Mostly Cloudy and the Window Wars Blues: Sunday, February 3rd!

If you wish to be loved, show more of your faults than your virtues. -Edward Bulwer-Lytton, author (1803-1873)
 

Dear Corinne and Patrick, I hope all is well with you both. I believe Corinne you are somewhere in sunny warm Mexico and Patrick is cat sitting amongst other things in Penticton. Andre returns to Vancouver on Saturday 9th March, assuming his cardiologist’s appointment tomorrow goes well - no reason to think it will not. I follow a few weeks later so beginning to outline our plans. It would be nice to come and visit with you both for around three/four days and thought it best to firm up on these days and build our plan around your availability. 

Andre will also want to visit his various friends in Naramata and possibly also Kelowna but we can fit them in once we firm up dates with you. We are currently available from Monday 8th April until Tuesday 22nd (the latest date I would need to travel back to Vancouver). We did talk about possibly spending some time all together with Michele and Wayne, depending when they are in residency at Spirit Ridge. I do remember that Patrick has some surgery scheduled on his shoulder in mid-March so will leave you to come back with some suggested timing for our visit.
 

Patrick - I know you wanted us to bring back your pass but is there anything else from your belongings you wish us to also carry over? We leave Chabeuil on 21st February so you have a couple of weeks to think about it and fully appreciate it depends on your well-being and plans to visit Europe in the foreseeable future.

Our lives go on as usual. We had a fun time in Barbados, then a couple of weeks in London and now back in France as I said. I still have shingles/PHN - today is the anniversary of my eight months of pain with this debilitating illness but know it will one day disappear so learnt to live with it as best I can. We can really catch up on each other’s news when we see each other. If it would be easiest to talk through the possible options with you Patrick just let us know when would be a good time for us to call. Take care my friends and look forward to seeing you both soon. Much love, Rosemary XXX

Hi Rosemary, Thanks for the newsy email. My first month in Mexico has been relaxing. Reading a lot of books. Really enjoyed Barabara Kingsolver’s Unsheltered and Tana French’s The Wytch Elm. We will be at our place in Spirit Ridge in Oyoosso from the 19-23 of April. Perhaps you would like to come up to Penticton for a few days before and then join us for a few days there. Wayne and Michele and family will be there at the same time. Patrick’s surgery is March 12. Last Easter we swam in the pools and sat in the sun during the day. It was very pleasant and then had communal dinners. Look forward to seeing you in a few months. Love and hugs, Corinne

Hi Rosemary! Lovely to hear from you and pleased Barbados holiday went well. Truly sorry, however, to learn that you are still struggling with your debilitating, 8 month long illness. Can only begin to understand your discomfort.

Wonderful that you will be visiting in April. Since Lady Dar has laid out our dates I won't reiterate. All going well with my shoulder replacement I trust I'll be well on the way to a full recovery as I'm told six weeks of rehab is usual. Still, I can always hold a wine glass in my left hand if not!

Thank you for asking about "muling" anything other than my Nexus Pass. Did you find it? I think I put it in one of the pockets of the camel pack/backpack I left, along with the rest of my cycling clothes. The bottle of malt would be much appreciated if that won't impinge on your own Duty Free purchases. The aforementioned camel pack, along with a yellow rain jacket and any riding gloves that are kicking around, are the only other items I could use here so if there is room for them then that would be swell.

In terms of a chat, I'm usually out on Monday and Thursday mornings, hiking/snowshoeing, respectively. Back home sometime between 2:00-4:00 pm, depending on length of outing. Other mornings I'm usually around until noon and then might pop out to run an errand or two. Often bridge is on Monday evenings but otherwise, unless some event is on, I tend to be home most evenings. Tonight, for example, Chloë came over to watch True Detective, a series we started a few weeks ago. Third Season and I recommend each season. 

