Sunday ; Overcast, no wind, +10° C.
Congratulations to the Saskatchewan Roughriders on winning the Grey Cup (Canada’s national football championship). It was an enjoyable game to watch. It looked cold in Winnipeg, where the game was played this year. Glad we’re here in Victoria !
Yesterday at the James Bay Community Centre’s fall garage sale I picked up a winter programs guide. Today I registered for an interesting workshop in January ; how to make cultured dairy products for gut health and wellness ; yogurt, buttermilk, sour cream, kefir. A great course for someone like me with inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s Disease). I already know how to make kefir, and have been making it for over four years, having been taught by a neighbour when we lived in Steinbach.
While watching the Grey Cup game I went to pick up Apollo and his (minivan) bed which he was lying in on the floor, and put him and the bed beside me on the sofa. OOOPS ... when I picked up the dog bed with him in it ... the bottom of the bed ripped ! DARN ! Maybe Santa will bring him a new dog bed ?
Monday ; Mostly sunny, no wind, +9° C.
After an early lunch we set out for another afternoon of running errands, mostly grocery shopping, as usual. We’re completing the “starting from scratch” of a new destination. I dropped Joanne off at Tillicum Centre (shopping mall) to shop at Dollar Tree while I drove to a nearby mall to get a haircut at First Choice Haircutters. I got an excellent haircut from a snooty, gay hipster, Quebecois fellow. <shrug> Nice haircut, though !
I returned to Tillicum Centre and met Joanne as she was making her way from Dollar Tree to Save-On-Foods. We shopped at Save-On-Foods then drove to another shopping mall nearby to do more grocery shopping, this time at Fairway Market. This particular location of Fairway Market will be our “home” grocery store when we move to Robin Hood Inn in a couple of months.
We drove home to Royal Scot, unloaded the groceries, and Joanne put them away as I put the car back into the underground parkade. All of us, Apollo included, felt exhausted after a not particularly challenging day. <shrug> Everybody’s old !
Tuesday ; Sunny, no wind, +9° C.
Trimmed Apollo’s nails, cleaned and plucked his ears today, in preparation for a bath tomorrow. It was such a nice day that we went for a long leisurely walk in the sun around the Legislative Buildings this afternoon. From 5:30 to 6:30 PM we went to the swimming pool / hot tub / sauna / fitness room. Joanne enjoyed the sauna while I worked out in the fitness room. I really need to do more of that. We did a small amount of aqua fitness in the pool, and soaked briefly in the hot tub. When we returned to our suite, it seemed as if Apollo had been quiet during our absence. Good boy, Apollo.
Our Tuesday evening TV ritual has become watching “DOC” followed by “The Pitt”.
Wednesday ; Sunny in the morning, cloudy in the afternoon, light rain starting late in the evening, +9° C.
I was quite ill today, with either a colitis flare or bacterial infection in the intestines (a.k.a. “food poisoning”). Probably the former. It started while we were grocery shopping at Quality Foods mid-afternoon, and continued throughout the day. I hope I feel better tomorrow. It’s been quite awhile since I’ve had a colitis flare. My 35 years of “managing” inflammatory bowel disease means I can usually suppress a colitis flare within three days. As opposed to the six weeks of torture I used to endure “back in the day”.
After an early lunch at home we left with Apollo for the Eagle Creek Village shopping centre in the View Royal community. We did some shopping for advertised specials at Quality Foods, which is when I became ill, then we took Apollo to Bosley’s for a bath at their self-serve dog wash station. And we needed to buy another bag of his dog food. The small bag of dog food we bought a few days before leaving home only lasted three weeks. We thought it would last a month. Maybe he eats more when we travel ? I know I certainly do ! HA HA HA !
My illness incapacitated me for most of the rest of the day. And altered our meal plan for tonight. All I could manage was chicken noodle soup and scrambled eggs, eaten very slowly while watching Survivor and Amazing Race.
Thursday ; Sunny, +11 C., a gorgeous day.
I’m still sick today, but much less so. Feeling very weak and tired. Despite having had a flu shot about a month ago, perhaps I have a flu ?
At noon we went for a long leisurely walk. I need sunlight ! And Apollo’s aging process has resulted in all of our walks being “leisurely” ! He has a newfound “appreciation” for leaves on the ground. He endlessly “investigates” leaves on the ground for “interesting” odours. And occasionally ... edibles ! Like acorns ! HA HA HA ! This new passion for “leaves on the ground” began recently with our move to the Tuxedo neighbourhood of Winnipeg which has an abundance of deciduous trees. And it continues here in the Victoria neighbourhood of James Bay.
