Monday 30th August 2010….another dental procedure completed.

Five and and half hours in the Dentist’s chair today for me……he decided to keep my stitches in my lower gum till my next visit in 10 days and the work today was all on my upper teeth and gums and was long and very drilling and scraping and not too pleasant, but no pain.  He really is a great Dentist.  The first step was to remove the bridge I had implanted in Mexico 4 years ago and  he found that my gums underneath were quite badly infected and I am on medication for that but I walked out of the office with a full(temporary)set of top teeth!!!!

This is the first time in nearly 35 years so I am very happy but feel quite numb and getting used to the idea of teeth.  So now I keep these for a few weeks then go back for more work and then my permanent bridges and crowns……Nurse Sara is on hand with my wishes fulfilled, well I hope so I haven’t exactly asked her yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for all the good wishes by e mail I have received..means a lot……blessings!!

Sunday 29th August 2010..a lovely weekend!!

Yesterday saw us drive to Nanaimo in the afternoon to attend Annie and Gordie’s 50th Wedding Anniversary being held at the Nanaimo Golf Club.

The setting was quite stunning..

as were the happy couple!!!

It was such a lovely time with 30 guests, excellent food, good stories thanks so much for our invitation…

As next week is our 1st Anniversary and Sara will be away working we had had own little celebration with a night at the beautiful Long Lake B & B…

We paddled around the lake..

This next photo I took blind over my shoulder whilst paddling!!!

A beautiful area I think you agree??

After the paddle we had tea and watched a good movie, then went down to the water’s edge and dipped in the hot tub…it was a lovely evening and I think even the gigantic spider that graced us with his presence on the bed head board enjoyed himself…this later event had Sara make me hunt him down, which I failed to do and then turn all the sheets around and we slept feet to headboard!!!!!

This morning was a wonderful home cooked breakfast followed by me getting a jet ski boat ride around the lake…Sara cannot drive by Costco with out a little stop……2 hours later we were headed home.

It was a lovely weekend……tomorrow morning I am back to the dentist for another 4 hour session…my stitches are coming out and work starting on my upper jaw, wish me luck!!!

Saturday 28th August 2010…blast from the past!!!

I received an e mail this morning with a photo attachment..

This is Vicky and her husband Lorne…..in a previous life, well in the early 80’s when I lived in good old Smoky Lake for , I was fortunate to have Vicky work for me in my small grocery store…she was a fabulous employee and we all became great friends…life has thrown Vicky and Lorne many curve balls and I am happy to see them looking so good and enjoying life….thanks for the photo, you guys rock!!!

 

Oh by the way Vicky remember this photo..you and my Mum!!!!

Saturday 28th August 2010…Go ROVERS Go!!!

Remembering my post from a few days ago where I confirmed my allegiance to the Mighty Doncaster Rovers…today they played my Brother’s team, the once mighty Tigers, and of course my Rovers were victorious!!!!!!!!

Doncaster 3 - 1 Hull

Doncaster extended Hull's wretched away run as goals from Martin Woods, Billy Sharp and James Coppinger rounded off a bleak weekend for the Tigers.

With assistant boss Craig Shakespeare taking charge following Nigel Pearson's illness, Hull fell behind after two minutes to a looping header from Woods.

Robert Koren picked out Nick Barmby, who levelled from the edge of the area.

But Kamil Zayatte conceded a penalty, converted by Sharp, and after the break Woods fed Coppinger for a third.

It continued a woeful run for Hull, who were undone by League One Brentford in the Carling Cup in midweek, have picked up just three wins in their last 30 games, and have not won away since March 2009, a run of 27 matches on the road without a victory.

To compound their problems, 47-year-old Pearson was admitted to hospital on Friday after complaining that he felt unwell. He was kept in for tests, and is expected to be discharged later tonight.

In Pearson's absence, Sean O'Driscoll's side were good value for the points.

Having scored his first goal since last December, Woods almost doubled his tally on six minutes with a free-kick from just outside the penalty area, but was denied by Hull goalkeeper Matt Duke.

By then Barmby had already levelled for Hull, and it looked like the two sides would go in level at half-time.

Instead, Zayatte handled in the area and Sharp sent Duke the wrong way from the penalty spot.

Hull went further behind shortly after the hour when Woods crossed for Coppinger, who finished clinically from close range to complete Hull's misery.

Friday 27th August 2010……memories!!!

Yesterday before Ken’s celebration of life at the Chapel I went to my family on the Bank and Kirby was in the back yard with this family!!!!

