Victoria Day Two

Weird, I published Day One yesterday, and it turned out to be dated today. Oh well. You get a TwoFer today.

Day Two in Victoria shown bright and sunny. We really lucked out with the weather the entire trip - aside from Friday's torrential downpour.  Sunshine for Saturday was good since we were heading to the Butchart Gardens. 

We doddled in the morning and then found our way to public transportation to get us to the gardens.  The tour companies wanted $40 a person to take you out, give you 2 hours, and bring you home.  We paid $5 round trip, as many hours as we wanted out at the gardens, AND we got to see more of Victoria via the bus. 

What can I say about the gardens, but WOW.  Usually people would think gardens not in full bloom would be boring and useless.  We figured the gardens at fall just might be spectacular. And we were not disappointed.  I took so many photos and can't possibly post them all there.  Feel free to see them all on my flickr site though.

Entrance to the gardens...der...Captain Obvious again.

We entered the gardens, rounded a corner and was blessed with this site. The Sunken Gardens.  This was just stunning in so many ways. So well maintained. All the fall colors shining bright...it was breathtaking.  I thought I had found paradise.  Only to discover the Japanese Gardens later...

See those people up top? That's where we stood when I took the photo above.  This is looking back from the Sunken Gardens.

The Japanese Maples were just so vibrant and colorful. I must have taken a hundred photos of just those trees.  I didn't realize they came in Red, Orange and yellow.  In Seattle you mostly see the red and the orange.

One of the several ponds in the Sunken Garden.

I thought she looked cold.  Brrr...bring me a coat!

There's this little hill in the middle of the Sunken Garden. We climbed to the top and took some shots, but I really liked the way the staircase twisted around the hill. 

 

Poor Puck. He can't float.  It looks like he's had too much to drink...

This gnarled mess of branches intrigued me.

Now we've moved on to the Japanese Garden.  I've seen many Japanese Gardens in my day. In fact, just visited one a couple of weeks ago.  This garden truly felt what I think paradise would feel like.

The colors!  Just so vivid and beautiful.  This particular Japanese Maple was so gorgeous. The sun was hitting it just right and casting an orange glow all over the place.  Stunning really.

This is the Lucky Boar! Not so lucky for Puck though. The original little pig sits in the market in Florence Italy (I might even have a photo of the original somewhere in my stash at home).  For generations, his nose has been affectionately rubbed to bring good luck. Naturally, I rubbed its snout. We'll see if it brings good luck.

Puck enjoying the view of the Italian Gardens.  If only he would have turned around ... he would have seen more.

All in all the Butchart Gardens were fantastic.  Spectacular! Gorgeous! Sensational! Vivid! and Glorious!  I'm so glad we went there when we did and would love to go back in the Spring sometime.  I've seen other photos of the gardens in the spring and summer and have been wow'd by their beauty. Maybe a PhotoGods trip to the gardens is in order.

After we finished with the gardens, we hopped back on the city bus and found our way back into Downtown.  By now we were somewhat hungry and thought we'd find a nice little restaurant to eat. But before that, we checked out a few stores, and a few other sites in the downtown area. 

We were standing on this corner when Seattle SIL said, "I want Irish food." She was staring at this building. So I looked and turns out its an Irish Pub. So in we went.

Its an old historic building too. And thankfully it was also an Irish Pub.

Puck decided on Shepherd's Pie.  OMG it was so good.  He also decided, after dinner, on Bailey's Irish Cream Crème brûlée!  That should never have been ordered. I told my buddies that I'd take this one for the team. That they certainly wouldn't like it. I'd be the food martyr, but they didn't listen. They had to take a bite. Which meant less for the Food Martyr darn it.

All the Victoria photos can be found here.

Victoria Day One...

My little Victoria get away came and went.  Those 4 days were so full of doing stuff, and walking, and laughing, and eating, and eating some more that I can barely remember what all took place. Thankfully I had a journal with me and was lucid enough to write in it every night. I'll not bore you with the account of the $$ spent in each journal entry, but I will bore you with all that we did.

Seattle SIL and Mrs. Braspir (Henceforth to be known as the Queen PopUp - until I forget that I renamed her.) and I took of at the butt crack of dawn and hopped on the Victoria Clipper. (Did you know it's called the Clipper because it "clipped" time off the ferry ride to Victoria? Me neither. Learned something on our voyage.

