Seafood Galore

It was great to be back on the coast. We didn't eat meat for two weeks! We found fresh crabs, Fanny Bay oysters (I bought 32 oz and we ate them in two evenings), halibut, salmon, sole, a feast of good things. Ted got adept at finding inexpensive wines - not from BC! - at the local outlets. We didn't have to fight the birds for the seafood but they were tame and everywhere. Lots of cormorants, bald and golden eagles, mandarin ducks breeding off Horby Island and of course, millions of Canada geese which breed like rabbits.

On to Sidney with Michal and Gordon

After a week in Victoria, we headed to Sidney to stay with Mikes and Gordon. Good weather allowed us to walk some lovely trails and enjoy the glorious Fall colours. It was a perfect time of year, although the rainy season started the minute we bought a ferry ticket to sail to the Island.
Next year we will head back same time to celebrate Gordie's 80th in Tofino. We celebrated my cancer-free news with a bottle of bubbly compliments of Uschi and Dieter, away in Europe right now.

Victoria Chinese connection

While in Victoria, we got together with president Gloria from Victoria and VP Joan, who are off to China to join Morag and Donna from our Calgary chapter. Ted and I went to their dinner, meeting with the new Consul General from Vancouver and other old friends from the Victoria group.

Thanksgiving in Vernon & Mexican Train in Victoria

Yup, I have a lot to be thankful for this year. We took off for a month after all the visitors had left and enjoyed a month on the road in our RV. She's called Lupita and can't wait to go to Mexico. (Registration is LUP 111) We spent the holiday with Les/Sandy/SuperDave in Vernon along with Welsh friends Eileen and Mike, and a bloody big turkey. I always enoy it when somebody else cooks.
After that we headed to Vancouver Island, and camped out in the Knott's driveway for 5 days. It allowed us to go to the Victoria Children's Choir harvest dinner and concert compliments of 11-year-old Gemma. Gemma was so excited with her new Mexicoan Train game, she was foaming at the mouth...

Oct 3 - All system go!

It's been over a week since my PET/CAT scans so I called my oncologist, Dr. Lisa Pickering, who only works Friday and Wednesday. (Turns out she had twins 2 years ago so she is somewhat busy those other days!) She called me back Friday and said all my test results were good, no sign of cancer cells anywhere, so I am now feeling I can put all this behind me. I still get very tired but as we've been running a B&B since the last week of August, that's not surprising! It's been great to see everyone and we are now ready to take off for a month west in our RV and just relax and follow our noses.

Sep 25 - Yerks - I'm radioactive!!

Sheesh. I had my PET scan yesterday. I thought it was to check to see if I'm a suitable owner for a dog or cat but it seems it's a Positron Electro Tomograph or something...They called to say it had been postponed from 10am (reasonable) to 7pm (late!) because they had to fly in the nucleur material to inject from Montreal. Trust me to get the expensive goods. I had to fast 6 hrs then they inject 6mm of sugar based nuclear goo, leave it an hour, then see where it goes in my body. Cancer cells will soak up more, they love that sugar, wouldn't you know it! First they tested my glucose level: 4.2 (4-6 is good) so it was all systems go. After blowing a couple of veins - that's the way it goes will all blood tests now, the chemo has ruined my veins - they found one that would take the heat. It was painless and I just lay there inert for an hour, going off to my place in the sun, waves lapping, landing by helicopter on a secluded beach and sitting under a palm tree. Ahhhhhhh imagination is great.
So today I'm radiactive for about 24 hours. Mustn't approach children or pregnant women closer than 6 feet. Drink lots and pee all day. Great. I have board meetings today and all day tomorrow so hopefully I won't be glowing in the dark by then.

Sep 20 Nephew Simon & Julia here

We are really enjoying the second coming of nephew Simon Bandy, Liz's eldest son, who visited here in 1992! He and partner Julia are having a great time with us, enjoying Calgary and the mountains. We had a historic dinner with these two train buffs in Lord Strathcona's private Dining Car at Lake Louise (see photo.) The food was superb but the 3 huge freight trains passing and stopping right outside the window made it even better! This may be closing for good except for private parties so we felt honoured to be there. They didn't do a regal wave to the colonials out of the cow-catcher balcony at the back of the train! But it felt like we should. They are a fit pair, off cycling around the Glenmore Reservoir today. Tomorrow they will take our car west and spend a few days in Vancouver. We had stunning mountain views for two days with temps of 22-24, but today a more normal weather system's arrived, so we could see snow in the mountains overnight this week.