Thursday ; Sunny, +9° C.
Today was a busy day of “catch up on errands at home” day. Joanne did laundry. We both cleaned a lot of dog snot marks off the car windows. The price we pay for leaving Apollo alone in the car for hours at a time. HA HA HA ! I did a lot of work on the computer and i-Phone, setting up some new apps on both, updating phone account records, posting my blog, putting away “winter stuff” and reloading it into the car, yesterday’s credit card accounting ... YIKES ... updating investment records ... YIKES ... figuring out how to access ... (new software required) ... and read my Rolex watch’s new service records “chip” card, figuring out how to access ... (new software required) ... a new messaging function for Winnipeg Humane Society volunteers ... <sigh> ... and so on and so on, all day long !
Friday ; Mostly cloudy and chilly, despite temperature this afternoon of 8° C. HMPH ! Thought spring was here ! Apparently not, looking at the forecast for the next week.
After an early lunch we headed out to drop our recyclables at a local recycling yard, then continue on into Duncan to visit a store that Joanne thought I would be interested in, an Indigenous art gallery / dealer. Well, the art gallery was interesting, but also a bit disappointing. I expected a larger store, with more inventory, and ... well ... a bit more reasonable pricing. And more representative Indigenous art from a wider geographic area than just Vancouver Island. This gallery’s offerings were almost all “local” artists.
We had also intended to visit some thrift stores in Duncan today, but ... I got pissed off (no pun intended) at the first thrift store when I asked as I was paying for my purchase if I might use their restroom, and was refused access. HMPH ! Take my purchase, put it back into your inventory, I’ll go take a piss and spend my money elsewhere ! ! ! The second thrift store wasn’t a charitable thrift store, it was a privately owned “used merchandise” urban junkyard store. Both of us decided that was enough, it was time to head home.
On the way home we stopped at the local dog park. Good dog, Apollo !
Today I finished acquiring and setting up a new e-mail account with a Canadian service provider, a process I started last Sunday. I have had an e-mail account / address with AOL, originally America OnLine, for 30 years. All change is difficult, but sometimes necessary, often desirable, and for me, always rejuvenating and exciting.
Saturday ; Light rain all day, +7° C.
This afternoon Joanne went by herself to Duncan to do some grocery shopping. I napped with Apollo then did more work on our income tax returns. After Joanne returned home I installed and configured our new Canadian e-mail service onto our i-Phone. SHIT ... that kind of techno-stuff is extremely difficult for an old man my age. It took me well over an hour to figure it out and get it done. However, I should probably be proud of myself. Based on my knowledge of our friends and neighbours, I would suggest that very few people my age could have done any better.
In the evening we watched a “comedy” entitled SHIVA on CBC GEM. Comedy ? ! ? I think not ! What a despicable character. Nothing funny about that at all.
Sunday ; Cobble Hill to Victoria & return
BRRRRR ... steady rain until late afternoon, 6° C.
We left home right after lunch heading to Victoria for a Victoria Symphony Orchestra matinée concert at 2:30 PM at The Royal Theatre. The heavy rain made driving to Victoria on the Malahat Highway difficult. We parked in the Victoria Public Library underground parkade about half a block from the concert venue, and left Apollo waiting in the car for about 2¾ hours. Very good dog, Apollo. We rewarded him with a stop at the local dog park on our way home. We arrived back home around 7 PM.
The concert was A Night (afternoon ?) At The Oscars, a Pops concert featuring Academy Award winning song scores from movies going back almost a century. It was okay, not great, first half better then the second half. We had front row centre seats. I like front row centre seats, most people don’t.
We arrived back home to the news that Mark Carney had won the (Canadian) Liberal party leadership, and therefore will become Canada’s Prime Minister next week. In my opinion that was the correct choice ... for now ! I’m disappointed that Chrystia Freeland did not do better, but Mr. Carney’s huge margin of victory indicates that the Liberal Party, and hopefully most Canadians, are united in believing that Mr. Carney is the right person at this time to take on Trump and his tariff nonsense !
