Are we there yet?

This is the view at twilight of Lorna and George's new neighbourhood. Lorna and I spent Wednesday on The Sunshine Coast doing some business and getting her new house inspected. It was a lovely day and I managed to snap a few shots of the view outside their new home. Gorgeous!

Last night me and my workout girls had a special night of Christmas crafting. This is a photo of my friend Bear's studio. Bear teaches art to kids and right now they are working on these amazing Arctic Hares. They are not finished yet but I just love the way they look all together. Each one has a different expression and body posture and each one is as beautiful as the next. I think they are amazing!

This is the craft we did. The tallest one is about a foot and a half tall. We were supposed to get three each done in three different sizes but it ended up taking way longer than we thought to get even one done. I really enjoyed doing them and I think they are quite beautiful. It's been a long time since I curled paper with a pencil and got covered in glue. I loved it! I don't consider myself to be a crafty person but maybe I should try to be a little more creative with my hands. It's very rewarding and a good way to spend time.
Thanks to Bear for putting up with us all!
Thanks for the comments on the blog. I think I will keep it as is for the time being, maybe jazz up the layout or change the template. I'm just glad people give a hoot and are interested in reading it. I find it quite a thrill actually.
Have a great Friday ya'll!!

Who knew?

It's been a pretty good weekend all in all. Especially since it started with sickness and cancelled plans. Superman's bug seemed to get a bit better on Saturday but I had a bit of the yucky feeling on Friday too so I think we made the right choice by staying home and taking it easy.

I was feeling better Friday night so I went and picked up Janice and we went down to The Railway Club to see a friends band. It didn't turn out to be such a great idea as the band went on super late. They were supposed to go on around 11 but didn't actually start until 12:30 or so. We only saw a bit of the show then had to leave.

Saturday ended up being a great day! I was feeling a bit down over our cancelled trip out of town so we decided to go shopping. Superman isn't really a shopper guy but he'll do it if the mood strikes him. I bought him a very nice pair of jeans and as we were wandering around the mall he mentioned that we might like to look at some rings. We got engaged at Christmas but we still hadn't found the right engagement ring for me. I am not one of those people who has spent a lot of time considering what, specifically I want when it comes to all this getting married stuff but I had an idea about the ring after looking a couple of times. I knew I didn't want a traditional ring with a diamond sticking up looking all dainty. I wear big, funky rings and I needed something that suited my hand. We popped into a couple of stores and in the third one we hit it on the head. We found the right ring at the right price and then...we bought it!!!!

It needs to be re-sized for me so I won't have it on my finger until Thursday,the wait may well kill me. Oh well, I have waited this long, a couple more days will be okay. We also picked out our wedding bands for a later purchase. We are both pretty excited, it was a great experience and a lot of fun thanks to the woman who walked us through it.

Thanks Esther! I will show you all a picture when I get it.

After shopping we had a few adult beverages, called a couple of friends and wandered across the street to see a kick ass blues band and eat some yummy food. We were in the bag by 10:30 or so, it was good fun.

Sunday I had my all girls BBQ to go to and it was yummy food, great company and lots of laughs.

Today being holiday Monday we decided to head downtown and wander around a bit, maybe see a movie. We stopped in at The Templeton, a really cool diner with really good food. Superman ordered a Strawberry milkshake that was delicious and I had a vanilla/cola fountain drink, so good. I loved this place and will be back for sure.

After lunch we walked up to the theatre to see The Dark Knight, compliments of Telus. For some reason they sent me a free movie pass with a popcorn and two drinks coupon. I'm not the biggest fan of Telus so I enjoyed having an afternoon out on their dime. We arrived at the theatre a little early so we played some racing games in the arcade, went to collect our HUGE drinks and popcorn and found ourselves the best seats in the house. Big screen, comfy seats and the movie was so good. I loved this movie, it's really dark and rather long but I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Loved it! Heath Ledger is awesome as The Joker in this movie, it just makes his death more tragic, such a great performance.

We made our way home and I had a soak in the bath while I caught up with my Mom on the phone. Then I called my Big Brother for a chat, made some gorilla cheese samiches and sat down to chat with you.

All in all it was a pretty great weekend even though our original plans didn't work out. I really hope we get another chance to do the camping thing in the states with our friend. It might just have to be next summer. I hope they'll have us then.

Which way to the sausage party?

