BIG CITY ATTRACTIONS - MARCH 18

It's always great to be in another big city. We are certainly not over them yet! One plus, when my 2-year-old keyboard decided to stop communicating with my iPad, I headed to the local Apple store. A few minutes talking to what looked like a teenager, she tried all the things I'd already tried, got out a new keyboard, tried it on both her iPad and mine and when it worked, simply gave it to me to replace the dead one. That's why I love Apple! Ted is still complaining often that "it doesn't...(do whatever he was trying to do) but at least he uses it now, and we don't have to haul along a netbook too!

  We've had good wifi everywhere down here. Especially here at the house, a great connection all the time. I bought Telus 30 day US connection for $25 for my iPhone and hardly used it. What irks me is I can't turn off the home Telus service while I am away $80 a month for nothing. Frustrating! One of these days somebody will think of a better way...

  Eating out down here is mostly very reasonable compared to home. There is one restaurant nearby where seniors eat for about US$8. It's a lovely fresh salad bar, about 7 soups, fresh breads, 3 pastas, frozen yogurt/toppings - unbelievable. Everything fresh and home made at the restaurant. You can't buy produce at the store for that. I can see a return to Sweet Tomatoes this week...No wonder there's a lineup all the time there. You do have to carry a tray so it's for families and the able-bodied.

  There are also lots of interesting parks close to us here for walking and enjoying the flora, fauna and avifauna! One in particular is developed with lovely facilities for kids and people, but also wilder parts too at Lakes Park.

  Another is Six Mile Cypress Slough, a gorgeous lake preserve where we spotted a wild boar this week, along with the flowers just coming out.

  Below: Dinner with friends and family in our 'courtyard'