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a new addition to the family
2008-06-02 06:35:00
Behold, our new barbeque.Now we just need to learn how to cook things without overcooking or charring them to a crisp.
More About: Family , The Family

gardening 102
2008-05-31 04:21:00
These irises only bloom for a couple of weeks, but they sure are gorgeous. Our garden is full of them. Some are so heavy now that they are keeling over. Rajeev decapitated one of them gardening, and another while playing badminton, but the rest are surviving.Here's another surprise: a bleeding heart. I didn't know it was planted in a pot on the patio, until suddenly in March it burst out of the dirt and grew about a foot a week.
More About: Gardening

we're all glad the sun is back
2008-05-30 04:15:00
Living in the only part of the world that seems to be COOLING as a result of "global warming," we ... need ... SUN.
More About: Back , Glad

The Pose
2008-05-29 00:49:00
This is a shot of Charlene and I taken at Nymph Falls near Courtenay BC a couple of weeks ago. It's the traditional pose we used to strike for photos as teenagers. We'll probably still be doing this when we're in our 90's, assuming we can get out of our rockers.
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watching the parade go by
2008-05-28 00:39:00
Here we are, watching the Victoria Day parade. Rajeev hadn't seen it before, so we packed snacks and walked down to Douglas Street with our chairs.The photograph was taken by my friend Mike Tourigny, who was on the roof of his studio taking shots of the parade. We saw him up there, and tried to get his attention to no avail. It was only when he was editing his photos that he noticed our faces and sent me this pic.As for the parade, it was a snoozer this year. There were lots of long gaps between acts, making people stand up, look down the road and wonder "is it over?" And it rained. Oh well. There's always next year.
More About: Watching , Parade

finally, a place for the hammock
2008-05-14 06:22:00
Day View:Night View:
More About: Finally , Place , Hammock

Our ANT problem
2008-05-13 06:10:00
Here's a shot of our unwelcome tenants: the ants. This is a close-up of the baseboard in our bedroom. The liquid is ant poison that I got at the hardware store; they lap it up, but it doesn't prevent them from multiplying. To have this many insects crawling around in the bedroom (or anywhere in the house for that matter) creeps me out. Now some of them are coming out with wings, leading me to believe that they are carpenter ants.We saw them swarming out of the exterior wall last summer a few days after we moved in, which was absolutely disgusting. All winter I was in denial that we had an ant colony in the wall, even though I saw ants crawling around the house daily. I think it's time to hire an expert.If I could only pursuade the cats to start hunting crawling insects the way they go after flying ones, we wouldn't have a problem. But they're merely curious about the stream of ants crawling past them in single file. I think we've all been living in apartments for too long.
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a visit to Courtenay
2008-05-12 06:05:00
I went to Courtenay last weekend to visit Charlene and her parents. We hit the consignment shops, garage sales, and a great local pie shop. The highlight for me was trying their far infrared sauna. I definitely want one of those some day.Here are a few pics of us at Nymph Falls:
More About: Visit

This guy is too much
2008-04-21 20:12:00
Kevin, the neighbourhood thug, not only makes himself at home on our property but happily takes over my lap too. Although, he's so geezerly that he couldn't jump up without help.

The sari saga
2008-04-17 23:17:00
I tried on my wedding sari last night ... or attempted it. It's gorgeous fabric, and I'm sure it will look nice when Rajeev's mum helps me put it on for the wedding.But I still can't figure out how Indian women actually manage to look good with that much fabric draped around. I felt like I was swimming in thick silk.It hides a multitude of evils (no need to worry about losing weight for the wedding, which is good) but I feel like it hides ME too. I certainly didn't look like this chick on the left.I looked more like the lady in this video:
More About: Sari , Saga

