This and that...

I'm not going to post any pictures tonight but thought I would post something on this blog since it's been a while. This week has been pretty busy. Sabine from Austria arrived in Victoria Sunday afternoon and gave me a call. We made arrangements for me to pick her up on Tuesday so she could spend time in Victoria.

I drove down with Ben and stopped to meet Adam and drop off some stuff for him then went and picked Sabine up in front of the Hostel. It was nice to see her again after 4 years. We stopped at Salty's for fish and chips before I took her to our place. I showed her to her room then took her over to meet aunty because I knew she would see a lot of Aunty while here. I had to go to work so left Sabine with Ben.

Wednesday Sabine and I hit Tim Horton's then went for a drive to the top of Mount Prevost. We took a lot of wrong turns but turned out OK because we saw some wild life like deer and pheasants. We made it to the top but not to the monument where Jodi and Maisan had gone. We took some pictures then sat and watched a para glider getting ready to take a flight but decided there was not enough wind so we finally left for home.

Thursday Sabine and I drove to Chemainus and walked around talking about the first time we were there. Sabine had forgotten a lot about the trip but it was all coming back to her as we chatted. Took lots of pictures then went down to the ocean where I found a star fish and let Sabine hold it while I took a couple pictures. Then we headed back home. I have to be at work for 2pm so unless we got up super early, which we didn't, then we didn't have a lot of time to do things.

In the evening Patty and Sabine were going out with Aunty or driving up to Lady Smith to explore or even going for long walks to Tim Horton's for an Ice Cap. Friday before work I helped Sabine put a lot of her photos onto CD's then dropped her off at the North West Raptor centre to check out the flying demonstrations and then Patty picked her up after work and they went for supper. That evening we all went to Karaoke in Chemainus.

Today we drove to Nanaimo where we went for a walk at Neck Point, then went shopping at the mall (window shopping mostly) had a drink then went to see the V.I. Raiders football game. It was cloudy in the morning but quite sunny at game time and I'm a bit burnt. Sabine was picked to go out on the football field and try and catch a football to win a prize but having never seen a football before didn't make out too well. She seemed to enjoy the game especially for not knowing anything about it before hand but thought it was a little too long. It was an exciting game as our arch rivals from Victoria came in and took control of the game and then our team took a lot of unnecessary penalties but eventually smartened up and came from behind to beat the Rebels in the last minute of the game.

Tomorrow Sabine and I are going whale watching in Victoria. I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow but if not I'll do it soon.

Hello hello

Well it's been a while since I posted so I thought I should try and write something. As I start this I have no idea where I'm going with it or what I will talk about. About the only thing going on recently has been football. Not the Ti cats because again they are going to be bottom dwellers but I'm talking about the V.I. Raiders. There have been 2 games against 2 of the top teams in the conference and we have beaten both of them and not really close games but exciting. The last game I took Ben too and it rained the whole game. I had told Ben the only way he could be on the field with me is if he was a ball boy. So I checked with the officials for the game and they appreciated that they didn't have to look for one. The first game was a nice sunny day so I had told Ben how easy it was. But with the rain of course they needed the ball dried off as fast as possible and replaced every down or two. By the end of the first half I thought Ben was going to quit but he had a rest and got back to it in the second half. I was truly proud of him cause there was very little whining on his part. On my part I was whining a lot because by the second half the rain jacket was soaked through and it was so tough to keep the camera dry. I thought for sure I wouldn't have any good shots but I sent much less of them to the trash bin than the week before.





Sabine from Austria called Friday evening saying she would be landing in Victoria Sunday (today) and would stay there two nights before coming here. She will spend almost a week here before going to Vancouver then flying back to Ontario. Sounds like she is having a good time but has had some downfalls with old friends not meeting up with her like they said they would when she got here. If the weather is nice we will probably go whale watching next Sunday as the Raiders are playing Victoria Saturday.

Patty's son Adam was here for a few days as he has moved back to the island but he and a friend are going to be getting a place in Victoria. He was a lot more sociable this time around compared to when I first met him before Patty and I got married. When I go pick up Sabine in Victoria I will be dropping off a computer and cell phone for him.

Work is going well but I won't be getting that designer position upstairs this time around. Some guy with 25 years of experience showed up a week ago looking for a job. The owner told me to keep learning the program because he likes to promote from with in and that if I make room on my computer he will get me the program to mess around with at home. The program is free but I have to go through Vic Truss to activate it and it will work for a few months then need to be reactivated. A lot better than going into work a couple hours a week for free.

In two weeks I'll be going to meet my mother in-law at last. My sister in-law has told her lots of good things about me and how good I am to Patty so apparently she loves me already. I've talked to her on the phone a few times and she is very nice to talk to. I believe she is from the east coast like Jean as she is Acadian but seems to have more of a french accent than Jean. I look forward to Finally meeting her. Also I've told Albert I will kick his ass in tennis as he has taken up the game recently and thinks hes pretty good. He talks pretty good smack as he calls me the old man now. I haven't played since Michelle and I went out last summer to smack some balls around but it was just for fun so I didn't get to see how good I still was. I feel pretty old most days but not going to let Al know that.

Going to see where my lovely wife Patty lived and meet some of her friends and more than likely go to the the Kamloops wild life park (zoo) that I have stopped in twice while driving across country. After the ferry I think its about a six hour drive but I'm looking forward to it.

