A December to Remember

Ever the optimist, I tried playing pickleball last night with predictable results. Too much, too soon. After a few games my elbow area was letting me know that it was not ready for even the slightest strain. So, instead of playing this morning, I sat at my computer deleting photographs, a task I find laborious, but in the interest of my hard drives, necessary. Somehow I ended up on the month of December, 2017. Perhaps you might remember that we were living in beautiful Vancouver at the time? I thought you would. As you might imagine, I took a lot of photographs that month, but that number is now 826 less than it was before. As I was going through them one by one, I found some good stuff I'd forgotten about, so because the job is not much further along, I decided it could be fun to look back. I hope you agree.

But first, I am loving the shininess of the new tile which, of course, will look better once the grout is applied. 

It took most of yesterday for Daniel to tile the arch, as well as some of today, but now it looks like this:

He is very methodical, taking his time to get it right. Small tiles at the ceiling line and he is almost done with the walls!! The countertop with sinks arrive Monday, and we have the bathtub painting scheduled for the following Monday. Marching closer every day!

While I won't bore you with all that transpired in December, I will be sharing a bunch. 

Make of it what you will.

Countless times I've mentioned how we kept our tiny tree up from the middle of November to the end of March to help keep the gloom away. Here is the baby tree with the ornaments still on and our darling Baxter who was weeks away from being too sick to keep going. (Only the lights remained for most of the time) This was taken during a fog white out, something that came as quite the surprise to a Floridian.

I was so intrigued that I went walking to Stanley Park where I got lost in the fog, but not before being amazed. Friendly people helped me find my way.One night in December, we went to our first hockey game which turned out to be a lot of fun.

On our walk home from church one Sunday, we found a spot to watch the Christmas parade on Howe Street. The Chinese influence is everywhere, including many of the floats.

The morning of the day that Matt and Tom were to arrive from London, I saw what I imagined were tiny snowflakes outside the window. At twenty stories up, they were very tiny, but I was sure that is what they must be. Before long this was confirmed by looking at the grass in the park below.

This view is walking out of the building. From what I've been told, that site across the street has now been developed.

Snow, snow, snow, snow...let it snow....lyrics from one of my favorite songs.

Tire tracks on the bike lane (l) and strollers taking a stroll.

We did all sorts of things during their stay, including taking a bus to Whistler for the day. For those who have done the same, you will recall how scenic the Sea to Sky highway is. Going through my photos, I was reminded of what we were sure was a wolf along the side of the road which was very thrilling. The snow in the city melted fairly quickly, but on Whistler Mountain there was plenty. The gondola ride up was a wee bit scary, especially when it stopped for a bit, but what did I expect? 

Did I add that we were not wearing nearly enough clothes? I should have. Tom looks as if he is feeling the cold through his shoes. Matt took this of his parents.

Oh my, how I love the mountains.

We decided to ride the above gondola, what is called the Peak 2 Peak and talk about scary!

I finagled my way onto a window seat at the front of the car for the best views. We are almost there!

Once over to Blackcomb Mountain, we didn't stay long as we were freezing, freezing, freezing. Gathering our nerve, we re-boarded for the journey back to Whistler Mountain. Down the mountain and into the town, we warmed up with tea at earls.

Speaking of "earls", the company is the reason we were blessed to live in Vancouver for a year. We could not have asked for a more good and generous employer and that's a fact. 

The town of Whistler is full of charm and occasional whimsy.

Another trip we took, this time traveling south almost to the border, to White Rock in order to visit with a long lost cousin of Toms. That would be Mount Baker, near Seattle in the distance as seen from the White Rock pier.

The last time they'd seen each other was more than twenty years ago in England, so you would think it would have been difficult to figure out who was who, but really, in spite of loads of others on the pier, it took no time at all. We enjoyed a lovely lunch together at a local pub.

I was anxious to show them Queen Elizabeth park because I'd enjoyed so many visits there. This time though it was far colder than was super comfortable. Nonetheless, we carried on.

Fun decorations were to be found all around the park. Rarely does anyone take my photograph, that is unless Matthew is around.

I can't remember if I'm wearing blush or just plain cold! I'd purchased tickets beforehand to the light show at the nearby Van Dusen garden.  Having no idea what to expect, aside from the fact that it was crazy cold, well, you decide for yourself what you think.

It seemed kind of showy walking towards the entrance and our initial impression held true. Seriously, there were lights everywhere!