Bailey surveys her new jungle
2008-04-17 20:08:00
The patio area is more of a concrete jungle, but at least it's not the parking lot we had on Dallas Road. Go on, Bailey . Up those steps and to the left is a Nice Pile of Dirt. Here's hoping she will discover the joys of the Great Litterbox of the Outdoors this summer. And Leica too, of course, but I'm not holding my breath on that one.
More About: Surveys , Jungle

gardening 101
2008-04-16 20:01:00
Having lived in apartments most of our lives, Rajeev and I don't know much about gardening. I couldn't identify a handful of flowers if my life depended on it.When we moved into our house at the end of last summer, we decided to wait a year before making any changes to the garden. We wanted to see what would come out of the ground first.Now that it's spring, we're getting all sorts of nice surprises. For example, just today I noticed this pussy-willow-type twiggy tree in the back yard that is blooming pink flowers. Does this mean we have a Magnolia?? Cool.
More About: Gardening

Stefany finally exhibits in Victoria
2008-04-03 22:58:00
My sister, the artist, has paintings exhibiting in galleries in the US and Canada, and now at last her work will appear in our home town, Victoria . Stefany's work is showing after April 19 at View Art Gallery, 860 View Street.
More About: Finally , Exhibits

a new leaf
2008-04-01 23:45:00
I haven't blogged in ages.I could complain that work has been very busy, which is true. I'm producing a series of internet videos and while it's fun working with actors again, I've had a lot of logistics to organize. Plus I'm doing the odd voice-over job, and recently got a gig through voice123.com that involved several retakes for a client in Toronto. It turns out that my home recording set-up sounds almost as good as in a professional studio, so that will save me some bucks for future jobs.Rajeev and I are still checking things off our wedding planning list, but the most difficult one to get done is choosing rings. I take a long time to make decisions at the best of times (I'm a Libra, after all), but I had no idea how hard it would be to choose rings. Just when we had our rings all chosen at one jeweller, friends warned us not to do business with them after a really bad experience they had with their wedding rings. So, it's back to the drawing board. We may get married w...
More About: Leaf

revenge of the dental hygienists
2008-03-19 19:24:00
I just got an email from one of THEM:I don't know how I came across your page, but I somehow ended up there. Lucky me. I am a dental hygienist. I am VERY POLITE, but not a talker. Sadly, most hygienists can take a hint that you are one of "those" patients. They DO teach us that in school. I guess your RDH may be a little clueless. Try putting yourself in our shoes. Seriously. We know most people HATE going to the dentist, but it's a necessary evil. I should write a blog on how people NEVER floss and then when their gums are tender it is OUR fault, even though we see our patients for 2 hours out of the whole year. Healthy gums are not tender. Healthy gums don't bleed. I am not trying to be rude. In fact, I found your blog to be quite funny. Just wanted to say give your hygienist a break, she probably hates working on you just as much as you hate her being in your mouth. Actually, I don't mind them being in my mouth at all. I just wish they'd shut up about it and not speak to me ...
More About: Dental , Revenge

guess who's back?
2008-03-05 20:31:00
We haven't seen him much all winter, but now that the weather is warmer we've been paid a visit by Kevin, the Don Corleone of the cat neighbourhood. Still affectionate, cranky, and possessive of our property as ever.
More About: Guess Who , Back , Guess

so we just installed a peep-hole in the front door ....
2008-02-25 06:07:00
... and got a bit goofy trying it out.
More About: Front , Hole , Door , Peep

a new blog for the collection
2008-02-12 20:48:00
I've been busy finalizing the details for our wedding lately, including creating invitations and getting them mailed out. It's a time-consuming task, organizing a wedding, but manageable. I've run conferences, trade shows and film shoots, so just call me Logistics R Us.I created the invitations in Photoshop, then had them printed on 4x6 cards at OvernightPrints.com. It's a website that allows you to either design your own materials, or use their clip art, or a combination of both. They print and ship the items to your door, and the quality is fantastic.Since I couldn't fit all the wedding info onto a 4x6 card, I decided to create a website for wedding guests where they could find more information such as links to hotels in Victoria. I created the site on Blog ger, which gives me the most flexibility in updating info whenever I like, and of course it's free.Now onto the best part: sampling wedding cakes!
More About: The Collection

