The Best Weekend EVER - part 3 - Super Boats, Super Supper (maybe) and Super Entertainment

Saturday morning brought tons of west coast, lower mainland rain, but that didn't stop our plans for a busy day. Poppy, Great Poppy, Auntie B and Uncle Don all headed to Platinum Marine so Howard could show off the boats he's working on, and I stayed home to do a little 'housewifey' stuff.

 I can't comment too much on these pictures, I'm afraid. So I'll just shut up (mostly) and let you have a look.

A hot tub on the fly bridge - when the boat is at sea, this is about 40 feet above the water

 I'm not sure if Howard has his dad working here or not - looks like it.

Checking out Rubber Ply - wood that can bend around short radii, radiuses .. whatever

And - while everyone was taking in the super cruisers - Georgia and I were on our way to Walmart. It was a bit drizzly when we left, but we really got caught on the way home. Gotta love fall weather - NOT.

 

We'll just skip over a few hours - boring stuff like making Ria's Brownies, aka THE BEST BROWNIES YOU'VE EVER TASTED - BETTER EVEN THAN TAMAR'S (AND THAT'S THE OFFICIAL NAME FOR THEM), and my Apple Crisp, not to mention ham and veggies for a nice family dinner. Or should we call it a scoff?

Tanner and Shannon

Eat up, Great Poppy - for you have work to do in a little while!

Some ate standing ...

Some wore their Sunday best - even if it was only Saturday ...

Some didn't eat at all ....

And some were willing to give up the plate - but not the glass. Mr Rossi had already left for Leduc, so Mr Jackson Triggs had to take his place - under great duress, I may add.

And some really enjoyed dessert -

And now - tummies all full - let the fun begin!

Hmmm. That's interesting ....

 Can I try, Great Poppy?

Steve and Neil were the closing acts.

 We finished the evening with 4 generations of Vokey boys. How cool is that?

And Steve's smile says it all - how happy we all were to have a wonderful weekend with very special visitors.

And - a message from Neil - DON'T POKE THE TUMMY!

The Best Weekend EVER - part 2 - at Gibsons on the Sunshine Coast

After we drove off the ferry, we headed to Gibsons  on BC's Sunshine Coast.

Even though the sun wasn't shining, the rain wasn't really raining either. (I know the sun was shining in the above picture, but I stole that one from Yahoo!) After a very scenic route (not even the GPS nor the 3 backseat drivers were very helpful,) the first thing we found (after the elusive parking spot) was the Persephone, the boat made famous by The Beachcombers, a show that ran from 1972 to 1990 - talk about popular - see if this brings back any memories. You can find some clips on YouTube if you so desire.

Of course, the Vokey men had to 'size 'er up', seeing how the Persephone is a boat. She's pretty well landlocked now by the looks of it.

Of course, Howard headed down the wharf to the Marina, but everyone else decided to go into Molly's Reach for Lunch. Rather than run down and grab him, I phoned him and told him to get his ass back up - isn't technology great?

We got a table, and were perusing the menu, when Bonnie phoned Mr and Mrs Butler, friends of Henry, who have a home 'back home.' Seems she had lunch all ready for us - so we said our goodbyes to our friendly waitress, told her we'd be back, and off we went to find a piece of Paradise near the ocean.

Howard, Don, Henry and Mr Butler

What a beautiful home, in a beautiful setting. I found it hard to separate myself from the view, Pacific Ocean to the left of me and to the right of me. I so wanted to just run down to the beach!

But then I would have missed all this:

And what's better than one accordian? Why, two of course. Unfortunately the videos we took weren't very good - I THOUGHT mine had no sound, and Howard's were all upside down. Sort of sucks, really. However, I downloaded mine anyway - and guess what? TA DA!

Requests, anyone? Yes, for sure. Grey Foggy Day please. Thankyou.

What a great afternoon - a tasty lunch of Pea Soup (better than mine, too, it was delicious), cookies, and a toe-tapping concert - but soon it was time to head back to Gibson's Landing for some touristy stuff.

We knew we were close when we saw this sign - made out of silver fishing lures. Pretty cool, eh?

And just in case we missed something - the signs of the times. Also pretty cool.

However, some people weren't interested in Fainting Couch Spa, or Swish, or Gaia's Fair Trade. Some people were more interested in the marina.

But only until supper time - see, we told Molly's Reach we'd be back.

This time we got a window seat, which was far nicer than the dark corner by the washroom we were offered at lunch time.

