I have a new grand doggy in my life. Bowser is an 8 week old Miniature Schnauzer puppy. He was named after the first Vancouver Island community his new Mom and Dad moved to. Plus it’s gotta be because it rhymes with schnauzer, doncha think? I am looking in on him during the day, while his parents go to work to keep him in toys and treats. Here’s a few words (and pictures) from His Royal Cuteness:
I am trying hard to be a goodest boy. Oma says I am a work in progress.I love my new bed but……not as much as I love Oma’s lap.Oma says she feels trapped but I know she loves it.I love being outside too. Oma is always nearby to make sure I don’t get snatched up by an eagle or owl.So many sticks and fir cones to chew on. Oma says bite these, not her please.I am getting so good at walkies.I walk best with my tongue out, just a little bit.Walkies can be tiring. Oma says good!
Note: none of the sea life depicted here was harmed in any way during our class observations. We were observing and listening to our knowledgeable instructor, retired marine biologist and author Rick Harbo. All flipped over rocks were carefully and gently replaced to protect the wildlife revealed.
A windy but dry and sunny day for our field trip to Lantzville to explore the intertidal sea life.Overturning a rock revealed this pair of Plainfin midshipman. The female is upside down because……she was depositing her eggs on the underside of the rock. Once done, she leaves and the male stays behind to guard the eggs until they hatch.Closeup of the pairPrickleback, found under another rockSea stars found clinging to yet another rockCast-off red rock crab shellLive sand dollarUnderside of live sand dollarNudibranches (dark spotty things) and their egg casings (cream ribbony things)AnemonesMy favourite find of the day…Maggie (the sea dog!). Killing me with cuteness.Maggie coming in for a boop while I was trying to get a closeup of the anemones.
Donna and I headed to Qualicum Beach today.We live on such a beautiful planet. We were loving the fine weather!We noticed something strange. Three young deer exploring a spit of land.Now what?Uhhh guys…let’s go back.I mean it. Let’s go back!They all eventually made it off the spit and closer to shore. Then they disappeared into the trees. After all that deer watching, it was time to replenish with a loaded “Big Dog” from a hot dog stand just off the beach. It tasted amazing in the warm sunshine.
Donna sang me this song as we ate our dogs. Now I can’t get it outta my head. Uhhhh…thanks for nothing, Donna!?!
Before heading home, I went to my hair appointment in Parksville. I got my hair seriously chopped! Love how light my hair feels. Sherry did such an awesome job.
A lot of readers were interested in knowing what was in the next (and any subsequent) snack boxes I received with my gift of a subscription to Universal Yums (original post here). I could couldn’t just sample the snacks on my own so I enlisted the help of esteemed snack judge Donna once again, and off we went to Poland (snack-aphorically speaking).
Contents of Poland box, artfully arranged by Donna
First up on the scorecard was Poland’s iconic dark chocolate-covered marshmallow bar. According to the brochure, this is Poland’s most famous confection and the name translates to “an unobtainable delicacy”. We’ll see!
That tasted exactly like you would expect. Maybe it was “unobtainable” and a “delicacy” back in 1936 when it was first created, but it seems pretty average now. Marshmallow bar sampling. Photo by Donna.
Next, we were guided to a salty snack. Pretzels are Poland’s favourite salty snack, according to the writeup on this one:
Now you’re talking! (Donna and I are both salty snack fans.) Cheese and onion flavoured aka pierogi-flavoured, apparently.
Back to sweet, for taste test #3:
Chocolate-covered gingerbread sticks. I didn’t think this would be such a good pairing.But I am happy to report that they were quite good! Poles love gingerbread – especially at Christmas time – and their favourite holiday film is Home Alone, according to the brochure. KEVIN!!!!!
Next was something that intrigued both Donna and myself:
Too cute to eat…almost! These are considered a national treasure in potato and salty-snack loving Poland.
The next item came from the “yum bag” included in the box: a hard candy – fruit yogurt flavoured.
The bag contained 4 wrapped candies. Two of each variety. Jogusie tasted good but neither of us are hard candy fans (caramels excepted, of course). Seventy three percent of Polish people list yogurt as their go-to dairy snack, and Jogusie yogurt candies were created to “get a yogurt fix on the go”, apparently.
The next sampling I hoped would be good, since I liked the chocolate-covered gingerbread sticks so much:
However, neither of us found anything delicious about this particular snack. Frederic Chopin, however, sang the praises of gingerbread, as described in the brochure. Maybe he should have kept his opinions to music only.
Again, I had high hopes for the next offering – it even had a cute wrapper.
