November 23 to 29, 2025 ; Victoria, Vancouver Island, British Columbia

 Sunday ; Sunny, +9° C.

At 1:15 PM we left our suite to head to Belfry Theatre for the 2 PM performance of Burning Mom, a one woman play about a recent widow who decides, shortly after the death of her husband, and against the wishes of her children, to take the RV she and her husband had recently acquired to fulfill their retirement dream of full time RV’ing, and head to ... <blink> ... the Burning Man Festival in the Black Rock desert of Nevada.

Quite a profound play ! Powerful imagery at the end !

We had a choice of leaving Apollo alone in our suite, with a risk that he might spend 3½ hours barking, possibly disturbing neighbours, or leaving him alone in the car parked near the theatre for almost three hours, where even if he barked the whole time there were no consequences. We left him in the car. Good dog, Apollo !

Late in the evening we stumbled upon a movie on PBS Masterpiece Theatre that we found quite moving, called The Great Escaper. HMPH ... moved to tears twice in one day, first by a play, then by a TV movie.

Monday ; Overcast, +8° C.

Early this morning I received a scheduled “call back” from the Govt. Of Canada. I had called them to change our CPP and OAS direct deposit bank account to our new Steinbach Credit Union daily interest savings account. It wasn’t until late in the day while working on something else that I discovered that I had provided them with the incorrect “branch transit number”. <sigh> I make more errors nowadays than I did when I was younger ! That’s a bit discouraging.

After lunch and a nap for me and Apollo we went shopping at Hillside Centre shopping mall. First of two planned stops was Dollarama. After Dollarama I offered to take our Dollarama purchases to the car while Joanne got a head start on the Wal-Martin’. Perfect ! She fell for it ! On the way to the car I got some Christmas shopping done as quickly as I could.

I refilled the minivan with fuel at an Esso station that has a car wash. YIKES ! Regular fuel in Victoria is $1.599 ! At the pump I purchased a car wash ... on impulse. The car wash entrance was not obvious so I went inside to find out where the car wash entrance is. “Out of Order” today. <fume> Now I have to return to get a car wash ! Is it too much trouble to put up “car wash out of order” signs at the pumps ? ! ?

In the evening I worked on planning our return trip home in the spring, and making motel reservations. As I expected, I was able to score some Black Friday special pricing offers.

Tuesday ; Raining all day, +7° C.

I spent most of the morning dealing with the intricacies and complexities of getting our multitude of direct deposits rerouted from BMO to Steinbach Credit Union. And when I was done ... I had to undo half of it because the new daily interest savings account I opened at Steinbach Credit Union is in my name only ! <sigh> And can only be changed to a joint account in person, so will have to wait until we return to Winnipeg next spring. <sigh>

Late in the afternoon we walked across the street to the Grand Pacific Hotel, to view this year’s Gingerbread Showcase competition / displays, an annual fundraiser for Victoria’s Habitat For Humanity. The displays were fantastic, as they were last year as well, with some of the gingerbread creations taking hundreds of hours to produce. Each year’s competition has a theme. This year’s theme was Homes For All.

See www.habitatvictoria.com/gingerbread

While viewing the gingerbread creations I overheard a young couple speaking French. I engaged them in conversation in French. Joanne joined in, her French is much better than mine. The young man is a teacher at one of the two French language public secondary schools here in Victoria. We did not know that such a thing existed. The young woman was here to visit him. She is a medical student at a university in Laval, Quebec.

We left Apollo alone in our suite for an hour. He was a very good (quiet) boy.

Wednesday ; Overcast, +8° C., rain starting at bedtime.

Slept poorly, had a slow start to a lazy day. Entered pension deposits in financial records, paid bills, processed photos, made motel reservations for return trip home in the spring. Joanne walked to Thrifty Foods in James Bay to buy a few grocery items. Had supper while watching Survivor followed by Amazing Race.

Late in the evening Apollo injured his right front knee. It was after 11 PM, we were watching late news on TV, he went into the bedroom. We thought he was tired and going to sleep before us. A minute later he returned from the bedroom, limping heavily. WTF, Apollo ? He has pet steps leading onto the bed, so it’s unlikely that he injured himself trying to jump onto the bed. Or did he ?

Thursday ; Steady drizzle all day, +9° C.

Apollo was still limping heavily this morning, but as the day wore on his limp slowly diminished until it was completely gone by this evening. We went to a Bosley’s store this afternoon to buy more dog food and treats. Today was their monthly seniors’ discount day. We left Apollo in the car to give his knee as much opportunity to rest as possible. We thought that shopping at Bosley’s is so exciting for him that he might make his knee injury worse.

While I was at Bosley’s Joanne went into The Market On Yates to buy tomatoes and avocados. I met her in the store as she was in line to pay. The Jamaican accented cashier should win the award for most disinterested cashier in existence ! She made a pricing error, charging an incorrect product code that resulted in a few tomatoes (that were on sale) costing over $5, and then “didn’t know how” to correct that. We had to go to an adjacent (very busy) cashier and wait for her to become available to get that error corrected. <sigh> I dislike ineptitude, but can accept and forgive it as part of a learning process. However ... I’m completely intolerant of “I don’t give a shit” disinterest !

