tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79392670097293805272011-12-29T11:54:42.969-08:00Mike Laplantenoreply@blogger.comBlogger201100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7939267009729380527.post-60602057580809341112011-05-08T08:33:00.000-07:002011-05-08T08:33:05.690-07:00

Leona and I recently returned from a 15 day trip to Costa Rica. Originally we had planned to go about three years ago, but we put it off for assorted reasons. Probably the biggest reason was that we were concerned about leaving our sons in charge of the house during our absence. This year we decided not to put it off any longer. We were there for the last two weeks of April, traditionally the

Mike Laplantenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7939267009729380527.post-48287512201137205352010-12-11T18:39:00.000-08:002010-12-11T18:40:37.453-08:00

Fall was a sad time for the family, as Leona's mother, Sue, lost her struggle with bipolar disorder. She left behind two daughters, a younger sister and her 92-year-old mother to deal with the loss. For my part, I can tell you that it's hard to hold your wife at night as she cries herself to sleep, knowing that there's nothing you can say to console or help her to understand her mother's decision

Mike Laplantenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7939267009729380527.post-45917698761869572752010-09-04T08:43:00.000-07:002010-09-04T08:43:02.419-07:00

Mid-August saw Leona and I up at our Parksville condo for a week. The weather was fabulous -- unseasonal highs meant almost tropical warm temperatures. The first couple of days we had Leona's 2nd cousins with us. Rebecca and Ashley are the daughters of Leona's cousin, Aaron, and his wife Jenn. We had promised them many months ago that we would take them up there and they were determined to hold

Mike Laplantenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7939267009729380527.post-29120342630279613382010-07-19T10:11:00.000-07:002010-07-19T10:11:03.737-07:00

Leona and I jumped on our bikes for a ride up to nearby Sidney. It takes about 90 minutes at a brisk pace and the ride takes you through the tony neighbourhoods of Cordova Bay. Our eventual objective was to take in the Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre. Sidney is picturesque and we periodically muse about moving there. Until each time we visit. That's when we are reminded that: 1. Sidney is mostly

Mike Laplantenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7939267009729380527.post-2003151178655414472010-07-15T12:42:00.000-07:002010-07-15T12:42:27.825-07:00

Leona and I have owned a couple of low end Canadian Tire kayaks for a few years. For the price we paid for them -- about $800 for the pair -- it has been money well spent. Our usual routine is to go kayaking on the local freshwater lakes nearby, or the sheltered saltwater of the upper Gorge inlet -- essentially, a long ribbon of saltwater that connects Victoria's inner harbour to upper Portage

Mike Laplantenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7939267009729380527.post-61132861813624450202010-07-02T19:53:00.000-07:002010-07-02T20:03:16.220-07:00

Yesterday was Canada's birthday and for Leona and I it was a full day. Our first stop was the Inner Harbour where the Victoria Harbour ferries performed their water ballet to the music of the Blue Danube Waltz. It's all very precise although at times they look like they are about to collide. Of course, they are built like bumper boats so any damage would be minimal. The Victoria Inner Harbour

Mike Laplantenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7939267009729380527.post-45046364000458863252010-07-02T13:53:00.000-07:002010-07-02T13:53:49.066-07:00

The last full weekend of spring turned out to be the nicest of the year so far. Which is fortunate because it coincided with local celebrations to mark the 100-year anniversary of the Navy. Ships from Australia, France, New Zealand and the United States were in town, including the very LARGE aircraft carrier, USS Ronald Reagan. On Saturday around noon-ish, Leona and I were among the hundreds who

Mike Laplantenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7939267009729380527.post-70282485869152166442010-05-21T08:00:00.000-07:002010-06-22T11:47:20.317-07:00

In preparation for a longer bike trip later this summer, I decided to test my mettle on a day-long excursion. So I dragged Leona's creaky 18-year-old Norco out of mothballs and set out for a day trip while Leona was off on a girls' weekend with some high school friends in Vancouver. Immediately north of Victoria lies the Malahat mountain. To avoid that I decided to take the ferry that crosses the

Mike Laplantenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7939267009729380527.post-20460593480813470132010-05-12T09:17:00.000-07:002010-05-12T09:17:45.852-07:00

What is the frakkin' deal with us and real estate?! The threat of a large condo looming over our yard five years ago forced us to move to our current location. At that time we fought long and hard with city hall against the project after the developer lied about the eventual size of the building. Unfortunately, one of our immediate neighbours struck a deal with the developer. He agreed to

Mike Laplantenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7939267009729380527.post-77238111690226621852010-03-31T09:29:00.001-07:002010-03-31T09:39:39.156-07:00

Last Saturday, I delivered two nearly back-to-back speeches on separate themes and subjects as part of the annual Toastmaster International Speech and Evaluation Contests. The International Speech and Speech Evaluation Contests is one event that consists of two separate competitions. Competitors in the International Speech portion of the event each deliver a speech and the best speech is

