IIDD, May 8th, Mother's Day!

Hi Tinsel Town!

Sorry to hear about the breach in security! Perhaps another case for Officer Hernandez!!

Had a more than full day on Friday. Set off from The Island Inn at 7:30am to rendezvous with Ray at his place and then met Peter at Cypress and Marine to cycle out to Steveston. We returned via #6 Road, CSTB and Heather. Lads went their separate ways around 33rd and McKenzie and I headed out to UBC. By the time I was on Marine Drive I was ready to call it quits as I felt like I was struggling all the while, head wind not helping matters much either. However, I cajoled myself into grinding up 16th to Blanca and then back down to Marine. By the time I was at the Spanish Banks Hill I had 72K on the odometer so I knew I had a probable 85K by time I was home. Breeze at my back, sun shining, I somehow caught a second wind and by dipsy-doodling around Kits Point I upped count to 88K and then it was 91K as I sailed past Harbour Terrace and I was away to Science World and then Cambie Bridge where I turned around and made for home. Not pedaling very quickly around Seawall, (or UBC for that matter!), more taking in the sights and other biker/pedestrian traffic than speeding along but felt quite comfortable so was pleased with 101K total. Quite a marked difference from Thursday when I was pelted with hail!

[Ray and I went riding that morning. At one point, given weather forecast earlier in week, we had planned to redo Seymour Falls on Saturday and, by way of training, on Thursday we headed out towards UBC to ascend the Hills of Point Grey: 9th, 4th and Marine Drive, looping around campus first, from Crown/Marine. Once the Hills were conquered I cycled Raymundo back to his house and made for home. En route, I decided to continue around Science World and then as far as Aquatic Centre where I turned around, retracing my steps, or, more correctly, my circles, I suppose! By this time it had started to rain, reasonably heavily, more than the light drizzle which started as I rode under Cambie Bridge on outward bound section. Was pretty well drenched by time I reached Olympic Village and then it started to hail, hailstones bouncing off my helmet like angry bees or hornets, peppering my exposed knees and legs. Didn't really hurt, of course, but since it was such a cold rain I was pretty uncomfortable, (tips of my fingers were numb!), and consequently the ice pellets felt like tiny needles on my chilled skin! As one might expect, sun started to shine just as approached Harbour Terrace! Felt wonderful on my back but I would have appreciated it half an hour earlier! Nonetheless, a wonderful ride on the Hills of Point Grey, to start, so I was really just ambling along afterwards to push odometer to 71K. Mug of hot java and a long shower and all the ice and hard rain were forgotten!]

Back home I had a large glass of water and then went about getting place ready for pre-Dram session we were hosting at 5:00pm. Cora Lee had prepared a plethora of dishes, (chicken wings, meatballs, mozzarella/tomatoe skewers), so I acted as scullion and did the dishes that dishwasher was too full to accept. Taking a break to do some of my shoulder exercises and then check my email on desk-top in our bedroom, I heard a voice behind me. It was Andre McKenzie, friend we had stayed with, for a week, in Chabeuil, small village about an hour south of Lyon, last September. His girlfriend, Rosemary Thorne, has a beautiful place there, huge swimming pool, etc. At any rate, Andre has suffered from an irregular heart beat for sometime now and ended up in hospital, in Valence, largest town closest to their village, for a few days, this past March. Once released, he flew back to Vancouver, his home, and underwent some relatively minor heart surgery, (not a bypass or anything of that magnitude), a few weeks before Easter. Rosemary arrived, (from England where she has a flat near Marble Arch in London), around that time and they both popped by a few days before Easter weekend. At that time Andre's condition had improved but he was still being monitored and his medication being calibrated.

Had not seen him since then so was pleased he had dropped in. Rosemary is back in France. Although retired, she sits on a number of boards and makes a regular business trips to various cities in Europe. Unfortunately, Andre is still moving pretty slowly as although his heartbeat has been somewhat regulated, it keeps bouncing around with one medication doing something, another pill doing the opposite. Very frustrating, as you can imagine! We chatted and caught up and before he left I invited him to come by later for the pre-Dram session. [He didn't show up again so I suppose he was simply too tired. He had parked his truck on Granville Island, before he came to say hello, and mentioned he had had to sit down twice before he made it to our place. Makes my aches and pains seem rather trivial, at least not life threatening!]

By this time is was close to 3:00pm and with guests coming near 5:00pm, I still had plenty to do, what with vacuuming and more kitchen clean-up as Cora Lee kept churning out more dirty dishes, spatulas and bowls. By 4:45pm table was set, a couple of bottle of wine were open and I headed to have my shower. Most of guests, (ten in total but Dave, tenth, was last to arrive, about 6:30pm), were nibbling goodies on the patio, under our spiffy new red umbrella, (The envy of our neighbours, two floors above. Helena called down, a few days, while CL was doing some re-potting and asked where she had bought it, ($39.50 at Canadian Tire!), as she wanted to get one for their deck.), when I was bathed, changed and smelling so devilishly alluring with my Ralph Lauren scent! We had a grand time eating and drinking wine, enjoying being outside for the first time this year. although the wind was coolish, necessitating wraps, light jackets or sweaters, and sudden gusts would sometimes send napkins flying.

