The Crazy Bones String Band plays at the Spruce Meadows National Tournament on:

Hope to see you at Spruce Meadows!!!

Met up with Ron Graham on Friday for our traditional monthly Friday after work get together at Chances Restaurant for a glass of Geyser Peak and some delicious beef skewers. This week we had lots to catch up on so we ended up having a couple glasses of wine and trying the beet and goat cheese with dill appetizer (pictured). Despite our skepticism it was very good. Here's to good friends.

I am back from a fabulous weekend in Victoria with my good friend Carol. We went to the spa for a massage and pedicure, ate lots of great food, drank g&ts, bought my first pair of jeans, took an Ashtanga yoga class, walked around Victoria and caught up on each other's lives. It was great. Carol I miss you already.

Last March we bought a gazebo and it had been sitting in our garage in its box waiting patiently for us to get it together. Mike and Kathy came over for our gazebo-raising and stayed for a BBQ.

What a difference it makes. Now we have a nice cozy spot to have BBQs and jams. Maybe I will even get some plants, lights and patio furniture to spruce it up even more. That is if the rain ever stops.

We stopped to smell the roses blossoms. It think spring is finally springing.

I am off to jam with Les and George then off for dinner with the Inlaws. I can't believe the weekend is almost over.

Marshall and Sam

Mom and Me

It was great having a nice quiet dinner and gearing up for the next day... to be continued.

* Morgan and I talking our faces off and spurring each other on (she is such a bad influence :)

* Dancing on the packed dance floor and cheering Darcy on with a "Banjos rule - woohoo!!" after an especially tasty break.

I think though that I am getting old - I just can't party like I used to.

Oh, and I swear - no drinks at Marshall's cd release party. Well, maybe just one. By the way - tickets are for sale for $10 for the party at the Sidetrack ($12 at the door).

Victoria reminds me of a little of Kingston.

Emily Carr House

Doggy park

We visited some of her old haunts until it got dark when we headed for the Herald Street Cafe for a wonderful birthday dinner. I wish now that I had asked our waiter Mur to take a picture of us. One thing I found out was that Carol is a Hockey Hound! She left quite the impression with the waiter. At a little past eight Carol had to rush off so she could catch the last ferry out to Vancouver. She dropped me off at my hotel. It was a great visit - thanks Carol!

View from my hotel. I stayed at the Magnolia Hotel which is a beautiful hotel and spa where they turn down the bed and leave you Bernard Callebaut chocolates on your bedside.

Yuba from L.A. and Alec Sharp

The next morning I went to the Advanced Modeling Course taught by Alec Sharp. It was quite good - I learned more about 4th and 5th normal forms, dimensional modeling and other goodies.

Couple of acronyms:
GEFN - Good Enough For Now
HPDL - Hard Part Do Later

As a bonus I got to see Priscilla who is now settling into Victoria with her new husband. It ain't New York or San Francisco where I thought she would end up. But you know they say that Victoria is for the newlywed and nearly dead. I miss her very much - she is a great mentor and friend.

I also got to have a visit with Rufus Stewart. We went for a delicious vietnamese meal. I even got to have wonton soup for the first time in my life - it was egg and pork free. I had a bottle of special imported Vietnamese rice beer and we ordered ginger beef and lemongrass chicken. We had a marathon catch up session - it must be about nine years since we last saw each other. He showed me his new shop on Cook St. I think he's an amazing luthier - I hope he builds basses someday - I will be the first in line to pick one up. Rufus taught me a lot about stagecraft and about professionalism. I think he's the best sound guy I have ever met and I admire him a lot. It was a great visit too.

The next day during the lunch break I walked around downtown and did the tourist thing. I bought a book for the flight home from Munroe's Bookstore, bought Organic Peppermint Tea at Murchies and chocolate at Roger's Chocolates.

Flight home - to the bitter cold.

Victoria is a nice city, the weather is great but I am not sure if I would want to live there. The people seemed a little cold and it is an expensive city to live in. But it was nice to visit, learn some new stuff and catch up with friends.

I like sitting in the window seat when I fly so that I can watch the takeoff and landing and the landscape change. The recycled air on a plane kind of creeps me out even though I know that all air is recycled air. I'm just not used to being that close to so many people.

The flight there was uneventful. Marshall dropped me off - I checked in. Going through Security made me reaize I should probably cool it on how many electronic toys I carry around (cell, palm, mp3 player, camera...) or get some sort of integrated unit. Anyways, here are some photos from the plane. I was very excited cause I knew that Carol was picking me up at the Victoria airport and I haven't seen her in about 3 years.

Carol was waiting for me at the airport, we gave each other a great big hug, grabbed my bag, jumped in the little red truck (dogless) and headed into the city. Two women with an afternoon to whittle away, mobile and free in BC's capital.

To be continued...

The best part of the evening was watching how much enjoyment everyone was having. That was cool. Our group was going crazy everytime someone had a strike. Marshall obviously is a natural or spent his youth haunting bowling alleys. Still haven't figured out which.

But the other stuff was not my style: the shoes (creepy), the moist bowling balls (gross), the 14LB balls that were killing my bass playing arms, the loud rock and roll being pipped in, the flashing lights, the fruit flies in my tequila and orange juice. It was an experience.

Hope you had a Happy Birthday Mike!

We also got a chance to look at David's travel albums - his last trip was to Brazil. He has amazing shots of the different plants and animals. I particularly liked his shots of piranha fishing.

I bought a new digital camera - Pentax Optio S. It's very small so I can put it in my pocket - it supposedly fits in an Altoids tin. I used it last night for the first time, there are so many settings that I will have to spend time figuring it out. But so far so good. I still wish I hadn't had that little accident with my old camera!

Oh - my band needs a name. We are 4 women who play and sing bluegrass music. If you can think of a name send me an email or post it in the comments.

It also snowed again last night - snow on May 2nd I can't believe it.

Marshall & Kathy



Toby & Marshall



Kathy & Mike



Mike, David & Kathy



Kathy & Erin