Take your Grade 9 student to work day

Yesterday, Lexie went to work with Cheryl.  I don't know if she had a choice to go with mom or dad but I would have gone with dad!   Cheryl texted they had a great day.

Carol and Dave asked us to go out for lunch.  We met them at the Roadhouse in South Surrey where we had a nice lunch.  After lunch we decided to go to White Rock for a nice walk on the pier.  The weather was sunny and the air was crisp.  The tide was in and a lot of people were walking the beach.  When we went to pay for parking, it's free until January 31st.  It's great they are offering free parking for all the struggling restaurants.

We were only there for under an hour and two trains went by us.  They were both coal trains and were very long.

I tried to get both the White Rock and Mt. Baker in the picture.  

Train number two.  See the yellow seats that were donated by the province after Expo 86!  They are still good.

They are allowing dogs on the walkway

After many hours of debate at White Rock City Council, dogs are allowed.  We've never seen any out of control dogs.  We have seen many happy dogs and dog owners.  I'm glad they are allowing them access.

Then and now

Thanks to Carol for sending me these.  They are so true!

Carol was a school teacher.  I'm sure all teachers can relate!

Newlands lunch and fashion show!

Today my Red Hat group went to another one of these fabulous events.   After the last one, Donna, my longtime friend and bridesmaid told me she would like to come to one of these special events.  Her cousin Cindy was coming too, but got sick.  When I called our Red Hat group already had 10 people going which would make for a large table, so I told them I would be there but not sit with them.  I'm glad I did as Donna and I had a nice catch up.

Newlands is a nice golf course.  

It was such a nice day.  The golf course wasn't very busy.  They have a nice clubhouse!

Add 

They already have all their Christmas decorations up! 

This lady had the most gorgeous hair!

Here she is again with another gorgeous outfit!

This sweater was really soft.  You can unzip it for a shorter look!

One of my favorite outfits!

They have a lot of native designs in their clothing

Great cruise wear!

More cruise wear!

This was really different and looked great on this model

They served a very nice buffet lunch and then the models walked around showing the different fashions.  Malary's Fashion Network supplied the fashions and the models.  It's a very nice shop in downtown Cloverdale.

Happy 52nd Wedding Anniversary

It's our 52nd wedding anniversary today.  I can honestly say it seems like yesterday.  If you ask Cec how long he's been happily married, he'll say "five years", but I've been married for 52.  He really thinks this is funny. It was funny when we heard it in a comedy club.

On our first anniversary dinner we had pizza, a quick dinner before we both attended night school.  Cec was taking a computer programming course and I enrolled in cake decorating.  Somehow I thought I may have my mother's talent for cake decorating.  No, I don't have any talent.  When she stopped decorating cakes, I started finding great bakeries.  I admire anyone who has this talent.  Karyn, my cousin Laurie's oldest daughter puts the most fantastic pictures of her cakes on Facebook.  I am truly jealous.

Cake by Karyn!  Yes it's a cake and she has a wonderful talent!

Over the years we've had some great anniversaries.  Our 40th was spent with Paula and Gordon on a Canada New England cruise on Celebrity.   Our 45th wedding anniversary was spent on a cruise with Cheryl, Dave and Lexie.  We boarded on the Allure of the Seas in Fort Lauderdale for seven days and then spent some time at Disney World in Orlando.  We stayed right on the Disney property and Lexie was a great age to take to Disney World.

I loved the Princess years!

The Haunted House in Disney World at Halloween!  The decorations were awesome.
They had trick or treating and you should have seen the candy we brought home!

On our 50th Wedding Anniversary we went with Cheryl, Dave and Lexie on the Harmony of the Seas.  It was an Eastern Caribbean cruise and the itinerary was changed because of Hurricane Maria devastating the ports we planned on going to.  This time we had a suite, which was a treat for all of us.  I detailed it in this blog - see November 2017.  It's great to go with family and it's a trip we all loved and will always remember.  We didn't go to Disney World, but shopped until we dropped in Fort Lauderdale at Sawgrass Mills and had some nice days in Key West.  Cheryl and Dave had never been and it's place we really like.

