Month: February 2022

Okay! not real divorce: Malc had been religiously recording all the activities and while playing it back, we happened to hear during the time that we were enjoying the appies that some fool had decided to play D.I.V.O.R.C.E. We still laugh about it, however, it wasn’t the last musical incident that we encountered. After Malc returned home he sent us a video of himself and a friend singing ‘Unchained Melody’; Rosalie’s former husband’s favourite song, dedicated to us. It’s now ours, we claim it for our own.

Rosalie and I stayed at the Dorchester Hotel for our honeymoon night. Amy and her husband John had set it up for us. It was a great night as all wedding nights should be. I will say no more!

The next day while some of the family was still here I opened a bottle of Rothchild wine that I had won in a competition at Investors Group where I worked. It was allegedly worth about $250 but after sharing it out we decided that $2.50 would have been closer to the mark.

The transmission on the car had been repaired and as we were still hosting Malc and Viv we decided to go camping for a couple nights of our honeymoon. Rosalie and I had our own tent, so I borrowed another one for the visitors and we drove to Tofino to find a place to stay. Our campsite was at Pacific Shores costing an exorbitant amount for a couple of tents.

Sometime that afternoon, while walking on the beach, someone noticed that there were a lot of mussels on the rocks so we collected a whole bunch, not knowing that a licence was needed. Perhaps it wasn’t back then. I remember Rosalie walking back to the campsite with pockets full of mussels and very wet shorts.

Understanding the danger of red tide and not knowing what we were really in for, only a few were cooked to see if our lips went numb. Passing that test, we settled in for a feast of mussels, garlic butter and red wine. It ended up being a great evening.

After the feast, I set up the tent and air mattress for Malc and Viv then started to set up our own camp. Our air mattress pump was making a squeak…squeak…squeak noise which set Malc and Viv off into a giggling fit.

Finally, Rosalie and I settled down for the night. About half an hour later we realized that our air mattress had a leak and we were laying on the hard ground. When our own giggling stopped we decided to sleep in the car. Of course, the short person got the whole back seat and I got the steering wheel.

For those who don’t know, (Linda) if you use the arrows to the left or right you can scroll through the photos.

Honeymoons are traditionally about being alone together and enjoying each other. I think a honeymoon with friends is a lot more fun. Our honeymoon lasted from when we first met until we got married… and then continued on. And, it ain’t over yet.

Eventually, Malc and Viv had to go home as did everybody else and we were left alone with lots of great memories.

Our marriage like all marriages has had its ups and downs. We’ve been lucky that few of them have been about our relationship. Mostly things outside our control. We recovered spectacularly from bankruptcy and now have a great life living six months in each of Canada and Mexico.

What’s next? Who knows, we just keep trucking along and know that something fun will turn up; it always does.

As for our adventures covered in these three blogs; neither of us would change a single thing.

Money was a bit short so we opted to have the ceremony in our backyard. Rosalie’s sister Giselle and her husband Gordon brought a huge frozen salmon with them from Terrace packed in ice, so we had lots to eat. Another of her sisters came, Delorie, with her husband Tom. Rosalie’s parents were also there, along with Rosalie’s daughter Amy, and her (future) husband John.

On my side, I had my good friends Malcolm and Vivian (hereafter after referred to as Malc and Viv) as well as my three daughters. Lisa, Lesley and Lorraine, plus their husbands and our six grandkids.

Before the ceremony, our friend Dave took us to the park to do a photoshoot. The day was overcast and gloomy which matched my mood exactly. When Dave got the photos back some were very dark as the camera settings were wrong. However, we did get a full album of very nice pictures. Thank you, Dave.

The ceremony went off well, Rosalie looked great in her Mum’s wedding dress. I had on my best (and only) suit. The marriage commissioner who married us was a nice lady.

After the ceremony, everyone enjoyed some appies and then went into the house for the real reason everybody came, the free food and booze. At one point we thought the place was a bit overcrowded. We had received replies to our invitations and expected thirty-five people. When we took a count we found that there was at least sixty.

At this point, panic set in as we were worried that we didn’t have enough food and booze but the thing we were mostly short of was space. People were sitting everywhere. Everyone was spread throughout the house sitting wherever they could. The main party, us, was out on the deck so we were fine; that is until it started to rain. Luckily, two of my sons-in-law were able to scramble onto the roof and hang up a tarp.

Our friends Maureen and Barb had made us a wedding cake. They used seven pounds of butter and it took me several months to work it off.

As it turned out we had plenty of food and booze and everyone adapted to the lack of space. Malc did his best man speech (It was an hour long but I had to cut him off after ten minutes) and I did my bridegroom speech. I hate speaking to a crowd of people but for some reason, it was fine that day.

I may sound as though I didn’t want to get married but I really did. How could I not want to be with this beautiful lady? Not only beautiful looking but has an inner beauty that I will always appreciate. She also needs a good sense of humour which she has, as I do tend to lean on her for a lot of the humour in the blogs.

We were talking to someone about how we met and as we were recounting the story I decided that it might make a decent blog; so, here it is…

I had been separated from my wife for eleven months and was attending a Canadian Power Squadron course. There were two separate classes, one on Wednesday and one on Thursday. They were combined one weekend for a Bearings and Fixes navigation course in Nanaimo Harbour.