Let me back up a bit. This trip was the annual Hunting Wives trip.  You may recall in past years we went to Leavenworth and San Fran.  This year we needed to stay somewhat close to home and so we opted to go to Victoria.  As the years have progressed, each of us stand out to own a task. Something we're good at and so it becomes our assignment.  For example, Queen PopUp is usually really good at navigating - especially public transportation.  I am usually good at cooking. So I opt to bring the snacks for the trip. 
You might recall last year I made up these HEFTY Muffalatas for Leavenworth.  I bragged about them for days before the trip. Then promptly left them behind.

Turns out I'm not so great on the remembering the snacks. This year I said I'd bring the snacks for the voyage over to Victoria.  We were leaving at the butt crack of dawn and I wasn't sure what, if any, decent snacks the Clipper would have. So I bought some mini cinnamon rolls and pistachios to bring along for the ride.  And I promptly left them behind. Der.

Anyhow, back to the trip. So we hopped on the Clipper and off we went. Victoria is about 2 hours 45 minutes from Seattle.  And it was looking like a gorgeous day leaving Seattle.

 By the time we arrived in Victoria the sky had opened up and was down pouring buckets of water.  We hopped into a taxi and found our way to our hotel, the James Bay Inn.

Turns out the James Bay in is a historical landmark and apparently on the route for the carriage ghost tours in Victoria. 

We stashed our stuff, went and had lunch in the pub downstairs and then headed out. As I mentioned it was pouring.  We had to exchange $$ so I figured I'd also run in and buy an umbrella - since I didn't pack one.  All the chores done we were off.  We wanted to see the Royal British Museum and perhaps a tour of the Parliament building. First stop, Parliament. The rain was coming down so hard that as we turned the corner to past the Parliament building to get the the museum, Queen PopUp said,"I don't care if they're doing a tour right now, we're going in." So we went in.

Their Parliament building is beautiful.  I'd give you all the history about it, but that's more boring than my blog. If you wanna read all about it, you can...here.  Anyhow, as we squeaked in - all the water on our tenny's and the nicely polished floor - we saw they were starting a tour in 10 minutes. Phew. We sat and dried off a bit. 

Its almost the first building you see when you come into the Inner Harbor. Looming over the city with its ancient structure. But I find it a fascinating building. My next trip to Victoria I'm going to walk all around that building and photograph it more.

Once inside I was challenged with low light for photos. Thankfully there wasn't a whole lot to photography - yet I still took about a hundred. This is the dome from the inside. I love dome shots.  They seem so third dimensional to me. 

We had to shoosh Puck. He was getting a bit loud during the tour, what with all his quacking and all.

Their government structure is different from the US. I know, "Thank you Captain Obvious." It appeared to be based off the UK government, which makes sense since the UK owns Victoria in BRITISH Columbia.  Anyhow, what I found amusing about this photo was that they face each other during their debates and discussions. It would make it WAY too easy to throw something across the room.

Then of course you have the building at night. I found it much more interesting at night. All those little light bulbs.  We chatted about who was responsible for changing them, and how that person may have to be fired because we found some out. Its just so beautiful to me at night there.

This is looking through the Inner Harbor back to the Parliament building.

After the tour in the Parliament building, we were dry enough to venture out again. So off we went to the Royal British Museum. Now, I've seen a lot of museums in my time...a LOT of them. And frankly I get bored real quickly in museums.

Queen PopUp had been to the museum before and she, along with another friend, had told me it was the museum to end all museums.  Needless to say I was skeptical.

Can I just say, "OMG!"?  It was by far one of THE best museums I had ever been too.

Entrance into the museum. Boring on the outside, but fun on the inside.

The displays were all so interactive - and what I mean by that is that they were like replicas of big things. It gave you perspective on scenes along with history. I loved it.

When I got home and looked at my photos I couldn't figure out where I had been when I took this one. It looked to me like I was on a beach somewhere and these swans just happened to walk right by me.  This is one of the displays there. They had an entire section on water, beach, marine stuff. They even had a little tide pool with a happy volunteer telling you about all the fish, etc in the tide pool.

