Thursday, September 12, 2013

A Bit of This 'n That

This awesome weather we are experiencing sure gets the juices going to get outdoors and play.

Jeanette and I took in the largest antique car/truck show this Province holds.  It was held this past Saturday in the heart of Langley City.  The following are a few shots to whet your imagination.



A beautiful 1951 Chevy 3/4 ton truck...
Jeanette favoured this ride....

My favourite choice....overall
I focused on vintage trucks because of personal appeal.  There were hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of vintage cars too.  According to the local newspaper, over 80,000 folks enjoyed the stunning show, under clear blue skies and high summer like temperatures.

The Seattle Cossacks  showing off their motorcycle stunts....
This group of veteran motorcyclists is featured at several motorcycle and car shows in the Pacific Northwest.  We never tire of seeing them perform their well coordinated stunts.
Some veterans with a few newbies in training...


The Cossacks are clearly a crowd favourite....
On the home front, our electrician came by to install the heavy wire required to power up the hot tub.
Mathew is a methodical and meticulous electrician and, with my help, we drilled through concrete to run the heavy gauge wire from the electrical panel in the garage - through the concrete floor and into the crawl space under our home - all the way to the back foundation wall - drilling once again to come through to the hot tub.
The electrical panel
Soon to connect the wires to the hot tub...
The hot tub filled, powered up and a photo with the blue LED lights taken that first night.  The LED lights are easily programmed to change colours or to remain on one's favourite colour.  We chose blue for this photo.
Sitting with Easton, a few days back, was a thrill.  He is a little 'boogy boy' with rhythm in his bones.  He loves to turn on the Yamaha keyboard, find a drum beat and pick away at the piano keys.  He does this all on his own....and often too.  He'll be signed up for piano lessons; that's for sure!
Early morning fog in our area.  Clearly a sign of the fall season.
Directly across the street from our home is this pastoral setting....shrouded in fog.
There is money to be earned in the rock business...
Jeanette - along with her nursing friends - headed for the Sunday market in Ladner.  The event is very well attended and the usual pedlars can be seen and heard plying their wares.
L-R   Marg, Cynthia, Susan and Jeanette @ the Ladner, North Delta, Market
So, apart from doing some planned home improvement projects, we've been busy with the activities featured in this blog..... with the exception of this one below.
With the other activities preoccupying us, we've had little time to hike.  I guess you could say we are in the Fitness Protection Program.....other than golf, walking and working on our home improvement projects.
Belmont Golf Course
Tomorrow will find our golf group taking on the Belmont Golf Course in North Langley.  Not having played that course in well over 7-8 years, we look forward to the challenge.

That's it from here, for now......

Thanks for dropping by.

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Always Something To Do...

Heading over the new Port Mann Bridge on our way to Vancouver
I had an appointment to go to, last Wednesday, that had us drive the 40 minutes from our home to downtown Vancouver.  Crossing the new Port Mann Toll Bridge was great.  With Jeanette along, we drove the high occupancy lane all the way.
Nice, modern structure - offering eight lanes - including the HOV lanes.
Once downtown, we found the required parking and headed to our 11:00 am appointment.  I was having a consult with a dermatologist at the University of British Columbia, Medical School, Dermatology Clinic.  My family physician suggested it when we both determined that the slight red nose issue I have was not responding to medication.  When I am in the sun for a time - like golfing or motorcycling - even with applying sun screen - my nose and parts of my cheeks get quite red.  An earlier diagnosis was Rosacea; a chronic condition characterized by facial redness. The medication I was put on did nothing to eradicate or control the problem.
Looking north on Cambie Street towards downtown Vancouver.
A more close up view with the North Shore Mountains behind the downtown core.
The dermatologists (the two who examined me) concluded that my problem is called  telangiectasia (dilation of superficial blood vessels on the face).  It is a form of Rosacea but not acne oriented as first thought.  It is easily cured with one or two laser treatments. It is common enough.....but not a cause to worry about.  Although I am not a sun bather (never have been) they checked my back, arms, neck and determined that I am not at risk for skin cancer either.  Although there is a slight chance of scaring, the laser treatment will cure the problem.  The medication and creams I had been earlier prescribed are pointless.  Should I choose to forgo the laser treatment, it was recommended that I use a 70+ sun screen when participating in outdoor activities.

A nice lunch had at this authentic French restaurant on Main Street in Vancouver.
We so often head downtown when in Vancouver but I wanted to try one of the great restaurants on Main Street, south of the downtown core.  I remembered the great food choices offered on Main Street during the 2010 Winter Olympics. To go back there would be fun.  And it was!
Jeanette thought it was a good idea.  We were the early lunch arrivals at The French Table and had our choice of seating.  We chose a street window view. The lunch crowd moved in quickly as the lunch hour moved forward.  The Maitre 'D is the owner.  He is originally from France.  That I am fluently bilingual (French/English) made for wonderful conversations with him.

