My daughter got a “galaxy projector” as one of her Christmas gifts. Of course, we had to pile onto her bed after dinner and try it out. This is how Bowser reacted:
He was mesmerized!Totally engrossed in the light show.Definitely watching, and not snoozing.Did the gummy kick in, Bowsie? 🤣 (JK, I would never give Bowser a gummy!)He was like this the whole time the projector was on!
Was it the aurora moving across the ceiling? Was it the stars blinking in and out? Was it the soothing ocean sounds coming from the projector? Was it all of the above? What had entranced Bowser?
We hope you find your bliss* this weekend.
Rock on,
The WB
*speaking of bliss, when this post goes live I will be traveling once again to Barbados. Fingers crossed, all goes well and I don’t have a repeat of last year’s unfortunate travel experience!
We have had an awful lot of rain lately. So much that our formerly placid creek is now a raging river (again – this is a cyclical and natural process). So we have altered some of our routes to avoid any crossings, until things settle down once more. But we still like to walk up to the creek and observe, from a safe distance.
There is one viewpoint that seems to bother Bowser and he has to stare and bark while I take in the scene. And I couldn’t figure out what he was barking at it. Several times we have been there lately, and each time he (usually completely silent on our walks) has to pause, look, and bark. Every time I scan the creek and the opposite bank to see what he is barking at – an animal, another human – what is it?!?!
Note the tail is down. A worrisome tell.Bowser is clearly bothered.
After the 2nd walk (and barking session) to this particular viewpoint, I think I have it figured out.
It’s this cedar (I think) stump in the middle of the creek, deposited there by the high water flows. It wasn’t there before and, according to Bowz, it shouldn’t be there now.
Third time visiting this spot. Still barking at the stump in the creek. Begone, Stump!
I guess he will be barking at it until another high water flow dislodges it and pushes it further down the creek.
Well, my friends – all goodmediocrejust OK things must come to an end and my co-host/partner-in-crime/good friend Donna and I have agreed that this will be the final WOYPBC post that we will do. Hard to believe that we have kept this going for almost 4 years now, but Donna has the stats detailed on her post and you can’t argue with that! It’s been an enjoyable ride and I have so loved seeing all of your posts, reading your comments, and getting so much inspiration (and hunger pangs!) from them.
For my last post on this subject, I humbly submit a Holiday Tale of Two Trifles:
My daughter started the trifle tradition at Chez Badass. Actually, my late mother started it when she brought a fruit trifle to my daughter’s 1st birthday celebration and we watched in amusement as my infant daughter gleefully chowed down on the dessert. Flash forward ~ 30 years later to when my daughter offhandedly remarked “What about a trifle instead of a birthday cake, for my birthday?” And we have been a trifle household ever since. To the point that my daughter (who, may I remind you, started all of this) says “I’m over trifle at Christmas. Let’s have tiramisu instead.” Then she sends me an Instagram reel detailing something called a Tiramisu Trifle, probably thinking it will quell the disappoint of her trifle-obsessedmad convert mate. I won’t share the recipe here because dear readers, I did make it – and although tasty – it was OVERKILL. Trust me – I think this recipe was designed just to sell product from a shop, and not because it was in any way better than a well-made tiramisu.
Layers of dulce de leche between layers of tiramisu plus grated dark and white chocolate.Don’t get me wrong. It was delicious. But this lily did not need all the extra gilding. I couldn’t make out what made this special or different from a regular tiramisu except for that it was super sweet. And the layering (with the heavy and thick dulce de leche) meant that the bottom-most layer got very soggy and squished.
We had decided that it was too decadent – even for us – and it will not grace the table again. Luckily, the grandson’s birthday falls 2 days after Christmas, and I had a chance to redeem myself with my regular trifle. Like father, like son…my grandson is also a trifle-obsessedmad convert.
Blueberry (this time) trifle – made with the berries we picked last summer. Chilling on top of my tool box in my unheated entryway. I had to put it into my bread making bowl as the trifle bowl was still at my daughter’s, probably still holding the remains of the tiramisu trifle. (Wrong – they had polished the first trifle off and the bowl was in the dishwasher by the time I brought over the birthday trifle!)Happy 17th birthday to my trifle-loving grandson!Lesson learned. Don’t mess with perfection! Come to think of it, the last time I veered from my “regular” trifle, things didn’t go as well then either!
