Photo-a-Day 2009

24 December, 2009 - T'was the Night before Christmas

Today is the day we have our family dinner with our boys and their girls, my SIL's family, her MIL and G'Dad. We all go to my SIL's home as she has a big house to accommodate us all.

Lots of good food..

Paul was a little hungrier than the rest of us..

Then it was time to exchange presents with my SIL's family.

 
Hope you all have a lovely Christmas with loved ones.

23 December, 2009 - The Point

My friend's own a lovely rustic cabin on the ocean in Point Roberts, WA. I don't order a lot online but when I do it is easier to have it shipped to their cottage and then I go and pick it up and declare it at the border. I also get to spend time there and take some photos which is what I did today...it was a cold gray day

My friend is an amazing artist in many mediums. This is a detail of one of the mosaics she has done...followed by pics of some of her four seasons series

Then my favourite part...taking pictures of the old beachy stuff. The most beautiful part of this cabin is that you don't need to worry about letting in wet dogs, the kids playing, I've seen 5 wet dogs in this place at one time..and it is so lovely and rustic that you know it's not going to mess anything up. :-)

Here are some pictures of the deck cushions..

and my fav of the day...

beach glass on beach wood...

old windows with very many layers of paint..

one more of the glass...

That's all for today...

22 December, 2009 - Traditions

In our local shopping area they have a tradition of having free carriage rides around the block every year. I guess the merchants pay for this activity and it is always so popular!

I ran over to take some pictures of the horses.

They were so beautiful!!!

21 December, 2009 - Berries

While Richard was gasing the car I jumped out when I saw these berries dripping with rain drops and tried to take some nice pictures..but they didn't turn out great. I was going too fast as usual! :-) Here are a few of the pictures...

 

 

20 December, 2009 - Dinner with friends

with all that shopping I guess we had to do something with all the food so we invited or neighbours over for dinner and to meet Erika as they had traveled extensively in Mexico a few years ago.

I set the table to suit the season a little bit...

Started with a Boccocini and Tomatoe salad

Then we had some Thai style Mussels ..they were so fresh

and that was followed with a small bowl of pasta with prawns.

we just had lattes and some Christmas cookies for dessert :-) No one went home hungry :-)

19 December, 2009 - Santa Barbara Italian Market

We also took Erika to out local Italian Deli. This is a real deli..nothing shiny and fancy here...just great meats and cheese, pastas in every shape and form known to man..oh..and some great bread too...and the cookies are yummy...

Take a number...unless you want Olive Oil..then jump the queue.  On a regular day it takes about 30 minutes of waiting to get served. Some of the old guys who do the shopping for the family will pull a number and then go next door to the coffee chop to have a coffee and chat and watch some soccer on the TV. They wander back in every now and again and check their standings...LOL

we waited about 45 minutes today. Not bad considering they had their big sale on!!!

Whats that you said...you need pasta? I think we can help you out with that..

oh..and a little prosciutto perhaps? 

What kind do you prefer? Of course..we will cut a piece for you to taste..and trim all the fat off it to BEFORE cutting and weighing it!!!

and just about anything else your deli lovin' heart desires...

see that bread in the basket..it is like flat baguettes and so delicious!!

I really love going to this store...the hustle and bustle is wonderful to observe and you always chit chat to others waiting in line..at least I do LOL. Don't go if you are in a big hurry...

 

18 December, 2009 - Granville Island

here are some random sights of the market

 

 

17 December, 2009 - Look who arrived today!!!

Do you remember THIS POST?

Well Erika is all done with her school work and on her way back to Mexico she stopped in for a few days with us.

 
We took  her to Granville Island Market

Granville Island market is wonderful...you can by just about anything there, food, gifts, wine, crafts etc etc etc.

Here are some signs from the food section...I love the signage

more from the Market tomorrow...

16 December, 2009 - Starting on Class plans for 2010

and made a Valentine's card..

 

I am so excited....
GUESS who is coming to visit tomorrow for a few days??

15 December, 2009 - A Warning

Richard and I had a nice quiet evening..lit some candles and watched sme TV. Suddenly I said...do you smell something burning? I went to check the candles and then yelled as I walked into the hallway and saw a candle on fire...no really... ON FIRE!! I ran and got a wet rag and threw it over top of it.

What had happened is..this candle had dried leaves and flowers embedded into the wax...you see a lot of them over the holiday season. Well...it eventually burned down to reveal the dried flowers...and they CAUGHT FIRE!!!!! It was completely going up and the pieces were falling on the furniture. It could have been really bad.

This is what it looked like after the fact...

scary moments...thank goodness we were right there. The furniture finish was damaged too.

So ..toss those beautiful candles. This happened in seconds!!!