How You Know You Have Given A Friend A Really Good Gift.

Janet loves, loves, loves her Thursday volunteer friends.  One of her friends, Mariem is a new Grandmother to Baby Asher Isaac.  Mariem is going to Ontario to help give a hand, early next week and after that, going to the U.K. with her husband to hike the Pennine Way.  When she returns to Victoria, she will be teaching at the Buddhist Centre and won't be back to Thursday for some time.

Janet made a baby size quilt for Baby Asher.  Janet thought it was super cute and Mariem was so touched, she had tears in her eyes and Janet had to tell her to STOP before Janet started to cry.

The front.

The back, with what are starting to be improved labels.

They are steering away from sandwiches at Janet's volunteer job and are now making salads to go with soup.

A very small portion of the potato salad:

All lined up and ready to roll:

The blurry guy in the background is Cook Pat.  He is excellent!

After this Thursday's lunch, they all went out for lunch.  Janet was so happy!  They gave her a birthday card and a beautiful orchid.

Left to right:  Mariem, Janet (obviously), Welda, Erin, Katherine, Wendy and Catherine.  Janet says they are such an amazing and interesting group of people.

Janet took me on a really big walk the other day.  I'm done.  Please go get the car, Janet.

She refused!  I had to walk the remainder of the way!  Is there some government department I can discuss this with?

For five months, Janet and I have stalked out every movie filming we could see...a teensy, weensy four blocks from our home.  Not once did we see one single movie star.  Bummer!  Now, they have left town.

Bye, Dr. Who; bye Skylar from "Breaking Bad".

Phil is complaining about how busy he is at work, so I am going to field some calls for him.  He instructed me to hang up on anyone with a really heavy accent whose name is "Robert".

What kind of accent should I anticipate, Phil?

Why isn't Noodles nose killing her with this uncomfortable sleeping position?

Noodles is a mystery to me!

Noodles Had A Dream

Lazy, lazy, Janet!  Our blog post is long overdue and she was going to skip today as she says our lives are so boring it's beyond belief.  I, Pashyminders, disagree! Here is what we did in the last few days.

We were going to walk over to Cob's Bakery in the Village to get some buns for lunch.  It was our plan to go through Fireman's Park and up to the Ave.  Phil let Noodles off her leash at the top of the street and carefree, easygoing Janet kept me on mine.

When we get to the bottom, we spot a bunny.  Of course, only Noodles can go after the bunny as she is free and unencumbered.   Kind of.  She gave it her rickety, creaky best, but truth be known, even the bunny didn't appear to be concerned and most certainly was not jogging at top bunny speed.  Here she is after the chase:

Noodles had a lot of "rest time" for the rest of the day.

Turns out we couldn't go through the park as some little kiddies were playing baseball.  See the cute little kids with the bats....my new best friends!  I know for a fact I will find some balls tommorrow.

Peter stopped by, which is always lots of fun as he is a major sucker for cookies.  They sure don't hand out the cookies like this in Camp U.S.A.!

We might be on our fourth or fifth cookie!

I had a little snooze today...Janet is such a sucker for what she deems to be cute sleeping poses.  She thinks she is crafty and clever, but is so transparent even to doggies!

Bonus...she moved Rocker's sectional up to our "artist's studio".  Is she insane!!  It's an attic that was long overdue in the cleaning up department.  Janet says she is going to rent a dumpster and go after the basement in a major way....perhaps when Phil is away for  a couple of days so he can't micromanage the situation.

I can view Janet and the stairs from this position.  Unfortunately, Noodles won't come up anymore.

Karen and Ken stopped by on Janet's birthday to give her some flowers.  After a few days (despite the elusive penny being in the vase), the tulips drooped.  Phil threw around his botanical knowledge and wanted to know why the roses weren't standing up.  Ouch!  Moron!

Janet Moves Into The Big Time!

Yes!  Janet made a super cute baby quilt and now just needs to finish the binding (photos next time) Then she pieced together a lap top size quilt!  And now...get this!  She is going to have someone "longarm" quilt it which makes for really cool stitch patterns.

