Sunset

Tonight's sunset after a day of much needed naps!

Casa del Mirador revisited

We're here!

It was a very long day...up at 3:00am after intermittent sleep...arrived at the airport before 4:00am and joined hundreds of other travellers who were lined up and waiting for the luggage conveyer belts to start operating. In Seattle we had a four hour layover...time for breakfast on plastic plates by harried servers. The customs and immigration in Puerto Vallarta went quite smoothly and quickly. Our friends were waiting to drive us to Casa del Mirador in Mismaloya...arriving after 8:00pm (PV time) ...dinner at 9:00pm and off to bed for a sweaty sleep. 

Today will be very lazy until the dinner party for 12-15 hosted here tonight!

Christmas 2017

Our plans for Christmas changed when we heard that our grandson was sick with a fever. Because we were scheduled on a flight to Mexico in three days we decided to stay at my sister's instead of risking infection. As a result, this was the first Christmas that we have spent without seeing any of our four children.

So, instead...we joined my niece's family Christmas...fifteen around the table for turkey dinner ranging across the decades from 17-89 years of age.

Nadine and Will, our niece's son...

 ...who continues to shoot up in height!

Nadine presented each of us with hand knitted items.

Elsie and Fred demonstrated their "cold weather" style.

The sisters shared a moment

Almost Christmas

Yesterday was stressful when we met with the strata plumber at our condo. He wants to remove some of our new flooring to access a leaking pipe under our floor. Of course we would prefer that he did his work through the ceiling of the lower apartment since that is where the damage has occurred. This morning I contacted BCAA, our insurance provider, to determine what we should do. An adjuster will contact us to discuss the situation...on Christmas eve...Bah Humbug!!!!

Meanwhile, we have received cards from many friends around the globe
and decided to display them in our new condo.

Shadows from a sunny winter day!

SNOW!!

Oh dear!! As much as I love the sight of snow...it is not something that I want to deal with right now!

We left the apartment this morning around 9:00am for a breakfast at Breka. It was raining with the odd white flake mixed into the rain. By the time we had finished our breakfast there was at least an inch of snow covering the world downtown. With our feet in sneakers we carefully returned to the apartment...not wanting to slip on the downhill as we watched cars making slippery turns in order to avoid the hill ahead.

It snowed until around 1:30pm. Now we have to hope that everything disappears and the roads are clear for the drive back to my sister's tomorrow. Otherwise we are trapped in downtown Vancouver! Our vehicle does not have winter tires!!!

New floor

Whew! It has been an interesting week. The flooring company arrived on Monday morning to start removal of the condo floors. They were very expedient...completing removal of everything (including old metal bifold doors) before 5:00pm.

The next day, when we arrived at 5:00pm, there was no change to the situation. Obviously the crew had not arrived. Our Nufloors contact called to say that the levelling was going to cost more than planned. What option did we have at that point?!

On Wednesday we visited again at 5:00pm and could see that the levelling had been done during the day but was not completely dry.

At 4:30pm on Thursday we received a call to tell us that there was a leak in the condo below us and they needed access to our unit immediately. We flew over to the building from my sister's...full of angst...what if the new floor was swamped in water?...what if?...what if?????

We walked into the condo with trepidation...it was a mystery...no sign of water and the flooring crew had not used any nails that could have caused a hole in the radiant heating pipes. The laminate was all clickable...no sign of anything!!! The plumber was called to assess the problem!

As there is no furniture in the condo, we waited in the lobby for the plumber to arrive. He quickly assessed the situation, visited the condo below us and determined that the problem was a pinhole in the pipe that he would access through the ceiling of the lower condo. Nothing was the result of anything done in our condo!! Whew!!!

So...today was "baseboard" day and when we went for a visual inspection after 4:30pm...all was in place and finished. It looks great!

So...now to select wall colours

and clean the kitchen!

Morning walk

We are still shrouded in fog although it has lifted occasionally throughout the day.

Morning sun trying to brighten the day.

My morning walk revealed some shapes in the water.

Anniversary

Yesterday marked our 25th Anniversary...legally...and 37 years of "togetherness". We drove into Vancouver to celebrate the occasion...planning to share wine and nibbles at The Sylvia Hotel. By the time we spent three hours in transit (including a Doctor's appointment), we were too tired to contemplate a walk through the fog to The Sylvia. Instead we trudged up to Davie Street in search of The Brasserie. Shivering in the cold we discovered a sign on the door that read "Closed for a private function". Hmmmh! What now?! John suggested that we walk down to Cafe Luxy for a pasta dinner. That sounded like a good alternative so...hand in hand, we carried on down Davie Street where we were surprised to find that Cafe Luxy had become Davie Dosa Company!! The idea of Indian food didn't interest either of us. The next choice was to hop on a bus to The Sylvia Hotel...but...neither of us had our compass cards or cash!! "I'll hail a cab!" John announced. After several futile attempts, and increasing chills, we opted to dine at Taki's Taverna. With a bottle of Greek wine and a platter of calamaraki...we warmed up and toasted our ability to be flexible...after all these years!

This morning we woke up to fog horns and a blanket of white...the building was completely shrouded in fog and eerily quiet. It was a chilly walk to Denman Street for our morning coffee at Delaney's before John visited the gym and I went for a walk along Coal Harbour.

Lonely seagull...

...and no sign of Stanley Park across the water...

...just a few brave souls on the boardwalk!

A quick visit to Comox

We brought Adrian over to Comox for a pre-Christmas visit with the family as he will be working over the Christmas holidays and not able to join us on Vancouver Island. After he finished work yesterday we picked him up and headed to the Tsawwassen ferry terminal for the two hour sailing to Duke Point. When we disembarked at 5:30pm it was totally dark and raining heavily until we reached Parksville. Thankfully the rain finally stopped and an "almost full moon" was visible through the clouds as we drove between Partksville and Comox.

Reinforcing drinks were poured when we arrived after 7:30pm!! The Christmas tree was decorated and the fireplace warmed us as we shared stories and exchanged our traditional gifts of books.

There was a heavy frost overnight and this morning we made a chilly visit to Goose Spit where we quickly realised that we (John & I) did not have appropriate clothing!!

A c-c-c-c-cold Papa with a swaddled Heather

Lots of snow overnight.

From Goose Spit we drove to Cumberland for a walkabout through the historic centre of town.

Cumberland's Ilo Ilo Theatre (meaning place of variety in Japanese)

opened in 1914...and closed in 1955.