Follow your inner moonlight; don't hide the madness. -Allen Ginsberg, poet (1926-1997)
Hello Acropolis Man and Penelope, The Stay-at-Home, Lurking-in-the-Shadows Naramata Neriad!
Trust you are knocking back ouzo and retsina in copious quantities, Dom
Jugos! Sorry that I've not been in touch sooner but it seems as if life,
of late, has been speeding up instead of slowing down. Thank you for
kindly allowing me to come early for pre-Fondo training.
I'll be in touch about when you might expect me. Have to figure things
out myself, first! Anyway, much appreciated.
Vintage twist!
Great shot Flash! Jimmy Olsen would be proud! Cheers, Patrizzio!
Busy weekend with Dram Come True this past Friday evening:
https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/dram-come-true
with Big Al the Enforcer, Pazzesco
Paolo, (Al's friend) and Admiral Barnacle. Cora Lee was
off to Victoria that morning, to give a Friends of VPL presentation at
BCLA Annual Conference on Saturday morning so she was not along. Sarge
was to come to malt event but he was asked,
after he decided on Dram, to run for Board of Skate Canada and was in
Quebec City for weekend.
We met at our place, around 5:30 pm to have
something to eat before tasting. There were appetizers at Hycroft,
throughout the course of the evening, but from experience,
we have found it is better to have a "base" before starting to imbibe
anything, let alone malt whisky! I prepared chicken thighs and Greek
potatoes and we ate on patio before catching a cab to Hycroft.
Joan and Paul Whitney, along with Brenda Peterson
and friends were there as well. Grand, grand time was had by all! For
me, Bar 4, Scotch Malt Whiskey Society, was the highlight with 7
wonderful, wonderful bottles. Simply love the names, never mind the distinctive flavours, aromas and tastes:
29.132
Hospitals & Japanese Restaurants; 41.52 Boiled Sweets and Play-doh;
53.167 Old Style Smoky Pubs; 59.21 Subtle Fruits and Minerals; 66.32
The Roly-Poly Pudding; 121.62 Steak and Ale Pie; G4.2 Attractive Spirit
in a Cloak of Oak.
Bar 2, Kavalan, was a hit as well with pours of Kavalan Concertmaster, Ex-Bourbon Oak and Sherry Oak. Even had a post-Dram gathering at our place, after we all lurched down the hill, as we certainly needed more
malt!
On Saturday afternoon saw Mme. Coriandre,
briefly, just back from Victoria, and then, almost immediately off to
Sunshine Valley for night with friend, Choocheranian, [Carol worked at VPL with Janice Douglas before moving to
La Pocatière and was in town for a high school reunion. She stayed with
us, at The Annexe for a week or so.], to have a Babes Bash with Colleen and other former VPL workmates. For my part cycled over
Burrard and down Davie to Seymour to see Final
Cut, marvelloso indeed, [clips from 400+ films were used to tell this
archetypal, celluloid love story], at VanCity, then back to Seawall at
bottom of Davie and around Science World home.
Visited
with Chloë, off shift from GIB,
for an hour or so and then Ayn called. Long, catching up chat which
ended with her calling back for my Visa number so that she could book
her flight to Bellingham, on Allegiant,
in August for Festival Of Ashes, (Vogt family will scatter Erich's and
John's, (Ayn's biological father's),
ashes in Tofino! Cora Lee, Chloë and I have been invited as well.
Erich's estate is paying for four nights there but due to both Ayn's and
Chloe's work schedules we will only be staying for two nights. [Long
backstory about Long Beach but will relate between training runs!]
Then I phoned Whirlygig to say hello as he was off fishing, on Sunday,
for five days at Hatheume Lake, not far from Merritt, then
back in town briefly, from 5th to the 8th of June, before
driving north to Yukon. He will be in the north until close to the end
of the month so won't see much of him, what with one thing and another,
before we leave for Winnipeg on July 22nd. He moves to property he
bought, on Galiano, at end of July!
