Just Drifting.....:-)

Our time is winding down to start our journey back to the United States for a few months.  Of course all of this preparation is stressful and is a good reason for me to just get out and wander around from time to time. Today the forecast was for rain.  We were fortunate that it only sprinkled on us during the time we were wandering around. Especially if you are going to be near the water.  I love the beach with the exception of those sand shrimp thingees that scared the stew out of me on a previous travel.  So, that was our first destination today.....:-)

I have been living in this town for a few years now and have never walked down to the beach area.  I usually stayed on the asphalt were my car is usually parked.  Today, I decided to climb down the rocks and see what was what.

This had to be the biggest driftwood graveyard I had ever seen.  Even on television! Chris was having a time looking at all of it as well.  He is a BIG fan of driftwood......:-)
 

I mean you could build a house with all of this stuff!

And the pIeces were HUGE!  I was sure that some of it had to have brought in by crane, but Chris assured me that the ocean carries it in every winter and there it settles into its new home on the shore.

Our town used to be a very large logging town.  It still is a logging community, but not nearly as large as I'm told it used to be.  There were at least two sets of stairs that led to......well...NOWWHERE! ha
Which I thought was very cool......:-)
 

We spent quite some time there, but realized that we still had some errands to run for our trip.  On the way out, I snapped a picture of this cottonwood tree.  Or at least "I think" that's what it is.......
  

A little further down the road there was this Scotch Broom bush.  Invasive to Canada and originally brought over from Scotland close to 100 years ago, I'm told.

We made our way down to the local farmers market.  I noticed the beautiful trees that dotted the park. This is a Rhododendron tree (or bush) thingee....:-).

This is a picture of a small one that we planted a couple of years ago in the front garden area of our condo.  I shot this picture through the kitchen window.  Sorry about the "foggy" spots on the pic.  The little container at the base of the picture is a concoction I made to help control an ant problem.

 And just a few steps away was the market that is held each weekend in the summer into the fall.

Our town is NOT by any stretch a large place.  I mean 17,000 people is not that big of a deal when you come from a city of 1 1/2 million people.  I mean really.  In a place this size you could see your neighbors every ten minutes! ha

But I gotta give it to them, they are very much into nature here.  There were gluten free products....

Organic veggies and fruits......

and a neighbor!!  hahaha.  See ya in a few minutes!

I have no idea.......

Now, I gotta tell ya....I was eyeballing that cedar glider in the back since I am looking to beautify by backyard space in the states....but hauling it and making sure it didn't "wander off in the night" while we were sleeping in a hotel did not appeal to me.....so, alas!  We left it there.....:-(

And so, sorrowful of leaving the furniture....we ventured on to see what else we could get into.  Chris was ready for mischief.....ha

Fortunately, we didn't get into too much trouble...:-).  We did manage to snag these smokin bird baths to load into the car and take with us.  I know just where I will be putting them.  That is until I change my mind about it....:-)

 
And so, we headed back to the house to finish our preparation and to enjoy the rest of a quiet evening.

One week and one day before we head out.  We will see YOU somewhere on the road!

The View From My Window..

Spring has sprung (sorta) here in BC.  The first flowers that usually appear are crocus which are now long gone. When you live in a strata environment, there are a lot of "can't do" in the rules.  One is gardening that requires you to dig into the ground to plant anything.  However, a couple of years ago, we obtained permission (after the fact since I didn't know) to continue to make the property beautiful.  Below is the view from my front window.

We usually have more flowers than what you will see in these pictures.  But since we are leaving soon and will be gone for some time, we didn't plant any annuals this year.  The perennials should have died back before we leave.  I like waking up in the morning and and seeing this when I raise the blinds:

The Tulips that we planted seem to close at night and reopen in the mid afternoon.  This was taken in the morning.

I had never seen "Grape Hyacinth" before seeing them in another part of Canada.  We brought some back with us and planted them not know what would happen since it was from a different region.  It has done well....:-)

I call this one the Rose Tulip...:-)  It almost looks like a Peony.

This is also a Hyacinth. and as you can see, we have also put in lights that make the garden look beautiful at night...:-).

I call this one Snow White.  I made up these names because I have totally forgotten the real ones! ha

Purple Rain.....:-)

We also are helping our feathered friends by providing some nourishment for them. I think this one is in the Finch family....:-) We looked at a few pictures of birds in this area and concluded that it is a female House Finch.

 And then there is "Sadie" the humming bird who comes every year...:-).  This time she brought a friend with her, but they scurried away before I could snag a picture........

And so my fellow bloggers, it's another beautiful evening...almost the close of a not so perfect day.  But the sight of the flowers, birds and trees reminds me that there is beauty in the midst of a very chaotic world.

  
Take time to smell the flowers.  There are plenty of things that will stink on this journey through life! ha

Sweet dreams...:-)

Tick Bite!!

