Yes indeed.......

Well I should have written a grant but the sun was shining and it seems to be the last warm sunny day for the rest of the week (there has been a cold weather advisory issued)...... So after a little lie in listening to the CBC (yes....I still listen despite the current fiasco).... I donned my walking shoes, mittens and sunglasses and headed out.

I had heard an item on the radio about "social isolation" in Vancouver and surrounds and how lonely people feel...... so I determined I would hail every person I saw with a heart "Good Morning" or "Hello" and a big smile.  Mostly I was met with cheery replies and smiles.... felt good.

I started with a quick errand and then headed to a coffee shop for a delicious coffee and a decadent chocolate croissant......sitting with a good people watching vantage....sipping and munching and feeling warm and toasty.....I think I could have had a nap but I was itching to get outside into the fresh air and take some photos.

What a glorious day it was....the ol' iPhone was getting sun flares galore but I didn't care.....the sun was warm on my skin......and I was happily wandering through my village, along my river, a photo project in mind......I saw a few people I knew, had some little chats..... found some usually closed gates on the harbour open and snuck in close to the big boats..... watched the fishermen bundling up their nets , the season over, all the boats docked and being cleaned.

I did a good walk around Garry Point and home along the dyke....snow geese, a heron, lots of starlings, a hawk or two, snow dusted on the far mountains......

A thoroughly delightful 3 hours of recreation and restoration.

This afternoon was consumed with David's annual eye exam at Children's Hospital which is always a trial of long waits in a crowded kid filled waiting room... today an extra long wait but finally we see the Resident, the eyes are dilated, we have our traditional Starbucks and split an oat fudge bar and then back to see the Ophthalmologist, our beloved Dr. Lyons...... 12 years we have been seeing him.  A careful check today as David's vision is down a bit in his "bad" eye.....and also the revelation that David's vision issues are very rare.  New glasses prescribed and an appointment made for a year from now.  As always I feel lucky we get to see this great Dr at this amazing hospital and that in the grand scheme, though rare, David's vision can be and is corrected by glasses!

I am feeling mellow tonight knowing tomorrow is another day off....a day to Remember..... David will be writing the blog tomorrow with his reflections of having just been to Normandy and Omaha and Juno beaches and stood in those vast cemeteries..... his thoughts and photos.

Wordless Wednesday will be a study on boats from today.......

Off to make sure the winter woolies are pulled out as I may just get up with my Fisherman at 5:30am and go watch sunrise somewhere...... or then again....I may just snuggle right down again and doze.

Work, work......good work

Work was crazy this week......dealing with all the fall out from the events of my "shamcation" week, emerging issues, a large conference in the final week of registering and preparing to do a workshop at that same conference......

And in the middle of the week a very important staff meeting with ALL my staff.

A milestone moment...... and how delightful it was...... how very proud I was of these women who are so committed to their work.....to their own professionalism and to the families and children they work with.

The story is here Communities of Practice

And then my colleague Jenn and I presented on our work at the conference yesterday and it went so well.

Perspective is a gift....... despite all the cr*p that so often lands on my desk, or in my inbox, the number of times I get thrown a curve ball or get knocked down...... don't compare to the moments I see the WORK we do triumph.  

Progress is slow.

But it is STILL progress.

It's a journey of a hundred setbacks but we choose to continue moving forward and the investment of time and effort in people is SO worth it.

The other stuff will likely continue this week but I will hold in my heart the knowledge that we are headed in the right direction.

 "May the work we do, make the world we live in, a little more worthy of our children" (Tom Hunter)

Picked up

As soon as my vacation was over and I let go all the frustrations and worries of the week......

things picked up!

Saturday was sunny with some lovely fog in the morning along the river.  I snapped a few shots on my way to Jazzercise and they turned out great!

I came home to a rushed breakfast of fresh baked croissants and then hit the road for a very busy 4 hours of work and conference prep, feeding roboteers and bringing caffeine to a friend.....in the midst of which I managed to have a pedicure......t'was luverly.

We headed downtown to meet friends to celebrate a 50th birthday at a trendy Japanese tapas place.   What we discovered was very interesting and some delicious food and....that we are rather old to sit on the floor cross legged for two hours....it was pretty hilarious how our end of the table managed to arrange our un-bendy bodies to be comfortable......but a fun time was had and a great man and friend was well toasted by all.

Sometime in the night Time fell back....... I don't like it....... I don't like coming home at 4pm and it being dusk.....I think this daylight saving gig needs a re-think.

Seeing as I wasn't consulted it fell back to standard time anyway.

Robot boys were up at the crack of dawn and headed to the first competition of the season.....so Lindsay and I made a break for it.....Starbucks in hand we bolted for the border and onwards to Bellingham.

We had our favourite brekkie and headed to the Mall........ about 2 hours before it opened..... #oops.

