This was a week of surprises. The biggest of course was our trip to Portland to visit my sister, Jean. No, she knew we were coming. It’s not like we’d drop in on someone without warning. The surprise was for my mother, Ruth. Ruth was spending Christmas at Jean’s place and we decided to surprise her. The hard part of course was not slipping up and saying anything. There were some close calls when one of us would almost spill the beans but security held. When we arrived at Jean’s place she saw us pulling into the driveway. She came out to meet us and decided to announce our arrival. She went back in and told Ruth “I just ran into some homeless people who were in front of the house. I asked them to have dinner with us. How does that sound?” Ruth was just absorbing this idea when she turned around and saw us standing in the doorway. Honestly I thought she might faint for a second. It was great and she was so happy to see us. Mind you this makes twice we’ve seen her this year, the eclipse in May was the other time. A record year I think.

We stayed in a delightful B&B just down the road from Jean’s place. Called the Evermore Guesthouse, it is a house built in the 1800s that has been completely restored with parquet floors, stained glass, period furniture and WiFi. We stayed on the third floor in what had been the servants quarters in the attic. The walls were slanted and funky. Our private bath was down a narrow hallway. It even had a skylight and it’s own balcony. Not that we used the balcony. It was raining the whole time we were there, but it will be nice for future visits. We really liked how they handled the Breakfast part of B&B. On the first floor was a kitchen with cereals, and coffee, and pastries, and juice and fruit and such and we just wandered down and helped ourselves. Very family style and we got to know the other guests. Overall the place was beautiful and I think we will be staying there again.

The trip down was, how do I put this? Actually damp sums it up well. We had been planning on departing on Sunday, however BCFerries was on their ‘holiday schedule’ so the early sailings on Sunday were cancelled. Late on Saturday we realized that we were ready to go so we took off and grabbed the 5:30 pm sailing. Unfortunately, our normal one out of Duke Point to Tsawwassen was also cancelled. We had to take leave from Departure Bay. This wasn’t the problem. The issue was on the other end. We disembarked at Horseshoe Bay on the north side of Vancouver. On the map it shows that we can just follow Hwy 99N through town to the border crossing. What the map doesn’t indicate that most of Hwy 99N is on city streets. This isn’t like I5 through Portland or I35 through Minneapolis. It was traffic lights, cross streets, pedestrians on their cell phones, signs hidden in tree branches, right turns at one block and then fighting to get all the way across three or four lanes for an immediate left at the next one, all on a very dark, foggy moonless night in driving rain. Fortunately we did not miss any turns and after, I don’t know it seemed like days, we got through Vancouver and across the border. We overnighted in Bellingham and the next day, in more driving rain, cruised into Portland. Actually it was raining nearly the whole time we travelling. This is however, the Pacific Northwest. We’re used to it, and it beats the massive ice and snow storms that have been hitting the US Midwest and eastern Canada.

The day after Christmas is, of course Boxing Day. On the way down we decided to commemorate Boxing Day in the British tradition, with gloves. On the afternoon of Christmas, because everyone was departing on the 26th, we pulled out our surprise, a large bag of gloves. “You see,” we told everyone, “Boxing Day is an ancient celebration of the sport of the same name. Traditionally people would give boxing gloves to the young men in the family. In modern times in England and Canada we still give gloves on Boxing Day, but now it’s more typical to give something a little more useful and to everyone.” Everyone loved the idea and the tradition of Boxing Day Gloves might even catch on. There’s only one trouble with it. The story is complete rubbish. Absolute bollocks. There’s not a word of truth about it whatsoever. We just stopped by Target and found a bunch of those nylon gloves they sell on sale for 2 for $5 and we made up the rest. But it was fun.

You might notice a few British idioms slipping into my writing. I have been in Canada for nearly six years which contributes some of it. The play I’m in, is also set in England so I’ve been learning a lot of the vernacular with the lines. I hadn’t realized quite how well I was acclimatizing to Canadian and British culture until I was watching a weather forecast in Bellingham. The said the high was going to be 38 and the low 34. I had to stop and do some math in my head to convert that to Celsius before I knew how cold it would be. (By the way it’s about 4 and 2 degrees respectfully). Years ago when I was studying European languages they always stressed that we had to get to the point where we were thinking in the language. Apparently I now think in Canadian.

Long time readers will remember me pining from time to time about a Geology book I lost in the move out here. Introduction to the Rock Forming Minerals by Deer, Howie, and Zussman. Well out of a spirit of pure generosity, or maybe she just got tired of me whining about it Marsha gave me a copy for Christmas. Have I mentioned recently that she is a wonderful person? If not I should have. She also let me get Portal2 which I’ve been playing ever since we got back. A saint among people she is.

And lastly I had a dream. This is unusual, not the dreaming part, everyone does it, but normally I don’t remember them. In this case, though it stuck with me. It was our last night in Evermore Guesthouse in Portland. In my dream though we were back home. Marsha was returning from an afternoon with CatNap, the feline rescue and adoption agency she volunteers with. In the dream Marsha came in rather shyly and said “I’m sorry, I know it will be a strain but there was the cutest little kitten there today. It just was so loving and friendly and nobody wanted it so...I guess..I ended up adopting it.” With that she handed me a tiny little black and grey striped kitten. I was a bit taken aback but “OK,” I thought “what’s one more.” But Marsha was still acting all nervous and I asked her was going on. “Well you see DogNap was there and there was the cutest little puppy there today. It just was so loving and friendly and nobody wanted it so...I guess..I ended up adopting it.” With that she handed me a tiny little husky puppy.  “OK,” I thought “I had said we could get a dog if she wanted and so, I guess, what’s one more.” But Marsha was still acting strangely and I asked her what was bothering her.  “Well, you see PigNap was there..,.” and she handed me a little black piglet. That was when I woke up in a cold sweat.

This is why I try to NOT remember dreams.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy new year!  Well wishes for 2013.

Doug & Marsha

PIX: Jean's cat Matisse, NOT the weather we had this week, spying squirrel, and the best present ever.