California Cruisin'

First of all, let's just start by saying I love San Diego! It's beautiful. The people are friendly, it's easy to find your way around and a great place to visit. I would love to go back there for a week and see lots more and do lots more.


This monument was down by the harbour and was fabulous.





Another memorial sight I was impressed by was the Bob Hope memorial.







We went for a dinner cruise on the Hornblower and really enjoyed it. We've been on several in the Vancouver area and this one was the best one. The food was wonderful as well as the service.




We had an awesome suite to stay in, having booked a regular hotel room and being upgraded by the Company. Gotta love that.





We boarded our ship on Saturday and immediately hit the Lido deck for some serious dining. Wow those cruise ship people know how to feed you. The staff are great and eager to please.

We met a lot of nice people and enjoyed hearing their impressions of cruising. Some people had cruised more than 20x and others were newbies like ourselves.




We're happy to be home again. Good to be back. There's nothing like your own bed, no matter how nice it is to be away. Our 'kids' are happy we're back.

And We're Off!

See this little ole boat? That's where I'll be on Saturday night. Pray for me. I get lost easily.

We're flying to San Diego and spending a couple of days hanging out, sightseeing and eating out, should be fun.

THEN we're cruising! Us! We have no formal cruising clothes so we're scrubbing our ears as best as we can and combing our hair and stunning them with our charming personalities. It's all we can do really. Think it will work?

See you all next week. With pictures.

Brother John

April 22 would have been John's 55th birthday. I saw a card yesterday that made me think of him. It was a little boy standing up in the driver's seat of an old convertible and inside the card it said 'born to cruise'. Very fitting.


John is cruising with Jesus now. I still miss him very much and when it's his birthday I think back on times we spent together.


These photos are from 1999 when we went to Hawaii. We stayed at my friend's house for 2 weeks and what a great time John had. Nobody loved the ocean and the beach more than John. He was born to live in a warm tropical climate.


One morning when I was living close by John he called me up bright and early and said, "wanna go for breakfast?" I said, "sure". John said, "come pick me up and we'll go to McD's". Sure. Sounded good to me.

I picked him up and he was kinda sheepish looking. He asked, "Can we go by way of Lynden?" Lynden is in Washington State. In the U.S. of A. The other side of the border. Not far but still...so we went to Lynden. Turns out he bought a VW (what else) in Lynden and needed a ride down there so he could pick it up and bring it across the border. That was my brother.

But he did buy me breakfast.

Happy Birthday Becky Boo!!!

Becky's the 'little princess' of the family. She lives with her Mommy D and Auntie S but she used to live with Mommy C but never Auntie J. It's all very complicating sounding for a little princess but it works. She loves to be the princess and is the most girly girl of all girly girls.

She's now 7 years old so we went to celebrate. She loves little squeaky toys. Even though she already has a cuzillion of them or so she always likes to get new ones.

She also loves cupcakes. But she shares with her big sister Maggie.


Becky loves presents but then who doesn't? She also loves to read.
OK, not really but she is smart and she probably could read if someone just took the time to teach her.

Becky's a really sweet little girl and we like it when she comes and has a sleep-over at our house.

Happy Birthday Becky!

More Retreat Pics

Just like little kids on a school bus. Ok we were on a school bus and there wasn't nearly enough leg room!

The lake was absolutely beautiful. We were able to walk all the way around it before it started to rain.


I'm not sure what happened here but it looks like it hurt. A lot. That ole noggin sure takes a beating sometimes.

I'm Not Sayin' Nothin'

This past weekend Chris and I went to a Retreat Centre on Vancouver Island. It was a beautiful place to go and spend a couple of days. It's on a lake with a walking trail all the way around, 5km, which we did on Saturday. Awesome. The Centre is run by nuns who quietly come in and out just making sure that things are set up or served, etc. Each person gets their own room and share the bathrooms on each floor.

The retreat was with ladies from the church we've been attending and it really was a good spiritually refreshing time. While I wouldn't say we agree with all of their doctrine or interpretations of Scripture I wouldn't hesitate to say they're all really nice women and made us feel very welcome. We hardly knew any of them at all when we boarded the bus on Friday but by Sunday afternoon we came home feeling like we had made a lot of new friends.

Camp is a great place to connect with people. Connecting with God and sisters in Christ is always a good thing and I enjoyed doing both.

My New Car!!!

For the first time in my life I went out and bought myself a brand spankin' new car! I'm not one to change cars very often, in 30+ years of driving I have only owned 4 cars. My brother used to say he went through more cars than that in a month.

