Thursday 17th December
Blog writing
Friday 18th December
The next sizeable town to the west of us is Sooke, so we decided to check it out. Not a big place and not particularly noteable other than being on the coast. We called at a fish store on the way back and bought hot smoked salmon and salmon jerky!
Saturday 19th December
Movie of the day: In The Heart of the Sea, the story that inspired Moby Dick. Surprisingly, both liked it a lot.
Sunday 20th December
Weekly grocery shopping.
Monday 21st December
Posting previous blog.
Tuesday 22nd December
Cold and rainy.
Wednesday 23rd December
Vet visit for Buddy with sore feet.
After trying boots that just fell off, we found these 'wellies' which work great.
Here he fully 'badass' with muzzle to stop him eating gravel.
Thursday 24th December
A walk on the Galloping Goose trail. On the way back I managed to get close enough to one of the donkeys on the farm next to the marina.
Friday 25th December
We picked a Langford Indian Restaurant for our Christmas dinner.
At the Turmeric Indian Restaurant the onion bhaji were awesome and we liked the mulligatawny soup but by the time we got to our main courses we were probably not that hungry anymore but we got a great doggy bag.
Saturday 26th December
Amazon Boxing Day purchases - good deals on storage.
Sunday 27th December
Weekly groceries with a trip to Thrifty's where they have inexpensive crab cakes (not as good as east coast fish cakes but...) that go great with mushy peas.
Monday 28th December
Matheson Lake walk. They say you can tell which direction is north by seeing which side of a tree the moss grows on. What do you do if the moss grows all around?
Tuesday 29th December
A doctors visit in downtown Victoria for Carol to follow up on her wrist and arm pain.
I took a bike ride when we got back.
Then off to the movies: The Big Short - another winner.
Wednesday 30th December
Another trip to Witty Lagoon, this time to take the 'other' trail which gives a better view of the waterfall.
Even on a cold day it's a popular spot for obvious reasons.
Bright sunlight but quite cold.
I'd forgotten how the winter sun in Canada never gets very high in the sky and soon disappears behind the hills here.
Thursday 31st December
-3deg.C overnight and in spite of the insulation I put on the water hose, it's frozen in the morning.
Another walk to Matheson park and along the Galloping Goose trail.
Friday 1st January
Slightly warmer overnight (1degC) but the water didn't freeze.
Saturday 2nd January
-3deC again overnight but no freeze.
Sunday 3rd January
Weekly groceries and propane.
Monday 4th January
Warming up a bit and not actually raining, so another Galloping Goose walk but in the opposite direction to the usual. Greener than England.
Tuesday 5th January
New hard-drive arrives and much copying of files.
Wednesday 6th January
Carol's birthday - won't mention the number. We went out for supper at the Metchosin Cafe which came highly recommended. Again we stuffed ourselves on hors d'ouevres - wonderful yam fries and garlic mayo. Doggie bag time again.
Thursday 7th January
To Victoria Silver City Cineplex for Star Wars in 3-D Imax -no disappointment there.
Friday 8th January
Hangin' out in Pedder.
Saturday 9th January
Way back in our first year of 5th wheel ownership, our toilet developed a sporadic (fresh!) water leak. This was fixed with a valve kit, installed with passenger Andre's help on the way back to Canada. This time replacing the valve didn't fix it. Internet investigation suggested the use of silicone grease. So, off comes the toilet and take the valve apart again for application of the precious substance (you get a tiny amount for $5).
Sunday 10th January
Weekly groceries.
Monday 11th January
Barely warm enough for a bike ride.
Tuesday 12th January
Rainy day.
Movie of the day: Cemetery Junction - Loved it.
Wednesday 13th January
Buddy to the vet for more heart drugs. Me to the doc to get an ear specialist.
Thursday 14th January
Robin and Jill went to Hawaii for Christmas but they're back and we went over for lunch. They have quite a view from their deck.
After lunch they took us for a walk round Thetis Lake, yet another of the many, many parks here.
Lucy is an extremely energetic goldendoodle.
Friday 15th January
Carol to downtown doc and a trip to Value Village for clothes.
Saturday 16th January
East Sooke Park is huge and will take more than one visit to cover. We started with the bit closest. Aylard Farm parking lot has a coast trail.
Ever wondered what am Arbutus is? It looks like a tree that’s lost its bark which it does once a year and then grows some more.
They also have at least one Petro glyph (ancient rock carving) too.
Monster in the woods.
Sunday 17th January
Weekly shopping
Monday 18th January
It’s Blue Monday - the most depressing day in the year? As declared by a defunct travel agency, based on someone’s ‘calculations’. Cineplex is offering tickets to anything for 500 points and we have a 1000.
The Hateful Eight - not Quentin’s best I think, lacked the tension he’s usually so good at.
Tuesday 19th January
East Sooke Park again. First to Anderson Cove and a steep climb and then Pike Road with a walk down to the sea and what used to be an iron mine - no evidence of that but a nice place to swim in summer perhaps.
Wednesday 20th January
Early morning drive into Victoria to see an ear specialist for me and a blood test for Carol. Wouldn’t want to do that every day, the traffic here is horrible.
Thursday 21st January
We were supposed to go walking with Robin and Jill but - Rain.
Friday 22nd January
Another park - Devonian.
Another debris-filled beach.
And a bird we can’t identify (it was quite large and a diver).
Saturday 23rd January
Rainy
Sunday 24th January
Weekly shopping.
Monday 25th January
Another day where it’s not raining and so another park.
A stiff climb to a splendid view - might have been better with some sun but here’s Langford.
Looking towards this (I think) is Esquimalt Lagoon.
Another arbutus.
Tuesday 26th January
To Silver City for The Revenant - Gruelling to watch but an Oscar cert. for Leonardo.
Wednesday 27th January
Neurologist for Carol.
Thursday 28th January
Wild wind and rain.
Friday 29th January
Rain
Saturday 30th January
We have to move spots on the 1st, so since the spot we were moving to is free, we moved early. It’s the spot just next door, however, it still involves bringing in the slides; hooking up the truck and all the rest of it.
The good part - it didn’t rain.
Sunday 31st January
Weekly groceries.
Monday 1st February
A drop in temperature to an overnight low of 0 degC
Up at 8:30
We met Robin and Jill at a little cafe for lunch and then walked the upper THetis Park Lake - no pics.
Tuesday 2nd February
To the movies for another Oscar contender: Brooklyn – Flawless, beautiful little movie.