It was a disappointment, to say the least. Kinda crispy on the outside and blah on the inside. We’ve both had better caramels and better fudge. Apparently this is Poland’s most popular candy. Can I introduce you to a little thing called “Werther’s”?
Last but not least was a milk chocolate bar with a peanut cocoa filling.
I thought it had a nice nutty flavour but Donna was kinda “meh” about this. Manufactured by the company run by Jan Wedel, the “Willy Wonka” of Poland, who also created “the unobtainable delicacy”, seen previously. Jan Wedel was also famous for being a humanitarian by producing food for hungry citizens when the Nazis seized control of Poland’s food for themselves.Donna, in her snacking judging glory.
Here’s what the finished scorecard looked like:
And here are the Poland box snacks ranked by us, from favourite snack to least favourite snack (LEFT TO RIGHT):
My rankingDonna’s ranking
And the winners are…..
Us! Because we got to have a bunch of laughs and spend time together sampling exotic snacks! Photo by Donna
Where in the world will we go next (in terms of snack boxes)? Stay tuned!
Please enjoy these photos taken at Friday’s hike. It was the first time the sun had broken through the fog in about a week!
We weren’t the only people enjoying this foggy early morning.Fog is lifting and the sun is peeking through! (And rejoicing was heard throughout the island 🙂 )Blue skies to the north and east, and fog to the south and westSpookyView of lagoon when the tide is inDistant ships in the fogThe tree looks to be cradling the sunSalish SeaDonna on the lagoon side, with Salish Sea also in background…and the welcomed sun!Donna, further along the trailIt’s good for people to rest at this time too.Beautiful mainland mountainsMountain peaks framed by treesWe are having a lovely timeDistant islands viewed from a rocky outcroppingStill foggy when looking to the south. There were 3 river otters swimming in the sea below us, but unfortunately they were hard to capture effectively in a photo.Logs, beach and islandsTypical log-encrusted island beachWhat a glorious morning to be at Pipers Lagoon Park!
It snowed and we had a white Christmas. Apparently, the first one on this island since 2009!
Holly bush outside my balcony.I made this Christmas tree for my mother many years ago. (Remember when ceramics was all the rage?) It’s mine now. I am happy I took a lot of care when painting it. Always give your parents well-made things because they will become yours eventually. 😉
My daughter and son-in-law came over for an early Christmas dinner. We looked at each other and thought we had accidentally coordinated well, in black, red and plaid. We thought it would be good opportunity to take a Christmas photo. Clearly I am we are not good at this.
Photo fail #1. Do not show the remote shutter in the photo. Also (another note to self), do not take photos when hair is still wet and unbrushed.Photo fail #2 The one holding the remote shutter is not sure it is working.Photo fail #3 And then we decided we really needed to try to get more of the snowy background, well…in the background.Photo fail #4 Someone is distracted and not looking at the camera. Someone else is looking oddly and excitedly cheery. No, I was not drinking yet.Photo fail #5 We decided to move out onto the balcony. Daughter decided husband’s hair needed some attention.Photo fail #6 OK, this is really not working. Get it together, people.Photo fail #7 We give up, almost.Photo #8 Not a fail. Let’s quit while we are ahead, and eat!Roasted Brussel sprouts with bacon and balsamic glaze. Mmmmmmmmmmm.The glorious turkey of 2021. Soon to be expertly carved by the son-in-law.
A tiramisu was requested, which I had assembled a couple of days before.I decided to finish it with a Dutch twist, instead of cocoa powder: dark chocolate hail. The tagline (in red above the words Jumbo Hagelslag) translates to “a party on your sandwich”. Yes, Dutch people put chocolate on their sandwiches. What a country! 😉The final verdict was that it was no Widow Badass trifle, but it was tasty. Ignore the bloom on the hagelslag. Being a non-chocoholic, I can’t go through a box fast enough so why did I think it was a good idea to buy such a big box of the stuff? Beats me.Postprandial food coma relaxation.
Hope you had a wonderful Christmas celebration, if you celebrate. I know I did.
