invaded...

I came home last night to find no fewer than 57600 cookies in my dining room...okay, so they're nice and packaged up, but oh my! It's a good thing they're leaving very soon!

no doubt about it...

It feels like fall.

And along with fall comes the back to school feeling. Yeah. It's here and I even get to buy school supplies this year! Yay....life of a semi-student....

I'm not really sad to see summer go. Fall is most welcome this year....

Bring on September!!

The Kite Runner....

WHAT AN AMAZING BOOK!

I started The Kite Runner just before I went to camp and couldn't put it down. I loved it...it was haunting and beautiful and sad and disturbing all at once. I'd heard great things about it from a bunch of people, but I didn't expect it to be so good...you know, hype and all!

When I bought it, the guy at my favourite used book store told me that he couldn't keep it on the shelf for more than about three hours at a time.

I think I need to read it again...but I've started another book that I can't put down, so it might have to wait a bit...

I think the reading bug bit me again!

home sweet home...

Ahhhhhh....I'm back...Camp was fun, but it's nice to be back in the land of warm showers and soft beds and relatively little dust...

It also means alarm clocks and email and work, but I'm still glad to be back!

Besides, there were pretty flowers waiting for me when I got home....

But the week was lots of fun...

I saw my first Arbutus tree...I had to explain to some of the girls that they just don't make them in the Okanagan, but we have cacti!

We went to a rodeo...

Sunita worked hard...

We had an amazing view:

We had some fun:
Sarah "licking" the Rice Krispie Square pot...

mmmm Rice Krispie Squares...

hiked...
danced...
played pictionary...
Bobbi's having fun...we're not sure what exactly she's doing, but she seems to be enjoying herself.

and went to the beach:


Bret was kind of cold...even at the beach...

And apparently I lost all sense of fashion (not that I had a lot to begin with!)



When you look like this...you know it's time to come home (although I think just maybe Bret took this the first night of camp, before the girls had even arrived...)

Yeehaw....

I'm off to camp...cowgirl themed camp...(yes Kelsey, you'd be in Heaven!)

See y'all after the 27th...if I'm still in one piece and functioning!

ummm...yeah...have a happy period?

needs no comment from me...except maybe sorry boys...

Only from ALWAYS!

and you can even send an ecard...

that's all.

image edited: Friday August 18 11:14 am

ponytail

Hey punk! It happened...I can make a pathetically tiny little
ponytail...you know, the kind where the back falls out of the elastic
RIGHT AWAY and in a couple of hours there are lots of stray bits on the
side...

Yay milestone in the tedious hair growing process!

the lunch dilemma...getting better

My never ending quest for lunch ideas has produced some successful results: I discovered a lunch page...so maybe I won't complain about lunch (so much) anymore!

It's better than the lack of ideas I have in my head.

Maybe lunch tomorrow will be more exciting...

The two Daisys

Last night was book club night and there were only three of us there...me, Debbie and Kerrie.

We had a good discussion and Daisy in Daisy Miller is a silly flirt and Daisy Buchanan from the Great Gatsby is superficial (just like everyone else in that book)

Interestingly both books end with rather odd deaths...

Malaria in Italy anyone??

Maybe next time we'll have a few more people...somehow I think there might be more to talk about in Lolita!!

that drug called family

In June Kelsey abandoned me and moved back to Kelowna, leaving me void of any immediate family members in the vicinity of my house.

Yeah, I adjusted.

Yeah, I've lived in places with NO family members, immediate or otherwise, for long periods of time.

But this time, I really missed the family thing.

It's not like there's no family in Vancouver...I've got cousins and aunt and uncles and more cousins and Alex's family, but more than just missing out on the parents and sisters, I kind of feel like I'm missing out on the family dinners, bbqs etc...

But the last few weeks I got my share and then some of the family drug (and now I'm addicted, don't want to give it up, but have been forced to go cold turkey!).

First Alex and I had dinner with the family matriarch, Mama...

Then last week the Stewart girls stayed with us and I went out with them and some of the Bjs for a super duper dinner.

This past weekend we had brunch with the North Van Mulvis...

Last night the Antisins were in town and Harmony, Tom and I joined them for a scrumptious Italian dinner...

Anyway, forget the laundry list, seeing that much family just always makes me wish I lived somewhat closer to most of my family...as we get older, there seems to be this trend toward moving back to k-town and that was the big question at these gatherings, when are you moving home...third only to have you set a date for your wedding (to Harmony and Tom) and when are you getting engaged (directed to me).

