Nachos--grande

Miranda enjoys some chips and dips.

Weekend warriors

Well, not really! But we have accomplished an impressive amount over the past couple days! As pictured here, Steve decided to WASH THE DOG, a Herculean task requiring full sailing wetsuit gear, a plastic tub of warm water, insecticide, baby shampoo, two leashes ("could've used a 3rd"), our ancient Ford, & a hose.

Saturday was a marathon day for me (not literally, of course--those glory days are long past): I caught the 6:30 ferry, marked my assignments en route to my UBC class, taught from 9:30-12:30, met my dear chum Ramona for lunch, went to the dentist for teeth cleaning, and then met up with Steve and Miranda in Kits and headed over to Joanne and Andrew's for a delicious ham dinner and wonderful "New Year's" visit--I feel we're still in holiday socializing mode although January is waning.

Today we are continuing our ambitious project of moving our home office from the ground floor to the third floor. Wish us luck!

Come sail away

Lovely day today, so I took a break from online assignment marking, and the three of us went for a walk into Snug Cove for lunch at one of our favourite cafes (appropriately called "The Snug")--then ventured down to the wharf to check on the Iska. She seems to be weathering the winter storms OK, and the heated cabin is cozy even at this time of year. I was wishing I'd brought along our Scrabble game--maybe next time (although Miranda's too young and Steve hates Scrabble--I need a fellow Scrabbler)! Miranda and I strolled home while Steve stayed on to do some maintenance while the weather holds. Summer seems far-distant now, but I'm sure we'll sail into it again before we know it! Scrabble fans, welcome aboard anytime...Jackie? Angela? Betty Anne? Mommmmmy!

Country cousins

Cousins Dan & Jenny, Aidan and Lach visited yesterday from Vancouver--I guess that makes us the country cousins! Miranda had a wonderful time playing with "Ayyyydnnn" and "Ock" ("Those boys! Baby shy!"), the adults had a great gab-fest, & a good time was had by all!

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

Miranda had a great day today (in spite of--or perhaps, at her age, because of--major snowfall and resulting power outage) as Grampa came over (first time since Christmas) en route from Vancouver to the "Sunshine" Coast!

Oh, puck!

Miranda is tucked up in her fort in a corner of the living room here, watching "hockey ball" (as she calls it, even though she seemed to understand when we explained that the little black disk is not a ball) on TV last night. She was initially a little worried about how the Canucks would do vs. the Canadiens, especially when she saw the bruise on Roberto Luongo's neck. Thank goodness, our team won handily and Miranda was happily asleep by the time I got home from my reading group meeting at Carmen's.

This month's book for our club was Andrea Levy's "Small Island" (the story of post WWII Jamaican immigrants to England)--very engaging but a very long book...although Carmen's delicious fruitcake and some red wine (and I overindulged in both, feeling a yuletide nostalgia) did much to sustain the discussion! Indeed, only some very strong coffee persuaded me to get out of bed this morning--much less ambitious than Steve, who went over to the mainland today with the truck (but alas no wallet--it was left here inadvertently--and no lunch) to get the last of our stuff out of storage.

Whatever it all is (and we haven't yet had the courage to look into any of the vaguely-labelled boxes ["photos/bath/winter"?!]), we've been living without it for a year now...Maybe it'll be just like Christmas all over again, as we open each box and exclaim, "What the ^%#@!???"

Tiny Frosty (actual size)

Blizzard predicted, but we've received only enough snow to make this little fellow.

Celebrating Janie's 65th

Had a great time at Auntie Jane's birthday party yesterday--these are just a few snapshots from the past few years (Dan's Birthday 2003, Pete and Jen's visit from Europe 2003, Christmas 2004, Miranda's birth 2005, Christmas 2005, Mike's Birthday 2006, New Year's 2006). Love you Janie!

Here comes the sun...

Christmas cactus in bloom;
sunny corner...
bliss!

