Slow Cooker and the Turkey Bones Blues: Thursday, October 11th!

A society that gets rid of all its troublemakers goes downhill. -Robert A. Heinlein, science-fiction author (7 Jul 1907-1988)

Sparkling Hill Resort & Spa: If you live in Penticton, this October stay-cation is for you You should get this for you and mom for your Halloween anniversary ❤️

Hi Dream Weaver! Good suggestion, indeed! I'll buy a new camera as well. Sorry, no cash left for vacuum so you'd better advertise for another boarder, IMMEDIATELY!!!

So kind of you. Hope all is well Mary Hi Mary/Terry! Thanks for best wishes. Trust everyone is well and that your Thanksgiving was as enjoyable as ours! Are you heading to Florida for the winter? Haven't heard about your Mom for some time now and am wondering how she is. Fondestos from Lady Dar to you both. Take care of yourselves. Cheers, Patrizzio! Thanks Patrick, a little late. We had a great thanksgiving as I hope you did. Happy fall hiking Paul and Yvonne Hi Paolo! Yes, we enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving, thanks. Hope to start hiking again, in next little while. On another matter, funnily enough, I was listening to CBC out of Kelowna, one morning, a month or more ago, now, and I believe I heard Jacob win a phone-in quiz of some sort. Did he share the $10 million he won? Cheers, Patrizzio!
 

Hi Patrick, Thank you so much for thinking of me on Thanksgiving! I so enjoy all the pictures and your explanations of all the goings on. Miss Penticton and all the wonderful people I was just starting to get to know, but life is busy with our new granddaughter and is so much fun! Hugs to you and Corinne and Chloe! Love Corinne's new kitchen. xoxoxox Hi Barbarellla! Glad you enjoy being kept in loop but ever more pleased things are going so wonderfully with your new granddaughter. Chloë is extremely busy with work but very pleased to be doing strata management. She is also very happy to be in her own place and is enjoying furnishing it as she can afford things. Lady Dar's Mom, Rosie-the-Riveter, flew back from Winnipeg, with Chloë, this past Tuesday and will be here for a month. Great to have her here and I just finished putting the stock I prepared, yesterday, from turkey 
bones, in our slow cooker, adding other ingredients and spices, following Clara's instruction! Lovely day today so I'm planning to head out on my road bike shortly. Fondestos from Lady Dar, out running errands at the moment. All the best. Cheers, Patrizzio!

The Massacre of the Innocents at Bethlehem

Art: Matteo di Giovanni

Morning, Patrick and Corinne -- What a lovely, lovely greeting, and a lovely way to take the first long step into autumn! With thanks for thinking of us, and our good wishes for a beautiful season! Jack and Jane Hi Jack and Jane! Terrific to hear from you. Trust you are both well. We hosted our Thanksgiving dinner on Monday. Terry, neighbour from across the street, and Linda Ervin joined us as well. All the best to you both from Lady Dar. Cheers, Patrizzio! Thank you! I'm glad your Thanksgiving was a good one! We'll be looking forward to ours after the wedding and all has settled down. ~Patrizzia       Hi Patrice, Thank you for the Thanksgiving wishes. I hope you are well and recuperating well and enjoying the great new kitchen. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well. Love to you and the family and talk soon. Thanks for your lively thoughts! Hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving filled with good food and good company. Can you check with Corinne to see if Remembrance Day wknd works for you guys to come see us up At the valley? We would Love to see you soon. Lotsa love Marilyn xoxo   
 

Hi Sunshine Valley Gang! Thanks for best wishes. Glad you enjoyed the card. Trust everyone is well and that 
your Thanksgiving was as enjoyable as ours! Lovely invitation for November but I'll need to talk to Lady Dar. She is out running errands at the moment. Unfortunately, once again, I don't think this will work as Rosita is here until the 23rd of November. Anyway, I'll see what Lady Dar thinks once we talk to her Mom and Chloë. If she is around she could stay here with Clara, [Stairs would be an issue at Chloë's place.], if we take off for a few days.Fondestos from Lady Dar, in absentia, to you both. Take care of yourselves. Cheers, Patrizzio 

Heart healthy All done!!! 3 stents last night, 1 Sat, 4 in all for 6 blockages I’ve likely had for a long time they tell me. Painful stretching arteries, but very happy all went well. My Cardiologists are happy, so I’m happy. Lots of meds from now on, healthy diet and try to be active every day. Hopefully, home today. Been here since last Fri night. Thank you for all your well wishes & prayers. Was such a shock to have a heart attack!! Always thought I was a pretty healthy person in spite of my osteo arthritis & foot issues. If I missed sharing, it wasn’t intentional. This has been a roller coaster of a week. I’m grateful for all the amazing healthcare at the Royal Jubilee Hosp in Victoria where I was taken by ambulance last Friday night from the Parksville Oceanside Urgent Care who diagnosed my heart event!! Maggie❤️🙏�  