Though all of it was fascinating. The First Nation exhibit was by far my favorite. I love native art and hearing the history and stories of the Native Americans (They call them the First Nation).  The first room you enter appeared to be a show room where we suspected they put on rituals for tourist...none happening during the off season apparently. Then you enter into this room that has about 8 totem poles throughout it. All around the edges were mini rooms with artifacts and stories and history. Just fascinating.

Finally as you work your way through you enter into City Hally. This exhibit is a town they've set up. A town from the early days. There are store fronts all along this main street they've set up. In each store front they have all sorts of artifacts that would have been sold in that store. Then they had a whole area that was set up like a saw mill, an area for gold mining, a pirate ship (which by the way stunk to high heaven. I later found out they actually pump in smells into this exhibit and in the pirate ship they pumped in pine tar as a smell.)  This exhibit was sensational. I know I've said that about all the exhibits, but they all were just fantastic.  If you're ever in Victoria, take a couple hours and do...this...museum.

We spent the remainder of the day wondering through Victoria. It's a great little city.  We stopped at a coffee shop to have a drink and a snack and to rest our little foot-sees...

We asked the barista in this coffee shop if there were any good steak houses around she'd recommend.  She thought a moment and then said, "Well there was only one across the street." We asked specifically about a steak house that started with a B because Seattle SIL had been to one in that area that started with a B.  The barista said, "Nope. Nothing like that around here."

So we left and stepped out into the sunshine that had come out.  Looking DIRECTLY across from the coffee shop there stood the steak house called Barclays.  Which is where we had dinner that night.

Later in the weekend we discovered a number of steak houses in that little area, we figured she must not have been from around there.

Tomorrow I'll wow you with a blog entry about Butchart Gardens.  It was beautiful.  I'll give you a preview so you'll be sure to come back.

Debating the tough stuff

Let it be known that I like to argue. I like to debate. I may not have all the intellectual power to do it well, but I like to debate.  I may, also, repeat what I've heard instead of actually understanding an issue...sometimes, but not always. 

Most the time, I read into issue and make my own informed decision. Turns out my informed decision isn't always agreed with. Which is what makes the world go round. If I disagree with you and your views, that's okay. It doesn't mean I don't like you or think you should be thrown in prison. It just means I've created my own opinions based on my own knowledge and research.

Do I always have ALL The information? Nope. Never will. 
Will there ALWAYS be pros and cons to issues? You bet.

This time of year is full of campaign promises, and TV commercials debating an issue. I, for one, turn off the TV commercials because I'd rather read the actually issue and make my own decision, then be given my decision by a corporation who paid for the commercial.  Still, if some folks are watching those commercials and making a decision, at least they're making a decision. And hopefully at least voting.

Ahhh Voting. What a gift!  I've unofficially polled some younger generation types that are in their early twenties and was stunned that many of them aren't even registered to vote. Sad. Very sad. The one's that were registered didn't bother or take the time to vote.  Even sadder.  It's a right and a privilege to be able to vote.  Many people died to give us that right.  Will they all vote the way I think they should? Nope, and that's okay.  Do I wish they'd all take the time to read each issue on the ballot and make an informed decision? You bet. Am I a dream? Yep.

I don't think voting is always black or white either.  I struggle a lot of the time with agreeing with a little from both sides.  I'm not always an all or nothing type of gal.  I ride that middle line all too well.  Am I wrong for doing that? Nope.  Does it frustrate some? You bet. 

Still debating the issues, local and worldwide issues, is healthy I think.  It gives you a chance to really think about what you believe in.  I tend to keep my ears open and will listen to the opposing point.  I naively assume the opposition is doing the same.  Sometimes people just don't want to hear you disagree.  And likewise, I don't always want to hear it, but I do.  Sometimes the opposition can even sway me with their debate.  Offend me or tell me I'm stupid for believing the way I do and your case will be lost with me. My ears will be closed.  I was raised that everyone has an opinion. Whether I agree with it or not, I should respect it and respect the person.  Respect isn't something this world seems to have a lot of these days.

My point to this yammering...there are a couple.

1. Vote.
2. Be true to your opinions, even when others disagree with you.
3. Be open minded enough to listen, really listen.
4. Did I mention VOTE?

