Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it's the only one you have. -Emile Chartier, philosopher (3 Mar 1868-1951)
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| Émile-Auguste Chartier |
Dear Patrizzio, Thank you so much for your, as always, informative letter. However, I have to say these repeated road accidents make me nervous. I have seen too many friends go to the other side now. Why don't you get a three-wheeler, preferably with a seat belt?!
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| Warhol, Marilyn! |
Sounds like you're at an exciting stage of your real estate dealing. Going about it the opposite way, compared to Jane, selling before buying. I suppose that, if you don't find anything, you could always move in for some indefinite period of time with your close friends in Naramata? Would bring you really close!
About the Swedish movie: I'm glad you liked it. My brother-out-of-law contributed to the funding of the production (like he contributes to the funding of Mackmyra whisky, which is, by the way, constantly increasing its market share in Sweden). I went to see it with my friend Christer.
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| Rousseau, The Dream! |
We don't always agree on things, but coming out of the cinema theater we both concluded it was among the worst films we ever saw. On the other hand, I seem to get more and more choosy, not to say testy, when it comes to movies. Out of the 20 or so I have watched in the last couple of years I only remember "Barbara" with really great pleasure. I think we saw it together?
It seems you have already heard about Jane's visit to Sweden (and Catalonia). I'm really looking forward to that, and to returning to Courtenay after midsummer. She's tricky, but by God she's wonderful.
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| Uma Thurman, Pulp Fiction! |
My life here is just more of the same. Family, friends, tennis, gym, reading, etc. Last week my b-o-o-l treated all his closest friends and family to a really fun night ont the town. Drinks, dinner, comedy theatre, more drinks, and lots of fun conversations with people I see may be two or three times every year. All on Per! And, for the last week or so, I have been buying high quality reproductions of some of the best modern art in the world (Miró, Modigliani, Kandinsky) from a web site called allposters.se. Felt like getting a new life, or at least a renewed home.
[Palm Springs tramway up San Jacinto Peak, where some of the trails were snow covered]
Happy to hear Chloë is getting on with her plans. Please give her all my best wishes! As for Anna, she seems to be very happy heading on with her history studies at Stockholm university, aiming for a bachelor's in the spring, and probably a master's next year, and possibly a doctorate after that (if she doesn't get an attractive enough job in the process). It's really gratifying to observe, for her mother and myself.
[Hiking in the Painted Canyon and Ladder Canyons.]
By the way, Anna's boyfriend, Chris, has relatives living in Calgary, and, what is more, they have a summer house in Summerland, where Anna and Chris plan to go by the beginning of August. And they want Jane and me to pick them up and take them back to the island. Perhaps that could make for a meet up at your boat on the Lake Okanagan? Bestestos, and fondestos, to you and Corazon (and good luck with you estate business!), Marcello
Hi Poster Man! Thanks for last message. Your "three-wheeler" comment echoes one from
friend, Kev, in Perth, who asked if I needed to take cycling lessons!
Pleased to hear Mackmyra is growing in popularity. Can't remember if I
showed you the bottle I picked up in Winnipeg last summer. With respect
to The 100-Year-Old Man, I plan to read the book, at some point.
Neighbour across the hall passed along his copy. One person's delight is
another's irritant. I, too, found Barbara a powerful film and
yes, we did see it together. Pleased that Anna's studies are going so
well. Do send along greetings from us.
[Hiking in Palm Canyon.]
I took a quick look at allposters.se and seems like scads to choose from. I just happened to click on Warhol's Marilyn. Chloë alerted us to the following: "MAISON AI and Revolver Gallery Beverly Hills are bringing an exhibition
of over 80 original prints and paintings by Andy Warhol to Vancouver. WARHOL – A Different Idea of Love
will be shown at 1280 Homer St. (a Yaletown warehouse) from March 1st
to March 30th from 11am to 6pm, Monday through Saturday." Hope to take it in next week.