Lastly today we went to a Pow Wow here in Duncan. I had heard about it from a nice native gentleman at work and since it was raining today thought it would be nice to stop and check out (since it was in doors) It was pretty neat seeing all the costumes they wore and we were there for a drum contest and for the kids dance contest. We were only there for about an hour and I took some pictures after asking an older native gentleman if was OK. Apparently the first couple pictures I took were during a native prayer and its not allowed. He told me when you hear a whistle its going to be a prayer so no photos but other than that it's OK. We were the only white people in the place but Ben was invited up to dance anyways. He declined because he dances like a white person and wouldn't have fit in.

Some Saturday Family Fun

Well at the beginning of the week I had decided to take the family out for a day of fun on the weekend. Patty told me that Ben had been complaining that we don't do anything fun and he was in a real pissy mood so I told Patty what I had planned but told her not to tell Ben. On Friday Ben asked me what day we were going and I knew right then I shouldn't have said anything to Patty. One thing I've found out in this family is they can't keep secrets or surprises. It shouldn't surprise me because we had a couple people in our family that were the same. You couldn't tell dad anything too soon because he would get so excited and either tell the secret or bug you till you told it or let him tell it. So I left a note on the white board telling Patty she was in trouble and to ask Ben why but got a phone call from Patty telling me Ben was in trouble for telling me he knew so she told him we were not going. I told her she couldn't punish Ben for something she had done so when I got home from work I told them fine I'd go by myself. I knew that wasn't going to happen.

So....

We got up in the morning, had breakfast and hit the road to Parksville. First stop was this mini putt place they had built just a couple summers ago. I was up there when they were working on it. Very nice course and there are two different 18 hole courses you can pick from to play on. We chose the easier one which wasn't to easy. Ben started out very well and had the lead but was in way too much of a hurry so slowly started getting worse as I slowly picked away and caught up. Patty was having a pretty average game only having one bad hole that I remember and a few twos and threes. The last couple holes I had a huge lead but while they got low scores I got nines. I won't give the final scores cause they weren't pretty but Patty and Ben tied for first beating me by four strokes(honest scores).











Next it was off to A&W for lunch where they served the milkshakes in large frosty mugs. mmmmmmm mmmmmmm Sorry no pictures of that but I'll tell you that wasn't too pretty to watch I'm sure.

Next we drove further up the coast till we came to another tourist attraction. There was a mini putt, arcade, and bumper boats. We opted for the bumper boats. We each got our own boats and drove around bumping each other and squirting each other with a spray nozzle on the front of the boat. It was a lot of fun and we all got pretty wet.







Next it was off to the beach but I decided to lock the camera in the car. It was looking pretty grey and was kinda cool so Ben and I didn't do too much swimming (me none at all) but we played catch with a Frisbee, football, and scoop ball while Patty walked around gathering shells. Ben and I also discovered some sand dollars which we collected and gave to Patty when we got out of the water. The three of us then walked around looking in the pools of water picking up baby crabs, checking out the different shells and just enjoying the time together. Before leaving we had a group hug and I promised Ben that in August when and if its hot I will take him back and we will go snorkeling together. You can tell he really enjoyed it today.

I got home in time to see the last half of the football game on TV but kinda wished we had missed it. One more week till Raider football!!!


OK I had to sneak in a couple butterfly/moth pictures. I found this guy at work on Thursday and he was flopping around on the ground. When I picked him up to take him to some bushes to help him I noticed how beautiful he was and how it looked like he had eyes on his back. After a while I checked on him and it looked like he was dying so when I left I put him in a plastic bag and brought him home. I left him in the car and forgot about him till just before work and thought for sure he's dead now. I opened the bag and he was still moving so I put him on a plant and tried to get him to fly away but no go. I had to get to work so I took 2 photos and put him back in the bag and in my closet upstairs. Again I forgot about him till I got home from Parksville but I opened up the bag and he was still alive. So I took him downstairs and took 2 more photos of him on the flowers I planted for Patty a while back and then after 3 minutes of fluttering around he flew off.

Some people may find these boring

Well today we took Ben and Hailey back to the lake for a swim. While Patty sat in a chair keeping a close eye on the kids in the lake I wandered away to take some more photos. I'm going to have to take my tripod with me because I think these shots are a bit blurry because I was holding the camera. I promise no bee photos in this set but yes they are of bugs. There were a lot of bees around but I know Patty loves dragon flies so I wanted to get a good picture for her. There were some pretty big ones flying around but none of them would land for a photo op.

6 month anniversary

Well its been a little quiet around here lately. I caught a cold this week so have been trying to get some rest. Its mostly in my chest now. Was hoping to go to Salt Spring Island to see Valdy in concert and a classic car show. If I was feeling better we would have gone Saturday and camped because its such a small ferry that takes you over too the island there would have been a long wait. Had a late night last night and an even later morning. The Raiders have held camp in Duncan this weekend so I've stopped by a couple times to take some pictures. This weekend marks six months since Patty and I have been married. Its been way better than I could have ever imagined and keeps getting better each day. Today we just went for a drive to Shawnigan Lake where Aunty Irene had taken the kids for a swim. While there I shot a few photos of some bees on the flowers but never got the shot I wanted which is a bee in flight. I'm sure I'll get more chances and will keep trying but here are a couple shots that turned out not bad.