Dark days of the Year

Here in Victoria we only get about 8 hours of daylight at this time of year so when the Solstice passes I'm pretty happy and once the Christmas decorations are packed away it's offically spring in my mind. It may still be dreary and cold but daylight extends by minutes every day and the sun starts to gather strength again while our first flowering trees appear right about now and the bulbs are starting to push their leaves up. But, while I am looking forward to longer and warmer days, I don't want to hurry away from Christmas and quiet evenings by the fire so this post is about the Merry Christmas season.

some over-the-top houses!

The pre-season ripped by this year with our trip to Halifax and the laundry room fiasco, until finally on the 23rd we called a halt to all except Christmas activities. We had Kaye Mains staying with us as Randy is on a working tour in Abu Dhabi, and my cousin Jamie McAra rounded out the party. On the 24th we made the rounds to look at some of the extreme decorations that people do, had tortiere for supper, and watched the George C Scott version of "A Christmas Carol": 1983 and the BEST version I don't care what you say.

This was a year of travelling for many of our friends and family members so our usual dinner table of 10-12 was down to 4. Knowing that well ahead of time I grabbed what I thought was a small turkey, 3.78kg, only to realize later that it was $3.78 per kg and actually weighed in at a hefty 8kg! If only the customer would read the fine print... And you know how it is with recipes you've been using for years; you just keep making the same quantity. I was reminded of Jim's mother and the massive amounts of food she used to cook and then send leftovers off with the guests. We were 4 on Christams day, 4 on boxing day (Mark & Melynda were back from Calgary), and now on day 3 there is barely enough turkey left for a sandwich after M&M took a platter away with them. The moral of the story being that there is no such thing as a turkey 'too big'. And it was good!

Me, Jamie, Jim. Kaye. Mark & Melynda

We have had a run of spectacular weather which is reason enough to celebrate. Christmas day was sunny and crisp, and when I came down at 7:00am to get the bird ready for the oven, the frost was heavy enough that it looked like snow on the roofs across the street. We had our meal at 1:00pm which makes for a lazy day and I highly recommend it. Jim and I had done most of the prep the day before so other than letting the oven do its job it was easy. And instead of a post dinner game, for which I am infamous, we studied the Boxing Day sale flyers!

Boxing Day was another perfect day so we braved the crazies and went shopping. We scored parking places at Mayfair Mall and at the downtown Bay, both absolute miracles of good fortune. And we also scored the last 32" Sony TV @ $399.99 at the Bay. Didn't need it but had been talking about a small one for the office so I have an alternative to golf when there is a tournament on. We have 2 other TVs in the house but they are big old clunkers and not 'convenient' for the princess. We had lunch at the Bard & Banker and decided yet again that while it is a gorgeous building it is overpriced and over-rated. We may be biased but for value and enjoyment it's hard to beat Mark's restaurant, the Swiftsure.

Which brings me to today, December 27. Jim is just off to play golf and I have the day to putter or do nothing. I may even broach my Spanish books, and there are always the painting commitments...

next chapter: the laundry room

Last March Jim did a gorgeous job renovating and 'tarting up' the laundry/utility room. As we were soon leaving for South Africa and had a California couple staying in the house while we were away, expeiency demanded that he install a laminate floor to match the adjacent powder room rather than replace everything. What we didn't know then, but quickly learned, is that a front load washing machine should be on a rigid floor or concrete; in other words the shocks went on the washer leaving the drum crashing around quite dramatically. So we had the shocks replaced and went our merry way - until this past Sunday. I was downstairs in the studio and there was an almighty bang and ensuing racket overhead By the time I got upstairs the washer had walked itself across the room, no mean feat as it was tightly ensconced between the sink cabinet and the dryer. We didn't need the appliance repairman to know the shocks were gone again only 10 months later! We decided to cut our losses with our 8 year old GE Profile which we were told last year by the repairman wasn't a great model.

The offending washer

Monday I spent a lot of the day learning about washing machines from Consumer Reports and by the end of the day we had purchased a Samsung machine to be delivered on December 23; Merry Christmas. We got a good buy from 'Martin' at Sears who said he had never sold a Profile and never would. He also said that Samsung or LG were the best washers to buy because they have a direct drive system instead of a belt drive which stabilizes the vibration/broken shock issue. By now you have probably lost interest in this story but someday you may need the information so pay attention.

Jim dismantling the sink and lookiing a tad discouraged

How many screws?

Which brings me back to the floor since there was no point in putting a new washer on top of the laminate no matter how good the machine is. Luckily we have a good relationship with Tenor Tile and they are doing a big job for us in January so were predisposed to be extra kind to us. It is now only Thursday morning and Robin is here laying tile!