I know everyone thinks they have a pretty special family...but mine is really the best ;)

I miss meeting Kelsey for breakfast before work when we haven't seen each other for a while. I miss the big dinners for holidays (although I do get home for most of those). I miss it all...oh well...I'll just survive off the current high for a while longer...maybe if I'm lucky it will last until Thanksgiving!

Bard on the Beach part 3 - The Winter's Tale

Last night we moved from the mainstage theatre to the studio theatre at Bard on the Beach to see The Winter's Tale. The play was very well done! It's not one of my favourites, but I really enjoyed the show.

Alex and I figure the most entertaining (although not the best entertainment) part of the evening was even before the show started.

As always, there was the usual group of characters at Bard. Last night that group consisted mostly of the clueless family and the stupid people who just don't get it...

Okay...that makes me sound really mean and catty.

The clueless family was clueless only because they'd never been to Bard on the Beach before, but they also had not read their brochure or checked out the website. Lucky for them, the mother had a good dose of human nature and her curiosity got the best of her and she came over from their picnic under the trees to see what the line up was all about. She was soon joined by her husband and daughter and the picnic, in the line up, which meant she ended up with decent seats...which is important when you arrive really early for a show.

There were the usual people who tried to start a new line up or tried to get in through the locked gates before they were open or tried to ignore the line. We just shake our heads at those people now!

The other people we had the pleasure (or not) of observing were a couple. They were a couple everyone in the nice, cozy studio theatre got to observe, whether they wanted to or not...

Apparently they bought four tickets and it was completely unacceptable that when they arrived at 6:40 for a 7:00 general admission show, there weren't four seats together.

Never mind that the tickets and ticket agents and website all say that it is GENERAL ADMISSION. Never mind that the first people arrived at 4:45 to secure good seats (yeah...that's excessive, we got there around 5:40 and felt like we were super keeners), but it wasn't fair and the poor ushers for the studio theatre should move everyone around to accommodate these people.

The usher managed to find two sets of two seats and asked them to sit there and she would see if she could rearrange some people so they could sit together. This was also unacceptable and everyone in the theatre knew it because after the female half had a temper tantrum because everyone else had tags for their seats and why didn't she and an usher calmly escorted her out to the table by the entrance with the tags and tape, the male half of the couple yelled at the poor usher who had been helping them and told her they WOULD all be seated together.

And then the male half told the usher exactly what he thought, that this was not how business should be conducted, that he was never coming back again, that customers should never be treated this way and that he was going to make sure it changed. The usher was sooooo good. She listened to him and told him she'd talk to guest services, she'd try to seat them together and that he could write a letter to the Board, but that it had been done this way for 17 years and had worked so far and they were happy with it, but he could try to change things.

While all this was going on, no fewer than six more couples came in and were happy to sit in single seats, since that was all that was left. A few nice people moved around a bit so that some of those couple could sit together, but every single one of them was apologetic for arriving so close to the show time and had no problem sitting apart.

Well...after the chaos, the grumpy, loud complainers got their four seats together, even though they delayed the start of the show...And we settled in to watch The Winter's Tale.

But the stupid people show wasn't quite over...just after 8:00, yes, an hour into the play, the same usher escorted four people to their almost front row seats. We're not too sure what happened there since their seats had tags on them and it was glaringly obvious they were missing...maybe they thought the play started at 8:00 because that's when they start every other night of the week???

Oh well, at least this was a good play and we had a nice evening...who knows, maybe without these lovely people to entertain us, we would have found the evening boring?

WHERE'D MY BOYFRIEND GO?!?!?!

I sent this guy
in here
and they sent this guy
back to me.

Has anyone seen Alex?

a river runs through it

Julia and I came back to the office from lunch and saw this deluge of water start running through the parking lot.



It has slowed down a little, but hasn't stopped. There is some major water work (sewer work or water main work or something) going on up the hill, but we don't think this was supposed to happen...especially now that there are men in hard hats outside running around and talking in loud voices....

Ah gee...just another day at the office!

our wall

So, a few people have asked about our wall.

Our wall is painted.

Not well, but it is painted.

Tonight the picture goes back up and we're going to pretend the wall looks beautiful.

One day I might paint it properly.

But no more painter/contractor/incompetent guy painting our walls.

That's the update...

so what if I'm crazy...and sorry if I encouraged the rain

Uh...yeah...

On Monday night we had some more visitors come and stay and when they arrived, they really truly figured I had lost it...

