Miki's Birthday!

Miki chose Mole in Victoria for her birthday brunch (after being served breakfast in bed and 2 doctor's appts.) so we had a lovely meal in one of her favourite haunts.

Her surprise birthday present from Daf was a 2 hour kayak paddle down the Gorge waterway, from 5 - 7 pm.

Mary Lois lives on the waterway and took this pic of us paddling by - check out the sychronized wavers....!

The second part of the surprise was 30 friends who showed up at Glo, the restaurant near the kayak place on the water, to share a birthday dinner and her special day! Everyone had wonderful meals and Miki definitely felt the love!! Happy Birthday, Baby! To see all the pics from this birthday fun, click on the link below.

http://picasaweb.google.com/daffinparksville/MikiSBirthday?authkey=Gv1sRgCMbtoOqmtb2odA#

Victoria fun

Monday morning we headed for Victoria for a few days, and went to see the new aboriginal painting, done on the seawall in James Bay. Had tea and coffee at the Ogden Point Cafe, one of our favourite haunts.





Here is some of the detail of this painting, which apparently was done partially on plywood sheets which were then mounted in place. Amazingly beautiful.









Got together with Melaney at Lido, a new waterfront watering hole with great tapas style food and appies.





This fabulous topiary, done by a local artist, is very stunning and is a great marker for both the restaurant and the float plane dock, which is right behind the restaurant.

Kites and Sand castles

Sunday morning, Miki made ML and I an amazing breakfast of pancakes and bacon with fresh mangoes, strawberries, blueberries, maple syrup and whipped cream......oh my!!!!!!!!










It was SO delicious................diet starts next week!!








Then we went down to the Community Park to see some of the sand castle competition, and the artists had about 17 minutes left to work, so most of the work was almost finished. The horn went to end the work at 3 pm, and the judges were then to decide on the best work and present the awards and prizes at 5 pm. As always, incredible sculptures, all.





The sand sculpture competition coincided with the kite flying competition, so the sky was full of beautiful kites, all vying for 1st place.

Royal Family Picnic

The 12th Annual Royal Family (GLBT) picnic was held at the Rotary park in Qualicum Beach this past Saturday.











Friends gathered from all over the Island to spend time in the sun, in the warm ocean water, and sharing food and fun.







The eating/barbeque/kitchen area is amazing, with washrooms, stairs to the beach, and lots of space for food prep.









It was a beautiful day - about 26 - so everyone enjoyed the sun, wore lots of sunscreen, and getting to meet new and old friends. See you all next year!!!!

Oh, deer......!

Our yard is a frequent stopover for local deer, who munch on plums, apples and whatever tender treats they can find.

This day I looked out and two of them were on the deck, if you please, chomping on cherries from the tree overhanging our outdoor dining area.






They had a great feast (these are not edible cheeries anyway, and the birds love them when they are ripe).








Good thing we haven't done any flowers yet this summer, or they would no doubt have had them for dessert. Our fence is being installed this week, so THEN we can finally get some posies!








Mary Lois came to Parksville for the weekend and we got together at Maggie and Ingrid's to have drinks with their friends Lynn and Leigh.

A Chiik Update

Chiik had his trial visit with Maggie, Ingrid and the ancient Tippy. Sadly, Chiik and Tippy were not able to hit it off, as poor Tippy is mostly blind and partially deaf, so could just not adjust to having a rambunctious kitten in her face. So, Chiik is home again and he and our aging cats are working out sharing a home.






Chiik loves climbing to the top of our bookcases in the family room. His favourite toy is a feather thing on a stick, and I sometimes put it on a shelf - for a rest, as he can chase it for hours. He always finds it, no matter where I put it.






I'm the king of the castle........!










But like any baby, once he has chased his feather, batted all his toys all around the place and terrorized the other cats, he just crashes and sleeps for 2 hours.......! Chiik is home to stay and we are very glad. He is a delightful boy with personality plus, and we know the cats will work things out before we leave for Mexico again in November.

Some Enchanted Evening!!!!!

This is a new artisan deli in Nanaimo called Markt, run by a young chef who has worked in some very high class hotels and restaurants around the world. These feature 6 course dinners are held for just 12 people at a time, as Ryan is a great believer in the more civilized aspects of breaking bread together, whether family, friends or strangers. We went with Heather and Georgette and met the others over the course of the evening.


A large harvest table was the setting for an amazing meal - 6 courses, all paired with the finest of wines, and all dishes made with local meats, fish, and vegetables. We started with a duck proscutto appetiser and Prosecco, and it only got better from there......






The room was lovely, and we progressed from oysters to pork to scallops to salmon, tortellini, beef filet, prawns, roast garlic......ah, and then the dessert of Nouget glace with fresh berries and a vanilla tuile......




Ryan, on the left with his staff (the blonde is his wife) who produced just a magnificent dinner. We will be back.....oh - and the deli has the most wonderful foods, cheeses, pates, and is open daily!

Viva Espanola!!!!!

Jason was here for the weekend, so Sun. morning before we had to take him to the ferry home at 3, we went to the Rockinghorse Pub, had brunch, and watched Spain win the World Soccer Cup over the Netherlands. I was the only person in the whole damn room cheering for Spain, but it was a friendly crowd......




Great food, great game, and great company!

Happy Birthday!

It was Bridget's (our house sitter's) birthday, so boyfriend Frank (shown presenting her with her beautiful cake) threw a party, inviting lots of family and friends to honour his best gal. There was a group in the living room......

Frank's neice really liked the cake too!








The deck was also full of friends.....

and family, including both Bridget's and Frank's Moms! Great party, great people!

Mini Golf!

This time we went to the Riptide Mini Golf, which has added bumper cars, no doubt to compete with the bumper boats at the other mini golf place.

We roared around the track, crashing into each other and getting "lasered" which sent you spinning off into wild circles!

The whole motif for the place is cars and trucks.

Oh, yeah, and the Mini Golf was fun, too...!!!!

Riding Camp!

Vanessa is a Horse Girl. She vaults in Victoria (gymnastics on horseback) and generally loves horses. We sent her to the Bluebird Riding School for summer camp for a week here in Parksville.

Here she shows us her all time favourite horse, Jesse James!

On the last day of camp, every girl decorated themselves and their horse and paraded around the front paddock to show the crowd of parents and grand parents.

Nessa led her horse around, decorated as the Sparkle Twins, with a little help from Nana's boa and some Christmas decorations.

The kids had such fun - they rode, they had classes in grooming, learning all the parts of the horses, the equipment and the barn - including mucking out stalls!

Now here is the face of a happy camper. They each got a certificate, a trophy, and a picture of each of them, set in a horse shoe which each girl decorated in crafts class.

The school was founded by Karen, who brought 30 rescue horses from California after her home and stables burned down in one of the big California fires. She has set up here, right beside the Rockinghorse Pub, which is a great little country pub. Great job, Karen - see you next year!