Tuesday 25th October 2016....California Dreaming!!!!

I was on the road by 8.00 am this morning and here are some shots of the day's drive you can see I went from Sunshine to heavy rain back to sunshine again!!!

You do not see many of these around as in years gone by!!

This has all the bells and whistles!!!!

It seemed as soon as I entered

the rain started...

Definitely  in nut country cashews, almonds and I think these are walnut tress!!

This is the entrance to the community in Lincoln..

I found the home where Georgia and Walter live...

They are the lovely couple that I met on the cruise and we did shore excursions together and I said I would visit them on my way down and here I am ...my fabulous room!!

It was just so nice to sit and relax and talk about our lives in the year since we last saw each other...Had a fabulous meal with dessert...their home is really nice and very quiet with lovely views of the countryside...

So another good day ends...must mention that Little Bluey performs so well and a pleasure to drive and cheap on the gas pocket book!!!

Although I drove 750 km to today it was an easier drive than yesterday....

Where I started and where I am tonight!!!

Yashi Kochi!!!

Monday 24th October...back in the US of A!!!

Happy Birthday to my nephew Mark it was great seeing you and the family over the summer!!

I left Sara's house at 7.30am for the drive down to Victoria where at 10.30 am I boarded the ferry...

 It is neat the ferry comes in to down town Victoria and that is the very famous Empress hotel where you can have afternoon tea consisting of cucumber sandwiches a glass of champagne, home made cakes and high tea all for the meager price of 65 dollars!!!

 The crossing is not highlighted very clearly but it is center in pink!!

 Beautiful mountains!!!

 The first two hours were quite slow until I got to the Interstate 5 and most of the day was like this!!!

 This evening i snapped this out of the side window not sure if it is a double rainbow or the reflection...

 Whatever it was beautiful!!!

I drove 625 km which is a normal day of driving for me and I arrived at my air bnb around 7.30 pm..it is a lovely home in a quiet neighborhood....the owner Mackenzie was still teaching at the University but she left me a key outside and instructions...amazing you can walk into someone's house this way.

My room is lovely and I had a long hot shower and heated up some left over dinner from last night that Sara sent with me and it was great.

Mackenzie came home and we chatted for a few minutes..a young vivacious and smart lady!!

So good to be back in the States and I hope with tomorrow's drive I shall be in some sunshine.....

For a change sweet dreams!!!!!

Sunday 23rd October 2016......and so it begins!!!!!

Heather and Kirby and their 3 sons have been a huge part of my life for many years and they all always treat me as if I am family and I want to again thank them for their love and kindness......I said my farewells and started my journey around noon but I only drove 50 km to Sara's home in Duncan!!
Fall colors!!!

Sara had booked tickets for a matinee performance of this play..

COMEDY

How unbreakable are the ties that bind a family together? It’s 1956, and happy empty-nesters Sam and Hilda are finally enjoying life on their own. But their peaceful home turns chaotic when their unemployed son and newly-single daughter return for an unexpected stay. Can these traditional parents and far-out children bridge the generational divide?

Enjoy the hilarious situational comedy of this Norm Foster gem.

The play was really funny and very well acted.....I am staying at Sara's tonight and she cooked a lovely dinner and we ended the evening playing back gammon..always competitive games and I will not tell you who the winner was!!

I leave in the morning and shall be in the USA tomorrow...so the journey begins stay tuned!!!

OK OK I won!!!!!!!

Yashi Kochi!!!

Saturday 22nd October 2016...last full day on the Bank!!!!

Saturday is usually soccer Saturday and today was no exception..I was up at 7 am to watch my Brother's team Hull play Stoke in the English Premier league...it was cool to know that as I watched 4 members of my family were in attendance at the game unfortunately they did not get the result they wanted as Hull lost 0-2!!!!!!

I then just happened to watch another live game whilst munching on home made fresh blueberry muffins that Heather just pulled out of the oven.

