IIDD, Moondance Diaries: Monday, October 1st

Whenever books are burned men also in the end are burned. -Heinrich Heine, poet, journalist, and essayist (1797-1856) 

Hi Patrick and Corinne,

We just read that Annie’s memorial is Oct 14 at 2:30pm. Unfortunately, we had committed to doing a travel club presentation in North Van for appx 40 members from noon to 3pm.

Therefore we are not able to attend the service. Please know that our thoughts will be with you and we are most disappointed we will be unable to attend.

Look forward to seeing you soon. Thanks, Charlie & Susan

Aviva Insurance is running a voting competition.  The applicant with the most votes is likely to receive funding. 
Please register with Aviva here: https://www.avivacommunityfund.org/users/registration/register
Then cast a vote a day over the next 15 days for Cheryl Stephens' proposal ACF13938 "Clear Information for Victims and Witnesses". You can find it by entering ACF13938 in the Search Box. Thank you, Al Soroka

Hi Champagne and O Susannah!

Thank you for your kind words and concern. While we will be having a reception, (tea/coffee and dainties), after the service, at the church, we will be having more of a traditional wake back at The Islay Inn, probably starting around 4:30pm. If you are so inclined, please feel welcome to pop by after your presentation. Thanks again for your thoughts. Cheers, Patrizzio!

Hi Ayn!

Thanks very much for Melvin's email address. We've been pretty busy here as well, although "lazy retirees"!

Lurchesca was here, if only for the evening/overnight, last Thursday, as she had to see her dentist and do all sorts of other "city" errands. She brought two lovely bottles of wine for dinner, [Had had one of the bottles, (not sure if it was the same vintage, of course), at a tiny spot, just around the corner from our appartmento, in Paris, in 2010], and we enjoyed some wonderful tastings just before we left Madroña Manor, once Grogg unlocked his wine cellar!

Was busy with VIFF first two days back and then on Saturday Chloë and I had to take Maggster to the SPCA for a check-up. 9Nort sure if Nana filled you in on this on the phone.) We were worried about her teeth and her stomach as she had been sick to her stomach a number of times over last few months. In fact, everything went well from the very beginning. Didn't have too, too much trouble getting her into the carrier cage. Was more concerned about that than almost anything else! She can be pretty vicious when unhappy, as I'm sure you know! Anyway, vet said she was pretty healthy and only suggested we try a special diet to help reduce plaque build-up on her teeth. Couldn't believe how relaxed she was while being examined! Poor Chloë was probably more nervous than Maggie as she ended up spilling quite a bit of the container of crunchies she'd brought along to try to take The Devil Cat's attention off what was happening around her. Lid wasn't on properly, I guess. Vet was completely unperturbed by spillage. Very, very pleasant, friendly chap.

Then, once out in the waiting area to have detailed report, Chloë knocked over a plastic picture frame containing snap of a cat up for adoption, while attempting to put a donation in the jar beside the picture. The ensuing fall broke one corner of the frame. Coincidentally, just that morning I had put together almost a box of similar frames when I had removed the pictures, originally displayed in Mom's room at Broadway Lodge, ones I wanted to use for the Memorial. Anyway, will drop most of them off at the SPCA next time I'm by there.

Then, spent quite a bit of the afternoon with Flash, at his studio, but a block from Gourmet Warehouse, working on the program/order of service for Mom's Memorial. He is such a wizard with scanning pictures I provided and Photoshop that he was able to produce what we think is a very fitting and appropriate document. I'll send along a copy once we've met with minister to confirm some of the items in the service. I stopped at Legacy, in Olympic Village, on way home, (I was on my bike as it was another glorious day.), and picked up a bottle of 15 year old Mortlach, Speyside, 43%, for Flash as but a small thank-you for all his incredible work. I've not seen Mortlach in years so was delighted to find it on the shelf this time. Picked up a bottle for myself so am looking forward to a snortl!

