Camping

I went to Brownie and Guide camp.  My mom was the camp cook when my sister went through guides and rangers.  When it was my turn to go to guide camp, my mom didn't cook any longer for guide camp.  It was a very demanding and difficult job, although she certainly enjoyed her many years of doing it.   I did not like guide camp.  I don't like camping and the only form of travel I do now is a a cruise or five star hotel with a swim up bar.  Cec wants to get a trailer, camper or motor home!   He's talked about these for years.  In the 1980's, for about three years, we had a truck and camper .  When he brought it home he was so excited and said "this camper has an oven, you can cook a turkey dinner at the lake".  I was working full time and exhausted on the weekends.  I worked for the airlines where we could fly almost for free world wide.  Why would anyone want to cook a turkey dinner at the lake?  Turkey is for Thanksgiving and Christmas and some years we ate out on those days because I didn't even want to cook at home. I'm glad the price of gas and the thought of driving freeways has hindered us getting that snowbird motor home.  Time to plan another cruise. I love this letter from camp I read: Dear Mom, Our Scoutmaster told us to write to our parents in case you saw the flood on TV and got worried. We are okay. Only one of our tents and 2 sleeping bags got washed away. Luckily, none of us got drowned because we were all up on the mountain looking for Adam when it happened. Oh yes, please call Adam's mother and tell her he is okay. He can't write because of the cast. I got to ride in one of the search and rescue Jeeps. It was great. We never would have found Adam in the dark if it hadn't been for the lightning. Scoutmaster Ted got mad at Adam for going on a hike alone without telling anyone. Adam said he did tell him, but it was during the fire so he probably didn't hear him. Did you know that if you put gas on a fire, the gas will blow up? The wet wood didn't burn, but one of the tents did and also some of our clothes. Matthew is going to look weird until his hair grows back. We will be home on Saturday if Scoutmaster Ted gets the bus fixed. It wasn't his fault about the crash. The brakes worked okay when we left. Scoutmaster Ted said that with a bus that old, you have to expect something to break down; that's probably why he can't get insurance. We think it's a super bus. He doesn't care if we get it dirty, and if it's hot, sometimes he lets us ride on the bumpers. It gets pretty hot with 45 people in a bus made for 24. He let us take turns riding in the trailer until the policeman stopped and talked to us. Scoutmaster Ted is a neat guy. Don't worry, he is a good driver. In fact, he is teaching Horace how to drive on the mountain roads where there aren't any cops. All we ever see up there are huge logging trucks. This morning all of the guys were diving off the rocks and swimming out to the rapids. Scoutmaster Ted wouldn't let me because I can't swim, and Adam was afraid he would sink because of his cast (it's concrete because we didn't have any plaster), so he let us take the canoe out. It was great. You can still see some of the trees under the water from the flood. Scoutmaster Ted isn't crabby like some scoutmasters. He didn't even get mad about the life jackets. He has to spend a lot of time working on the bus so we are trying not to cause him any trouble. Guess what? We have all passed our first aid merit badges. When Andrew dived into the lake and cut his arm, we all got to see how a tourniquet works. Steve and I threw up, but Scoutmaster Ted said it was probably just food poisoning from the left-over chicken. He said they got sick that way with food they ate in prison. I'm so glad he got out and became our scoutmaster. He said he sure figured out how to get things done better while he was doing his time. By the way, what is a pedal-file? I have to go now. We are going to town to post our letters and buy some more beer and ammo. Don't worry about anything. We are fine and tonight it's my turn to sleep in the Scoutmaster's tent.

Way to go Jerry!

Yesterday was the annual Terry Fox Run!  My long time friend Jerry completed another run!  Congratulations Jerry!  It was a horrible cool rainy day and thinking of what Terry Fox ran through was probably in the minds of all those who raised money today.

Jerry is off in early December to complete the Honolulu Marathon! 

Email from Jerry:

Want to express my very deepest appreciation to all who contributed to this event, which took place this morning. It was a cool, wet and windy start here in Richmond, but conditions improved over the several miles along our scenic dike.

I am really & truly grateful to each of you. Because of your heartfelt kindness, my campaign yielded almost $1400. Since 1980, when the incomparably courageous Terry Fox, battling cancer, ran much of the way across Canada on his one remaining leg, over $600 million dollars has been raised for cancer research.