No one seemed particularly interested in the menu. Fish and chips were a popular choice, but I had a Teriyaki Salmon Burger, which I thought was really delicious, even though Howard tasted it and deemed the fish old and a product of the fish plant.

The restaurant had a lot of Beachcomber decor, which was really cool. Relic's clothes were displayed in a glass case on a far wall - we were glad they were in a glass case. If you know Relic, you know why.

We managed to get in another stroll before heading back to the ferry. I'm not sure where this gate went - it was beside Molly's Reach.

And while the guy folk were interested in all the boats, I was amazed to see this garden 'barge.'

The town is named after George W Gibson, whose bio is on the plate below. I know one thing - if one of my sons had even thought of joining the navy at age 12, they would have had a second think coming.

By the time we headed back to the ferry, dusk had pretty much turned into night. Our last view of Gibsons was pretty much a fairy tale farewell.

NOVEMBER 8 - She's Back Again and Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs

Yes, I'm back, after a whole big two weeks. First of all, this silly computer decided to play a new game, making me believe it had died. I guess what actually happened is the power cord became loose and the battery won't hold a charge any more, which meant I was greeted by a very black silent screen Thursday morning. It wasn't until Sunday night I decided to plug it in again and see what happened - and guess what happened! She's back again!

It was a very busy and joyful period of time, even with no computer. Thursday evening, Howard's dad, sister and fiance came to visit. They left on Sunday, and I'm working on blogs of their visit, sorting through hundreds of pics, and am hoping to start posting these over the next few days. 

However, today came sunny and beautiful - and bloody cold. Now I know a lot of you are used to colder, some are even ankle-deep in snow, but that's not me. There was actually frost on the grass this morning, and the temp was hovering around 0 at 9 AM. So, needless to say, even though I forced myself to drag Breehy out of hibernation, I waited until almost noon to do so. I wasn't planning on a long ride, as I haven't ridden much lately - last Thursday we went as far as Walmart for a bag of raisins - and I can't even remember before that - probably our trip around Bear Creek Park.

I imagine some home owners know exactly why Autumn is called Fall - and I can also imagine some of them really don't like this season very much. Oh well, I guess they don't have to mow the grass as much.

I decided to ride down 134 Street and see where the wheels took me. However, as I crossed over, I saw a treasure of apples, and low and behold, above this patch, a loaded tree.

You know me. Breehy's basket became half full within minutes. I guess they are crab apples. I brought home a whack of them, peeled and sliced them (with great difficulty, I may add, as my right hand fingers can't grip anything, such as a knife) and they have been simmering away in my slow cooker ever since. After about 5 hours the smell is delicious, but a taste test  feels like one is chewing a rubber floor mat.  I won't give up though - and if they turn out edible I'll be gathering more over the next few days. Any volunteers for peeling and chopping?

I decide to turn on 84 Avenue, as I haven't been down that way before. New trails are happy trails. The scenery was wonderful, lots of private acreage but not a lot of housing, which made for a quiet road. A stream up ahead made me wonder if any salmon were flapping their way to their spawning grounds.

Not much of a stream, it turned out. If any salmon were here, they would probably get stuck between a rock and a hard place. Figuratively.

Right after the stream, I saw this sign. It's pretty impressive, I'm just not sure what it represents. A homestead, maybe? The huge rock beside it with the brass plate embedded is a dedication.

I think it would be hard to read even if the sun wasn't shining on it, but I risked getting my knees wet to kneel down so I could decipher the words. They read:

Commemoration

 in honour of pre 1940 Roebuck Road pioneers

families of Campbell, Cepuran, Cindric, Dinka

Iskra, Jackson, Kardos, Kekitch, Kreyavic,

Luzar, Matic, Milne, Overs, Oravec, Petfijevik,

Peterson, Sebuk, Segec, Visnjak, Zaklan

In Recognition of Dan, Martha Zaklan

August, 1983

 Riding along, another sign caught my eye. If one didn't read English, they may think this is a sign saying constipated dogs are not allowed in the area.

And then came the two signs I did not want to see - one saying King George Boulevard, although I should have known I would meet up with it - and one saying No Exit where 84 Avenue would be if 84 Avenue extended beyond King George Boulevard. So once again I travelled uphill on King George, until I came to 81 Avenue and hung a right.

It was nice to see the two VACANCY signs flashing red. From the looks of the motel and trailer park site, there are lots of vacancies, if you don't mind just finding a spot and unrolling your foamie mattress.

Back on 134 Street, with two aching thighs, pushing Breehy even on the flat parts. And 134 is the old Roebuck Road, obviously. I wonder if the pioneers would recognize it now. Probably not.