Xmas wrap up

On Tuesday, Dad and I went walking around to check out the resort.

My Daddy

Nice park area

Canoe rentals

Mirror like Cusheon Lake

So peaceful

Xmas day we went for a walk at Duck Creek Trail, its so incredibly beautiful along the creek

Fallen trees, likely from the storm

Dad took pics every few feet

More pics

A different angle but this is what he was taking a pic of in the pic above

Moss blanketed trees

Someone or multiple people decorated this tree for Xmas

After the rains, a fast moving creek

The field with a bench to rest

Christmas day we stayed at the cabin. Turkey, ham and potatoes on the menu. Unfortunately, the turkey did not cook properly in this oven and in the end, and with much debate, we decided not to eat it. Better safe than sorry. The ham and potatoes were delicious though and Xmas was saved. No one went hungry, there was still plenty to eat.

Doing the washing up after the feast

Brad playing silly buggers took a bunch of pics while we did the dishes

Boxing day... decided to take Dad off-island to Lake Cowichan. Were originally going to go to Butchart Gardens but both my men have trouble walking distances, so in the end chose to do lunch in Lake Cowichan.... Ray & Deb took us here about a year ago.

Jakes at the Lake

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Lake Cowichan back in the day

The full lake - its a biggie

It was a fun little trip and a nice change of scenery, we drove around the area checking it all out. We stopped at Walmart on the way back, as Dad needed something and that was the most obvious place to be open, filled up our gas (5cents cheaper than on SSI and we were there anyway) and washed the car. 

Off to the ferry where we promptly joined a ridiculously long line of traffic waiting... we were the 5th car that didn't make it... if only Brad hadn't waxed the car! So with 2 hours to kill we wandered through the booming metropolis of Crofton and bought a deck of cards from the local shop as ours are ratty and old. Dad & I tried to play in the car while we waited for the ferry but it was far to awkward.

Finally back on Salt Spring Island, we stopped at Moby's for supper before heading back to our RV to watch a movie - when Dad fell asleep Brad drove him back to his cabin. 

As for today, I have to check the weather and see whats on the go. Likely more rain and we'll stay at the RV and watch movies. I have some laundry to do, and probably so does Dad.

Santa arrives and Vape update

My Dad (and childhood santa) flew in yesterday. His seaplane was due to arrive at 4pm so imagine my surprise when he called at 330 to say 'I'm here'... and even more amazing, just 20 min after waking up at 330am to catch his flight at 6 the airline called because his flight was delayed 2 hours... yet he still managed to get across the country and arrive half hour early.... during Xmas. I forgot to ask what airline did this amazing feat but will inquire today.

We got him all set up in his cabin, plenty of Xmas treats, a small tree and prezzies... can't forget the prezzies!

My Daddy

The cabin was cool when we first arrived so Brad started a fire.

The Prezzies

Kitchen

Its a really cute log cabin, roughly 20' x 25' with a deep dish bathtub (you all know what that means :D) and a king size bed.

Last Tuesday I gave up the vape... I had reduced to 0 nicotine and kept puffing that for a month or so - some of you may remember that my plan was to vape the Black Licorice flavour (good taste) while reducing the nicotine levels from 18mg/L to 0mg/L and then switch to the flavour Brad has been using which is a cigarette flavour (nasty taste) and then stop vaping all together.... this I have now done. Finally.

Brad is at 0.75mg/L and only a couple of weeks behind me, he started vaping slightly after me also.

Now that the nicotine has been eliminated my only issue to deal with is the habit... so I bought a lot of gum, Spitz sunflower seeds and an adult colouring book to keep my hands busy while trying desperately not to eat all the Xmas snacks we've had lying around.... Massive diet and exercise regime in my immediate (well, after New Years) future.

 Adult colouring book about the different provinces in Canada

$1 Loonie and $2 Twoonie

If you follow along you know that my microwave/convection heater died a couple of weeks ago, so my Xmas baking was limited to the stove top, so I made chocolate covered pretzels and bought everything else because the new oven wasn't due to be delivered until Dec 27....