too sick to blog. (cough)
2008-01-30 07:02:00
I haven't been blogging lately because a) I've been sick as a dog and b) work has suddenly got frantic after 18 months of dead air, meaning I can't afford to take time off.It appears that I have The Never Ending Cold that is going around. The usual remedies (sleep, NeoCitran, sleep, hot orange juice with honey and ginger, sleep) aren't working. Nothing kills this bug.I had a voice-over gig this month, but fortunately my throat cooperated that day. In fact, the germs might have helped. Usually when I'm nervous my voice raises in pitch, and I have to work hard in front of the mic to relax. This time, my sickly huskiness lowered the pitch to a relaxed tone in spite of my nerves.I'm really putting the *ahem* into Ahem Productions lately.
More About: Blog , Sick , Cough

American Geography Lesson
2008-01-20 21:23:00
comic from www.wulfmorgenthaler.comIn Hawaii in December, we got a lesson in just how ignorant American s are. At the Polynesian Cultural Center's luau, I had the following conversation with the 13 year-old girl seated next to me:Me: Where are you from?Her: Georgia. Where are you from?I had to think before I answered. I knew that if I said Victoria, she wouldn't have a clue where that was. Vancouver would have been pushing it. I decided to go with:Me: The west coast of Canada.[silence]Her: I've never heard of that. Where is that?I considered that perhaps she didn't hear me correctly, for clearly "Canada" is a large country and "the west coast" describes a huge chuck of it pretty accurately. I repeated myself.Me: The WEST COAST of CANADA.Her, shaking her head: No, I've never heard of that.Oh my god.I gave up, for clearly she hadn't been taught any geography beyond her borders.Me: Do you know where Seattle is?Her: Oh yes, of course.Me: Near there.Her: Oh.She turned away to watch ...
More About: Lesson , Geography

scratching post
2008-01-17 02:29:00
We just had to get a video of this. Rajeev indulges Bailey in her favourite daily pastime: a good scratching.
More About: Post , Scratching

if it's Tuesday, we must still be in Hawaii, right?
2008-01-03 21:49:00
Somehow, we lost a whole day in Hawaii and missed our flight home! We got back 8 hours later than planned, and spent New Year's Day recovering from jet lag and marvelling at our stupidity.Here's how it happened. I think part of why we lost a day was due to the long delays at the beginning of the trip. We were originally scheduled to leave at 5 a.m. Christmas Day, but were informed by Air Canada that the flight was changed to 3 p.m. In the end, the plane didn't leave till 8 p.m.We sat in the plane in Vancouver for 3 hours. At first, the Captain said that we were waiting for our bags to be loaded onto the plane, and that since it was Dec. 25 the airport was understaffed. About an hour later, he said "OK, now that the technical problem in the cockpit is all fixed, we can push off." Huh? What technical problem?? Meanwhile, it had started to snow. Next announcement from the cockpit was that we'd have to get the plane de-iced before we could take off. This meant another long, long wai...
More About: Tuesday

mele kalikimaka to all
2007-12-25 04:44:00
... and to all a double Mai Tai.Here are the front and inside images from our Christmas card this year:
More About: Mele

facebook for geezers
2007-12-21 07:15:00
If you're on Facebook , you'll get a kick out of the image below, created by www.straightfrommybrain.com. Just click the image to enlarge it:

