14 Friday Jun 2013
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last night I took a few pictures of the poppies but this morning more were blooming so I ran out before heading to the office and took a few pictures…
poppies blooming this morning…
this is what was in the same place when I got home after work…
place where the poppies had been this morning…
it is very exciting and I am looking forward to seeing what each day will bring…
Crystal was very sad when she saw the poppies were gone, as they remind her of her daddy…
13 Thursday Jun 2013
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yesterday my parcel arrived from the Seattle Glass Blowing Studio and Gallery… we spent a wonderful hour there after the cruise where I made a float and Cyndi made a beautiful glass bowl…
I had been blown away by the gorgeous Chihuly Garden and Glass, and had great fun making my piece… Ron came along and took pictures while we worked… the three below were taken on my iPhone by Cyndi…
really difficult to blow the bubble and you need excellent teamwork…
when we talked with Dale Chihuly he said he had 90 people on his team and after making one little float I can see how you could use many hands…
very hot glass melting onto float to make weighted bottom…
our instructor was excellent…
flattening the bottom of the float…
they put the pieces into a kiln where the temperature comes down slowly over 24 hours so we didn’t get to see the final product until it arrived…
my outfit is particularly lovely as they recommended wearing cotton clothing… I found these pants with crabs on them the day before and as they were way too long we cut them off and I rolled them up…
Cyndi and Crystal were texting back and forth about how embarrassed they were that I was going out in public dressed in such a fashion, lol…
while at the Glass Blowing Studio I splurged and bought a stunning bowl…
my float looks pretty good… it is round and purple and will go into the pond…
what more could a person want, lol…
12 Wednesday Jun 2013
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since the water heater leaked all over the basement, there has been lots of activity… while I was gone, the company came in and removed the carpet and underlay, took out two feet of drywall, removed all the furniture, redid the drywall, laid new underlay and carpet and repainted the wall… looks pretty good, especially without all the stuff that was jamming up the place, lol…
newly painted and carpeted basement…
I think they just have to bring everything back in and then it will be done… this will give me the energy to tidy it up down there… the basement had been George’s domain for a number of years, and he would watch tv down there while I watched upstairs, so it has been a bit difficult to go down and sort everything out, but I will put on those big girl pants once again and get it reorganized nicely so we can play Wii and watch movies when the kids are here…
maybe I will look further into having the fireplace changed to gas or electricity so that I can use it, as it is fairly difficult to start a fire… will have to see…
he and I had talked about putting in new carpet down there…
11 Tuesday Jun 2013
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all the plants I bought before I left are still not in the ground so the garden looks rather dreadful… the kids were busy while I was gone and although the grass has been cut a few times there are weeds everywhere… Jeff dug up some grass and dead plants in the front bed which was a great help… the wild roses have taken over the other front bed so that is going to take a fair bit of work, lol…
wild roses overrunning the front garden…
this feels particularly funny, because when we brought the little wild plant in from the lake it took about 4 years before it even had one blossom and hardly grew at all… now it is trying to take over the whole place…
I wandered around the garden tonight and took a few pictures… it looks very sad…
columbine in the side garden, blooming while the rest is taken over with weeds…
my goal had been to come home and do some planting but it seemed more important for my body to eat and rest… maybe I will do some planting tomorrow…
bleeding hearts and ferns are happy…
I may need to go and buy some additional flowers to add to those I have and I did bring home a bunch of dahlias so on the weekend I can get those planted…
torenia, one of my favourites, in a hanging basket, a bit of water will make them a bit happier…
hoping that a few good hours of work with a couple of helpers will get it looking better…
10 Monday Jun 2013
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customer service, going the extra mile, Lobby on York, mashed potatoes, Rhapsody of the Seas, salmon
I wrote this post for work and thought I would share it with you…
Made me think of the service we received tonight at Lobby on York where the staff went out of their way to make the group dinner experience enjoyable for everyone who attended…
salmon with mashed potatoes and a lovely chipotle marinade…
they knew me by name when I arrived, and that I was the organizer… they took the list of what individuals had ordered and asked everyone’s name so they could provide the correct meal for the correct person… it was another good customer service experience… I am looking forward to doing something with them again…
that same kind of attention to detail happened on the Rhapsody of the Seas Cruise Ship… if you mentioned a problem with a meal or service, within minutes someone up the food chain would be at your table to hear the problem and then deal with it… I had wanted a tour of the galley and was told there wasn’t any space left, but after mentioning it to one of the dinner service staff, it was all organized and a cookbook produced by the chefs was autographed and presented to me the next night when we arrived for our dinner…
really, it’s all about going the extra mile…
09 Sunday Jun 2013
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big girl pants, bit bumpy, crab for dinner, diary, good to be home, packing, prairies, seafood Benedict
got up and had a lovely seafood Benedict and asparagus… finished packing and fiddled with the bags to make sure the big one wasn’t too heavy… ended up leaving lens solution and a pair of shoes behind, lol… apparently I bought quite a bit of stuff…
crab and prawn Benedict was my last meal at Cyndi and Ron’s…
put on my big girl pants for the short flight to Calgary with a 45 minute stopover…
prairies…
and then the last hour and a half to Winnipeg… last part of the flight was a bit bumpy but I did laugh as I heard a male voice go “woo hoo”…
flying through fluffy clouds…
picked up by Crystal and the boys and home…
we had crab (and pizza) for dinner, and I took the last food photo of the trip… distributed a few presents and then everyone left…
tonight’s dinner all the way from Courtenay…
I watched the Tony Awards, first TV I’ve seen since I left home…
have to sort through my bags to find something clean to wear to work tomorrow and am looking forward to sleeping in my bed tonight…
it is good to be home:-)…
09 Sunday Jun 2013
09 Sunday Jun 2013
09 Sunday Jun 2013
09 Sunday Jun 2013
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busy day…
went to the Farmers Market just after 9 and then to a number of grocery stores… I found two new phone cases…
returned home, had a nap and cleaned crabs for our supper, and headed out to see the Dahlia man where I got 11 tubers for the garden, mostly purple but some white ones… picked up crab to bring home and a few last minute treats…
when we got home we cooked prawns and had crab, asparagus, salad and wine…
currently we are working on our Alaska cruise book online…
then to bed so I can get up early and pack everything I bought into a second suitcase for my flight home…
