Walking the Songhees Walkway

Last week in Victoria Beth and I took a wonderful afternoon walk around the north side of Victoria Harbour on the Songhees Walkway. Beth beat me to the punch blogging about it. If you link to her blog you'll see the pictures are similar. Guess we like some of the same things.

A harbour walk would not be complete without a sea plane taking off or landing.

Here is Beth posing. Looks like Scotland or Ireland here.

This shot shows the cut out to the shipping channel.

More of the same below.

I have no idea what this is but couldn't resist a picture. Maybe I should hold a contest to see who comes up with the best caption for it.The Canada geese lazed about in the semi sunshine.

Beth took this shot of me posing in front of one of the stunning arbutus trees you find in BC.

I love the way the light plays on the water above and below.

Yet another arbutus. It is impossible to shoot a bad angled picture on this walk.

Oh to be ten again and climb up to rest in the crook of this tree!

Or lean over this fence to look at the rocks below. Aren't the clouds cool?

I never tire of visiting Victoria and the lovely scenery there. Of course snuggling with Chelsea is fun, too.

Bits and Pieces

This time my title is literal. For Valentine's my husband chose and ordered a wonderful new set of dishes for our home. Oh, he checked to make sure I liked them--I did--and then did all the work. So nice. Until today. We had waited over a week for notification that the package was ready to pick up and yesterday we got that. Last night we were pretty anxious for today to come. Bright and early Ron went to the post office and picked up the two huge boxes, rushed home and opened the first box. This is what we saw.

Four of the dinner plates were badly chipped. I took this picture to include with our e-mail to the company. Of course they will replace them but we'll have to wait again. Grrr. Sometimes it seems nothing is seamless anymore. There always seems to be a catch.

On a brighter note I cleared my old dishes out of the cupboards and loaded in the new (minus the 4 broken plates.) They are lovely. We have started using them already. In the picture below you can see how well they match our counter tops. The whole condo is brighter when they are set out. Maybe I'll feel more like cooking at home now.

Let's see. What would look good on blue/brown plates?

Winter Gives Over to Spring

Here is a golf course near us where my husband and I walked a long, lovely hour last week. Actually the course was only part of our walk but it made us long for spring even more. This year has been a particularly snarly, cold winter and everyone is sick of it. Here. Drink in some blue skies and the promise of green grassy golf.

Or maybe you prefer up a lazy river by the old mill stream? Well, there's no old mill here but my grandmother used to have a farm whose house was in the foreground. Of course that was prior to the building of the dam in the distance. Grandma once took me fishing right by this river, and I was amazed, impressed, disgusted that she grabbed worms and threaded them right on the hook. They wriggled and scriggled as I dropped the hook in the water. Ugh!

On the other side of the road we watched the river rise almost over its banks. Downstream a bit it will be flooding our favorite walking trail. Ah well, spring is coming and the flooding will pass, leaving lovely bits of grass and wildflowers. I can just smell them!

Finally I captured this panorama showing winter receding with its bare roads and trees, bits of ice and snow, and the promise of warmer weather under this sunny blue sky.

Almost home, I caught Pittock Lake with four apartment buildings across the water. My mother spent the last few years of her life in one of them and she loved it there. I never see them without thinking of her.

Look at the icy pile of leftover snow at the end of the street. We long to see it melt away entirely, clearing the way for glorious spring to burst out all over. Okay, now I feel better about the new snow sticking to the ground yet again just outside my window. :-)

Three Goods and Three Bads

Last week was a crazy mix of ups and downs. First we got the news that a friend's father had passed away, but since he had not been himself for a long time this was bearable. The next day I learned that a man from our church whom I'd known since I was a little girl dropped dead suddenly at age 75. I went to the funeral with my sister and returned home to have my husband tell me that my cousin was dead. She had had a cold which just got worse, she lost consciousness and quickly died, all in one week. That last was a real shocker as she had gone for medical help twice and they gave her antibiotics and sent her home. Two days after the last time she was gone.

Makes me wonder about the health care system we have when a relatively young (64) woman, in good health, can just be gone like that and no one seemed to think they should check into her symptoms further.

We went over to Michigan Saturday and Sunday and the sun shone lifting my mood and helping me to forget the crappy things of the past week. The temperature went up so that we were going coatless in the car and even shopping. The warmth and the bright sunny heat were such balm. Both Saturday and Sunday made me glad to be healthy and alive.

