Eleanore says this week has been nothing but work, Givergy, Rotary stuff and no sleep, but a great week, nonetheless.
Pat zoomed from Terrace at the District conference and is enjoying the beautiful mountains and reports that it’s not raining. They are also celebrating the peace facilitators. Pat flew up and didn’t drive. Next year will be at River Rock and Susan is on the organizing committee.
Susan is also in Terrace, where she lived for 11 months, 39 years ago and still has a close friend who is taking them on tours. Tonight, the peace facilitators are getting together and it’s lots of fun. Her father-in-law turns 90 this month, so they had a big party on the island last Saturday. She hadn’t travelled for 6 years and is doing lots this week.
Amanda has been doing lots of outdoors activities this week. She shared the sad news of Le Crocodile, one of her favourite restaurants, closing up shop. She couldn’t get to the meeting as she has a torture appointment with the massage therapist who makes her cry.
Note from Mary Lou that she’s heard that Rob Feenie is taking over Le Crocodile!
John wants to go to Fat Burger tonight on his birthday to try for more cholesterol and have another heart attack. He admired Bill’s UBC jersey, which reminded him of weights – 180 lbs. when he graduated in 1970 playing football, then 240 lbs playing UBC football, now back to 188 lbs. His daughter, Jennifer, takes her kids to the Nature Park, where the garter snakes are innocent, except they saw a snake eating a big bullfrog, half of it in his mouth.
Chris M. is happy to have lots of rotary stuff to do in her study as her ex just arrived from France last night, grumpy as his plane was delayed for 3 hours. Apparently, there are currently air traffic controllers on strike in France. 
The sleeping arrangements have shuffled, with Olivia and the baby in the TV room, Matt in the nursery, and Papa in their room. The one who really can’t figure it out is the dog, who usually sleeps in the room with his ‘parents’ but will have to just get over it. 
Joyce was in Sechelt, in her brother and sister-in-law’s new house, still marvelling at the 16 ft ceilings, and the fact that he built it himself. So awesome.
Chris P. is so sad that her dad has leukemia, is taking treatments, but cell markers are showing that he’s nearing the end, and Chris is thankful she has been spending time with him. She and Donnie were in Vegas two weekends ago and usually go through Nexus security, but because they sometimes have to go through old-style security, she couldn’t remember if she was supposed to keep her boarding pass or not, but had to give it to the guard, who said “How come one is going to Vegas and the other to LA? Immediately, Chris thought she shouldn’t yell in public at Donnie, who bought the tickets, and was in fast-thinking panic mode for a solution. Then the guard laughed and laughed “ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,” – a good one. Chris said she didn’t know they had any sense of humour and people around them couldn’t believe he’d done that. Coming home, Chris had both suitcases as Donnie has trouble carrying them, and she put her suitcase on the escalator, looked for the second one, her own snapped out of her hand, and, hard shell as it was, started on its journey down the escalator bump, bump, bump, like a missile, smashed at the bottom, then slid all the way to the door. Happily, no one was there (to be killed) so they walked slowly, picked up the bag, got in an uber and left Las Vegas.
Dalbir thinks he should be canceling his flight tomorrow to Terrace (not Paris as one might think). He had a good week and will be taking the two grandchildren to non-adult-participation gymnastics.
Marg was at a literacy conference last week, and usually enjoys leaving town to attend, but this time she was sitting next to people from out of town, while she had only driven about 10 minutes. No perks there. One woman was at literacy this week with her grandson, and asked Marg what she was doing here. Marg replied that she was teaching the class and had taught with the woman ten years ago, who still receives Marg’s Christmas letter every year and didn’t realize what Marg was up to. Marg’s Christmas letter will be edited this year. She and Don celebrated their 35th anniversary this weekend, and even Don admits it has gone fast. They reminisced stories of their wedding day (and night), when her sister and husband were visiting from England. Marg was wondering in what wonderful place they would spend the night, but Don had simply arranged for them to go home, so with her sister in her bed, the newlyweds spent the night on a mattress in spare room. But they’ve lasted 35 years. They had dinner at Provence Marinaside.
Judy reread us the correct inspirational quote, not the one she saved for herself! She had lunch yesterday at Kits Boathouse with Ralph’s associates, one who has Parkinson’s and a bit of dementia, and had a good but emotional time reminiscing about the old days. They’ve been meeting for the last 8 years and of course Ralph used to be there and was sadly missed. The wives agreed they need to do it more often.
Debbie M. is excited about the auction and thanks everyone who has come together to help out and recognizes there is a lot to do at the very end. Last week was her first regatta at the inlet in Port Moody where it was so gorgeous that with the tents up, it felt like a vacation. They even got a medal – third place out of 24 boats! This is fantastic because it’s a brand-new team in Olympic village, with 9 novices out of 20. She thinks she’ll have a really good team. The next regatta is the day after the auction! 