A couple of stores were open and we browsed around and downloaded every coupon we thought we could use from retailmenot.com.    Folks this is a real revelation to me......open the website or get the app and then screenshot the coupons and voila they scan them at the checkout.... awesome!  We saved over $16 just with the coupons at three stores today!

And.... drum roll....... wait for it....... I......Nicola Lesley Byres.......bought.......not 1...... not 2..... but.....................THREE pairs of shoes!

Allan had to be resuscitated when he got my text.

I actually managed to extend the golden half hour of retail for me  by getting a great chair massage in the mall as I was starting to fade..... $20 for 20 minutes and an excellent back and neck massage from a great masseuse while half of Vancouver and Bellingham walked on by...... felt awesome!

Revived and fortified with coffee we finished shopping including a gorgeous red dress for Lindsay's winter formal, boots for her 50% off and a sweater for me and a good start to my Christmas shopping and ......I repeat...... 3 pairs of shoes.  For me.

And then Trader Joes......as one must...... a quick sandwich at Avenue Bread and we turned for home as the rain came.

Easy-ish border although some concern we might have been in contact with Ebola??????

Boys arrived home and we had a Trader Joes appetizer buffet for dinner...... because we are cool like that.... and now everyone is pursing their relaxation of choice..... David is watching UTube videos on his phone, Allan is watching a new episode of "The 100" with Lindsay while she snap chats a mile a minute.....as soon as this blog posts I will sip the last of my chardonnay and head to bed with a new book I bought today......because it's been dark for hours already.

So if you were keeping account of how I did with vacation TO DO list I almost made it...... I am one defrosted chest freezer from complete but really seeing as I got 3 pairs of shoes its like, almost, the same.....right?

Back to work at work tomorrow and a very full 6 day week ahead.....but not to worry.....I have 3 days off after that....oh who am I kidding...... obviously you SHOULD worry!

Thanks for being on this "vacation" with me and for all the encouragement, chiding and love..... ya'll are good people.

It's OVER

Here endeth the worst vacation of my life.

There was a bona fide crisis at work every single day this week.

I couldn't have written a script for a worse set of circumstances to arise in one week....THE one week I was "off".

I am taking a page from "Frozen" (which I have yet to watch) and repeating the mantra "let it Go, let it Go....... let it GO"

There will be other weeks, other breaks.... Christmas is only 50 some days away right?

I won't bore you with the litany of the last 2 days.... rather let me tell you about two little things that happened that lifted my flagging spirits.

I have come enjoy immensely the two online photog groups I participate in.

There is a group called "ClickinMoms" on Instagram of Moms (and a few Dads) from all over the world and there is a daily word you have to photograph.  They are mostly professional photogs with fancy gear but I shoot with only my iPhone and don't use any editing apps.

So it was fun when Tourism Richmond came asking for the third time to use a photo of mine......

The other group is called "OKDOTHIS" and is also a global community of photogs (thanks to GH for the intro!)......I have had several photos featured there but this week the featured ME.....as an iphoneographer ..... and they also featured the "DO" I posted entitled "In the Still of the Night" which some people are having fun DOing.

In a week of hard stuff......  a couple of fun moments! The daily exercise of finding something to shoot that fits the themes is a great mental break and this week I had time to play a bit with light and composition instead of shooting on the fly or trolling my archives for a match!

I have turned off all the lights and opted out of trick or treating..... we have, it appears, moved beyond all that and tonight I don't miss it (although its not raining for the little people).......I am waiting for the clock to strike 9pm so I can curl up in bed with my angry birds for a bit before a hopefully peaceful night knowing the likelihood of being woken by a work crisis is greatly diminished given all centres are now closed!!!!

Croissants are gently rising and I will kick off my Saturday with a great workout followed by freshly baked croissant..........Bring it on!

Day 3 - No F's

It supposed to be Wordless Wednesday but ..... its not......

I worked all morning catching up on conference stuff.....felt great to be on top of that until the mail person delivered more registrations.....argh!

I did the online organic grocery orders for work......

Prepped dinner

And left the building!

In sunshine.

I drove my favourite route along the river and basked in the 18 degrees of warm sunshine..... Ahhhh... yes...... vacation!

And then I visited a practicum student and dashed back to pick Lindsay up and drive her to an appointment.

And then......oh folks.....then I indulged myself for a full 60 minutes.

I went clothes shopping  - 15 minutes - new top and new necklace and I had a gift card.... that is therefore considered a trifecta of fabulousness.

After that... on recommendation of my Mother and veiled threats by my colleague-who-shall-remain-nameless, I sought out a new coffee destination that has been much extolled.

Oh-My-Goodness......People....... it was chocolate/coffee incredible.......

It's called ChocXO and yes.... I do XO it.

Hand-crafted chocolate and on-site roasted organic coffee beans was enough but ......

They have two spigots coming out of the wall that dispense shots of chocolate..... I was overcome and forgot to take a photo but here are my shots..... one was from Ecuador and the other from Los Rios , which might not be a real place but I am going to FIND IT!