We were going to watch Season Two of Fargo but decided to watch, [Thanks Lady Dar! It's her credit card which pays for subscription!], Boy Erased instead. Quite a cast and quite a difficult story: Jared Eamons (Lucas Hedges) is the son of Marshall Eamons (Russell Crowe), a successful car dealer and Baptist preacher in Arkansas, and Nancy Eamons (Nicole Kidman), a self-styled hairdresser. He begins his first day at the Love In Action gay conversion therapy assessment program.

Chloë came down with a nasty bout of flu or food poisoning on Friday night and still wasn't feeling 100% so wanted to go home to bed around 8:00 pm to try and get a good night's sleep. Otherwise, we might have watched The Wife as well, since Glenn Close has been nominated for an Oscar. Perhaps later this week.

Must away as I want to read more of Michelle Obama's Becoming, our next book club selection. As well, I'm hiking tomorrow so need a good sleep myself. Fondestos you both, Rosemary and Lady Dar. Hello to Andre. Cheers, Patrizzio!

Pics: Feeding time at the Zoo this morning. Duke's Gallery!

 
Having breakfast in Duncan after last night in Victoria. Made the right decision to drive yesterday! Thanks again- we’ll try again in June. Hope Chloë is better!
Cheers G&F Hi Winter Travelers! Glad to hear all went well. Chloë still isn't feeling 100% so wanted to go home around 8:00 pm  but at least she felt well enough to venture out and eat a bit of the salad I'd prepared. Fondestos you both. Cheers, Patrizzio!

Hi Patrice, I really enjoyed the pictures of your snowshoeing adventure with Chloe although I wonder if the altitude didn’t affect your equilibrium because of the tilt of most of the photos..or were you trying to be artsy?.

I have not forgotten about your wood rack lol and when a visit is imminent I will revisit with you on dimensions and style etc so I can haul it up with me / us. On the real estate front we are now looking at selling the rental cabin, can’t remember if I mentioned this already but according to the real estate guy in the valley he has a list of people wanting to know when something comes available along the river and said he would have no problem getting us upwards of $350k which would be a tidy profit and allow us to either make the move in town or else buy something else to renovate and flip which I have given much thought to as well. 

Seeing as I can do most of the work myself it would allow me to work on my own schedule, be creative and potentially make some decent money. Not that that is what it is all about of course but I do consider the fact that I don’t really have a pension other that what I will get fro cpp / oas so would like to build a bit of a nestegg incase I live longer than expected!

The outing with the old chums was pretty tame but we had a really great time with great food, drinks and ate some pot candies so had some good belly laughs!. On Sunday we went and had a nice two hour walk at Sumallo Grove in Manning park which is about a 15 min drive from the cabin. Clover had a great time running around the forest as well. There are some really big trees in there as well as an old mine with a truck that looks like it has been there about 50 years and is now in the middle of a dense forest.
 

Just had a nice walk at Deer Lake with Colleen and Clover and am now going to do some work in the garage on a motorcycle that I am preparing to sell as well. We may go to our friends Mark and laura’s for a while to watch some of the superbowl and then Colleen’s mom and dad are coming for dinner around 6. I don’t know if I mentioned that Gerry was in the hospital for 5 days recently as he had a bowel obstruction that was very uncomfortable. He is home and doing much better but unfortunately they had to cancel a planned trip to New Orleans and a Caribbean cruise. 

The outing with the old chums was pretty tame but we had a really great time with great food, drinks and ate some pot candies so had some good belly laughs!. On Sunday we went and had a nice two hour walk at Sumallo Grove in Manning park which is about a 15 min drive from the cabin. Clover had a great time running around the forest as well. There are some really big trees in there as well as an old mine with a truck that looks like it has been there about 50 years and is now in the middle of a dense forest.

I hope you get some rest despite the frolicking felines!. We saw the nice pics of Carol and Bruno down with lady Dar and have to say are quite jealous!. When does she come back? Perhaps we can go freeload still!! Take care for now and we’ll talk soon 😊. 
 

