but getting the odd update from old farts, so thought it time to reach out. I suppose you are breathing reno dust along with all this smoke. Not the best of times to be overly active but I’m doing most of the hikes as well as getting out on the bike for some nice rides. I am glad I missed that Trout Creek adventure tho - Peter really knows how to lead the tough ones!
 
Getting ready to lose my youngest ( Chris ) to Australia. He’ll be leaving on the 28th and will be gone at least a year if not more. Of course he’ll be staying with his brother for the first months, and working at what ever he can find. I will be joining up with them towards the end of October. This will be my second visit so hope to go south for some adventures this time!
 
What reading have you been up to? Have you started the book for the club yet? I’m trying to get hold of a couple of his other books; “To Be A Cat” sounds interesting! Hope your loved ones are all doing well, including those crazy cats of yours. Take care and hopefully hear from you soon. All the best. Lou 

Hi Luigi! How lovely to hear from you and glad to learn that you are as active, hiking and biking, as ever. [Heard about the remarkably challenging Trout Creek outing from Josinta as we have been playing bridge for last few weeks. Quite a military exercise!] Yes, we have been breathing reno dust since June 26th but by Monday or Tuesday of this coming week we are crossing our fingers that most everything will be in place: kitchen sink and gas stove-top plus two sets of open shelving, largest on wall opposite malt cabinet and two smaller ones over sink. We have managed reasonably well with Lady Dar doing most of our cooked meals on bbq on back patio, our Summer Kitchen, and I've turned the guest bathroom into a dish-washing centre! 

Duke and Etta have not been overly happy with all the noise and the coming and goings of various strangers invading their turf. However, they seem to be feeling much better as the renovated space returns to a semblance of what they were familiar with and have started napping, during the day, in some of their usual or favourite spots inside. For a month or so we didn't see much of them until early evening when they would slink back from wherever they had hidden away, twitching nervously at the slightest noise or unexpected sound.

Terrific that you will be off to Australia at the end of October. [Have seen Mad Max numerous times as I've been drinking more IPA with weather being so hot and muggy.] We have been five times so are reasonably familiar with much of the country. Ironically, on the trip in 2003 the wildfires, near King Valley, Victoria, [and elsewhere], close to where good friend Steve and I were wine-tasting, were raging much as they are here now. About a month ago I set up one of my bikes on the back patio as I have an Allu-trainer which allows me to use the bike as a stationary bike. I was delighted to be back in the saddle again and even more pleased as I could read for the hour I was pedaling away. Finished Isabel Allende's Ripper, [Interrupted when my book was with my backpack, in storage at the Berlin train station while I was in hospital, for a week, recovering from pneumonia!], and then polished off August Thomas' Liar's Candle, [a fascinating spy/mystery set in Turkey], David Baldacci's Saving Faith, [I usually don't read him and haven't in years but decided I'd give it a try and enjoyed it immensely, now looking forward to his next, Long Road to Mercy.], Jane Harper's The Dry, [Something you might enjoy, given your coming trip. Another murder-mystery but set in rural Australia, north of Melbourne, during terrible drought. Now I'm looking forward to her Force of Nature, second novel, with same detective, Aaron Falk.] 

Current book, courtesy of resident Retired Public Librarian is Lisa Gardner's Live to Tell, a detective D.D.Warren novel. I didn't know this series so was very happy to be introduced to her character. As you can see, from nature of works, all are, more or less, easy to read while pumping away on the stationary bike. Today, Lady Dar intends to pick up The Humans so I will start on it next. Unfortunately, with the even heavier, terrible smoke over the last week or so, I have shied away from riding, worried about taxing my recently pneumonia compromised lungs. Cannot even imagine how the contestants in the Super League Triathlon are faring.

First two bridge evenings we enjoyed picnics at Trout Lake and then at small beach near Prague Café. Last week, due to smoke, we played inside at Judy Pratt's place. Olga Polga is really affected, and rest of us, of course, but not to the same extent as her already compromised pulmonary system. Tuesday we will play on Spiller Road with Famiglia Robson hosting, inside again to minimize effect of smoke. Even a tad concerned about Etta and Duke being outside. Last two nights, Etta has stayed inside, [They usually go outside at 4:00 am!], but El Diablo headed out into the pea soup! Perhaps if we find a copy of To Be a Cat Duke will stay inside to read as he already believes he is human!

Chloë moved into her Sendero Canyon townhouse almost two weeks ago now. Move went very well and we now have so much room we hardly know what to do with it! She doesn't have much furniture yet but can manage until she can afford to acquire larger pieces. She sold most of those before she moved. She has rented out the bedroom/bathroom on first floor so that should help with her mortgage. [Her boarder, Shruti, is East Indian, recently arrived to Canada, and works at Culmina Winery, in charge of marketing, I believe, out of Oliver. We are already planning on enjoying heavily discounted, expensive wine and curry dinners as she will share kitchen!] We celebrated her 42nd birthday at Front Street Brasserie this past Friday although the actual date is today. Her sister, Ayn, will fly up from LA on August 29th, to celebrate her birthday, September 4th, while here. Lady Dar performed a wedding this afternoon, at Lakeshore Hotel, and has twelve more before the end of September.

Well must away as I'm hoping to make inroads on organizing my "office" now that Chloë's boxes are gone as well as those which contained "decanted" material from original kitchen shelves. Over last few days we have been able to put most of these items back into new cupboards and cabinets but will take some time to really see where things should go. At the moment we just want everything unpacked and put away so that we can begin a thorough cleaning of the house. In spite of measures we took, there is dust everywhere and am not looking forward to extensive "Spring Cleaning" which we can look forward to over the next few weeks this Fall!

Hope to see you soon, Luigi. If time allows I'm hoping to join an "easy" Monday hike but if not then at next book club gathering. Stay well. Fondestos from Lady Dar. Cheers, Patrizzio! Pics: Stationary bike on back patio; bridge at beach near Prague Café; Lady Dar showing off the dining room chairs she recovered for Chloë. Taken day after move into Sendero. Jake with our friend, Julien, son of close friend, visiting over Peach Festival. Wine fridge, (134 bottles!), being delivered! Bridge at Judy Pratt's home, with friend, Janet, from Vancouver. Terrific exhibition at PAG. Counter-top being installed; FSB with our server, John, Chef/Owner; Lady Dar off to be her Marriage Officiant self!

Thanks for all the reading suggestions. I look forward to taking some of them up. It always amazes me how small our world is! My dear friend Kathi Ernst is the accountant at Culmina winery. I have enjoyed some of their wines as a result! Yes I can imagine how you feel losing a house mate. I no there will be a huge space left with Chris’s departure. It will be strange but nice to have the lessened work load too ( perhaps something you guys didn’t experience with a daughter!). Enjoy your bridge, beer and scotch?! Luigi

Chloe Alexis Dunn Thank you all for the love and birthday wishes...it was a lovely day spent with people I love drinking wine, eating yummy things and even unpacking a box or 10 in the new house!!!