When his lease in downtown Vancouver ended - following 20 years in a prime location there - he chose to move away from the downtown core to this Main Street location.  What a find!
This filet of sole with burnt almonds was fantastic.
One would think an authentic French restaurant would be costly but their lunch fare was priced close to a typical fast food hamburger joint's big burger prices.  We enjoyed a great meal in what felt like a truly European setting with equally enjoyable European music.  To exchange wonderful conversation with the French owner was equaly enjoyable.  It was a fitting place to enjoy a 38th wedding anniversary lunch.  We'll go back there.
Coffee is served....
A glass dining table with the restaurant name scored in the glass.
Back home, it was raining on Thursday.  My outdoor projects would have to wait.  I did want to build a couple of new saw horses and that became my project for a couple of hours.
I moved my table saw and compound mitre saw outdoors - under the eaves - for cutting and did the assembly indoors in our garage. 
I had pre-stained the lumber - while staining several other outdoor lumber materials for pergolas we plan to build in our back yard.
The 36 inch height was what I settled on as a good height to work with.
Once I completed the build, I opened the can of stain and touched up the unpainted areas.  The saw horses will be handy for some of the future works we have planned on the home front.  The saw horses I previously had built had long been delivered to Edmonton and they remain there for our son to use on his home improvement projects.

 
Easton loves playing with his  John Deere equipment.
Easton dropped by our home a few times this past week and Jeanette felt the time was right to put the little play table together.  With the two little chairs, Easton could sit comfortably at his level and have his own play table.  Now, this play table was used by his mom and her brother when they were little.  Jeanette would not part with it....in the belief that it would once again be needed.  She was right.
Once set up....Easton instantly went to the table and sat down to play.
I joined him for a bit ....and when I tired of squatting, I went to get the other small chair to sit with him.  We sat there for quite some time.....!
He looked toward the camera for picture taking....while I continued reading.
He continued to make good use of this little table and chairs.
Yesterday (Friday) was our official 38th wedding anniversary.  Our gift to each other sits in our back yard; waiting patiently for the electrician to complete the wiring.
The electrician promised to be here by 11:00 am this coming Monday.
Jeanette planned a fantastic five star meal, made at home, and we followed that with a Netflix movie....also at home.  We were in back up mode to babysit Easton should his paternal grandmother be called away.
A dozen roses for Jeanette on our 38th anniversary
Today's weather brings a return to sun and great temperatures.  We have plans to fire up the motorcycle and head off to some engaging activities.  We'll report on that in a future blog. 


Thanks for dropping by.




Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Labour Day Weekend

Easton loves his little Kawasaki quad
Notice the rope tied to the back of Easton's quad.  He is so quick to rush out for the street and the rope helps his parents control that.  

The Labour Day weekend kept us near home taking care of routine stuff around the yard, a few brief visits and a couple of motorcycle rides.  Jeanette worked on her plants, trees and shrubs; mainly weeding, trimming and pruning. I spent some time staining some lumber in advance of building a couple of pergolas in the coming weeks.
Saturday - A quick visit with Easton and his folks.
We had some errands to manage in the the city of Langley and, on the way back, we dropped in for a brief visit with Ginette, Trevor and Easton.  They were enjoying the holiday weekend at their home and playing with Easton. They headed for White Rock beach and we rode out into the countryside.
We took a ride for a couple of hours.
With no planned destination, we simply cruised some Fraser Valley country roads.  The scenery was, as usual, beautiful.
A break along a small river park.
We came along a road side park that parallels a small river and it proved to be a great place to enjoy a break. We have come by here before but had never stopped.  It is a nice spot.
Quiet and serene.
It's not a swimming hole.  Signs were posted to that effect.
Only a few families were enjoying this lovely daytime picnic area and we felt as though we had it almost exclusively to ourselves.
Leaving the park, we rode south toward a wonderful county side dairy that we know has a wide variety of tasty ice cream.
Mt Baker is peaking over the Vedder Mountain range.
Mt. Baker - in Washington State - is visible from as far as Vancouver Island.  Although we often ride in that area of Washington State, typical long weekend border crush of traffic keeps us away.  In fact, we seldom travel away from home on long weekends. Traffic chaos is not something we enjoy.  We plan our rides, south of the medicine line, during the work week when the border entry points aren't busy.
Our ice cream destination - Birchwood Dairy.
We stopped here for a break and enjoyed some local ice cream.  The dairy was busy with families enjoying the petting zoo.   Good fun!
Pastoral setting at Birchwood Dairy.
Our daughter's huge poster size photograph for Lululemon athletic wear.
Ginette was featured in promotional material for Lululemon, women's run gear

Although we were too occupied to take photos, Ginette, Trevor and Easton were at our home for the afternoon and early evening on Labour Day, Monday.  We barbecued a nice dinner.

I sorted through my home improvement tools yesterday - basically sorting stuff before cleaning the garage.  Every once in a while, the garage gets a sorting and a cleaning.  It needed it.  I'll mess it all up again once the saws come out for building the pergolas.

Jeanette and I are off to downtown Vancouver today.  I have one appointment and we'll follow that up with a walk around the downtown/waterfront area.

That's it from here for now.

Thanks for dropping by.