A pleasant surprise

The day was clear and bright in a way only winter can show and I didn't even know it yet when I got the call...

"What are you doing today?" nothing

And it was settled in a wonderful way that my dear dear Tai would drive up island for a visit!!!

It was shaping up to be a spectacular day (and all I was going to do was clean the house)...

2 hours later one of my best friends on the planet was sitting in my kitchen and the warm fuzzy feeling I had wasn't just the gin.

We went out for lunch and the conversation was even better than the sushi, which was pretty darned tasty (especially without the kids tagging along)!

Afterwards we decided to take advantage of the sunshine and head out to the beautiful Pipers Lagoon for a stroll. What a treat! The air was crisp and a lovely mix of fallen leaves, woodsmoke, sunwarmed rocks and sea breeze. The light here is so different in the winter, something to do with that extra low angle to the sun... very nice for pictures in the early afternoon.

The walk was a bit too short even with the stopping for pictures every couple seconds, so after being wind-swept and sun-shone on the seashore we drove back downtown to stroll the lovely decor shops. And yes we came away with a couple treasures.... (thank you Tai for the lovely porcelain ball!)

It was such a nice day, thanks to my dear friend!

Crafty Cami

The little dude is lovin the crafts lately! Drawing (that's his brother and him in their Halloween costumes), foam balls and pipecleaners, play-clay, and painting little wooden nutcrackers (I did the mustache). He is having a great time!

When it rains, it pours....

Not just a figure of speech, our nextdoor neighbour's back yard was over-saturated from recent rainstorms and a HUGE rock let go from the cliff and shattered their back deck at an un-godly hour a couple nights ago! T jumped out of bed thinking the mezzanine in the garage had collapsed -- the noise was huge and terrifying. We were always surprised that that house got occupancy permit with that hill unrestrained, 9 years ago when our home was being built, our yard had to be held back with an engineered mesh with posts drilled and mortared 10 feet into the rock face! It was a huge expense incurred by the builder... but we weren't allowed to move in until it was passed by the geotech. So how come our neighboour was allowed to move in with the SAME rocks even closer to their house only a year ago? We were shocked, and just waiting for something to slide... the first wet week of the year was enough, not even an earthquake! Just Rain!! I feel sorry for them, I don't know if they can call on the offending permit issuer for damages.

So that is the neighbourhood news....

As for my life, my work is in unusually high demand this week, in fact I was swamped way past regular work hours all week. Good news is it will easily pay for Christmas, bad news is T is really annoyed at the dinner interruptions and weekend deadlines.

Hopefully the worst is over now and I can get back to a regular schedule.

Tomorrow night I get to go to a show that I designed the 44 page program for (I am taking my mother in law) it should be fun!

In two weeks I have a charity luncheon to attend, and I need to find someone to go to that with me.... (alas, T will be at work)... I have 2 seats to fill and only one bottom.

Its Over

And with a strange mix of regret and relief we collected back our deposit yesterday....

Funny, that whole house deal brought so many really strong emotions! Dark and light, each outcome had it's positives and negatives and each option had it's own set of stress and exciting opportunities!

I still think we could have been very happy for a very long time there, it had so much to offer to our lifestyles! BUT the work involved to make it comparable to our current home was a huge undertaking and may have easily turned into a bottomless money pit (and since we are not of bottomless wallets, it would have been painful and frustrating too).

I think it turned out for the best..... alas, those cherry trees, that nice big family room, the garage, shop, shed AND workshop... the big dining area are all let go rather reluctantly on my part.

So I turn back to look at my precious home. It is not so small, it is really warm and easy to care for, we fit here too! And I am thankful for what we have and once again have resolved NOT to look unless our fortunes change.... I am happy here.

Happy Halloweeeeeen!

(This year they carved their own jack-o-lanterns -- I'm so proud!)