Time to Go

Today is our final day in Victoria so it is filled with cleaning and packing but I have a moment to say that we had a great week here despite the construction and all its problems.

We chose the new paint colour for our rooms which was a plus but we also discovered that while removing the outside stucco, the workers had cut the power to our dishwasher. That meant removing the lovely new siding which had been installed. On the plus side, our new windows are fantastic. Not only do they keep the apartment warm, they also cut down the noise from Fort Street. However, we must get new window coverings since our old blinds no longer fit.

Yesterday, during one of the sunny breaks, we walked down to Oak Bay shopping area to have lunch at the Pennyfarthing, one of the first pubs we enjoyed in Victoria. I had a hankering for their steamed Salt Spring Island mussels. Glen enjoyed a couple of pints of Smithwick's while I had an award winning beer from the Vancouver Island Brewery called Spyhopper Honey Brown Ale. "Spyhopping is the playful activity in which the orca will vertically pop out of the water in order to check out their surroundings or to examine prey."

Pennyfarthing has great pizzas so I ordered their Aspargus and Olive pizza with feta cheese and Glen had a pub staple of Beefsteak and Guiness pot pie. Both were delicious. To end this great meal, Glen indulged in a dark chocolate brownie with ice cream and I had the Pennyfarthing Irish Coffee.

Tonight, as has become tradition, we'll have supper at the airport White Spot restaurant. Originally the airport had a cafeteria-style restaurant but after renovations, the White Spot opened a lovely place in which to eat and drink. The service is always good and food tasty. Their in-house beer, Nat Bailey lager or Nat Bailey pale ale is brewed by the Granville Island Brewing exclusively for the White Spot restaurants.

Leaving is always bittersweet as we love being 'on the island' but of course, home is still Calgary. More and more we discuss the time when Victoria will become home but that is still several years away.

Lunching with Friends

Victoria offers an opportunity which we lack in Calgary and that is socializing with friends over lunch.

Yesterday, we spent the afternoon with Diane and Tony Taylor at their home in Gordon Head. They are in the process of renovating their older house and it's fun seeing what changes have happened since our last visit. This time their cat, Coco, decided she loved us and so we were her best friends all afternoon. She is a beautiful Abyssinian with lots of energy.

Diane and Tony are off to India in February and to get in the mood, Diane served us an incredible Indian lunch of lamb, cauliflower, rice and vermicelli pudding. I realize I lack the Indian names for these dishes but suffice to say they were a burst of different curry flavours (except the dessert, of course).

Today we enjoyed lunch with our neighbours Cynthia, Ray, and Caroline Goff. They have babysat our condo during the building renos and have made sure the workmen have had access to our place to do what must be done. We really appreciate the time and effort they have made on our account so wanted to thank them with a lunch out. Chrisites is everyone's favourite so we walked over. A group of veterans from WWII and Korea were also enjoying lunch after the Remembrance Day ceremonies and one man had his medals proudly displayed.

Glen felt this was his last chance for fish and chips so ordered the halibut. Ray is also a fan of fish and they both sprinkled malt vinegar on their chips in true British pub spirit. Cynthia had a lovely alfredo pasta and Caroline enjoyed the teriyaki chicken burger. I had the reuben sandwich and could not resist ordering fries instead of a salad. I'll live to regret that decision and will probably have to spend an extra half hour on the treadmill next week.

Glen remarked he can see a retirement in Victoria spent chatting the hours away with good friends and it sounds like a great plan.

Sunday on the Island

Rain is predicted for most of the week so when we rose this morning and saw the sun, we decided to take advantage of the nice weather.

First we went to the driving range. It was good to work out the kinks by hitting a huge bucket of balls. I was pretty rusty but soon warmed up. The temps were chilly but after smacking 80 balls, I had generated some heat.

Our next stop was the hardware store because our dishwasher died while we were away. There are several theories as to why but it meant we had to buy a dish rack to do dishes by hand (perish the thought). We also got paint chips as the contractors are painting the outer walls this week. They will paint using colours of your choice, if we provide the paint. Turns out none of the chips we brought home matched the colour of our walls so we might have to change colours.