Swan's a-swimming

This is the local Mute Swan in the (as-yet-unfrozen) lagoon. All went swimmingly as I met my first classes this week...Well, actually, today was a real comedy of errors. I nearly missed the ferry (they waited for me as I ran down the road with my little flashlight in the early morning dark); it was a total stress-out to get from UBC to Kwantlen between 12:30 and 2:00 on transit; then the room I booked at the college for my big lecture class was occupied by PING PONG TABLES, with a TOURNAMENT IN SESSION so I had to relocate at the last minute...and my later session was booked from 4-6pm, but the college closed at 4:30 and we all had to leave!!!! Fortunately, at least we got through all the absolutely essential materials...as for the bells and whistles--maybe that sort of thing was going on in the ping pong room! Meanwhile, Miranda had a great day at home: went on not one but two big walks with her Nana, & Steve had a chance to do some post-storm yardwork. Tree surgeons were supposed to come to remove the Leaning Tower of Pisa (see background in "Walk on the wild side" post)--but didn't show up: practicing triage (with the accent on "tree") no doubt! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrroan! Timmmmmmmmberrrrrrrrrrrr.....

The bleak midwinter

Took the Christmas tree and decorations down today...Definitely time for another hot chocolate--the cold seems to be seeping in under the doors. Brrrrrr! Maybe the lagoon will freeze over (apparently not unheard-of in past years) & we could skate on it!?

Walk on the wild side

Get a load of this tree! (not on our property, but we can see it--blessedly leaning in a direction other than towards us--from our dining room window). We went for a walk to the library today and observed tree-debris everywhere; our own mini-version of this season's devastation of Stanley Park: oh, what Mother Nature has wrought! The power came back on last night in good time for us to get warmed up before bed, then was off only briefly in what are so appropriately called the wee hours.

Miranda writes

Power...of...Nature!

On! Off! On! Off!

Pass the power please?

Power play

The heat is on! At last! Heroically, our houseguests (my very dear friend Ang & her charming family) endured not one but two nights with no power! We warmed up with a walk to the Cove, where Terry and Max took pictures of ducks, and Chloe and Miranda played with a cute Eskimo dog. Later, we played Scrabble and listened to a Vancouver Canucks hockey game on the radio by candlelight and enjoyed Steve's paella (prepped on the side burner of the BBQ!!!!)... Once deprived of the warmth of our visiting family, we headed over to Rob and Jayne's late Sunday morning, where the airtight woodstove and "NAAAAYBRRRRS!!!" (as Miranda exclaimed enthusiastically) welcomed us with cheery warmth.

A Frosty Friday

We woke up to snow today! Angela, Terry, Max and Chloe are on their way from Victoria to Bowen, and Miranda has been rehearsing her welcome song: (hesitantly, but with mounting fervour)
Shocksy...Show-MAN...Jowly happy SHOLE!
Pop-pop-pop...Button nose...Eyes...COLD!!!!!

Hello Kitty

In town today for errands, we met up with Moira & Barry. Miranda loved their kitty house so much she wanted to move right in!

A little tipple with the neighbours

Went for a walk to the lagoon today & back through the woods, & asked our next-door neighbours Rob & Jayne & sons Josh and Jesse over for "a tipple" later in the afternoon. They graciously accepted, though we were vague on our terminology (Steve: "Did we invite them over for kibbles?")...& happily tucked into some wine & cheese!

Chez Piggy

Tonight we had a super time with Island friends Carmen and Peter and their son Wilson. Steve served a fabulous orange pork loin dish with chili-minted rice and sauteed ginger vegetables. Miranda offered her usual compliment: "Good job, buddy!"

2007 begins in earnest...

Happy New Year! After we returned to Bowen Island from an evening in Vancouver with Aunt Janie, Uncle Merlyn, cousins Steve & Adam...our neighbours Daryl and Allison joined us for tea this afternoon, along with Lorna and John. Any excuse to keep drinking--tea, of course!!!!