Brooms as Paddles: Water Witch Sighting

The weather today was a repeat of yesterday.  And that's a good thing.

After breakfast, we went to the car to decide where to drive.  We ended up a rather short distance away in Burnaby.  We didn't walk completely around Deer Lake but got in a little exercise, along the north trail.

The view of the tall buildings in Metrotown was great on such a sunny day.  It seems that the residential towers along the Kingsway corridor never stop sprouting.  Now there are three, independent areas of growth in the township!  Burnaby sits between my city of New Westminster and downtown Vancouver.  Its three, burgeoning, commercial/residential zones seem rivals for new growth.

When we were parking we saw a lot of ladies donning Halloween attire.  These water witches were getting some exercise on the lake too, it seems.  Perhaps, this is a 'no-fly' zone.

A View to a Freeze

It was an absolutely brilliant day with no clouds. Of course, after the grey clouds from earlier in the week, the sun seems spectacular. It is still early, so I think it will definitely hit zero degrees Celcius tonight. The frost will be on the pumpkin although we have none on our balcony.

 

The Sun is Visiting!

Weather blogging? Surely, THAT must be a sign there's not much going on!

Actually, I was happy just seeing blue sky patches today. October has been pretty gloomy. During the first part of the week, we went without even a hint of sun. A few days of clouds prompt joy as sun rays dance on familiar objects.

   

This looks like the lead-in to a fantastic weekend. There aren't many free weekends left before we depart for the UAE. On Saturday of next weekend, we have the guys over for dinner. The one after that will involve packing and making sure the apartment is ready for our extended time away. 

It's a shame we haven't planned a driving trip somewhere in BC during the next few days.

Three-Star Mariners

It's now the end of October and although my birthday isn't for another nine months, it is never too soon to start planning. 

Today, we went uptown and stopped at the Expedia Cruise Ship Centre. Whereas we have not used a physical travel agent for a decade, we still enjoy going up to see Arlene. We check online initially but let her do the final cruise bookings. She is older than us and likes travelling too. She always manages to give us a perk or two over the best deal we find anywhere. 

She was able to book a Holland America Line sojourn for the middle of next summer. I do enjoy having a birthday that falls during the peak point in the summer of the Nothern Hemisphere.  Arlene threw in a free birthday dinner for two in the specialty 'Pinnacle Grill' on the MS Nieuw Statendam. 

In 2019, on my 60th birthday, we were aboard a local, HAL cruise.  On July 23rd, in Skagway, AK, Jay and I jumped into a helicopter that flew us to the top of Meade Glacier. That was surely an exciting, one-of-a-kind present.

   

These last two years have not been kind to the cruise industry.  However, we are happy to know that for my 63rd, we'll again be on a new and different sea adventure.

Refillin'

One of the first things I do in the morning is to make a cup of coffee in the Keurig. I drink a black cup to wake up. Lately, I've been refilling small, plastic K-cups with a morning blend. 

Later in the day, I generally prefer a flavoured cup with milk and sugar. This week those have been labelled as 'Folger's Hazelnut Cream'. I bought several boxes of 40 flavoured coffees but the thrill of variety seems to have worn thin.

October has been sort of a coffee month here in Vancouver.  After a very dry summer, rain is again soaking the coastal region.  It's no accident Starbucks™ was born just 200 hundred kilometers south.  Grey, rainy days are the perfect invitation for increased coffee consumption.

Today we felt a little bit of cabin fever, so we drove to the uptown mall.  We put on several kilometers in a determined stroll on both floors of the Royal City Centre.  Whenever we are near that Walmart, we can think of a few grocery items to purchase.

Quite Purple!

The weather for most of the day was unpleasant. Around 4:00 pm it cleared up a bit but that was short-lived.

      

I might not have taken any photos today had it not been for the UPS guy. He delivered Jay's new suitcase and carry-on. We bought unseen from the COSTCO website. The two peices have the Samsonite name on their sides but they feel as cheap as any department store luggage.

