Girl's Getaway

Many of you are well aware that I am an island junkie and that if given the opportunity I will extoll the merrits of Salt Spring Island to the extent that I might even plan the vacation for you. In fact, I like that little gulf island so much that I helped send the Gerlach's there for their honeymoon seven years ago, before I myself had ever been there. And they liked it! I'm sure their approval had nothing to do with the rose coloured glasses of recent matrimony.

So since mom had a birthday and we are both having a crappy year worthy of escape, I stole her away for a little r & r. Actually, make that just r. No boys, no laptops, no phones and best of all, no blasted basal digital thermometer at 6:00 am precisely. God I hate that thing. (really, God, I hate that thing!)



Now I know there are other points of view regarding Salt Spring. One of them came from my lovely (and now I know crazy) friend Michelle a week after my return. Having perused Facebook she realized to our mutual horror that we were BOTH on Saltspring with our MOTHERS on the SAME EXACT DAY. We even did the same things that same day including visiting the farmers market, driving to the summit of Mount Maxwell and hat shopping and somehow we completely missed each other!!

If you know Michelle you know that she is a hard woman to miss, especially when you consider she had her mother, husband, five children and Japanese inlaws with her. Being that Salt Spring is such a huge place I might have been the only person on the island to have not noticed her;) Michelle's crazy came when she told me she didn't think the island was all that great. Boring actually. Maybe I heightened her expectations too much.



Maybe I like boring.



So mom's and my adventure started with the outdoor woodfired bread bakery. Yum! This was a beautiful attraction Royden and I missed last time due to the bakery's weekday only hours.



While bread is great, cheese is better and we thought maybe some day this little one could help us out.



Mmmm cheese. It was hard to pick just a few flavours to take home, and harder still not to open and sample them all (again!) before giving them away. Of course the next logical item one might need to complete this trio is wine, but we didn't like it much. Cute winery, not so great wine. I am losing my taste for it though so I may not be the best judge. Wine gives me heartburn. Margaritas don't.



A lot of driving was done, and even a little getting lost. I didn't think we'd need mom's new GPS but it actually came in pretty handy. We're such a couple of girls. The island is beautiful with plenty of beaches, ocean vistas and pastoral landscapes. There are also several beautiful old restored churches to see along the way.







During our adventure mom and I discovered we share a love of California poppies and old wooden fences.



Our next stop was Martinus Jewellery. How we missed this shop the last time we were there is a mystery that I suspect only Royden could solve. Mom and I found many items to our liking. This I thought particularly cool. Martin (the jeweler) took a branch from a pine tree, peeled the bark, cast it in wax and then made a mold for the gold.



Good times were had. Eating, shopping, reading, beachcombing and of course sleeping. We also got to catch some really great outdoor live music and drank a number of yummy lattes (thanks mom!). We relaxed and were entertained and got to catch up with some much needed mother daughter time.






Happy Birthday Mom!



Thanks for taking a fabulous vacation with me. I love you very much and am looking forward to planning our next fantastic exclusive adventure together.

Kudos to mom's little digital powershot camera for all these pics. Royden graciously offered to let me take the Rebel but I told him I didn't want to be responsible for it. He laughed when recalled that our last Rebel met it's fate in Salt Spring waters...something I had forgotten!
http://roydenandruth.blogspot.com/2007/07/saltspring.html

Volkswagens, Snakes, and Marriage

Oh and hawks. Red tailed hawks. Because let's face it, they're all pretty important to the planet.

If there were no Volkswagen's, Honda wouldn't have any competition at all and would become a monopoly. If there were no hawks we'd have too many snakes, but if there were no snakes we'd have too many mice, rats and rabbits. And marriage is important so that men like me don't waste their money on BMW's and pet snakes.


Let's cover the normal topic first.

One of my best friends, Shaun...


He just got married. And I never thought I'd see the day. I used to be in a band with Shaun when we were in high school. When I started dating Ruth, he promptly nicknamed her 'Yoko'.

I had the honor of being Shaun's best man. Shaun is one of the friends I can meet in Salmon Arm and when you're together it's as though nothing has changed. We're nearly 30, and it feels like high school is simply a place we don't hang out at anymore, as apposed to the distant past that it is. I miss having friends like Shaun.

Haley is a lovely woman, more then Shaun deserves, but I'm one to talk.





Congratulations Shaun. Just between you and me;
I thought it was craze when you told me you had found a wife. I hope your love is for infinity. Salu! Saarbrucken! The most intimidating thing you could ever say to an evil villain is 'Not so fast sauce head!' When I was at your wedding I kept thinking to myself 'this is the highlight of my day!'

If I was superman, I'd never be late for class again...

Okay..Sorry about that everyone. That was practically a yearbook entry.