After
showering I prepared
myself a delish dinner of Chorizo sausages and zucchini and beavered
away, answering email all evening until, to my horror, I discovered a
water leak in kitchen!
At first I thought it was simply
some excess that had collected under mat in front of sink when I'd
washed floor with a wet towel, my preferred method, that morning. Once
I'd mopped that up I thought all was well until most recent discovery.
Wasn't sure if there is a slow
leak in some exhaust connection as there was not dampness under sink
itself. Decided I'd pull out dishwasher next morning.
Just what I needed! Plumbing
problems are nothing less than nightmares in my experience. Expense
aside it's such a messy problem. After shutting of water to both sink
and dishwater I placed a number of large beach towels on floor for
soppage over course of the night. Was almost afraid to go to sleep.
Next
morning Big Al phoned. We had arranged to go for a ride before he
staggered off home, late Friday night! When I informed him of my water
problem he very kindly offered to take a look.
Needless to say I didn't
have to think twice about SHOUTING "YES, PLEASE!", into the receiver! We
decided we'd compromise on a longish ride so decided to meet at Nanaimo
SkyTrain Station. Did just that and we had a very pleasant ride back
together, revisiting Dram and otherwise catching up. Back home it didn't
take much for Al to determine that offending part was the dishwasher's
water inlet valve. ( Quite amazing what DIY videos one can find on
YouTube for such diagnostics although Al has had a lot of experience
fixing almost everything imaginable, a younger version of Dusty!)
In
well under an hour he had unhooked part and we had located all the
necessary serial/model #'s as I was going to phone Reliable Parts next
day to order item. After that we walked over to GI and I bought my
personal plumber lunch.
We enjoyed a very tasty Thai dish, eating outside and enjoying watching
water life on False Creek, fending off greedy gulls! Strolled back to
GIB, (We'd popped in to see Chloë on way over as I wanted to buy him
some beer as partial payment for all Al had done.), and Chloë had a
"gift" bag ready to go: four bottles of Swing Span Amber Ale and four,
650ml, 8.9%, of Shiploads of Hops Imperial IPA! Thanking her we returned
to The Islay Inn and we loaded his bike into his truck. 9He had left it
here on Friday as he certainly didn't want to drive home after Dram!). I
thanked him profusely and he drove off to see his Mom who lives in
Kerrisdale.
Tidied
up kitchen and then went for another ride. Did a loop out to UBC and
then along Marine to Kent and up Cambie.
Had wanted to drop into MEC to
buy a new water bottle. [Chloë had given me one I really liked, for
Christmas. On Friday, I had taken my car in to Coastal for an oil
change, etc.,
and ended that day's ride there. When I loaded my bike onto rack I took
water bottle out of holder on frame and set it on the back bumper. Of
course I forgot to put it in car and it "disappeared" somewhere between
Coastal and home!]
At any rate, store was closed by the time I rode by so I simply
continued on home. Just as I was about to enter building Flamin's drove
out and we chatted briefly. That afternoon there was a leak, stemming
form water line to fridge and their place was flooded! Fortunately she
caught it before water started running down the hallway but damage is
still quite significant. My dishwasher problems seemed rather laughable
in comparison!
Anyway,
Babes were back from Sunshine Valley and we enjoyed tasty turkey
burgers for dinner. Chooch retired early as she had been "socializing"
almost every night for last ten days and was leaving on the morrow. We
watched next episode of Game of Thrones and then went to bed ourselves. Had
a fab ride out to
Queensborough Bridge via UBC, Marine, Kent, back along River Road
and then up Cambie. Glorious day so it was more than a delight to be
logging the distances I'll need for the Granfondo! Stats for
ride:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/512782425#.U40i5arCWkE.email
Back
home I showered and changed and then we had a pleasant dinner of
overlefts while we watched an episode of Breaking Bad on Netflix.
