More Old Friends

Maybe I should say, long term friends. Dave and Ron met in school in Kitimat, and met Thadene shortly after. They came for dinner tonight and we had a great visit.

Realty World Gals

A mini reunion today of 5 of us from the office in the early 80's at Kiki's. Karen brought her mom whom we knew then and enjoyed seeing again. I think my flash was off, so poor picture unfortunately and I didn't duck down enough to get Mildred in the picture very well.

45th Nurses Reunion

This has certainly been the years for reunions. Today about 36 of us from Saint Paul's Hospital Class of 1962 met at the River Rock Hotel/Casino in Richmond for a wonderful reunion. There is a very special relationship when young girls, coming from around the province, live and work together for 3 years. That is 3 shifts a day, 365 days of the year, in all kinds of situations. We were in the heart of downtown so we saw many things we'd never encountered before. Then there were some dreaded instructors and drugs and solutions which you needed 100% to pass, the first needle we gave, the first male patient we bathed, the first death. We grew very close as we grew into young professional nurses.
Wendy on the bottom left was my room mate in first year.

Pig Pool Tournament

We first played in Jan's tournament in 2005, when Mike and I won first place with this trophy. The name, as you can see was chosen because of the trophies. All have pigs or pig heads, this one with a stetson on it. Today we played Carol and John's as Jan is renovating. A great time was had by all as usual.

Vancouver Island Friends

We met Joan and Barry, from Parksville, down at Catalina Spa in CA in 2005. They were the ones responsible for introducing us to Prime rib roast done on the Ronco rotisserie. Got us hooked. They were here on the mainland visiting and came for lunch on the way to the ferry. So here are the smiling friends.

Realty World Reunion

I'd severely injured my back nursing in 1976 and was never able to nurse again. I took the real estate course and joined Realty World in 1979. They had an excellent training program for all offices in B.C. and you started with a full week's training in Burnaby. Our boss Bill was great at fostering close noncompetitive relations for all his staff. He took us off for weekends to Whistler, Harrison and the waterfront on Vancouver Island once a year for training sessions. We also had parties with the spouses, spring, Christmas and Halloween so we were a very close group. I was single at that time so this was an important social life for me. We met in White Rock today for dinner and visited for 5 hours. Not everyone could make it but we had wonderful time together. So many great memories and now we're meeting on our travels in the future.

The other pool table

Today's challenge was to move the new pool table up the spiral staircase, across the living room into the pool room. These things are very heavy. This one is a Valley, a commercial and heavier table.
The guys got the table moved, legs put on and settled in place. Next came the one piece slate. Heavy, heavy, heavy. All was done without incident. The felt was replaced, sides put on, table leveled and it was ready for a game the next day.

Moving a Pool Table

We went over to CJ and Joan's today and the 4 guys took their table apart and moved it to Abbotsford where they swapped it with Jerry's, and hauled that back to White Rock. We enjoyed a beautiful dinner up on the deck overlooking the ocean and watching a gorgeous sunset.

New Westminster

Off to New Westminster again today. While Ron played in the crib tournament, I wandered around the shops downtown. They must have 8 bridal stores and 3 or 4 for men's apparel. I was looking for a folding coffee table and saw a couple but they're too big for the motorhome. Our coffee table is on the couch when we travel and when we boondock and don't put out the slide, there is little room for me to sit. Popped into several antique stores. I find the old pieces a little bit of history. It amuses me that we couldn't wait to get newer stuff than what our parents had and now lots of it is popular again.
Of course I loved the beautiful hanging baskets which nearly reached the ground.

Retirement Dinner

We went to the Sheraton Hotel in Guildford for the annual Boilermaker's Retirement dinner Friday night. We had lots of fun sitting with Vicki and Pete, my quilting pal, Jeanie and John and Noel and Frank. I first met Noel when we were on a job in Prince Rupert in 1994 and we coffeed, went golfing and exchanged recipes. Haven't seen her since. Great time and great food.

Another Victoria Day

We met for breakfast in the hotel and went off to Marika's moms for a little together at 11 before we headed for ferries. It's been a wonderful time. We loved being with our extended family and meeting Marika's which is just the same. Bonus was that we followed Rosemary and Alex to the ferry and had another visit with them for 2 hours. Great weekend. I love 'road trip' weddings. Here we have the Brown/Austin families that were present.

Victoria Wedding

Away we went to Victoria for Tobin and Marika's wedding. Tobin is the son of my brother Peter. The hour and half ferry ride through the Gulf Islands is always a scenic delight. My favorite part is where we go through Active Pass which is between islands, quite narrow and with boat traffic- always, by name, very active. We checked into the hotel where about 6 groups were staying and away to the University of Victoria to the wedding and reception. Everything was a delight. The bride and groom chose to have their blended new families for their wedding party instead of the usual bridesmaids and groomsmen and it was a delight. Even Tobin's dog was part of the wedding party. We were given a printed program which told who everyone was in the wedding party and this made it simple for us to 'meet' our new relatives/family members. Beautiful day and evening.