The Immense Parking Lot was Full

I should have pictures of the storm. We'd known it was coming and were warned. It ended up being an explosive low-pressure system off the Pacific that set records but, luckily, it bypassed us directly. 

Before things started really blowing in the afternoon, we drove to Surrey. We were very near to the location where we were sworn in as Canadians. That part of Surrey is called Newton. Until today, we'd only visited the closest COSTCO warehouse. Today's was around 10 KM from our place. Another is about the same distance too. Our closest warehouse is a few kilometers closer.

   

It was huge and immensely busy for a Monday morning. It must be people try to avoid the weekend crowds by visiting on Mondays. Now we know enough to avoid Mondays too. We bought just several food items for this was a scouting mission.

About 5035 KM East

I got a surprise picture from a former high school classmate. The image arrived in FB messenger and resulted in a little conversation about life. Marla is one lady with whom I get a chance to message once in a blue moon. She was out by the neighbourhood where I grew up and snapped this photo.

   

I hardly ever get back to the area but get the idea that not a great deal changes. She said that not all changes are good. However, a new dollar store would've been within biking and even walking distance from our old, little house. 

Personally, I think it may be a welcome addition to the spot where Routes 11 and 103 meet up. (I guess depending on your direction of travel or perspective, it might be categorized as where Route 11 and 103 split.) Anyway, it was great to hear about my friend's return to the area and how she finds life.

Today's Swap Meet

Our condo's quarterly junk fest occurred today. It's a nice perk run by our strata council.  We live in two towers and, off the top of my head, I believe there are 150 units. With so many apartments, our neighbours are capable of generating a lot of odds and ends. 

Every three months, an area the size of three stalls in our shared underground parking becomes a place to discard unwanted items. Items, such as used furniture, cannot normally be thrown out with the garbage. A junk removal company is hired to haul it away on the designated Saturday.

Today was our fall event.  I call it that as people are free to look around and salvage anything which might be of interest.  Over the years we have made use of a few items,  some of which have had the privilege of being re-donated years later!   

Late last night, we brought down an item we knew would have no takers.  For over a month, our broken washing machine had been sitting on the balcony primed for this very day.  We were sure that carrying it to the parking level would be easier and cheaper than trying to haul it to the recycling depot.  

We were pretty good at making sure we brought nothing back upstairs.  Oh, there were four fluorescent light tubes still in new packaging.  Someone must've changed their kitchen fixture and no longer needed to keep them as spares.  I did put those in our hallway closet.

Seven Years of Luck

Today, I searched my Flickr account for images with a date of October 22, 2014. That was my final day of teaching at the BC Institute of Technology. 

Officially, the date of my early retirement was November 1st, but I choose to celebrate the final day I worked with students.  It seems like a more fitting date to acknowledge the end of a gratifying career.  Staff in our department popped in during class to bid farewell, present a few gifts, and eat a bit of cake.

   

Seven isn't really an auspicious anniversary, although it's a lucky number in many cultures.  Nevertheless, I am immensely grateful for having had the chance to close an important chapter of my life at such an opportune time.  Some of the happiest years of my life have occurred during the seven years since that date.

Easy to Set Up

I think our new HP device is going to become my most favourite travel PC ever!  We don't leave for the winter for nearly a month; however, I wanted to get our new, Windows 11 device up to speed early.

   

The little Pavilion Aero 13 came in white, a very pristine white. Our former travel computer was that sort of rose metallic colour so popular four years ago. 

I suppose this one will be difficult to keep clean, especially when travelling. However, I do sort of love its looks at the moment. Neither Jay nor I are big fans of trying to work with laptop touchpads. So, Amazon just delivered a new white, Bluetooth mouse.  At $15, a new matching mouse just makes me feel more coordinated.

 

What is the Price at the Moment?

Nowadays, buying airline tickets is like shooting craps. The prices change frequently and one never knows what will happen to the online price.  Will it increase or decrease?  Is it better to wait until the last minute or lock-in early?  Each route has its own particular peculiarities.