Halfway through first episode of the night Flamin', Sarge, Molly and
Autumn, (Kid Chelene's/Beckster's cat living with them while kids are
out of town.), came upstairs.
Turns out that all the noise from drying
fans is driving everyone nuts! Not only that BUT they are going to have
to move out for two months, at least! Hardwood flooring has to be
replaced and a significant amount of drywall, (bottom part of walls),
needs to be removed. Restoration people are hoping fans will prevent
water from rising all the way up the walls but this remains to be seen,
of course.
Sutherlands
are hoping to move into a short-term rental suite here in building but
it isn't available for two or three weeks so they will likely use The
Annexe as "swing space" until then. As you can appreciate, it will be
easier/more convenient for them if they don't have to move all their
clothing and other personal items while restoration is in process. So,
plenty of action here at and around The Islay Inn!
In
spite of dislocation, (or perhaps due to it!), they are still planning
to come up for the Granfondo weekend, Cora Lee with them. Sarge would
like to leave early on Friday morning so, as of this writing, that is
probably what will happen. I'll bring along our blow-up bed, as Cora Lee
mentioned back in April, so that should be fine, given the fact that
you have one as well. Anyway, we can work out the fine details on the
coming weeks.
Having
two tables of bridge tomorrow so should be fun. Must away as I need to
head out to Reliable to collect dishwasher part. Fondestos to you both
from "Mary Martin"/Cora Lee. (She just had her hair cut and she looks like MM as Peter Pan!) Cheers, Patrizzio!
Pics: Pre-dinner Swing Span; patio dining, (snap by Big Al); waiting
for doors to open with Loring Bohacj, former VPL Board member; Brenda
with friends; cooling off in shower; near the end of the evening and our
tethers! Mary Martin, a surreptitious shot, this morning! I couldn't
ask for a "pose" as I'd have been given the baleful/evil goat's eye!
Great shot of Fez meatery, by the way!
Hi again, Pat! Thanks for consideration about wine discount and
storage. Once more, much appreciated. I'll be in touch with Cactus and
if they are planning a trip to Sonoma anyway, I'll ask them to pop by.
We would probably visit them in Berkeley when down anyway so not a big
deal in terms of where we collect wine.
Whirligig received his
moniker quite a few years ago. Due to a back injury, sustained while
skiing, in the '80's, George, (his given name!), had to have some bones
in his neck fused. As a result, he has quite an awkward squash swing and
his on court gyrations reminded me of a whirligig/whirlygig when I
captained doubles team for our club! His brother, and squash partner, is
Carlos the Jackal. Charles is an architect and so I jokingly refer to
him as a rapacious/voracious developer, stealing nick-name from infamous
international assassin of same name.
Plan to find out more
details on charging station at GI this week so will let you know as soon
as I've ascertained some hard facts. Just the facts, Ma'am, just the
facts, don'tcha know! Fondestos to you both from "Mary Martin"/Cora Lee. (She just had her
hair cut and she looks like Nellie in South Pacific's "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair"! Cheers, Patrizzio!
My channel broke new records this weekend for ratings - WHEEEEEEEE!!
HALLMARK MOVIE CHANNEL
The May 31st premiere of the Hallmark Movie Channel original movie “The Color of Rain” (Sat 9-11P) delivered a 1.6 HH rating with 848,000 households!
“The Color of Rain” becomes HMC’s highest original movie premiere of all-time among HH’s, W25-54 (154,000), A25-54 (195,000) and Total Viewers P2+ (1.004 million)! “The Color of Rain” also ranks as HMC’s 3rd highest telecast of all-time among HH’s, and the 2nd highest telecast in HMC history among W25-54. In addition, the Sat 11p-1a encore of “The Color of Rain” averaged 170,000 W25-54 and 228,000 A25-54 - This makes the 11p encore the highest telecast in HMC history among W25-54! Boosted by “The Color of Rain”, the week of 5/26-6/1/14 becomes HMC’s highest weekly Prime Time average ever in network history! Competitively, “The Color of Rain” was the #1 rated ad-supported cable movie of the DAY and the #3 movie of the WEEK among HH rtg (behind LIF’s “Petals on the Wind” and USA’s “Safe Haven”)! The premiere airing of “The Color of Rain” was seen by more than 1.4 million unduplicated viewers (P2+)! The premiere plus its 4 encores combined to reach 3.0 million unduplicated viewers!