Did some more final trip preparations before taking Boomer out on his last long walk!!!

 This time to an off leash dog park and he enjoyed messing with the other dogs.....the park is next to the great soccer stadium and I knew I wanted to watch part of this game...

 It is a collegiate soccer game and for many years this is where I spent my weekends reffing high level soccer games and enjoying every minute of it....

This game was of particular interest to me because of the referee...

 I have known Matt since he was 13 years old and he was a junior ref when i was in charge of the education and mentoring system for the Juniors....back then I knew Matt had potential but he also had a little streak of non compliance!!!

I watched emerge as a great Junior Ref and then progress to the senior ranks.....I always see him when I come to Nanaimo and he is a great young man and is now one of the elite refs in the province and I am very proud of him!!!

  This is a good action shot!!!....

 I did not stay for the whole game as it turned a tad cold!!

These two were resting on the neighbors lawn!!

Tonight I treated Heather and Ben and Mia and Alex to a nice dinner at the local pub......

I have watched Heather and Kirby's three boys Ben, Alex and Zach from young teenagers to fine young men all doing so well in their varied and engaging lives!!!

Heather and I then went home and watched a good movie.

So tomorrow it is time to start the long drive back to San Miguel although I only go about 60 km tomorrow!!

I am meeting my old friend Sara she lives in Duncan which is still on the Island and we are going to a matinee production of a Norm Foster play, he is a very funny Canadian playwright and I have seen some of his plays and they are a hoot....afterwards Sara is cooking dinner and I am staying the night there before I drive down the next morning to Victoria to catch the ferry to Port Angeles...so stay tuned for the final segment of this amazing journey!!

Yashi Kochi!!

Friday 21st October 2016...only on the west coast!!!

Woke up to torrential rain and very dark skies!!!!

Spent the morning doing my final sorting out of stuff I need to take and i think Little Bluey will be able to handle it all!!

I called Karen this morning and told her to be ready for noon and I would pick her up  and nothing else.

She was waiting for me and thought I was taking her for lunch but instead I took her to the movies.....so she had to have a large bag of popcorn!!!

I had told Karen about my big win at poker last night and who was in the line up in front of us but Eric, one of the players from last night...so I got Karen to go to Eric and to thank him for the movie ticket.....he enjoyed the joke when he saw it as me...

We saw the new Tom Cruise movie with the star Jack Reacher from the Lee Child book...I have read and enjoyed all his books and the movie was action packed and entertaining....

As the header indicates only here could we go into the movie with the rain pounding down only to exit two hours later to brilliant sunshine!!!

I dropped Karen home and said good bye to her...we have been great friends for nearly 25 years now and have a special friendship that I cherish!!

I went and did a final shop a few items I cannot get in Mexico...Heather cooked a great supper and just a quiet night at home.....Ben's girlfriend Mia is a fabulous artist and graphic designer and I had asked her if she would paint a house sign for new new casita ..I told her what I would like on it and left it up to her to design and she did a remarkable job don't you think??

The things that are important to me and Doris my Mum's name!!!!

So my final weekend on the Island.......should be fun!!

Yashi Kochi!!

Thursday 20th October 2016...as Kenny Rogers sang.."You've got to know when to hold em know when to fold em""

Up bright and early this morning and at the shoe shop by 8.30 am as Little Bluey needed 4 new shoes...got great service and out 40 minutes later!!!

Did some more shopping and then this afternoon took Boomer out on another long walk except this time he really loved it because he was off leash!!!

It rained quite hard and then the sun came out...

It was a nice hike to the waterfall but there is about a 70 foot drop path down to the falls that is steep and has ropes to help you down..I have been down there before but did not want to risk it with Boomer...

So you will have to enjoy these photos taken from the Internet!!

It is a beautiful fall especially after all this rain....we had fun and Boomer ran miles!!!

