Mushrooms Make Life Marvellous

In the 1980s there was a television commercial that featured a local Vancouver chef bubbling, "Money's mushrooms make meals marvellous."  He brought mushrooms to the masses.  It was a real treat to eat mushrooms that didn't come out of a tin.  I remember my mom buying fresh button mushrooms only on very special occasions.  They certainly weren't an everyday occurrence when I was growing up.

Mushrooms have fascinated me for decades.  All mushrooms.  So colourful.  So dangerous.  So delicious.

Last autumn, our friend 'The Mushroom Whisperer' invited Joe and I to join him in the forest to hunt chanterelles.  We had such a wonderful time.  I could hardly wait for the rains to fall this season so we could go out again to Rick's secret spot.

There is something special about being in the west coast rainforest.  It is so quiet.  Everything, and I mean everything is blanketed in mosses.  It is magical.

I searched high and low for chanterelles.  I tromped over my fair share of rotten logs and under low-hanging tree branches this afternoon.  I found a few nice ones.

Of course, the mushroom whisperer founds scads of chanterelles.  Because that is what he does.  He is a natural.

Not only did he find scores of chanterelles, he also found his first ever cauliflower mushroom! 

When the chanterelles eluded me, I spent my time taking photos of other mushrooms on the forest floor.

There is something to be said for spending an afternoon with Mother Nature.  It made us happy.

Heading home with his haul.

Thank you Rick and Joanne for showing us another amazing day in the woods.  I can hardly wait to taste the fruits of our labour.  

Mushrooms (and friends) make meals (and life) marvellous.

Lots To Be Thankful For This Weekend

This Thanksgiving was one of those long weekends that seemed like a vacation.  Invitations arrived unexpectedly.  Everything lined up perfectly for three solid days of non-stop mirth and merriment.

FRIDAY

We received an invitation to join a young American friend and his family to celebrate his recent graduation from Simon Fraser University with a Master's degree.  We were tickled to be included!

Our friendship with this family goes back to 1987 when we moved to Seattle for Joe to study statistics at the University of Washington.  We were neighbours in student housing.  We quickly became close friends spending lots of time together.  Since then we have visited back and forth to wherever our families were living.  We vacationed together for many years when our kids were small.

And now our babies are grown and doing amazing things with their adult lives.  Jobs, marriages, university degrees, children of their own, living on the other side of the continent, successfully standing on their own two feet.  We parents are proud of who our children have become since those salad days living on the shores of Lake Washington.

Our two families don't see each other very often as we live in Squamish and they live in Idaho.  But when we do see each other, the intervening years melt away and it feels like we were together only the day before.

How do the years fly by so fast?

How did we go from this...

Nancy, Paige, Molly, Paula, Fran and Dominic.  Seattle 1989.

...to this?

Dominic, me and Paula.  Vancouver 2014

How is it possible our babies looked like this just a few short years ago....

Paula, Paige, Dominic and Molly.  Seattle 1990.

...and now they look like this?

Paula, Paige and Dominic.  Vancouver 2014.

Honestly, it seems like the photo below was taken last week but it was taken 21 years ago!

Paige, Marie, Molly, Paula, Will and Dominic.  Mount Vernon 1993.

We used to look like this...

The Sothams and the Trevisans.  Squamish 1994.

...and now we look like this.

The Sothams and the Trevisans.  Vancouver 2014.

Congratulations, Dominic!  Thank you for inviting us to share in your celebration.  It was wonderful to see you and your family.  Please keep us in mind when you graduate with your PhD!

SATURDAY

Saturday was fantastic.  

I went on a long walk with three friends in the morning, I watched an episode of my favourite television show 'Project Runway' in the afternoon and Joe's cousin invited us to join them for a Thanksgiving dinner in Whistler for the evening.  Just how did I get so lucky on a Saturday?

 Babes in the woods.

Me and my favourite canine.

We had a wonderful time in Whistler with Joe's cousins and their friends.  I love meeting new people at parties.  The food was out-of-this-world delicious, the conversations were thought-provoking and interesting, and it was so much fun to sit around a table chatting and eating with thirteen other people, most of whom I had just met.