Mike Laplantenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7939267009729380527.post-64679071271399293942010-03-18T17:39:00.000-07:002010-03-18T17:46:30.661-07:00

A couple of years ago, I reported on a local media story about 'Birdzilla'. That was the name given by the media to a large bald eagle in our local Beacon Hill park who almost single-handedly wiped out the heron population there. It was estimated that this one eagle had eaten about 180(!) heron eggs or chicks over the course of a few weeks. The herons fled the park and appear to have taken up

Mike Laplantenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7939267009729380527.post-34714105611540113782010-03-13T13:54:00.000-08:002010-03-18T18:38:01.712-07:00

My dad and his wife were recently in Vancouver courtesy of my step-brother and his wife. They took in some of the Olympic iceskating and then took a side trip to see Leona and I here on the island. Dad and Estelle in front of an old growth tree in Cathedral Grove.It's possible to actually fit a couple of people into that arch behind them. We took them up to our Parksville condo for a few days. We

Mike Laplantenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7939267009729380527.post-34492543589395119962010-03-07T22:15:00.000-08:002010-03-07T22:21:32.966-08:00

At one time I used to regularly write letters to the editor of our local newspaper. Most often these were published although a few of the more extreme ones never made the cut. Frequently the letters were edited in such a way by the editors that they often lacked the original punch that I had intended for them. The result is that I rarely write letters anymore. With age, I've come to "accept with

Mike Laplantenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7939267009729380527.post-31938776535894710172010-03-07T16:15:00.000-08:002010-03-18T18:41:00.780-07:00

 Woodcarver Michel Richer I encountered woodcarving artist Michel Richer on Dallas Road beach a few weeks ago. He was carving an eagle in the end of a large piece of driftwood. Michel lives on Mayne Island, having originally drifted across Canada from his native Quebec as a young man.  Roughed-in carving of eagle Michel will often start his carvings on the beach. Eventually, he will remove the

Mike Laplantenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7939267009729380527.post-89206501259483052312010-02-16T12:18:00.000-08:002010-03-18T18:44:32.215-07:00

 Chinese masked figures wander through the New Year crowd I hope I got that title phrase right. It's Chinese for "Happy New Year." Apparently, the phrase "gung hey fat choy" is incorrect. This year the Chinese New Year fell on Valentines Day. Leona and I did the usual breakfast thing at Georgie's Cafe after exchanging cards. Otherwise for us Valentines Day was relatively uneventful as Leona

Mike Laplantenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7939267009729380527.post-49850065574795896702010-02-09T21:10:00.000-08:002010-03-18T18:45:45.084-07:00

A couple of nights ago a friend and I went out for drinks at a downtown pub. Over the course of four hours and four beers each we swapped the usual guy stories. When we finally quit the pub to walk back to my van, I was stupified to see that the sun had risen. I glanced down at my watch. It was 7 a.m. Somehow 12 hours had passed! It wasn't possible, I said to my friend. We had only been in

Mike Laplantenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7939267009729380527.post-19118703499759287822010-01-28T10:33:00.000-08:002010-03-18T18:48:25.269-07:00

Birthday celebrations at Moxies We celebrated both a birthday and an anniversary last week. Matt turned 18 last week -- officially an adult in most Canadian provinces but here in BC the age of majority is 19. His grand-parents, Earl and Donna, were visiting from Alberta. They are both 'salt-of-the-earth' types and in typical Alberta fashion, proudly redneck. The four of us -- Leona and I, Earl

Mike Laplantenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7939267009729380527.post-4135198696319293632010-01-20T20:02:00.000-08:002010-01-20T20:07:40.341-08:00

Here we are in Victoria enjoying spring temperatures in mid-January while the rest of the country endures record low temperatures. I was driving along the Gorge Inlet in Saanich and the sun on the water was too hard to resist. I parked the car and took a stroll along the public walkway. The Gorge Inlet is a Victoria jewel. It's a finger of ocean that winds it way from Victoria's harbour past

Mike Laplantenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7939267009729380527.post-5088179897405000392010-01-13T13:53:00.000-08:002010-01-15T18:00:59.256-08:00

Georgie's Cafe on West Saanich Road On Sunday mornings, Leona and I take our dog Bruno to the trails around a local lake. It's only a ten minute drive down the road, but it takes us out of the city and into some of the rural countryside. Afterwards, we go for breakfast at Georgie's Cafe Emporium (formerly the Bagel Queen). Calling it an emporium is perhaps a little too grand. Outside, it's

Mike Laplantenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7939267009729380527.post-26181246437900613872010-01-07T23:40:00.000-08:002011-06-06T11:24:52.282-07:00

Leona and I started the year with a weekend retreat to our condo in Parksville. Weather was crap -- gloomy, overcast and rainy. We didn't care 'cuz we spent our time lounging around in the deep tub, the hot tub, local cafes and restaurants. Candlelight, a deep tub, some bubble bath, some wine and Michael Buble crooning in the background. . . Oh, yeaaaaaah... Little Qualicum Falls We hiked

Mike Laplantenoreply@blogger.com0