After lunch we headed to the beach. It is a 40 minute walk to Willows Beach but well worth the effort. In the winter, dogs are allowed to run freely along the sand and most of the people doing the beach walk were dog-owners. We stopped by our butcher and bought a leg of lamb for supper. Problem is I must cook it in the oven since we have no balcony on which to barbeque.

Busy Day

We began our trip to Victoria yesterday by having the alarm go off at 2:50 am. A rude awakening. Meg and Mike were off to Vegas and offered to take us to the airport. Meg's passport was due to expire at the end of November so she could not print out her boarding pass--she actually had to speak with someone and anyone who has ever flown to the States from Calgary, knows you have to allow plenty of time to clear customs. Hence the early morning rising.

We arrived at 5:00am for a 6:30 flight to Vancouver. All went well and we easily made our connection to Victoria. We landed in the pouring rain and our cab driver said it had been raining hard for 2 hours. I hauled out our raincoats but by the time we got to the apartment the rain had eased.

The apartment was a mess. We had left it arranged in such a way that those remediating our building could reach the windows, etc with ease. What we had forgotten was how much dust drywalling creates. After getting our groceries, we spent most of the day washing everything down. There are no window coverings up so we had to tack a bedsheet over our bedroom window. It felt like we were young, poor students again.

We decided to have a second breakfast when we realized that except for some crackers and a soda, we had not eaten anything in 9 hours. Our neighbour popped in and we got caught up on all the construction news so in the end, second breakfast became lunch.

As is tradition, we went to Christies for supper. We shared Spanikopita and then I had their Souvlaki chicken wrap with a garden salad and Glen had their special which was a roast beef dinner. We washed it down with Cypress Honey Lager. We went to bed at 8:00pm and slept soundly.

Going Back

"They" say there is no going back but I just spent a wonderful week going back to Ottawa and enjoying a great time with my Eastern family. It's been two years since I visited them and many things have changed but much has stayed the same.

My sister, Lynda, and her new-to-me boyfriend, Chris, met me at the airport. I hadn't seen the new Ottawa airport as in 2007, I arrived via ViaRail. Ottawa International is very modern with many unique architectural designs. Water features highlight Ottawa's ties with both the Rideau and Ottawa Rivers.

After retrieving my luggage, Chris drove us to Lynda's new townhouse. What a cozy and welcoming place it is! She's done a fantastic decorating it and her walls bear testiment to her unique photographic eye. I'd never tire of looking at her favourites (see the sidebar for a link to her Shutterfly site).

Monday we took a trip down my memory lane by walking along the canal between Landsdowne Park where the Ottawa Roughrider's (Canadian Football League) used to play and Dow's Lake where we lived on our boat upon our arrival in Ottawa in 1965. The canal gardens are famous for their tulips in the spring but every season sees the beds planted in a variety of flowers. Lynda thought we could find some subjects to photograph and she was right. We also saw an artist working on a huge canvas painting the flower beds.

Since I tend to amble when I walk, we had to scurry back to Landsdowne so we could reach the Canal Ritz restaurant for lunch before the office rush. Lynda thought she might see someone she knew and she did. We had a lovely meal of penne pasta for Lynda and an eggplant pizza for me. Both were delicious.

After lunch, we headed to my Aunt's place to have a brief visit. Mabel had been in hospital the week before so I was happy to see her and even though she looked tired, she was still her vivacious self. We enjoyed a glass of her son's homemade wine before returning to Lynda's.

If it's Tuesday; it must be Mom. We headed out to Carleton Place Manor for my viist after the Queensway traffic had died down. We had a great chat and watched the DVD Glen made of our trip to England/Italy in 1977. Unfortunately, the photos appeared over-exposed perhaps due to the old technology of Mom's DVD player. We had a lovely lunch in the manor restaurant of minestrone soup, tossed salad, grilled cheese sandwich (Glen's favourite) and a lemon custard for dessert. Cecil, Mom's beau, joined us and had us in stitches with his wry sense of humour. His daughter, Donna, popped in to remind him of a doctor's appointment so I got to meet a small part of his large family.

Wednesday, Lynda made us a decadent breakfast of mango crepes with Ontario maple syrup before we headed to the west-end to pick up Chris. The only building in this area that I recognized was Algonquin College even though Chris said his house was built in the fifties. Glen's cousin used to live close to Algonquin but I could not remember his address having only been there once.