 No Thanksgiving feast is complete until two of the younger cousins jive in the kitchen.

 And no jive is complete without dipping one's partner at the end of the dance.

A huge thank you to the Clarks and Grants for having us for our first Thanksgiving dinner of the weekend.  We always enjoy our time with you. We are so happy we are family.

SUNDAY

Sunday was our turn to cook.  And by 'our' I mean Joe's.  

Paige, her boyfriend Jordan and my mom arrived mid-afternoon.  Jordan arrived guitar in hand and serenaded us with old songs and new, contemporary and gospel, country and blues.  What a great way to spend a rainy afternoon.

I can't remember what they were singing but they sure were having fun with it.

 A turkey dinner has GOT to be one of my most favourite meals.  I never tire of it.  Never.

We took this photo to send to Molly, our far-away girl in Toronto.  We miss her.  Her absence is keenly felt during the holidays.

MONDAY

Joe put on an incredible breakfast spread.  Baked ham, scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, crepes and mimosas.  How he does it is beyond me.  If breakfast were up to me, we'd be eating Lucky Charms out of the box.

Our three overnight guests left mid-morning and Joe laid down for a well-deserved rest.

The majestic Stawamus Chief in the rain.

Later on in the afternoon we went for a walk at the tip of Howe Sound and reflected on our Thanksgiving weekend.  We both agreed we had lots to be thankful for.  Family, friends, food, music and fun topped our list.

Thank you to everyone for contributing to our wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.  We are grateful for you all.

Two Birthdays And A Party

My mom and her twin brother celebrated their 78th birthday this past weekend.  My cousin and her husband hosted a wonderful party in their backyard to honour these two special people.

I don't get to see this branch of the family all that often, but when we get together the years seem to melt away and it feels as if we were in each other's company just yesterday.

That's how it is with family.

We are connected.

It doesn't matter if we don't see each other for months or years at a time.  We just pick up where we left off and carry on.

Thank you to my zany and fun-loving family for such a wonderful day.  It was fantastic to be together again.  I can hardly wait for the next time.

Last Thoughts On Spain

We have been home from our summer vacation for almost a week now.  I have been poring over my 2,393 photos trying to re-live the magic of our glorious six weeks in the south of Spain.

Here is what I learned this summer:

You do not need to understand another's language to be kindred spirits.

People work incredibly hard.  Day after day, this Moroccan man sits on a piece of cardboard on a concrete floor while he creates very intricate tile patterns for table tops.

Joe's love affair with Jamon Iberico will never be over.

The Spanish siesta is the best invention in the world.

Spanish food is DELICIOUS!  And the scenery ain't bad either.

Warm Spanish evenings bring everyone out of their homes and into the streets for walking, eating, drinking, laughing and generally having fun.  These people know how to live.

Tapas bars are the best way to eat and drink.  (If you are ever in Sevilla, you MUST go to 'Eslava'.   The food here is incredible.)

I miss sleeping in a tent.  My plan is to return to Morocco when I retire in 2017 to travel over the Atlas Mountains and into the Sahara Desert so I can sleep under the stars every single night.

My hair does not do well in the hot Spanish climate.  I suffered through 42 out of 42 bad hair days.  My hair was either bathed in pool water, sea water or sweat.  I washed it, conditioned it, used different styling products.  None of it worked.  I swear, Rumpelstiltskin could have used my hair instead of straw to spin his gold.

Spanish people are so friendly and helpful!  

Case in point:  Joe went searching for a particular ceramic beer mug on our last day in Granada.  He wasn't having much luck.  After several hours of looking, he went into one final beer store and asked the proprietor if he carried the mug.  The shopkeeper said no, but his friend (who was in the store at the time) said, "I have one at home.  Wait here.  I will get it and give it you."  And he did.

This will not be our last trip to the south of Spain.

Please consider doing a house exchange.  Check out Intervac's website to discover where your next holiday destination could be.  Joe and I are already talking about where in the world we are going to travel next year.