Around 7:00ish we repaired indoors and made plans to get to 3802 Angus Drive. Prince Valiant, Flamin's/Sarge's son drove Cora Lee and I, along with his parents, while rest piled into two cabs, arriving at venue just before 7:30pm. Wonderful evening, bag piper piping at entrance. House itself is a gorgeous mansion, very tastefully renovated, modernized. Five separate tasting islands set up throughout main floor and one simply makes a loop going from one table to next, sampling malts available. In total there were sixteen malts, a bourbon, (Available at Edgemont in North Van. May have to take a knapsack on one of our rides to Seymour and stop there on way back), and a vodka, (Xfour Handcrafted, BC's first corn and rye based, rather tasty although I know very little about vodka, in general), as well as three other malts, two from Australia, both Tasmanian, and one from India. I actually have a small bottle of Sullivan's Cove which friends, Tina and Trevor, from Adelaide brought a number of years ago, knowing I enjoyed my Scotch whiskey! I didn't particularly care for the Ozzie malts so will have to re taste one I have and see how it compares to these later expressions. However, found the Amrut Fusion to be rather palatable. Was glad I tried it as I didn't last year.

I focused on those malts I had not had before or else had not tried for sometime, only trying some of the one's I knew/possess after I'd sampled the others. While I quite enjoyed a number of the rarer malts, (Caol Ila 29 year old, in particular, even though I feel that 18 years is the upper limit in terms of taste, for me. After that, malt is simply too, too smooth and I like a certain "roughness" in my tipple!), and the cask strengths, (Bruichladdich, (Port Charlotte), PC7, 61%, aged in a combination of sherry and bourbon oak, (I liked it so much, (I have a bottle of the PC6), that I bid and happily, "won", ($150, perhaps worth $135 here but for a good cause), a bottle in Silent Auction), was mildly disappointed/annoyed by the presence of three or so malts that I feel are pure commercial products, "manufactured", in a sense to appeal to a particular market nice, far more blatantly, crassly than most other distilleries. The individual re-bottling companies set up to "produce" Finlaggan, Ileach, Smokehead, for example, purchase production from whichever of the Islay distilleries offers the best deal at the time of the purchase. Almost like listening to The Spice Girls!

Nevertheless, a wonderful time was had by all. Bumped into old friends and past neighbours, met new folks and just generally had fun tasting, nibbling sushi and chocolate dipped strawberries as we looped the tasting circuit. Tables close at 9:15pm and auction closes at 9:30pm. By time I paid for my successful bid and visited with original group before saying goodnight, all the while sipping on a glass of wine to bring the evening to a finish, it was just after 10:00pm and we hailed a cab, with Flamin'/Sarge and returned to Harbour Terrace. Bade goodnight to them once back as everyone was ready for bed. Can't remember brushing my teeth but know that I did as I found my electric toothbrush out of its stand this morning!

Flamin' came upstairs at 8:00am next morning to ask if I wanted to join them for a ride around Stanley park but I deferred, feeling that I should give my aging frame a bit of a break after Friday's ride. I ran a few errands later in the afternoon, by bike, after skies cleared. In any event, was prepared for a bit of drizzle as I was only going to Home Depot on Cambie. Had thought that I might also visit a friend on Alma and 6th. Long story. He is suffering from multiple myeloma, (cancer of plasma cells in the bone marrow), and is in considerable pain all the time. I sent him a postcard from Mexico, posted in February, and it just arrived this past week. As you know, my handwriting is difficult, if not impossible to decipher, so I said I would pop by and "unscramble" it for him and his sister, Julia, visiting from Hungary.

Nana may have already mentioned that last evening F/S invited us for a wonderful lamb dinner, (Prince Valiant, Nicolina and Marvin were at table as well and we had, among other topics, a heated discussion about "adult" children still at home!), before  taking us to the Stanley to see Hairspray, their present to us on the occasion of our 35th wedding anniversary. When we arrived, by cab, we discovered the performance had been cancelled as result of the male lead having suffered a mild stroke earlier in week. Nana had read about this in pare but article mentioned that the stand-in would allow musical to continue. Apparently, replacement was not ready. Seems role is pretty demanding and we suppose individual didn't have enough time to learn part to degree necessary. Only took a minute or so to understand what was happening so we actually piled back into same cab, (I asked him to wait as soon as I overheard, from a number of the people employed by theatre, out on the sidewalk in front of the box office, there to deal with ticket holders), and made our way home again. Poor Sarge had walked, (not enough room for all of us in one cab), and he arrived just after we left, lost to us in the scrum on the other side of the box office. It was really pouring by then but fortunately he had an umbrella!

Back at Harbour Terrace the cabbie pulled in under slight overhang to entrance to garage and as we were paying fare, (He only charged us $5 for trip back. First ride was $7 something and Cora Lee had given him $10), car behind honked to hurry up. We scrambled out, muttering that it was probably somebody in building who was grumpy at us for all the noisy parties. When cab pulled away and gate opened we discovered it was Joanne Trueman who lives on 4th floor. I had met her in hallway, a number of years ago, and each subsequent time we bumped into one another I had invited her for a drink, if we were having a gathering, at the time. She had never turned up so when I recognized her after she rolled her window down, I invited her to come for a drink. Found out that she had gotten to know Flamin' not that long ago so it wasn't but a few minutes before she was knocking on our door, supposing that I must not be a freak if I knew Michele. Little did she know! Anyway, Sarge came upstairs after he dried himself off and we had a couple of bottles of wine and got to know Joanne. She is keen to be part of the Block Party we are planning on July 1st, Canada Day. Lovely end to a lovely evening in spite of cancelled show.

Time to start to get ready for brunch with Nancy and David. Hello to Los Horridos and much love to everyone. Cheers, Poppa "We Don't Need No Stinkin' Neighbours Who Complain About Not Meeting People In Building When They Never Accept Invitations Which Would Allow Them To Do Just That" San!