Lynda promised me a great photo-op on our way to Almonte (the route she takes to visit my other sister, Nancy) and she did not disappoint. An old stone church called Auld Kirk stood beside the highway and we had a great time taking pictures. She and Chirs had been there before but didn't seem to mind photographing it again.

However, when I changed my lens to photograph some horses, I must have done something to my camera because it stopped working. I didn't realize this until we came upon some red sumac which I wanted to photograph. Thank heavens I was also travelling with a pocket camera and it worked to record the moment.

Nancy's house is a work-in-progress so it was like being in our home in Edmonton. Each time I visit, there is something new to see. This time it was the outside siding that had been added to give the house a new/old feel. Lynda, Nancy and I had a great chat while Chris worked on getting Nancy's new notebook computer up to speed. We also viewed the movie Lynda made of her trip to Newfoundland. If you know the Fothergill sisters, you also know we can multitask when it comes to chatting so much ground gets covered conversationally even while we studied Lynda's photos.

Thursday, Nancy and I became hobbits and had an early morning breakfast with her husband, Andy before he headed off to teach then had second breakfast at Wheeler's, a sugar bush pancake house. After stuffing ourselves with a huge pancake and three maple-flavoured sausages, we headed into Perth. We did a little shopping, had Chai tea at Coutt's and Company before wandering through Stewart Park.

Can you believe we were ready to eat again? We had hot and sour soup and spring rolls at the Skye Dragon Restaurant before heading back to Canadian Tire to pick up Nancy's car. We returned to Ottawa via Carleton Place to have a brief visit with Mom.

Friday came quickly upon me and I realized my visit was almost over. Lynda had to work so I slept in and spent the day catching up on emails and making a potato salad to take to my cousin, Victor's. He barbequed up some ribs and they were delicious. Lots of his wine was consumed and many laughs were had. His kids are growing like weeds, Colin being almost 10 and Valerie, almost five. It was so good seeing them again.

Saturday I packed up my suitcase then Lynda and I went for a walk before hitting Moxie's for lunch. I had an incredible Tuscan sandwich made with pesto and tapenade. This turned out to be a mistake as I could smell the garlic oozing from my pores. I felt so sorry for the woman who sat next to me on the plane.

My flight home went without incident and we arrived 20 minutes early. It was so nice seeing Glen there to meet me. I love my family but my home is in Alberta.

It Wasn't Pretty

Glen played hooky Friday afternoon so after lunch we drove out to Cochrane to play 9 holes of golf at the local course.  We have played this course before with Meg and Mike as well as with the Bacterial Pathogenesis Research Group but always playing to the best ball.  This day we were going to tackle it with each of us playing to our own ball.

As you can tell by the title, neither of us had a great game score-wise but both came to the conclusion that we had a wonderful afternoon together.  Mark Twain said that golf was a good walk spoiled but I believe it can be a good walk challenged. 

We had plenty of challenges on our walk around the golf course.  The afternoon was sunny but a stiff breeze made it a challenge when hitting the ball.  I got a mouthful of sand from one of my shots out of the bunker which was a challenge to get rid of--it's amazing how grains of sand get into the crevices of one's teeth. We were both challenged finding the ball of Glen's best drive.  We think a black squirrel skulking in the trees made off with it because even though it hit the fairway, we could not find it.  As always, the greens in Cochrane are a challenge.  

We felt we had good drives on 7 of the 9 holes but Glen struggled with his iron shots while I had trouble with my hybrids.  Glen missed par once because his ball lipped the cup and mine hit the pin on a nice little chip shot but it took me two more strokes to sink it.  

We had the course to ourselves and played as a twosome which was nice.  We feel all the avid golfers were in Priddis watching the LPGA.  

The 'Tenth" hole is a lovely restaurant called The Tin Cup where we enjoyed a beer, corn chips and black bean salsa while we tallied the score.  It was a great day spent together playing a fun game. 