This is the lap size quilt to be.  The circle fabric on the bottom is the backing.  Mr. Death Wish Phil thinks it's really boring and doesn't hesitate to share his pearls of wisdom with Mrs. Knows Where The Sharp Knives Are Janet.

In the evening, if I don't get to go ball hunting in the park, Phil takes us over to Willows Beach and lets us off leash.  On the weekend, we went for a walk, but it was daytime and we had to keep our leashes on.  Technically, our leashes are supposed to be on in the evening, but you know Phil...ever the rebel!

I let my high level of dissatisfaction known.

Rats!  Didn't work so I had to catch up to them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After Janet's experience in Hawaii, we now know this person to be an expert paddler...perhaps even a professional!

Wearing shorts!  Clearly not anticipating a dip in the ocean.

This is part of my ball stash.  It cracks me up that Noodles doesn't even care.

Please, oh please, roll off the counter!

I think it had some help.

Here we are, having a nice nights sleep when Phil decides to take our photos.

Noodles, sawing logs.

Game on, Noodles!  Try to top this as the cutest ever sleeping position!

Truth be known, those dog beds are so lumpy the floor is almost as good!  Maybe Janet will take the sectional up to our sewing room for me.

Our nice friend and neighbour, Mr. David Burr went fishing and gave us some salmon.  Caught in the morning and on the table at dinner time.  Doesn't get any fresher than that!

New Neighbours!

For years, we have had birdhouses in our backyard and this is the first year one of them has been inhabited!  We are super excited.  Wait a second.....that should read Janet is super excited.  We doggies don't give a you know what!  She waited for quite some time to get a photo of the Mom or Dad Birdie (she can't tell them apart!) entering or exiting the house, and this was the best she could do.  She can't wait for the babies!

The bird feeder had been empty for a couple of weeks as Mr. Squirrel (how does she know it's not Mrs. Squirrel?) was considering it to be a regular buffet.  Janet filled it up to accommodate our new bird pals, but turns out Mr. Squirrel has a pretty good memory and is back again.  Noodles is now guarding the feeder and barks whenever the squirrel comes near.  Unfortunately, it would appear that Noodles is going insane and can't discern the squirrel from the birds as she barks at the birds too.  Will I, Pashyminders, also turn into a crazy ass dog?

While Noodles might be guarding the birdfeeder, Janet says we are bad, bad guard dogs.  The tops of two Hostas in the front yard have been munched off.  Deer!

Check out Janet's new sewing "crib".  She cleaned up the middle room of upstairs attic and now has a nice space to sew with really good light.  Now all she needs is a fan for the summer as it's hotter than hell up there and a heater for the winter so she doesn't freeze her ass butt off.  Turns out 100 year old houses didn't insulate back in the day!

Sewing machine, check.  New ironing board, check.  Work table, check.  TV, check!

I like to go up and keep Janet company, so she took a small doggie bed up for me.  I don't understand why something that is supposed to be fun and rewarding calls for many, many really bad words.

Daimond Jim Phil decided $7 was out of line for a Mother's Day card, so made one himself.  For a guy who can take beautiful photos and turn them into 800 incredible calendars, it was a pretty lame presentation.

Completely misaligned on the fold line and was supposed to be colour.

No, Janet is not standing it up the wrong way.  This is the way it looks when you open it up.

And, check it out!  For years, Janet has been making Japanese curry with S & B Curry Paste.  Meg gave Janet a cookbook she had been wanting..."Japanese Soul Cooking" and inside is a recipe for homemade Japanese curry.  It's a bit more work, but she said it was really, really delicious.  If anyone wants the recipe, just ask Janet.  She will happily share.

Finally!

At long last, Janet put a label on her first quilt (apparently, this is the thing to do!  Janet's labels are pretty rudimentary thus far, but she is working on it) and we are now ready to post it to our rellys in the U.K.

