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!"

Fall in New Westminster

We have arrived home and have been busy getting back to our "normal" life.

Last week our friends Doug and Nancy from Vancouver Island stayed with us for a few days. Too bad they could not stay longer as we both enjoy their company.

Here is a picture of Danna, Nancy and Doug walking next to the Fraser River. A bright sunny fall afternoon has now turned into a series of dark, rainy and windy days.




Now that things are getting back to "normal" I will have time to post some more pictures and stories about our adventure.

There are lots of people that we miss from our adventure and we think of them all the time.

Palermo After Dark

Sicily - last night

Our last night in Sicily proved to be very exciting. This adventure started when we left our lunchtime restaurant. There were several three wheeled taxis called "Ape" parked on the street.

While waiting for our bus to return one of the fellows struck up a
conversation with the drivers. We got on the bus and did not think anything more about it until we were having dinner. Romeo asked if we were interested in going for a tour of Palermo after dinner. Rather than the bus we were going to get nine "Ape" scooters to ride in. Each "Ape" can hold 4 passengers plus the driver.
We heard the buzzing of the "Ape" scooters before we saw them. Everyone got into a scooter, three in the back seat and one beside the driver.





Danna and I were lucky to ride in our own private scooter.

The quiet sedated ride we were expecting never happened. From the moment we left the hotel everyone knew that you had to hold on and say the occasional prayer. The scooters travelled down the roads in typical Italian formation, all of the drivers wanted to lead.

Here you see all the passengers smiling or is that just fear on their face?



One of the scooters had a very loud sound system that was blasting out the music.
Several times the scooters came in close contact with one another. Our driver said they had lots of room and not worry. I now know that Sicilian's definition of lots of room is 25mm or less!

We must have been quite as sight as even a local bike rider made a video of our parade of noisy scooters.

This couple on the bike just looked at us and did not want to make eye contact with these crazy tourists.

Our ride took us through some back streets of Palermo that tourists do not see even in the daytime. The scooters bounced over cobblestone roads, kicking up dust on the gravel sections and as people on the sidewalks cheered. Is this how it felt to be riding a chariot in the Roman times?



It was a bit difficult taking pictures with all the bouncing around but you can get an idea from this picture of the narrow streets we were on.
How many moving violations did I notice? Here is a list, no turn signal, driving on the wrong side of the street, passing on the right, tailgating, speeding, driving on the shoulder of the road, blocking the street.

All of this in only three blocks!!!

Stopped at a red light ahead of us were two motorcycle police, I guessed that we would all be thrown in jail when they started yelling at one of the drivers. The only thing they warned him about was his loud music.
All the scooters stopped in front of the opera house for a short break. We walked across the piazza to a small shop were we had a chance to taste some gelato or granita.




After our treats some of drivers started dancing with the ladies. The Sicilians will take every opportunity to have a good time.


With everyone in the scooters, horns honking we raced across the piazza in front of the opera house with people jumping out of our way.

Our tour lasted about 90 minutes and happily we made it back to the hotel without anyone being injured.

What a way to end our Sicilian adventure!
Everyone walked into the hotel laughing about our "sedate" tour of Palermo Italy.

"Take only memories, Leave only footprints!"

Sicily Tour

Sicily treated us to many new sights and tastes. From the ancient ruins to a simple treat called a Granita. So many things to tell you about but with the WiFi service being limited here is a condensed view of our trip. Later when we have better WiFi more info will be added.

Ancient temples and ruins were scattered throughout Sicily. These ruins have been rebuilt as a large earthquake toppled the columns.

My friend and I in front of the Temple Della Concordia.

Sicily has a wide range of plants growing in the fertile soil. One of the local treats are "Indian Figs" or prickly pears. Must be an acquired taste because they did not appeal to me.



A bronze statue was placed here in 2011 in memory of Icarus who flew too close to the sun. Here Is Danna's reaction when one of the men on our tour suggested she touch "a private part".


One day we travelled up Mt. Etna to view the craters. When we got there the mountain was in the clouds and it was pouring. Not much to do except get a cup of coffee. After an hour the sun came out and Danna went for a walk with our friends to view the lower crater while I climbed up to the next crater. The view was fantastic from both craters. I did not get tired climbing up the steep hill, but had to stop a couple of times just to take pictures.




We also had a chance to see the beautiful sandy beaches. Here is Danna with our tour guide Roberta, Josephine and Carmen.



The locals relaxing on a bench beside a church? Only two were locals the ones on the right are Nobert and Christian from our tour.



One one of our walks we saw a man fishing, his dog was sitting there watching us walk by. Danna went to say hello to the dog and the quiet little thing wanted to bite her head off. Danna decided to leave without giving the dog a pat on the head.



Forget about the ruins, churches and mountains....the reason we are in Sicily are these little guys. Sicily is the home of Cannoli and you cannot leave without having one or two of them. Some are just with a plain filling and others are made with chocolate chips or topped off with pistachios.



At one of the ruins you could view history and sip a fresh coffee.

The ladies took great enjoyment in seeing their husbands singing while they did the laundry at this ancient laundromat.



One night we went out for a Sicilian specialty Granita. It is available in many flavors but the most popular one is lemon. Do you think these guys are enjoying theirs?


The trip was fantastic and it ended with a wild tour through the back streets of Palermo which I will tell you about on the next blog.
After our week or touring we were dog tired. I think the next week on the ship I will be looking like this.

"Take only memories, Leave only footprints!"