I can’t post a recipe for this trifle either. It’s cake spread with jam and cut up into cubes, layered between fruit, and also layers of vanilla custard. Topped with real whipped cream. Oh, and don’t forget the sherry! I usually put it in with the fruit. You can also soak the cake with sherry but mostly I don’t anymore because minors will be eating it and I don’t want to be THAT grandma (the one that boozed up the grandkids). Cough*black forest trifle of 2020*cough!
Trifle is a centuries-old dessert. I don’t know who invented it, but to me it seems like a good way to use up stale cake and I wonder if some thrifty cook in a medieval castle concocted it for that purpose. Like bread pudding, you know?
Anyways, that’s a wrap! I’d love to see what’s been cooking at your house, in the Comments.
Anyone is welcome to pick up our torch and continue to run with it or some variation thereof. If you feel so inclined...
While waiting at my daughter’s house for them to return from the mainland with the grandkids, I was absentmindedly petting Bowser…
…and my hand got tired so I stopped.
Where is the hand and why did it stop?WHERE. IS. THE. HAND.Alright. You asked for it.Loading weapon.Powering up.Cuteness bomb launched. Bullseye!Resume normal operations.
We hope you have a relaxing weekend where Weapons of Mass Cuteness do not need to be deployed.
Just in case you are feeling overwhelmed with holiday preparations, situations, or the assorted craziness/drama/blues that can happen – especially at this time of year – take a couple of minutes to rest your eyes on this little guy.
The Bowz is sympathetic to your feelings. Crawl into bed and rest your head on a pillow for a moment.Going for a walk outside can be very good for your nerves.As can taking a long hot bath or shower. Bowser had rolled in something smelly. Not recommended.Bowz hopes you’ll be sitting pretty and perky again like him soon, after some self-care.
Bowser is becoming more and more of a cuddlebug the more he matures. I’m not complaining – I much prefer this to when he was a velociraptorwild fanged beast puppy. He only had 2 modes then – off and bitey. Remember the Thunderdome Days? Oh boy, I do!
We have apparently entered a new era.
Those head and neck scritches must feel good. He is irresistible when he’s like this. He even makes little grunty and sighing noises. I swear he is trying to purr like a cat.Bowser has learned that giving me the puppy dog eyes pays off.
My daughter complained that there was not enough Bowser on last week’s post. Probably some of you feel the same way. She sent me many cute photos to use. Here are some of the best!
Quitely watching Mommy work from home.When will Mommy be done working?Mommy is getting up from her desk chair – could that mean????Yessssss! Mommy can massage me now.
One of life’s great pleasures is sharing food with good friends. This fall, fellow (once) blogger Erica/Erika and her long-time friend (now mine also) Eduarda met me in Nanaimo for some fun and frolic. We ended up at Penny’s Palapa – one of my favourite dockside restaurants – and Erica generously sent me some photos. Penny’s closes at the end of September and we made it there just before season’s end.
Eduarda, Erica and me outside of Penny’s Palapa. I think Erica convinced our wait person to take this shot.The inside, with harbour views.Eduarda and I perusing the menu. Note the Mexican blankets on the chairs, in case you are feeling chilly.I convinced Erica to try the margarita. It wasn’t very hard. 😁Nor was it hard to convince myself to get one! 😉What’s on my plate, you might ask? Fish tacos!!! Yum.
Of course, I can’t finish this post without a shot of a recent lunch out with Donna, at Heritage Indian Cuisine in Nanaimo. Donna wasn’t feeling too hungry so she decided to order the Indian breakfast, thinking it sounded like less food. Uh huh.
Yeah, that’s a honking big puff of Indian bread! I ordered the combo special plate (I always do), which ensures leftovers for at least a meal or two.
No matter where we go or what we order, eating out with friends is guaranteed to be a good time!
So what’s on your plate this month? My co-host Donna is on a social media break right now, so it’s just me this time. And no link-up because I don’t do that. But you can certainly share in the Comments, if you like! And I’d love to hear from you.