Kal was at a brew pub on Saturday for an ALS fundraiser, and they raised a lot of money - a 45-year-old has ALS. A young couple asked who he was, he replied, “big Kal” and it turns out the woman works with Marg Dixon in the literacy program. We think Kal presented a wrinkled cheque to pay his dues, but we’re not sure.
Bill found a place in London that has $5 sweatshirts and that’s where he got the UBC Thunderbird one. He was on a cruise for too many days and during the 2 for 1 happy hour with his ‘brother’ the waiter showed his apple watch with a rainbow strap, shared that they had gay children in common and asked how long Bill and Michael had been partners.
Mary Lou has to go to take Oscar to preschool and with this weather will likely be at Science World for the afternoon. She went to a Vancouver Jazz Orchestra concert at The Cultch and they are worth following. They went to Absinthe Bistro for dinner, and it was great.
Sam recently realized that as a young adult it’s time to be reading books he didn’t read before in high school – such as A Brave New World, Animal Farm and 1984. Next up was Moby Dick, but he hates it – it’s 600 pages long and the first 100 are all about loving the sea, how everyone loves the sea, really loves the sea. Finally, 186 pages later Moby Dick is mentioned, but Sam felt nothing. (Ed. note you may enjoy the book translated into emojis in the book entitled Emoji Dick follow this link Emoji Dick: Moby Dick, Translated Into Emoji Icons. This Exists. (bustle.com))
Chris B. really would like to read those books again, Animal Farm and 1984. She is conducting interviews for the summer REAP program for EAs. A lady in a woolen suit presented herself at 9:15 a.m. clearly having no idea what an EA does, thought she was doing crafts, and is the wife of a principal. But there were some great interviews. She was calling Jeannette, but her phone numbers are totally screwed up and she phoned the wrong Jeannette, someone who was going to take her job 35 years ago. The point in trying to contact Jeannette was to get in touch with Peachy to do home care, and Peachy arranged for someone to spend the night right away with the person in need(Dalbir was a little confused about what this meant - not that kind of happy ending here). Spectacular Peachtacular.
Larry remembers Moby Dick fondly because as a kid in elementary they would have a substitute teacher who seemed 100 years old, and whose only skill was to read them Moby Dick, all day long. It’s not fun having dinners at the house anymore, as guests are flying in from Paris (not Terrace) today - one is vegetarian, one vegan and one is gluten free. So, he’s trying to put a dinner together, but the fun is gone.
Jeannette thanks Pat for the tickets to Tea and Trumpets last Thursday at the Orpheum – she had no idea what to expect or that she would need to be quiet. Her friend offered to drive there, but she only drove to the River Rock parking lot where they spent 40 minutes looking for a spot and were going to miss the concert. People park there all day so it’s best to be there before 7 a.m.
Elena has been gardening and painting her fence, which is hard work( unless you can pull off a Tom Sawyer). She is going to San Francisco for 3 weeks, with the little dog, and there are lots of requirements for Air Canada for dogs. She will be back for the President’s dinner.
Peachy had a bad month for the family and was taking care of her brother. Her family thanks everyone for their help and prayers.
Danny is just back from the Philippines where he sold two condos and watched a James Taylor concert in Manila. He’d seen him before with Carol King in Vegas, but this time James introduced his new wife as backup singer. Danny was in the demilitarized zone in Korea, between north and south, and saw the tunnels ready for invasions - 72 m high, 2 km long. He brought back a beautiful banner from a club whose membership is full of artists, singers, and actors.
Garth is a fan of Sephora, because, as he can’t see his daughter and granddaughter right now, was able to send them Sephora and Indigo gift cards online. It worked!
Bobby thanks Debbie M. for all the work for the auction. Bobby’s birthday week was so quiet, with no dinner even, although his daughter came from Toronto. John invited him to Fat Burger.
Bob is feeling anxious and wants to ring the end-of-meeting bell. He thanks Debbie and the auction committee. He went to a circle wellness near the Granville Island hotel, a big metal wall 14 ft high from the outside, but a wellness spa inside. You make an appointment and have your own Zen Garden, little spa, hot tub, cold plunge and salt room – 1 ½ hours all by yourself for $200. It was awesome, then he caught the Aquabus across to downtown, and walked to Denman for a café americano. He did a 3-day water cleanse – water and green tea only. He was supposed to feel euphoric and energetic, but that didn’t happen. However, after a small meal and sleep, he felt more energy than ever before. He ordered a café passport and a pizza passport online through Instagram for $19. You can go to 70 cafes and 80 pizza places and have your passport stamped, all in the lower mainland.
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