 However, between Monday afternoon and this morning Jim and I dismantled and emptied the laundry and powder rooms, and installed a new subfloor base for the tile (500 screws?) Once the tile is down we have to put it all back together again, only the new washer is 2 inches taller than the old one so the sink cabinet and counter top have to be adjusted to accomodate the new height. Are we having fun yet? And did I mention that since we had to pull out the toilet we decided to replace it with a water saving model? Another Consumer Reports search and I learned that there are a lot of highly touted toilets that don't make the grade. I figured we'd have to shop around and it would be a time-consuming search but we bought an American Standard Cadet 3 in less than 60 seconds from Bartle and Gibson (our first stop because it is so close by) for less than it would have cost at Home Depot. Go figure.

powder room looking good

In the meantime the office decor has changed considerably as we are boxed in by the freezer, sink, cabinet, counter and accumulated debris from across the hall.

Jim says there will be a door on the powder room by the end of today; it's functional but a bit exposed for guests to use! But he 'had' to play golf this morning so it's 2:30 and no door yet even though ; has accomplished an amazing amount in the last few days.
We'll take a break from this project until the washer arrives on Wednesday because I don't think we should fix the new height for the counter until we actually see the machine in position. I've gotten a  bit leary of measurements over the years and prefer to see for myself. But by Christams Eve we should be all systems go again having destroyed and rebuilt the space in 10 days with some important improvements.
And while that's not quite the end of the chapter, it's enough to be going on with. J.

The door!

We've known for a couple of years that we should replace our front door system but it kept getting pushed down the list of projects. We had double doors which are very convenient when you are moving in and out of a house but the rest of the time they don't make a very draft proof entry. By their nature, they move a bit so they don't seal well and ours had been not so well installed and one side was a bit warped resulting in an even worse seal; we could see daylight at the bottom, which isn't good. And besides not being very energy friendly we had painted the doors a couple of times and they looked crummy. Thanks to Craigs List those doors are now happily living as garden doors in someone else's house and they are happy (doors and new owners).

We on the other hand have a brand new gorgeous single fibreglass door with two sidelights, but it was a bit of a saga getting there.  We've been travelling quite a bit for the last 8 months so sheduling was a bit tricky. In the end we fit it in between Phoenix and Halifax, a two week window, because I was quite determined to have a new door before the winter. We got home from AZ on a Wednesday night and the door was delivered at 8:00 on Friday morning. I spent until the following Saturday staining and varnishing it: two coats of stain on each side, 4 coats of varnish on the outside and 2 on the inside. What did I learn? Pay the extra $500.00 and let the professionals do the job. It turned out fine but there were some very discouraging moments. If you've been paying attention you know that we are now into 10 days of our 2 weeks.
Monday morning we are expecting our handy dandy handyman to help Jim with the installation because I have refused to get involved in that exercise. Between Don & Jim they miscommunicated on Don's return from Mexico by 24 hours, but in the meantime Jim has removed the old door which is literally swinging free by 9:30am. So, an emergency call to one of Jim's golfing buddies who has some skills, Gary Wilson, and the cavalry arrived within an hour.

Mark & Melynda brought lunch and I pretty much stayed out of the way. Actually I wrapped Christmas gifts to take east. Oh yes, and those pesky Christmas decorations that we like...

By 4:00pm the door has been hung, and the lock works. Did I mention we got a number pad lock instead of a key entry; very cool. But it's a cold evening and we have gaps everywhere so Jim worked until about 7:00 to get us airtight.

So now it's Tuesday morning and we are leaving town at 6:00am on Thursday so we are running out of flight deck and lots to do not even counting the unfinished door.

Wanting to put on a good face to the world somehow Jim got the exterior trim painted and installed so we weren't an invitation to a burglar to help him/herself. We did leave for Halifax without the alarm contact reinstalled and our alarm company has been calling regularly to find out when we are going to get to it. Maybe tomorrow?

Of course our housekeeper now couldn't access the house so she got a quick lesson on the keypad over the phone and wisely she decided to drop by for a test run. She wasn't due at our place until the following week and by then she had muddled the instructions so when we got back from Halifax at 11:00pm on the Thursday we couldn't use the keypad. CLEVERLY I had taken the override key with me!

Are you exhausted by the story?

Jim finished the interior trim today and it looks smashing inside and out. But now I think I might have to paint the entry way becasue the yellow paint looks a bit bland.

We will have rebuilt this house several times over before we're finished, which is probably why we used to move so often. And that's the end of this story and I'm caught up so you may not hear from me for weeks.