Golf fore Free

Of course, it wasn't free but we had a fun day golfing at the Banff Springs golf course.  The 'Golf Fore Free' package included a night at the hotel and 18 holes of golf.  The website was confusing so we didn't realize we had to pre-book our tee time--I thought they would have tee times dedicated to those who booked with the hotel.  I had also made reservations at the Waldhaus restaurant and they never were recorded so I think the Fairmont has to re-think their booking system.  However, when we checked in on Friday, they quickly solved these problems.  We ate when we wanted to and golfed 2, 9 hole rounds.

We have stayed at the castle-like Banff Springs Hotel before and enjoy the elegance and pampering for which they are famous.  The spectacular Cascade and Sulphur mountains as well as the Rundle Group of peaks dominate the views from this massive stone hotel.  Our room overlooked the statue of William Van Horne who was instrumental in building the railway from Eastern Canada to British Columbia.

After we settled into our small but elegant room, we headed to the library (an euphemism for hotel bar).  We've never sat on the outside patio before and it was a delight.  A flower border of lilac, blue, and burgundy flowers was a lovely foreground to the mountains in the background.  We each had a Stella  although this Belgium beer wasn't listed on the menu.  The hotel's draught beer had frozen the night before along with most of their wine--not good since the day was warm and perfect for cold beer.

After getting ready for dinner, we walked to the Waldhaus, about a 15 minute walk.  Not great while wearing high heels but good for working up an appetite.  We enjoyed a few Warsteiner (German) beers on the Waldhaus pub patio.  It overlooks one of the tee boxes for the Stanley Thompson, the 18 hole Banff Springs Golf Course so we watched golfers hit across Spray River, a tributary of the Bow River.  The Waldhaus, we later learned, was the original club house and the tee box was the first tee of the course.

We had a lovely meal upstairs in the dining room.  Usually we sit close to the fire as it has always been October when we stayed at the Banff Springs hotel but Friday we were led into the round tower dining area.  The windows were open and we had a great view of Mt. Rundle.  Glen loves their lamb shank and I had arctic char.  I had the special Fairmont coffee for dessert while Glen had creme brulé.  It was a lovely 37th anniversary celebration.  We decided not to walk up the stairs to our room so took the shuttle. 

I had expected a very early tee time but the earliest we could get was 9:45.  This meant we could have a nice breakfast in the Grill Restaurant.  We were finished our continental breakfast by 8:00 and emerged to find a very long line-up.  There were several tours staying at the hotel and I guess breakfast for most was eight.  We checked out, had the valet put our bags into the car and retrieve our golf clubs.  We boarded the 8:30 shuttle (they run every half hour) and checked in at the golf club.  We had plenty of time to organize a golf cart and hit some balls on the driving range.  This proved to be a good warm-up for the course.

As it turns out, the golf cart was really not necessary as the 9 hole course is pretty compact but since I was battling a head cold, I found it a good way to rest between holes.  The Tunnel course is a good mix of par 3s, 4s, and 5s.  On our first round we were paired with two locals, Mark and Tom, who knew the course inside and out.  They were very helpful and encouraging.  Mark had Ottawa Senater's logos on his clubs so I asked him if he were from Ottawa.  Turns out he was from Altavista but had come to Banff 20 years ago and now only visited Ottawa once a year.

We had enough time after our first round to have a sandwich (me) and hot dog (Glen) at the clubhouse snack bar before we headed out again.  This time we were partnered with Lon, a long time member of the club.  He was 80 but didn't look a day over 65.  I guess mountain air is good for a man.  Another single joined us, Robert and his wife, Diane who acted as caddie.  They were originally from Texas but now split their time between places in Canmore and Florida.  It was nice having a woman with us as I do tend to always be the only girl playing.

Glen was thrilled with his score of 105 for both rounds.  I did 128 but decided I had such a good time that I wasn't going to focus on the score.  On the first round, Mark told me I must have a boring life since I could hit with my driver and send the ball straight and a good 125 yards on every hole.  Of course, he didn't see my second nine but it was nice to have the driver working for me.  I hit a few good putts, too and a couple of good fairway shots.  Glen did very well and kept up with the other guys who all had years of practice.  Robert told him not to give up the game as he had potential to be very good and Diane said he had a good feel for the ball.  

I was exhausted by the end of play and was having breathing problems due to my cold.  We were very glad to catch the shuttle back to the hotel, retrieve our car, and head home.  I had left some steaks in the fridge so we barbequed those up then went to bed early.