Sunday ; Overcast, drizzle in the evening, +11° C.
After lunch we left our suite at 1:45 PM headed for an afternoon (2:30 PM) concert of Christmas Pops with the Victoria Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Theatre. We drove to the downtown Victoria Public Library and parked in their parkade, leaving Apollo in the car, then walked half a block to the theatre. The concert was ... okay. The orchestra was fine, the two vocalists and their “jazz styling” of Christmas music was not to our liking.
After the concert ended at 4:15 PM we walked back to the library parkade and retrieved the car ... and dog. Good dog, Apollo. We drove about another kilometre north through downtown and parked in the Centennial Square parkade. We were there to see the “Lights of Wonder” Christmas lights display in Centennial Square, behind and beside Victoria City Hall. Apollo wondered why there was so much “foliage”, and none of it smelled like ... trees ! HA HA HA ... that’s because it’s all made of plastics, Apollo !
Somewhat Much
(!) to our amazement, there was a large owl sitting on a branch on a
tree beside Centennial Square, looking down and scowling at all the
lights, people, and dogs in the square. <shrug> I don’t
think I’ve ever seen an urban / downtown owl before !
HA HA HA ... I’m writing this at 7 PM Sunday evening. Joanne has just started preparing pizza for supper. Apollo is wandering around trying to convince us that it’s time to go to bed. HA HA HA ... no, no, Apollo, not yet ! Obviously Joanne and I are not the only ones with age related declining stamina issues. Poor tired old dog ! By the time I finished typing these few sentences he’s fast asleep in his dog bed in the suite’s living room.
Monday ; +12° C , heavy rain all day. Apollo has been resistant to going outside all day. As have we all !
At 3:45 PM we left our suite and walked to the Legislative Building to attend today’s 4 PM Christmas concert in the rotunda, the Motanka Ukrainian Women’s Choir. Thanks to today’s miserable weather, the concert was poorly attended, but that gave us excellent seats. We both enjoyed today’s concert.
I will attach two videos that I took of the choir. The first requires explanation. It’s an old Ukrainian folk song, and like many old Ukrainian folk songs, it’s about the four seasons. The little girl dancing represents a goat. When the song starts in the summer, the weather is wonderful, the crops are growing well, the little goat dances happily. In the fall, the bountiful harvest is brought in, the weather deteriorates, the little dancing goat is not happy. Winter comes ... <gasp> ... the little goat dies ! The people are horrified, then sad, then determined to make it through the long, hard winter, made possible thanks to last fall’s harvest. In the spring, the little goat is reborn ... the cycle repeats, and so on ! HA HA HA ... as I said, this is a recurrent theme in old Ukrainian folk songs. When I was a little child, I remember my father and his cronies singing such songs when they all had a bit too much to drink, which fortunately wasn’t often.
The second video is of “Carol Of The Bells”, a Ukrainian Christmas carol that has been translated into many languages around the world, and certainly popular in the English language. SLAVA UKRAINI
Tuesday ; Overcast, +10° C., rain starting around 4 PM.
We left our suite at 11:30 AM this morning, first to take Apollo for his noon time walk, and for me to drop off at Huntington Manor, a local hotel, one of their room key cards I found a couple of days ago. We returned Apollo to our suite, then walked to the Legislature Building for a Christmas concert at noon in the rotunda.
Today’s concert was a performance by South Island Harmony, an a cappella chorus comprised of about fifteen men ... and a woman. Well ... somebody has to hit the soprano notes. HA HA HA ! They were very good ! They had better start shopping around soon for a new basso profondo member. Their current basso profondo member ... and he’s very good ... looks ... <ahem> ... rather elderly !
After lunch we headed off in the car for an afternoon of shopping errands ; Country Grocer, Dollar Tree, London Drugs, Save-On-Foods, Dollarama, and Fairway Market. It’s now becoming dark in Victoria at 4:30 PM. We arrived back home around 7 PM. Too much shopping, too many malls, too much driving in the dark and the rain ... just ... too much ! All three of us are too old and too tired for days like today. This evening we (Joanne and me ... Apollo did not participate, he was napping) discussed how to do “errand days” differently and better.
