I Must Be Dreaming...

But I pinched my self, and no, no I wasn't dreaming! It snowed last night. At the end of February. In Vancouver...I know, that's not unheard of in the rest of the Northern Hemisphere, but in Vancouver! WOW! Not much and it certainly didn't last, but it was snow!

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My Own Private Nurse

My dear friend Sarah who is a nurse in London sent me a card with a nurse cross-stitched on the front of it. Apparently this is her deputy and she will oversee the healing of my back! Thanks Sarah!

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Lone Swimmer

On my way home from the pool (in the wind and bitter cold), I saw this one lonely swimmer paddling back and forth and practicing his diving. I guess he's getting ready for summer...brrr

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Getting Ready To Burn The Midnight Oil

Someone got so preoccupied with her stretching, swimming, and walking, that she totally forgot her final exam for her class had to be postmarked tomorrow. So here we go...attempt to get the silly thing all written and marked up and in the mail tomorrow. Lady Grey, you just might be the thing that saves me!

PS in the background you can see some of my lovely Galison paper...

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Happy 70th Birthday

Today was Joan's 70th birthday party...her birthday was on Tuesday, but it started with a vist from us last Sunday and hasn't stopped yet!!! Mmmm, carrot cake.

Happy Birthday!

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Easter Is Coming...

We knew it was on its way when we had pancakes for dinner on Tuesday, but then Alex showed up with Hot Cross Buns last night...mmmm....

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No Peeping Toms

They're done! The curtains are done...and they're up and they're pretty and my kitchen is now REALLY pink...but the big, black back yard is no longer visible and I don't feel like some scary person (or raccoon) is watching me when I make dinner. And okay, they're kind of wrinkled. Cause I don't like ironing...and I'm lazy...yeah...that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

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Unhidden...For The Time Being

Wandering down 10th Avenue, I noticed the "old" sign on the hardware store had been exposed when the neighbouring building was pulled down. As you can see by the rebar sticking up out of the hole in the ground, the sign will soon be hidden once more, but for now the old and the new are out together.

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Pancake Tuesday

mmmmmm....yummy!

and yes, that is a corner of the not-quite-finished curtains in the background...

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5...4...3...2...1

The sewing machine put in an appearance tonight...tomorrow's project for she-who-stays-home-all-day is to finish the curtains for the kitchen that she started WAY BACK IN OCTOBER....maybe, just maybe tomorrow's picture will be of the finished curtains hanging in the kitchen!

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Ski Hills

Off there in the distance, those two white blurs are the ski runs. It was a lovely night as we drove home from Alex's parents' place. The sky was relatively clear with a few clouds that are a bit pink from all the light reflecting from the big city. The picture is blurry 'cause it's hard to steady the camera and take a good picture when the driver is going 100 km/h down the highway!

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Just Like Knitting...Only Different

In our current quest to de-clutter and organise our house, I have discovered some interesting things in boxes. One of those things was this little cross stitch. I do believe I worked on this as I rode the Greyhound bus across Southern Australia for six weeks. I found it the other day and the only thing left to do was the finishing...the outlining and sticking the finished product into the card that came with the package. Alex's Mom's birthday is next week and she loves butterflies, so we figured this would make a good birthday card. I know why I didn't ever finish it...just like sewing the ends in when I'm done a knitting project, I hate doing the outlining...those silly picky details that make things look finished!

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Airplane

We had a family birthday party last night and the cake came out while Alyssa was feeding Cash, so she missed out...When she came back Andrea offered to feed the cake to Alyssa while she held Cash. The offer was met with a definite NO until Andrea offered to do the "airplane."

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NOT Another Repair Man

The repair people were here again yesterday to look at the hot water because sometimes we have none and again today to replace the hot water heater...because it had multiple problems and that's why we had sporadic hot water...

Anyway, I was getting a bit annoyed with the repair guy because every time he went out to his truck to get something else, he'd knock to be let in...even though I told him to just let himself in...so when there was a knock on my door, YET AGAIN, I was getting grumpy. But when I opened the door it was the Canada Post lady with the new books I'd ordered! Yay...I like parcels!