We are off to Penticton on Thursday. Our friends from Naramata are still in
Palm Desert so we'll be camping out in a motel. We are off to Inja with
them in October but as you suggest, actually living together in the same abode for an extended period of time can be quite another matter.
Of
course, we would be delighted to host you and Jane, Anna and Chris on
our luxurious houseboat on Lake Okanagan in August or at a more modest
dwelling, location yet to be determined! Obviously, will have a much better idea after our trip this weekend. Will certainly let you know as soon as we do.
Went for a shorter ride today as we spent late morning/early afternoon bringing the "stuff" we had stored in a facility, since early January, a few blocks away, while showing condo. No real reason to pay close to
$200/month now that place is sold. After work tomorrow, Sarge will help me with mattress as need to tie it to car roof rack. While it isn't all that heavy, it is very unwieldy.
On one of the last trips back from storage locker we were carrying last
few things into the apartment and had to wait while a large van was
backing out of a tight parking spot. Turned out to be one that has a
small ramp to make it wheel-chair accessible. Owner has recently been
confined to a wheelchair and his daughter, Ashley, we later learned, had
never driven vehicle before.
At any rate, when we returned to the
parkade Ashley could not close the sliding door once her dad was inside.
Turned out the door "gizmo" had come off its track and was jammed under
the "fly" window. I offered to see if I could help and eventually we
were able to open rear window to provide enough clearance to seemingly
allow door to close. Ashley gripped handle, as it needs to be engaged to
complete manoeuvre, and I stood behind sliding door to push it gently
forward. Thought we had it back on its track when, with a loud pop,
window shattered! Safety glass so not really a big deal but I was
sprayed with fragments. Otherwise, no serious injury although Cora Lee had to take a few tiny slivers out of my Croc-clad feet!
[The Salton Sea.]
Father
and daughter went inside to contact their mechanic and we swept up
considerable amount of glass before heading back to storage unit. Just
as we were about to leave parking lot, Ashley came running up to ask if
we could jump start her car. She claimed she had left emergency flashers
on too long and had drained the battery. At any rate I suggested we try
to push her car into a slightly better position in order to make it
easier to attach booster cables. I pushed against strut on front
passenger door while The Sisterhood did the same from front of car.
Ashley must have popped hood earlier, without releasing safety latch, as
she managed to jam her fingers under hood when she pushed to start
rocking car!
Given the mishaps to date decided to leave her car
where it was and try to angle mine so that we could hook up jumper
cables. Just about to bring TG around when her mother, (Corinne, also!),
called to say she would be there shortly with mechanic so we were off
the Dr. Hook, so to speak. Bit of a tense situation all around as not
quite sure what the dynamics of her father's paralysis happen to be.
Ashley mentioned tht she had grown up in Shaughnessy so I imagine they
might have coin aplenty. She was on the verge of tears much of the time
we were dealing with her so whether these were a result of his recent
diagnosis/illness or their on-going relationship, I have no idea.
Another tid-bit was that she mentioned she had spent last nine months or
so travelling, as a chef, with her boyfriend who works for WWE, to 17
or more states in the US! I asked he if she knew Mickey Rourke, (The
Wrestler, 2008), but I don't think she made the connection!
[Meg Hickling. She's a nurse who, forty years ago, saw a
need and set off on a career devoted to teaching kids and their parents
about their bodies. She set the standard for sex education and sexual health in schools across B.C. Meg Hickling is now a retired sexual health educator.]
After hauling the last load I suited up and headed for Olympic Village
to dipsy-doodle my way there and about to clock 51 km before making for
home. Another glorious, bright sunny day yet with the wind and coolish
temperature I was was pleased I was dressed warmly. Stats for ride:
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/710800226#.VPZsjjADUBw.email
Home
just before Mme Coriandre left to collect her sister, Spumoni, and
workmate, Lynne, from their hotel downtown. Clarisse and Dusty joined
us, along with Chloë, so it was a lively evening. Lynne is from Montreal
and it was fun to get to know her a bit as we'd
not met before.