Hi Maggie! Terrific news indeed! You've been through the ringer but trust all continues to go well with a full and speedy recovery! Fondestos from Lady Dar. Cheers, Patrizzio Great to see pix. Lady Dar looks wonderful. Royal blue a lovely colour on her. Don’t see you!! 👍��❤️ Hi again, Maggie! Official Photographer, Me! Last hike, trying to fix a faulty corkscrew with Michaelo! Are you home yet? Cheers, Patrizzio! Cardiologist has signed off. Nurse removed iv. Waiting now to speak with Pharmacist and get all my paperwork. Not as easy as, yes, you’re discharged. Then, 2 hrs drive home in Victoria going home traffic!!!😱😖😩 Getting very antsy!! M Thx for pic!! Who’s your friend? Hi Homeward-Bound Maggie! Onward! Fight! Good luck with traffic. Michaelo lives in Summerland and is in both hiking and bridge group. Cheers, Patrizzio! Pic: Last bridge night he was at.

Glorious fall day!! 12 on the Malahat and 15 now. So grateful to be discharged feeling good!! All the blockages stented. Home in an hr. Frank will make his spaghetti and I’ll get one much appreciated glass of home brew, a red!! Thx for pic!! Maggie�� me!! Hi Successful Stent Woman! Trust you are home by now, sipping your red, enjoying Francesco's spaghetti! [Greetings to him form us both. I may remember incorrectly but I believe he served this wonderful dish the time we stayed overnight with you, in Yuma. Am I right?] I just finished putting the finishing touches, [topping of gluten-free bread crumbs and drizzled, melted margarine on top of mashed vegetable], to a turnip puff that we will be serving on Saturday. Just had a message from good friend in Vancouver in which he mentioned he'd just undergone a reconstructed ear after having a basal cell removed from it. As I've said, nothing is guaranteed so enjoy your food and wine! Must away as I'm to make a mixed green salad for dinner now that Lady Dar is back form her full day of errands. Cheers, Patrizzio! Spaghetti was awesome & the wine. Bed at 10, maybe read for a bit. Thx for pix.

Greetings Corinne and Patrick - me again I am sorry to say, Just a quick message to report that Andre has some health issues again so will not be returning to Canada on 25th October as scheduled.  Sorry Patrick but you will have to wait a little longer for your pass and million dollars to be returned to you! Late last Friday night his heart started acting up for no apparent reason and we spent ten hours in emergency on Sunday.  Yesterday we went to see his cardiologist and he wants to wait a couple of weeks before doing anything.  

Andre has already had four procedures so his doctor is not happy about rushing into a fifth.  As a result Andre obviously has to remain here in France.  I have cleared my diary so I can be with him until his next appointment on the 29th and then have to return to London for minor surgery myself, which I really do not want to delay, plus work commitments.  

I suspect the next fortnight will be a crucial time so glad I can be with him. The news is especially sad since his mother’s celebration of life with old friends and family is scheduled for the first Saturday after he was due back in Vancouver and he will now obviously miss it. I will keep you posted and we can always talk. All this is stress certainly not helping my shingles but that’s life. Take care my friends and much love to you both, Rosemary XXX

Hi again, Rosemary! Devastating news indeed! [Please don't even think twice about my things. Not an issue at all.] You've certainly been through the ringer but trust all will go as well as possible with Andre over next few weeks. Not to diminish his recent, obviously significant heart irregularities, but I had Thanksgiving messages from two other friends over the Thanksgiving weekend. Maggie, in Parksville, had to be rushed to hospital in Nanaimo, last Friday, as well, suffering from a heart attack. Word today is that four stents were successful, repairing six blockages! Yda, in North Vancouver, suffered a heart attack, in July, and received two stents. More significantly, perhaps, she had her entire colon removed, (not malignant, fortunately), so now has a colostomy bag. My relatively simple hernia surgery seems pretty insignificant in comparison to that of everyone else's tribulations. Fondestos from Lady Dar to you both. Do hope your terrible shingle affliction is over soon, my poor darling. Our hearts go out to you and to Andre, of course, for a stable recovery. Cheers, Patrizzio! 

Hi Patrick, Well, you are about to be a great grandfather and I am not close to becoming a grandfather even though you are younger. Good luck with that. Like you, I had some unexpected surgery which turned out to be not so minor.
I have now a reconstructed ear after having a basal cell removed from it. I wasn’t expecting that job until April 2019. I’m all recovered now. The back/sciatic nerve problem is ongoing but it is not as painful as last time. Very restricting though. I’m consulting with the surgeon later this month about it. Good luck with the shoulder job -when is that happening?