Having visited throughout the fall, I'd seen workers stringing lights in the trees, but never imagined it would look quite like this.

If you could physically hang lights on it, they did so, and then some! Very crowded and very cold, we made our way through and back to the warmth of the car and condo. 

For a Christmas gift, I bought tickets to the Cirque de Soleil show in town, made even better because it was within walking distance. A first for us, it was both strange and captivating.

Another night, walking home from the Christmas market at Canada Place, we moseyed through downtown past the skating rink at Robson Square.

So we did all sorts of fun stuff, but we also did stuff like head to the grocery store for Christmas dinner ingredients, walking there along the seawall. Matt is pulling my shopping cart, something that saved me on many occasions.

You cannot visit Vancouver without spending some time in Stanley Park where the Black Capped Chickadees are very friendly.

Dreary when we started our drive, it began snowing while we were visiting the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, where there are tremendous displays of Indigenous art and culture. 

After they left, there was still my birthday to think about. Bruce was thrilled to drive us to the Reifel Bird Sanctuary as a gift in nearby Delta, where there are beautiful mountain views.

Along the way...oh my, a field of hundreds of Snow Geese!

Did I mention it was crazy cold? Oh yes, not by Canadian standards, but most certainly by a Florida couple's standards. A pair of Great Horned Owls was one of the highlights.

If you didn't know better, you would think you were looking at a cat's face, don't you think? The chickadees were friendly there as well.

And here is the last photo I took in December 2017, probably on my way home from shopping. What a joy and privilege it was to live on the twentieth floor of this lovely building.

Which one, you ask? That would be our corner balcony in the building on the right.

Well, that was a trip down memory lane. Our friends Pam and Glen spent only about six months living in New Zealand, probably twenty or more years ago, but, just like Vancouver, it was a glorious place to live and one that will never be forgotten. They still reminisce about how much they loved living there.

Those who are loyal readers may have seen some of this before, and then again, maybe not. I choose photos on the fly, so maybe some of these will be new. For those who are new to this space, perhaps it will inspire you to visit Vancouver in the future. It is a glorious city to visit, and even more so to live there, if only for a year!

Daniel and Herbert will be back on Monday so, until then, we wait.

your friend,

Gail

A Week Into the Project

Things are getting very exciting around here, oh my yes they are! The tile is actually going up on the wall as I type. Well actually, Daniel has taken a lunch break, but you get the drift. Let's do that reverse thing again where I show you how things started today, beginning with the first row of tile!!

And how did we get to this point you ask? Well, Herbert and Eli have been working very hard, however, they got one day behind, so rather than the tiling beginning on Tuesday, we had to wait until today. We really can't blame Herbert because we added a detail that he originally didn't account for. While I'm thinking of it, several other residents have been hanging around the house hoping to get his attention for their places and I can hardly blame them because he is so diligent, however, I make sure that they know that I'm holding onto him until our project is done! 

So what have they been doing? Drywall and ceiling repair over the tub area for one thing. At some point, long before we got here, there was a bulge in the ceiling for some reason, but now it is nice and flat. That hole is where the exhaust fan will be.

Another thing that is so great about Herbert is his precautions to keep other surfaces in good shape, in this case all the paper taped to the ceiling in order for the knock-down to not land there. (Knock-down is a type of sprayed finish for walls.) Several walls needed smoothing as well, and all of that took quite a bit of time. In other words, the stuff that no one will ever notice but we appreciate nonetheless. After filling the wall with insulation, they added what is called concrete board. Heavy and sturdy enough to hold the tile up. It is both hard to cut and heavy, thus the two of them were getting it into place.

Once that was in place, he began putting up the crown molding that we requested. Because we have it in most of the rooms, it only made sense to me.

This took most of yesterday as there were so many angles to get right, but now it is up and I love it! Totally worth the extra time and expense in my book.

You would never know that there were once big light boxes on that wall! He did a fantastic job with hiding the evidence. 

Perhaps you are wondering what that green stuff is? That would be some waterproofing that Bill gave us from his own many tile projects. There are three bathrooms in his house, each one done in large part by him, so he's well versed, not to mention outfitted, with tile work supplies.

Remember the rough in valve for the tub we had to have shipped from a store in Michigan? Thankfully, it arrived yesterday and I thought I'd show you the part that gave us a small headache, not to mention a $200 hit to our budget.

