and now for something completely different....!!!!

On Friday night we went with Anne to - are you ready for it? - a burlesque show!!!!
They are group of gals from Vic who are called the Cheesecakes and did this show as a fundraiser for Pride at a local nightclub. It was full of great music, great costumes, and was just plain fun!!!!


Saturday morning we popped by Marnie Kim's for coffee and cinnamon buns, but mostly to FINALLY meet Amaury, her newly arrived Cuban husband. Just a lovely guy, whose English is probably better than our Spanish, who is a salsa champion in his native country, plays drums and has already had 3 jobs, so is a go getter as well. Congrats, Marn and Amaury on your 1st Anniversary too!!!








Then we met Jutta and family at Shawnigan Lake (where they were camping for the weekend) and picked up Vanessa, who is here for a week to attend riding camp. Here she is trying out the new roller blade runners her uncle Marco gave her in Germany.




Then we walked down to Boston Pizza for supper, after which she ripped into a cookie!! As of this moment she has just won her first scrabble game of the week against Miki....lol!!!!

Happy Birthday Canada!!!

July 1st we all gathered at Sharon and Jenny's to celebrate our country's birthday!

Shirley was our great bartender again.

Julie, Jane, Jenny and Elaine enjoying the great feast.

Gwen, Robin, Patty, Sherry and Miki share a joke - you will notice everyone has warm clothes on...sigh!

And of course we all had to gather and sing a rousing version of Oh Canada! Great party, great friends, great food! In the house, Moira, Marg, Shirley, Libby and Shirley cut Linda's wonderful Canada Day Cake!

Warrior Terri!

Our friend Terri belongs to the Warrior Dragon Boat team, so we met her after work at Glo and had a refreshment before she went off paddling.

Here they are getting ready to launch - Ter is at the bow, on the left - watch for that little black cap.

Working full out, 10...9....8....7.....

Coasting into the dock.....great hour and a half workout and the sun even came out to cheer them on!!! Go Warriors!!!

Rick Mercer in town!

Lind kindly invited us Miki, Mary Lois, Lee (who refused to be in the pic) and I to a presentation at the Victoria Conference Centre last week, which included a great dinner, a presentation about an investment opportunity, and THEN - the keynote speaker/entertainer was RICK MERCER!!



This is not a great pic, but suffice to say he was fabulous! Funny, smart, sarcastic and very pro Canada, of course.....or is that anti American...???No, not really, but if you have ever seen his clips of Talking to Americans, they do make it pretty easy sometimes...:-)

Thanks, Lind (and Rick) for a great evening!!!

Birthday on the mountain

Autumn, a friend who both Helen and I worked with, made the fabulous gourmet birthday cake for Rick. Here she is with son Sebastian, who was shy, sweet, and about 10 minutes after this pic was taken was sound asleep on Mum's lap.


The other baby in attendance was Cash, a 2 month old Great White Pyrannese (sp?) who was having a moment with Dad Jake.



Little (??) Cash saying good morning!




Cash and senior Misty enjoying some time on the deck this morning. Cash will be over 150 pounds when fully grown, but is a very sweet gentle soul.

The Big 6-0!!!

Dear Rick did the deed on Saturday, with family and friends wishing him well at their lovely new home in Metchosin.




The food was amazing - thanks for the great barbequing, Tim, and the great salads, Helen.



Then there was this amazing cake made by Autumn, baker extraordinaire!!!!!



Rick enjoyed all his prezzies, gift certificates and tributes from family and friends.

on vacation

Saturday Miki and I walked along the Galloping Goose and stopped to have a lovely lunch at a seaside cafe.



Next door was an organic bakery, so we picked up bread for Sheila and Anne and Rick and Helen.