A nice hot bath and tonight is poker night....I have been in this poker group for about 14 years a really great set of guys and we meet for dinner first at a local pub and then 4 hours of trying to put on a better poker face than the next guy......

It was great to see them all again and really happy to report I won 28  dollars...I think they were glad for me to leave!!!

In these times of strife and trouble please take a few minutes and go to You Tube and enter
Scott Hoying blowing in the wind sit back and listen and enjoy!!!

A great day!!!

Yashi Kochi!!!

Wednesday 19th October 2016...a little bit of everything!!!

Heather had the morning off work and

So she helped me with some things I needed and almost 90 minutes later we were back at the house and I had a great 42 inch TV, A down comforter, Fleecy Queen bed sheets, a nice pair of grey sweat pants and a warm black merino long sleeved top!!!!

Not bad eh?????

Had a a lazy afternoon watching another great Baseball Play off game from Toronto unfortunately they lost the game and the series and now their season is over and hockey takes over.

Took Boomer for his usual long walk we always do a different route around the area but always about 9 km and he loves to go even in the rain.....

I actually sat and watched the Presidential debate on TV and my only comment is that with a country with a population of close to 350 million these are the very best two candidates they can muster???

Janet and Malc set off tomorrow on their grand 50th Wedding gifts to themselves....they fly to Sydney spend three nights before boarding the exact same cruise ship I was on last year, the Noordam and sail down through Melbourne, Tasmania and to New Zealand on a 14 night cruise and then three nights in  Auckland before flying home.....you both deserve this wonderful and exciting break enjoy and I hope Malc the 17 pairs of socks and underwear you had Janet pack for you enjoy the journey!!!

Talking of trips....
So just to keep you up to date of my traveling plans....I leave on Monday and drive down to Victoria where I take the Black Ball Ferry to Port Angeles and then drive down south till I connect with Interstate 5 by Olympia and then follow that south....the ferry gets me into Port Angeles around noon and as I do not know how far I shall drive that afternoon I am not going to book any where to stay but just find a motel when I get tired.........

Hope to be around Eugene Oregon for the first stop!!

Tomorrow I will show you plans for the second day drive!!!

Yashi Kochi!!!

Tuesday 18th October 2016......the women in my life!!!!

In my 68 plus years I have been very honored to date and have relationships with some amazing women...I even ventured down that path called matrimony but that was a wrong turn for me that ended quite quickly....

This is not an egotistical post but I have had some fascinating experiences and I feel blessed to have met these special women but there is one that really stands out for me and I want to tell you about her....

We met in the summer of 2006 in Washington State and whether you believe in it or not to me it seemed like love at first sight....she was engaging with a delightful disposition, gorgeous to look at and she treated me like I was the only man on the planet what man could not fall for her??.

She was American so we spent many months in the States and as she loved the open road and seeing new vistas as much as I did a lot of our special times were moving around......we camped at the base of majestic mountains, by the sweet smelling forests, at secluded beaches and life was just good for both of us.

We had 6 glorious years together and really only a couple of small hiccups in that whole time....I introduced her to my family and close friends and we seemed to be set for life...but sadly there came a time in the summer of 2012 when we decided to part company..we talked for hours about the directions our lives were heading and at that point I needed to see more of the world and wanted to travel and live in a different country and she was not able to join me in these intended moves...so we ended our relationship but it ended so sweetly, no angry words, no regrets just loads and loads of happy memories.........

I moved to San Miguel to live and she stayed here in Nanaimo...and I think we have both done well in our separate lives.....

Today I decided to go visit and say hello and see how she was making out in her life and I was thrilled to see her and to know that she is doing so well.....she has a new man in her life now who treats her the way she deserves to be treated and she is totally happy  as am I.

So it was a day of mixed emotions for me ....

Say hello to my special friend!!!

My Ramona!!!!!


Yashi Kochi!!

Monday 17th October 2016....well I have made up my mind!!!!