In other none political news, I'm heading to Victoria BC this weekend. I'll be unplugged 100%. Not sure how I feel about this, and am hoping it'll be refreshing.  So hold the fort down, be nice to one another, and for God's sake...VOTE!

Wacky Wednesday

Wednesday is such a great day. It not only starts with a "W" which - so does my last name, but it's the sign that the weekend is in view.  And this week I'm only working 4 days - granted they are 10 hour days - but Friday is a day off...woohoo.

I think I've finally hit a rhythm with the job.  I finally feel like I now remember what it was I was doing, how to do these tasks, and more importantly how to do them on time.  Our team charter has changed significantly since I left for my 100 days of Excellent Vacation.  Though my main job hasn't really changed all that much. Different charter, same basic tasks.  It was just remembering what those tasks were and how to project manager that I was having difficulty with.

I think the last of the Sicks is leaving ... finally!  There's still some gunk in the morning, but usually by evening I'm feeling quite good. I was hoping it would be gone for this weekend's adventure.

What adventure you ask? 

This year the "hunting wives" are going to Victoria BC.  Its a small group, Seattle SIL and Mrs. Braspir (I really need a new nickname for her) and I.  We sail bright and early on Friday morning on the Victoria Clipper (basically a high speed ferry - and I just read a bunch of really negative reviews about the Clipper - so goody!).  We'll spend 4 days there and return LATE on Monday night. The great thing about this trip, besides going to Victoria, is I will be completely unplugged for 4 days. No cell phone. No Internet. No nothing.  It'll be weird, but it'll be worth it.

The other great thing about this trip is I'll be borrowing a friends MACRO lens for my Canon. It's a bad move on my part because I know I'll want to buy one. It's a relatively inexpensive Canon lens - as compared to other Canon lens - so I'm not too afraid.  I'm a big fan of macro photography and I can't wait to try this puppy out.  He brought it in today to work so I'll have it tonight when I get home. Look out stuff in my home...I'll be focusing in on the detail.

I'll leave you with my two favorite photos from the PhotoGods outing this weekend. You can see all the photos here if you really want to ooo and ahhh over my photos. I won't mind. Really. Go ahead!

Whoa What A Weekend!

Since I last wrote I've been fighting The Sicks. I think I have a handle on them now and am winning the battle. I'm at the glorious stage of The Cough.  You know that stage, when you feel like you have to cough, and you do, but it's dry and annoying and after a while it starts to actually hurt.  I've coughed so hard recently I think I cracked a rib. Argh!

The weekend was a flurry of stuff. I had scheduled several things late last week and into the weekend. Sadly The Sicks made me miss several fun things, and I'm convinced it was for the good.

Saturday Seattle SIL hosted another All Day Scrap to fundraise for 2012 3Day walk.  She had a good number of people there again too.  I had managed to get my act together earlier in the week and last weekend to "stage" pages so I didn't have to bring my entire room with me.  Still it looks like I brought everything by the kitchen sink.

This is what my scrap station normally looks like. There are a few items that aren't always there - the pistachios and the half eaten cookie for example. Though you could fill in that space with any other given snack item.

Other important items always around is the diet coke (or Starbucks. Or Diet Coke in the Starbucks container as shown here.) Always a gaggle of embellishment items. Always a cutter, scissors, adhesive, photos, etc.  Puck even made an appearance...if you can find him among the crap stuff.

This is Seattle SIL and Blueberry getting down to business.  Its a rare photo of both of them at their table and not meandering chatting up some other scrapper or causing a ruckus in general. Notice how clean and neat their station is. I'm convinced that's a sign of a very unorganized scrapbooker.

This is Amy and Princess Lori. Princess Lori is our "Distractor". When she shows up she has to hob-nob with everyone and see what they're working on and then chat them up a bit more after that.  We have to separate her and Blueberry or else they'll get nothing done and complain about it.

Ahh Puck.  Resting his weary plastic feathers ... dreaming of the day he'll actually be in a scrapbook.

Sunday the PhotoGods went out and shot photos at Kubota Japanese Garden (They have a horrible website - but the gardens are beautiful). I wasn't feeling really great so I shot very few photos. You can check them all here if you're interested.  There are some pretty good ones despite me feeling icky.

