Sunday ; Sunny, +10° C. A lovely spring (?) day.
It was such a lovely day that this afternoon we drove a short distance to the Gorge Waterway, parked in one of the many small parking lots along the Gorge Waterway, and went for a long, leisurely walk along the waterfront walkway ... what would be called a malecon if we were in Mexico. We felt that Apollo needed to get out for some stimulation. He seemed to be suffering from a bit too much indoor time / cabin fever. He agreed / we were right. HA HA HA !
We met lots of dogs being walked along the “malecon”, Apollo was friendly to all. Well ... the ones he actually saw. He had his head down most of the time, so intent on “new smells” that he missed seeing many of them. HA HA HA ! Good dog, Apollo.
While walking along the “malecon”, me taking pictures of wildflowers blooming, we received a weather alert on our phone. For our Winnipeg / Tuxedo neighbourhood. Blowing snow blizzard conditions ... 40 below zero temperature. HA HA HA HA HA <SNORT> HA HA .
Sorry ! What I meant was ... how awful ! <choking, trying to hold back snicker>
After we returned home to Robin Hood Inn I retrieved and analyzed our annuity year end statements. And began to do some preparatory work for income tax returns. In the evening we watched our two regular Sunday evening TV shows ; Death In Paradise and All Creatures Great & Small.
At 10 PM Joanne took Apollo outside to relieve himself. A few minutes later there was loud pounding on our suite’s door. I whipped it open to find the night manager standing there with a look of panic on his face, telling me that Joanne had fallen and was hurt.
<exhaling deeply> She had tripped on the curb outside the office door, had fallen on her hands and knees, then smashed her head against the brick building.
<exhaling deeply again> I assessed Joanne quickly, nothing urgent, I rushed Apollo back home to our suite, then went back to retrieve Joanne. I got her standing, and slowly helped her back to our suite and onto the bed. I retrieved our excellent first aid kit from the car, and tended to her injuries. Not the first time in my life that my Boy Scout first aid training of sixty years ago has paid big dividends ! ! !
HEAD ; minor scalp laceration and bump, mild pain, no headache, no visual problems.
RIGHT HAND ; minor thumb abrasions, moderate wrist abrasions and bruising.
LEFT HAND ; sprained finger, swollen and bruised, moderate pain.
RIGHT KNEE ; minor abrasions and bruising.
LEFT KNEE ; serious abrasions, bruising, swelling, pain.
<sigh>
Monday ; Sunny, +9° C.
+ LEFT HIP ; deep bruising, not yet evident last night.
+ ABDOMEN ; bruising, not yet evident last night.
+ “aches and pains all over”, “I’m depressed”, “I hurt everywhere”
<sigh>
Late this morning I drove to a nearby Shoppers Drug Mart and replenished the first aid kit supplies I used last night. Our bed looked like a scene from a TV medical drama ! We are both grateful that Joanne’s injuries were not worse. She’s very sore, but all her injuries are confined to “soft tissue damage”. No broken bones, no broken hip. Her pride and ego are hurt as well. She’s feeling “very old and decrepit”. <shrug> I don’t have first aid skills to deal with that. But ... we had some discussions this morning about what the future holds for us, and how we should ... and will ... deal with those inevitable aging issues. I believe we’ve already been doing that, for about the last decade !
At 5:45 PM I left to drive through downtown and back to the James Bay neighbourhood where we lived for the last couple of months at Royal Scot Hotel & Suites. I had signed up for an evening workshop at the James Bay Community Centre in “cultured dairy” / how to make yogurt and kefir and sour cream and buttermilk. I have already been making my own home made kefir for the past few years, having been taught by a neighbour at our Steinbach condo.
It was an interesting workshop, attended by me and three women. The workshop leader’s thirteen year old daughter was there as well, and I had interesting side chats with her. While her mother is interested in making cultured dairy products, and fermented vegetables (like sauerkraut and kimchi), and sourdough cultures, the daughter is interested in baking. Their family ancestry is (Russian) Doukhobor, and when her mother spoke about covering their varenyky (perogies in my Ukrainian culture) in home made sour cream, I initiated a conversation with the daughter, explaining how to make dill cream sauce to slather over their varenyky. The young daughter was very interested in trying that. Since her family does some herb gardening, I encouraged her to grow her own dill weed. Her eyes got big, and sparkled at that suggestion.
Upon my return home we had a late supper while watching another episode of THE PITT.
Tuesday ; Sunny, +8° C.
We left home today around noon heading north on the Saanich Peninsula to Sidney, the small city at the northern tip of the Saanich Peninsula, where the Victoria Airport and the Schwartz Bay Ferry Terminal are located. We have wanted to have lunch at a particular restaurant in Sidney since we first came across it a year ago when we were in Sidney to see a play at the Mary Winspear Community Centre. And after lunch we planned to do some thrift store shopping.