Speaking of budget, there always comes a time in a project when I start to feel like, yikes!! This stuff is a lot of money. That said, give it about six months and I will have forgotten what anything costs. As I used to tell my Mom when she would say she worried about my memory, "a good memory is overrated Mom." May I remind you that she died when I was a few weeks shy of my 50th birthday? What would she think of me now. 😁

Have I told you how much I am missing pickleball? A whole bunch, if I have not. Plus, there are a lot of hours to fill that I am unaccustomed to having. I bring that up because Bruce played both days over the weekend while I stayed home in order to not be tempted to play. Thankfully, the rest is doing my elbow a world of good.

Nancy asked if I'd made the shower curtain yet, and the answer is no, however, I did get the fabric out to see how things would coordinate.

While I am happy with the bone and khaki color, the blue not so much. Entirely too bright, however,  I could not really tell that when I ordered it online, something I've done very little of when fabric is concerned. Unfortunately, I have four yards of it which is a bummer. I could drive to Sewing Studio in Maitland and try again; instead I've decided to use it sparingly. Because this will be big requiring the floor for laying it out, it will have to wait until there is no longer brown paper covering the floor from the front door to our bedroom. I tried out a version on our bed.

Originally I'd planned on starting with the lightest at the top and ending with the darkest at the tub line, however, the blue is so far from what will SOON be the blue on the tub face, I think it will stand out even more as not matching very well. For now it is all packed up again, as we are still probably two weeks away from the finish line. We do know that the counter top will be installed on Wednesday of next week which is very exciting indeed. I sure hope we like it!

I mention not playing pickleball because on Saturday, while Bruce and the gang were having fun, I decided to make some other kind of fun. Candy, a fellow bird enthusiast and fantastic photographer, posted some photos on facebook of migrating Northern Gannets at Jetty Park (for excellent shots of that beautiful bird, click on the link). With that in mind, I drove the baby car over to see what I could see. At first with none visible, I walked down the long pier hoping they were further out from the parking area. What I saw off the pier were Pelicans by the dozens. The jetty water was such a beautiful color and so clear that you can see their feet.

From there I walked back to the parking area and on to the beach seeing no Gannets, but plenty of Terns and Gulls. No complaints from this gal. 

The weather was beautiful with a crisp blue sky and temperatures in the middle 50's, with a pretty serious wind speed. Where oh where are they??

Back to my car, I moved to another area of the large parking lot hoping they would appear. Crazy windy, I took shelter in my car until finally I spotted what I thought was one. I have seen this bird but once in my life, more than 10 years ago to be in the ballpark. Bruce was building an Olive Garden in Vero Beach and I rode over with him so that while he was inspecting the restaurant, I could go to the beach. Walking up from the parking lot, I saw a large white bird, with an ice blue eye, just sitting on the sand. I took any number of photos which I wish I could locate but I can't. They are somewhere on a hard drive that I have no clue how to access. Anyway, I'd never forgotten that bird and hoped to see one again. Hurray!! I saw one as it dove into the water for a fish! My zoom lens was a wee bit short leaving me with very few good shots, instead I have what I think is a somewhat comical photograph to share.

Indeed, that would be the one, sandwiched between two brown pelicans! A Disney cruise ship thrown in for good measure.  Below is what most of my photographs looked like as I tried, without success, to get a photo as it flew overhead! 

Ha ha...never think that they all turn out because far too many do not! That water color below was a treat for the eyes. Gorgeous.

This morning before Danny arrived, the sunroom looked like this, with paper placed on the floor by Herbert, and some of the furniture covered with the old shower curtains. One of the mirrors sits on the couch.

Bruce went to the storage unit yesterday afternoon to retrieve the floor tile because that was what we thought was happening today, however an early morning text said otherwise. Fortunately it is close by so he went back and got the wall tile too.

As well he got the tile for the tub which is shown here primed and ready. With any luck he might even get there today, but I'm not really counting on it. Mostly I am just wondering how it is going to look. After spending the last month or so on choosing materials, I'm dying to see them in place. 

Before this post ends, I want to celebrate the arrival of the blooms on Tabebuia trees all over the city. It is always hard to decide if I prefer the yellow or the pink; both of them are a jolt to the otherwise green landscape. That sure is a cute house isn't it?

More tile on the wall!

Actually I took this when I began writing, so now there is tile to the ceiling!! 

While the pretty stuff is great, it takes a good foundation first that Herbert and Eli executed perfectly. It's no wonder his services are in such high demand! 

Until we meet again, I remain your friend,

Gail