So again, my gratitude knows no bounds. I am truly blessed by exceptionally wonderful friends like yourselves.

Mahalo and aloha,

Jerry

Vancouver Whitecaps vs Seattle Sounders

Rich took this picture.  I'm sure he's a proud grandpa!

Sam was chosen to carry the flag at the soccer game last night at BC Place.  He didn't want to do it by himself so big brother Jack accompanied him.  The game was broadcast on TSN and I recorded it.  Unfortunately they didn't show the flag presentation but Catherine got this great picture of the boys.  Sam loves soccer and has just started hockey!   The boys play baseball and basketball.  They both love sports!

Seattle beat Vancouver 2 - 1

Pictures that make you feel good

There comes a time in  your life, when you walk away 
from all the drama and people who create it
You surround yourself with people who make you laugh. 
Forget the bad, and focus on the good
Love the people who treat  you right 
And pray for the ones who don't   
Life is too short to be anything but happy
Falling down is a part of  life
getting back up is living

Inner Peace

If you can start the day without caffeine,

If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,

If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,

If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,

If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,

If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,

If you can conquer tension without medical help,

If you can relax without alcohol,

If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,


Then You Are Probably

The Family Dog!












And you thought I was going to get all spiritual ....

Mary's Garden, South Surrey

Anyone who knows me, knows I buy my produce from a family run organic farm close to where I live.  I meet lots of people there who travel a long way because this farm has incredible produce.  In October 2016 one of the owners was in a horrific farm accident and lost his life.  They've continued on and their loyal shoppers continue to shop there.
Accident at Mary's Garden

This year the local grown corn was great.  Then when I was trying to find a couple of cobs, they were all "opened".   There was a sign and they were checking for something but it was fine to buy and it was 75 cents a cob.  Expensive but usually great.  The opened cobs weren't great and I only purchased it twice.

This was posted on Facebook:

The next patch of Mary’s Own Vision Corn 🌽 is ready now 🙌🏼🙌🏼 and available in-store this morning! It’s sweet and crisp.... we had much better success with it this year!!

Again, we can’t express how awful we feel that our famous Kandy King corn 🌽 wasn’t so “famous” this season so far.
It takes a ton of work to plant and grow everything - so many different little crops, so that we have a wide variety and all of our customers favourites freshly picked and available in our store throughout the season. Then to have a whole patch be affected by something beyond our control is very discouraging - we don’t like wasting food and we don’t want to lose our valuable customers. 😔

We are hoping to dispel the rumours out there about our corn - we just had a bad run with the Kandy King unfortunately but our non-gmo Vision corn is sweet and delicious 😋 we hope you’ll give it a try - it was a hit at the beginning of the season!!!
Sincerely,
Mary’s Garden

I will continue to shop at Mary's and thank them for their apology.  I appreciate them letting us know about their problem.  Wonderful family atmosphere and great communication!

Great lunch with former co-workers!

R-L Laurie, Alix. Jerry, Cec & Me

Yesterday we got together at Kings Links with my former colleagues from Pacific Western Airlines.  We worked together at PWA in the 1980's. It was great to get together again.

Laurie just finished organizing a reunion for former PWA employees.  Unfortunately I was in the UK and wasn't able to attend.  It was a great success and everyone who went had a wonderful time.

Alix, the famous dragon boater, didn't go to the Yukon River Quest this year, but went with some other ladies and paddled the Yukon River for 630 KM's!   They camped and paddled and had a ball together.  I'm hoping she will send me pictures.  Her trip sounded wonderful.  Alix is going to be a first time grandmother in November!

Jerry has two beautiful daughters and two beautiful granddaughters.  His oldest daughter, the mom of his two granddaughters, finished the Grand Fondo this weekend!  The Grand Fondo, a 122 KM/76 Mile a bicycle race from Stanley Park to Whistler on the Sea to Sky Highway!  We got all caught up on the grandchild info as he kindly sent us updated pictures before our brunch.  Jerry is off again this year to walk the 26.2 Mile Honolulu Marathon on December 9th!

Thanks for a wonderful afternoon!