Today's plan, girls only BBQ. I took this picture of the last one we had. It got a little crazy. After each doing our own song and dance routine we had a panty, tickle, pillow fight.

Gosh we sure got the giggles from that.

I'll let you know how this one goes. Stay tuned.

Mayne Again?

It was back to Mayne Island again on Friday night to play a wedding party for Ross and Sandra on their property. This time we had our solid rhythm section along for the ride. Here's a picture of the boys on the ferry. Kinda look like monkeys in a zoo, don't you think?

We were treated to a beautiful sunset on the ferry.

We arrived at Dave's house and had a little pre-party with the rest of the band and actually made it to bed at a reasonable hour. The next morning it was off to the local pub for a yummy breakfast. It was obvious that the wedding was going to be well attended and the folks at the pub all seemed to know we were going to be the entertainment and assured us that they had a great time at our gig the week before and there was going to be a lot of people ready to party at the wedding.

This is the view from the pub patio.

After breakfast I took a drive around the island and found Dinner Bay Park. I took a little walk through the trees and down to a pretty little beach. It would have been nice to have a swim but that water was cold.

The Japanese Garden was initiated to commemorate the island’s early Japanese Canadian settlers, was created almost entirely with equipment and time donated by the community. The gig we played the week before helped raise some money for this beautiful garden.

I thought I should check it out. I ended up having the whole garden to myself.

Back to the house for a little bit and then it was time to load up the vehicles and head over to the venue.

We arrived at the property and there was no one there, they were all at the wedding so we had a chance to set up all the gear, have a sound check and even run over some tunes.

Just as we were finishing up it started to rain. A lot.

Here is a picture of the main cabin, the entire front porch will be our stage!

The property was scattered with some really cute buildings and cabins.

Here's my favourite. Another travel trailer with a cute add on.

This is an adorable little outhouse with a sign on the side that says Nature House. I did stumble down to use it after dark. It was warm, dry, non-smelly and had a bucket of lye with a sign that said "one scoop per poop".

This little red rowboat was tucked into the corner of the yard and the swing was a lot of fun too. They also had horseshoe pits and three propane bonfires scattered around the area. A really nice set up. But.... it was really starting to rain hard when we left to go back to Dave's. We had a few hours to kill so we ate, drank, napped and showered and generally got prettied up.

Once again I seem to have packed my suitcase with my eyes closed, I sure didn't pack for a rainy, chilly show so I really ended up not having a clue what I was going to wear. I had to do some quick improvisation with a dress and a pair of scissors, I do that a lot. I managed to put together what turned out to be a cute outfit and it was time to go.

Here's a shot from the bottom of the property looking up towards the cabin/stage.

We arrived at the party in the rain and the first song was played for the bride and groom. I must say, it was my first time meeting Ross and Sandra and they were lovely people, really nice. I also couldn't help noticing that they were both extremely good looking!

And that's when the party really started!!!

The full band was Me and Rupert, Janice, Jessie, Dave, Dan and Kelly.

Here's a shot of me and Superman doing our favourite duet Jackson a-la Johnny and June.

We all put on a great show, mostly because the crowd was so incredibly into it. The rain stopped and the people danced and cheered and drank and just gave us so much fun energy that it brought our show to a new level. A real win win situation. The people of Mayne Island are pretty special. They are so friendly and welcoming and man can they party!

I just had a blast!

All good things must come to an end, we packed up sometime around 2am and loaded up the gear, back to the house and fell into bed around 3:30. Up by 10 loaded up the car with the rest of the gear and hit the ferry lineup.

Here is a picture from the car. Three ferries in this shot. They don't call it Active Pass for nothing.

Mayne Island

Wow, that was a pretty fun weekend. Mayne Island was amazing, chock full of super nice people and so pretty. The gig went off really well and we had a great time staying at Dave's beautiful house. All in all it was a great and exhausting weekend. Can't wait to go back next weekend when we will be performing at a wedding of some local folks. Those Mayners sure know how to party and have fun!

Here are some photos...

Me and Superman in the ferry line up.

We left real early because we figured there would be tons of traffic being the Friday evening of a long weekend. Turns out there was no traffic at all and we got there super early and had a pretty long wait and the ferry was late so we got to Mayne Island it was already dark.

We pulled up to Dave's house and there was a party/practice going on.We had some catching up to do. All the gear was set up in his living room so we had a full band sound, lots of songs to go over because there were several players who hadn't played together and we needed to bone up on each others stuff.