On to the next topic; Volkswagen's. More specifically..bugging!


'Bugging' is the term used to describe off roading in a Volkswagen bug, specifically outfitted for off roading. In Salmon Arm the hill to climb is Mount Ida. Mount Ida burned down to the soil over ten years ago. It was nice to get up close and see a forest in the middle of regrowth.

And it was nice to slide on all four around corners.

First we gas up in town, gotta remove the whole hood for that.


Lower the back struts...



All systems go?...



Hit that rocker pedal we're burning daylight!!



We also found some caves, and took in some great views of our home town.



Alright. I'm leaving the crazy stuff till last to keep readers hooked (I'm in the storytelling industry I know how this works).

What's wrong with this picture?..


I guess that was easy. "Reptile barbecue" is the name I've given to an annual barbecue that a friend of mine in Woodinville hosts. I like to call it the reptile barbecue to make people think that we're getting together in someones backyard to cook up iguana's or something. What we actually do is get together with people who share the common interest of keeping 'non-traditional' pets. This year my friend John brought Ruby, his 9 foot, 45 lb Boa constrictor. I tried her on to see if she fit.




I thought she fit great, but Ruth disagreed. John's son is a fan of chameleons so my own Yoda made an appearance.



Another friend brought his red tailed hawk that he is doing falconer training with. I love this city. You meet the most interesting people :)






That's all for now folks!

Tiny widdle toes...

Change.

We've been experiencing a lot of change this year. One of the big changes was my parents changing from parents to grandparents. Amy and her husband Abraham brought little Vincent into the world recently. It's very strange looking into the face of a baby and seeing family. I remember looking at Amy's ultrasound pictures this fall and realizing that this was an image of a person I would know for the rest of my life. Pretty cool. Amy and Abraham's lives have changed dramatically since Vincent arrived. They came over last week for a little photo shoot.

What else has been going on? Ruth and I have been having car problems that required filling the car with water everywhere we went. We've had it fixed since but it makes us realize how much we rely on our cars.

Bikini/Lingerie Coffee huts have arrived to Bothell! How crazy is that? I know these places exist in other parts of Seattle, but Bothell? really? In a town where Ruth and I feel like the young people..bikini coffee? That's crazy. It's crazy anywhere. In case you are unfamiliar with this business practice, in Seattle there are little Latte huts everywhere that are drive through-only coffee shops. I have heard these referred to as "hottie huts" since they usually employ young attractive girls as barista's. But then some take it one extra step.

And so...

Maybe it would be good to have coffee at home if that's the way the world is going. Which is fine because we make a pretty dang good cup o' jo. Especially when my lovely wife compliments coffee with these tasty things.

Yuh-umm!

My Mom came south of the border for a few weeks to help Amy and Abraham with the new baby. It was good to have her around town. She came to church with us and sat up in the booth with us where Ruth and I serve.

I also need to mention the passing of my Uncle Lloyd. My Mom's brother. Ah Lloyd. Lloyd deserves a post all to himself. Lloyd was born with a condition that left his mind stuck at 8 years old. Even as a 60 year old man he was really a child stuck in the body of an aging man. God counted his days and decided that he was ready to be with Jesus. It was sad for my Mom and her family, but also a relief as we saw Lloyd age these past years, wondering how his life could remain normal. Lloyd was nearly deaf, and was often heard singing old hymns up and down the stairs or in the bathroom or in the kitchen when he thought nobody was listening.

At his funeral, my Uncle Curtis, Lloyd's brother stood up to talk about Lloyd. He started by saying, "my mother had two sons; one was challenged and the other was Lloyd."

Looking forward to hearing your singing again one day Lloyd. We will miss you until then.

We also had the privilege of hosting the Tamashiro's again. Some of you old time readers will remember their last visit. http://roydenandruth.blogspot.com/2007/05/childhood.html It was a real adventure and we had a ton of fun. And we had fun again. These girls make me want a home full of daughters.

Dancing, followed by crashing...

What a joyful bunch. Thanks for the visit guys! Come back soon!

More change... I recently lost my job of 9 years. This topic alone could also get it's own post, but instead I'll just mention that I got to work at Microsoft for a month as a part of my transition to a new place. Everyone in Seattle's gotta do it once.

Also...

Today is Mother's day. So here's an ode to the young lady from Frisco who married the pilot from Manitoba. The lady who made my lunch's for me right through highschool. The lady who grounded me for being out late with my future wife. The lady who let me keep a free roaming iguana in my bedroom. I love you Mom!

And for those of you reading this that talk to the Lord often, please remember to pray for my Dad who's having surgery tomorrow. And if you live near him, he could use a visit in the hospital this week because he will be bored.



Alright, time for bed here in Bothell. G'night all!