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Heart Day?

That's the only explanation I can think of for why this message is hanging out on our bathroom mirror...Yay for Gel Gems Window Clings!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

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Countdown Clock

As part of my "return to the real world," I have been practising riding the bus this week. Today I ventured downtown and had lunch with two ladies I used to work with when I worked for the corporate world. Here's the Olympic countdown clock (click for a larger view so you can actually SEE the clock), outside the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Hotel Vancouver, that attracted all kinds of protesters when they unveiled it yesterday.

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New Furniture To House The Stash

My wonderful aunt and uncle arrived at our house with a "new" piece of furniture for our living room this weekend. Alex and my uncle wrestled it into place yesterday. Today's task for she-who-stays-home-all-day was to organize the stuff in the house that had no place to live or needed a better place to live (without lifting anything of course) and arranging it in the new piece of furniture or in the spaces vacated by the stuff that needed a better home. I spent the day playing with wool. I like wool. Isn't it pretty???

PS the drawers are still empty...I didn't get very far!

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Speeding Hockey Players

Those blurs that you maybe can or cannot see (sometimes I see them, sometimes I don't) are hockey players. Really and truly. They're just moving really fast! Guess what we did last night...yup, we went to see the Giant lose to the Rockets. Okay so that's not what happened, but if you really want to know the outcome....

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Satisfied After Sushi...

...and the look on his face says, now can we go get ice cream and watch hockey. Cause we obviously didn't get enough to eat at our favourite local sushi joint...and since our new TV has yet to be hooked up to cable, it's really only good for watching movies this week...too bad...we did get our ice cream and hockey though. And that made him very happy!

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The Remains Of The Trees

This hole was home to two trees. But they blew down in the big storms we had before Christmas. I went to my office today to say hello after I had my little swim in the pool - I missed all the storms because I had already fallen by then, so it was a bit of a shock to see the missing trees.

(Sorry about the blurriness)

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Wall Panels

The walls to the dreaded basement are panelled in old Chinese shipping cases. When I was lying at the bottom of the stairs waiting for ambulance number two, I said to K, our landlady, that it was too bad I didn't read Chinese, because then I'd have something to take my mind off the pain. Yesterday I walked down the three stairs to the landing. Today, I went all the way into the basement with my Mom. It will be weeks before I can do it on my own, but that was a big step for me!

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Rest Time Companions

The new physio I've been seeing has recommended that I spend at least half an hour at least once or twice a day lying on my back with my legs propped up by two or three pillows and a rolled up sleeping bag...it's lots of fun...so I've asked my faithful companions Teddy, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, and Fleece Blanket to join me...

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Hippeastrum

Otherwise known as an Amaryllis, this lovely plant found its way to my house with A. on Friday. A. brought all kinds of great things to keep me occupied for a while. The plant started blooming today and it's so pretty and bright! And my lovely stars are shimmering in the background and keeping the bad spirits out ;)

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Bye Bye Bath Bench

What alliteration! I get to try to have a standing shower this week and I can take a real bath again...no more silly chair! YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

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Ship Building

We're getting there...it's no longer just a frame, there's stuff inside it too....

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Down By The Station

This afternoon I had my first ride on public transit in more than two months, although I have yet to set foot on a bus. Waterfront Station is the old CP Railway station and the building still looks like a train station inside...I wish we had trains...but the Seabus is pretty cool too.

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Mmmm...Comfort Food?

I had a visitor today. A. has been by a couple of times since I fell, but just to pop in a say hello. She said she didn't want to bother me until I was ready for visitors...well, boy am I ready! It's so nice to have someone to visit with and hear news about the outside world! And A. came bearing all kinds of lovely gifts - some chocolates, some Cupcakes (!), a book and a beautiful plant...Alex and I enjoyed the leftover Cupcakes with some hot chocolate tonight - a great follow-up to a chilly evening walk.

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Full Moon

I got to go out...and I went out at night! As we walked/wheeled up Broadway we had a spectacular view of the full moon and Orion. Orion did not make it into this picture....

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