I picked up Monica and we loaded all our bottles and headed to Kootenay WINECRAFTERS where we bottled three batches and had a great visit with each other and Elva, the owner.
After we went to Monica’s and played Patchwork. she won two out of three games.
I came home to make soup and get ready to play Outsmarted but Mark was t up to it and Danika messaged to see if Emmy could stay o er.
I enjoyed my advent and enjoyed my soul. Emmy arrived and I made popcorn and we watched The Gruffalo before heading off to bed
Popped into the office to have great help putting up my Christmas tree
Off to the dentist for a cleaning and met the new hygienist, Avery, from outside Sudbury who knew where Markstay is where Bill grew up. We had a good chat when possible.
Back to the office to do some more ‘free’ work and then popped home to get ready for a night out in Kimberley
CFEK invited me and a guest to their Christmas party at The Old Bauernhaus. Tracey joined me, and we picked up Brian, one of our janitors on the way. The meal was the Bavarian Feast, an ‘I lost count’ round of amazing food. The new GM Kerstin and her husband Dave, loans manager, Keri, and Community Manager, Marie with her boyfriend, Chris, joined our table and the conversation flowed easily. It was a great night!
Elk crossed our path on the way home but we got here safely. I love today’s advent gifts. This was a good whiskey
Rotary was very emotional as the speaker talked about the fundraiser for the expansion of the cancer and dialysis ward at our hospital. My friend Yvonne had been on dialysis and it just brought up all the grief again, especially as I try to process Mark’s diagnosis.
After work I met Dave from CT at Fenwick and Baker. I invited him to join Rotary and we had a great visit while I ate and then headed off to my second to last FPPAS board meeting.
Earlier in the day I received an email from Rotary President Joe invite to be a member at large of that Board for 12 months. I agreed.
I took a questionnaire on BC Hydro and according to my tastes, I am a Gen Z lol
Lucy, an employee at the Makerspace made a lifelike doll! It even felt the right weight
The GroundFloor Coworking Space put in a lovely lunch for us all, complete with taco fixings
At 4 I had an appointment to get my first service on my car. After, I stopped at Encore to see Rae, only to discover that we’d picked the same festive shirt, the ones I’d bought us when she was GM at Arby’s
Gene looks sooooo grown up at his final concert
Whiskey advent was okay, not my favourite, a little powerful
I finally heard from a friend who has been recently diagnosed with bladder cancer. It tears me apart, but I need to be there and be strong for him. Fuck Cancer
This morning my advent from Rae was a pair of my favourite socks. Yay!
A funny at someone else’s expense moment of the day was hearing a loud bang outside and seeing that some poor guy had lost his new snowblower off the back of his truck in the intersection! He managed to start it and maneuver it behind a bush at the church on the corner while he went for help. All I could imagine was him having to go home and tell his wife that he was driving with the tailgate open and no tie downs.
After work I headed to Key City to cover one of the bars for the Matt Andersen show which sounded soooo great. I have been blessed to see him in the past but enjoyed my little video as I walked down the hall. To quote Snoop Dogg, that boy can sang!
Once home, I had an ounce of my next whiskey. It was good but not my favourite.
Day two from Rae were some cute cat thumbtacks. Last night I framed my art from the Galapagos finally and got it hung up in my office at days end.
Next stop was Ashlée’s house to grab the two items I asked her to pick me up at Costco while she was in Alberta. The small jar is what I paid almost $8 for here, and the other was only $3 more!
The advent was a small investment of $240 taxes in but it is so worth it! High quality, gorgeous and the first one is from Peru!
I went to the arena to meet Rae-Anne at the Christmas market and a few minutes after I got there I received a notification that I’d been tagged by Yvonne’s daughter Barbara for the live stream of the service. It was surreal to be in such a happy and vibrant place as I listened to the first half and then saved it for later.
I found a few things for myself, enjoyed spending time with Rae and then came home to get a lot of outdoor and indoor chores done before sitting down to watch the entire service. It was a beautiful tribute to an angel on earth. I am lucky to have known her and been loved by her.
A salmon dinner seemed a fitting meal
My first advent gift from Rae is the gorgeous bag it all comes in!
I decided that I needed to paint a wall before putting up my Lego shelves. This also involved changing 3 light fixtures and installing my new Nest Learning Thermostat. I did start with enjoying the coffee I brought back from Vacation
The rest of the evening was spent taping off Baker street and then working a barricade with Kurt and Kona for the JCI Christmas Parade on behalf of Rotary. Cranbrook is definitely a blue collar, red neck wonder
Gene calling cadence
After the parade, a bunch of us met at Heidout for bevies and chat. It was fun and I was once again challenged by Ron Popoff to run for City Council in 2026. He feels strongly that I would be a good addition. I have much time to think.
As always, work was a lot today. I filed a complaint with Councillor Ron about one of our fellow Rotarians. I got everything I had to do filed, sent out my invoices and then handed to Encore. It was loud and busy with Christmas party season. I ordered way too expensive meal for what I got, and came home. I am now watching ‘ A Serious Man’ on Prime.
Rotary lunch was at the Cranbrook Golf Club and was good. The speaker was from Canadian Mental Health and I admit to being triggered. I suspect a good deal of it was due to being lowered by grief.
I spent the afternoon running errands, including picking up a game for the boys on sale at Canadian Tire. Next was processing all Mons prescriptions from the last 8 months through her benefits Did a bit of paid work and then headed to Fenwick & Baker for a bevie and a bite. The calamari was good but the pork bites are still my favourite. It’s nice to have a ‘local’ that isn’t connected to my family. The space is also where I hung out in the late 90s with my theatre peeps.
