The Ouseys in Victoria Page

Helloooo. We are still at Mary Hill, enjoying this specatcular sunny weather we are still having. In for the usual, garbage run, pick up more stuff, and have a shower. There is no sewer or dump services at Mary Hill so we have to be careful about filling the waste tanks. That was probably more than you wanted to know. Anyhow not much happenin, just reading and relaxing. Just finished Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Her best yet, quite enjoyable. Now back to reading or re-reading Douglas Adams HGG (Hitchhikers Guide...etc) I got the omnibus of seven related stories, from Lyn for my B'day. Enjoying them again, he is some far out writer, his humour is boundless.

Talked to Mom the other day. She is fine and looking forward to my visit. Now to coordinate with Jack, if in fact he is going to Winnipeg too. Are you Jack?

Well to the showers.

just in for a quick shower and supplies. Weather still great, and we are enjoying it at Mary Hill. Lewis departed Monday for Vancouver.

We know what dates that we will be in New Aiyansh as Lewis will be coming with us. His flights into Prince George are 30 Aug to 8 September. So we will be in Aiyansh at Mikes between those dates.

Congrats to Margot on her new job, manager at Raincity Grill, details at Dennis' blog.

Gotta go, Carolyn is staring at me with hands on hips.

We have moved out to Mary Hill. We are in a dry camping spot but that is OK. We will be there through the long weekend. The summer high pressure has finally shown up, so the weather is sunny and warm with little wind. It was late this year after a particularly wet June. It usually hangs around for most of July and August, and maybe we will be lucky again this year. Things are already drying out. The lawns get pretty brown if you don't water, which we can do this year albeit twice a week at allotted watering times, etc.

Lewis is leaving Monday, but I guess we will be seeing him, as he suggested that he will fly to Prince George and join us in the motorhome on our trek up to New Aiyansh, so that is what will be happening. Since he will have flights in and out of Prince George we will have to ensure we get him back there for that. Mind you he hasn't booked the flights yet so dates will follow.

We have an appointment at Kustom Koach on the 25th of August on our way up, so we will go over on the 23 or 24th and look up Margot and Joel, and if they are available go and see them.

Lewis finished doing the necessary plumbing and studded up a wall for David, so part of it is done and David saw how to do it, so he can continue. I'll give him a hand esp. with some electrical work he will need done. They gave Uncle Lew a nice bottle of Chivas Regal scotch.

We had a very nice dinner at Lyn's and Alan's the other night. BBQ steak cooked to perfection, mmmmmmm good. They wanted to have Lewis over prior to his departure.

Catherine had a letter published at the Free Press, well written. See Dennis' blog for details.

Well that's all the news that's fit to print. Off to the campground, to rough it. Only get 4 channels, weak cell phone signal, no electricity only what we can generate, its rough I tell you.

One of the many fields of Lavender we saw at the fesival. Many, many varieties.

Our gracious Hosts Ken & Helen Kirkwood

Ousey's in Lavender Field

CloseUp of some Lavender

From our campsite we saw several Alaska bound cruise ships go by.

We are back from our wonderful weekend away. Completely enjoyed the weekend at Port Townsend and the Lavender Festival with Ken and Helen. They were great hosts and we can't say enough about the way we were treated. In fact we stayed an extra day and came home at noon today. They have a great motorhome, a Winnebago Brave, and there was lots of room for us. Their sofa made into a very comfortable bed.

The festival is quite large covering the main venue in Sequim and 7 farms. We did the main venue and 4 farms over two days. We also took in the town of Port Townsend which is a very scenic little town, with a combined Marina and RV park.

I never new there were so many varieties of Lavender, but then again what do I know about any plants. Carolyn is the gardener and she was very delighted in the whole thing. The weather turned out to be great after a weak start Friday. The only unfortunate event of the whole weekend was clumsy me, took a header off the washroom steps. Not watching what I was doing, obviously, I caught my heel on the last step and did a face plant on the concrete sidewalk. No permanent damage other than my watch and sun glasses. Several cuts and scratches, my block head survived with a scratch thanks to my left hand which wore the brunt. A few band aids and a beer and I was as good as rain.

Other than that it was a great experience and we look forward to returning the favor sometime soon (minus any falling down).

I'll post some pictures, when they email me some, because as you would expect with someone with "old timers disease" I forgot to take my camera.

Now to find out what Lewis has been up to while we were gone, he is supposed to be doing some plumbing at David's, but no one is answering the phone there. Must try again.

Later matey's.

Weather is nice. Golfing was lousy. We are having a few people over tonight for Lewis' birthday. It is actually tomorrow, but we leave in the morning for Port Angeles. There we will be met by the Kirkwoods. We will be spending the weekend with them in their motorhome at Point Hudson Resort. We are there for the Sequim Lavender weekend festivities. Looks like fun.

Lewis will have the place to himself. He has plans, which include getting stuff ready to do a plumbing job at David & Tena's place on Monday. David is rearranging spaces in his basement to produce another bedroom. They have a foster child for awhile.

Food smells good, mmmmmmmm, mmmmmmmmmm, must go eat.

Hello. Lewis is arriving today, this afternoon, according to his email he has been having a wonderful time in Vancouver.