Last night we went to New York, New York a great Greek food restaurant in Surrey.  They have a delicious lamb roast dinner.  Why not tonight, well, I am going to a Luncheon/Fashion show with Donna at Newlands Golf Course.  It's a buffet and I know I will eat well.  I will cook Cec something he really likes and we will have a nice dinner at home.   For lunch Cec will have the left overs from last night.  Their portions are huge and the food was incredible!

Interesting Saturday

Yesterday, we decided to go to Metrotown by bus.  It's a little more difficult on a weekend as there aren't as many buses and the one we usually catch is a direct bus from our home to King George Skytrain Station.  It doesn't operate on Saturdays and Sundays.  I checked the Translink app and it told us the quickest way at that time was the 342 bus to Newton Station, then the 99 B Line from Newton to King George Station.  An enjoyable ride as the 342 goes through our neighbourhood and isn't as direct as the 345 that operates weekdays.  It took a little longer but we were in no hurry.

We got to Metrotown and walked to Station Square.  We hadn't been there in a long time.  They've done a huge update.  Cec's mom lived at an apartment nearby and we were elated at the changes.  Best Buy has a large store, as well as Bed Bath and Beyond.  We arrived at lunch time and our choices were Boston Pizza, Earls or Cactus Club.  We chose Earl's as we don't have one close by and my Red Hat group is going to Boston Pizza on Friday at Station Square!  It didn't disappoint and our lunch was delicious.

A nice walk around Metrotown and then on home.  My Translink app said to take the Skytrain from Metrotown to Surrey Central, the 501 to Guildford and then the 375.  Good connections.  When we got to Surrey Central, the 501 wasn't open but the bus across the way said "373 Guildford".  So Einstein said "let's take it"!  The 501 noted 6 minutes along 104th to Guildford on the app.  The 373 is a small community bus and while we knew we would be longer, we had no idea what the trip would be.  We started by going west instead of east!  The next 30 minutes was the most interesting, bumpy bus ride we've ever taken.  We got close to Scott Road Station, then the bus went to Gateway Station and then we were beside the Port Mann Bridge!   We ended up at Guildford and thankfully the 375 was a nice new bus that ran straight down 152 street.   It was an adventure, I'll skip next time.

I had to show a picture!  The 501 is a direct route along 104 (yellow road) which is at the end of the 373 route. 

We walked 6 KM so that was a great day.  The weather here is gorgeous, sunny and cool.  Because we've had no wind there is an air quality advisory.  Probably the result of the illegal fireworks the last few nights.  It didn't bother us and we had a wonderful day!

Signs from Church's

I        .

Fireworks!

When I was young, my dad was a fire fighter and he would come home after Halloween talking about all the children injured by fireworks he dealt with.  There were some who lost a finger!  Others would get badly burned.   Over the years they've made fireworks safer and banned the dangerous ones.

We lived in Richmond for over forty years.  Every Halloween the City would do a fabulous fireworks display at Minoru Park.   This year four more community parks held fireworks displays.   Fireworks are banned in Richmond and we never had a problem with huge illegal street fireworks.

In 2005 Surrey, where I live, they banned the sale and use of fireworks.  You can apply for a permit if you want to discharge them.  The permit must be applied for five days before the event, proof of liability insurance of $2,000,000 and they may do a site inspection.  You must have a qualified first aid attendant and notify the RCMP of all the details.  The permit is issued by the fire department.

On Sunday, Diwali was celebrated.  Fireworks here started at 7 PM and didn't stop until after 10.  There were over 200 noise calls to the RCMP, and I didn't complain.  Last night the fireworks started just after seven and by 9:30 it felt like we were in Syria.  So much for the by law they passed.  It will be interesting to hear how many calls the RCMP logged and how many people were fined.  I doubt any of the "street" fireworks I've listened to over the past few days have a permit.  They went on until after 12;30 AM, then I fell asleep! 

I worry about all the family pets who were freaked by the noise.