Dinner and a "Slight" Night Ride....

After spending the day with computer issues, packing, and a measurable amount of "putting out fires"...I needed to get out of the house and was glad we had an invitation to join up with some folks that we love very much......Since I had not been on "Ms Vickey" in a few days, I was feeling like I should take her out at least one or two more times before confining her to a trailer for 6 days of travel......So, we headed out on our bikes to see our friends...:-)

After Scootard got the bikes uncovered, we discovered that the street cats had been sleeping under our cover again.  I guess even "homeless cats" like to have some protection from sun during the day and cold during the nights.....

 For some reason, they like to accummulate "stuff" on MY seat....I mean what are they doing, carrying this stuff on their paws??? 

After tending to that, we got on our way.  The ride was nice as the wind was not howling like it often does in the afternoon.  But, it did feel a bit shakey to me as I had not been on in a few days. I felt just a bit stressed as I don't ride every day like some..

We made it to the home of our host and then it hit me........I'M ALIVE!!!  hahah  That wasn't so bad after a three week "sit out".  whoo hooo!!

 We had a great dinner of prime rib, mashed potatoes, and carrots with dill......yum....Do you know what was left on my plate.....?

NADA!  NOTHING! ZIPPO!

 

Sooooo, I forgot to take a pic of that award winning meal..., but you get the drift, right? 

We pealed ourselves away from the table and retired to the living room where we would be keeping company with this guy...... 

yep....  "Bullwinkle"!......How'd you like to wear that on your head all day??  Interesting fellow even though he didn't add much to our conversation.....just not as sociable as the rest of us I guess....

after a superb dinner and some very good conversation, we decided to head home as we were losing light.......The trip was pleasant and quiet...(ear plugs help, trust me!), and the sun was setting fast!  We made it just before complete sunset. Scootard started locking the bikes together again as is his habit.

I started putting my stuff away....you know us girls seem to always have "stuff" no matter how we are traveling....

I mean once the sun slipps behind the moutains, it can get dark in an instant!  So, I was trying to hurry as we have lots of tree roots to avoid on the path the leads to our home...

See what I mean?!  Holy Moly!  Can't see nothing but my reflective strips...

Well, home again and looking forward to the next trip with "Ms Vickey" and Scootard as my "experienced chaperone"....:-)  Thanks, honey....:-)

Hubby in the Kitchen......:-)

Today started out very early again.  I'm not smiling when I say that because very early means 4:00 or so.  The birds aren't even stirring yet!  So, sometimes when I am awake that early, I feel like I am going "nowhere" while waiting for everyone else in my part of the world to wake up!

After praying about everything I could think of I decided there was a lot to do in regard to our trip south. So I should get up and continue doing it.  It's been a very busy week trying to get things in order with our home and ministry before we leave.Which means I still had a lot of packing to do! I started early..... I mean like.... the other day! ha

  

Well, enough of that foolishness half the day!  Time for a break.  A cup of "joe" of my favorite coffe sounded like a plan to me.

It was then to my utter amazement that I heard a strange sound in the kitchen.  What to my wondering eyes did appear?  It was Scootard, reved up about some chicken macaroni and chees casserole......hummmm.  Now, THIS could get dangerous!   

 There he was; cutting, steaming, chopping.......meanwhile, I was grabbing pieces of cheese....  you know; to "tide me over" until the materpiece emerged....:-)

ok,  I can feel this....sauteed onions and mushrooms....

Bechamel sauce with some roasted peppers and garlic.......hummm.  okie dokie...

The chicken had been roasting away in the oven and now was ready for the cutting board...Dinner was starting to look interesting.....you know, with me being a professional cook/chef at one time in my life....  The broccoli was going to be a good addition for balance.....ok, so far so good....:-)

And then he started added things together........

  Now, I should have taken pictures of the layering process that Scootard went through, salivating all the way through to the end.  But I decided to spare him that candid shot...haha.  At the end of about 35-40 minutes.......his casserole emmerged....

Now, had I been in the kitchen when he added the broccoli, I would have told him that unless he "immersed" them in the sauce, they would come out like tiny trees that had been set on fire at one time.  However, the broccoli survived and dinner was quite tasty......

Thank you, honey....:-).  I'm waiting for the next adventure!

Farewell to Switzerland!

This morning we decided to be up early to catch our last pics of our Swiss guest...:-).  We had a cup of coffee and talked about our respective plans for the day....

