April 22nd - 24th

Sunday was leave-your-car-at-home or carpool Sunday!  Barb is sick, Doug and his wife bicycled to church, so Paul drove me (which meant that he could say he carpooled, too), which was great - haven't really had a chance to just chat with him. A show of hands during the service indicated that there was close to 100% involvement in the no-car thing - and the parking lot was full of bicycles, instead of cars.  Very impressive! The scene outside the church still takes my breath away - mountain peaks tumbling over the ocean - postcard stuff!
Monday I collected Brooke's sewing machine, coffee and pillows (to deliver to her daughter in Calgary) and said farewell to the knitting group.  I gave Jane and Bev the gifts I crocheted for them, as thanks for all those driving hours - and dinner at Jane's - and e-book downloads at Bev's - and trips to the Little Red Church - and just plain friendship! These are two awesome women - I'm so glad I got a chance to meet them - and will see them again next year, god willing! On the way home, Bev took me to the rhododendron garden, which was just stunning!  I've always thought of rhododendrons as those potted plants that spread like ivy around your kitchen window - not as trees and bushes filled with peony-sized flowers!
Around 4:00 p.m., I went to the beach to watch the Snowbirds for the last time - I'm told that this is their last day.
Today I'm working on cleaning out more outside compartments - have already cleaned two, but today is the sewer one, so the ickiest!

April 12th - 21st

Thursday - my birthday!  Julia left me an audio message Wednesday evening, singing Happy Birthday to me!  She and Leon are in England, where she says it's midnight her time, therefore my birthday . . .  Spent most of the day chatting with Bobby, Gregory & Anna (pretty awesome having those two sing the birthday song!), and Cheryl - great to talk to friends and family on this day!  This evening was our dress rehearsal (upcoming NICS concerts this weekend) - and Kathy got the whole choral society to sing Happy Birthday to me - pretty sweet! Laurie drove me home, and she took me to her house first for a piece of birthday cake, complete with candle, and a glass of wine!! Her house is absolutely awesome - massive wooden doors and posts (I`m sure there`s a better name for these), open concept, second floor balcony area open to the first floor - Laurie`s husband designed and built it - so impressive!!
Friday I felt just a bit off - but the concert seemed to go fine - we got a standing ovation and lots of good comments from the audiences, which pretty much filled the Courtenay United Church.
Saturday I woke up with a scratchy throat and ended up mouthing a number of notes during the afternoon concert.
Sunday I woke up with literally no voice at all - but by church time, I had enough voice to get through the service.  Went to bed for the afternoon, running a temperature and feeling like crap - had to contact Helen and Judy to cancel tomorrow`s excursion to Powell River.  Had it all organized: Barb was going to drive me to the 9:30 a.m. ferry and they were going to meet me on the other side at 11:00 - Judy had booked a hotel for us for the night, then back Tuesday morning.  Besides the fact that I feel terrible, I really couldn`t expose the two of them to this bug - especially since I`m running a fever and am undoubtedly contagious!  What a disappointment!
Monday I spent in bed - Helen and Judy phoned, which was awesome! They did some hiking and had a good time in Powell River anyway.  Tuesday - also in bed.
Wednesday, I took my rig in to Courtenay for my 10:00 a.m. appointment with Sunwest RV Repair place - while changing a bulb in the back a few weeks ago, a guy found a lot of moisture, so this was my appointment to have that examined! Turns out, all the seals around the windows and frame are old, dry, cracked, and need to be redone.   That required an overnight stay for drying purposes - so I ended up spending the night in a nearby Best Western - too bad I didn`t do some research - $150 for one night!  It was a good time, though - since I felt so crappy, I just lay in bed, watched tv, and soaked in a hot bath! Picked up my rig the next day at noon, in plenty of time to go grocery shopping at Walmart and get home in time to be picked up for choir practice.  Not much volume to my voice tonight, but at least I could get the notes out! Sunday is walk-to-church day, so since Barb is sick and Doug is riding his bicycle to church, Paul is going to come pick me up.  I`m looking forward to the opportunity to talk to him.
Friday - another day inside feeling quite miserable.
Saturday - today - actually walked over to the ocean for an hour or so this afternoon - first time in a week that I`ve felt like doing that!  Hopefully, this bug is on the way out, finally!

Actually quite a nice balcony - watched the snowbirds fly over a few times, in full formation!

Low tide this afternoon.

Love watching the big planes fly over the beach into the Comox airport.

April 9th, 2018

Tuesday I finally got to observe the Snowbirds practising over the Comox Valley!  I walked down the beach a bit and got a bunch of shots from a log and a bench - so impressive!  I had no idea that this was an annual thing until people started telling me that this is their sign of spring! It was really amazing to watch all their aerial acrobatics - and this goes on for two more weeks, at least twice a day!  Well, depending on the weather . . .

April 2nd to 9th

Easter Monday: on the way back from knitting group, Jane and Bev took me down the street from the church to see The Little Red Church - yes, that's actually its name!  There's a small part of it that is/was a church, but the main part is a community hall - and it's surrounded by the most beautiful rhodos (look at me, picking up the lingo - "rhodos" for "rhododendrons").  Such beautiful vegetation around here - everything is popping out!  People have to be careful what they plant in their gardens - especially anyone who lives even a bit outside the main part of the town - because the deer are everywhere.  Apparently, they like tulips and hyacinths and a myriad of other garden flowers - so there are lots and lots of daffodils around, since the deer don't like to eat those! Barb, whose house is tucked away down a winding road amongst the trees and right next to the coast, also has rabbits around, so she has no garden at all . . .

I had just a bit of time for a short walk to the ocean - again.  Don't think I'll ever tire of that particular view!

The main focus of this particular time is the upcoming NICS concert on Friday and Saturday, April 13th and 14th.  We've had extra rehearsals on Sundays (except Easter) with the orchestra, and the dress rehearsal is tomorrow.




















Today (Wednesday), I had a particularly long day - drove my rig to Mr. Lube in Courtney for an oil change and general fluid and tire pressure check. Then, off to Kal Tire to get that tire checked out - the one with a slow leak, which I thought was a bit soft when I left my rv at Jesse's house - and he mentioned it, too.  Turns out, it was just a deteriorating extension - nothing wrong with the tire at all!  I had to leave my rig there at 11:00 a.m. - so I walked in the direction of Walmart, but realized that I couldn't carry all the stuff I needed to buy there, so I bought a black long-sleeved shirt in a nearby mall (for the concert - I have short-sleeved shirts, but Paul wants long sleeves) and ate lunch at Wendy's, then had a coffee at Timmies to pass the time.  Showed up back at Kal Tire at 2:30 and they were almost finished! Cost me $100 - waaaaay less than I was expecting - bonus! So - I drove to Walmart and got the groceries I needed. By the time I got back to Comox, it was 5:30 and I was exhausted!  Got everything hooked up again and just vegged in front of Netflix for a few hours.  Going to bed soon . . .

Rhodos up close!

Magnolia tree - tulip tree, as some call it!

Pre-rehearsal at Comox United