iPhone look with Cydia

The Flying Otter Grill - Victoria's Newest Water Front Restaurant

Business lunch at The Flying Otter Grill in the Inner Harbour. Great fish and chips.

I love downtown Victoria!!

The Coho ferry pulling in from Washington State, Harbour ferries, whale watching boats, kayak rentals, motorboats, float planes, sailboats. Gotta love it.

In Sidney, after dropping Rueb off at the airport

Looking down Beacon Avenue to the Sea

Couple of young 'un's on the bench

Rueben is visiting his best pal Paul in Calgary until Saturday. Debra and I took the opportunity to wander around Sidney after dropping him off at the airport.

The blog days of summer......

I have noticed that I have company in the lack of blogging as the summer months are coming to an end.

Last night we watched 'The Soloist' at our friends Gary and Monica's. Good movie and good company. Thanks guys!

Clouds over Toronto

Storm clouds blow into the city of Toronto on August 20, 2009

Deer on Salt Spring

Leaving Salt Spring Sunday morning

Taking the 9:50 am boat back to Victoria on a warm and sunny Sunday morning. Last night, the sky was clear and the stars were amazing. Both Rueb and I saw shooting stars as the light pollution rarely allows that sight in Victoria.

Chillin on the shore (and Happy Birthday Rob)

I posted these photos to my sister-in-law Delores' Facebook page to say hi and wish my big brother a Happy Birthday (on Sunday)!! So, we will share them on our blog as well.

Coastal Celebration - Saturday afternoon

This ferry is the Coastal Celebration, the newest large ferry in the fleet. As they are running every hour, we saw a lot of the same boats during the day.

Saturday morning after breakfast - ah the life!

We used our wood-gas stove to cook bacon and eggs. You only need dry wood chips or wood pellets and one stove full lasts pretty much for cooking the whole breakfast and an espresso coffee as well as water for dishes.

Hi from Salt Spring

Hi all (special squeeze to my honey ;))
We took the 3 pm boat and were set up by 4:30. After a walk around we had a gourmet dinner (hot dogs and bits and bites). Ruckle Park is on the south end of Salt Spring Island and we see all the BC Ferries go by. Quite a site.
Tomorrow we are going to walk (hike) all the trails around the park.
The weather is fine and we don't anticipate any rain like yesterday's
downpour.
Bye for now.
Ray & Rueben

Camping at Ruckle Park

This is just after we set up camp. There are 78 walk-in sites at Ruckle Park and 8 you can drive into. At least half of the walk-in sites are on the waterfront and afford the most amazing views of the water traffic. In May and June I was told, there is a good chance to see Orca's and even the odd Grey whale.

Rain and a gift

Nice beer stein from my friend and co-worker Gregory. He and his family just returned from 4 weeks holiday in Poland.

Well, rain is a gift as well. July was VERY dry and hot, so this is most welcome.

Notice the word 'Klodzko'? That is Gregory's hometown in Poland. Apparently I can only drink Polish beer in this.

So glad we have this truck

Moving my bike to Gordon's to commence repairs. It has been off the road since April of '08 with an intermittent starter motor. With all the travel last year, I was not motivated to tackle the fix. The idea is to get the XN back on the road and then hopefully put it up for sale to purchase a dual purpose bike like the Kawasaki KLR 650.

Visit from a distant relative.........

Clayton, Everett and Rueben

Everett is visiting from Ontario (nephew of Ellie and Gerard). After he leaves Victoria, he is heading to Tofino. It has been a pleasure to get to know this fine young man and we wish him all the best in his future. If you are ever back this way again, you know where there is a place to stay.

Josh Lovell "Nella Fantasia" Victoria Symphony Splash

Fresh Oysters on the BBQ

Our neighbour brought them back from Denman Island. She got them fresh from the ocean and kindly shared eight of them with us. One opened and was yummy, the other (pictured) did not open and thus from what we understand, will not be fit to eat. The rest we will steam open probably tomorrow night.

Ah the West Coast life!! It is hard to beat.

On the way last night to the Symphony Splash......

There was a "hip hop" type of event going on at Centennial Square although this clip was more of a Caribbean beat. The DJ's were set up and doing their thing for a very enthusiastic crowd of revelers.

20th Victoria Symphony Splash

The 20th annual Victoria Symphony Splash

Nice night, warm temperatures, couldn't have asked for anything better

The crowd was estimated at 40,000

Getting nicely lit up Legislature Buildings

"Serenade" - Romberg, sung by Josh Lovell

A friend of Clayton's was one of two featured young soloists to perform with the Symphony. He is a tenor (the first ever for Symphony Splash) and sang two selections. It is quite the honor to be invited to perform. Congratulations Josh!!

1812 Overture - Tchaikovsky

Happy 50th Murr !

Our good friend Murray turned the big 5-oh on July 29th. A party was thrown to celebrate this momentous occasion on Sunday night. And what is a party without party decorations? Friends Gary and Monica and Debra and I decided to help out from afar.

Happy Birthday Murr, we hope you had a great party.

Victoria Rebels 34 - 21 Okanagan Sun

Junior football home opener for the Victoria Rebels

A very entertaining football game with lots of swings in the action. The Suns have a better passing game and are great on kick returns. The Rebels are strong on the ground and have a good kicking game with one of Clayton's good friends starting taking kickoffs and long field goal attempts.

This is Quinn setting up after Victoria's first touchdownHe kicks it accurately right to the goal line

This is me posing beside the Grey Cup (for you non-Canadians, that is the trophy awarded to the professional Canadian Football League champions)