I was able to sell my Toyota and traded in the 'bird (with BB's approval) and here I am.......it's pretty exciting.
2008 Pontiac G5

Turning 50 and a new car to celebrate. Life's good in the hood!

After lunch today we went for a walk in a park where Chris had never been before. It's a beautiful park full of old redwoods and great walking trails. There's a tree house built there in honour of the 2 brothers that developed the park. Their father had left them 80 acres of land and they made it into a park and lived in a little house on the property. The tree house is built as a replica of the house they lived in. It's beautiful property and very woodsy.

It reminded me of a story my mom loves to tell of when I was little. We went for a drive through a woodsy area and we weren't really sure of where we were or where the road would take us. By "we" I mean my mom and dad. I was just a little kid. We were on an old logging road in some of the densest forest around.

In the middle of it all my mom was getting quite worried but my little evangelical brain started working overtime and all of a sudden I started singing the song...

"My Lord knows the way through the wilderness
All I have to do is follow."

Is It Spring Yet?

It's really quite dismal outside and cold! I'm looking forward to Spring because what comes after Spring? SUMMER!!!

Easter Reflections

This Easter was a little different for me. I went to Church Good Friday morning, Saturday night for Prayer vigil and Sunday Morning for a Resurrection service. Having grown up in the church I've been to my fair share of Easter services but these ones were in different denominations than what I've been used to.

Having said that I can honestly say I have never spent as much time reflecting on the cross of Jesus Christ and all that it means for us today. Forgiveness of sins and new life in Him is very precious.

Good Friday we went to church and heard the Scriptures of the events leading up to crucifixion read in different languages. It's really interesting to listen to Scripture that's familiar in English being read in Korean, Japanese, French, German, and while I could understand some of what was shared it was completely unfamiliar when an African tongue was spoken.

Saturday night I went to a prayer vigil and sat in darkness while we prayed together and reflected on the meaning of the cross. Candles were lit and blessings were said.

Sunday I went with my mom to a church she's gone to a few times on her own. The Pastor preached on the glory of the cross. The service started with a baptismal service. It was a victorious day and one could sense the excitement of those being immersed in the waters of baptism.

It was a good weekend, time well spent in the house of the Lord.

Christ is risen, He is risen indeed.

Happy Easter

My all time favorite song was written by the Gaithers and I've told Chris 'that when I die this is the song you'll sing'. I'll save that blog for a later time.

The words that I'd like to share for Easter are:

Because He lives I can face tomorrow
Because He lives, all fear is gone.
Because I know He holds the future
My life is worth the living
Just because He lives.

At Easter time these words seem more relevant than at any other time of the year.

Because He lives. HE isn't in a tomb anymore, HE rose from the dead and because of that very fact WE can live and have freedom in Jesus Christ. Hallelujah.

Happy Easter Peeps

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to all ! ! !


A lady opened her refrigerator and saw a rabbit sitting on one of the shelves.

"What are you doing in there?" she asked.

The rabbit replied: "This is a Westinghouse, isn't it?"

To which the lady replied "Yes."

"Well," the rabbit said, "I'm westing."

3 Things About Me

Three Jobs I have had in my life:
- Waitress at a small cafe
- Governess for a wealthy family
- Technical Services Director

Three movies I would watch over and over:
- Steel Magnolias
- The Jazz Singer
- Benny and Joon

Three places I have lived:
- Vancouver, BC
- Honolulu, HI
- Abbotsford, BC

Three shows that I watch if I am near a TV:
- Amazing Race
- Judge Judy
- Survivor

Three places I have been:
- Texas
- Holland
- Hawaii

Three people who email me regularly:
- Chris
- Margaret
- Linda

Three of my favourite foods:
- shrimp
- chicken
- eggs

Three places I'd rather be right now:
- at the beach
- on a road trip
- Deka lake

Three things I am looking forward to this year:
- turning 50
- going on a cruise
- losing weight

Three jobs I would love to have:
- pool attendant at a tropical resort
- concert pianist
- test subject for a massage therapist

An Update

We both doing well on the two goals we set for this year. We've been going to Church regularly and getting to meet more people and shake more hands every week. That's a good thing. We are going to Ladies Retreat in 3 weeks and looking forward to that.

On other more weighty issues...between the 2 of us we've lost 15 - 17 lbs. It'll be 3 weeks this Tuesday and so far we've each lost 7-10 lbs, depending on time of month, water retention, time of day, etc. but the point is we're both losing and sticking to the program.

We've started walking more and that's also a good thing.