It was cloudy, with a light drizzle, which stopped by the time we teed off at 8:00 this morning. Sunny by the time we finished 1 hr. 15 min later. It is a short 9 hole course. Coffee at Tim Horton's tops off the morning.

My last visit to the "Scalp Psoriasis clinic". Must say it worked well. Obviously I had some kind of active ingredient, it virtually cleared up my scalp psoriasis in the first week. There wasn't much left to improve on over the following 7 weeks. Got to get me some of that stuff for future use.

Got meagerness watching the TV coverage on Hurricane Dennis. It was a bad one and it is looking like a bad season for hurricanes and tropical storms too.

Later peoples, got to go to my appointment.

Nice day today, most of the day. Long day since I was up at 5:15 AM. The pancake breakfast went very well and I was home by 11:00 am and then I had a nap. Between the two pancake breakfasts we netted about $1,600.00, more money for charity. And there fun too.

Carolyn and I went for a long walk along the Gorge and enjoyed some of that sun today. Just watch the movie "About Schmidt" quite enjoyable. Funny yet poignant.

That will be some hurricane that is approaching Florida pan-handle. Another Hurricane Dennis, they had a Dennis in 1999. Is there something behing this? Are they picking on you Dennis? Weighty thoughts,

I need a nap, NO! its bedtime, nighty nite.

How'd-they-vote? See following post

We had a lovely lunch at Brian and Kaye's place Tuesday afternoon. They live out in Sooke and we were to go out for a walk out on Wiffen Spit then have lunch. However, it was raining so we stayed in, drank wine and ate a fabulous lunch. Kaye put on quite a spread for a "casual" lunch.

Just got a call from Royal Jubilee Hospital, that they can do my MIR tonight, like 4 hours from now. Thought I would get more notice than that, but I guess they use the low priority MIRs to fill in cancellations. Good show. Now am I claustrophobic??? I don't think so but I guess I'll find out tonight.

Mom was over at Dennis' and Dennis put her on Skype and called us, so we had a nice talk. She is getting new teeth, and she is going for new glasses too. She chattered on, giggling at her own jokes, pretty with it for someone going on 87. Good to hear her in a good mood, which she seems to be most of the time.

Called Helen and Ken and said we would be on the Coho Ferry to Port Angeles Ferry on Friday the 15th to join them for the weekend. We will be attending the Lavender festival at Sequim. Should be fun, fun, fun. As a matter of fact this Saturday, my Lions club is doing another Pancake breakfast at the Lavender Day festival in Langford. Another 6 am affair, like the 24 hour relay a couple of weeks ago.

Hmmm better go nap.

How'd-they-vote?

Here is a site where you can find out who your MP is, and what he/she is up to. Following the link is a quote from the site.
How'd They Vote? :: Canadian MPs in Focus: "Have you ever wondered how your member of parliament has been voting? We've made it easy for you to find out! Contained herein are many of the pivotal votes in the House of Commons, complete with voting history, dissention, attendance and speaking habits."

Keith Martin (Esquimalt/Juan de Fuca) is a busy boy, good work Keith. Boo on Parrish, in number of absences she is only exceeded by the 3 MP's ill with cancer.

You'll notice a change in my blog template. I had to do it, as my old green one started leaving a large space at the top of the blog, so that it looked blank until you scrolled way down. Couldn't figure it out so I changed templates. This one looks good and easy to read. Have a good weekend all.

Generally quiet around here. If it weren't for my back we would probably be out at Mary Hill enjoying the reasonably warm weather. Did get a shower yesterday, but otherewise generally sunny with some cloudy periods. Hey, I'm begining to sound like a weatherman. Manitoba has been getting the rains that have been sweeping across the prairies. It has kept Dennis et al from going out to Gimli to enjoy their trailer. Well it should be drying up soon.

Lyn and Alan will be back today after a week on the sailboat, they'll either be tanned, or rusted. Likely rusted. They are home for a few days then they go to Seattle in a continuation of their holidays.

Chelsea is excited, as usual, she put in 25 resumes and on her first call back she got hired at the body shop. Initially it is one day a week, but that is fine, she is still looking and wants a second job anyway. She has more interviews coming up. She and Grandma went shopping yesterday, Rachel was supposed to go too, but forgot. Grandma bought her some working clothes. They had fun, me too, I didn't go with them. I stayed home and had a marathon session of Genealogy. I finally gathered enough stuff to send to Gordon Patton in Toronto. He has the bug and needed more info on Carolyn's part of the family, and vice versa. He must been at the computer all day too, as anytime I sent him stuff or asked a question I would get an immediate reply. In any event I have a comprehensive family tree now and growing.

This Skype thing is catching on. John has set it up planning to use it to call the UK. I'll find out today how successful he was. Brian McKeever is doing the same. He called me on skype (PC to PC) and we are both amazed how clear it is. And PC to PC it is free. From PC to any telephone you have to pay, but only 2 UScents per minute anywhere in North America, UK, Australia, most of Europe etc. Higher rates apply elsewhere. Can be even cheaper if you use the paid service to someones phone just to ask them to turn on their computer and go PC to PC. Ah technology, drives you nuts sometimes doesn't it...lol.

Well got to go, I see John just called in on Skype. Ta Ta