Pam, like Dusty, is an avid fan of curling so she paid for a month's
subscription to TSN, (our package doesn't include this channel), so that
she could watch the Tim Hortons Brier, from Calgary, over the course of
the evening!
Cora Lee's Moroccan stew was simply
delicious and for dessert we devoured every last bit of Rosita's Angel
Food cake. Pam has been her quite a few times this past year, mainly for
business purposes. When we said goodbye and goodnight our coming move
was brought into sharp focus as this will
be the last time she will visit The Islay Inn before we leave at the
end of May.
After Chloë drove them back to their hotel, we cleaned up kitchen and
then watched the first episode of House of cards, Season 3. Cora Lee was
too, too sleepy to watch the next installment but I wanted remained
glued to
the screen for one more episode before heading to bed.
Haven't decided if I'll take my bike up to the Okanagan this weekend.
Not sure if I'll have time to ride, although I'd certainly like to do
so. Must away as I do want to log a reasonably lengthy one early this
afternoon, given that it's another wonderful day. Bestestos from Mme Coriandre/Corazon. Cheers, Patrizzio!
Hello IDJR and Helpmate! Guess
Winston has you wrapped around his little paw! Given his talents, we
think you might well rent out his decorating services. This just in from
our good friends in Perth. Trust our move doesn't unfold as did their
disastrous scenario:
dear pat and Corrine, hi how are
you both going, sounds as if you guys are really making a change. bev
and I really loved your house and if we could have picked one over here
or there it would have been yours. anyway since I last wrote to you
everything has happened here as well. on dec.24 our house sold and we
had to be out by jan 16 this created huge problems, we bought another
house just 1.2klms away, but the person would not move out till feb. 14
so we moved into daughters home and she went to her boyfriends for a
month. we had to store our furniture for a month. so on moving day the
truck never showed up and they text us they would be a day late.
we
bought the house from an old bloke (he was older than you pat) and
never maintained anything so the toilet was leaking and the toilet tap
was broken when you wound the tap out. the moving people broke the power
point off the wall and the printer. I had to fix all plus the
reticulation, the washing machine (water was everywhere) he forgot to
cancel phone so could not get it for a week so no computer. the exhaust
fan above the stove never worked and that's all I can think of at
present. anyhow pat I think you will do better, why Penticton ? anyhow
pat keep in touch and do you think you need cycling lessons? cheers for
now and take care, kevin and beverley
[Oh my gosh! Poor friends, - I'm pretty sure it won't come up that difficult for you. Mostly people have stress because they can't get their houses sold, some time it just goes a little fast, but the sooner out, the sooner in, I suppose, and then don't buy anything where everything is broken unless your son-in-law is a total entrepreneur in renovation!! (and your daughter is very pretty - - but that's no problem for you)
Well well...Details for flights viwill be transfered when I have the final tickets.
and - Megan responded on latest mail, so we are connected through several media! Have a good day - Margareta Got the detail for ticket - this is valid unless I send new info: Aug 6th Air Canada Flight no AC 1881 dep. Los Angeles 01.00 p.m. - arr. Vancouver 03.44 p.m. Margareta]
[Your poor friends!! Sure hope that does not happen to either of us. We
will for sure get an inspection before purchasing. Did they? So u r
thinking Penticton. So were we, since we holidayed there every year from
the time our kids were very little until long
after 'cuz I had 2 Aunts & Uncles living there. My grandparents
& they all moved to P from Horseshoe Bay in 1951. They build the
'Shielings' (Scottish term) a log, tongue in groove Auto Court (My
Uncles were Carpenters and all round self employed Contractors.
Grandpa was the Supervisor I suspect), now low income subsidzed
housing, near Joey's ( can see from the parking lot).
It should be a
Heritage Site but alas not yet. My brother is researching all the
history & perhaps one day, we will see that happen. My last
living Uncle Roy, 93, passed peacefully in his own bed at home with his
loving wife of 49 years beside him the summer before last. Auntie Pat,
92, died 40 days later, with my cousin, Allison (from Edmonton, (who
grew up in P), a Nurse & Uncle Jack's only child
with her, again at home in her bed. Anyway, we were thinking P since
you can drive to there from Sh Pk in a day. After we informed our kids,
our eldest dtr called to say that if we were going there only because we
might see the family more often than once
a year, we should rethink our plan. They are all busy with work &
kids. They only get one holiday a year & long weekends would likely
be doing something else.