I am gonna get me one of these!!!!!!

This Boomer he is a "chick" magnet.....

Went for our long walk again this afternoon and he just attracts the ladies like crazy not since my late 20's and 30's when I was a dead ringer for George Clooney have I received so many nice and wonderful comments from ladies who jog in tight spandex!!!!!!

The first comment was from a woman who was running and stopped and told me I had an adorable face!!!!  I just smiled and said why thank you so much you are pretty cute too!!!

Next was two more joggers who told me I was adorable and I again said thank you and commented that you both look lovely too!!

Finally another lady stopped and told me that I was so well groomed and I said thank you and told her that I do try to take care of myself!!!

My ego is still on cloud nine and all thanks to just walking Boomer!!!

Kirby who is working away for a short while sent this photo of the sunset tonight in Tofino...pretty spectacular!!!

Yashi Kochi!!

Sunday 16th October 2016..........an easy day!!!!

Nothing really exciting today...after breakfast I took Boomer out for another long walk about 9 km and it managed to stay dry whilst I was out...

Then went to do a little shopping and only managed to get a small Humming bird feeder but another item off my list.

The late afternoon was spent sorting through some more of my stuff and sat down to a delicious roast pork dinner that Heather had cooked.

This evening we watched a movie on TV....it was very enjoyable....see told you it was an easy day!!




A week today I start my road trip down to San Miguel arriving on the 6th November....below is a map of the route..

More details later in the week....

Storm update.....the big storm really never came and the winds have died and the stopped for the minute but the forecast for next week is more rain....

Yashi Kochi!!!

Saturday 15th October 2016..... sporty rainy stormy day!!!!

Started my morning by watching a live soccer game from England at 7.00 am...it is fun watching on a 63 inch screen!!!!....afterwards I put on my rain gear got the umbrella out and took Boomer for a long walk about 9 km..he walks really well does not bother other dogs and is fun to be out with.
By 11 am the rain was coming down hard and as you can tell from the report below it is going to be a doozie of a storm!!

Conditions in the Lower Mainland are expected to rapidly deteriorate throughout the day as a powerful storm fueled by the remnants of Typhoon Songda makes its way to the Pacific Northwest, affecting the entire coast from southern British Columbia to Oregon.

According to Environment Canada’s latest update this morning, the storm is now expected to directly hit southern Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver this evening. Previous models had the storm possibly tracking through Washington State, but that has since changed to a path through the South Coast of BC.

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50 Shades of Van @50ShadesofVan

Our #BCstorm today is taking a "classic path." Another arrow will likely be added to this diagram. Courtesy: Wolf Reid

7:27 AM - 15 Oct 2016

 
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No ordinary fall wind and rain storm

The first two storms since Wednesday were akin to typical fall storms that roll through BC, however the next storm has the makings to be the strongest storm to hit Metro Vancouver in many years.

A number of storms that pass through the Pacific Northwest every year are influenced by storm systems in the tropics, usually weaker tropical storms and tropical depressions.

But with today’s storm, it is directly enhanced by Typhoon Songda in the West Pacific when it was still a potent category 4 super typhoon. Songda ran into the jet stream, which broke up the typhoon and carried its moisture-rich and wind energy remnants.

The same jet stream is now delivering the storm to the BC South Coast at 300 km/hr at an altitude of 30,000 feet.

High winds, heavy rain, and lightning

The federal weather agency expects strong southeast winds of 60 km/hr to 100 km/hr to develop ahead of the storm in the South Coast late this afternoon, with winds strongest in Metro Vancouver from 9 pm to 2 am. Winds will then shift to southwesterly behind the low.

Some areas, such as the west coast of Vancouver Island and even parts of the Strait of Georgia, could see hurricane-force gusts of 120 km/hr.

“The third in a series of strong storms will approach the coast this afternoon with winds rising late this afternoon and reaching warning level this evening,” reads a statement by Environment Canada.