VIVE le CANADA ! <mumbling> you orange piece of shit !
While Joanne made supper I lit a fire in the fireplace, and we ate supper in front of a nice, warming fire while watching last night’s episode of Saturday Night Live.
Monday ; Chilly again, raining lightly most of the day, +6° C.
For me and Apollo, a bit of a slow day. I graciously declined Joanne’s generous invitation to join her for an afternoon of Wal-Martin’ in Duncan ... <rolling my eyes>.
I did some routine monthly maintenance on the car after her return from Duncan. DARN ! AGAIN there is a low pressure tire on the car. One tire has been consistently losing about six pounds of pressure per month ever since we left home in November. And I am old enough and wise enough and experienced enough to know that most tire shops will find it impossible to identify / locate a leak that slow. The response of most tire shops will be simply ... “time to buy new tires ... <big smile>”. Tomorrow I will go to Kal Tire in Duncan (again) and adjust the pressure in that tire. After we return home to Dugald in a month and have access to my own air compressor in our underground parkade I will remove and replace the tire valve core in an attempt to identify / eliminate the problem.
Tuesday ; Raining all day, +6° C.
Right after lunch we headed out for a few errands. First stop was at a nearby tire shop to adjust the air pressure in the car’s tire that needs adjustment monthly. Then grocery shopping at Country Grocer, and finally, produce shopping at Old Farm Market. We were hoping to stop at the dog park on the way back home, but it was raining, so we didn’t.
Late in the afternoon we did some planning for what to do tomorrow in Vancouver for about five hours. We had previously made plans, but they were predicated on nice weather. That now seems unlikely !
For supper I made an Oyster mushroom frittata. HMPH ! I guess one can’t hit a home run every time at bat !
Wednesday ; Cobble Hill to Nanaimo to Vancouver & return
Raining all day, +7° C.
We were up at 8 AM and out of our suite at 10 AM heading to Nanaimo and our Harbour Air seaplane flight to Vancouver at noon. We left Apollo in our suite, having made arrangements with our landlady for her to walk and feed Apollo.
On the way to Nanaimo we stopped in Duncan to refill with fuel at Superstore’s Mobil Fuel Bar. We arrived at Nanaimo Harbour shortly after 11 AM, parked in an underground parkade and checked in at Harbour Air for our noon flight.
While I have flown Cessna 172’s on floats, this was our first flight in a seaplane larger than a four seat Cessna. Today’s flights, in both directions were on Harbour Air’s Canadian manufactured De Havilland Single (turbine engine) Otters, with seating for thirteen passengers. Flight time between Nanaimo Harbour and Vancouver Harbour was twenty minutes in each direction, flown at only 1000 feet. I was surprised at the low flying altitude, and that there was only a single pilot, no co-pilot. And surprised by the need to strap a flotation device (like a “life jacket”) around our bodies underneath our seat belts.
We had five hours to walk around downtown Vancouver. We actually returned to the Vancouver Harbour Seaplane Terminal after four hours, tired of walking around in cold, wet weather. We had a very interesting Persian lunch at a restaurant owned and operated by an Iranian immigrant. Just before returning to the seaplane terminal we had an excellent Coconut Milk Latté with Brown Sugar Boba Pearls at a bubble tea restaurant in one of the many food courts beneath one of the large downtown high rise building towers. We spent the final hour resting (her) in the seaplane terminal’s comfortable passenger lounge and (me) watching many float planes landing and taking off in Vancouver Harbour. <sigh> I want to go back in time about forty-five years and become a commercial seaplane pilot.
It was still raining heavily in Vancouver when we left at 5:30 PM but the rain had stopped by the time we arrived back in Nanaimo at 6 PM. After landing in Nanaimo we picked up some take-out Korean Chicken at Nanda Chicken in downtown Nanaimo, for dinner at home. We arrived back home at 7:30 PM.
During our 9 ½ hour absence our landlady had fed Apollo, and walked him twice. She took him to her home (next door, same building as our suite) and he visited with her, including having an afternoon nap on her bed. HA HA HA ! Good dog, Apollo.
DSK
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