Thursday, August 28, 2014

Woe Is Me...And Janet!

Whilst dashing and dancing through the park and the yards of people I am not supposed to go in, I got a piece of grass caught in my eye.  Janet and Phil both said it looked gross and I was a bad puppy girl and kept rubbing it with my paw.  Next up - a trip to see Dr. Smith.

You won't believe his remedy:

Brew a strong pot of tea; let the tea bags cool and then gently apply to the affected eye.  After the tea bags are used up, dip cotton pads in the cold tea.  Weird, right?
Dr. Phil applying the tea soaked pad.  I also have another infection in the "nether regions" for which I need to take antibiotics.  Sheesh!  Dr. Phil loves me.
Janet's hearing issues continue to run amok.  On Saturday, deaf Janet had lunch with Monie and Lolo.  Monie had just been to a Greek wedding where they love to throw plates.  She mentioned they had broken 500 plates at the wedding.  What Deaf Janet heard was they had roasted 500 pigs.  Incredulous that so many people would be at one wedding, Janet asked how many had attended.  Monie said about 300.  Janet, still in No Mans Land says, but that's 1 and a half pigs each person!?!  They all killed themselves laughing...or so Janet thinks as she could barely hear anything.

More bounty from the ranch - potatoes!  Janet's first successful crop.
Speaking of plantations, check out Jer's banana tree!  This started as one banana tree from Costco for $20.
Our basil crop is kind of sad this year as Janet bought the wrong variety.  The leaves are much smaller, so Janet didn't make nearly as much pesto as she had hoped.  Still looks pretty good.
We are shade loving doggies:
Here is my imitation of a German Shepherd.  Wouldn't it be fun to be a Police doggie and help catch criminals?
Seriously, Janet...use the auto focus!  Even I know better.




Saturday, August 23, 2014

Rancher Janet Brings Home The Bounty!

At this rate, Rancher (aka Is She Nuts) Janet is going to need some farm hands next year.  Check out the goods!
I, PashyMinders, Doggie Extraordinaire, thinks Janet and Phil feel guilty for leaving us at home while they trip the light fantastic in Eastern Canada.  Why do I think this?   They came home from Costco with a tri-pak of stuffed "Prairie Pals".  Mr. Cheapskate rarely buys doggie toys.   Noodles dropped hers, so I thought to myself, why not just go for it?
Bronwyn and Mike came to visit!  I was super excited to see them!  They had to go to YVR to get their work visas renewed.  It was fun.  Bronwyn always insists on helping Janet with the cooking.
I never get up on the sofa unless Bronwyn is here.
And then she helps some more!
Poor thing...she must be exhausted!
In fairness, they had a Mother and Daughter project that mostly the daughter did.  They took this chair:
painted and waxed it with Chalk Paint and voila!
Here is an actual picture of the daughter working on the chair:
and here is a fake photo op Janet insisted Phil take, looking like they both participated.
Noodles and I dusted it up a bit with our "Prairie Pals".  Bronwyn and Janet couldn't believe Noodles had it in her.  She had to have a big rest afterwards.
Surprise, surprise.  It turns out Mr. Baby, who cannot walk, can write and mail packages.  His handwriting looks suspiciously like his Mothers.
Look!  It's a Mr. Baby book!  Janet and Phil were super excited.


Janet has had major hearing issues for the last six weeks and has been to see a specialist 3 times.  Today she can barely hear.  If this continues, I'm going to have to look into a PuppyDog Computer Course so I can do the blog on my own.  She did, however, get new spectacles so she can at least see!







Monday, August 18, 2014

Buckets And A Belle

Rose told us that Janet and Phil have now gone to Montreal.  It's Our Niece Devon's wedding to Andrew!  They arrived around lunch time on Tuesday, looking for a good meal.  After some walking and subway rides they had found nothing and were getting increasingly hungry.  Then Janet remembered there was a California Pizza Kitchen near their hotel.  OK....that will work!

Worst. Lunch. Ever.  Turns out it's not a California Pizza Kitchen; it's California Pizza!
It was beyond dreadful.

The next morning, they woke up to buckets and buckets of rain.  It rained all day long without a break!

Janet thought these planter boxes were really pretty.
Janet envisions herself in a large, brick two storey home in Westmount (with help!) Then she remembers photos of cars completely covered in snow in the winter.
 This young lady went to a lot of trouble to colour coordinate her outfit.  She even matches the barrels and road markings!
They walked the better part of the day anyways, getting completely soaked.  Devon had invited them to the Rehearsal Dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant, Bleu Nile.  They said it was delicious!
A really interesting assortment of food that you put into a piece of crepe like bread that Janet thinks Aunt T said was teff?
Thursday was the day of the wedding, and the weather, while not fabulous, was way better than the day before.  Janet and Phil decided to take the subway to the first neighbourhood they had lived in - Ville St. Laurent.

Here is Janet, thinking to herself WTF!!  A fellow subway rider, albeit very kind, offered Janet his seat!  The lowered bus, the offering of seats on public transit - what's next - OAS?    L'Oreal Hair Colour here we come!


 They found the Judo Boys apartment:
and Decarie Hot Dog; home of many a great hot dog and greasy french fries.  Phil had to get a bag of fries to reminisce. 
Alas, they could find the general neighbourhood where they lived, but all the houses look the same and they couldn't remember the street name.  Janet said it was delightful - a suite that was located right beside the garage of the home owners, so every morning when they started their car, the exhaust would come under the door.

