I feel like I’m coming down from a bit of a high at the moment. Not in a bad way. I need a quiet day to rest and recuperate from a busy couple of days.

I am part of a team who officiates in ceremonies with my spiritual group and sometimes we get to go out of town with our Master to do ceremonies elsewhere. Monday, five of us shared a car to Vancouver. We left at 10am. The drive, with one stop for lunch, took five hours. The afternoon was spent preparing, the ceremony took place in the evening, and then we had to travel another hour to another home to sleep. A driver was needed because the Master was exhausted from his early start that day, and I volunteered to do it. It was dark and raining, I was driving an unfamiliar large car, and the roads were busy despite it being late in the evening. There was construction everywhere (you know the saying, we have two seasons – Winter and Construction)!

Suffice it to say, I was very glad to get there safely and be able to freshen up and let my head hit a pillow.

Breakfast was abundant – my Taiwanese friends really know how to cook and eat well – and then we were off for some shopping in the Richmond area. Most stores had signs in both English and Mandarin. We went to a herbal store, a Taiwanese supermarket, an Asian mall with a huge grocery store with the most amazing display of fresh vegetables I have ever seen, and a place that sells frozen vegetarian meat substitutes, all without onion and garlic, some of which are also vegan.

I bought something at each store, including a huge bag of goji berries, some Chinese curry powder, chili paste, black bean sauce, vegan organic Worcestershire sauce, cedar leaf spice (a savoury herb that has a wonderful flavour) and lots of noodles. I passed on the dried sea snail and sea stars!!

We had finished our shopping by lunchtime and returned home, snacking on the way and only stopping for a couple of pee breaks. Home by 5.30pm, shower, Yorkshire tea and a greens bar, and out the door again at 6.20 for an evening meeting.

I was a little hyper and over-chatty – it may have been the gas station coffee, or the Yorkshire tea, but also a kind of energy that I get when going to spend time with my friends. We came home after 10 and I still didn’t get to bed until midnight.

As I said, coming down now, enjoying the wonderful abundance of summer. My boys are like many, in that they would rather grab some cooked carbs than wash and eat fruit. So I washed some grapes and blueberries and strawberries, cut up some cantaloupe, and put it out in the hope they will at least start the day with some raw antioxidants!

Forecast is excellent for a beach day, not so much for tomorrow, so planning to take those boys swimming this afternoon. Then yoga tonight.

While I was a passenger in the car, I crocheted a lot of the time, and have finished the body of a market bag using the pattern from bobwilson123. It’s called Mesh Market Bag, One handle, and has a written pattern and a You Tube tutorial. I’ll publish this, so as not to lose it, and go find a link afterwards. (ETA: link added, you’ll need to scroll down to find the specific pattern)

A few photos from the last few days…