Meet Rana catesbeiana.
Bloody noun!

Photo: Jen Goellnitz

Hi Tilt-a-Whirl Critic! Glad to hear all went well with your old chums and really enjoyed the snapolas. Loved the snow-woman and gorgeous waterfall. Was a tad surprised that there wasn't much snow. Glad you are sorting out your real estate plans. My only concern is that make sure you understand what you will have to pay in terms of capital gains. Can be quite a chunk! Sorry to hear about Heraldo's nasty bowel obstruction but glad he is on the road to recovery. Drag about cancelled trips of course. Lady Dar is in La Peñita until the end of February so give her a shout. You might as well sit in the sun as you obviously have my wood rack on back burner! Cheers, Patrizzio!

Hola Patrizzio, Thanks for your update. Great to hear you are surviving life without Corinne - just barely. We hope Chloe is feeling better. We will be in your area as of March 16th for as much as ten or 11 days. We’re staying at Jane’s cousins townhouse just moments south of Osoyoos on the water.

We understand you will be in post-op rehab at that time but we are hoping you and Corinne will be mobile enough to visit us. We will have lots of room. We could also come to the Burns Street Gin Joint. We are hoping to see some of the local wineries and do some hiking, biking and maybe even snowshoeing. We would love to see you whether you like it or not! Our flowers are blooming and snow arrived on Galiano today. We hope your cold patch ends quickly and you can be out in your shirtsleeves forthwith. Take good care, Love Jorge, Juanita y Morita 
 

Hello Donald's Least Favourite People! What simply wonderful news! The Salish Sea comes to The Gin Joint! While my operation is on March 12th I'm hoping, all going well, I'll be fairly mobile, although probably not enough for anything other than wine-tasting! Of course, you'd be more than welcome to connect with hiking/snowshoeing gang and you are welcome to stay whenever it suits. Fondestos you three, south of the border, down Mexico way types! Cheers, Polar Patrizzio!

Joan is ensconced on the living room chesterfield reading the Sunday NY Times and ignoring the Superbowl kickoff but paying attention to the ads. She was discharged early afternoon and the trip home went smoothly with her managing walking (with a walker) well and climbing the front stairs (with a crutch) with no apparent difficulty. She is looking forward to things slowly getting getting back to normal and getting out and about and seeing everyone in town and, with time, further afield. She thanks everyone for their good wishes. Cheers....Paul
Hello Dunbarites! What simply wonderful news! Delighted Joan is home and seemingly doing so well. Bravo! Cheers, Patrizzio!
 

Hi Jane So excited to hear that you will be up in our area in March. I get home March 7 from Mexico and LA. Patrick's shoulder replacement is March 12 so you might have to come up for a night or so and then towards the end of your stay I can drive us down to visit you two. I believe Patrick can’t drive for at least 6 weeks. It will be great to see you and George. And I’d love you to see our new kitchen. Mexico has been a nice change but have had a sinus infection for most of the time. On my second lot of visitors and that has been fun. Doing yoga 3 times a week and lots of walking. And of course eating great food. We are having our first great grandchild this month so stopping in LA on way home for a week hopefully to meet her. Here’s to seeing you at March break! Hugs Corinne

Thank you for answering my email by sending the entire “shut-in manifesto”. Will try to read it in its entirety as soon as I finish up Ted Kaczynski’s Unabomber chronicles. I will contact your care-giver regarding the accelerated rambling! Will get back to you with firm dates of my visit. Greg Dear Comrade Mightiest Grigor! I am so pleased to learn that you take your political reading so seriously. Unfortunately, I just fired my care-giver as Brigitta, my Swedish masseuse, was jealous. I think you'll like her sister, Katrina, also a masseuse, and I'm sure she'll loosen up your tired leg muscles after a day on the Apex slopes. Fondestos Comrade. Cheers, Rambling Polar Patrizzio!