What with all the salmon activity happening down at the creek, it’s no surprise that the bears want in on the action. (Why should the eagles, crows and ravens have all the fun?!) What was surprising was that I never saw a bear at the creek – in fact, I’ve never seen a bear on the trail, period. Up until a week or so ago, that is! And he/she was far from the creek, when I came to a “crossroad” and saw him. (Luckily Bowser was nosing in the brush on the other side of the trail, and didn’t notice the bear.)
Once I realized he was walking away from us, I got out my phone camera to take a few shots (like any good blogger would 😉).
My first bear sighting and damn skippy I was gonna capture it on my phone!Bowser thankfully remained unaware and thus silent! I don’t think the bear even realized we were present. He never turned around to look at us or acknowledge our presence in any way. He just slowly ambled down the path like any apex predator without a care in the world would.
Then we headed on our shaken but merry way, in another direction. Of course (!!!), I had forgotten my bear bell and bear horn for that walk, so I had no choice but to make up a song to sing, to warn that bear or any others of our presence! 😉 🎶
Dear Reader, if you feel that is has taken an inordinate amount of time to to get all of my thoughts down regarding my visit to Outer Shores Lodge, I’m with you! I have been sifting through hundreds of photos and so many incredible memories and struggling to figure out how to transfer them to Ye Olde Blogge such that a reader who has never been to this extraordinary place will feel the magic and, well…I am not that talented, I fear. And that has kept me pondering instead of writing. However, it is past time to put this one to bed so here is the final post about my 2024 stay at Outer Shores Lodge, imperfect though it will invariably be. So here are the last few things I want to write about.
The Meals
Five star dining at every turn! Chef Jeanne Rankin, ably assisted by fellow staffers Sara and Abi stunned me at each meal – first with the beautifully set table, and then with the unbelievably delicious food and free-flowing wine. This is not what I had previously experienced from other lodges I have been to. Yes, I was expecting good, tasty food but not of this calibre! Out. Of. This. World.
At every meal we were treated to a beautifully set table.The evening’s menu was up on the screen in late afternoon, to get the taste buds salivating. At each meal, I thought nothing could possibly top that night’s menu, and at each subsequent meal I was delightfully proved wrong. I want to be able to add this trifle to my repertoire, and Chef Jeanne generously shared how she created it with me. I still have some rhubarb in the freezer too! I didn’t want to take pictures of every dish (for varying reasons) but I did take a shot of this dessert to send back to my daughter. Another example of a nightly dinner. On the admitting paperwork, guests were asked if they were going to the lodge for any special reason, and this particular meal was to celebrate those reasons.Celebration cake for my 65th and for a lovely couple of guests’ wedding anniversary! Photo kindly taken by Sara Ellison. The dining was always 5 star and we made sure to dress in our best flannel and fleece shirts for dinner 😉. The cake was astounding btw, and I don’t even like chocolate cake normally.
Our Last Evening and Wrap Up
The sun came out on our last afternoon and everyone naturally migrated to the front deck to bask there after the day’s activities.
Sara Ellison took this photo of us enjoying cocktail and appie hour on the deck on our last afternoon. She and Jon were staying in a cabin on the upper part of the property.Sea urchins were harvested so Scott could prepare uni for us to try, on the last night. It doesn’t get fresher than this, folks!Scott holding a sea urchin, while already prepped uni is awaiting the lodge guests. Photo by Sara Ellison.The last evening’s meal. It absolutely blew my mind. I didn’t think anything could top rack of lamb for me, but this meal certainly did.The wonderful staff of Outer Shores Lodge: our gracious host Scott, with Chef Jeanne, Sara, and Abi. Watching the sun go down on our last evening at the lodge.Cheers to an amazing stay, experiencing spectacular nature, and meeting so many vibrant and interesting people! I can’t wait for next year.
Scott, Jeanne, Sara and Abi – I can’t thank you enough for the magic that you do and I can only hope to experience it again next year.
To my fellow guests in this special moment in time – thank you for your open-heartedness, warm support, and all of the exhilarating, stimulating conversations I was privileged to be a part of. Extra special thanks to Sara and Jon, for being so giving of their vast knowledge and experience of the “Stars and Sea Stars”!
