2005

Christmas Eve 2005

Well, both Alex and I are having a somewhat blue (like, maybe baby blue, not really navy or azure) Christmas without our loved ones. So Laura and Edy, this one's for you. We wish you were here and hope you are having a good Christmas with your family. With your own families, not each others'. Because if you were having Christmas at some secret location without us, we'd be mad. Miss you.

Love, Dani and Al.

Here's a picture of Popo trying his hand at Italian cuisine for our Christmas Eve dinner.

Above: Spot the unwrapped Christmas Kitty under the Tree. Zorica fixed the Worst Haircut Ever. It's a Christmas Miracle. Mom put a certain tasty Italian treat on the Christmas tree to remind us of Edy. Dani fell asleep waiting to go to church. Dani and Al man the Lemon Family Call Centre (Edy and Laura phoned in simultaneously). Al loves a good Christmas tree. Dani makes Land of Nod cinnamon buns for tommorrow morning...

A Time for Pumpkins

To everything, there is a season. And I have to say, that the fall and winter holiday season-that candy and food filled trio of Thanksgiving, Halloween and Christmas-is my favorite, because I can indulge my passion for punkin flavored everything without people thinking I'm like, totally weird. I can't help it. I like gourds, okay?!

Last year was a difficult one. The lady at Tesco thought I was crazy when I asked if she had pumpkin pie filling. In fact, pumpkin anything seems to be a n0-no in England. At least, as an edible food.

So, okay, maybe I'm going a little overboard this year to compensate for the great Pumpkin drought of 2004. I've already bought a few mini-punkins to scatter around my apartment, because in addition to being delicious, pumpkins are actually really cute too. I usually treat myself to coffees on Mondays and Fridays on my way to school, and I've been gorging on pumpkin lattes (nonfat, no whip of course) at Starbucks instead of my usual sugar-free vanilla. And on the way home today, I stopped by Choices, the organic supermarket, for some delicious pumpkin fritters...not like, pastries, but little pieces of pumpkin lightly coated in chickpea flour, to dip in some yummy chutney. And then, um, on the way home from Choices, Cobs' had a pumpkin seed bread, so I bought some of that to stick in the freezer...

Okay, yes. I'll admit it. I am obsessed now. But I have yet to buy a pumpkin pie, so if anyone finds a whole wheat crust, no sugar added, all-pumpkin-all- the-time pie, well, let me know....

Some Pics from Dani and Edy's Washington/Oregon Coast Road Trip, August 2005

Edy at the Olympia "Sand in the City" Sandcastle Festival. They provided chalk and let kids (ie., Edy) draw all over the streets.

Remember the Depeche Mode song? No? Me either. I wasn't an eighties teenager but someone else I know was...

Here we are on the Monorail in Seattle. We are sitting in the very front and the driver let me blow the horn before we started to drive...it was frickin' loud.

At the Space Needle, Seattle.

A little lovin' on top of the Space Needle.

Sarah Harmer in Centennial Plaza

Mike took me and his girlfriend Kate to see Sarah Harmer play an outdoor concert in Centennial Square this weekend. Mike and I both missed the other 2 times she's come to Victoria: in late 2000 (I think) we decided to stay home to watch Dubya get elected (kind of) for the first time, and she came back this fall when I was in London and he was in Tokyo. She is just one of those great Canadian voices that I missed so much when I was away...the world doesn't know what it's missing. Hooray for Canadian content rules.

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Family Day at Camp

It was Family Day at Al's camp in Metchosin this weekend, and I always go out to help (even though they don't really need my help)...this lovely "cosmetic" addition of the canoe-slash-signpost is just one of the many "upgrades" they've made since I volunteered out here as a teenager...we didn't have buildings then, let alone signposts. It's amazing what they've done with the property. 

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