The service was a wonderful event and it was a true send off very a great man!!!!!

These flowers were a centre piece at the Chapel

Today was another working day…

Now before I go any further I have to admit that the above photo is a little deceiving…I did not paint all of this wall I just did the high parts where Sara could not reach and she did a very professional job!!

Now ladies a treat for you all!!!!

Never mind about the mid section rolls of fat…..CHECK out the definition in those legs!!!!!!!

Tomorrow we are going to Nanaimo for the weekend more about that on Sunday….wish every one a good weekend!!

Wednesday 25th August 2010….bits and pieces!!

Thursday afternoon is Ken’s Celebration of life and I shall spend most of the day in Nanaimo…..

An update on my surgery…my stitches are still in place and everything feels really good..still hard for me to swallow anything that is not cut into very small pieces and still getting used to having all these pegs in my mouth..I am also amazed at how I did not suffer any of the symptoms that I was warned about prior to the surgery.  I go back to the Dentist on Monday morning for another 5 hour session which involves the removal of the stitches and then work on the bridges and crowns on my top teeth and jaw….

Sara and I took advantage of another beautiful day and spent the afternoon kayaking around Mill Bay, it was nice to get out on the water, we have both worked very hard these past few days…

Tonight we watched an interesting and well produced movie called Chloe…..

Pura Vida!!

Monday 23rd August 2010…a Tribute to Ken!!!

My lovely friend Ken passed away this morning after a lengthy illness.  I was lucky enough to spend many hours with Ken and a more gentle and kinder man there was not.  In his prime he was an exceptional officer in the RCMP and a pioneer in the Cold War era.

My blessings and thoughts go out to his family at this time and here is a collage of Ken and some of his family and friends!!!!

Going to miss you Ken, rest in peace!!!

Saturday 20th August 2010….updates!!!

As of this afternoon my friend Ken is still refusing to leave and is still resting and fast asleep as he as been for the last 9 days….here is the last photo of Ken and his two sons Kirby and Scott!!

I wish the family peace and I know your thoughts go out to them at this time….thanks also for those of you you have sent me e mails regarding ken!!

Another of the Bank family and one of ken’s Grandsons, Ben, who just graduated with honours from High School and is set to go to VIU in September was awarded a 1000 dollar scholarship from the RCMP, well done Ben!!

Yet another of Ken’s Grandsons, Zach had a remarkable accomplishment this last week.  Zach is the eat, sleep, walk, talk and play golf kind of kid!!!!!

This past week in Victoria Zach competed in the BC provincial Golf Championship….for all kids in BC and he came 11th!!!!!  Well done KID!!!!!!!!   Must be those tips I gave you last year!!!!  What is more remarkable about his placement of 11th is that the competition is for kids 16 years and under and Zach JUST turned 14  years last month!!!   Watch out for him on the Pro circuit!!

Well we arrived back from our kayak and camping trip late last night, we came back one day early as the weather on the West coast started to turn.

I met Sara’s son Gabe and a delightful young man he is, 33 years old, an artist and he seems real happy and content.

We drove the 4 hours up to Tofino and the weather was overcast and after putting all of our stuff into the three kayaks we paddled about 2 hours to our destination Vargas Island and here we are…

It was about 8.30pm when we finished setting up camp, so we had tea and enjoyed chatting around the camp fire.

The next morning awoke to sunshine and clear skies….

Very beautiful surroundings..

The island had warnings about wolves..

Lots of tracks but no sightings…

This little guy seemed to stay with us for the whole time…

We did try an afternoon paddle but turned around because the waves and currents were not good

….believe me we did see one huge California Sea Lion on this rock!!!!

Some of us may have had to bail out our boats from a rough landing!!!!!

Gabe found this sea lion skull on the rocks..

We passed the time playing Scrabble, different location same winner!!!!!

A walk on the beach at sunset..

Sara and Gabe!!!

You may see us next year on Dancing with the Stars!!!!

It was another good day but the evening was cooler.

Friday morning was again not so good so we decided to break camp and head home.  We spent a couple of hours in Tofino had supper in Port Alberni and arrived home late last night.

Gabe has gone to spend time with his Dad who also lives on the Island.  It was a pleasure to meet him and spend time with Sara and her son!!!!!!

Today was supposed to be a day of rest…tell that to Sara!!!!!  We spent about 5 long hours doing lots of work including packing away all the camping gear, getting the suite downstairs ready for new prospective tenants to view and now we are treating ourselves to dinner and a movie…..blessings to all!!!!