We have planned one month in Dubai starting mid-November.  We will then proceed to Sri Lanka for a three-month stay.  We'd been holding off buying that round trip section, although we already hold Turkish Air tickets for next month's departure and our spring return from Dubai.  The prices on Emirates seemed pricy as a direct flight is only around four hours and fifteen minutes.  However, we will need to prove a departure date when entering the United Arab Emirates.

 

Suddenly, last night, we saw round-trip fares drop $180 on Expedia for each of us.  We quickly bought them.  Now we are set for the air portion of our entire winter.

Tuesday in the Park and at the Cinema

We were delighted to see a little morning sun today.  This month has been pretty dreary so far and it seems as though the rain will rejoin us tomorrow.  So, we walked across Columbia Street to Westminster Pier Park.

Simply walking to the other end of the river-front park and back only takes a few minutes as it's perhaps a kilometer and a half.  Yet, the 9-year-old municipal place is a blessing.  Unfortunately, the city lost the entire section of the original wooden piers to fire last year.  Thankfully, the permanent section is right across the street though.

These two photos show the colourful foliage.  We are in the taller of the two adjoining towers called Carnarvon Place.  We purchased and moved into the apartment in 1998.

Later in the morning, we drove to Coquitlam to go to the movies.  It seems like forever since we ventured into a cinema here in British Columbia.  We wanted to go to a 12:30 showing of No Time to Die.  There were lots of showtimes but few in 3D.  This Bond flick was made to be seen in three dimensions!  It is pretty amazing how unobtrusive the glasses are nowadays.  I nearly forget to take them off when we left screen #14.

I'm Talking Terraria

We took a drive over the old Pattullo Bridge today.  Its days are numbered, the digits may still be in the hundreds; nevertheless, they're numbered.  We hear the pounding of pile driving for the support structures regularly now.  I don't think the replacement bridge opens until 2024.

Anyway, that is not what I wanted to mention.   We crossed the river to pop in at a Home Depot.  We have about thirty bucks extra on our Home Depot Card leftover from the bathroom work this summer.  I wondered if we could find a suitable LED light for the laundry closet.  An old LED light there seems to be on its last legs, even though lights don't walk.

We didn't find a suitable lighting fixture.  However, in the plant section, we found out about a hot, new gardening trend.   Terrariums are obviously popular at the moment.  I blame COVID-19.  Anything at all can be blamed on the COVID situation nowadays.

Membership Thru Next Summer

I researched the new Microsoft PC hardware and was not impressed. It seems as though they've gone the same route as Apple; namely, quality builds with a 40% price premium over the specs of the provided hardware. I guess that extra cash must go into the "magical" qualities as both marketing teams now promise buyers this with their products. 

Beginning a month ago, I started looking for a new laptop to replace our ageing ASUS.  We needed a new Windows PC for the road but not too much of one.  I was looking for another one that would be easy to stuff into my backpack.    

I noted the HP Pavilion Aero 13 had a perfect combination of good specs at a reasonable price.  Unfortunately, the model is not offered through the online HP store in Canada.  Their US store cannot ship here either.  In fact, the model I desired is sold through just one reseller in the entire country!

 

I had somehow managed a few decades in BC without a COSTCO membership, but I bought one online last night.  We ventured to the closest warehouse to get our cards this morning.  It was almost worth the 5.5-kilometer drive and money just to hike around inside the location.  Far too many folks visit on Sunday mornings, I must report.

Got one!  Our new PC shipped with Win10 on the SSD but as soon as the installation process got hold of our wifi name and password, it offered to load Windows 11 instead.  So, there was zero wait or additional hassle setting up the new machine this afternoon.  It's completely white, so this computer will ensure that we frequently wash our hands, even when COVID-19 is no longer a concern.

Perhaps I'll include a few photos tomorrow and a comparison shot of our old and new travel PCs.

How to Dispose of Old Underwear

Our flights to Dubai will take off a month from today. After we hang around the city of the current world expo for a month, we will take 4-hour and fifteen-minute plane rides to Colombo. We hope to spend about three months visiting Jay's two sisters.