Congrats!! You're a star, Love Mom I will send you a copy of the movie, it will make you weepy Nana! xoxo Yippee Sissy!!! Good JOB!!!!! xxxx
Aa-hooo! Werewolves of London! Aa-hooo! Werewolves of London!
Congratulations indeed! Does this mean we finally won the sweepstakes? Aa-hooo! Aa-hooo! Cheers, Unduplicated Papa!
”Unduplicated Papa” a whole new demographic! Unfortunately, one-of-a-kind!
Or…FORTUNATELY!!! Ha ha ha!! Depends on point of view, I suppose. Certainly "fortunate" from a network marketing angle. Who needs those stingy old men? However, "unfortunate" from a deep-pockets, Bank-of-Dad, income tax, "seat selection" and "convenience" extra charge flight perspective! Must away as I have to pawn my carbon fibre bike! Love Destitute Dad!
Hi Prince George Gal and Tutti Frutti Man! Glad you both can attend Coffaro BBQ. Will be in touch, regarding menu contributions,
as soon as we know exactly how many people will actually be coming!
Glad I'm not a lone voice wailing in the wilderness about Craft. Never
been to Banana Leaf and don't know Goldfinch so bit off a bust, am I
not!
Thanks for weekend wishes. In spite of flooding dislocation, (or perhaps due to it!), Flamin' and Sarge are still planning to come up for the Granfondo weekend, Cora Lee with them. Sarge would like to leave early on Friday morning, July 11th, (race is on Sunday), so, as of this writing, that is probably what will happen. I'll bring along our blow-up bed, (I'm planning to go up earlier that week to do some pre-training on course itself.), as another couple, Debbie and Ted, have spare bedroom "reserved" for weekend,. This will be Ted's third Penticton Granfondo! Should be fine, given the fact that our hosts, Lynne and Peter Lighthall have one as well.
So,
in light of my recent training program, are you interested in a jaunt
out to Horseshoe Bay on Saturday, Whistler Woman? I'm open to other
routes, Seymour Demo, per esempio? Let me know and we'll plan accordingly. Cheers, Patrizzio!
Hi Patrice, Thanks again for the pics. Here is Paulo’s address. We definitely don’t want Imelda compromising her lily white hands
for too long so the good news is I have the replacement part and can
install anytime. I could head out tomorrow morning if that suits you and
we could do a repeat of our last meeting minus
the missed meeting spot on your part of course!. Let me know.
Cheers, Al
Hi Maytag Man! Installation ride
sounds fabuloso! I'm happy with Nanaimo Station but perhaps I could meet
you at Boundary/Kent instead. Not sure if you have the time for that,
returning to the Heartbreak Hotel via Heather or Marine. I could put
your bike on my car rack, (Actually your rack!), and take you to whichever ST station you'd prefer after hook-up. However, I'm happy to do whatever your schedule/inclination dictates. Just let me know. Again, many thanks. Cheers, Patrizzio!
Pics: Have been meaning to send these along for ages!
Hi Pat, Kent / boundary is fine with me say 9 or is that too early?
Hi Big Al!
Is 10:00 am too late for you? If so, I won't go to bed tonight! Just drink until 6:00 am and then set out. Let me know.
We
are having Sarge, Flamin' and Juliette, friend from St John's, in town
on business, for dinner. Just waiting for them to arrive. Cora Lee is
bbqing chicken and I picked up some fresh corn at Young Brothers. Will
have orzo with fresh basil and heritage tomatoes with bocconcini, as
well. Malt for dessert!!! Cheers, Patrizzio!
