Packing Tape Blues: Saturday, April 25th!

In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists. -Eric Hoffer, philosopher and author (1902-1983) 

Hi Patrick, Rick says the connection was with Margaret's partner who taught him German at U.B.C. It sounds like you had a nice evening of bridge. We look forward to playing bridge with you guys at the lake or your new house in the not to distant future. Ruth 

[Ayn P Is George attending his brother's party or is he off on a walk-a-about?... too soon? Lol Stephanie Modder Aw. Luckily we kept George contained.....no walkabouts .....thanks to Chloe Alexis Dunn for keeping George entertained and helping me so much with the party, as always. Patrick James Dunn At least he didn't have icing in his hair! Hip Hip Hooray!]

Hi Ruthless and The Grumpster! Thanks for sending along the connection to Margaret Friesen. I had completely forgotten about Rick having studied with Ron. Will let her know that I was confused about piano lessons!

Ezra, Agneta's youngest, is coming over from Robert's Creek this morning, with his truck and Matt, his older brother, to take all of the kitchen ware and furniture that is left in The Annexe. I'm also hoping that he will take our king frame, (We plan to buy another one once in Penticton as this one was a hand-me-down. It has served us well but, while still usable, not a particularly attractive piece, especially for The Rich and Famous of Penticton!), otherwise I'll have to haul it to the dump.
 

Must away as I'm planning to go for a short ride out to UBC before the forecast showers begin, early this afternoon, and Ezra arrives, as I will help him load everything he will be taking. Certainly look forward to having you play bridge at The Burns Street B&B this summer and hope it won't be September before we see you at your cabin. You might recall we had talked, earlier, about meeting up there around the 18th of September, with our friends, Penny/Mike, from London. More of that closer to the dates in question, however. Fondestos to you both from Esmeralda, still abed, exhausted after packing 1000 pairs of designer shoes! Cheers, Patrizzio! 

Pics: [An upgrade to iPhoto popped up this morning so I played around with editing features.] Whirlygig and Jane dropped by on Thursday afternoon, along with Morita, Georgio's new Border Collie pup. What a sweetheart!

Hi Pat and Corinne,  You are certainly doing very well with your packing perhaps you'd like to join us at the lake for the May long weekend for a little down time and by that I mean bridge, wine, storytelling and other assorted events. We realize that this might be too close to your moving time so we'll understand if the timing is not good. As for September there's a chance we'll be visiting Alex in Germany for Octoberfest so we'll keep you posted on those details later. Enjoy the sunshine it may be short-lived! We had a lively round of golf this morning with brisk, but sunny weather and lots of fresh snow on the mountains around us. So beautiful! Ruth

Hi Calamity, Giggenheimer and Border Broom Collie!Thanks for popping by on Thursday! Grand to see you both and have ourselves chewed to ribbons! Most certainly look forward to having you three at The Burns Street B&B this summer and hope it won't be too, too long before we see you on Galiano. Buona Fortuna with addition. Fondestos to you both from Mme Coriandre. Cheers, Il Conduttore! Pics: Morita hiding her sharp little teeth. What a sweetheart, Winston! [Ayn's Jack Russell!] I think a dog would be a nice fit for the Penticton B&B

More Greetings about Burns Street B&B: Nana has already decided that she would like to have both a kitten and a puppy at same time so that they will be friends! She became quite weepy when sorting out a desk drawer this weekend and came across a number of snaps of Smokey and Sneakers at Hotel Kits. Hence the need for Poplar Grove instant medication! Cheers, Packing Slave, in fetters, just waiting for drizzle to stop before attempting to break out of the Big House! Winston will want a kitten too!! Dear Winston: If you desire a kitten you will have to forgo having a shower with Ayn as cats don't like that much water! Cheers, Pet Whisperer Patrizzio! 

Hola Pat and Corinne, Thank you for your warm hospitality on Thursday! It was lots of fun sharing delicious wine and rum while sharing our latest exploits! Great you could meet Morita! She is a bundle of joy. She told us your broom was especially delicious and she may be back for more.

Thanks too for your photos Pat. I like the black and white ones for a change! Need you in some of the pics. Hope you are having a wonderful Saturday so far. Good luck with packing and enjoy all your precious moments with friends and family. Hasta luego, Jane Ps. Taking my parents to see Isabella Rosselini's Green Porno tonight - can't wait to have some belly laughs

Dear Patrick and Corinne, Thanks once again for your kindness and hospitality on my recent trip to BC. It was lovely to see you both along with Wayne, Michelle and Joanne. Also for the books which made it safely back to London and the next stop is Chabeuil for me to read and leave for your next visit with us. I have been full-on working since I returned to London and am off to Dublin next week and Brussels the week after. Andre is now in London and we made an offer for an apartment in Oakridge yesterday which sadly we did not get. There were four offers and it went for over 10% more than the asking price. The Vancouver property market today is truly crazy! We will keep looking and hopefully one day manage to find the right place for us and then be able to spend more time in Canada visiting friends from our own fixed base. Will keep you posted of our progress.
 