I got chatting with a lady who was obviously a regular......hang on...... when did this place open?

Anyway she showed me this...... a secret door in the wall...... WHAT?

And then we opened it because after scoring actual new clothes in under 20 minutes who doesn't feel lucky?

Jackpot.  I swear I only ate one!

I won't go on about how lovely the next 30 minutes of my life was because some of you live too far away to make the pilgrimage........ SIGH...... coffee, chocolate, sunshine...... Yup.

Obviously I earned my workout tonight (that's 2 of 3) and although work called me back for an hour or so at least I was in my PJ's.

I'd like a little recognition now for my vacation efforts today please......... and thank you!

FFFFF

Calm down...... it stands for Frozen, Falsely Frugal, Fridge and Freezer...... because I got those
off my vacay TO DO list today.

There is currently nothing expired in the fridge although by Nov 6th that will be a lie.

We have more mustard than whole German towns, a bizarre assortment of Asian sauces, we obviously have commitment issues when it comes to BBQ sauces and salad dressing, there are 5 tubs of cream cheese..... I almost googled "What the contents of your fridge day about you" but I was afraid.

Very afraid.

BEFORE

AFTER

The freezer is also now a danger free zone.

AFTER

Also a pancake free zone.

I guess every time we make pancakes I make the falsely frugal assumption that if we freeze the left over pancakes the children will pop them in the toaster in the morning and enjoy home made pancakes on a school morning.

This has obviously never happened.

Ever.

I have also done well freezing my herb harvest in the summer which seemed not only frugal but.... sort of pioneering and environmentally friendly but there is nothing friendly about little baggies of black herb like substances littering the freezer... All neatly labelled and all.....will I be adding them to a stew or soup anytime soon.... NOPE!

I swear it IS thyme

I also found these two anomalous items IN the freezer - I think one is for fixing boats and the other is for? No idea?

So ashamedly I filled a couple of garbage bags and scrubbed the fridge and its freezer clean.....It looks lovely.

But the chest freezer remains unconquered!

However in the interests of accountability to my TO DO list I did sort out my Rogers account issues in under 4 games of Bejewelled Blitz!

Funny how when you say "It's ok, if you can't help me fix this I can just move over and start fresh with Telus" suddenly the solution I have tried to get for close to 6 years is suddenly resolved!

I also managed to have a phone call meting about the course I am co-teaching in Jan - March and read all the bio's of those folks running for elected office in the upcoming civic elections and get my list started for who to vote for.

Lindsay came home and made use of these frozen bananas and I sat of the couch and enjoyed a tea and a muffin while catching up with a good friend through text messages......

Ran a work errand, had a great Jazzercise workout and picked up a chair I "won" on biding wars!

This has certainly proved to be an unconventional vacation so far but it's had its moments and having these things off my list and off my mind is great!

I bet you just can't wait to hear about tomorrow eh?

Filthy

And not filthy rich....... (thank you $1000 car repair).

my conclusion from this the supposed second day of my vacation ..... the first day and a half were actually swallowed up by a crisis at work...... is that I have the following choices

A.  Hire a full time cleaning service
B.  Stop wearing my contact lenses when at home
C.  Develop a higher tolerance for dust and cobwebs and the like.....

Just today, while working on my computer all morning I noticed the following "issues"

1. Several cobwebs inside my house which I vanquished with a broom.  No I wasn't riding the broom while vanquishing!

2.  The front window curtains were filthy..... I washed and rehung them.....oh the joy and light and smell of laundry detergent!

3.  Dusted and swept up window sill dust and a "Bugs Life" worth of little bugs behind curtains and sofas and furniture.

I then stupidly decided to make myself a cup of coffee.  I turned the espresso machine on and then, at that exact moment, I recalled from the recesses of my brain some article or other about how people leave water standing in these types of machines and all manner of bacteria grow.  EW!  I scrubbed that water cylinder......

Then I went to grind some coffee to find the coffee grinder was not working as it should.  So as one does I serviced it.....thankful to have remembered to unplug it first I took it apart carefully remembering where each part went and then I cleaned it.....lets just say there were likely years of coffee dust well attached to the grinding mechanisms.......it took some work but I cleaned and reassembled it and was finally....an hour later ready to make that cup of coffee......which tasted like Sunlight Ocean Blue dishwashing liquid...... lovely....

And while I was standing around in the kitchen the stove caught my eye.....and it was soon sparkling but oh my word how does it get so filthy!!!  Ai Ya!!!!

And so my first half day of vacation draws to a close ..... I also managed to walk the dog and prune the front yard both tasks I took on today as Tropical Depression Ana is bearing down on us and is going to do some damage if the weather predictors are to be believed.  So I thought outside tasks today and if the power truly does go off it will be a good start to my freezer defrosting efforts tomorrow.

Always thinking.....just not always cleaning apparently!