Home to put away my free replacement box of revive which they sent when I called to cancel my account.
I am watching Season 4 of Umbrella Academy which is exactly the type of odd escapism that I love
Sleep was ragged, work was jagged, but this evening was satisfactory. I left the office at 4 and headed up to Colombo Lodge to help serve the 450 or so seniors a three course turkey dinner for only $5. All was possible thanks to generous donors and many volunteer hours. There were a couple annoying people moments but they were other Rotarians and I will let them know where the missteps were. Tom Bungay and Rollie Cummins played music to round out the evening.
I saw the news on Facebook. I didn’t want to believe it. You called me on Wednesday to let me know if you were doing better and that you hoped to go home to Bella Bella soon. You were excited and laughed to tell me that Ross and Shayne were having another boy. Another great grandson.
We ended our call with our usual I love You.
I got the call from one of your daughters looking for information to help with the plans. We were too choked up to talk. Her sister messaged me later and apologized for how I found out. It is okay, I explained, not everyone knows the connections we have in this life.
I am grateful for my time in BB. We have known each other for 14 years this month. It is still impossible to believe you are gone.
The snow was still coming down this morning getting to a total of 15” or 38.1 cm in this current drop.
I got out and shovelled again before making g a nice lunch, showering, and watching ’Shrinking’ before organizing all my Christmas presents including getting Rae’s advent ready.
I had a 4:45 appointment with my favourite tattoo guy, Jeff, who has created some perfect ones for me. He is going to turn my best picture of a marine iguana into a work for me on Jan 8th. I love working with him on these pieces of memory.
On the way back home I stopped to drop off gifts at Guedes house and am amazed by the igloo the boys made
I picked up Tracey who was my guest for the Friends With Benefits dinner and concert at Encore. What an incredible off menu feast we had! All courses were paired with beer and I feel very much satisfied
It was also one of the owners, Jesse’s birthday as well as my grandson Will’s 13th
The opening band were three teens, Charity Standing Orders who brought back grunge with a vengeance
Half Spent closed out the night and they were amazing, as always
It has stopped snowing and is slushy slippery but we made it home safe and all is right with the world.
The best comment of the night was a teenager introducing me to his Mom, ‘This is Marnée, she does cool things’
Today’s focus was setting the tables at Colombo Lodge for our annual Rotary Seniors dinner. I was glad to be there, focused on the napkins and fine tuning of the place setting. At one point I ran out to Save-On and spoke to the manger to get a 15% discount which combined with my more card deals allowed me to buy seasonal candy worth $30 for $5. The place looks great and I will be there to serve on Wednesday.
The snow is weird, I’ve never had a snow curtain or rectangular icicles before
I stopped at Fenwick & Baker, met Bob and Eddy, and enjoyed good chats about the past before heading home to make some food.
I have been enjoying watching ‘When TV Goes Horribly Wrong’ on Prime
Shovelling three times today was not on my schedule. Work was good, met Rae at her place and we walked downtown for the annual late night shopping. It was lovely to wander in and out of stores who had snacks and bevies for us as well as deals. Roger picked us up to bring me back to my car in time to drop my stuff at home and head to Galen’s for poker night. I came out $75 ahead after taking 2nd place. Kathy and I were just going head to head when the power went out. I drove around for a bit after and there were odd parts of town in the dark. Even a block from me is dark but home is fine. It sure is beautiful but what a dump and it is still coming down heavy.
Woke up to a lot more snow and it kept coming down all morning. It sure is pretty
Ashley got her name tag at Rotary today and Paul introduced two amazing student Ms who won our Scholarship and bursary. They both gave amazing talks and had amazing answers to all questions. They are definitely a gift to the future.
I stopped at Superstore after as they had a buy one get one 50% off Lego. I picked up Emmy’s Christmas and a groot for me.
Yesterday I received a surprise call from my friend Yvonne. She wanted to let me know that she was doing better and apologized for not calling sooner. That is a depth of relationship that I really appreciate. Turns out she has been in hospital but is on the mend and hopes to return home to Bella Bella soon.
I have another friend who I deeply care about that has been in and out of hospital and not telling me anything. This has caused me sadness. I keep reminding myself that it is not about me but I care deeply and, well, just need to know, not be left in the cold until some horrible news comes, and it may.
I was up early so I made food and took half to Mom at the end of my day for her lunch tomorrow as I was there to deliver her pills and pay her bill.
After a day of snow fall and much work I decided that I wanted a crown and a snack so I headed to Encore only to find that they were out of Crown and it was a private party starting. Back in the car I was struck by gridlock which I have never seen here. I couldn’t turn left to head to Fenwick and Baker, so I circled the block to see there was an emergency of some kind on the strip. It all in all took me 26 minutes to go 2 long blocks away! I parked myself at the far end of the bar. I S tarted making small talk with the guy at the other end and moved next to him, with permission . Dave is the new owner of Canadian Tire here and honestly, I can’t wait to become fast friends with him and his wife Kimberley. I see travel and fun in our future! He enjoyed when people came by for hugs from me and even invited me to join them in box seats for BTO in April. I invited Jim to be my plus one. Really looking forward to it. got home and shovelled for the first time this season.
Today I took care of dropping things off at Salvation Army, picking up Mom’s pills and the beautifully labelled bottle for a friend before getting so much done at the office. I left in time to stop home to throw my Hello Fresh in the fridge and smoothies in the freezer. Then it was off to Key City to see the Sunrise Rotary movie night. The feature tonight was My Penguin Friend. I loved it. There were many sniffles in the crowd viewing this lovely show based on a true story. I do love penguins and good relationship stories.
And now I am home watching Nobody Wants This, on Netflix, a clever Kristen Bell show.
triumphgal 