Sad Sunday

We went to church this morning.  As usual it was a great sermon and it was nice to visit with friends after the service.  This weekend is Aldergrove Days so after lunch we were going to go down to the park and see what was there.  Before we got a chance to leave, the phone rang.  It was our niece with some bad news.  Apparently yesterday, her Dad, B's brother, was on his way to meet up with friends to go on a motorcycle ride but he went off the road and was killed.  Before retiring he had always worked a manual job as a welder, loved hunting and fishing and loved riding his bike.  He was also a very positive and jovial sort of person, who could make you laugh!  At least he died doing what he loved!!  Goodbye and rest in peace.

My Garden

At the old house we had a garden...didn't grow that much, but it was especially nice to have lots of zucchini and fresh beans.  Last year at the new house I planted some lettuce and beans in pots, which was totally new to me, but it worked out pretty good.  This year I've got beans, parsley, zucchini, mint, lettuce, tomatoes, mint, chives, lemon balm and some flowers.  They look pretty and we've already used some mint, parsley, chives and zucchini.  The beans have lots of flowers so I'm hoping for a good crop!

Crazy Mixedup Weather

The weather lately has been so crazy and mixed up.  One day is cold, next day is hot, it's raining then sunny....even our star magnolia bush which usually blooms in the early spring can't figure it out...it decided to send out a few blossoms!!!  That's supposed to happen in March not July!!!

Goodyear Blimp

I was outside in the back yard one day and heard what I thought was an airplane.  When I looked up it was the Goodyear blimp.  That night they said on the news that the blimp was flying out of the Abbotsford airport and would be for the next few days.  Apparently they're going to retire this one and build another one.  A day or so later it flying around again so I took several pictures of it.  This was the best one!

Lawnmowers

Just before we left for holidays, our trusty old lawnmower quit.  Our son-in-law tried to fix it but it needed a whole new motor so we weren't sure if it was worth fixing.  Our son had a "beer powered" lawn mower so he lent it to us.  B made out okay with it but it didn't cut the long dandelions and the catcher didn't catch all the grass clippings.

We went to the Co-op for Canada Day celebration and raspberry shortcake.  Afterwards we decided to go see what they had in the way of mowers and found this one. Electric...rechargeable batteries.  It's quiet, runs good and does a good job of cutting the grass.

The Things We Bring Home

Before we left for our cruise I took out this puzzle of Australia that we had and decided to put it together again, but didn't have time to finish it.  When we got back home working on it was a totally different experience, because...we'd been there!!!

We saw several didgeridoos while shopping in Australia, but most of them were over a meter (3 feet) long, then we found this one which is about 63 cm (25 inches).  It was also a lot less expensive and fit in our suitcase, so even though the longer ones are supposed to have better sound we decided to go with this one.  To be truthful, I'm not sure what kind of sound will ever come out of it anyway...and furthermore, we bought it for more of a souvenir than a musical instrument...and after all, it IS hand painted hardwood!!!!   

Several years ago when we were in Dakar, Senegal we went on a tour to this market and when we went inside this hut the fellow watched our eyes and when he saw me look at this guitar thing, he picked it up, kept pushing it into my hands and started bartering with me....only $40.  I kept telling him I didn't want it so he kept lowering the price.  Finally I felt sorry for him and broke down and paid a whole $5 for it!  Hubby told me I'd never get it home without it getting broken...took some creative packing...but I DID get it home completely intact and totally enjoy showing it off and telling the story of how I acquired it!

Food on Board

Usually when we go on a cruise I take all sorts of pictures of the food on board.  In the dining room especially, the food is always presented in the most beautiful way...sometimes it looks too good to eat!  For some reason this cruise I only took a few pictures of the food, but I'll share some of them with you.

On the Lido deck for breakfast you could get a big plate with your bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, pancakes, waffles, crepes or eggs benedict on it but my favorite were these small plates with fruit, the little glass of muesli and a big glass of guava juice. 

 
 At lunch time they had these small plates with salad, cheese and sliced meat or whatever on it.  It was a nice small size and you could try several.  One thing I didn't want to do is go to the salad bar...the salad bowls they had were so huge and the servers did not know the meaning of "just a little bit" you would end up with a salad big enough to serve a family!!




They had a real nice Asian section with an assortment of sushi, soup, vegetable and/or meat stir fries, egg rolls...all that sort of stuff.


Desserts of course were decedent... puddings, cakes, jello, pies, bread pudding with vanilla sauce and of course they always had hard and soft ice cream.


 Of course there was always room service, if you wanted it.  We usually ordered fruit, yogurt, toast or a Danish but you could get bacon and eggs if you wanted it.



 One night in the dining room this was the appetizer I ordered.



Every day at 3 or 4 pm they would have afternoon tea and serve little sandwiches and cookies or cakes.  One day they had an Indonesian tea with Indonesian food and tea.