I has The Sicks

Yes my readers I has The Sicks.  The fall cold has hit with a vengeance.  It started Monday afternoon with a sore - ish throat and I was popping vitamin C hoping to hit it hard and it would go away. Apparently the sicks wanted to vacation in my sinuses. Yipee.

Yesterday, The Sicks started to move. The Sicks moved throughout my body making me feel icky all over.  I tried to appease it by feeding it The Sicks Lunch of grilled cheese, but it would have none of that. 

Last night, The Sicks moved into the sinuses for a long stay and sent some of it's scouts to my chest area to check out that area.  It'll be just a matter of time before the whole crew moves there. 

I went to be early and slept well thanks to my "coughing-aching-stuffy head-fever-so-I-rest" medicine.  I'm hoping good sleep, lots of water and working from home today will stop The Sicks from getting to out of hand.

It couldn't have worst timing, not that The Sicks ever check with me and my schedule. I've got a busy, BUSY weekend ahead of me and hanging with The Sicks wasn't in the weekend plan.

UPDATE:  I went out and got The Sicks Kit. Not sure how Pringles made it in there.

Just another day in paradise

I think I've come down from my sugar high from the blog entry on caramels.  Man those things are good.  BigBro suggested I start making them from scratch and he'd gladly be the taste tester. Ahh, so nice to have such a giving BigBro. Sadly, I won't be making them from scratch. They're WAY too much work in my opinion.

In other not so exciting news, I've come down with a fall cold. I'm not a fan of colds, in fact I hate them. They slow me down. They stop me from having the energy necessary to be myself. And I'm a very bad sick person. I whine. A lot. Just ask the MomUnit, she'll tell you. I'm a horrible patient.

I kinda wish there were a pod we could go into when it's time for use to be sick. You'd sit in the pod, closed and sealed, and you'd be sick for 24 hours. Then you'd emerge refreshed and done being sick. Let's say every one's REQUIRED to sit in the pod one a year. Imagine all the savings!  Oh and the pod is supplied with all the cold essentials like Kleenex, Nyquil, cough drops, more Kleenex, juice, water, tomato soup, etc.  I think it's a brilliant idea.

Why yes, I am on cold medicine. Why do you ask?

I have a busy, busy weekend ahead of me that starts on Thursday night. I don't have time to be sick this week. Next week's fine, this week, notsomuch!

Moving on...

Its fall in Seattle. And fall in Seattle is a a bucket full of color! The trees are all turning to their beautiful golds and oranges. I just love fall.  And I especially love when we are treated to a sunny day in the fall. Yesterday was one of those days. Sparky and I went out to get cat food at lunch and we put the top down. It was glorious.  A little chill in the air, but with the heater on, you couldn't fill it.  It's supposed to be sunny today too, and as of right now the fog is so thick I can't see the parking lot.  Ahhh, fall in Seattle.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go blow my nose and take more cold drugs.

Caramels are the devil

The one thing I really like about this time of year - well besides the fall colors in all the trees - are the caramels that come off the bottom shelf and into a bin that says 2 for $4. (I secretly hate my local grocery store for putting them on sale.)

Each Caramel Season I go through about 4 bags. And I usually save 2 bags for later in the season. This year, I've gone through just one so far, and then Blueberry had to bring 2 bags to Sunday dinner, so those are tormenting me too. Ugh.

Seattle SIL a couple of years ago gave me this fancy martini glass for Halloween.  I decided to put it to good use this year and hold those fantastic little caramels.  The glass is painted as if a witch flew into the stem and ended up upside down. Very clever. Because I'm pretty sure if you drank a few martinis out of this glass and grabbed your broom, you'd fly as poorly.

I have a couple of recipes that call for caramels.  And sometimes I buy an extra bag or two to have on hand to "make" these recipes. Only I never actually make them. Somehow the caramels disappear before the recipe gets made. I think I have caramel gremlins in the house.

Maybe Pookie's eating them.

They look pretty good sitting there all smooth and all. Maybe I'll just have one before I snap another photo. Or two. Or three. Dammit! Now I have to go find some other caramels to put in the martini glass so it doesn't look like I ate any.