It's never too soon to start checking to see what we might stuff into our bags.  Packing for winters away is pretty routine now.  We've always been travellers though.  We are pros at keeping clothes to a minimum, especially since we always head somewhere warm for our retirement winters!

I have years of being used to wearing the rattiest of underwear when travelling, contrary to what your mother may have told you.  Of course, that allows all my ageing garments to get the boot before our return journey.  This, in turn, allows for even more space in which to tuck items when coming back here in the spring.

However, even the cheapest international flight offers a free piece of luggage.  In fact, most airlines allow 30 kg or around 66 lbs when flying into and out of the Middle East.  

 

Therefore, we will have room for some last-minute items to completely fill every suitcase cranny.  Sometimes, they're not items that make a lot of economic sense, but even ordinary items, if imported, carry extra cachet.  We don't mind lugging around edible souvenirs no matter how superfluous. 

Continuing Rainfall Warning for Coastal BC

After locking the doors, I stepped back and liked the wet foreground and industrial-looking background. I fumbled with my phone to snap a photo in the rain.

We are nearing the end of the third summer driving our electric KONA. Our EV has only been on the roads for seven months out of every twelve.  In fact, Kimchi does not carry registration nor insurance when we are away for winters. 

 

The car's first summer of 2019 was fairly normal as we drove over to the Okanagan and took shopping trips down to Bellingham in WA.   However, both last summer and this one, we have stayed close to home due to the COVID situation.  

The US border closed to non-essential travel in March of 2020 but will not open until November 8, 2021.  BC residents were encouraged to avoid travel within the province last summer.  Also, extensive COVID-outbreaks this summer, especially in the slow-to-get-vaccinated areas, meant travel really hasn't been an option either.

We have put very, very few kilometers on this car.   I hope we can take an extended road trip next summer.  It is a joy to drive on the highway with adaptive cruise control that masters even stop and go traffic.

A Rain-Soaked Thursday

I never thought that we would ever have much, even vaguely, in common with mall rats. 

However, today is 8C and there's a rainfall warning in effect. So, we decided to go to the Metropolis at Metrotown.  The largest mall in British Columbia offers plenty of indoor space in which to walk around, even if one doesn't enter the majority of the boutique shops.

Metrotown's Mall is just 10.4 kilometers from our apartment and a quick and easy drive.  I feel no qualms about driving around on non-crucial errands nowadays.  My EV plugs into our provincial grid which is more than ninety-five percent energized by hydroelectric power.  Therefore, our resource of abundant, falling water got us to the mall and back.  Let the rain continue!  

While walking around we did hit the Asian market, T&T.  We only bought a few vegetables.  Oh, and the fresh milk hadn't been put on the shelves, so Jay went into the mega-location of the Canadian Superstore.  He got our two-liter carton and ensured that it had the max two-week expiry.  We find we use much less milk than we used to.

    

Today's Facebook Comment

Were we the first generation raised with television? 

Hey, we didn't turn out so badly.  Even though we may have rushed home as middle-schoolers to watch 'Dark Shadows'.

 

Loperamide

I didn't get far from the apartment today. A little stomach trouble and fever kept me in. It was good to sleep so much, I guess.  I feel fortunate because I didn't have to consider calling in sick as a retiree.  I'm coming up on seven years since I taught a class.

 

Downtown New West on a Brisk Evening

Today was officially Canadian Thanksgiving. Right on cue, it seems as though the weather is playing along. 

The temperature is on its way down to 4°C. I took this photo from the balcony looking down Columbia Street. The majority of these buildings were not built when we moved here to live in New Westminster in 1996.

 

Our Thanksgiving 2021

It wouldn't have been Thanksgiving if we'd not had the opportunity to visit the Richmond guys!  We happily went this evening for a Sunday dinner.

Shinji put on his usual amazing feast and we left more stuffed than the main dish.  This year Tim was in Portugal but Jiwan rode out on the SkyTrain and we drove along the Westminster Highway.  After five hours it hardly seemed as though we'd been there at all.  We reluctantly departed at around 9:45 pm.  I had a bit of difficulty getting the car's seatbelt around me.  We dropped Jiwan off at the SkyTrain station in Richmond for a quicker way home.