At 4:30 PM we left in the car to attend the Fall Farmers Market at the Esquimalt Recreation Centre. It’s a weekly event starting tonight until December 18. We bought some produce and ... <insert drum roll here> ... a generous quantity of mixed wild mushrooms, mostly Winter Chanterelles (slightly different from “regular” Chanterelles), some Hedgehog Mushrooms, and just a few of a third type (whose name I forgot !). The price was very reasonable. The personable vendor was a young woman who emigrated from Thailand to Canada in 2007. We chatted about wild mushroom foraging, her on Vancouver Island, us in central and northern mainland BC, Alaska, Yukon, NWT, and Manitoba. I asked her if she foraged for mushrooms in Thailand ? NO ! Poisonous snakes in the jungles ! HMPH ... who knew ? ! ? HA HA HA ! I wonder if she thought that was a stupid question from an ignoramus ? HA HA HA HA HA !
Friday ; Mix of sun and clouds, +9° C. (which seems to be the current “normal” temperature for Victoria).
GOOD NEWS ; I’m no longer sick.
BAD NEWS ; Joanne is sick !
After two days of gastrointestinal illness, I’m fine. Now Joanne is ill, as I was. I can only conclude that my illness was a flu virus, and I generously <sarcasm> passed it on. We both had flu shots a month ago, but apparently Canada’s flu vaccine this year has somewhat missed its mark. The current strain of flu virus prevalent in Canada is not the strain that this year’s flu vaccine was targeting. BUT ... at least this year’s vaccine reduces severity, duration, and transmissibility (is that a word ?) of the prevalent strain.
Joanne had planned to go today to Thrifty Foods in James Bay to buy some advertised specials. But that chore fell to me ... as did all chores today. So before having lunch I went to Thrifty Foods, struggled with finding parking, struggled with a very crowded store, struggled with finding the items I was supposed to be looking for, struggled with the implications of not having the Thrifty Foods affinity card that is in Joanne’s purse, etc. Grocery shopping alone is much more difficult than my usual responsibility of simply pushing the cart around the store, following behind her. HA HA HA ! As I used to say when we were full time RV’ers ... “I just drive the truck” !
As with me, Joanne’s illness diminished slowly as the day wore on.
For supper I cooked a package of spaghettini, heated a jar of alfredo sauce, sautéed half of yesterday’s purchase of assorted wild mushrooms, and mixed it all together. The resultant “wild mushrooms & spaghettini alfredo” creation was very good ! Well done, Daniel !
In the evening I opened a new daily interest savings account at Steinbach Credit Union and transferred funds from other bank accounts into that one. Easier said than done !
Saturday ; Overcast, intermittent drizzle, +10° C.
Joanne was feeling much better today. Short lived (probably) flu, (probably) thanks to our flu vaccines of a month ago.
A few years ago, when we spent the winter in Portugal, we attended a Christmas holiday traditional cooking demonstration, in Angra de Heroisma, on the Azorean island of Terceira. I learned to make brie en croute. This afternoon I did that here in Victoria. A few days ago I purchased a small (expensive !) round of brie cheese, and a small (expensive !) box of puff pastry dough. I rolled out the puff pastry dough using a rolling pin, slathered raspberry jam all over it, placed thin slices of brie cheese all over it, folded it in half, crimped the edges, and baked it at 400° F. for 25 minutes.
HA HA HA ... let me tell you about getting the rolling pin. I went to the Royal Scot’s front desk and asked the young, female, Asian desk clerk if I might get a rolling pin from housekeeping’s inventory of kitchen utensils. She didn’t know what a rolling pin is. I explained it. She was puzzled. And didn’t understand my pronunciation of “rolling pin”. I articulated ... “rolling”, like a ball going downhill, “pin”, like you would use to stick a piece of paper on a bulletin board. She continued to look puzzled, but said she would ask housekeeping to bring one to our suite.
A few minutes later there was a knock on our door. I opened the door to find a young, female, Asian housekeeper standing there with a big smile on her face and ... <chuckle> ... a non-slip mat for the bathtub. HA HA HA <SNORT> HA HA !
No, no ... I asked for a rolling pin. She didn’t know what that was. HA HA HA ! I explained it. She told me to follow her to the housekeeping storage room where kitchen supplies are kept, and look for it myself. HA HA HA !
At the storage room I picked up a rolling pin from a bin of kitchen utensils. I showed it to the housekeeper. She was puzzled. I explained what it’s for. She remained puzzled. <shrug> HA HA HA !
My brie en croute turned out quite well. Well ... <whispering> ... except for a bit of a mess in the oven because jam and cheese leaked out. Oh, well ... a cleaning project for tomorrow. HA HA HA HA HA !
At 5 PM we left Apollo in our suite and went for an hour of fitness, sauna, pool, and hot tub. Tonight I cooked supper again, this time a wild mushrooms & sour cream frittata. Turned out great ! Egg dishes are one of my (few) culinary specialties. When I was a teenager working on my (widowed young) Aunt Lena’s farm during the summers she taught me how to make magic with eggs ... and cream. She had lots of chickens and some cows, had plenty of eggs and cream.
DSK
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