Chris P. is helping to plan for the Grand Prix of Art, and we have 11 volunteers, the only slot still available is the early morning at 6 a.m. period. The awards will be given out from the rotary table, Rotarians will be helping in the Phoenix Art tent, and we’ll have lots of fun.
Lawrence won’t be here next week as his wife will be away at a retreat and he’ll be on full dad duty, no Lord of the Flies will happen at his house.
Chris M. was at the cabin and then in Unity and Evesham Saskatchewan - geographical, cultural and temporal displacements! She attended a Saskatchewan wedding that was planned for between 100 to 500 people, with a gigantic tent on the old school grounds, lots of rum and coke drinkers, guests arriving in their trailers on the grounds, tornado and big hail warnings ringing on phones, and many seductive farmers wearing big black Stetsons, cowboy boots, white shirts and black vests, and the groom was in his best jeans. 
She came back for a second wedding here the next day, at the Rowing Club on River Road, a very sophisticated, glamorous version of ‘wedding.’
Amanda loves Saskatchewan weddings, and says jeans are the best! She has lots of work right now and thanks those who signed up to be part of the gala committee.
Pat has a lovely birdbath in her garden, but her 4 crows have taken it over and wait to have the water changed every day. 
She took off her prescription sunglasses but can’t see! Her computer hard drive was almost completely dead but the guy at Best Buy managed to get her files when it booted up for a few minutes. She now has a new computer, and has it plugged in, but can’t get the sound to work. Can Sam help at the end of the meeting?
Sandra tried not to mention Miller but is happy to announce that they can’t find anything more on the scopes so no more tubes! Yay! And yes, he’s cruising. She went for a $2.5 million bike ride this Tuesday. She might have said it was stupid to have a bike lane on Steveston highway, but, when she couldn’t get out of the subdivision on No. 1 Road, she rode down Francis to Railway, down the green belt to Williams, down No. 4 Road, then to the bike lane on Steveston Highway, which was marvelous, away from the cars and with a view of the fields. She is eating her words about the Steveston lane.
Melinda was in the States last weekend at a family function, at a Dustin Lynch concert, and won money, so they will see Chris Stapleton next. They had front row seats! She is going to Frozen at the Queen E tonight, no kids allowed.
Gordon was walking and sitting by the river front, and it’s the warmest and most humid he’s felt in Steveston. So, no complaints this winter, please.
Elena enjoys walking every day, at least 10 000 steps, from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., trying to lose weight gained during her trip. She is occupied with the coming event on July 27, especially with the counsel generals that are coming.
Micheal was busy with hall events last week but took the day off yesterday and went to Playland with his wife and the kids. He likes to be there at the opening at 11 a.m., but his family were still getting up at 11:30, and even though the PNE is just around the corner from their house, he was stressed out. There was no one at Playland, though, so no waiting, was able to stay on the rides, got sick of the whole thing and he was ready to leave at 3 p.m.
Peachy has new clients and is having fun walking in Steveston and around Garry point doing at least 8 000 steps, with an 80-year-old who is happy. She is spending time with her son watching movies and going shopping.
Jeannette just finished 5-night shifts, and her husband asked if she was done and had the day off, then said they were going to McDonald Beach with the dogs then grocery shopping for the dogs, so she’s definitely his second choice.
Larry had a social and business visit yesterday with Barb and Dick. Tomorrow is the community picnic and games day, a social thing and drinking day, and while Steve didn’t used to like going down to Birch Bay, he is warming up to it.
Susan made amends by not having her back turned to anyone. She can never remember what she did during the week but thanks to Jeannette, she remembered going to MacDonald Beach Sunday morning with her brother and his dog. She is working, then coming home to jump in the pool to cool off.
Sam wasn’t here for the last couple of weeks because of hockey games, where they finished the season in 3rd place. Now he’s in the middle of summer camps and once they’re over on Friday, he will relax.
Bill wasn’t here for the same reasons as Sam, plus baseball games, and the dogs were sick, recovered, but they’ll keep an eye on the old 13-year-old. Yesterday he met with a client who will pass away soon, and it was inspirational to speak to someone who is about to die, but who has clarity and is calm, having survived with pancreatic cancer for over two years, after a prognosis of only 4 weeks.
Kal’s special chair needs are paying off, and, as he couldn’t sit in the folding chair at a recent event, everyone thought he was the royal guest in his special chair.
At Coast Capital bank at 5 and Cambie, he opened the door for a client, and it turned out to be Judy’s 98-year-old uncle John who recognized that Kal was a Mahal.
Marg was in Whistler, such a long drive up as it seemed that everyone was going to Squamish, but it was fun. Yesterday she saw Hamlet at the Shakespeare festival. Every year her book club reads the book, sees the play then has a BBQ at Marg’s. This year’s production was interesting - the bad king looked just like Bob Shoker, (we knew he had another gig when his reign was over here) and they changed the order of the play so it began with “to be or not to be”. On the downside, one of her book club members fell and broke her arm going to the port-a-potty. The medics were great, and although she wanted to come to the Richmond Hospital, it was suggested she take the ambulance to VGH which was faster. For the BBQ she borrowed the rotary tent for the 17 seniors. Her computer lost its email function for two days so not having email was weird and some people thought she wasn’t speaking to them anymore.
