Vancouver Marathon Blues: Sunday, May 3rd!

Life is an exciting business, and most exciting when it is lived for others. -Helen Adams Keller (1880-1968)

            Life: a spiritual pickle preserving the body from decay. -Ambrose Bierce

Dear Patrick Thanks so so much for the update and pictures.  The Border Collie pup is adorable.  I am sure that packing is all consuming.  I am still rehabbing and return to work on Monday--yikes. Anyways do take care and as the whip continues to crack I will be thinking of you. Cheers Jo-Anne

[Marvin Angelo Mercado Can't believe it's been a year already!]

Dear Byron This might interest you as a Sailor-Poet. Maybe you could recite one of your own poems in French at a Bridgers Night? You are our Happiest Bridger: the man most at ease at the Bridge Table! Regards David
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Dear Bob Very good to hear! Well done on the illustrated shipboard recitation! We have a branch of the Christ's Hospital Cruising & Sailing Club here in Vancouver with a fleet of three. Let's keep the ICC Newsletter poetic thread going building on the Great Navigator Wm Wales FRS! Wales could be nominated for posthumous ICC membership I'd say? With his name he must be Irish? Next poetic exploration - the "Bellerephon"? Very Best David

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Hi David, Just wanted to say that I was glad seeing your addendum (is that the right word in this context?) about my piece on albatrosses, and the background relating to William Wales, in the latest ICC newsletter.

It’s that sort of to and fro in correspondence that makes a newsletter in my view. You might be amused to learn that I’ve just returned from doing a lecturing stint on a ship in the south Atlantic. We were running low on possible lectures towards the end of the voyage, so I foolishly volunteered to do a reading of the full Ancient Mariner. I pulled the text off the internet, and backed it with illustrations, including the one featured in your little article. It went down well with the passengers, one even cruelly suggested he preferred it to my regular lectures, but then I am no Coleridge! Cheers, Bob

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Hi David, Just wanted to say that I was glad seeing your addendum (is that the right word in this context?) about my piece on albatrosses, and the background relating to William Wales, in the latest ICC newsletter.

It’s that sort of to and fro in correspondence that makes a newsletter in my view. You might be amused to learn that I’ve just returned from doing a lecturing stint on a ship in the south Atlantic. We were running low on possible lectures towards the end of the voyage, so I foolishly volunteered to do a reading of the full Ancient Mariner. I pulled the text off the internet, and backed it with illustrations, including the one featured in your little article. It went down well with the passengers, one even cruelly suggested he preferred it to my regular lectures, but then I am no Coleridge! Cheers, Bob

With the Vancouver Marathon tying up many of my regular routes I decided I'd go for a gerbil outing, looping from Alder Crossing all the way to Olympic Village and back, about 9 or 10 times. Short outing, 51.08 km, but I was more than chuffed to maintain a 23.5 kph AVG. Second best ever. A wonderful day to boot so a gift just to be able to enjoy the city and the weather and the whizzing spokes! Stats for ride:

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/764489994#.VUaobGfiX9I.email


Cora Lee was at a church meeting that evening so I drove out to Coquitlam around 5:00 pm to celebrate Sarge's 58th birthday, (actual date was following day), at Rebecca's/Corey's home. 

Grand time all around and Kid Chelene even treated us to a bit of a police dog, (Gwen, of all things! Perhaps Morita qualifies!!!), show as he uses a heavily padded arm sleeve to get her used to attack training. More play on her part, at this stage, but Corey had a number of bruises on his left forearm, sustained when "attacked" a few days ago, as part of his on-going dog-handler training, from the force of the bites he received. His skin was not broken as he was wearing aforementioned protective gear but the pressure of the bite alone caused the injury! He has had Gwen since she was a pup but will not be her eventual owner. I think he will turn her over in less than a year and he thinks that based on her development to date she will probably make it into atttack dog category. Typically females are less aggressive, (Don't the Mounties know about The Sisterhood?), and often end up as sniffer dogs at airports, etc. 

Hi Patrick, Are we still on for bridge at your place tomorrow? Btw, I'd like to host again on May 11th. Cheers, R. Hi Robert et al! Yes, indeed, we are on for the match-up which will undo the possibility of a hat-trick by Smoke-Stack Winston and Street-Fighter Admiral T(orpedoe)! I am already auctioning a pre-emptive doubled/re-doubled bid before the first hand is even dealt, let alone consulted! This is how confident I am, knowing my esteemed partner is able to extract a game silk purse out of a partner's pointless hand.

For Byron:  I suggest you bring back some of the green bread for Winston. Since it tastes like nicotine it might be better than the patch for him! As well, what a wonderful picture of the Eiffel Tower! Amazing what the perspective from the gutter can produce. Was that after too, too many shots of Absinthe! Fondestos and Cheers, Patrizzio! Great!! :)))

Hola de Lima, amigo, We are having a fine time, thanks, for wondering...We're scheduled to be home on May 22nd, so assuming no complications, would love to come to your lease-breaker festivities. As we get closer to the day, please let us know of any gaps in the comestibles supply-chain, an we'll try to fit into one of them. M & S 8^) cheers, Mark

Hello Machu Picchu Folk! Trust all goes well in the mountains! Grand that you will be able to join us for the Farewell Bash. Thanks for inquiring but don't worry about any comestibles as we would simply be delighted with your presence after your long trip home! Better do a bit of packing shortly to earn credits for good behaviour from Cruella! She sends along her best wishes to you both. Travel safely. Cheers, Patrizzio!

Many properties in the Okanagan are on leased land as well. Was yours a private sale? We did look in the Red  Wing of smaller bungalows, a gated community in Penticton, but that is on leased land. We have friends living in there. It does not seem to bother them. The lease is 99 years but for resale down the road, I don't know. There are also leased land properties on the island. We will try to avoid them wherever possible. There was one in Nanaimo we considered, a gated community of manufactured homes.
 

My family have been long time residents of Penticton. In 1951, my grandparents, John & Maggie Leslie, two uncles, Jack & Roy and an aunt, Mae married to Jack, moved there from Vancouver. My grandfather & 2 uncles bought the piece of land not far from Joey's Fish restaurant and built The Shielings, an Autocourt as it was called at the time, an all tongue in groove log units in which they lived for awhile. I believe my Dad was in on the sale but was bought out. 

They are now used as low income housing which is sad for sure! My brother Roy who owns my Uncle Roy/Auntie Pat's home on Killwinning is in conversations with a lady from heritage preservation re the history. 

Hi Maggie! How goes your house-hunting? Our purchase was a private sale. We have friends living in Red Wing as well. Be fun to visit your family property in Killwinning, at some point. Quite a history there, as you point out. Must away as sun is shining and I'm planning a ride. Cheers, Patrizzio!