Top 5 Restaurants in Vancouver: Robbie Kane's guide:
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| Café Medina |
We have had a time share in Parksville for over
11 years & love it there. N Nanaimo is also a possibility.
The in-laws of Beth, our youngest, live in Nanaimo. Their best friends
live in Sooke & I have a married bro in Victoria. Most of our
friends from AZ live on the island. The best friends of our eldest dtr
live in Squamish. The Oma & Opa of our eldest grandson
live in Surrey. We are not too concerned about the ferry. If it has to
be, it will be. Winters are definitely more moderate there on the
island. Frank is addicted to pickleball & there is a very strong
club in Nanaimo with highly ranked players. Golf is everywhere
& I am fairly sure I can find a Zumba class. I know there is
Bowling in both locales. We want to live somewhere for when we can no
longer travel south for whatever reason & where the winters are not
as harsh as AB.
Travel insurance for 6 mos for each of us
is getting to be up there. We will travel to AB both to & from AZ
so on top of a possible holiday from each family, we should be able to
see them all 3x a year. As well, we fly home every second Christmas so
that is a 4th time. This thought process ahs taken
some time to evolve. Personally, I would suck it up to stay near the
kids.
I don't mind winters having grown up in MB but Frank, a Brit,
hates them. He wants to live in shorts & a tee year round, lol! The
problem is that buying a place in Sh Pk that would
suit us & not break the bank is almost impossible. So, the island
it is. We are headed to AB where we will bunk in with Beth & family
as we did from end of May to Oct 19 while we get all our affairs in
order so to speak, taxes, banking, storage, Dr apptmts,
etc etc etc. Hopefully we will have a more complete plan by early May.
Keep us apprized of your whereabouts so we can get together again in the
hopefully not so distant future.Ciao for now, Maggie]
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| Nook |
Spumoni is coming to dinner this evening, along with two workmates. Not sure if there will any room to entertain as we plan to "mule" as much of the stuff back from storage locker as we can manage as soon as Mme Coriandre finishes putting Moroccan stew ingredients in crock-pot.. No real reason to pay
close to $200/month now that place is sold. Maybe we'll pretend the Islay Inn is a warehouse and have a rave! Love and Cheers, Dad/Patrizzio! Hi again, Wild Bill: This just in
from Kev. Not sure if you have been in touch recently so thought you
might be interested to hear about their move. Trust ours will not be so
difficult and trying!
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| L'Abbatoir |
With respect to that, there is a chance we
might return to the Okanagan the weekend of the 14th, (We had arranged
to go with Flamin' and Sarge, some time ago, as they are keen on
looking at recreational property in Osoyoos. Since sale on our place
went through, we felt we should start looking sooner!), if we need some
follow-up viewing properties, and the like. Of course, will have a much
better idea after our trip this weekend. Will certainly let you know as
soon as we do. Cheers, Patrizzio!
Good morning Patrick: Thanks for your pictures; the various hands shown must be those of my opponents as I never have one hand with the point count illustrated; maybe next week at Chateau McCleery’s. Let me know if you need instructions to our home in West Vancouver. Regards: David
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| Au Comptoir |
Hi David! Yes, the hands belonged to Kamikaze Byron! I believe he
will be acting as our chauffeur next Monday so gather he knows how to
find Chateau Mccleery. If it turns out that I do need directions I'll
send off an SOS. Again, wonderful salmon, so much appreciated. Cheers,
Patrizzio!
Take heart all you aging bridgers. Yesterday I played two hands in duplicate against a 99 year old woman. I think she took top board against us on both hands! I asked her what her secret of longevity was and she said “Stay away from Doctors!” Onward and upward, Roger Its called taking candy from babies Get
good genes so that you don't need doctors - and radiation and surgery
and such in fact! And now we rely on our beloved Welsh Brothers to win
in Cardiff against Ireland!