Judy had lunch with her financial advisor and didn’t have a second glass of wine as she had to be back by 2 p.m., for Shaw, who canceled at the last minute, so she should have had that second glass. Very annoying. On Saturday she went to Provence Marinaside with Lindsey and Chiffon. She is going to Penticton today with Spencer’s family, but is dreading the drive on her own, without Ralph. The kids have gone already to visit Sarah’s grandmother who will be 100 in September and had just moved into a home. Judy will welcome a glass of wine when she arrives. There were some suggestions about flying there.
Blair hasn’t been here for a couple of weeks, busy with working and golf tournaments. He was in Edmonton where it was 39º - too hot. All three brothers live in Calgary and went to the Stampede Party with hats and jeans, and Blair was very seductive. They had a real hoedown!
Joyce is getting ready to host a Mystery Party on Friday, and her guests have no idea what’s happening but know it will be an adventure.
John, in his early 20s, worked on his grandfather’s homestead farm and went to a wedding, and the only thing he remembers is the waist-high dust from the floor during the dancing. He says you don’t need to look good in Stetson and jeans, because he met Sandy in a bib overalls and terrycloth hat, 40 pounds heavier, and she asked if he’d like to sit down, and they’ve been together for almost 50 years! (it was reported on condition of anonymity that after breakfast Blair asked John where Blair could get bib overalls and a terrycloth hat. As if it would do him any good.)
Mary Lou says Lindsey has arrived, and they had a fun weekend of Bard on the Beach, a Vancouver foodie Asian eats tour on Robson, where she discovered a great Japanese food store, and dinner at Oddfish. The kids are on the island today so no Oscar as he is in Campbell River. They’re coming back on Sunday. On Wednesday Alan’s cousins arrive from Australia for three weeks, so they’ll be driving all over the province, including days at the cabin. It will be fun, but a lot of work and she has spreadsheets. She had to put a roof rack on her car for food and luggage. She will be hosting a family BBQ Friday night, 18 people, fireworks and the Folk Festival, too!
Garth is golfing at the club today, back to getting platelets and will meet his 300-target soon. (Actually Garth spoke for as long as Michael usually does and Bobby now does but boy, who wants to hear all that again?)
Debbie S. was on the island to spend time with Dad and had to deal with the massive veggie garden neglected since her mom passed away. As they cleaned it out and put plastic over it, they constantly apologized to Mom. She just found out she got into the Tokyo marathon, which is a fundraiser, hard to get into it as they have a lottery even as a charity runner. She will be supporting an organization in India against human trafficking. This will be the last marathon to complete the 6 world marathons. It is on March 2 and Dad will come to Japan. Wow – congratulations, Debbie!🏃🏼♀️You go girl!
Dalbir is hosting 70 people on Saturday for his niece’s engagement and borrowed the hall’s backdrop to hide all the crap in his garage. Does he have to give money when he sells a car? He just sold the 1969 Rolls Royce (which he’s had since 1990), to his wife’s cousin. But he can still use it for Mason’s wedding, should he get there!
Carolyn, after food poisoning and Covid, is busy helping a friend get ready to move to Cape Breton. He is selling his house in Tsawwassen, which is a tear down, and has filled 5 storage lockers with stuff. The real estate agent suggested that, to get ready for the Open House, he needed to have to have identical coat hangers, towels folded in a certain way and all cans turned to show their labels. For a tear down? Maybe it’s the influence of all the home shows. So, she is helping today to fold towels and arrange the cans.
Bobby (once again imitating his brother spoke) thanks to Debbie S., as he was thinking of running a half marathon with his daughter next year, and Debbie gave him a training guideline. Yesterday there was an event in Surrey for senior citizens with activities at the Surrey Hall. They supported this event and will continue to have an event for seniors every three months, hoping to have a positive effect on seniors’ mental health. He went out for dinner but his wife didn’t tell him exactly where they are going, hinted it was on Alberni Street, so he thought of fancy and high end, like Dalbir’s style. They went to Coast, and it was good. He is going to Whistler next week to chill out. His daughter called from Toronto about the floods, where the subways are shut down, and there is 2 feet of water on the highways. His younger daughter told him all his clothes were blue and grey, so she took him shopping, as he has no sense, just likes to go in and get out. She commented that he should look at other people to see what they’re wearing, like Dalbir, Micheal or Bob Shoker, who has style. So, he bought coloured outfits (apparently exactly like clothes he already had in his closet)and was wearing an olive-green t-shirt today. The gardening is going well, and he has lots of lettuce and spring salad and Indian squashes.
(PHEW!)
Debbie T. postponed the event for Curtis’ birthday due to low ticket sales, as the timing is not right. The July 12 golf tournament was fantastic, with lots of stories about Curtis and everyone enjoyed being together and remembering him, and they took a group photo with the car. They raised $1500 for Pathways and want to do it again. She is going to a funeral today for Marion MacDonald, her neighbour who she’s seen every day since they moved into their house. Marion was hanging baskets from a ladder, toppled over and hit her head on a bird bath, had a big bandage but came home. The next morning there were police cars, as Marion had rolled out of bed and passed away. Everyone will miss her, including the dogs. She was 83 but had so much life in her and her community is feeling robbed. Debbie went to Macdonald Beach with the dogs, including Doodle the crazy dog, and she’s been picking sand out of their toes for days. She found a little pine needle in one of the dog toes. She drove to see her son and granddaughter yesterday and had dinner, took the baby swimming and spent the evening with them and had a ball. Grandchildren and grandparents are so good for each other.
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