Birch Run was loaded with wonderful shopping deals and although we are not great shoppers both my husband and I took advantage. We bought twin pictures for over our bed (not up yet). He found two pair of pants at 70% off. I found three pair of pants that fit me and were really inexpensive, 60 % off. And, of course, I had to add three shirts to that as they, too, were 60 % off.

We had great food, lots of sleep, and lots of time to talk but Sunday morning was the best. We went to Bronner's in Frankenmuth. Years ago we had been there when our kids were young and we found it much changed. It was a fairyland. We wanted to look at front door wreaths and found that they were at the back of the huge store. Wandering from room to room I am sure my mouth was open and my tongue hanging out. Everything was gorgeous. We found ourselves singing along to Silent Night and Holly Jolly Christmas even though this is February. We were entranced. On our way out we went by a mom and little girl and heard her say, "I never want to leave here." We laughed at her innocence but also because we felt the same way.

Oh, the three great things? Sun, Run and fun--a lovely respite for both of us.

We're Back to Frigid

After yesterday's post with melting snow and hopes of spring, I bring you today's weather report. Freezing cold! Fifteen below zero Celsius with the wind chill making it feel like twenty below. Yes, we went walking in the sun just before lunch but I didn't see much of the blue sky. My head was tipped down into my scarf and my toque was pulled way over my eyes in a vain attempt to keep my face warm. How cold was it? Too damn cold to be out walking. I long for the weekend and the promised high of seven degrees above zero!

Here is my office with the faithless sun streaming in as though the day is wonderful and warm but I now know better. I'm spending the rest of it snuggled inside.

My Monday Walk

Yesterday was lovely and sunny and I was on my own for my walk in the afternoon, but I didn't mind at all. The air was much warmer, even took my hood off for part of the tour, and my legs were not freezing. The day was sunny with a perfect blue sky and wisps of white floating in from the west. What a great time to be alive!

In the foreground above you can see how the snowplows leave a lot of the snow and just clear out the bare minimum. Below the wind has done a wicked job of filling in the plowed area. If this is what it's like in the city, you can just imagine what the back country roads are like.

Believe it or not, there's a golf course over there!

And there. In the foreground lots for sale are sleeping under the white coverlet.

Turning east again I snapped a picture of the snow melting and running down the street. Believe it or not, this is a sign of warmer weather here in Canada. Spring, even! No, I didn't see any groundhogs, even though it was February 2nd.

As I crossed the highway I noticed the many snowmobile tracks parallel to the road. This is quite the sport in Ontario when we have a snowy winter. Personally I prefer the quieter walks and cross country ski treks.

On our street you can see how the snow gradually melts back from the road in an ever widening effort to provide roadside parking once again.

The old snow is pretty disgusting but I was glad to see its icy, sloppy texture as it means spring is coming. Finally my walk was nearly over and I was glad I had caught the late afternoon sun, and, incidentally, my elongated shadow. Now there's an idea--an elongated Elaine!

January Joy

Yes, I know, it's colder than billy-be-damned but if you look there are some positives that come along with the freezing temperatures. On Sunday my son and I tried out a new trail here in the city. He took a picture of me sitting on this bench (covered with snow!).


The day was so cold, even with the sun out, that we were glad the trail was only about 15 minutes long. It will be a beautiful one in the spring as it has a long bridge over a lot of swamp and trees.

This morning I rushed out the door to make my Weight Watchers meeting and what did I find? A wonderful winter day with blue skies and trees clothed in shiny snow and ice. I wished I had time to just go walking right then but I needed more clothes on for that. As it was I took a couple of pictures outside the meeting place. Here is a tree in front. Look at the beautiful ice! Just gorgeous.


In front of the door I managed to capture this frosty fellow before I ducked in for the meeting.

And it was a good day all around, I was down another pound. That makes a total of 16.6 pounds so far. I have 13.4 pounds to go, if I keep my original goal. Happy day!

January 20, 2009: The New Age Begins

Yesterday at this time we were part of the world audience watching Barack Obama become the forty-fourth American president, an historic moment for a country with a long and proud history of them. In his speech President Obama had a difficult job to try to calm the naysayers, to enflame the courage of the American people and to lay a groundwork for understanding and cooperation among the various seats of power as outlined in the American constitution. He did not disappoint. He spoke with no notes that I could see, calmly, correctly, in an oratorical style born of long practice and an inate love and understanding of the power of words. I am hopeful. Oh, so hopeful.

