brothers 3 in Kelowna

 

Another view of my 3 brothers..I wonder why Marty is always in the middle?

brothers

 

The great thing about being back on the West Coast is that I can see all my brothers! Marty has arrived back after wintering on Ko Samui (he's the middle one above) Pat says he looks like George Bush, I'm not so sure. Wayne, the youngest on the right, lives here and Bob (on the left)lives in Kelowna. Last Friday we all spent the night at Wayne's and caught up on events over the past 6 months amidst copious amounts of red wine.
It has rained every day since I arrived back here in BC and today was no exception. I am cleaning the apartment that I've been renting for the past year and moving into my own Yaletown pad. Cleaning is not my favouritte pastime so I'm quite OK with the rain today. I'm certainly hoping for drier & sunnier weather in July so I can enjopy the rooftop deck.
The highlight of my day was a 3-way Google Talk session with Pat & Ra, altho' things did get a little confusing over the Elvis impersonators. Seems we three have all personally known Elvis impersonators: I had to be reminded that Andrea Appolloni, of Rome, was one. I wonder how come he sent Pat a demo and not me!!!!

finding my totem

 

Three years ago on my annual trip to Largo Canyon, Pat and I had a long discussion on what my totem could be. I'd never felt any attraction or connection to any particular animal so choosing a totem proved to be quite difficult. I tried dreaming of an animal because often Native American Indians had their totems choose them in this fashion. Being a Native Canadian of the Mic Maw tribe of Newfoundland, I thought this would be the best way. Unfortunately, altho' I always have excellent adventuresome dreams whenever I'm in the Largo, this time no animals appeared to me.
Perhaps because she was tired of my constant whining about being totem-less, Pat suggested a "meer cat". (She, of course, is that excellent Jack Rabbit Woman!) I was totally unfamiliar with the meer cat and was actually unaware that they even existed so I proceeded to dismiss it as a possibility. As often happens with Pat's suggestions, I was unable to forget about it and even went so far as to research pictures of meer cats.
I've been using one as my avatar on Google Talk for awhile now. Recently, I came across this advertisement for Telecom Australia on UTube. After watching it, I am convinced that the meer cat must be my totem as I often find myself nodding off to sleep over dinner in exactly the same way, especially after a long work day at Largo Canyon!

meercat

january in new brunswick (archived entry)

 

January 25th It's so cold here in Eastern Canada. I'm in St. Andrews, New Brunswick for 6 weeks to visit my sisters. Mostly we stay in the house or bundle up & just run to the car & back to the house. Can't walk anywhere because is 40 below with wind chill factor. I tried to go out for a walk the other day but had to come home because my face was getting frostbitten and my legs were so cold in my cords that they were burning/tingling!

The picture shows the "sea mist" that occurs when the air is colder than the water of the Passmaquoddy Bay, off the North Atlantic Ocean. It is beautiful when it occurs but shows how very cold it is!

It's my birthday! Very strange to be amongst family for my birthday, am usually in Thailand at this time of year. Linda and Sandy invited some of my friends in for lunch & we had a super time...I made my own birthday cake (lemonade) as I wanted something fairly light & not too calorie-ridden.

Cold weather comfort food is the mainstay here but I've taken a membership at the local gym & am trying to workout every couple of days. I'm still following the program for walking the 10K Sun Run in Vancouver in April. It's a battle, though: home cooking (crab bisque, warm gingerbread with whipped cream, banana cream pies, garlic smashed mashed potatoes, moose chili, baked beans, etc.) VS exercise. You can imagine which is winning right now but I'm hopeful that I'll eventually emerge the victor.

low tide st. andrews wharf

june in st. andrews

Spent last ten days in NB visiting my sisters, Linda & Sandy. Weather was wet with occasional sunny breaks but that didn't lessen Linda's enthusiasm for shopping. I left there with 6 pairs of shoes and a complete summer wardrobe. Now I only have to find summer as it's wet in BC as well!
Highlights were a sunny afternoon spent in Catherine's garden drinking brandied coffees, nights at Sandy's lakeside cottage listening to the rain on the tin roof,
the nightly glasses of Merlot with Sandy after cleaning the laundromat and sitting in front of the video store, eating ice cream with my sisters.