Chris starts a new job tomorrow so that's pretty exciting, still with the same branch of the Government just a more intense, serious office where serious people get serious work done. She's already been told they like things "a little quieter" there...in other words...no raucous laughter and hearty guffaws!

Me? Just DART'n around town pickin' 'em up and droppin' 'em off...

Moses is here for another week. He's too afraid to come upstairs because of the cats, that's quite funny. Scared little whippet boy. Now he gets a choice when we go out. We hold up the diaper and say " do you want the diaper or the crate?" and he immediately runs into the crate.

Chris is going away next weekend for a week to see her parents so it'll be pretty quiet around here.

I've been scrapbooking an album about whippets having been inspired by my blog..so as they say...it's all good in the hood.

Moses Supposes

Don't let this tough exterior fool you. Inside he's really a very gentle soul, LOL. He likes to think he looks like a pit bull in this photo, what do you think?

Moses is staying with us while his Mom is in England. He comes every year for his "hollies". Usually it's in the summer and he goes to the cottage with us. This year Christine went in the Spring because her sister is very ill.

Anyways...back to Mosie. Moses has a way of letting you know he's not happy with things. It's not that he's not fed or watered or snuggled or treated or wrapped up in blankets, it's usually if we're in and out of the house a lot and not spending a lot of time with him. He demands our full attention and does not like to share. He's also afraid of cats and won't come upstairs. (They're chuckling about that one).

On the weekend we were busy like we usually are and had gone out and come home a few different times during the day. When we came home in the evening we opened the front door to find a 'puddle'. Moses looked at us with his big brown eyes and then left the room.

We happen to have a doggy diaper from previous visits so we decided that when we went out he would either have to be diapered or crated, his choice.

I come home for lunch most days and on Monday I diapered him for the afternoon. I got back into my bus and picked up my first 2 clients who are regulars on my bus. We had a few extra minutes waiting in the bus for my group so I parked by the side of the road while one got out to have a smoke and the other stayed with me on the bus while we chatted.

Just then Chris called so I answered my cell.

This is what my clients overheard:


"He's fine. I diapered the little pisser before I left so he should be good until you get home. He didn't like to be left alone but oh well. Too bad, so sad. That'll teach him for being a Mama's boy."

Don't worry, I told them I was talking about a dog. All's good in the hood.

Sam, the Wonder Whippet

It wasn't long after we got Sam that we realized we had a very smart dog on our hands and that he really was quite self-sufficient. One of the things he started doing was raiding the fridge.

The first thing that happened was Christine coming home from work in the afternoon and finding the fridge door wide open. Hmmm, she wondered and asked me when I came home from work at night if I had left the door open. No, I hadn't.

This happened a few more times and we just kinda thought well the door isn't closing tightly anymore, a big gust of wind rushes through the kitchen while we're gone, anything except the obvious. Sam.

One day we decided to hook up the video camera to try and find out why the door was mysteriously coming open. It didn't take long to catch him. I set the camera up (Operation Sam) and when Christine was getting ready to back to work in the afternoon she wandered past the camera and turned it on not causing too much of a stir. She patted Sam goodbye and away she went.

Not 2 minutes later but Sam comes into the kitchen and goes over to the fridge. With one quick movement he opens the door from the bottom with his 2 front paws and shazam! the door opens!

This time he decides he's hungry and goes to town. The bottom shelf had a casserole dish full of chicken breasts cooked from the night before. After some considerable effort he pulls one out and munches it down. Then he went to the bread and the cheese and the tuna..............

We sent the video into a few places hoping to make some dough on the little guy but never got a response. I wish I could replay it here. It's hilarious. Skinny little whippet boy going on a feast.

You had to be there.

Maggs

One night shortly after we got Maggie we went to her fave store for PETs cuz she's SMART that way. It didn't take her long to figure stuff out, she's a smart one that girl. She found out very quickly just which aisles contain all the good stuff and the ones that are...shall we say BORING.

Anyways, we had bought her some stuff and at that time we still had Bryce, Chris's handsome man cat who gave us his shopping list before we left home because he never did get to go shopping with us. If it hadn't involved a road trip he might've but we'll never know.

Anyways, back to Maggie. A lot of people have asked us what breed she is because she has a Whippet shape but definitely the poundage of a Lab. Her personality is as mixed as her size and shape.

This couple walked up to us in the store and petted her and asked if she was a Weimeraner (sp?)??? Are you kidding me?

"No, I said, quite confidently (as if they were idiots and I knew better).

"She's a WAB"

Chris laughed so hard the shelves holding the canned cat food shook.