Summer's Over!

There have been some stunning sunrises and sunsets

It's been a month since we got back from our epic trans-Canada trip and memory fades quickly once you start getting back into a routine. And we are definitely back into a routine.

If there is an enduring memory of the trip, it is that we now have a better, first hand, understanding of the sheer scale of Canada. We have hardly scratched the surface of the country and there is a lifetime of adventure in BC alone. Methinks planning for a Yukon trip next year will be underway shortly, plus bits of Alberta and BC.

Renovated stairs

Since returning to the West coast the focus has been helping Nick and Lizzie get the final phase of their renovation project finished, ahead of the arrival of Sebby's sibling in a few weeks time. And no, we don't know if it is a boy or a girl.

My focus has been on adding an Oak veneer to the grotty old painted stair treads, cutting and installing the risers and then making up the strings at the side to tidy up the edges. Boy what a fiddly job that has been. Nothing was square or the same size, level, parallel or anything else for that matter.

As part of the prep for the new arrival, we have enjoyed two weekends of Sebby's company while N&L finish painting and have some time to themselves. Boy has he grown in the four months we were away!!! Taller, faster, more energetic, chatty and bright (OK we are biased).

He came into the kitchen having picked some basil leaves from the pot on the rear deck and proceeded to tell Fred they are good with pasta. He's only three and a half! He clearly takes after his grandfather!

This last weekend, 17th-19th October it was the annual Sunshine Coast Art Crawl. With 185 artists it is a mega event. We managed to get out to some of the exhibitors' studios; on the Saturday with some friends who were staying with us, and Sunday Fred did a few more studios with a local friend.

The first of these friends we met on the trans-Canada trip at Elkwater Campground in Alberta, and then 'bumped' into them at other locations as we progressed East. More later.

This Flight Tonight - by Teryl Mullock

It proved an expensive weekend as we acquired another piece of artwork by one of our favourite Coast artists Teryl Mullock. This time a numbered print rather than an original piece!

Plus two pieces by a near neighbour Allan O'meara. There is so much talent on the Coast!

If Fred doesn't stop buying pictures we're going to need a bigger house!

The Alan O'Meara pieces have a musical theme to them, so were bought for hanging on the wall behind the new piece of 'furniture' we have recently acquired.

A fellow choir member, piano tuner and one of the most amazing pianists, dropped me a note while on the trans-Canada trip to say he knew of a baby grand that was for sale. It now sits in our family room (now renamed music room), awaiting a tune in a month's time once it has acclimatised to its new surroundings. It is a most beautiful instrument and identical in model and age to the one belonging to my piano teacher. It was also amazing value for money.

The Allan O'Meara prints

The current keyboard will be heading to North Vancouver for a bright three and a half year old!

While on a musical theme rehearsals are underway for Cherubini's Requiem which will be performed on Remembrance Day.

Beethoven held Cherubini's Requiem in high regard, calling him the "greatest living composer" and stating that if he were to write a requiem, Cherubini's would be his only model. This of course was before Brahm's, Duruflé, Verdi, Fauré, Rutter and others wrote their requiems, but praise indeed. It is the most beautiful piece of music.

I have to confess I had not heard of Cherubini's, before the Requiem Choir learnt of the work. It is quite a challenging choral piece and we have only three more rehearsals, plus the dress rehearsal with the orchestra before the live performances.

The Coast Messiah Choir and Orchestra are also doing Handel's Messiah on December 22nd. We start rehearsal for that late November. It will mostly be singers who have performed it before.

Fred, who has long claimed she can't sing, has joined the Davis Bay Singers, a new group formed by our Music Director to cope with the demand for choir places. Its focus is on new singers or those who have not sung in a choir for a while and want to learn. I sense some imminent competition!

While we've been humming away here, Ros has been out in Saudi Arabia as Logistics Lead for the E Extreme racing near Qiddiya City.

Her first visit to the Middle East and by all accounts an exhilarating couple of weeks. She was buzzing on her return to Christchurch NZ and is now preparing for this Summer's Crankworx mountain bike events in NZ.

Saudi, she said, was hot, dry and dry! Oh and sandy. Leaf blower technology was put to use to get the sand out of the air-conditioned marquees.

As well as the event management space, the organisers had built living accommodation, a gym and a swimming pool, all in the desert.

There are a number of videos on YouTube if you're interested.

Back from our long distance trip we are now sorting out the truck that got a bit battered on the journey.

The roof, which was damaged by the duct tape when the roof glass broke 10 mins off the ferry, is having to be lacquered and polished back to life; the sliding roof head-liner has to be replaced as glass in the track bust one of the clips that help open and close the liner and some minor bodywork repairs are needed.

Mechanically the brake disks (know locally as rotors) are having to be replaced again as they failed 3,000 km after they were last replaced in Sudbury (ON) on the outward leg of the journey. We know not why. That coupled with the mid-section exhaust baffle which has come loose, creating a hugely irritating buzzy rattle when accelerating under load.

Fortunately the insurers are covering the first two items and the second two we hope are being covered by the Toyota warranty, though they baulked at the first rotor replacement.

Our travelling acquaintances stayed with us for a few days last weekend, giving us a chance to catch up and share our travel adventures. Upside and downside. He, Jack, flies a drone and he took some fabulous video of Bonniebrook, where we live and in Gibsons as well.

They are below, plus some other recent pics.