Rent-a-cops

We were biking along the seawall and had stopped at Sunset beach on a bench to enjoy the view as we always do. A lady and man cop were walking by which is unusual. Doug joked with them and said 'what? didn't they even give you bikes to use to patrol?' and they smiled and said no.

Then the lady cop came back and said 'heh, have you seen a 12 yr old girl on a purple bike? She is lost and we are with her mom and dad. They're from out of town.' We said no, we hadn't but would keep an eye out. She said good and if we saw her, please call 911 cuz they were frantic with worry and we said yes, we could well imagine. We sat there and commented that we really hadn't seen many kids on bikes today just a few little ones but no 12 yr sized.

And then, about 5 mins later, Doug pokes me and says 'HEH' as a girl on a purple bike rode by. The 'HEH' startled her and I jumped up and said 'are you lost?' and she looked stunned and said 'I'm not sure'. I said 'are you from out of town?' and she said yes. I said 'how old are you?' and she said '12'. I said, well, the policeman are looking for you with your mom and dad and pointed down the seawall. She just started to shake, from relief I guess, and so Doug said to me to stay with her and he biked down to find the police.

While waiting, I asked her her name and told her mine and suggested she sit down as she must have been quite frightened. She said she was and said she had been on her bike and they had been walking/jogging. They told her that if they got separated, she was to just sit on a bench and wait for them. She said she'd been sitting and waiting on many benches and they never came. She was from Portland.

Soon Doug came back and said to her 'do you have an Obama Tshirt on?' which I thought was an odd ? but the girl unzipped her jacket and there it was! then police, on foot, came a few minutes later. The lady cop yelled 'what's your name?' and she answered 'Amelia' and she radioed that in. and also asked to see the Obama Tshirt. So then the cop whips out their little black book and takes our names, birthdates, address and phone number! Amelia said to me while we were waiting for Doug and the cops to come back, 'thank you SO MUCH' for stopping her.

Poor kid...dumb parents.

In the Passing Lane of Life.....

Something unexpected has happened to me....suddenly, I am TOO busy to write in my blog about "Life in the Slow Lane"....who knew????

Last week we were lounging about the hot tub on the cedar deck overlooking the water on Salt Spring Island, then after a 'mini cruise' across the pond courtesy of BC Ferries, we celebrated Mother's Day with family. A quick trip back to the condo to do several loads of laundry, air out the suitcases and then repack for another house sitting trek out to the suburbs of Coquitlam.


No lounging during this gig...in fact the books never got opened we were so busy. I did some serious purging of paperwork, stuff, old stuff and really old stuff. Imagine my surprise to find, hidden in the antique buffet top drawer the following:

• 6 calculators
• 12 wooden rulers!!!!
• 2 three hole punches
  3 staplers
• 4 boxes of staples
• 4 boxes of paper clips
• 5 cameras...1 digital and 4 film including 2 extra lenses, 2 flash units and a timer cord
• 4 cellphones and about 12 charger cords
• 6 picture frames....one actually had a picture in it
• Over 200 black and photos ranging in size from 1x1 inch to 8x10. It would appear that everyone I have known who has died managed to send me all their photos moments before they died. Some have notes on them such as 'Ray and Ollie'.....I know who Ray is (my dad) ..but who is Ollie? And I guess my dad's mom was proud of his new bride as a photo of my parents cuddling in front of a 1943 ?Packard has my grandmother's handwriting saying 'Son Ray and his lovely wife'. A 8x10 photo shows about 100 handsome men in uniform where each of their faces is about the size of the end of a pencil eraser. On the back, my dad has written a note to his dad: "I'm the third one from the right on the top row...in case you've forgotten what I look like!" I brought the photos home tol sort through and scan selected ones into the computer to save...some day.
• a dozen golf balls
• My house budget books from 1996-2004. In 1996 I have written under the column for $$ for gas purchases 'gas price war--gas is 39cents/L'...WOW...those were the days.
  

Once all the paperwork was sorted through, THEN I got to sit down for 8 hrs at least and shred all the delicate information so that the neighbours won't go through my trash and see how foolish I was to hang onto my Nortel shares and ride them all the way down to the bottom! Oopps, hopefully they don't read my blog either!

Other tasks I accomplished was to go through my 200+ CDs and keep the ones I like and box up the ones I don't...including the dreaded 'ABBA Greatest Hits'...am I the only one who doesn't like them?? I took the excess ones (yes, ABBA too) and the now empty CD faux wooden holders to the church thrift store for their annual garage sale. Come Saturday, I'm sure someone will yell 'Heh! Look over here what I found! Some one has thrown out a perfectly good CD of ABBA!'...well, dancing queen THIS is all I can say.


Ok, buffet drawer clean--check.
CDs done and gone--check

Now out to the garden for two full days of chopping of daff and tulip heads, pulling up slimy...what WAS that dead plant? things, weeding, lawn edging (thanks Doug), more weeding, pruned rose brushes, set up the bird baths and their drippers (discovered I had 'pruned' the rubber hose to the bird bath so had an emergency repair to do), pruned the rhodos...ok, it was more like a serious hair cut judging by the four full garbage cans and huge pile of prunings, ....

....and then, just because there were still day light left, brushed the dog and gave her a bath...which then meant cleaning both bathrooms that I used to wash her and blow dry her AND then clean up where I had brushed her.


Left fresh flowers on the kitchen table for the daughter as she was returning home on her first wedding anniversary after a weekend away with hubby. I was exhausted but the house was tidy, the yard looked great, the dog smelled clean and the kids have 6 calculators they didn't know about! They thanked us profusely so I know it was worth it....


..and that dear friends...is Life in the Slow Lane???

If it's Tuesday, it must be Belgium....no, wait...that was LAST week!

I think I have become a gypsy....I travel from place to place and live basically out of a suitcase. Ok so maybe I don't wear big bangly earrings or tell fortunes using a crystal ball but I do know how to play the tambourine.

We moved back into the False Creek condo and immediately got back into the swing of life in the city. Tennis lessons, yoga classes, dinners out, bike rides, walks, wandering through art galleries then bragging about it all to others who are, in our opinion, less fortunate. You know the ones...those that don't live 'downtown'.

My cousin spent a few hours with us on the weekend and she fell in love with 'our life'. In fact, she wants our life. Even my mother has told Doug that if I should ever mistreat him, then she knows an 87 yr old woman who will step into my shoes in a heart beat!

But back to the 'call of the suitcase'. After a mere one week sitting in the hall closet, out came the suitcases and we were back on the road. This time to spend a few days in Salt Spring Island dog and house sitting. Now before you feel too sorry for us...the dog is a pampered poodle and the house is a gorgeous home overlooking the water.

If I HAVE to sit in a big comfy chair and read my book sipping wine, then I guess this is a good place to do it!