Wednesday ; +11° C., heavy rain all day.
At 11:45 AM we headed to the BC Legislature Building again to attend today’s noon Christmas concert featuring Folkestra, a local folk orchestra, mostly string instruments, but including two accordions (twice the fun !) and a flute. I was an accordionist from age 8 to about age 17, so I am entitled to poke fun at accordionists. Today we forgot our cell phone in our suite, so ... no pictures or videos of today’s concert. Most of their concert was “fiddle music”, specifically Canadian fiddle music.
After the concert we returned to our suite, had lunch, then set off for an afternoon of Wal-Martin’. WOO-HOO ... <sarcasm> ! Once again we went to the Wal-Mart located at Uptown Shopping Mall, an incredibly goofy Wal-Mart in an incredibly goofy mall. We chose that location today simply to avoid the rain. Uptown has an underground parkade, so one can get from the car to the store then back to the car without being exposed to rain. Well ... even that’s not true. Uptown is such a goofy mall that you must come upstairs out of the parkade, and dash across about 100 feet of outdoors to get into the Wal-Mart. At our “regular” Wal-Mart location at Hillside Shopping Centre, one needs to pack a lunch to get from your parking spot to the store.
Apollo seemed slightly ill today, very lethargic, not hungry, etc.
Congratulations to Jag and Jas, the brothers from Omak, Washington (a stone’s throw from our previous home near Keremeos, BC) on winning The Amazing Race tonight.
Thursday ; Overcast, intermittent light rain, +9° C.
Late this afternoon we left to go to the Esquimalt Farmers Market where we bought assorted wild mushrooms a few weeks ago. We wanted more today. On the drive there Joanne told me that while she enjoyed the Chanterelles, Winter Chanterelles, and Belly Button Mushrooms we bought last time, what she really wanted to try were Matsutake Mushrooms, a.k.a. Pine Mushrooms. We have never eaten Matsutake / Pine Mushrooms despite having found a few in the wild when we’ve been mushroom hunting / foraging.
Today we bought another basket of mixed wild mushrooms, about ¾ large Matsutakes, and about ¼ small Winter Chanterelles. We also bought a variety of locally grown (overpriced) vegetables and greens. Doing our part to “support local” ! Back at home Joanne did some Matsutake recipe research, and we decided that our basket of mushrooms was enough to make three meals ; Matsutake risotto tonight, Matsutake omelette tomorrow, and Matsutake & Winter Chanterelle creamy pasta Saturday.
We have long been aware of foods that taste differently to different people, but have not experienced that personally. For example, we have long known that some people love the tangy taste of cilantro, while some people taste “dirt” when they eat cilantro. Joanne and I are in the former group, we love cilantro. But tonight ... while she thought the Matsutake / Pine mushrooms in the risotto had a delicate, pleasant earthy taste, I found that the mushrooms had a strong bitter taste. How odd that we taste them differently.
I visited for awhile with the people across the hall from us, while I was returning from a walk with Apollo, and they were going out with their four year old male brown miniature poodle Dash. They are from Nanaimo, and will be staying here at Royal Scot for three weeks while the woman undergoes daily radiation treatments following surgery for breast cancer. As soon as her final treatment is finished on Christmas Eve they will drive back home to Nanaimo, a few hours north of Victoria. Apollo and Dash were friendly to each other. In the year and a half that we have had Apollo he has become much friendlier towards other dogs. Good dog, Apollo !
He was much healthier today, active and happy. We surmise that he may have simply been literally “under the weather” after being cold and wet from having to go outside about half a dozen times per day during the last few days of constant heavy rain. Poor old dog ! His time is running out ! <whispering> I can relate !
Friday ; Overcast, +9° C.
A slow “stay at home” day. Although ... Joanne procrastinated all day about going out shopping by herself for a Christmas gift (HMPH ... just one ? ? ?) for me. She claimed repeatedly throughout the day that she was “just waiting for the (forecast) rain to pass”. Yeah ... it never rained today ! Then ... “it’s going to be dark before I get home and I don’t want to walk in the dark”. Another “empty stocking” Christmas for me ? ! ? HA HA HA !