The visitors happened to be my aunt and my two cousins and they are, by now, somewhat used to seeing me with knitting in tow...

But they thought I'd gone crazy because it was nice and warm out and what do you think I was knitting...um...a toque. A very cute toque. A toque for me and I don't know the last time I knit something for me...And Lili says to me...but it's summer and that's for winter....

Obviously she's not a knitter or she would have known that sometimes you just have to dive into that new yarn/try that cool pattern and it doesn't matter if it's summer or it's 11:30 at night when you start or the house needs to be cleaned or you have a million other things you need to do, the knitting bug takes over.

So I have a cute hat. And it started to rain the day after I made the cute hat. So maybe it's my fault. Or maybe not.

The hole in our wall...

better be gone, plastered and painted over when I get home!

We had a bathroom adventure before we went to Kelowna in July. When Roslyn and I moved into the Blue House, the taps in the bathtub were stripped and the faucet leaked, leaked, leaked. The plumber came and replaced one tap, but couldn't get the other one off and that seemed to fix the leak...for a while...

Then the mysterious puddle started appearing on the bathroom floor, ostensibly from the shower door, which had never been caulked.

So we caulked it. And called the plumber back to fix the leak again, because now it could fill a large bucket in less than ten minutes. At which point he advised our landlady, K, to replace the taps, faucet and shower head to fix the leakage problem.

This remedy required two small holes to be cut in the drywall outside the bathroom, which we were warned might still be there when we got home, but at least this way we'd be spared the inconvenience of no water in the bathroom.

Well, sure enough, we came back from our week away and there were two holes in the wall in the hallway. And a number of large puncture marks and cracks and you get the picture. Then we went in the bathroom. Our bathtub and shower and tiles and everything in that part of the room were gone and had been replaced with a brand spanking new tub and shower. OH SO PRETTY...except for the cracks and holes and lack of trim, but not to worry, that will come...right?

We talked to K, who assured us the wall would be done in the next ten days...so we hung the picture that was in the hallway back up to cover some of the holes and waited.

One day the guy came back and got plaster all over the picture, but filled the holes...it looked horrible, but it was filled. Then he came back and put the trim around the tub. Which made it look WAY better. But he didn't sand it or measure twice, cut once, and we still had nasty plaster marks on the outside wall, lots of holes and cracks and no paint.

He came back to paint on Sunday. We were on our way out, but K came down and we pointed out all the holes and cracks that were missed the first time around and we left.

When we came home the wall looked funny, but it was wet and dark, so we left it until morning. When much to our surprise, we discovered that he had not fixed all the holes/cracks, used a different colour paint, painted in about six different directions and only did the middle portion of the wall...

I was in shock...or there'd be pictures...K was in shock when I showed her too.

He's coming back today to paint it properly, with a roller in one direction and cover the whole wall with one colour.

So...it better be fixed because I'm getting sick of this as are Alex and K.

MMMmm...grumpy!

The Death of You Knit What??

Sob sniffle sniffle...pout

Well...after giving me a laugh on a regular basis, the folks at You Knit What?? have decided to call it quits...Seems like blogging was taking over their lives and becoming a chore. It's too bad, because they had some of the nastiest knitting I'd even seen on their site.

Seems that there is an addiction to bad knitting though...You Knit What - Part 2 and You Crocheted What? both sprung up from the death of You Knit What??

I hope the end of the blog means Knittykitty and Punk Rock Knitter will have more time for knitting (non-fug knitting of course!)

Bard on the Beach part 2 - Measure for Measure

Oh we're getting ourselves soooo cultured! Last night was the second night of Bard on the Beach for us and we were treated to pre-war (World War II that is) Vienna for Measure for Measure. It was the same cast as the cast of A Midsummer Night's Dream...Actors in supporting roles in one show tend to have main roles in the other.

There were some interesting characters in the audience. There was a large group of high school thespians...behaving in high school thespian manner...They were at the start of the line and entertained us with their hack sacks on a string, teenage chatter and teenage romance...I'm sure some of those romances started in the line up and were over before they opened the gates and let us in!

There was the fake and bake guy who was trying to look about 25 even though he was close to fifty who yelled and everyone that he was in line and they better get behind him. He even yelled at the Front of House Manager when he came out to put the "line-up-behind-this-sign" sign out...silly FOH guy stopped and talked to some other people before he came and put the sign up and that was unacceptable...because he was AT THE FRONT OF THE LINE!

