Nothing like an out-of-town guest to make 'Jack' stop working. It's been great to be a tourist. Even better that we had glorious spring weather: warm sunshine and crocuses in sunny corners. This is particularly important to our guest who flew in from -40 and nothing green in sight - only mountains of snow. On Thursday, we drove up the Sea-to-Sky highway to Squamish. Haven't been there in several years - so much has changed.
Those students at Quest University have got the most magnificent view. Wow! It just might be worth the price of admission. Lunch and great beer brewed on the premises (none for the driver, though - sob- she only had a taste) and then a very leisurely drive back to Vancouver. Long stop at Porteau Cove to watch the golden-eyes swim to and fro as they searched for food.
Yesterday was even better. A drive to Deep Cove, a labyrinth experience at the local church and honey donuts. Then gather up our books to trade and off to our favorite used book store. Such fun to pick out new books: my theme was all recent Canadian fiction. Nine new books to add to the shelf of 'to be reads'.
Our next stop was to Phoenix Perennials for their Hellebore Hurrah! event. So many different hellebores - mostly in bloom - under one roof. We have one lonely hellebore which I have mentioned before. The blooms are still buds so no idea yet as to appearance. But, we were not very reluctant customers and now have two more: Ivory Prince and Hot Flash. Look in the photo to see how prickly and uncomfortable the leaves look on the latter.
The last adventure was a walk along the waterfront in Steveston with gulls wheeling overhead. Two bald eagles did a fly past and a heron waited motionless on a rock in the big duck pond. We visited a very funky Romanian bakery. It's like a big barn inside with a small sales counter in front. All the back area is taken up with a huge wood-fired oven and long wooden counters where the bread is baked. Red and white woven cloths are draped on the walls but don't cover much of the rustic construction. To one side in the back is a small table set for a chess game with two well-used chairs. Only one kind of bread is baked but it is very tasty: whole-grain with a nice chewy crust. You can pick the loaf shape that suits you best but it all tastes the same. It was so good just torn apart and eaten as is...we were pretty hungry.
And that was it for the mini-holiday. Back to the rug now - almost finished.
It sounds like you had a lovely break, I didn't know about Pheonix Hellebores. They are expensive plants, my poor plant didn't like this winter but shoots are coming up in the snarled mass of grass that surrounds it.
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