Weekend fun

Margo and Pam came for the weekend, and despite some rain, we had a lovely time. Went to the Little Qualicum Cheeseworks, bought some goodies, tasted some wine, and saw the farm again.

One of these lovelies had twins just 2 weeks ago, who we saw with the kids (human variety) last week, but who were missing in action this day. Probably back in the barn all warm and cozy.

We also attended a concert at Knox United Church, starring Shari Ulrich and daughter, but these three talented young brothers were the opening act, and played wonderful jazz.

Shari and daughter Julia Graff played, sang and were so personable and charming. Shari has a new cd and played some of those new tunes, as well as some of the old ones we are all familiar with from long ago. She still has an amazing voice and moving, meaningful lyrics in all her music. Great show, which we attended with Maggie, Ingrid, Sandy, Gladys, Margo and Pam, and came back to our place afterwards for a glass of wine.

Neccesity...........

Hey......what is that white thing coming down the road........? No, not the deer, the white thing........?

So Necessity is the Mother of Invention, right, so we had this freezer we wanted to move to our house, and it was too big to go in the car. So................I took the dolly, loaded it up, and walked it home from the locker, which is only a couple of blocks away.

Some people take their dogs for a walk.........some people take their freezer.......!

Now don't laugh.......it was kind of fun, and it did the job!! Our little freezer is now ensconsed in our laundry room and is already full of goodies!

Chiik Update

Chiik and 16 year old grumpy Dax are not exactly friends yet, but they are getting closer.....literally......for the occasional nap......!

Chiik loves to go outside on his harness. Here he is climbing his very first Canadian tree, the one on our deck. He was pretty tentative, but he is an adventurer, so had a great time.

Such a good time, in fact, that he made it almost to the very top.......!

And here they are again, just yesterday, having a nap together on our bed. Sweet!

Dafni's Birthday!

So somehow I turned 63 this year.....how the heck did THAT happen...????? Anyway, the old girl cleans up pretty good to go out for a nice dinner.....!

On the morning of my big day, the family got together for a wonderful breakfast, courtesy of Miki, of pancakes with fresh mango, strawberries, blueberries and whipped cream.....the diet starts tomorrow.

Grand kids Jonah and Nessa got me this wonderful Grandma sign for the garden.....very sweet.

That night it was time for some adult R & R, so Jason, Terri and Larry joined us for a wonderful dinner at the Beach Club, right on the beach. It was an amazing day, all round.

Kids in Parksville!

We had a great time with Nessa and Jonah in Parksville this past week. Spent time in the pool, and tripping around to Port Alberni to see the Mars water bombers and ride a steam train.

Went to Morningstar farm and the Qualicum Cheeseworks, had 2 more cousins up overnight, and spent time bike riding, going to the beach, going to Butterfly World, the Waterslides and time at home enjoying being together.

Miki's Birthday!

Miki chose Mole in Victoria for her birthday brunch (after being served breakfast in bed and 2 doctor's appts.) so we had a lovely meal in one of her favourite haunts.

Her surprise birthday present from Daf was a 2 hour kayak paddle down the Gorge waterway, from 5 - 7 pm.

Mary Lois lives on the waterway and took this pic of us paddling by - check out the sychronized wavers....!

The second part of the surprise was 30 friends who showed up at Glo, the restaurant near the kayak place on the water, to share a birthday dinner and her special day! Everyone had wonderful meals and Miki definitely felt the love!! Happy Birthday, Baby! To see all the pics from this birthday fun, click on the link below.

http://picasaweb.google.com/daffinparksville/MikiSBirthday?authkey=Gv1sRgCMbtoOqmtb2odA#

Victoria fun

Monday morning we headed for Victoria for a few days, and went to see the new aboriginal painting, done on the seawall in James Bay. Had tea and coffee at the Ogden Point Cafe, one of our favourite haunts.





Here is some of the detail of this painting, which apparently was done partially on plywood sheets which were then mounted in place. Amazingly beautiful.









Got together with Melaney at Lido, a new waterfront watering hole with great tapas style food and appies.





This fabulous topiary, done by a local artist, is very stunning and is a great marker for both the restaurant and the float plane dock, which is right behind the restaurant.