And then there was the "why-do-the-rules-apply-to-us-because-
they-shouldn't-because-we're-clearly-better-than-all-those-people-
who-waited-in-line" couple. When the FOH guy opened the gates to let the line up in they came out of no where and tried to skip the line. They were told very nicely to please go to the end of the line as people had been waiting much longer than they had. The woman then told the FOH guy that SHE HAD A TICKET. To which he indicated so did all the people in the line up. They walked away, muttering about HOW RUDE it was to make THEM stand in line with ALL THOSE PEOPLE. We saw them inside too...they tried to leave the tent by a set of stairs marked DO NOT ENTER. Clearly rules only apply to common people ;)

So...the show...it was good. It wasn't as good as A Midsummer Night's Dream, but it was still good. I'm probably biased too...I loved reading A Midsummer Night's Dream, but Measure for Measure was far from one of my favourite Shakespearean works.

The Time Traveler's Wife

WHOA!

So, this had to have been one of the most captivating books I've read in a very long time! I think the last time I devoured a book like that, I was reading The Lovely Bones.

I literally could not put it down. I started reading it on the bus ride to work, which is only about 15 minutes and I picked up an old bad habit I have...reading while walking down the street.

Every free moment I had, I picked up the book - breaks, lunch time and the walk back to the bus stop after work. I read it all the way back from the airport and almost missed my stop...twice...and then I came home and read until Alex got here...and then I stayed up until 2:00.

I read quickly, but not usually that fast. I mean, the book has 500+ pages!

BUT IT WAS WORTH IT! I think I'll have to reread parts of it...if not all of it, but it was so good.

I won't say too much about it because I don't really want to spoil it...I knew one little thing about it and it wasn't even a detail about the book and I think it made it different to read for me and possibly I read it anticipating something...and I wasn't even sure what it was that I was anticipating. But that's probably why I read it sooooooo quickly!

By the way...if you hadn't already figured it out, I completely recommend this book!

that sad house feeling...

When Edna and Hiromi left, it was sad...that sad feeling when an old friend goes away after spending a great vacation with you and you don't know when you might see them again.

Sarah and I were talking about it and we both thought these goodbyes were easier than the Pax Lodge goodbyes because we didn't stand in a circle and sing the Pax Lodge song before they left.

The third verse (Wherever we wander, Wherever we roam, Pax Lodge will always be our home. A place where strangers soon are friends, I'll meet you there, where the rainbow ends) always got me even if I had the best intentions of *NOT* crying and had somehow managed to hold it together to that point.

How true that verse is. I felt so completely at home when last October I walked back through the glass doors into the building that was my home for so long. But Pax Lodge isn't just the building where we all met and became friends. Pax Lodge is memories, friendships and feeling that comes with Pax Lodge girls. The last few weeks we established the Canadian Annex of Pax Lodge in the blue house and it was great.

It's not something that's easy to describe to someone who hasn't experienced it and it's not easy to recreate. When you have women living, working, and playing together from completely difference cultures, backgrounds, countries and frames of reference, something special has to happen. I'm glad that Alex got to meet five of those great women and maybe now he understands a bit better about Pax Lodge and the place it holds in my life still.

And saying goodbye to Sarah today I realized it wasn't any easier saying goodbye without that song, because if I was listening to the voices in my head, well they were singing the song...only the last verse, but that's the one that matters...and I was just doing a very good job of ignoring the voices when I said goodbye to Edna and Hiromi.

After I'd said my goodbyes to Sarah and Pauline, I took my time coming home...I knew what was waiting for me and I didn't really want that. The house is empty and has the feeling that it has been abandoned. I don't even have the usual after guests go chores to do because Sarah and Pauline were such marvellous guests the dishes have all been done, the bed is stripped and the linens and towels are all clean and folded.

So no distractions. The first thing I saw when I came in the house was the yellow rose in a beautiful glass swan vase that Pauline gave me just as she left the house. And I felt that sad, lonely feeling.

And the house is empty...until Alex comes home from work. I'm going to nurse my A&W Rootbeer float which was the treat Sarah and I had last night and read The Time Traveler's Wife until Alex gets home (I think that book is contributing to the melancholy of their goodbye...I highly recommend it though. I started it this morning and I'm already half way through and it's over 500 pages...I think I'll be up until the sun comes up again reading it again tonight!)

sigh....

come back and visit us again soon!! We're already making plans (okay, so maybe they're a long long way off, but they're still plans) to head to Mexico, Japan, London and Ireland....

as quickly as it started, it's almost all over

I got up this morning and the house already felt different. Sarah and Pauline don't leave until later tonight, but the house already had that sad feeling houses get when guests leave. I know I should feel lucky, but I'm dreading the empty house...it was nice to come home after work to other people (or have other people arrive not long after me), but now that they're returning to their real worlds, so must I. sniffle

And I do feel lucky! I've seen Sarah twice in the last nine months after not seeing her for almost four years. It's been like no time has passed, due in part to the old fashioned art of letter writing, but more so due to the new fandangled innovations of email and, in recent months, blogs.

