Mountain Equipment Co-op (M.E.C.) is a great place. The company was started in Vancouver as a retail outlet for outward bound gear and equipment. There are now 16 locations across Canada. It’s a sustainable business, structured as a co-op, with an appeal to people of all ages. I just love going there. My daughter decided […]
A friend of mine came over for dinner last night. Brenda had been in Italy last November visiting a friend of hers who is a writer. She spent half her time in Rome and the other half touring Umbria, where her friend has a second residence (with an olive grove), and Florence. We spent a
We are all familiar with the positive adjectives that Real Estate people use to make homes appealing. “Cozy” bungalow means small and cramped. “Original” architect’s concept means needs a lot of work and “unique” features means that there are some weird configurations in the home, that may have to be changed to make it suit
I’ve been a little down lately. Not sure why. I shouldn’t really be because there are so many positive “things” on the horizon. The warmer weather is here; we’re going on holiday; “things” are generally good. Maybe that’s it. Everything is going very smoothly, so I wonder when the axe is going to fall. I
Today is “Buy A Musical Instrument Day.” I am not sure why we need a day for this. In my house it probably should be “Find A Musical Instrument Day.” My daughter has two guitars. My son inherited our old keyboard with a non-functioning key or two. I have preserved my grandfather’s harmonica all these
Every year we plant Marigolds in the garden. They are bright showy flowers and if the aphids don’t get them in the first week or so, they will bloom until the frost. It suddenly occurred to me that I knew nothing about Marigolds, except that they are annuals here in Canada and are often used
I had decided to head out to the North Face outlet which is/was about 20mins from the house to buy the few remaining items that we needed for the trip. The thought of the deal or the find prompted the two youngest to “hop on board.” We set out for the outlet via the back
There are always so many “things” to do to get ready for a vacation, that I understand why a lot of people never take them. We have our lists now and are dutifully working our way through them. 1. Find the adapters. These are the plugs that you plug your North American electricals into before
In two weeks time we go on holiday for a fortnight. That’s two weeks. In other words – in two weeks, we go on vacation for two weeks. I used the term “fortnight” because, although it’s used regularly in Britain, it’s an “old world” term. It always reminds me of Charles Dickens or Jane Austin
I know that there has to be a restaurant, gift shop or something in the North named “The Blue Moose.” It’s an animal that people expect to find in Canada. The moose is not a refined animal. It is large, awkward and lumbers, moving from side to side to see where it is going. It