The whole ceremony was interesting to this flag-waving Canadian, tied as our country is to our neighbours south of the border. The minister from California, Evangelical pastor Rick Warren, tried to be extremely inclusive with references and phrases linked to Judaism and Islam and a personal reference to his own beliefs. The excellent MC was an intelligent woman, the singer was Aretha Franklin, the group of stellar musicians performing John Williams' new composition were fabulous. Yo-Yo Ma's exultant smile lasted the whole time. In short the ceremony was well thought out and well performed. In the heat of exultation I forgot for a time the cold January day in Washington.

Of course Obama's speech was the highlight but there were many other moments, the last of which was the final prayer by the Reverend Joseph Lowery. His references to Martin Luther King were many but updated to today's world. Read the text of his prayer for an uplifting moment in history. I particulary liked his final words, and the trace of humour he added to his fervent plea,

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around ... when yellow will be mellow ... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen.

Ch-ch-ch-change!

Change is good we are told but I haven't changed my blog appearance for over a year. Today I picked a new template. How do you think it looks?

The brown really surprised me when I clicked on it, pink girl that I am.

Yesterday morning we skipped church and went for a walk while the rest of the world here was blowing snow. Of course we don't have to do that in our condo. Oh, we are so-o-o-o-o glad of that.

This fellow probably wondered what I was doing stopped in the road shooting him. Every second house had someone out blowing snow.

Another change affecting my life these days is our new grandson, born in December. His parents let us see him whenever we like and I even get to go over and look after him for a couple of hours at a time while his mother has some shopping time. Hard to say who is happiest.

Coming from a large family I am used to always having someone's baby at gatherings but nothing touches my heart quite like cuddling one of my grandchildren. We have two now, both born in 2008, Chelsea in February and Ben in December. There is such a difference in them now it's hard to believe they'll be in the same year at school when that time comes.

So here's to change! May it always be good.

Winter Wandering III

I thought I would put up the last shots from my snowy walk the other day. Didn't walk either yesterday or today--it's just too darn cold! The wind chill factor is anywhere from minus 20 to minus 28 Celsius. That's nasty. The weather channel predicts warmer weather coming in a couple of days. Here is a shot across the central park area opposite our condo.

And here the sign is completely covered with icy snow as are all the trees. Later in the day the trees were bare again.

And yet another icy shot with wisps of clouds almost covering the sky's blue in the background.

Finally I was home and took a quick shot of the mail boxes across from our place. They have actually migrated into the shelter built for them. The first time we went looking for our mail, we went to the third box and tried the key to no avail. Seems the mover of the mail boxes placed them totally out of order so now we are the first in the line, instead of the third. To me putting them in order makes sense but obviously not to the man on the tractor lifting them. One of my neighbours said he was totally confused, trying his key over and over, and even going home and telling his wife he needed a new key. Somehow he finally realized the mistake.

So this is my third and final post about winter in January, 2009. If you want some bracing air, spectacular snow shots in bright blue skies and a reason to keep moving while you're outdoors, come to bright, bold Ontario in winter.

Winter Wandering II

Here is a shot of the gazebo in the central park area of our condo group. I just loved the snowy trees cutting into the soft blue sky.
The evergreen in the foreground here is ice-covered and the walk is not shoveled. We went around instead of taking our usual path through the park.

Looking out over the distant lake I noticed many layers of colour in the sky over the apartment building where my mother lived until ten years ago. The misty quality was entrancing. If it hadn't been so cold I would have like to sit right down and bask!

In the blink of an eye almost the sky changed and clouds drifted over the sun, giving me this bright shot. Always a silver lining!

An icy piece of decorative grass still shoots bravely skyward, one of the last to remain standing in the winter weather.

Tomorrow I have a few more pics of this fabulous place where we live and which we love. See you then!

Winter Wandering in Canada

This morning I happened to glance out my back window to see sun shining, icy snow on trees and a brilliant blue sky. I put aside my novel revision plans, my washing of clothes, my planning of meals and my bathroom cleaning and slipped my camera into my coat pocket for a photo walk around the neighbourhood. This is our back deck--you can just make out the barbecue--frosty snow icing the trees.

In front of our neighbout's house the sun sparkled on the fledgling trees turning them into fairyland jewels. I had to capture this before the sun melted the snow.

A Christmas leftover got a new coat of ice.

