Saturday, October 7, 2023

I spent some time this morning getting ready for our trip over to Texada. I needed to sort out what projects I was going to take with me. I had already set aside my chickens, my new baubles project, as well as another bin of various unfinished cross stitch projects. I’ve narrowed everything down to my new baubles and a Christmas project; on the slim chance that I will have time for something more there are one (or more) projects already at the studio that I can work on.

I took time to finish my e-book this morning too. This is one that I downloaded for Kathryn because the one she had on her e-reader was about to expire before she finished it. One of my new books is quite short (179 pages) but the other one is quite long (500 pages). If we continue to have this lovely fall weather I may be spending a lot of time reading.

This afternoon was the AGM for the Hall. It’s my first one in a couple of years; it was no better attended than when I was on the Board. They had someone who has started his own catering business preparing food and it was really good – sushi, polenta (I’ve changed my mind, maybe I do like it), and a pumpkin turnover. They have a couple of new Board members so the Hall is in good hands.

We watched a CFL football game last night (BC and Winnipeg) and we’ll watch another one later this afternoon (Saskatchewan and Hamilton). Until then I’m going to try and get a few more Anna stars completed.

Friday, October 6, 2023

I’m having a quiet day today; I stayed in my pyjamas until ten this morning. I needed to book my flu shot so I came upstairs to do that and did a bit of computer work. I wrapped a package to send to Kathryn – jam that she wasn’t able to take home with her. I had a few errands to take care of – the package to the post office, a few things at the grocery store and a couple of books to pick up at the library.

We had a wonderful few days with Ken, Stacia and Deloise. We managed to get out a lot and showed them pretty much everything the town has to offer. I was concerned about the food but that worked out just fine; I think I even had a few items that they will be looking for now that they are home. There are a few gluten-free things left over but I’ll have no problem eating them. The bread is not bad and I have some cereals left over – the Cinnamon Chex and Cocoa Pebbles are actually quite good.

We ate supper out every night. We headed to Lund for gluten-free fish and chips on our first night – Stacia and Deloise both remembered it from their last trip. The next night we went to our favourite spot and everyone (including me) was surprised at the number of gluten-free options, even for desserts. Pat and I had tentatively planned for Indian food the next night but we decided to go back to the Forest Bistro so we could all try something different. The owner was a bit surprised to see us again.

We walked the sea walk, the Nature Trail on Texada, and the Willingdon Beach trail. As well, Ken did a few extra miles each morning. The wildlife cooperated – we saw deer, a bear, sea lions and seals. The only wildlife missing were the whales but they saw them on the ferry on the way back to Comox. We also went out to the fish hatchery as the salmon are coming upstream to lay their eggs (and die). The smell was terrible but it was interesting to see them in their various stages.

We had time in the evenings for some games. Mum and Dad had a hand-made game of Anagrams and Ken and Deloise had made another set. We also got out the Bananagrams game; it is similar in concept but each game finishes much quicker.

I had a nap this afternoon and I’ve stitched a couple more stars on my Anna project. I’m cooking supper tonight because Pat is participating in an open mic. No baseball on any of our channels but we watched a bit of rugby last night; I don’t think I’ve ever seen it played and it was quite interesting.

Saturday, September 30, 2023

I had a frustrating day of sewing yesterday. The morning went well; this is my second attempt at the Anna pattern. After a lunch break I carried on thinking I’d be well on my way to a finish by the end of the day. That was not to be though as I realized early on that I had made a mistake. It took me almost an hour to figure out what I had done wrong and how I was going to fix it. By that time I’d had enough and quit.

I was looking forward to Friday Night Baseball and even more excited that the Blue Jays were going to be playing. No such luck though as Apple TV didn’t have a game and the Jays were on Sportsnet, not TSN. We’re a bit concerned that we aren’t going to be able to see the World Series without subscribing to something else.

We had another concert at the Hall last night. The Hall was packed and the opening act (Maddie Storvold) was great. I was not alone in thinking she should have been the headliner. We had history with the main act (Sarah Jane Scouten) when she and her sister were our house concert entertainers. When Pat spoke to her she barely acknowledged that she had ever been here before; she didn’t impress me that first time and my impression didn’t improve with this encounter.

Today I’m at loose ends. We’re putting together the final plans for our visitors – thinking of food mostly. We went out this morning to get curtains for the upstairs bedroom (Kathryn said we needed them). When we got them home and I put them up we realized there was only one panel in the package so we had to go back for another panel.

I’ve redone two of the pieces that were wrong from yesterday’s sewing but I don’t feel like carrying on so I’ll spend the rest of the afternoon reading, and maybe finishing, my book. I have another one loaded on my iPad as well as one ready to pick up at the library.