Enough of health problems- I can strongly recommend a great Netflicks Show -"Line of Duty”. It’s a British detective show. Also, when I read your lengthy food descriptions I imagine you would very much enjoy reading "Kitchen Confidential” by Anthony Bourdain. It is full of exaggerations, very spicy (no pun Intended) descriptive passages and a fun read. But it is quite wise in certain stories. Julie turned 25 a couple of days ago and we are taking her out to dinner tonight. She is full time at BCIT now whilst her dad is a university student -at Emily Carr part-time ha ha. I’m just about to watch another live match on Squash TV - the competition is very deep these days -both men and women -and completely dominated by the Egyptians.It is very well photographed with multiple camera angles as well. Say hi to Lady Dar for me and we’ll catch-up later. Bill.

Hi Wild Bill! I suppose we are all at the age when medical issues of one sort or another, are rearing their ugly heads. Pleased that your ear surgery was successful. Sorry to learn that your back is still troubling you. Not enough fine wine, obviously, or too much watching squash on TV! In this regard we hosted our regular, weekly bridge evening yesterday and two of the group, Olga Polga and Susannovitch, brought some lovely, local whites,  a Moon Curser 2017 Arneis, 3.3%, and a Conviction, (Kelowna), 2016 Sovereign Opal, respectively, two little known varietals, to me but both devastatingly delicious. Years ago, according to her, Susan was going out with the researcher who developed the Sovereign Opal clone at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Summerland Research and Development Centre.

I'm driving into Vancouver on the 23rd, Tuesday, of this month to see my dermatologist for my annual check-up, on the  the 24th. If you and Dangeureuse are around perhaps we can connect at some point. I've arranged a bridge pot-luck, with Ragin' Bull, (aka Branko), and The Penguin, (aka, Janet Scott), on Wednesday evening but don't really have plans, yet, during the afternoon of the 23rd or during the day, (other than appointment at 1:5 pm), on the 24th. Let me know and we'll plan accordingly.

In fact, we've watched all of Line of Duty and enjoyed it immensely. Just finished CB Strike and Rosita is now reading Rowling's latest, (Harry Potter writing as Robert Galbraith!), in this series, Lethal White.  Plan to watch The Cry and Black Earth Rising once they are released on Netflix.

Must away as I'm to make a mixed green salad for dinner now that Lady Dar is back from her full day of errands. Chloë just popped by to join us for dinner. Where were you taking Julie? To a noodle shop now that you are a poor university student again! What are you studying? Fondestos from Lady Dar to you both. Cheers, Patrizzio!

Hello to all of you whose names are on our SOWTS Membership Waitlist. Please see note below and provide me with your information. If you wish to be removed from our waitlist, please let me know as well. Hope everyone had a great summer! Judi Ritcey, Event Co-ordinatorHi Dame Judith! Trust you are becoming more mobile with each day. Yes, I'd like to remain on SOWTS Waitlist. Thanks and Cheers, Patrizzio!

 

Bicycling in Moravia - May, July 2019: Hello friends and friends of my friends, I am coming with the bicycling trips in Moravia next summer 2019. Due to the excellence references of this year´s participants, I offer you two dates: 1. May 13 – May 26, 2019 2. July 1 – July 14, 2019 New this year – luggage transfer hotel to hotel included! Attached is a poster for the trips with the pictures and details. For your motivation, below are the links to some of the places we are going to visit – Brno, Znojmo, Mikulov, Lednice-Valtice chateaux complex, Hodonín. The trip is based on staying in 4 hotels during two weeks. We will be bicycling between the romantic towns where we stay over nights plus doing daily trips from there.

 

Youtube videos: - Mikulovsko – The South Moravian Region – great video about one of the destination we will bicycle in. You must see this one! https://youtu.be/KQtXt4SSn8Y - South Moravia, Lednice–Valtice area – about Lednice-Valtice chateaux complex. https://youtu.be/s_Uf0keZs0Y - South Moravia – amateur video about food, wine and chateaux. https://youtu.be/abIAZmjg0-k - South Moravia – amateur video about wine cellars and vineyards. https://youtu.be/T-xdjcL2hK0 - Castles and Chateaux of South Moravia – nice views of the castles in the area. https://youtu.be/iNycN74c6F8 If you have friends who might be interested in this trip, I will be glad if you forward them this itinerary. Enjoy beautiful colorful autumn and get motivated for the next summer. :-) Katarina Kostarova