Backward and Downward with a Smile David So now the heathen welsh are brothers????
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| Maenam |
Hi Corinne, Thanks for being our good Luxe India agent. We'll get you the passport scans shortly. Lynne and I are entering rehab this week, following the departure of my two sisters and brother-in-law. We had quite an active visit with them. Some highlights shown in a few photos attached in this and the next e-mail.
Sister Mary got in touch with my cousin Joan and her husband Fred, as I knew they were in Palm Desert but we hadn't contected them yet. It turned out that they own a condo in the Shadow Mountain Resort, practically just across the road from us, so we had a visit with them. Hope your real estate maneuvers are going well and the you have a good trip to the Okanagan this weekend. Hugs,
Peter and Lynnie The iPad only allows a few photo attachments so a limited selection below.
Hi Rehab People! Trust your electro-shock therapay, strait-jackets and ice-baths are having desired results! Thanks for all the wonderful snaps! Looks like a terrific time hiking, etc. Will be curious to debrief when next we meet. Picture of fire-pit brought back very, very fond memories, especially Margaritas!!! We passed by the Salton Sea the year we rented house in Guayabitos , en route to Yuma, before heading into Mexico. Only saw it from the highway, however. Hope to do San Jacinto Peak next time, if possible.
Buona Fortuna with de-tox. Will be thinking of you and your DT's when we are wine-tasting between viewing properties! Bestestos from Luxe Lady. Cheers, Patrizzio!
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I Tried All the Sex from 'Fifty Shades of Grey' in One Weekend
I'm still alive, but just barely.
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Just beautiful weather we are having, we feel "almost" guilty. But good
to hear from you and that you are feeling well enough to engage in
another long ride....where/what is CSTB?
This weekend and next are the
two biggest events
of the year for us, the annual Wine Road Barrel Tasting weekends, so we
are "gearing" up for that ourselves but it doesn't involve any riding
around other than on 4 wheels to run errands and pick up supplies!
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| Graze |
We do
watch/have seen Orange is the New Black,
very excellent entertainment in my book! I must have missed the photo
of Winston....is he a big dog or small pup? And am not at all familiar
with Ocotillo but when I looked it up, I find that it is a spiny,
prickly plant, excellent for use as a barrier.
Hello to all and good luck with your house hunting this weekend. Patrizzia
Dear Patrick Thank you so much for the update about Dan's Memorial and your upcoming activities. Good luck with your house hunting. I am sure you won't encounter what happened to your Aussie friends given that Dusty will be inspecting any of your property choices. You are in the best situation possible having sold and now can really choose.
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| Nuba |
Saw Tip Placzek on the weekend and her son Pat seems to be feeling a bit better. He had a bone marrow transplant--platelets from his older brother Dan were used. 100 days is an important turning point and he is almost there and it seems his body is producing platelets which is really really good. Tip seems to be quite well given everything and right now Jim is teaching at a University in Bangkok. He comes home for a month in March and then will go back for 9 months.
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| Tao |
Do take care and if you have a chance please keep in touch as it would be great to get together. Fondest regards as ever Jo-Anne
Pat, It sounds as though you are almost recovered from your rib injury by the length of the rides. Wayne must also be in strong recovery mode and it doesn't sound as though he is letting his condition hamper his activities.
A good time in California it seems as well as having to do transactions while on the move. You've done well to get a decent price so you can buy something to your liking in Penticton or Naramata. It's about 100 km ride to Kelowna on the KVR and there's lots of trail cycling on the Summerland side also but you need 2 inch tires.
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| Bandidas |
I've been to the Carters' on 3 occasions recently to watch 6 Nations rugby which has been fun although Ireland were too good for England last Sunday.
The garden is all dug over and composted with some seeds already in. Cold snap in about a week is forecast so I won't be too hasty with any further planting. Looking forward to some time off when schools go on Spring Break Ray
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