Ah, my favorite! This is a house up the street, beautifully designed to sit on its lot, but the trees behind are the treasure. The sun just tipped the frosty tops against the vivid blue. Can winter be any better?

Here is the same house with its neighbours from my vantage point across the street. Just couldn't get enough of those trees.

I have more pics but will save them for tomorrow. Oh, the sun's out again! Bye.

Revision, Revision

No one ever told me that writing a novel would mean hours of going back over my (to me!) wonderful work and ripping it all apart, virtually starting over again. I guess I was vain enough to think that my writing was good enough that revision would be a snap. Well, what has almost snapped is my patience.

In March of 2008, I put the finishing touches on my final chapter and thought my work was done. Oh, I knew there were things I had to revisit, but really I was finished my year long project. And then I took an extreme editing course. And found out a lot about myself and more about revision.

Things I've learned:
1. Not everyone likes or is qualified to critique historical fiction,
2. The choice and understanding of point of view is subjective and dependent on a reader's experience,
3. I have hours of work revising and rethinking elements of my manuscript,
4. I have to have a lot of time to mull over others' criticism, good and bad.

I found that several people in my class gave excellent, insightful, useful suggestions for me which showed they were familiar with the genre. Others did not. My quandry in the beginning was knowing whom to believe, and I went through much soul-searching, self-flagellation, and weeks of not writing at all while I wrestled with the problem.

My reading of published authors' work for the last six months has shown me that, indeed, chapters can be written from multiple points of view as I have done. This is contrary to the advice of several criticisms I received telling me that I had to choose one point of view and tell the whole story with it. I have known and used multiple points of view--omniscient it is often called--for years. And much of my historical fiction reading has used this as well. My struggle was gaining the self-confidence to ignore these criticisms, a task which took me months. In the end I have decided to reduce the multiple points of view in the chapters where both my major characters are speaking in order to make the reading smoother and the storyline clearer.

Rereading has shown me that there are many flaws and inconsistencies in my story. What is in my head is not necessarily on paper and I must make the story flow from the words on paper. I like this challenge as it involves crafting the sentences and rethinking my word choice, studying the cadence of words and sentences and the language of each character. A big task is keeping the particular personality of each of my characters in mind as I write their dialogue. Here I am wrestling with using period dialogue or slipping into more modern language patterns. I have to say writing the way we talk today is much easier.

While others may be wondering what New Years' resolutions to keep, I know what mine is: keep going and get my novel revisions done so that I can go on with my plan to publish. One of my Christmas gifts from my son is a website titled with my novel title, to which I can add material that is pertinent. So I have that as a carrot to help me finish. For now, though, I've already revised for two hours today, written this blog, and had lunch out with my sister. The sunlight streaming in my window beckons me to bundle up and walk out my frustrations.

Finishing Up 2008 in Fine Style

Butchart Gardens on Christmas Eve. What a fairyland! We strolled through the snow with Chelsea and her parents, mesmerized by the lights, trees, Twelve Days of Christmas theme, and even some flowers. I loved this blooming tree with its liberal dusting of snow.

Victoria gets snow for Christmas about every ten years so we were glad to see it for Chelsea's first Christmas. We even stopped outside and had her touch it. Of course the snow went right into her mouth.

This the the partridge in a pear tree display at Butchart. So pretty.

All the buildings at Butchart were outlined in Christmas lights, creating a magical land of wishing and hoping for all.

On Christmas morning we opened gifts and Chelsea got to see the cloth book I made for her. Because she is far from any of her extended family, I put us all inside with a named page for everyone. Of course she took an immediate bite. At ten months old what else do you do? She also liked to laugh at her own picture. I really wonder what was in her head?

Beth has carried on the family tradition which her father and I started many years ago--she made a lovely gingerbread house, labelled it with Chelsea's name and got out the wooden mallet to smash it on Christmas Day. Chelsea got first chance but all she did was experiment with the various ways of getting the mallet into her mouth. The adults had to take over.

In the afternoon we bundled in the car and went downtown to the elegant Empress Hotel where a huge display of variously decorated Christmas trees filled hallways, stairs and entry ways. I loved the old English quartet stationed in the restaurant (where Beth and I had tea years ago) and singing beautifully. We stood and listened for awhile.

I liked the soldier tree above about as well as any, I think, although the truck tree below was pretty cute.