I love spring.  Especially after spending so much time on the internet looking at all of the possibilities of starting a new garden.  Unfortunately, even though it is still a bit chilly outside bugs are alive and well and traveling by whatever means they can manage.  Since I don't care to be wet or cold, it is not hard for me to spend several days at home before venturing outside.

 In this particular case, I had not been outside in a week  accept to visit friends who have a dog that spends lots of time outdoors.    It is a mystery (not really) of how it happened that I was bitten by a tick.  But it did in fact happen. How do I know (you may ask) that it was a tick?  We pulled it off of me and stared at it for quite some time in disbelief!  After several days of of trying to attend to it myself with antibiotic creams, enduring pain, swelling and eventual infection, Scootard put his foot down and took me to the hospital. At least it was a fairly decent day out.

After doing the initial interview with the nursing staff, it was made clear that this was a "rare" event for the hospital although they had seen this happen from time to time.    I had to ask myself with all of the outdoor sports that go on here all year round, how in the world could this be "rare"???  Everybody and their brother has dogs and cats!  I know, I fight to keep them out of my garden...ha
  

So, we sat.  And sat.  And sat.  Eventually, a student came in and asked to see my "mystery".  What!  Where's the REAL doctor??  ha  Sheesh....I mean I might have Lime Disease here people!

Meanwhile, Scootard was busy texting our friends in the US about our current adventure and giving them updates.....

I decided to kill some time since I was a little tired of listening to the drunk guy next to me who had "somehow" broken his foot when he kicked a wall, a cop or something else.  I watched the events unfold in Boston at the marathon.  What a shocker that one was....:-(

Ok, so now the REAL doctor comes in, takes a look, asked me more question about my symptoms and says.....ohhhh, I want to take some x-rays to make sure everything is alright.  She was concerned that the infection may have gone to my bone.  So off we went!

 And of course the parking meter was about to run out since we had spent all of our time "waiting" to be seen...:-(.  But when Scootard went back to refill the meter, it was broken!  UGH!!  and the meter person was on the hunt for those who had not paid.  After showing her that it was in fact broken, she initialed it told Scootard  put the same ticket in the windshield so that she can see it when she goes by.  She extended us for another hour without charge....Yay!

The x-rays came back and all was well although there was a nasty infection going on.  It has not entered my bone.  However, the doctor still was not sure if it was Lime Disease or not and decided to treat me for the infection as well as Lime Disease.  Otherwise, I was good to go!  The doctor did a great job and agreed to pose for this shot for me....:-).  She looked so young that Chris asked her if her parents knew she was playing doctor....ha

 
It was time to blow this joint and go and grab a bite to eat. Thank God,  I had successfully escaped a near death experience! haha

 Now, we're talkin.....:-)

We had never been to this place before, but we were both starving after 4 hours at the hospital with little to eat before we left.

Scootard got this salad thingee.....

and whatever else that was....ha.  No idea.

I ordered spinach and ricotta ravioli....:-)

After lunch we picked up my meds that the doctor prescribed for me.  It was going to be a 14 day regimen which I already knew was going to have "unpleasant" side affects.....:-(.  But better safe than sorry later, right?

So, we started our trip back home.  Glad to be "ok" and thankful that it had not gotten any worse.  The antibiotics that I had been using kept things from getting really bad, but just weren't quite strong enough.  Now, I had the real deal and hopefully, things will get better sooner than later.
 

It was a pleasant drive home.  I'm grateful to my husband who insisted that I go to the hospital for taking me even though I didn't want to go....:-).

Cats, Frogs and Desert in Greece!

Spring seems to be slow in coming to BC this year.  There has been a lot of rain.  So, of course whenever one can venture out past the fireplace or heater, one does.  I have two gardens that I am working on.  The one in BC which I am constantly working on keeping this out.....

or this.....  I mean Really???

the other one is in the United States where I have great plans for and would like to incorporate things like this........

Or this.....

After some thought about the chairs that I painted and left in the states earlier this year, I decided on this for now. The reason is because I saw her sitting on a yellow chair almost identical to the one I painted yellow and she had pink flowers behind her on the chair.....cool-eh?....:-).  So, she will be traveling to the states with us to be placed in that newly started garden.

We had dinner and headed to some place we had never been for desert.

The place was quite striking inside.  I mean when was the last time you stepped off a city street in one country only to have desert in another!  This was no ordinary ice cream shop!

Everywhere you looked, you were in Greece.....:-).  This might in fact be the closest I ever come to it too.

The art work extended all the way up to the ceiling, but the workers looked "nervous" about me taking pictures although I did manage to get a few more pics.
  

They even had a life size horse and knight positioned right behind our table.....very cool!

Scootard made a new friend.....:-)

....Scootard decided on ice cream. Since I was a bit chilly, I ordered a coffee and cookie....:-).

I sipped on my coffee and sat there amazed that I was eating desert in Greece...ha

after Scootard got finished making his acquaintance with his new friend, he decided to enjoy eating in Greece as well.....:-)

after having enjoyed our desert in Greece without ever having to hop a flight... we headed to the beach to watch the sunset before heading home....

See ya next time!