The next morning I had a chance to see the island and the property in the light of day. So beautiful and a fantastic, homey, comfy house. Imagine my surprise when I saw this...

So sweet!

We went to the pub for a yummy lunch and ran into some friends from Vancouver, small world. Here is the view from the pub patio.

After lunch we went back to Dave's and I found this on his property. I just wanted to clean it up and move in. Why am I so obsessed with travel trailers. This one could be so sweet though.

Here is a shot from the back of Dave's house looking at the sheep barn up the hill.

By now it was time to pack up all the gear and take it to the Community Centre for set up and sound check. What a beautiful venue. It's brand new and just set in a gorgeous clearing surrounded by trees. We set the band up in the adjoining tent. The walls opened up to the elements, nice for setting up in the heat.

After sound check it was back to Dave's to purdy up and de-stinkify and then it was back to the venue for the dance. When we got back to the house Superman surprised this guy just outside the back door. We later discovered he had been in the kitchen and ate through our cloth shopping bag to get to the peanut butter cookies I had brought. He also ate a bowl of Jr. Mints.

Little bugger.

People don't lock their doors on Mayne Island, they also leave their keys in the ignition of their vehicles. I talked to a guy who said when he bought his house it didn't come with keys. I think closing the doors would have been a good idea though. I think the raccoon might have been trying on some of my clothes and messing around with my makeup. Little bugger.

The place was filling up fast when we got there and the crowd was eager to hit the dance floor. Everybody was so nice and friendly and they were really digging the music so it was a lot of fun for the musicians. There was a great mix of musicians from the Mayne and some from Vancouver. I got to sing back up with everybody and did a little Boomchix mini set with Janice and some honky-tonk duets with Superman. Super fun! Here are some more pics...

I didn't get any shots of Superman or me because I was busy singing. duh. This is Janice and Dave and Jessie. That's Ned on the drums. Ned is super cute!

Check out this cool shot I got of Ned through the back of the tent.

Here are some cute young gals who were having a great time dancing the night away.

After the show we packed it all up and went back to Dave's for nightcaps and munchies. I fell into bed around 4:30 am plum tuckered out.

We were up and out by 11:30 am and back in the ferry line up desperate for a coffee. The ferry snack bar had the nerve to charge us $2 a cup for a tiny tepid, weak cup of shitty coffee. They asked if we wanted cream and sugar, we said yes and were handed 3/4 of a tiny cup of coffee. Lame.

Here are some pics from the ferry home. It was so beautiful we sat out on the deck all the way back to Tsawwassen, tired, hung over and happy.

Happy BC Day!!

Will you do your Civic Duty?

August 2, 2008
Mayne Island Community Centre Presents a
‘Hootenanny’
Community Dance Hosted By: Spank the Kitty
Featured Performers are" Spank The KittyFeaturing guest performers from:The Burrs, Boomchix,Wichita Trip & Mayne IslandSaturday, August 2 ~ 8:00 PM ~
Advance ticket: $10 / At The Door: $12 / Teens: $5Children under 12: Free
Tickets available at:Happy Tides Health Food, Tree Frog Gallery & The Trading Post

We are off to Mayne Island tonight to play this show on Saturday night.!
We've never been to Mayne Island so I am really looking forward to it. One of the organisers lives here in Vancouver but has a house over there so we will be comfortable and well looked after. Good thing because right now it's raining very, very hard. It is supposed to clear up by tomorrow, I predict it will stop raining by dinner time. Apparently Mayne Island gets a lot less rain than we do on the mainland. We won't be tenting so I'm not too worried. I am hoping to go to the Farmer's Market tomorrow and definitely want to try to get some swimming and beach time in. We are scheduled to go back again next weekend to play at a wedding. That should be fun too!
The great thing is, the people we are going over with to play both shows are the friends that we usually hang out with on the weekends. It's rare when you can get out of town with a whole group of folks that you like and get along with. Fun!
I will update with stories and lots of pictures when I get back on Sunday.

Monday is a holiday here in Canada, I just realized I don't know why. I looked it up and I found this on a government website:

August 4th,

Civic Holiday in Canada. The intent of the Civic Holiday is to "not work". So please don't work on Civic Holiday! In Canada Civic Holiday is in most cases the first Monday of August.

Ha! That's enough reason for me.

Happy Civic Holiday fellow Canuckers.

I love this country!