Hey Venus!!

Venus's father is all black and her mother has the coat factor gene which means she could produce smooth, plush or long coat pups. It was easy to tell which puppies in the litter were smooth coat, but when it was picking time for me, it was hard to tell if she was going to be a plush coat or a long coat.  She was such a ball of fluff I had to choose her. It's fascinating to watch the different stages of her coat coming in.  I love it!

 

In this photo you can see she is having a little foam assistance with her left ear, it was having a hard time coming up.  I will remove it this weekend, I am sure its fine now.

A New Addition

Meet Venus! Yes, we have another one, and she and Ajax hit it off from day one.  We got her at almost 8 weeks near the end of June.  She was born May 1st.   This is her on her arrival. 

As you can see, as far as puppies go, she was a little darling.

  Her first vet visit on Bowen

Old Friends - Again

I've said it before, and it so applies to my friend Katie - from Oz.  She and Adrian returned to I've said it before, and it so applies to my friend Katie - from Oz.  She and Adrian returned to Vancouver again after their trip to the Rockies, Quebec, Ontario and New York.  20 years out of communication and it is still like yesterday!  I just love that!!  It’s such a memorable feeling reconnecting with someone who has known you in your younger days.  It’s like reliving the days gone by; the conversations; the capsule of time you shared.  I got every memory she talked about, recapitulated every instance she described about what we did or where we went, or what we talked about.  It is just such a unique form of happiness.

I'd say Katie and Adrian are travelers not tourists, but I felt like being a tourist when we met up again and so we went to Cleveland Dam in North Van. It had been a lot of years since I was there - it was so picturesque.

 Here is Katie back on Bowen at Josephine Lake. Bush walking!

 And in full form at the Lagoon in Deep Bay.

Amazing how 20 years can be like yesterday!

Rhubarb

We have a great crop of rhubarb this year.  Mostly I give it away to the neighours, but the other day I  picked some as a centre piece. The leaves are so jerassic!  I think I will pick them more often.

In the end, though, I decided to actually try to bake something.  I found a recipe online for a rhubarb custard pie.  I wasn't going to attempt pastry, so I made it a crustless pie.  I thought it was pretty good.  Chris couldn't grasp the concept.  He expected custard to be spooned on top of stewed rhubarb.  NOT!

He went and made egg and chips instead.  I ate the pie.

Ajax - Again!

He's gives me so many opportunities for photo's that I can't help myself.  When I take out my camera he poses for me!  He will be 3 in 2 more months.  Still trying to leash train him.  I love this first photo of him staring at the bald eagle.  He loves to sit at the waters edge and just watch thing.  Birds, boats, seals,whatever. 

Spring Time in the Garden

  Forget Me Nots and Garden Fairy                       Bleeding Hearts

Wisteria

 

Pink Clematis

                            Blue Clematis                                                            Patio Garden

Practicing My Photography

I upgraded my phone and it has a better camera in it, so I have been practicing my scenic photography.  Here are some recent favourites.

Wild Lupins by the sea

 Foxgloves by the sea.

Ajax at low tide with Vancouver in the background.

Starfish at low tide

Sunset over Georgia Straight

Ajax in the forest at sundown

Aussie Visitors

My friend Katie from Sidney, Australia emailed last month that she and her partner Adrian were flying into Vancouver to do the Rocky Mountain Rail trip and then go on to Quebec, Ontario and New York.   They would only be in Vancouver a couple of days before the Rail tour started so I was able to entice them to Bowen Island for a visit.    They were walk-on ferry passengers and I picked them up on the dock.

As a way to welcome out-of-country visitors, it's my tradition to always fly the flag of their home country.  I had the Aussie flag at the foot of our driveway.

I stayed with Katie, the niece of one of my cousin's wife, on two separate occasions when on different Aussie holidays, but I had never met Adrian.  He's a perfect match for Katie and he and Chris got on and shared a beer at the man cave.

We had a full day, went for a forest walk around fairy fen, and then went down to our beach for an adult beverage.  Chris has sore feet so did not join us.  (I don't know how to reverse the boomerang effect I put on this photo)..  😎

New Stuff

Replaced the patio door and patio vertical blinds earlier this month.  The old ones came with the house, were fabric, impossible to keep clean, and were deteriorating from the sun.  I got vinyl ones instead.  I quite like them.  Not that we need blinds at the front for privacy at all - we only draw them when the sun is blasting in during summer.  They did come with that new vinyl blind smell, but it's fading away now.

I also decided to get some venetian blinds for the kitchen window.  I had trashed the old ones a few years ago and have had nothing on that window.  So I figured why not.  I chose the cordless kind which I love, and I picked hunter green to match the counters.   Small pleasures in life!

Deconstructing the Shed

Once upon a time there was a little garden shed that was built by the previous owners at a time when there was no back yard.  The little shed was the only thing you could see when you looked out the kitchen window. I disliked it.  I wanted it gone, but Chris insisted it served a purpose, and I suppose it did, but it was in the wrong place when we began to create a back garden.  Since I was dealt lemons with the ugly shed, I decorated it up so that when I looked out the kitchen window, at least I would see some colour. 

Well, 12 years later, and after 12 years of moaning about not being able to see the vegetable garden from the kitchen window because of the shed, Chris finally agreed to take it down.

We actually did it together.  Every piece he ripped apart, I took and removed the nails and stacked into piles of kindling or piles of trash.  It was all cedar so we had lots of siding and shingles to keep. It's actually the first and only project we were able to do together without a fight or one of us giving up.  It was a happy project!

 

Now we have to plant some grass in the spot were it used to stand.

The Chemo Cycle

Chris is on a 3 week chemo cycle which consists of 2 weeks of oral chemo pills, 1 week off the pills, then during the week of no pills, he gets blood tests, a visit to the oncologist at the chemo clinic, and a chemo infusion.  He has been doing this since the beginning of November.  

On the week off of chemo, which is week 3, he has to get blood work done on the Tuesday to check a variety of blood counts like the red blood cells for signs of anemia (low iron), the platelet count (platelets make your blood clot), the white blood cells to make sure there is no infection, liver and kidney function and cancer markers.   

 

Then on the Thursday of that week he goes to Lions Gate hospital to see his oncologist at the chemo clinic.  First, he gets weighed, then Dr. Sasha reviews the blood work (which so far has all been normal and good) discusses any issues or side effects, and then sends Chris for the chemo infusion drip which takes about 15 minutes.  

While he is getting the infusion, the pharmacist gets the chemo pills ready for the next 2 week cycle which starts the next day (Friday). 

                Then we head home and Chris naps in the car when we get to the ferry.

His side effects are not too bad with this particular chemo.  One is fatigue, which causes him to nap a lot, the other is discoloration and sore hands and feet.   It's not a great photo by the bottoms of his feet are dark brown, and he describes it like walking on sponge but painful like if you were walking on rocks.  His hands are darker in the creases of his palms and he is not supposed to put his hands in hot water - hence he gets out of doing dishes.

So that's the story of Chris's schedule, and I guess in part mine too, as I am the driver!    Too look at Chris you would not think he was a cancer patient.  He's lucky he has the type of chemo treatment that he has.  The side effects seem to be manageable and the drugs seem to be keeping him stable and reducing the tumor sizes.