Finally I have to put in a picture of some of the things I've done beading in the last month: on the left, two right-angle weave bracelets, above and to the right, my own creation of a right-angle weave with Swarovski crystals bracelet, a necklace and earrings focusing on copper, and--the piece de resistance!--a right-angle weave bracelet fixing Swarovski crystals inside. Yummy.

I hope you all had a happy Christmas and that your lives are filled with love and light.

Banana Leaf Thai Restaurant

Tonight my husband and I decided to try a little Thai restaurant, newly opened in Woodstock. We have fond remembrances of our first introduction to this cuisine in Vancouver where we tasted a number of dishes with favorable results, and we keep searching for the spectacular yet simple lettuce wraps from that night. No one ever seems to have them.

Our waitress at the Banana Leaf was polite yet formal, extremely helpful but not obsequious. She answered our questions easily and suggested that two dishes would be ample for us. She was right. We ordered the Cashew Chicken and the Vegetable Fried Rice. The rice was my favorite but the chicken ran a close second. Unbelievably, we ate every bit of it. No take home bags tonight.

The restaurant is located at the rejuvenating west end of Dundas St. in Woodstock, Ontario, and is so new they don't have a website, a fancy menu, or pictures for me to display. What they do have is a lovely calm ambiance, helpful staff, accessible street parking and a soothing and welcoming atmosphere. I checked out the large table at the back and am already planning to bring a group of friends here for an evening. I think it will be spectacular.

And maybe I can talk the restaurant into putting lettuce wraps on the menu, or at least making them just for us!

A week ago my husband and I took the trip to Stratford to meet my sister-in-law, step-niece and others at a popular diner called Madelyn's for their famous Sunday menu. For about $7.oo you get 2 eggs, sausage or bacon, the best home fries I've ever tasted, two pancakes, two pieces of toast, coffee and juice. We don't drink coffee so got large size juices. And it is all very good.

This is the place where we used to meet Ross so often and, although he has been gone for two and a half years, the waitress asked for him and was shocked to learn of his passing. I guess he made an impact.

Oh, and they have banana cream pie which is wonderful according to my husband. Here is the pie. I made him wait until I got my camera out, focused it, and snapped the pie.

I was challenged not to eat too much food as it was all so good, but I left one egg, most of the homefries, 3/4 of the toast all on my plate. I did eat all the meat and the two pancakes before I realized that I wasn't paying attention. I was just eating as I socialized with the others. And that's a bad thing.

From Madelyn's we went to Cozyn's (pronounced co-sign, like the trig term) which is a delightful garden gift shop. It was all decked out for Christmas and at least one of the beautiful trees called my name. "Pick me, Elaine. Pick me." But I didn't succumb, knowing I had my own lovely tree all finished and waiting at home. In fact, we walked out of there without buying anything, a real feat of self-restraint, I must say.

We left the others still pondering their purchases and drove home together. For at least one of us, however, one picture still remains the highlight of the day.

Kind of like kids' visions of sugar plums dancing in their dreams! BTW he ate every last bite, but refrained from licking the plate. We were out in public, after all!

Three Best Things

I just read Beth's TBT post and thought I'd grab the idea for myself. So cool that Chelsea is singing! Three weeks till I see her again.

Yesterday we went for our walk about 4:30, before the daylight disappeared, catching spots of wintry sunlight. Chilly it was and I felt my legs freeze for most of the walk but I was elated to be getting in some exercise. When we moved here last year the same walk took us almost 40 minutes. Yesterday we did it in 25! And I didn't even seem to be breathing heavy. My body is a lean(er), mean (no!) walking machine.

In the evening we were faced with the same old television quandary--nothing we wanted to watch. I sat and scrolled down the menu until I got to the 70's or 80's and finally Commander-in-Chief jumped out. We loved that show when it premiered a couple of years ago. Geena Davis is awesome as the President of the United States and Donald Sutherland (Canadian--whee!) is a fully drawn villain as Secretary of State. We had an interesting hour before bed. Amazingly we didn't remember this segment.

But I haven't told you about the morning's pleasure which lasted me the whole day. I weighed in at another .8 pounds less than the week before. And that was after three challenging events last weekend. I was very happy and today the euphoria, resolve and drive to reach my goal still lingers. There is nothing that feeds my soul more than succeeding at something I've set out to do. And losing this pesky twenty-five pounds again is a prime target just now. I'm over half weigh (ha ha ha) now so must keep on track.