In the afternoon I made another brie en croute. This time I used apple sauce instead of jam. And I sprinkled cinnamon sugar on top before baking. The cinnamon sugar was an improvement, the apple sauce was not. Nevertheless ... still very good ! Well done again, Daniel ! Joanne assisted. A lot ! I’m a messy cook, an especially messy baker. Flour dusted everywhere ... on the table, on the counter, on the stove ... on my sweatshirt, on the kitchen chairs, on my computer ... ! <shrug> Even I can’t explain how it ended up on my computer. HA HA HA !
By the way ... <blink blink> ... currently (7 PM) it’s -26° C at home in Winnipeg at the moment, with a wind chill factor of -36° C. That’s 33 below zero for you Fahrenheit people. Makes +9° C (48° F) with rain forecast look pretty good ! ! !
I cooked Matsutake (mushrooms) & Brie (cheese) omelettes for supper tonight. At Joanne’s insistence I employed a new (to me) cooking technique. The results were ... visually ugly. HA HA HA ! The flavour / taste was just fine, thank you very much !
Saturday ; Overcast, +9 C.
We left Apollo alone in our suite when we left at noon to walk to White Eagle Polish Hall, a bit more than a kilometre away, for their annual Christmas market. We wanted to buy home made Polish food again. When we got to the hall, there was a line-up from here to eternity to buy a variety of Polish Christmas sausages. Fortunately for us, that was not what we were there to buy. We were there to buy home made Polish food from the operators of the Polka Pierogis food truck located in the parking lot of the hall, but operating out of the hall’s indoor kitchen during November and December. Once again we bought beef holubtsi (cabbage rolls), and something new to try ; uszka/mushroom stuffed dumplings, somewhat similar in appearance to tortellini pasta, and a large jar of Borscht broth, in which uszka are cooked and served.
We detoured slightly on the walk back to Royal Scot, stopping at Thrifty Foods to replenish some groceries and buy some advertised specials ... (ooooo ... chocolate dipped shortbread cookies !). By the time we arrived back at Royal Scot Joanne was complaining that the 2.6 km. distance we walked was beyond her comfortable capabilities. <sigh> Her two year persistent (and still undiagnosed ... <fume>) chronic coughing/respiratory problem has significantly diminished her stamina. That inspired a discussion about next year’s winter travel plans ; what/where is practical/possible and what/where isn’t. <whispering> We’re assuming Apollo will not be around next winter.
When we arrived back at our suite, about 1¼ hours after leaving, Apollo was sound asleep in his dog bed. As opposed to standing at the suite door ... barking ! Good dog, Apollo !
We left again, at 3:15 PM, with Apollo, in the car, heading to Belfry Theatre for the 4 PM performance of Little Dickens, a 2¼ hour, no intermission, one man marionette show. What a demanding performance for Ronnie Burkett, the founder of Daisy Theatre of Marionettes, creator of all the puppets, and the plays in which his cast of marionettes “perform”. This performance, and I think most of his creations, are “adult only” puppet shows. It takes a lot of moxie to create puppet shows that can inspire a full theatre’s adult audience to shout at the top of their lungs, on cue ... “FUCK OFF DIANE !” Dianne is a witch puppet. HA HA HA ! The story line of Little Dickens is loosely based on Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol. Emphasis on “loosely” ! HA HA HA !
We left Apollo alone in the car for almost three hours. What a good dog you are, Apollo !
Tonight was our last wild mushroom meal with the basket of mixed wild mushrooms we bought Thursday at the Esquimalt Farmers Market. Joanne sautéed the remaining mushrooms, a mixture of Matsutake/ Pine mushrooms and Winter Chanterelles, and then mixed them into creamy angel hair pasta. It was a very good meal ! Well done, dear !
During and after supper we watched tonight’s episode of SNL. Weak episode !
DSK
No comments:
Post a Comment