“The storm which carries energy and moisture from the remnants of Typhoon Songda is forecast to cross southern Vancouver Island this evening and then move onto the Sunshine Coast tonight.”

Over 50 mm of rain is expected to fall on Metro Vancouver, Howe Sound, and the eastern side of Vancouver Island.

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50 Shades of Van @50ShadesofVan

Model guidance in this afternoon is VERY concerning. Be prepared by 3-4 pm this evening. Brown = Hurricane force gusts (> 120 km/h) #BCstorm

9:44 AM - 15 Oct 2016

 
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Lightning storms from this storm system is possible later today and tomorrow.

“This system is compact in size, and convective in nature and thus thunderstorms may be associated at times today, and especially behind the system tomorrow,” continues the statement.

“As such, rainfall totals are harder to estimate than winds with this system. More rainfall warnings may be issued as Environment Canada meteorologists track the system through today and Sunday.”

Localized flooding and power outages possible

Low-lying areas could be particularly vulnerable to flooding given that the ground is saturated with water from the first two storms. Flooding is also possible from leaves that were blown down from the last two storms, as leaves can clog up drains and pipes.

And as most trees are still largely leafed, more branches or even entire trees could topple down. Most storm-related power outages in BC are caused by branches and trees falling onto hydro lines.

Washouts could also occur near rivers, creeks, and culverts, and mountainside slopes could become unstable, increasing the possibility of rockslides and landslides.

Shorelines near Vancouver should be avoided as very large waves, aided by storm surge, can be expected.

There were dozens of weather-related flight delays at Vancouver International Airport yesterday. YVR is advising passengers traveling today and tomorrow to check their airline before heading out to the airport.

This afternoon Heather and I ventured out for a couple of hours....on my Face book which I still do not like or use I saw that an old friend Cynthia who lives in Vancouver was at a local hotel today selling her brand of ladies clothing.

I have known Cynthia for many years now we used to work together as noon hour supervisors at a local high school, she is lovely petite and was always dressed so nicely and a kind and gentle disposition and especially since she is the Mum to triplets boys!!!!

I have not seen her for years but we stay in touch at times by e mail so when I found out she would be in town I wanted to go and say hello....so we went to the hotel and sure enough there was the lady I have always called Cute Mum!!!

 Boy I sure need a face coach to teach me how to smile and not be all teeth!!!!!

We had a nice chat and was lovely to connect with her!!

From there we drove to the other side of town to a Tire store and i got a quote for new shoes for Little Bluey and then off to a care home also in the same area.

Long time readers of my blog know of my relationship with Eileen and Roy and that I took care of him for a few hours a day for almost 6 years.....sadly both of them are now passed away but I also met Eileen's sister in law Irene and we also became friends and when I returned to the Island I always took the both of them out for lunch it was so fun  having Irene and Eileen as dinner dates got to complicated so I called them one and two!!!

I last visited Irene a year ago before I left on the cruise and yesterday I went to her home only to find a for sale sign there....I checked with the neighbor and found that Irene was now in a care home.......so I wanted to see her so that is where Heather and  went next...

Doesn't she look lovely...was great to see her and I think that being in the care home is the best thing for her!!!

On the way home we stopped at a few stores and then home for a nice cuppa....

I watched part of a live hockey game before I went to Karen's house..she cooked a lovely dinner and then treated me to a night at the Theater...the local company was performing Neil Simon's play Lost in Yonkers!!

Taken from the website!!

After the death of their mother, two teen aged boys are sent to live with their formidable grandmother in Yonkers, New York. What happens next in this unusual family involving their father, an uncle and two aunts is both funny and heartrending. Neil Simon's play is filled with laughter, tears and insight, yet another testament to his extraordinary talent.

It was a really well acted play very poignant and mixed emotions......a great way to spend a nice day even though the weather was best described as Yucky!!!!

Yashi Kochi!!!