6:00 am the phone rings. db is up but not answering so I get out of bed because the thought occurs to me that it could be important. No one phones at 6 am unless it's important. I grab the phone too late. Hello? Dial tone. So I star 69 to see the number (no, we don't have call display) and I can hear my brother leaving a message. All I hear is the end of the number of where he is and this: "call me it's very important."
I fumble around with the buttons on the phone trying to hear his message again and I scribble down the number in the dark. I call him. He answers at his work number.
me: What's going on?
bro: the curse has been lifted!
me: What?
bro: the old man is dead!
me: Who's dead
bro: Bill Wirtz
me: Oh my god. When did this happen? (I have no idea who this is, but I express concern)
bro: Yesterday. The curse is lifted man. Aren't you monkeys up? Isn't db making coffee?
me: He's up. I'm in bed! It's six in the morning.
bro: The blackhawks are going to have a great season.
BING!
The lightbulb goes on (only in my head. I leave the bedside light off to stay in the dark). This is hockey talk. He needs to be talking to db.
me: okay I'm putting db on because you should be talking to him. (subtext: I don't give a rat's ass at 6 am).
bro: put him on.
me: You know I'm going to kill you for this.
bro: Yeah, yeah.
me: (As I'm passing the phone to db) I'm going to kill you.
At that point db takes over the phone. He later explains to me that my brother believes the team was cursed because Wirtz ran it poorly by doing things like not televising home games. Huh?
We're also joining bro's hockey pool so I've got to make some picks now. I guess the season has officially begun.
***
Roaming Writer is moving to a little place just outside of Nelson. While I'm sad to see her go I'm glad she'll be going to a place she really wants to be. She's bought a place there and it even has a little studio separate from the house that will become her writing space/office. What a dream!
I went to graduate school with her and when she moved back to BC I somewhat lost touch with her. Recently she emailed me out of the blue for some help with dialogue on a script. We never did get to that project, but we reconnected which was cool and she showed me parts of the city that I probably wouldn't have visited on my own.
Have a great trip Roaming Writer. I'll be visiting as soon as I can.
***
db's bread book that I got him for his birthday noted regarding sourdough:
"The yeast and bacteria from the soured leaven will provide B vitamins and biotin (important if you follow a vegan diet).
So here's to the sourdough. db made a beautiful loaf this weekend.
On Friday, db and I went to Vancouver Island to see my dear friend, her husband and their little boy who are visiting from Turkey. They're spending the summer in Toronto and since moving out here I thought I wouldn't get to see them. However, she has family on Pender island and a friend in Victoria that she was staying with so off we went to see them.
Being back in Victoria after 8 years was a little odd. I expected to see a lot of changes, but it was exactly the same. There is definitely a lot more traffic and there seems to be the usual condo building going on in the downtown area (like most cities), but we went to the Parsonage cafe where I use to be a regular and it hadn't changed one bit. Even the menu was eerily quite similar right down to the blueberry crumble and the granola and fruit with yogurt. I felt like I could pick right up where I left off 8 years ago as if nothing had changed.
We were delayed going to lunch and I didn't really want to leave G & O. and their little boy, but we had to drive up island. So we said our farewells and then db and I took a quick drive around the city just to see my old haunts and again all the places I remembered were still there. Small businesses survive in Victoria. It was quite nice to see.
The above picture is the scenic viewpoint on the Malahat where I always stop when driving up island. It was such a beautiful day and well worth the stop.
Of course P. is in Nanaimo so we thought we'd get a visit in with him as well. He had a very sick little kitty (Chat-Chat) Wednesday night and wasn't sure she'd make it through the night. After seeing the vet next day, she was sent home with some antibiotics and no one is really sure what exactly was wrong with her. She's probably 19. She's a street cat so her age is uncertain, but I'm guessing she's around 19. P. was a bit of a wreck after all that so it was a good thing we were going on Friday to see him.
The images of the garden are from P's place. He has an amazing garden and we picked beans, basil, tarragon, a few tomatoes and he had some massive zucchini for us to bring home. We've got veggies everywhere now.
This is Chat-Chat in her yard and a little perturbed that we brought her outside from her bed. 
This is Velcro (or Cro for short) lying in his yard with his favorite blanket. He was quite social with us while we were there. He can often be shy so this was a nice surprise. 
P. took us to the waterfront to walk along the Nanaimo seawall which was really lovely. It meanders along the water and through the marina. there are several little restaurants that look very inviting and of course buskers along the way. We had to stop for the accordion players and I had to take this photo of what seemed to be a father and son duo. I knew mister anchovy would appreciate the photo . 
We listened for a little bit and then continued along the seawall. The evening was really lovely.
As we drove back to P's place he toured us around through other Nanaimo neighbourhoods. We saw a deer and two fawns and then another deer just standing in someone's front yard while these two guys stood talking like this was no big deal and the deer was part of the conversation. P. told us that deer really are very common in that area.
We were both so exhausted by the time we got on the last ferry that we both fell asleep on board. I rarely fall asleep traveling anywhere so I was astounded when I awoke to the announcement that we were approaching Horseshoe Bay. I love when you travel and can fall asleep so that it seems like you've spent no time traveling at all. You wake up and you're there.