It was time for Marc to meet his taxi who would take him to his next destination.  It was very strange to me as the people who have come so far have been young.  So, it feels like I am watching my "kids" go off on these extreme adventures! ha.....I know...it's strange.

He was very appreciative of our hospitality and thanked us for everything.  He took our picture as well the evening before....:-).

You are welcome, Marc.....:-)

We hope his mountaineering experience is all that he expects it to be......:-)

We wished him a safe journey!

Now we start planning our own couch surfing experiences for our upcoming trip!

Cedar Plank Salmon and Swiss Couch Surfer Day 2

It proved to be a VERY WINDY DAY....and of course, we braved the elements and headed out to our Sunday service across town.  Marc and left almost 2 hours before us for his mountaineering classes.  So, we knew we had most of the day free until about dinner time.  This is the view from the house where we had our service.

 After service, we had the best cedar plank salmon I had ever eaten.  The fish was pretty large and had been caught by our host on a recent fishing trip.

 This is my plate with seasoned mushroom rice, garlic bread and broccoli....and peach soda type drink.  I think it was an "all natural" thingee....:-).  Pretty good!

 Tasted pretty peachy too....:-)

 We sat out on the deck for a while knowing that we had a few hours still before Marc would be done with his classes and we needed to be back home.

 Then we decided to drop our bikes at home and make a run for the beach complete with a picnic that didn't have any food...ha.  We were too full from lunch!

I love the water and didn't grow up around beaches.  So, going to one is alway special to me.  The challenge for me with this one is that it is littered with wood chips and splinters from the logging that goes on....:-(.  But, this is kinda all you've got here.   

We finally went home as the wind was about to carry us into the next province! And Marc joined us an hour later having had a full day of mountaineer training!  Did I mention that in Switzerland, he is a ski and snowboard instructor?  And that one of his adventures including a 2700kilometer ........(wait for it)............WALK to Spain from his home in Switzlerland!?   

So, with all of this adventure going on in his life, we figured the guy had to be hungry!  Baked chicken, potatoe salad and greek salad was a quick pick from the store....and we hate......twice!

 yep........ha.  did I mention the French Press coffee and lemon poppyseed muffins for desert? 

 Then after rolling ourselves into the living room, we talked more about travel, watched a few documentaries and looked at pictures from Marc's 2700 kilometer pilgrimage....Wow.  What a journey!

Marc is showing us some of the roads that he walked which is called the Northern route to Santiago De Compostela and Finisterre, Spain.

I was glad that I had asked him to sign our guest book the night before as shortly after the pics from the pilgrimage and a little bit of a movie, our guest retired to his room for the evening.....very grateful for the hospitality.  He will be leaving early in the moring to continue his adventure in Canada before returning home to Switzerland.  We are glad to have met him....:-). 

Our "Couch Surfer" From Switzlerland!

This is our current guest from Switzlerland.  His name is "Marc"...:-).  He is  part of the "couch surfer's" community and is here in Canada for a mountaineering course...:-)

 I had my trusty camera and snapped a picture of Marc and Chris saying hello for the first time face to face.  This is Marc's first couch surfing experience....and this is our second time hosting a surfer. 

 Marc had some GINORMOUS luggage bags with all of his gear for his touring and couch surfing needs.  I decided to let Chris man handle that! ha

 We finally got back and started to get settled in....:-)

 And of course EVERYONE that comes has to meet "Jasmine" the rat.....:-).  Yep, we have one of those....:-). She thought Marc was a new snack..ha.

 We told Marc about our scooters and he told us that he had a motorcycle back in Switzerland.  He has a Yamaha 125 motorcross DT.  I hope I said that right....???

 So, you know the guys are scheaming about going out for whirl on them....:-).  I decided to sit this one out.

 After fitting Marc with the proper helmet, they took off.  I was not happy that neither of them were wearing the proper gear...:-(  Chris took my bike (Ms Vicky) and let Mark take his Majesty.

 It was kinda weird turning to see both bikes GONE and I wasn't on either of them....AND THEN it occurred to me, that I had locked myself out of the house!  ugh!!

 fortunately for me they were only gone about 20 minutes.  It was getting chilly outside when they came barreling around the corner.   Yay for me! ha.  Scootard was riding Ms Vicky like he stole her!

 Marc was really impressed with a 400cc scooter and said he really like it.  He found it very comfortable.

ok....can you guys "chin wag" INSIDE the house now??  I'm cold!

So, we finally made it back inside and started sharing travel stories and pictures of some of our adventures....:-).  It was a very pleasant evening.