All of life is a foreign country. -Jack Kerouac, author (12 Mar 1922-1969)
We're really getting into now-its-time-to-start-getting-ready-for-our-trip-home-from-California mode. We're going out tonight to Armando's Mexican restaurant for which we have a gift certificate from the managers and owners of our rental house. Tomorrow we have tickets for the tennis at Indian Wells and Friday is final packing/organizing/etc. day before we head out bright and early (which is only around 7:30ish now with DST) on Saturday. Our ETA in Naramata is late afternoon next Monday. Cheers for now, and congrats again. LL & JDP
Hello Soon-to-Be Mad Packers! Congratulations on cramming most into your last few days in Paradise! I remember you mentioning gift certificate from owners of house. Enjoy your meal! What with your honed packing skills, perhaps we can lure you to Vancouver to assist with our own daunting task and then later for Inja!! Thanks for congratulatory wishes on our new home. To tell the truth, we are very, very excited about the move!
Took in 35 Letters last night. What an incredibly powerful, moving film. Had a chance to chat briefly with Michelle, sister of young woman whose struggle was the subject of the documentary, after screening. Interestingly enough she lives in Saskatoon. Old story, met a prairie lad from there and now has three children. Quite change from growing up in a Melbourne suburb. Travel safely. Let us know when you are back home and settled. Fondestos from Mme Coriandre to you both. Cheers, Patrizzio!
Pics: Charred towel! Do you discern a pattern here, Lynne, a la bacon fiasco conflagration? Cora Lee, asleep while on duty, purportedly guarding my Trek, at The Spanish Villa in Penticton! Our new run-about now that we are Okanagan Lake People; view from Folkstone Way, Monday evening. Needed a better telephoto lens to do justice to the magnificence of Mt Baker but nevertheless a stunning vista. Some of the snaps I shot yesterday evening. I took Aquabus to Science World and then walked to SFU's downtown campus to take in film.
Hi Patrick, Wow, have you ever done well. Beautiful house, great location. I think we'll move in with you. Lynnie and I are just off to the Indian Wells tennis tournament so will leave further gushing for later. Huge congratulations. Glad you avoided the geotechnical issues as I didn't want to be involved!! Cheers, Peter
While the minimum number of bikes one should own is three, the correct number is
n+1, where n is the number of bikes currently owned. This equation may also be re-written as
s-1, where s is the number of bikes owned that would result in separation from your partner.All our family and friends, First of all thank you to all of you who sent along greetings on the occasion of my birthday.
Secondly and most importantly I want to give all of you an update on Wayne. He had a skidoo accident on Feb 21st and dislocated his knee. He was making good progress until this past Tuesday, Mar 10th when he developed a pulmonary embolism in his lung. As much as this is devastating news, he is now making slow but steady progress. He is very weak and still has laboured breathing but I am happy to report showing signs of improvement daily. I want to acknowledge your concern, prayers, phone calls, emails and texts. The world is a beautiful place especially when there are people like you in it. You will never know how much your thoughtfulness is appreciated. We are indeed very grateful. Sincerely, Peggy and Wayne
Mr Fixit! Sorry to learn that you ended up back in hospital but very pleased to learn that you are recovering well. Hurry up and get on with the mending as we might need you for the move on May 28th! Best Wishes from Cora Lee, Chloë and Patrizzio!
Happy Belated Birthday, Peggster! For She's A Jolly Good Fellow! Hip Hip Hooray! Loads of Love and Best Wishes from Cora Lee, Chloë and Patrizzio!
Had a number of appointments on today, (regular six month follow-up with my dermatologist and some fasting blood work having to do with my annual physical), so Cora Lee dropped me off at Skin Care Clinic, near VGH, and I walked home after seeing my specialist. All well as far as sun damage but will have to be extra careful once we are in the Okanagan. Back home to suit up and ride downtown for lab work and then home again. Time for a bite of much needed lunch, (I took along a banana to eat as soon as I walked out of lab!), and then I was off again, to ride to VanCity to see 1:00 am screening of Ida. Have you seen it, Kjell? Film won Best Foreign Language Film at this year's Academy Awards, as you might know. In case not:
From acclaimed director Pawel Pawlikowski (Last Resort, My Summer of Love) comes a moving and intimate drama about a young novitiate nun in 1960s Poland who, on the verge of taking her vows, discovers a dark family secret dating from the terrible years of the Nazi occupation.18-year old Anna (stunning newcomer Agata Trzebuchowska), a sheltered orphan raised in a convent, is preparing to become a nun when the Mother Superior insists she first visit her sole living relative. Naïve, innocent Anna soon finds herself in the presence of her aunt Wanda (Agata Kulesza), a worldly and cynical Communist Party insider, who shocks her with the declaration that her real name is Ida and her Jewish parents were murdered during the Nazi occupation. This revelation triggers a heart-wrenching journey into the countryside, to the family house and into the secrets of the repressed past, evoking the haunting legacy of the Holocaust and the realities of postwar Communism.
What a film! Think you would like this as opposed to your 100 Year Old Swede! Stuff of Barbara! Interestingly enough, although there were sub-titles, almost didn't need them as relatively little dialogue, overall, particularly within the confines of the convent, although I assume there is some quasi-vow of silence. "Anna" and the two other novitiates who help her pack her small case before she leaves to see her aunt, don't even talk, for example.
Shot in B/W, (The photography is simply stunning!), this only adds to/creates the atmosphere of the austere, stripped down nature of life withing the confines of the convent, the denial of the worldly, but also serves to emphasize the grim, often bleak nature of material existence in the countryside and towns of post-war, Soviet Poland. Ida's aunt Wanda gives a masterful performance, her aggressive personality the perfect counter-point to her niece's humble meekness born, of course, ironically, of Catholicism bred into a Jewish child. This conceit informs so many of the interactions within the unfolding of Anna's/Ida's journey that the cumulative effect simply leaves one shaking one's head at the situation the novitiate finds herself struggling to understand. A tour de force!
I don't think overmuch of the Academy Awards but sometimes the winners certainly deserve the acclaim, (Still Alice, per esempio!), so I can only applaud the choice of Ida. For my money, a must see. Hope to watch Leviathan, at some point as it was also in race for Best Foreign Language Film, again, as you probably know.
Was close to 3:00 pm when screening was over so I decided I'd have time for a bit of a ride along Seawall to Stanley Park, with some dipsy-doodles around Lost Lagoon before returning. Did just that. Stats for cumulative, combo rides on Brodie, Garmin in my pocket!
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/718162359#.VQNnkfeR3b0.email
Home to have Cora Lee's delicious stir-fry. Chloë was over for dinner and she played bridge with Clarisse, Dusty and I as her Mom was wokking! After dessert, fab banana cake with white icing, by Rosita, she left and we continued to play. Cora Lee and her Dad had all the cards and played them very well to trounce us. Still, a very pleasant evening. We finished the night watching a few more episodes of The Killing before heading o bed ourselves.
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