recipe: boozy rum balls
2007-12-17 18:34:00
This year we decided to make our Christmas food gift a little easier than the big production last year (boozy fruit cake).Not having much time for baking (or maturing, in the case of fruit cake), we needed to find something that could be done in an afternoon.Still wanting to combine the seasonal favourites of sugar, chocolate and alcohol, we tried a few recipes for Rum Balls until we finally found one in which the balls are as moist and boozy as they claim: Chocolate Walnut Rum Balls on Epicurious.com.Here's the recipe, with our modifications:Ingredients:1 cup semisweet chocolate chipshalf cup sugar3 tablespoons light corn syrup1/2 cup dark rum2 1/2 cups Graham Wafer crumbs1 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecansFor garnish:sugaricing sugarcocoacoconutPreparation:Stir chocolate in top of double boiler set over simmering water until melted.Remove from over water.Whisk in sugar and corn syrup, then the rum.Mix graham wafer crumbs and nuts in medium bowl to blend.Add chocolate mixture a...
More About: Recipe , Reci

new teak furniture, Indonesian-style
2007-12-12 21:45:00
We just got some new furniture!After 10 years, my beloved green couch has finally been retired. A tiny hole in the fabric grew to a huge rip almost a year ago. A blanket covered up the rip in the sun-faded fabric, but wasn't exactly the nicest thing to look at.Now that we're in our new house, the ripped up green couch sticks out like a sore thumb. Time to knuckle down and get something new. Enter: two gorgeous new teak sofas from Javanerra.I already have lots of Danish modern teak pieces, but we didn't want to fill up the house with one style. Plus, a lot of the art work I've collected over the years is from Indonesia and Malaysia; some of my favourites are wall hangings from Bali and Borneo. These new sofas fit in perfectly and give our little house a tropical feel.Another good thing about Javanerra's furniture is that it's made from recycled teak. The company sources timber from neglected traditional houses made of ancient teak. Read more about it here. This is very importan...
More About: Indonesian , Furniture , Style

Basic black dress for sale
2007-12-11 21:11:00
I bought a very tango-worthy dress online recently, but it doesn't fit. The tags are still on. Never worn. Size is M but it's more accurately a 9/10.I'm asking $60 as that's what I paid for it, not including shipping.Anyone interested? Contact be via email (angelahemming at gmail dot com) or see my posting on Craigslist here.
More About: For Sale , Sale , Black , Dress , Basic

kissaversary
2007-12-10 20:01:00
Rajeev and I had a nice dinner at Brasserie L'Ecole the other night, in celebration of the two year anniversary from our first date.Now, there's some disagreement about which date was actually first. On Dec. 6, 2005, we actually had our third date here. Rajeev claims it was our first date because we finally kissed at the end of the evening and thus began our more-than-friends relationship.But the first date was, technically, at Tim Horton's donut shop after an evening of salsa dancing. The second was Thai food, followed by salsa dancing. Since those "dates" all ended platonically, apparently they don't count. The French-food-tango-dancing-kissing date is one we celebrate. And let's face it, I'll take a few hours of wonderful French food over donuts any day.Now that we're getting married, we'll have a much bigger anniversary to celebrate each year. So December 6th is relegated to Kissaversary. But even though it won't be the BIG ONE anniversary-wise, we'll probably use the...

Women in Film
2007-12-06 22:52:00
I have just discovered this guy's videos and I think they're brilliant. I don't know what kind of software he's using, but I want it. Take a look:
More About: Women , Film

in praise of older men
2007-12-01 20:49:00
I had a fabulous evening of tango recently, much to my surprise, and thanks to the supply of good dance partners -- most of whom were over 60.I haven't been dancing regularly for the past year, mostly due to a shoulder injury, but also because we didn't have good experiences at tango whenever we went. Either the music was boring, the social scene was snoozy, and/or the dancing was mediocre.This past Friday night, Rajeev and I headed out to a swing dance, only to discover that it was canceled and another party was taking place (to which we weren't invited and for which were sorely under dressed). All psyched up for dancing, we headed off to tango instead. It was a really nice atmosphere at Cafe Casablanca that night. The music was great, thanks to Brent's DJing, and there was a good mix of men and women in the room, ensuring that everyone danced a lot. Lo and behold I actually got asked to dance too. So much so that my unseasoned feet were struggling to keep me upright in high he...
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