Doug's Birthday

The past few days have been foggy with little bits of sunshine thrown in just to keep us from getting too depressed. Here we can see the Skytrain Bridge peaking through the fog.

On Friday we saw a couple of gentlemen fishing or maybe just telling stories. Is the man on the right showing how big the one that got away was?

When I asked the man he just laughed and said "maybe it was even bigger but he did not want to exaggerate".

Walking back from the Market we saw something that reminded me of my cousin Adriano in Italy. This cat has a pampered life just like Adriano's two cats.



Saturday was a special day, our good friend Doug celebrated his 60th birthday. His wife Nancy was the mastermind behind the surprise birthday party. The planning was done with military secrecy and coordination.

A good time was had by ALL!

HAPPY 60th BIRTHDAY DOUG

All were concerned that the smoke detectors would sound with all the smoke from the candles.



Since Doug and Nancy are heading off to Mexico the sombrero and sunglasses were perfect gifts. Our toast to Doug was made with a shot of tequila in keeping with the Mexican theme.


Doug loves the idea of sitting in the sun and doing.....nothing! Here he is with his Mexican attire, sun glassed and a bandana. The only thing that would be different is that he would not be wearing long sleeves and maybe have a glass of "hydration" in his hand.

In the front row is "his favorite niece, Lacey".

"Take only memories, Leave only footprints!"

Westminster Quay - River Market

Our good friends Doug and Nancy stayed with us for a few days. On the Saturday we walked down to the market to pick up a few things for dinner. While there we sampled some bread from "A Bread Affair" which tasted great.

Wide variety of products at the market from "Albert's Organic Apricot Butter" to "Canadian Hazelnut Oil". Suggest not going there when you are hungry as you may buy lots of goodies.

Here is a picture of us enjoying the cold sunny day with Maggie.

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Later that day we sat down for a glass or two of wine and then had a butternut squash pasta dinner.



On the Sunday we went to see Doug and Nancy's first grandchild. There was a baby shower at Kathy's parents for baby Gus. Lots of people there and Gus has enough clothes to last him until he is 3 years old.

Here is Danna getting her baby fix with little Gus.


Cannot forget to mention the "Pulled Pork" and buns. I should have put a couple in my pocket they were so good.


Since New Years we have had lots all types of weather. Rain, fog, snow and then a couple of days of bright sunshine.


While we were in Venice I took pictures of the building reflections in the water. When I saw this reflection it reminded me of Venice. The big difference is that in this picture there is a thin layer of ice on the surface.



On my last blog I wrote that I wanted my next picture to be of a palm tree where it is sunny and warm. On my walk a few days ago I found several palm trees that were basking in the sun, I got two out of my three wishes.
Unfortunately it was only 2°C.

                 


          January 13                                                                     January 14

Danna and I thought about using the palm tree as a backdrop for some of our pictures. You will see that the weather has been very strange.



Saturday we saw a cat sitting in a tree. Danna and I thought of the cat sitting on top of a telephone pole in the middle of a snow storm in Edson Alberta. Will not go into details now but we refer to him as the "divorce cat". The cat in this picture made his way down without any help so we call him the happy cat.

"Take only memories, Leave only footprints!"

January 2013 in New Westminster

The arrival of a New Year requires a toast with our favourite bottle of bubbly.. Prosecco. A toast to all of our relatives and friends for Happy and Healthy 2013.

The last few days have been cloudy with constant rain showers.
Very gloomy and we long for the days last August when it was sunny every day.
Temperatures of 32° C have been replaced by 32° F.
On sunny days my friend and I go for a walk to soak up the warm sun.

This morning we woke up to a strange thing called sunshine. Out I went for my morning walk with Maggie. While she was sniffing I was enjoying the view of the sun trying to burn through the morning fog.
Here is our Happy little dog waving to all of you.

Even though the fog made everything look grey I did find some colourful plants to brighten my day. This rose looks as if it was dusted with icing sugar.

The gardeners do a great job of keeping the flower beds stocked with plants year round. There are several varieties of winter cabbage along the Quay.

I would like my next picture to be a palm tree somewhere warm and sunny!

"Take only memories, Leave only footprints!"