Hi Pat, 10:00 will be fine if you need your beauty rest! How long do you think it will take you to get there?
Hey Patrice, Why don't you give me a call at 8:00 am.. have good night.
Hi Beauty Sleep Consultant! Reason I suggested 10:00 am was it
will probably take me about two hours to ride to Boundary and Kent,
approximately 40 km. I'll phone just before I leave. Off to bed now.
Cheers, Patrizzio!
Ok, whatever works out for you and Cactus vis-a-vis the wine pick up will work for us.
As for charging stations, Dave reminded me that he probably won't need
to charge while we're in Vancouver unless we take a sightseeing drive -
so don't put much effort into looking into charging stations. In fact,
he says there is a supercharging Tesla station
at the Tesla dealership in Vancouver and he would probably go there if
he needs to charge as it is "super fast," completing a full charge of
240 miles in less than an hour.
As for your sightseeing suggestions from previous memo, there are some
interesting prospects. As you say, we may wait til we arrive and talk to
you, see the scope of what's involved, etc before making any decisions.
It will be fun to decide "on the fly," something
Dave rarely does!
Cheers and best wishes to your Mary Martin - must be intriguing having a "new" wife for a few days (til you get used to it)! Pat
Hi Patrizzia! Looks like we are almost set with pre-planning! Good for not "on
the fly" Dave to have to be spontaneous! Having a "new" wife is
wonderful except that i have to pay for a new hairdo/haircut every
month!!!! Designer cupcakes, from Juliette, and malt for dessert!!! Cheers, Patrizzio!
I will probably ride my bike...what is your address and phone #. See you @ 7.
Thanks Ed
Hi Fast Eddy! We live on Lamey's Mill Road. Call our home line. See you at 7:00 pm. Cheers, Il Conduttore!
Hi Patrizio--Just a quick word to second Dom Pedro's invite for a few day's/night's stay chez nous in Naramata as you suss out the course for the GranFondo. Ted and Debbie are booked in for three nights--July 12, 13, 14.
They'll arrive sometime on Saturday afternoon and depart on Tuesday morning. So, the guest room is yours any time before the 12th and after the 14th if you should decide to stay in The Naramata longer. If all you Granville Islanders are going to be here on the 14th (Monday), we'd like to invite you to a BBQ dinner here. If not, how about Sunday? I know there's still lots of time to sort things out. I just thought I'd throw out something to think about. Cheers for now, Lynnie
P.S. Thanks again to y'all for coming to my big birthday bash. It was great time, wasn't it? And, I just love my bracelet. I've gotten so many compliments on it.
Hi Pat, All the malt tasting sounds wonderful!! Thanks for the update. You two have such a fun life. Too bad about Flamin' and Sarge having to move out due to leaks. My folks have had a leak too but have sufficient spare rooms so that they are still in their house. Most difficult for my mom who has had to move to a spare bedroom - any disruption is extremely hard for her as she can hardly see anymore and her memory isn't great anymore.
Anyway, yes to a ride on Saturday. What time? I'd be happy with either Horse Shoe Bay or the Seymour forest. I'll come your way since the north shore seems to be the destination.
I just realized that I remember Joan Whitney - she worked at UBC didn't she? I didn't put her name together with Paul (who I've never met but have heard of). See you Saturday!! Sara
Stats for errand ride: 26.19 km over 1:36'06 for an AVG 16.3 km/hr. Went to Young Brother's for fruit and vegetables and then back home to drop groceries. Then on to MEC for two Polar water bottles. Was served by a very helpful young man, Rob, from Melbourne, so it was fun chatting with him about both Australia and living in Vancouver.
[A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope (from the Greek λυκάνθρωπος: λύκος, lykos, "wolf", and ἄνθρωπος, anthrōpos, "man"), is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse or affliction (e.g. via a bite or scratch from another werewolf). Early sources for belief in lycanthropy are Petronius and Gervase of Tilbury.]
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