Unexpectedly beautiful day. Waiting for the Brentwood Bay ferry to take us across to the Saanich peninsula.Nice views while passing the time.Our tickets were for 3:45 so we explored the gift shop etc., until it got a little darker. This is me and Sarah (friend of my daughter’s – now also a friend of mine!) – under a beautiful tree. Pic of said tree in full dark coming a bit later on…Immediately we were impressed by the sheer number of lights and the quality of the displays.The theme was the 12 days of Christmas…and we saw the partridge in the pear tree first, natch.Gorgeous projection on these trees.Looking down into sunken garden.Of course we brought along the trippy special viewing glasses from Milner Gardens. This is what the displays looked like with the Christmas Star ones. In sunken garden. My son-in-law looking like a demon…LOL. Thanks, Sarah! 😉Now, in his human form. With cute wife (I made her!) and the lovely Sarah. 🙂And here is the lovely Sarah revealing revelling in her true form. Sigh…there’s always gotta be that one in every group…. 😉5 golden ringsWe were lucky not only with the weather, but that it was also the night of the full moon! Expect a lotta full moon photobombs…Gorgeous lights AND the full moon!Per the sign: clap or sing loudly to brighten/change the colours on this treeThat’s a lotta maids for milking only 1 animated cow!I don’t remember “1 dragon spitting” in the song but I am sure it is in there somewhere 😉Giant Christmas bauble topped by the moon.The Italian gardenLast full moon photobomb, I promise!Wire-framed trees and icicle tree, now in full dark.Back where we started. Tree from beginning, now in full darkWe couldn’t figure out where the 12 drummers drumming were at, until we exited the gardens and saw them overhead. Pardon the blurriness. Taken by me in the back seat of my car as my daughter drove us home.Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from all of us to all of you!
Dinner at the White Elephant first, in Parksville. Thai food, yum! With my daughter and son-in-law, and Donna and Richard.Milner Gardens & Woodland– offering a festival of lights as a fundraiserStarBrowsing doeGingerbread manReflections in the pool beside the gift shopSnowflakesThis way to Santa!Swans in the pondSnowmanDonna and I, having a good ol’ time!The former residence, now a tea roomPeeking in the windows to see the decorated roomsA teddy bear ChristmasPictures of some famous visitors, including Princess Di and that dude she married 😉Santa’s sleighWearing our trippy glassesDonna gifted me a pair. I had never heard of these.This is what my balcony lights look like normally.This is what they look like on drugs with the glasses on. Like I said, trippy!
Next weekend I am heading (with the fam) to check out the light display at Butchart Gardens, strictly for comparison/research purposes only 😉 . My daughter and I will be packing the trippy eye wear, for sure!
I have known for some time now that we were approaching the magical event of having 500 posts published. And I had promised myself that I would make a big deal about it. And I was counting it down, from about #493 until, well NOW.
So imagine my surprise when I realized – only AFTER yesterday’s post went live – that it was indeed post #500. And that I had completely missed it.
Well, fear not my faithful long-suffering blogge friend….It is Not. Too. Late.
Inspired and informed by fellow blogger Rivergirl, may I present to you and all my readers: a piecaken (dessert’s answer to the turducken) that I had made just for this wondrous occasion! 😉
From the Food Network. My teeth ache just looking at it. Not going to appear as a #WOYPBC post anytime soon.
Here’s what a piecaken (Thanksgiving version) is comprised of:
In other words, a fat and sugar bomb. A conglomeration of pie and cake what, no pudding?. Not that anything is wrong with that! Why take multiple trips to the dessert bar when you can put a slice of this beauty on your buffet plate instead?
Anywhoodle, I digress as usual.
Back to you, Dear Bloggie…I apologize for having missed this momentous…uh…moment. (But only by one day, so can you give me a break?). I also apologize for having taken so long to get here. Despite you being in existence for over 12 years now (yup, missed that one too), it has taken me until now to get to this milestone.
I spent a lotta years in Crazytown (as the Mayor, no less) and the lack of blogging during that time is the proof in the pudding piecaken of that.
So please accept this piecaken as my sweet attempt to make up for all the lost years and forgotten milestones. Enjoy! And don’t come crying to me when your teeth hurt.
Luckily we brought both the good gear and the good attitudes to this rainy day hike.I wore my bear bell, just in case (not needed on this hike, fortunately).Today’s hike.Part of THIS trail (old sign).Now known by this name.We went in search of this.Known as “The Abyss”. Apparently caused by an earthquake in the 1940s.It’s quite deep but not very wide. However, sometimes small dogs fall into it and have to be rescued.Donna, photographing The Abyss.There were many other stunning sights and views, even in the rain and mist.Closeup of arbutus bark.Arbutus berries.I think this is called bristly beard lichen.Beautiful foliage. So many shades of green.Misty view of Nanaimo and the Salish Sea.Tansy.Donna capturing the view looking east from the ridge.Hawthorn. We were also this dripping wet during our hike. 🙂I’m so glad we got out on this trail, despite the wet weather.