The new Microwave/Convection oven arrived late Saturday and we managed to get it installed before Dad arrived on Sunday.

Shopping, Dinner and Quantum TV

Thursday night was 'Shop Local Social' held annually where many many local businesses offer incentives to shop with them for your Xmas joy. They offer such things as 25% off and other great bargains. The window displays alone are worth the trip downtown.

Brad & I went but its so hard to do your xmas shopping with your other half in close proximity and you don't know where he/she is. Even though we split up to do our shopping we only ended up getting a couple of things for my Dad, and that was it. 

Salt Spring Island has a lot of Mom & Pop shops owned by locals (no walmarts here) and most shops have plenty of items made by local artisans, from Cheese to Furniture.

I came across this and it reminded me of The Bayfield Bunch so I posted it on Instagram and tagged Kelly. She liked it. I'm sure many of my readers will like it too as most read Kelly & Al's blog as well.

Shop Local Social details

Friday night we went out for supper with Steve & Jan (from the campground). They invited us to the Legion for the Ladies Auxilliary turkey dinner for $15/person. Man oh man was it good! There was a young man (about 16) with his Grandmother and while we were waiting for the food to be served he told us it was always very good food - and it was. Well worth the price, we'd heard about it previously but had never been. Well we know it now...

Our old TV (approx 26")

Our new quantum tv arrived today. It puts 3D to shame. I don't pretend to understand these things and I certainly don't usually notice the difference from one tv to the other (or music speakers) but this thing, wowsers... the guy tells us that 'normal' tv's have 1000 pixels per something and this thing has 4000 pixels per something... What a difference a pixel makes. 

It also has all the capabilities we need: It will remotely connect to our computer if we choose and it has Microsoft Office which means we can write letters, etc. on the TV with our bluetooth keyboard and mouse! It has its own Internet and we can watch the 3 shows we like to watch online on it by going to the webpages of History and Global., it has Amazon Prime (which as RVers, we have accounts with), Google Play, and -- just everything we need and plenty more.

Samsung 43" 4K UHD HDR QLED Tizen Smart TV

Not sure what I've written about this purchase in previous blogs but I spent a couple of weeks researching a TV which would do the certain things we wanted it to do and then we decided that indeed we would go and buy a new TV so off we went. While waiting for the guy to find my chosen fully researched TV, Brad saw this in the 75 or 82 inch massive TV version that was phenomenal. I mean it really captivated - even me... He asked if it came in a smaller size, because obviously.... and it did. I had the poor guy googling it on his phone to find the exact dimensions and fortunately I had the taken the exact dimension of the available space because I've shopped with Brad before. Yes, the smallest version, the 43", would fit perfectly (and just) in our allotted spot above the TV.

There it hangs now. Its like looking out a window, so many layers in the picture. As I'm not the video techie type this is the only way I have of describing it: many many layers, and vibrant colours.

Mystical forest and a gift

Yesterday we went for a walk at Duck Creek Trail and I haven't posted pictures of that area for quite a while, so here is a new dose - fresh off the press. Incredible beauty. I especially love the carpet of moss on all the branches.

Our new landlord has asked us to keep an eye on their flock (ducks and chickens they keep as pets), while they are away in January, and we obviously agreed since its really no bother.

About a week ago, I had gone and sat with our new landlady for a couple of hours while she was selling her crafts at a local craft fair. Chatting as you do when getting to know someone new, I mentioned that I was watching craft fairs for a small foldable cribbage board made by a local artisan out of driftwood, but was having trouble finding one appropriately sized for our small space.... 

Yesterday she came by with a gift... for xmas and for watching the birds in Jan. What an amazingly thoughtful gift and these boards are not what one would call inexpensive. Thank you kind lady.

Last evening, I handed Brad his arse. Karen would be so proud...

Absolutely love this new crib board