I promised to let you have the email address of Andre's friends, Dan and Val Atkinson, who now live on the banks of Gallagher Lake. Keep in touch and good luck with your own home move. I will be thinking of you at the end of May - no doubt a very stressful event for you both. Let me know how Zoe gets on with her latest "project" too. Take care. Much love, Rosemary XXX

Hi Rosemary! Lovely to have seen the two of you. Only sorry that the visits were all too brief, however. Glad Andre is safely back in London. You sound busier than ever with all your city hopping! Thanks so much for Dan's email. Do appreciate having it and hope to make contact once we've settled in. Sorry to hear that you were not able to close the deal on the apartment you had hoped to buy. On the brighter side, perhaps the market will cool down by the time you are back and ready to look again!

aa

Lava having a rough surface. Photo: USGS

This morning, around 10:00 am, Ezra, youngest son of Cora Lee's very close friend, Agneta, came over from Robert's Creek, with his older brother, Matt, and Matt's pick-up, to take all of the kitchen ware and furniture that was left in The Annexe. I was also hoping that he would take our king frame, but could not persuade him to pile it on top of everything else! Now, unless we find someone else who needs/wants it, I'll have to haul it to the dump. After helping the lads, [Agneta's sons, Matt and Ezra, along with Ezra's wife and daughter, and Matt's daughter, came over from Roberts Creek to collect all the furniture and kitchen ware from Annexe that Clarisse and Dusty, or other family members, did not want.], to load the truck I suited up and headed out for a ride, around 11:30 am. 

Showers predicted for around 1:00 pm this afternoon didn't materialize, although there were some devilishly threatening, huge black clouds to the southeast, worthy of Joe Btfsplk from Li'l Abner. Nevertheless, no weather jinx so I was able to rides circles, (and I do mean circles!), from  Olympic Village to Science World and then the Seawall to under the Granville Bridge, 5 times.

On my second loop I used the huge, completely empty, Concord Pacific parking lot, adjacent to SW on the north side of False Creek, to add extra distance to my ride. Seawall was pretty busy at times so this was a most attractive, viable alternative. A few days ago the VPD motorcycle corp was using the space to practice manoeuvres of some sort or other but I only had to contend with the odd seagull or crow and a few skateboarders today., attempting, mostly unsuccessfully, to jump the concrete barriers blocking one of the two vehicle entrance-ways. Braver souls than I, especially as none of them wore protective gear of any sort. Suppose this attitude helps to rid the human gene pool of a few dopes! 

Back home to find Mme Coriandre reading in the late afternoon sunshine, happy as a clam. Stats for ride:

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/756794951#.VTwpb5mA7cc.email

Have a few small things to do at The Annexe shortly, so must away. Plan a fairly quiet evening tonight with more Netflix viewing over dinner and then reading in bed. Almost sorry that I will finish All the Light as it has been so mesmerizing. Probably won't do any more packing until tomorrow morning.

Certainly look forward to having you two at The Burns Street B&B, at some point and hope it won't be too, too long before we see you in Chabeuil or London. Buona Fortuna with next round of business travel. Fondestos to you both from Esmeralda, still exhausted after packing 1000 pairs of designer shoes! Cheers, Patrizzio! Pics: Morita, Whirlygig's new Border Collie pup. He and Jane, his amore who teaches in Vancouver, popped around Thursday afternoon. Giorgio was in town from Galiano for a day or so. 


Hi All, Are we all still on for bridge at my place on Monday (27th)? Cheers,
R. All set! David Fusion Fight Gear

Good Evening. Spring Madness Abounds! The April tradition seems to be that the host ought to triumph -- coming robustly from behind (!?). Bridge is after all sparky, codebreakers game? About reading meaning quickly. To me it is best played intuitively, rashly - as our Poetic Mentor Byron teaches!  I am delving a bit into the WW2 codebreakers. Didn't they all play Bridge? A mystery novel about the role of Bill Tutte could be an imaginative drama. Tutte, a Canadian, was just about as important a codebreaker as Turing. Tutte had a hugely important mathematics career for 57 years after WW2 mainly at the University of Waterloo. But didn't die young! Or did he....? 

Maybe the story could be that during a night of Bridge at the University of Waterloo on November 22 1963 Tutte found himself partnering a former SS Concentration Camp Commander (very mixed group were the professors at UW fetching up from many places with secret former careers ....)?
 

Clive might direct this as a play with Byron as Tutte and Roger as the very clever and evily-calculating SS underfuerher... Les of course playing the Ghost of Turing...who was in love with Tutte (erotic flashbacks of Les/Byron in naked trysts in the deep dark woods of Bletchley ....). Another scene sailing - with John luring Roger into a lake Godfather style in his Fairy Albacore...Possible project for you Robert?

These Bridger Nights are the best Bridge times I've enjoyed since I started playing Bridge in 1953: relaxed, amiable, no hassle. My partner for a few years when living in Waterloo was Janusz Lipowski who had played for Poland: he was amazingly intuitive, rather like Byron and he had escaped the Soviets via Bridge .....All Best, David Dear Toby For my tough Bridgers Battles I've ordered the short-sleeved XL Street Fighter Rashguard! Different kit for our dynamite sailing to be ordered anon....Love Dad
 
Hello Re-Match Group et al! I apologize for not replying sooner to confirm my attendance tomorrow. I must admit, I was too, too busy perusing the Fusion Fight Gear web site, (Thanks for forwarding link, Mr T!), trying to decide which garment to purchase/wear for Monday's cage match that I neglected to confirm, a day or so ago. I am leaning towards the Street Fighter Blanka Brazil Rashguard but the Ryu Short Sleeved has much appeal, the better to show off my latest bridge tatts. (See below) Until domani, I leave you with the following Byron proverb: "Revenge is a dish best served cold?" Onward, “To boldly go where no bridge partnership has gone… before.” Cheers, Patrizzio!

PS: Ayn, our daughter in LA, works for Crown Media and she thinks that the short treatment David outlined regarding WWII codebreakers "has legs" and will pitch it to her team tomorrow. Hope to have an offer for David when we meet at 6:00 pm. Pics: Tattoos, left and right forearms.  

Dear Patrick Look forward to seeing you in your new super-hero kit. And the movie/novel project on Bill Tutte, super-hero. All Best David I don't think Byron would claim the revenge quote. In fact, no-one can... More. See you all on Monday at 6:00. Cheers, R.