We are so appreciative of these friends!

Bing Shows Fall; I Imagine Winter

It was a rainy Saturday afternoon which is almost a given on our October long weekend.  It is dark at 4:00 PM.  In many ways, it looked like winter here.  So what better to do than cross my fingers and try to install Win 11 on the primary home computer!

I did a fresh install on our non-compliant, old travel laptop, on Tuesday, the day the new version of MS Windows was released to the public.  The process proved entirely painless and I have sort of grown to like the pared-down taskbar and general peppiness of the newer operating system.

 

Therefore, today, I went to the Microsoft site and downloaded the Windows 11 Installation Assistant.  Who knows when the Windows Update process would have finally gotten around to upgrading me!  Getting 'up to speed' didn't take long.  Everything seemed to correctly come along for the ride.  After I finish this post, I'll delete the 35 Gb of files in the SSD windows.old folder.

These Cranberries Got Sauced

This morning, we did a run to the Langley Farm market. We generally go to buy fruit and vegetables on Thursdays or Fridays while we pick up regular groceries on Saturdays.

There was a lot of traffic on the roads as some folks started their Canadian Thanksgiving weekend a little early.  I liked the feeling of activity and industry.  It is something that has been missed during this long, long COVID situation.

Tonight, our meal might look like a tiny Thanksgiving practice-run.  However, it wasn't.  We bought a roasted chicken at the uptown Walmart and we always eat a lot of veggies.  However, the cranberry sauce that Jay made does fit into the season.

 

Stormy Weather

I'm not Etta James but I feel the climate has been turbulent this week. Perhaps I've forgotten what October storms can be like. 

The weather last night and tonight will head down to low temperatures of 6°C. That is not terribly uncomfortable and this part of Canada is known for its moderate, oceanic climate. 

Still, I'd rather spend winters where it's always room temperature outdoors. It looks as though we're gearing up for just that with a month in Dubai and three, most probably, back in Sri Lanka.

 

Looking Straight Across the Fraser River from our Balcony, Over the Columbia SkyTrain Station in New Westminster, BC

Scrapbooking Items Received

When thinking of a blog post for today, I found just two photos from the day that I could add.  Then, I thought I'm essentially scrapbooking but without the need to save the physical objects.

The top picture arrived in our postal box today.  It took just a week to get here from Portugal.  Tim is so thoughtful to keep us in mind on his trip.  We have to laugh because we've sent him Christmas cards that never ever arrived due to the incompetence of Mexico's postal system.

Below is another item that got here today.  It arrived by a delivery guy but it was shipped from China just a while ago.  I sometimes order items from AliExpress.com.  They have good prices on gadgets and the products seem to arrive in western Canada quickly.

I'm getting this box to take along this winter.  We'll be in Dubai for a month and I won't need it.

However, we think we may continue onwards to Sri Lanka for an additional three months.  Jay's sisters both have IPTV in their homes but rely on their phones for Internet access.  I've always just made use of the built-in hotspot on my Android phones for access too.  This year, I thought perhaps a data-only SIM would allow gigabytes of LTE service at a reasonable price.  Furthermore, it'd be easy for all devices to utilize the wifi broadcast produced by this dedicated router.

Two Different Screen Types

A wall canvas for the newly-renovated bathroom finally got here this morning. FedEx thought it'd be here yesterday, but obviously, that wasn't the case. This was the second we'd received. Unfortunately, the original package contained someone else's canvas and it had to be returned. That means this was about two weeks late in arriving. This has allowed me to keep the Bathroom Reno blog tag active for a little longer, I guess.

Another arrival this evening was Windows 11.  This was the first day of its worldwide release to the public.  Most Windows 10 users will automatically receive the free upgrade in the same way the OS usually updates.  However, I could've waited forever with our older laptop used when travelling.

You see, this computer is about four years old.  Although the processor is perfectly adequate, Microsoft decided against allowing most Intel 7th generation chips from running the new operating system.  This has an Intel Core i5-7200 CPU.

