It's playoff time!

The big excitement in April and May for sports fans in North America (and elsewhere) is the Stanley Cup ice hockey playoffs. It's a many weeks long process with hockey games on TV almost every night (usually more than one). After the first round of games, sadly no Canadian teams are left standing. No doubt we will still watch the other games. Brian loves his hockey! I enjoy it too but wish I knew more of the rules. For everything you ever wanted to know about the National Hockey League, click here.

The day after Tyler left us, friends Al and Mary arrived from Calgary - via a couple of nights at the beautiful Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria (the capital city of BC, not the state in Australia)...they stayed two nights with us. First night was dinner at Milano's, the Italian restaurant I've talked about before. The second day of their visit was spent celebrating the joint birthdays of Mary and Brian which was lots of fun. We headed off to French Creek for lunch - you guessed it, Fishermans Chowder!

The waitress knows Brian from the hockey group
and when we told her we were having a birthday
lunch, she came with shots for Brian & Mary.

Mary endeavoured to consume hers
following the rule of "no hands". 

It was an on and off rainy day but that didn't stop us from having a great drive out to Qualicum Falls - we had been there with Christine in January but, on this trip, discovered that there is a lot more to the falls and spent a bit more time exploring some of the trails higher up the river. 

After that, we did a quick stop at the top end of Cameron Lake - a new viewing point for us - and then on to Cathedral Grove to say hello to our old friends, the ancient Douglas Fir trees. Mary spied a trillium blooming - first time I had ever seen one - it is British Columbia's provincial flower.

Trillium.

Home via a stop at Costco for fresh salmon to BBQ for dinner and to pick up the pre-ordered birthday cake. The evening was spent eating very well and fielding the happy birthday phone calls coming in for both Mary and Brian.

Mary and Al left the next day to drive back down to Victoria to catch their flight home to Calgary. Mary will be back on her own in a couple of weeks so we will have more time to catch up.

I headed off to Quilt Guild - with a show and tell quilt in hand in order to be eligible for the fabric draw! Luckily being new to the guild, I have a big stash of quilts they have never seen so will be able to keep this up for quite a while, even if I don't produce anything new. In a weak moment, I agreed to be nominated for the position of Co-President - what was I thinking! Elections are next month so we will see what transpires. And I didn't win the free fabric.

Thursday night (with Brian working), I agreed to go to a retirement seminar (yawn) at the encouragement of a great lady we've come to know from our bank. I was surprised that it was a very energising and positive spin on the whole transition to retirement thing (not focussed on money and investments for a change) and I came away with lots to think about.

We have decided I'm not job hunting until later in the year as there is too much going on to try to fit in a job. Means a lot less income to play with but we are adjusting to that reality.

And, also, after lots of discussion, we decided we could no longer manage being a one vehicle family so we went out looking and by the end of the day we were the proud owners of this...Brian's very first truck! Very exciting and it means we now have the means to go and collect junk off the side of the road!

Brian wasted no time polishing it up...
even multi-tasking drinking his wine.

As Brian and I sat having coffee one morning this week, Brian noticed a tree moving in the front yard and spotted this! 

We knew they were around but had never seen one in our yard before. Must become knowledgeable about their habits so we don't unwittingly encourage them.

With just enough time to put clean sheets on the guest bed and tidy up a bit, we were off to the airport to pick up second sister Elizabeth who was arriving from Australia to spend a couple of days with us en route to Ft McMurray to visit with her daughter and grandchildren.

Of course she was happy to see us.

I took her to quilting where one of the
ladies explained the finer art of
making fabric bowls. 

This was her first visit to our new spot - but certainly not the first time in Canada. We only had two full days so made the most of it with a trip to check out the shops at Qualicum Beach (definitely want to go back there); chowder at French Creek and a walk around the marina. We also checked out a few craft and fabric shops so Elizabeth could stock up on supplies for some projects she wants to work on during her stay in Canada. We'll see her later in the summer so it wasn't too hard to say goodbye.

Very cool shop in Qualicum featuring the
work of local artists - best stuff I've
seen in a long time.

Downtown Qualicum Beach - it was very quiet.

But very pretty.

And their tulips were spectacular. 

Found a little beach access nearby and
stopped for a quick look.

Elizabeth enjoying French Creek Marina.

Not sure where the Coast Guard were headed
but they sure were in a hurry.

Elizabeth's creative photo from our
living room.

With all of the visitors around, I had forgotten about my vegetable garden and suddenly realised it hadn't rained for a week. Thankfully (and amazingly) a few seedlings are finally poking their little heads through the soil so maybe I will actually have some success.

The other plants which seem to love this climate are rhododendrons and azaleas. There are quite a few in our garden but only this very splashy one has bloomed so far - I think the rest of them won't be far behind.

I took this photo before the blooms were
fully open - they now almost hide the leaves.

After all the entertaining, we were too tired to go to the Newcomers Drinks & Appies night last night so called it a day very early - but not before having an hour or so Skype date with youngest sister Megan who is very excited about her upcoming trip to Canada in September (as are we). The time will go by very quickly.