Edna was here less than a year ago and she came back (I guess weddings do that!) and I hadn't seen Hiromi or Vanessa in almost five years...so it was good...but I already feel sad that they're gone (or going soon) :(

Anyway...here they all are...and now I'm going to go feel sorry for myself....bye ladies...I'll miss you!

dancing queens - Edna and Vanessa

Hiromi, Alex and Sarah

Sarah, Shannon, Pauline and Edna

oh Edna!

Sidney and goodbye to Edna

Now that all the wedding festivities are over, it's time to start saying goodbye :(

Hiromi left us on Sunday morning and I had to say goodbye to Edna this morning....But not before Edna wowed us with her guacamole...okay, so she didn't make it this morning, she make it last week, but oh my goodness was it ever YUMMY!!! We gave her a hard time because she said she only makes food with a microwave and we don't have one...but I guess you don't really need one to make guacamole!


Yesterday we went to Sidney to do some book browsing (those of you who know about my book and yarn addictions will be amazed to hear I went into a few bookstores and one yarn store and I bought NO books and NO yarn!)...we did take everyone to Rogers...somehow in their trip to Victoria on Sunday, they all missed the yummy chocolate store...mmmmm....


And now reality sets in again...

That's all.

The Gift Opening

I think Canadian weddings must go on forever! This one certainly last three days! After leaving Hiromi at the airport to go home to Japan, we went back to Megan's grandparents' house for more of the spectacular view and more delicious food...mmmm....

ummm, Hans...that might be meant for Megan!

Then Edna, Hiromi and Sarah went into Victoria with Megan, Hans and the Danish contingent and Alex and I went to Cobble Hill to visit my grandma and hang out with some wildlife.

The Reception

After the beautiful wedding there was a reception at the same wonderful location as the rehearsal dinner. The reception had a lot of traditional Canadian elements to it as well as some very cool Danish traditions, like all the men kissing the bride when the groom left the tent and the women kissing the groom when the bride left and stomping on the floor (in this case banging on the underside of the table, cause it's hard to stomp on grass and make noise) to get the bride and groom to kiss UNDER the table.


Megan's grandpa and his barber shop quartet (okay, I know there are more than four of them, but that's what they called themselves) sang for us.

Hiromi did a traditional Japanese dance.

Pauline and Edna

the girls - Shannon, Sarah, Edna, Megan, Vanessa and Hiromi

the first dance

Danish tradition: As the couple dances their first dance, the guests form a circle and move in closer and closer to the bride and groom until they can't move. Then they kiss and the dance is over.


Another Danish tradition: After the first dance the men grab the groom and cut the toes of his socks off. It's symbolic and means the couple should never have to worry about things like the cost of a pair of socks.

putting Hans' shoes back on

Uh oh...Megan had to toss the bouquet three times before it landed with someone...the first time she threw it over the heads of all the single girls. The second time it landed short and someone stepped on it...the third time someone almost caught it...but fumbled...and in putting my arms up to protect my head, the bouquet somehow ended up in my hands...seriously, it was deflected off of someone else and landed on me...

Megan and Shannon

Yes...I am wearing an ugly sweatshirt...it was cold and some smart person left her sweater in Vancouver....

The WEDDING!

The wedding...

Well...it was beautiful...but more on that in a minute.

Megan and Hans met at Pax Lodge when I was working there. Hans came to Pax Lodge as a session participant and Megan was one of the House Assistants. After the session, Hans and his friend Jens stayed for a while and Heather and I went away to the Netherlands and when we returned...well...Megan was glowing! And that led to Megan visiting Hans and Hans visiting Megan and eventually Megan moving to Denmark. I feel lucky because I've been able to see Megan and Hans almost every time they've come back to Vancouver to visit and being at their wedding was just great! They are so very obviously happy together!

So anyway, the wedding was beautiful. It was in this pretty little church in Saanichton. The ceremony was just the right length. It was wonderful!

the kiss

signing the registry with Rene and Morgan

the bride and groom

attacked by Danish bubbles

look at those happy faces!