BTW ... each tomato had a small label with the correct product code on it ! ! !

The “dog wing” of Royal Scot Suites Hotel that we are in seems to have rapidly filled up with Americans with dogs coming from Seattle or the Olympic Peninsula by ferry to Victoria for their Thanksgiving weekend. Apollo has participated in or instigated a number of dog parties and dog fights in our hallway today. HA HA HA ... you go, Apollo ... good dog !

Friday ; Sunny, windy, +10° C.

Around noon we all went for a walk to the nearby New Horizons Seniors’ Centre to browse their Christmas Bazaar (craft sale). An entire large hall filled with a year’s worth of members’ production of crochet and knit items of dubious value. Oh, well ... it was a lovely, sunny day for a long, leisurely <sigh> walk with the dog. The walking capacity of both Apollo and Joanne has diminished greatly.

At 5 PM we went to the swimming pool and fitness room. I exercised with dumbbell weights while Joanne exercised in the pool, then we went for a soak in the hot tub. Afterwards Joanne went to the sauna briefly. I returned to our suite where Apollo had been a very good boy, waiting quietly. Good dog, Apollo. That might be because ... he’s become so deaf in the last year that he probably didn’t even hear us leaving, and snoozed right through our one hour absence. HA HA HA !

I purchased tickets to Butchart Gardens for Monday evening. Monday is the first day of their Christmas season. The massive flower gardens are all decorated with Christmas lighting. And dogs are permitted after 8 PM, until closing at 10 PM. I don’t recall ever visiting Butchart Gardens before, but ... much like Apollo’s hearing, my memory isn’t what it used to be. Joanne seems certain that we have visited there before.

Saturday ; Mix of sun and clouds, +7° C.

We left our suite this morning at 10:30 AM. First stop was Vessel Liquor where I bought a locally produced specialty gin product requested by our neighbour who is collecting our mail this winter. Next was ... <insert drum roll here> ... St. Nicolas Ukrainian Catholic Church for their Christmas Food Fair fundraising event, the sale of home made Ukrainian food and baking. WOO-HOO !

<blink blink> Holy shit ! The line-up to get into the church basement looks like the line-ups to get on rides at Disney World ! Took about forty-five minutes to get in. T’was worth it ! Bought seventy-nine bucks worth of home made perogies and buckwheat holubtsi (cabbage rolls) and nalyshnyky (stuffed crepes) and fruit cake and kolach (braided Christmas bread) and cinnamon buns and a gingerbread man cookie (for Joanne ... I don’t like gingerbread) and a sourdough boule (I’ll eat that !).

One of the women serving us asked ... in a thick accent (recent immigrant), “do you have Ukrainian ancestry ?” My answer was yes, but I was thinking ... “do I look like I have a neck ?” HA HA HA ...Uke humour.

That long line-up made us slightly late for Joanne’s appointment at Oak Bay Orthotics, where she ordered another pair of custom orthotic insoles. She had a pair of custom orthotic insoles made here a year ago with the hope that they would alleviate her Achilles tendonitis pain, which had become debilitating. They did ! So ... today she ordered another pair to be made. The cost is outrageous, but ... the results make it worthwhile. Today she had casts made of her feet. The orthotic insoles will be ready a few days before Christmas.

When we were finished at Oak Bay Orthotics we went to Fairway Market in the same small mall to buy some groceries, including an advertised special ; a box of Chinese mandarin oranges for $3.99, half the price advertised by other grocery stores here in Victoria.

At 5 PM we left our suite and walked half a block to where the Santa Claus Parade was being assembled / marshalled on Menzies Street beside the Legislative Building. We wandered around looking at floats waiting for the parade to begin, then found a spot to sit in front of the Legislative Building and watch the parade. It only took a few minutes of sitting on a low concrete wall to realize that I needed to return to our suite to get a blanket to sit on. For reasons unknown the parade was a bit late to start (scheduled for 5:30 PM), so that by the time the entire parade had passed by us it was almost 7 PM.

BRRRRR ... we were all cold, from sitting on concrete, and from the chilly wind blowing in off the Inner Harbour. The parade was lengthy / long. And a lot of the children marching in the parade (scouting groups, athletic groups, etc.), who had assembled prior to 5 PM, looked frozen. And we were at the very beginning of the route. They were still going to be marching outside for about another hour or so before reaching the end of the route. Poor kids !

Despite being a bit cold, Apollo was awestruck ! Lots of lights, lots of dogs, lots of people, lots of children. We have no way of knowing if he has ever seen a parade before, but it all seemed new to him. Good dog, Apollo. He was friendly to all dogs and children who approached him. However ... HA HA HA ... he was thrilled when we returned to our suite. “WOO-HOO ... HOME ... WARM ... I’M HUNGRY !”

Holy mackerel ... that St. Nicholas Church fruit cake is good ! ! !

DSK