Hopefully, it will be posted before Esmee starts school and no longer needs a baby size quilt.  Janet says she is pretty sure the English babies sleep in "sleepsacs", like Canadian babies do, so Esmee can sit on the quilt on the floor.

Bonus!  It comes with a coordinating bib!

Speaking of bibs, Karen kindly made some bibs for Mr. Baby.  Karen is on a major baby sewing gig as they have a new grandson, Liam who lives in Hamilton, Ontario.

These are totally appropriate as we all love doggies and Meg and Derek love biking

Another few days, another few balls.  This baseball business is the greatest thing ever!  Why, oh, why is Camp U.S.A. not located close to a ballpark with tiny kiddies with no skills trying to hit balls?  Clearly, they have an unlimited budget for balls as they don't look very hard for them.  I heard Janet tell Phil that perhaps they could make a few bucks by hiring me out to find the balls for them.  I'm pretty sure Janet and Phil chose to live in this house for the proximity to the ballpark.  Maybe I could go to Camp Squamish when Mr. Baby learns to play baseball.  What do you think, Meg and Derek?

Remnants of ball on floor.

A couple of days ago, we were allowed to go in the backyard.  This is something Noodles and I live for, but Crabby Pants won't always let us in.  No ball, but I am as good at sussing out pieces of wood as I am with balls.

Don't you think it's cute the way I hold the wood in between my hands paws?

I totally don't get this....Noodles loves ice cubes.  She whips her but into the kitchen whenever she hears the ice cube tray being cracked.

The People had Tuscan Salmon from Hugh Carpenters cook book.  They said it was yummy!

From Fast Entrees:
Marinade:
6 gloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup squeezed lemon juice
3 Tbsp honey
1/3 cup pitted, imported black olives
2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary or basil
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes.
Mix together all ingredients and marinate 2 lbs fresh salmon fillet for one hour in frig, turning frequently.

Cook on hot BBQ, checking often, so fish is not overcooked.  Top with 2 tsp lemon zest and 2 tsp orange zest.

Marinade can be made, covered and refrigerated for up to 8 hours prior to using.

Pashy And Her Stupid Balls Are Killing Me!

Almost every evening, Phil takes Pashy and I down to Fireman's Park.  Every evening, without fail, Pashy finds a ball.  Then she troops home, proud as could be.  She bolts into the house and starts running around to find Janet to bark and growl and hold the ball and be a major show off.  Janet and Phil make all kinds of noise about what a clever doggie she is to ferret out a ball every day. 

Wednesday's ball.

Thursday's ball.

Friday's ball.  Can Pashy get it off the window ledge?

Yup!

 

All this ball business is detracting from what a cute and clever puppy girl I am.  Look!  I found some kelp!

That's a cute skill, right?  Normally, I'm not allowed to bring kelp into the house.  Personally, I say WTF...if Pash can bring her stupid balls in, surely a small piece of kelp should be under the radar!

Janet and Karen went to the Semi Annual Victoria Quilt Guild show yesterday.  Janet said Oh My!  There were many beautiful quilts there, but Janet especially liked this one.

Each one of the colourful squares, is actually nine smaller squares.  It was hand quilted.

 Karen said they should buckle down and each make an entry in the next show in 2016.  Janet can't imagine her skill level reaching anything close, even with two years to go!  All the quilts at the show had names and Janet has now finished Mr. Baby's quilt, "Nautical Theme".  Hence the obvious clever name!   Janet wondered what she could call the first baby quilt she made...."Free Pattern From Internet"?

Phil gave it the "Mr. Baby Approval Test" and said it was up to snuff.

Janet took Pashy on a big walk a couple of days ago.  This is the first long walk they have been on since Rockers died.  They had been gone for about 50 minutes when Pash decided the walk was over.

She says "I'll wait here Janet, while you go get the car".  She is too heavy for Janet to carry, so she had to suck up the rest of the walk.

Everytime they are filming the TV show "Gracepoint", Janet takes Pashy and goes movie star hunting.  She really, really wants to see the Scottish star, David Tennant.  All these movie trucks were at the Marina on their walk, but alas, no movie stars!