It would have looked like this:
See the little window and the door beside the garage door?  Janet seems to think there was also a door between the garage and the "suite".  They moved when Meg was about a week old.  Meg's crib inside this luxurious abode was a dresser drawer.
After all that adventuring, it was time to get ready to go to the wedding.  Devon wore a beautiful dress that was covered with petals.  The weather cooperated and they were able to get married outside.  It was a lovely ceremony and the evening was excellent!
A very handsome couple indeed!


Janet and Phil had to leave early the next morning, so were unable to participate in the rest of the wedding activities.  This is what the plane looked like on every flight they took.
Every seat, filled!






Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Something Is Going On!

What's up?  All of a sudden, Rose is here and Phil is showing her how to work all the stuff in the house.  This is weird on a couple of fronts.....Rose always comes with Don and why does she need to know what our schedule is?

OK.  The gig is up!  The people sneak out the basement door with suitcases at 5:00AM.  What about us?  No worries....turns out they have gone away and Rose is going to stay with us so we don't have to *shudder* go to a kennel.  We have never been to a kennel and would like to keep it that way.  I would do my best to troop it out, but Noodles is pretty old.  Rose agreed to take care of us and we are super happy about that.  Don is in Hood River with his new kiteboarding BFF, Bronwyn.

Rose told us that Janet and Phil went to Toronto and Montreal.  They went in a plane, which precluded our participation.  Another bad word - crate.  Have never done the crate either.

They took the bus and subway in from YYZ for a grand total of $5.00! How is that for a bargain?  Phil paid the "seniors" fare whilst Janet paid "adult".  Janet was certain she would get busted if she purchased the "seniors" fare.  Phil told her to get a grip on herself!  They stopped at Earl's and had a late lunch.  Earl's has the most beautiful patio.
They met Ted and Briana for supper and went to Guu, a Japanese/Korean restaurant.  Briana said she heard it was noisy, but they didn't have a clue!  Noisy doesn't even begin to describe it.
You are greeted very enthusiastically when you come, when you leave and if it's your birthday!



The next day, they pretended they were in Tokyo and took the ferry over to Toronto Island...to get away from the crowds (not!).  The only thing missing was the paid employee to shove you on, like they have on the subways in Japan.
Here they are boarding.

The unwashed masses that weren't fortunate enough to get on this sailing.

On board.  Janet told Phil if this very was in India, or Malaysia or Thailand there wouldn't be a hope in hell she would get on.  You have all seen the articles in the paper about over crowded ferries going down in shark infested waters.  Janet spent a fair bit of time perusing the water for sharks and was relieved to see there weren't any.
Toronto Island was beautiful and they had a great day.  They rode bikes and went all around the island.

This was Janet's bike.  No gears and you have to pedal backwards for the brakes.  Just like when Janet was a small, bike riding tyke!  Actually, she doesn't remember having a bike as a child, but it appears that even back in the olden days it was quite common, so she must have had one!
After a full day of fun and sun, they went to Briana and Ted's for dinner.  Banana made BBQ'd sausage, zucchini fritters and Bread Salad.  All very delicious!  And, check out their tomato and cucumber plants.

Banana's office moved since the last time Janet and Phil were in Toronto, so they went to check out her new space.  Check out this Collaboration Room, aka lunch room.  Who wouldn't want to eat in here?



They walked from Briana's office to the Billy Bishop Airport (back in the day, when Janet was gainfully employed, it was called Buttonville.  Code YTZ if anyone is interested.  More interesting is the fact that Janet can remember that!

Look, Mr. Baby.....Yoyo has a street named after herself in Toronto.  Cool, right!  You can be super proud of Yoyo.






Friday, August 8, 2014

Pashyminders Land!

Things are going well over here in Pashyminders Land.  Everyone knows how insane I am for balls.  Janet and I were walking by Willows Beach and I saw what I thought were a pile of balls.  I did my best to dislocate Janet's shoulder to drag her over.  Rats!  It's a pile of apples!
On the same walk, for some reason, there was this mans photo pasted to the sidewalk.  Not sure what the deal is with that.
We told you before that Janet took her first lap size quilt to Arlene to have it long arm quilted.  Phil drove Janet, so no worries.  This time, he was too busy working, so she had to drive herself there.  This was a major challenge, and she worked hard to get up the gumption.  She took West Saanich Road all the way.  She tested her nerves of steel fluff not to panic when there was a big truck seemingly only inches from the back bumper.  She said she nearly collapsed from relief when she arrived.  The trip home was much easier as Janet knew where she was going.
Ready for the big adventure, Mr. Leaf?
Janet had two more quilt tops ready to go to Arlene and I did my very best to assist her with putting the top, batting and backing all together.
I like this one, Janet!

This one is also pretty good!  This is the fabric that Lolo gave Janet for her birthday.  Janet purchased some more fat quarters and here we are.  Arlene told Janet she thought they were both beautiful.  Arlene also said Janet had an eye for colour but Janet had to confess she doesn't and had a lot of help from the women in the Quilt Shop.  Both are Yellow Brick Road and these are two of three quilts that Janet has done all by herself!
After the arduous trip to North Saanich, Janet stopped by the Thursday quilting group at Sawyers to show them how proud she was.  She had not paid for attendance as it was meant to be a short visit.  The super nice instructor Lezlie was kind enough to (mostly) help Janet square up her quilt.

Look!
Isn't it great?
These beautiful dahlias were given to Janet on Sunday by our incredible neighbour and even more incredible friend Gwen.  On Monday, Gwen took a really bad fall and has suffered a major head injury.  Please, please put all your eggs in one basket and hope and pray for the best for our wonderful Smith family friends.