Upon arrival in Sidney, about half an hour or so north of Victoria, we stopped at the Mary Winspear Community Centre to take Apollo on a bathroom walk on the manicured grass area surrounding the parking lot. Then off to lunch at Thai Corner Restaurant. They have a weekday buffet lunch, and Joanne thought it would be a great opportunity to sample a variety of Thai recipes, perhaps some new ones we might be unfamiliar with. She was right. And it was a great lunch ! Worth a return visit in the future. The restaurant’s hostess pointed out to me that they change their buffet offerings every day.
We drove a short distance to the downtown area where five thrift stores are located. We visited all five, one was closed. At the four that were open I bought two pairs of jeans, one pair of dress pants, a glass jar for making yogurt and/or sour cream, as I had been taught yesterday evening, and a long HDMI cable to facilitate connecting my laptop to our hotel suite’s television. Since I seem to be a failure at mastering Chromecast ! Joanne bought a blouse and a pair of pants.
We drove to the Beacon Avenue Pier, parked, and walked around exploring. First stop for me was Fish Market, the seafood store on the dock to browse for fresh fish. I wasn’t impressed enough with their offerings to buy anything. We walked around the waterfront area, saw a seal flirting with people passing by. We passed by the Empress Gin distillery. We were fascinated by the large “manufactured” tidal pool in front of the Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea (aquarium), inhabited by a multitude of sizes and shapes of sea anemones.
On our way back to Victoria we stopped to buy some produce at Michell’s Farm Market, a greengrocer and butcher in Saanichton. We arrived back home at Robin Hood Inn & Suites shortly after 5:30 PM.
Joanne’s abrasion injuries have lost their “angry” look. However she has developed a lot of deep purple bruises.
Wednesday ; Sunny, +8° C. WOW ... Victoria has had quite a string of sunny days !
We have just received a weather alert on our phone, for our Winnipeg / Tuxedo neighbourhood. “Multi-day wind chill factors of minus 40 to minus 45 degrees” ! ! ! <blink blink> The prospect of spending winters in Winnipeg (which we have not done since 1987), an inevitable part of our future (unless if I die soon !), scares the dickens out of me !
Apollo and I had a lazy, restful day. This afternoon Joanne went grocery shopping at Country Grocer. Apollo and I respectfully declined her invitation to join her. HA HA HA !
In the evening we watched another couple of episodes of season one of THE PITT. Now that we have discovered how to connect to our (Winnipeg) home TV feed via either the i-Phone or laptop, we have recorded a bunch of episodes of different shows we’re interested in, to watch at our leisure.
Thursday ; Overcast, chilly, +5° C. But ... NOT with a wind chill factor of 45 degrees below zero ! As in Winnipeg !
Yesterday afternoon I began a buttermilk culture. My first time. When we got home from shopping at Wal-Mart this afternoon, and my buttermilk had been fermenting for about 24 hours, I took the lid off the jar, stirred the contents, and sniffed.
And Apollo went berserk ! GIMME GIMME GIMME ! ! !
HA HA HA ! Why would a little, old dog become frantic to have some buttermilk after catching a whiff of its fragrance ? ! ? What a silly dog ! I have been feeding him a “kefir lunch” every day since we got him about a year and a half ago, putting a small amount of (usually home made) kefir on his lunch portion of dog kibble, and he LOOOOOVES it, eagerly demanding it every day upon return from his noon time walk. As the (probiotic) kefir does for me, it has improved his gut health, and digestion process. I’m expecting similar results for me if I now start drinking some (probiotic) buttermilk daily. And ... obviously ... Apollo will be getting some as well. HA HA HA !
As I said, we went Wal-Martin’ this afternoon. It’s less painful than when we were at Royal Scot. We’re a lot closer to a Wal-Mart at Robin Hood Inn than we had been at Royal Scot. And we don’t have to battle downtown traffic in both directions. And we’re finished before dark ! I really came to hate driving home to Royal Scot during afternoon rush hour, in the dark, in the rain.
Friday ; Sunny, a bit chilly, +6° C.
Late this morning we all went for a walk around the neighbourhood in the pleasant sunshine. Shortly after noon we left our suite to allow Housekeeping to service it, and we drove to Tillicum Mall to shop at Dollar Tree and Save-On-Foods. Apollo waited in the car like the good dog that he (usually) is while we shopped. We were back home at 1:30 PM for a late lunch, and our (Apollo and me) obligatory post lunch afternoon nap.
Apollo had buttermilk (and kibble) lunch instead of his usual kefir (and kibble) lunch. I also had a small glass of my new home made fermented / probiotic buttermilk before lunch. It was good. I started fermenting a second batch this afternoon. My first batch was experimental, and quite small.
Saturday ; Sunny, chilly, +5° C.
Once again ... we spent much of the day watching CNN coverage, and doomscrolling on BlueSky, regarding the murder of VA ICU nurse Alex Pretti by “federal agents” / ICE (GESTAPO) in Minneapolis. We are outraged ! And scared ! For the future of democracy, and the rule of law and order, in the United States. I feel slightly sick to my stomach. And I think and believe that the ... development of this out of control ... “federal law enforcement agency”, comprised of exceptionally poorly trained thugs and goons (PROUD BOYS), that has been granted immunity for anything and everything has progressed to the point that it can and will be stopped only with ugly, violent, civil war.
DSK
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