Actually the end of the story is that our entry is remarkably warmer and brighter!

December in Victoria

This is a fun place in December, and BUSY with seasonal stuff. With friends, Joan & Rob Tweedie and my cousin Barb who took the photos, we went to the annual 'lighted truck parade' on Saturday and it was even better than before. It's a fund raiser for the Mustard Seed Food Bank as is the annual Snata Claus parade in November. We braved the cold and wind on Dallas Road to see the trucks in the ocean-side darkness instead of with the ambient city lights up town.

The trucks are spectacular and hats off to whoever came up with this idea despite grumblings in the paper about polluting the environment. Does anyone else get tired of the constant grisling that pollutes society?
After the truck parade we ducked into the lobby of the Empress to warm up and to have a look at the festival of Trees, another fundraiser, this one for Children's Hospital.

Next on the agenda was the Harbour Ferry Ballet and an evening market. We missed the market and hot chocolate as we went to the other side of the harbour knowing our final destination was the Swiftsure Restaurant. The ferries are terminally cute even when they aren't decorated and they do this musical ride sort of maneuvering - very fun. As the ballet was finishing the lighted boat parade was beginning but by then we were so cold we opted for liquid refreshment and food. It really was cold, at only about 2C with a strong wind, and yes we are wimps too.

All that and we were still home by about 9:30 and as usual in Victoria, the turnout of spectators was brilliant. With the backdrop of the lit legislature it's pretty special.

Gone east and back

A long over due post! last heard from in Phoenix and since then we've been to Halifax to visit family. In the two weeks between times I stained and varnished our spiffy new front door and Jim installed it, we got Xmas lights up and presents wrapped to take east with us, and still managed to see some friends.

The view from our bedroom/sitting room at Paul and Sue's house on Hubley Mill Lake. It's in Upper Tantallon just outside Halifax. The properrty is beautiful and the house is beginning to be after a lot of money, blood, sweat and tears.  

 And the reason for the visit:

1. Paul and Jim enjoying a moment together.
2. Jillian sneaking snacks after being told she'd had enough.
3. The senior citizens: Jim's brother Pete and his wife Betty in the foreground. There are always lots of laughs when those two are in the room.
4. Rachel at not quite 7 is our 'dancing queen'.
5. Our daughter in law Sue, who suffers our general craziness in good spirit.
6. And dinner! 

And while we were away this time I totaled the number of weeks we've been gallivanting in the last year, 16, and we've decided to stay home for a few months instead of going south this winter. Not to mention we are spending money like drunken sailors on various updates to the house, some of which are actually necessary; so the coffers are more than a bit bare. With any luck we will have a mild winter although we are in the midst of an arctic outflow after a month of heavy rain. And still we are luckier to live here than anywhere else I can think of.

Last day in AZ, this trip

Lots of colour and fun sights: The sunsets are spectacular if there are any clouds at all, and this one lasted for about 30 minutes instead of the usual fleeting moment. The wedding was just too fun not to sneak a phot of and I am convinced red is the best bridal colour. Why waste your time on white when red is so gorgeous. The limo was a super long Hummer! The 3rd pic is of a Chihuly sculpture at Desert Botanical Gardens: stunning. I put these all on Facebook but withouth the story...

Putting in time today as it is hot again and we don't feel too energized. Went for a longish walk this morning which was enough. We picked up a sandwich and salad at Fry's and had a picnic in the greenbelt park that runs behind this apratment complex. The park seems to run for about 20 miles and is the most amazing public facility you can imagine. There are all kinds of outdoor sports facilities like frisbee golf, volleyball and basketball and lots of stramsa and ponds with people actually fishing, as well as miles of walking/cycling paths. We are impressed.

What we've learned on this trip is that we aren't cut out for an idle life. It's all very well to come south for a week or two but to imagine a couple of months of it is just completely outsid our realm. We have happy active lives at home with our frineds and projects and really aren't interrested in playing golf 5 times a week or eternal shopping. It's a good discovery as we won't be pining about it. Jim has just come in from washing the car, a vintage (1995) Lexus, and he's in a lather! Looking forward to a very busy two weeks at home before going east for a week of granddaughters.

Jim watching hockey

November 9 and we are in our last days in Scottsdale, for this trip. Today we spent a couple of hours at the Desert Botanical Garden in Papago Park, and were amazed again by the desert. It was only 84F, a far cry from the 115F it can be in the summer, and even so it was hot and so dry it is hard to imagine that indigenas populations were able to survive. We've been told that Phoenix doesn't actually have a water problem, also hard to imagine.

Day in the desert