So, I had to download the free MS Media Creation Tool and create a bootable USB drive.  I saw warnings only before beginning the process.  Otherwise, it all went very smoothly and quickly.  I have already deleted the old backup Windows 10 left on its drive.    

It takes only a few minutes to find one's way around with the new menuing.  It is smooth and faster than the previous OS.  It feels a little dumbed-down but I guess I'm past the point of wanting an operating system that is complicated.  This feels like it's going to work well, even without the Microsft-included 'Apple-marketing-ripoff comments' about its 'magical' and 'calming' attributes.  Paaleeeze, spare me!

Across the River and Up the Hill

This morning Jay thought he should have a new battery put in his fancy watch. When he retired, he was awarded a timepiece from a premier Canadian jeweller, called Birks. 

One perk of having a watch from their company is that they provide free battery installation for life. The hassle being one needs to drop the watch off at a branch and it takes days and days to get it back.

Rather than doing it at the downtown Vancouver store, he looked online and saw that they maintain a branch in the Guildford Mall in Surrey.  So we drove over.

We were a bit early, so we walked around a mall we never visit.  It's sort of high-end and trendy and we shop at none of the stores.  It was fun killing time walking the length and breadth of the giant space.

We arrived at the Birks at exactly 11:00, its opening time.  But it is always closed on Sunday AND Mondays.  Today's trip included us getting in a lot of our necessary daily steps, if not getting results for the reason we went.

On the way back, we drove through Surrey Central and stopped at another megamall in the area.  They have a T&T Supermarket.  It is a chain supermarket with lots of familiar items from South and South East Asia.  We delight in seeing items like fresh rambutan although Jay didn't buy the bag he's holding in the picture.  We did come back home for lunch with a few additional items from the in-store Chinese takeaway.

Showing Off New West

Today was a fine example of nice October weather. Luckily, Jay had asked a friend from Vancouver to come out to New Westminster for a visit. He had visited here dozens of times.  However, he'd not really had an opportunity to see much of our little city, so we drove around it a bit. 

We started off at the Mall before heading out. We went to the Glenbrook Ravine and Sapperton Landing parks. We continued on for a short while at Queen's Park as well.  After coming home, we had a rather late lunch.

It was a great day to catch a little sunshine.

 

 

Frozen Birds

Canadian turkeys are nervous. Well, the ones still alive are.  These frozen birds are well beyond that.

 

Thanksgiving in Canada comes well before the US holiday.  I like to point out that it is supposed to be a time to show appreciation for a bountiful harvest and that period of the year is just about now.  Canadian Thanksgiving is always the second Monday in October.  That means it'll occur on October 11th this year.

Researching Ourselves

We have our air tickets for a major portion of this winter's travel.  Our flights will depart Vancouver on November 15th.  That got me wondering about our previous retirement winters.  I did remember that Jay and I were a little late for our very first winter as we flew on US Thanksgiving day.

So, I had to do a bit of sleuthing to see on what date we left on our subsequent winters.  I had to look up the details right here in my eJournal and images.  Of the six winters of travel, it appears only one started in October on Halloween day.

On some of the trips, we lost a day because of the International Date Line but gained the lost time back when returning in the spring.  At other times, we headed to the airport late because our flights were in the early hours of the following morning.  On a few occasions, the initial flight was simply a stopover destination on our way to where we'd spend the bulk of the winter.

November 27, 2014

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

 

November 4, 2015

Dubai, UAE; Luxor, Egypt; Tunis, Tunisia

(Jay's bypass operation meant our winter 2016 departure was replaced by a Mediterranean cruise the following summer and one from Vancouver to New Zealand in the autumn.)

 

November 30, 2017

Hong Kong, China; Penang, Malaysia; Siem Reap, Cambodia  

November 12, 2018

Taipei, Taiwan; Bali, Indonesia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia  

October 31, 2019

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Colombo, Sri Lanka

November 6, 2020

Playa del Carmen, Mexico; Mazatlan, Mexico