June 5th, 2009 -- I'm meltinnnnnggggg!

Heya Blogmates!

Ok, I'm going to start off this blog by stating I am NOT complaining about the heat wave Vancouver is going through right now, at the beginning of June. Personally, I much prefer being warm than cold and this winter we certainly had our periods of ice and snow. So not only was it cold out, but I learned very quickly that I can't walk in the snow or, definitely not on ice. So definitely, I prefer sun and hot and being able to walk outside without having to layer oneself in coats, vests, scarves, mittens, etc. Now, having said that... can I have one little wee complaint about the hot nights (and I'm talking purely temperature here!)?

As most of you know, I live right by the water. And what people who live by the water take for granted is, in the evening there USUALLY is a nice sea breeze off the water. This breeze in the evening is actually quite lovely... it's not a cold breeze, but a lovely cool breeze that stirs up the air and even sucks out the hot air in an apartment depending on which way it is blowing. Welllllll, we have still been getting the breeze most days, but it is the hottest breeze that I've really ever experienced here in BC. Granted, it is stirring the air around so we don't get that still, hot, heavy air around us, but it is not a refreshing breeze at all. And what is really bad... most buildings in our 'hood are cement buildings. So the sun is baking these buildings, the sidewalks, the roads, etc. all day long and when evening arrives and the temp drops a degree or two, there's no hope for the interior of the buildings. They just seem to get hotter and hotter. And before any of you are wondering why we just don't turn on our air conditioners, the reality is, most apartment/condo buildings here in Vancouver don't have A/C. There really is no need for it... normally speaking. This heat we are experiencing right now is usually something we can expect in the middle of the summer and only for a couple of days... so why have A/C when you only would use it for a couple of days of the year? Instead, I have a fan going 24/7 in the living room and another one in my bedroom and I just have to make do with the temps being around 28C (approx 84F) in the apartment at night... and even warmer during the day.

Ok... so enough of the whining about the weather but at the same time, being thrilled that summer has finally arrived :) There's always a trade off. We may be uncomfortably warm at night, but it really is gorgeous... one can take the dog for a little walk anywhere in the 'hood at midnight and it truly is gorgeous outside! And just look at the pretty sunsets we get. Here's one tonight at 9:15pm:

A lovely time of the evening... and like I say, soooo warm. I, unfortunately, can't go strolling like I could before the nerve/muscle damage from the chemo, but it's evenings like this that are perfect for walking along the seawall. Perfectly safe because there are hundreds of others with the same idea ;)

This next one is the same angle, but at 10pm. Now the lights on the bridge are on as well:



Ok... since I'm putting up pictures, I may as well continue and put up a few more. Last weekend, a bunch of us gathered at Naveen's for a "the rhodedendrums are in blossom so this is a good excuse for a party", so we had a Rhodie Party :) I consider the people in the following pictures to all be my extended family. We are not related by blood, but we are all so close and they are all extremely supportive of me. I have no idea how I got so lucky in this life to have these folk be a huge part of my life... as well, I have the most incredible friends in the world. Chances are, if you are reading this blog, you fall into this category. And for any of you who were at my Celebration of Life and Friendship party back in October, you would have met some of the people I'm talking about. Ok... more pictures before I get to sentimental and mushy ;)

A couple of these pictures of single blossoms, I'm posting them here to show how gorgeous the rhodies are, but also, how wonderful my camera works with really showing the detail. Isn't the pink in this particular blossom stunning?

Likewise with this one... I just love the pink rhodies and am planning on playing with these various flower pics and turning them into B&W photos, then adding a touch of the stunning colour back.

I think out of the three pink Rhodie pics, this is my favourite ;)

Here are three of my favourite girls... Natalia, Jaime and Juliet. Natalia and Juliet are Troy and Inga's daughters, Jaime is Shel and Jill's daughter. In the next picture, there will be the group of us, but we are missing Troy who could not be at the party since he was down in Virginia.

Ok, this is not a good quality picture... I'm not sure why the camera took a weird picture. It's like it wasn't adjusting well in the artificial light. But this group of people are my extended family -- starting with me with Juliet on my lap and going from left to right -- Me/Juliet, Janet (Inga's Mom and grandma to Juliet and Natalia), Fergus (Janet's nephew who was visiting from Australia), Jaime sitting on her dad, Shel's lap, Naveen, Inga, Natalia, Jill and Stefan. Missing is Troy who was in Virginia and Shelley who is taking the picture ;)

Hahaha... I know, I know... why take a picture of a bowl of berries? I couldn't get over the colour of a huge salad bowl of fresh berries (strawberries, blueberries and blackberries). Just looking at them, it made you want to dive into them... all of a sudden you get this craving for them! Naveen made this bowl and I can't imagine how long he must have been slicing all those strawberries. But it was unbelievably delicious to eat these berries with a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream!

Ok... enough with the pictures for now. It's 1:44am, so time to head to the bedroom and see if I can fall asleep in the heat ;)

I have so much more to yak about... but, I will have to leave that all for now. Maybe this weekend I'll be able to write some more, depending on how much I'm at home. LOL!! It seems I'm always on the go, with Bridget coming with me, only to curl up and sleep wherever we go, as long as we have a little bed for her to curl up in ;)

Hahaha... I did think tomorrow was Saturday, but when I looked at my calendar I realized "oh oh... good thing you looked at the calendar!!" Tomorrow afternoon I'll be at TUTS and I'll be staying through the evening because Live Nations is doing a concert on our stage. Blue Rodeo will be playing Friday and Saturday night. I'm only going to be working the Friday night show... where we will be handing out our TUTS information rack cards to the audience as they leave. Our rack cards are double sided, with information about Annie on one side and information about Thoroughly Modern Millie on the other side. Oh, what the heck... here are the images for the rack cards (I LOVE them and it's a new look for our advertising this year):

Is this little raccoon not just the most adorable little critter, wearing the lopsided Annie red hair'd wig?

And, of course, here is the other side of the card, which is the info for Thoroughly Modern Millie. Both shows are going to be absolutely fabulous this year so if anyone is within driving distance to downtown Vancouver, you will want to catch BOTH shows!!

And since I have her picture handy on my computer, here is little Michelle who will be playing the role of Annie:

Isn't she a cutie?? And she has a voice and look that should tear at everyone in the audience's heartstrings ;)

Ok... I must go to bed... it is 2am and tomorrow is going to be a fun, but LONG day. I still haven't decided if I'm going to take Bridget tomorrow since there is the concert and it might get loud, inside and outside of the office. I may just leave her at home and Toby can feed her after they go on their late afternoon walk. I'll decide in the morning.

Ciao for now... and if I don't get back to the blog on the weekend.. have a great weekend!!

Hugggggs,

Cheryl

PS: I forgot to mention... I love the comments some of you leave! I can't actually answer them, here on the blog, short of just answering them in a post or writing my own comment. So I keep them in my inbox when they are sent to me in email, with the intention of responding to them. Hahaha... but we don't even want to talk about the 2500 emails in my inbox that I thought I would get to at one point . So keep those comments coming!! And know that I see and enjoy every single one of them!