See. You can't even tell I had a couple, 20 of them.

Even Pookie's eyeballing them.

Happy Bloggversary!

I find it amazing that I've been tapping out nonsense on this blog for 6 years now. SIX years. When I started this blog I did so because I lost a bet. I figured I'd write for a couple of months and be done. I certainly didn't think I had enough to say for longer than that.

Turns out I'm full of stuff to say.

That doesn't mean it's all be interesting, or useful, or that every one's always agreed with me. It's been fun though keeping up with writing and exploring what all I can post to a blog.

I have a few faithful followers (besides the MomUnit) and for those folks I'm thankful.  I'm increasingly surprised that people actually read the blog, but apparently it interests them somehow. Or they lost a bet and have to read it.

In 6 years I've written almost 1000 posts. I'm at 945 right now.  Nine hundred and forty five posts of god only knows what.  It made me think about some stats for the blog.

• Countless references to pink.
• Countless references to Pookie
• Countless photos posted
• Countless trips you've joined me on
• 3 cars owned in the time frame (borrowed the exploder, other mustang, Sparky)
• 3 moves in 6 years
• Countless blogs referencing 80s songs or thoughts
• Countless posts that made me cry
• Countless posts that make me laugh

I cover it all here in Jenn Blogland!

Here's to another 6 years of drivel.

October Sunday Dinner & Annual Pumpkin Carving

If you weren't at my house last night you missed out.  Turned out to be just us girls last night, which I think for the men folk was a good thing.  There were some misinterpreted one liners that had most of us blushing.

6 pumpkins gave their lives for our party last night. All of them, I'm sure are happy in their after life. I mean, they do, after all, have a new look.

LTR Pumpkins: Pantry Goat, Mrs. Bras-pir, ChickenLady, Twyla, Blueberry, and me.

The two pumpkins on both ends are the only two that did not follow a template...can you tell? I opted to cut a "knucklehead pumpkin" which is essentially, I discovered, a gourd. And I discovered, they aren't the easiest to cut into.  There was some concern amongst the table that I'd slice off a limb trying to get into this beast.  Hindsight being what it is, I should have used the chain saw.

The finger sticking out of his mouth is courtesy of ChickenLady. No. No, it's not HER finger, she wasn't sitting close enough to me and my tough gourd.  No, instead she gave me a little appetizer spreader that is a finger. 

My pumpkin gourd sure is ugly.  In my defense, I did have three of the Ruby Red Rocket Cocktails before we started carving.  Hmmm, maybe a knife in my hand wasn't such a good idea. 

I'm getting ahead of myself here.  It was not only pumpkin carving, but October's Sunday Dinner. We had a small crowd which makes my decision what to cook for dinner easier.  I opted for Chicken Scaloppini with Wine, Mushroom and Green Olives.  The recipe is here in case you want to make it.  It turned out quite good last night, which could be I starved us and we would have thought a sweat sock tasted good OR it means it was quite tasty. I'm voting for the latter.

We ate, we drank, we picked up sharp knives and started carving.  The poor pumpkins didn't know what hit them.

LTR: ChickenLady, Twyla, Mrs. Bras-pir, Blueberry, and the Pantry Goat - pink hair and all.

Side note: The Pantry Goat decided to where my pink beehive wig all night. At one point of the evening, I pulled out my old Can-Can Girl dress and the Pantry Goat found my Halloween lights. She put them all on.

You can't really tell, but her cleavage is glowing.

Right so back to the carving.  This year there were cheaters amongst us.  4 of the 6 of us chose to use templates on their pumpkins. The Pantry Goat and I were the only TRUE carvers in the bunch last night. Still, I'll admit the templated pumpkins looked pretty damn good.

You should see how much pumpkin guts I had all over my kitchen floor after this event. 90% of it was from me and my gourd.

In the end, we had beautiful pumpkins.

We were relatively well behaved.

LTR: Moi (I still have my apron on too - sexy!), The Pantry Goat, ChickenLady, Blueberry, Twyla and Mrs. Bras-pir

Then we had dessert that ChickenLady brought...OMG Pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting. So darn good. It made us crazy.

Did I mention the Pantry Goat brought a chain saw?