That evening had a wonderful dinner, along with Flamin' and Sarge, at the home of Brenda and Dave, curling mates. They are from Winnipeg, originally, and Brenda was head of HR at VPL for a number of years, which is where she and Cora Lee first met. They live on 1st near Collingwood so we didn't have far to go. 

Today I picked up my friend Imre, from St Paul's, where he'd been for over a week, for pain management. Looks like he will be moving to a hospice in next little while as he simply cannot manage alone anymore, even with outside help for shopping, cleaning and some meal preparation. At any rate, Nana came with me, about noon, and she stayed in the car, (not much parking around the hospital), while I fetched Jim from the ward. Once we were back we dropped her off at VPL and then I took Imre home, 5th and Alma. Once he was settled I did a few errands, (dry cleaning, Safeway for  fuzzy water/milk and to collect a prize, a KitKat, I'd won on one of their  scratch and win promos, only time I've ever won!

Back home to have a bite to eat and suit up for a ride. Just before I was about to walk out the door, Kurt, one of our neighbours, and chap we were talking with about renting his house in Panama for January/February, knocked on the door to ask if we were definite about traveling to Panama. A friend there wishes to rent the house for a year but since he had tentatively promised it to us he wanted to make sure we still wanted to take him up on the offer. Funnily enough, earlier that morning I had 'quizzed" your Mother about whether she could really afford the trip, given our house exchange next summer, and then her planned two weeks in Rome, afterwards, with her Book Club. At any rate, I received a qualified, "Well, I guess it would be better for my finances if we didn't go." but not a definite "Yes" or "No"! Given Kurt's situation I told him that he should take the offer of the rental for a year.

Some options remain open, however. In the first instance, I don't know if staying in one spot is the best idea in Panama, unlike Mexico with the house in Guayabitos. Panama is a much smaller country and Kurt suggested that spending a week or so in five or six of the quite different parts of the country is perhaps a more interesting holiday, traveling by local buses which apparently are fine. This does not address the question of "affordability" of course but it might be something to think about at a future date. At any rate, things may change between now and when we return from LA so stay tuned! Mexico is yet another possibility. Barb and Lynn, (when they visited us in Parksville), mentioned we  would be welcome to stay with them. If we did do something like that, it would probably be for not more than two weeks but that could change as well!

After Kurt left, I went out for my first long ride since last Thursday. headed out to UBC, via Spanish Banks and followed one of my usual routes around the university and environs to end up with 72.1K, AVG 19.7kph, so I was quite pleased. Very little wind and the water of English Bay was as smooth a a mirror when I was homeward bound. Cora Lee made a wonderful corn pasta with chicken topping, dressed with home-made pesto sauce and pine nuts. She used fresh basil from the plant she purchased at the market in Penticton when we were there on our way back from Winnipeg. She'll be baking bread, making her own greeting cards and sewing her own dresses, a la Agneta "Super Housewife", soon!!! Thanks again for Melvin's email address. Love, Dad! Attack of The iPad People! Are you showing it on Hallmark?

Hola! Crazy day at work! Here is Melvin’s email.

Proud of Alex's fraternity...

SAE CAL NU Lemonade Stand | Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer

www.alexslemonade.org

On behalf of my brothers, I would like to ask for your help in making our philanthropy event during this Fall semester a success. On October 2, 2012 we are planning to host an event through Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer. This event will be held on the California State Univers...

The New Yorker has a Facebook page, which a lot of you like, or maybe it’s just one person with a lot of time on their hands, liking the page over and over again. But in any case, it’s a whole lotta like. We like that.
What we don’t like is that we got temporarily banned from Facebook for violating their community standards on “Nudity and Sex,” by posting this Mick Stevens cartoon:

Hoping to get back into Facebook’s good graces, Mick redrew the cartoon for us, but the gain in clothes caused too great a loss in humor.

This previous New Yorker cartoon, by Karen Sneider, would have run afoul of that injunction. But kudos to Karen for handling the nipple problem so dexterously, shielding the innocent from those bits of both sexes, even though, as the guidelines say, “male nipples are ok.” It’s the “female nipple bulges” that are the problem.