Some Enchanted Evening!!!!!

This is a new artisan deli in Nanaimo called Markt, run by a young chef who has worked in some very high class hotels and restaurants around the world. These feature 6 course dinners are held for just 12 people at a time, as Ryan is a great believer in the more civilized aspects of breaking bread together, whether family, friends or strangers. We went with Heather and Georgette and met the others over the course of the evening.


A large harvest table was the setting for an amazing meal - 6 courses, all paired with the finest of wines, and all dishes made with local meats, fish, and vegetables. We started with a duck proscutto appetiser and Prosecco, and it only got better from there......






The room was lovely, and we progressed from oysters to pork to scallops to salmon, tortellini, beef filet, prawns, roast garlic......ah, and then the dessert of Nouget glace with fresh berries and a vanilla tuile......




Ryan, on the left with his staff (the blonde is his wife) who produced just a magnificent dinner. We will be back.....oh - and the deli has the most wonderful foods, cheeses, pates, and is open daily!

Viva Espanola!!!!!

Jason was here for the weekend, so Sun. morning before we had to take him to the ferry home at 3, we went to the Rockinghorse Pub, had brunch, and watched Spain win the World Soccer Cup over the Netherlands. I was the only person in the whole damn room cheering for Spain, but it was a friendly crowd......




Great food, great game, and great company!

Happy Birthday!

It was Bridget's (our house sitter's) birthday, so boyfriend Frank (shown presenting her with her beautiful cake) threw a party, inviting lots of family and friends to honour his best gal. There was a group in the living room......

Frank's neice really liked the cake too!








The deck was also full of friends.....

and family, including both Bridget's and Frank's Moms! Great party, great people!

Mini Golf!

This time we went to the Riptide Mini Golf, which has added bumper cars, no doubt to compete with the bumper boats at the other mini golf place.

We roared around the track, crashing into each other and getting "lasered" which sent you spinning off into wild circles!

The whole motif for the place is cars and trucks.

Oh, yeah, and the Mini Golf was fun, too...!!!!

Riding Camp!

Vanessa is a Horse Girl. She vaults in Victoria (gymnastics on horseback) and generally loves horses. We sent her to the Bluebird Riding School for summer camp for a week here in Parksville.

Here she shows us her all time favourite horse, Jesse James!

On the last day of camp, every girl decorated themselves and their horse and paraded around the front paddock to show the crowd of parents and grand parents.

Nessa led her horse around, decorated as the Sparkle Twins, with a little help from Nana's boa and some Christmas decorations.

The kids had such fun - they rode, they had classes in grooming, learning all the parts of the horses, the equipment and the barn - including mucking out stalls!

Now here is the face of a happy camper. They each got a certificate, a trophy, and a picture of each of them, set in a horse shoe which each girl decorated in crafts class.

The school was founded by Karen, who brought 30 rescue horses from California after her home and stables burned down in one of the big California fires. She has set up here, right beside the Rockinghorse Pub, which is a great little country pub. Great job, Karen - see you next year!

Supper at the beach

You can't have an active kid in your life without going to the great community park and beach for an evening.

The waterpark is always a hit, especially on such a hot day.....!

We all swam in the ocean, which was wonderfully WARM!!!!!, had a picnic supper of roast chicken, potato salad, fresh veggies, The World's Best French Fries and of course ice cream to finish off.

After 4 hours at the beach, it was time to go home, and Nessa and Miki chose to go "camping" in the backyard to test out the new tent. They had a great night, and I enjoyed mine in my nice comfortable bed as well.........Nana does NOT go camping!!!!!

African Children's Choir

Janice invited us to come see the African Children's choir, performing at the local Baptist church. It was an amazing group of Africa's poorest kids, from 7 countries, and this program ensures that they are well fed, educated, get to sing all over the world and get a big step up in life.

They must have sung over 20 songs with a 15 minute intermission to change outfits, and they not only sang like angels, they danced, they clapped, and they all were really enjoying themselves.

These wee boys - all the kids were between the ages of 8 and 10 - were the drummers.

The music was uplifting, happy, and featured many of the kids as soloists.

They got a standing ovation and did an encore number as well. Truly a very special evening, which of course raised funds for the program, enabling so far 7,000 kids from Africa to participate in this choir.