I went with two of my buddies and we were pouring over maps at one of the tables when a really cute little blonde lady walked by. As she passed, I thought to myself “I wish she would come and stand at our table.” No sooner was the thought out when she turned around and came and stood right next to me. (She says she heard me call her.) “The rest” as they say ” is history.

This is how Rosalie looked when I first saw her.

Rosalie wanted to buy a sail boat, and I wanted a power boat so I knew I would have to learn to sail. Within the month, and after admitting that we liked each other, she whisked me off, first to Long Beach for a weekend and then to Mazatlan for a week.

Rosalie proposed to me on Valentine’s Day 1996 and after huge pressure, I finally agreed as I was on anti-depressant meds at the time and didn’t know what I was doing. We agreed on the day as 11th July 1998 and so my fate was sealed.

A few weeks before the great event Rosalie was driving my car when the timing belt broke and wrecked the engine. Fortunately, we still had her propane-powered 1983 Olds Delta 88.

My lifelong buddy Malcolm was coming from England to be my best man and hopefully talk me out of this nonsense. As we didn’t have my car, I used the Delta 88 to go to the Vancouver airport to pick up Malc and his wife Vivian. Rosalie had to work so I had to go alone. After picking them up, I decided to take the route through Vancouver so they could see something of the city. We got to the Upper Levels highway when I looked out of my rearview mirror and saw a cloud of smoke. My first thought was that some poor soul had an engine fire. The car started to slow down and I realized that it was us, belching out the smoke. It turned out the transmission had quit.

So, there I was on the Upper Levels highway with a broken car, visitors from England with their luggage trying to thumb a lift to the ferry terminal. Fortunately, a couple found our situation amusing enough to take us all the way there. We were picked up by our friend Larry in Nanaimo and taken home.

So, we didn’t have a car, but visitors from England to entertain. Malc, knowing me for a long time was probably not surprised in the least. I wasn’t sure about Viv though she probably thought I was a complete nut job.

Having no car, we borrowed one from my daughter Lesley. There were one or two problems with that car though. First, only the driver’s door opened so we all had to climb in from one side. Secondly, it ate a lot of oil so we had to pull over and feed it 10-30 oil every 100 km or so.

All this fun and we hadn’t even got to the wedding yet.

I’ve wanted to try surf fishing for a while so when Art Jr offered to take me I jumped at the chance. He’d mentioned it in previous trips so I bought a rod, reel and a few lures while in Canada. Art was nice enough to bring it down in his truck for me.

The day came with Rosalie and I were up at 6 am (an ungodly hour,) and drove to Art and Linda’s place. We put our stuff in Art’s truck and took off for Restaurante La Mosca near Tenacatita. We weren’t totally sure of the route but managed to wing it arriving safe and sound.

We walked onto the beach and got some exercise as the sand was soft and difficult to walk on. Rosalie quit as it was getting hot and went back to La Mosca for a beer soon to be joined by Linda.

Art and I fished for about an hour with no luck. I did catch a big one but it was a wave and soaked me through to my undies. I didn’t have a change of clothes so toughed it out until they dried. It was hot so I didn’t care too much.

Art, practicing futility. What a sunrise?

It was my first time and I found it completely different from lake casting. For a start, the rod is longer (10 feet) and the reel is faster. The lures are heavy so they can be cast farther. At first, I kept dragging the lure on the bottom until I learned to reel in faster. I got it in the end but it made no difference, we still got skunked. I need to buy a bit more equipment before we go again but there is a great fishing store in Melaque so no problema.

La Mosca (the fly) is a very rustic restaurant on a beautiful spot at the end of the beach. There are no umbrellas anywhere. I mentioned it in a blog last year. We sat for a while and then decided to go to La Manzanilla for lunch.

While looking for a parking spot I saw Ron, (you know, the other Ron and Diane) so I jumped out and said “Hi!” In the meantime, Art continued driving and I had to chase them up the road. I eventually lost them. I called Rosalie and asked if they were on their way back to Melaque. Luckily for me, they were only looking for a parking spot and we eventually met up at Quinta Valentina’s for lunch.

We sat for a while enjoying the ambiance, walked in the surf for a bit and eventually left for home. Another great day in paradise.

Strange happenings! In my last blog, I mentioned that Rosalie had her Happy two hours to get overhauled and repainted while I went home and had a nap.

I was told to pick her up at 4:15 and then we would meet Mike and Faye at the beach. But then it all started to fall apart.

I got to the beauty salon at 4:15 only to be informed by Rosalie that she would be another hour. She had tried to call me but we had forgotten to add more time to our phones. I hustled to the nearest OXXO store and got us reconnected. The first thing I did was call Mike and Faye. No answer! So back to the beauty salon to confer with Rosalie.

We decided that I should drive to the beach and tell Mike and Faye about our dilemma. As I had some time to kill I was hoping for a quick cerveza while waiting. When I got there I couldn’t see them at first but then I thought I saw them right on the beach so I went to investigate. No, not them; it sure didn’t look like Mike. So back to pick up Rosalie. I had another half hour to wait so I sat in the car reading my book on my phone.

The next day I called Mike and Faye to apologize for not meeting them. It was then I found out it was them on the beach and I had miss identified Mike. The only defence I have is that the sun was right in my eyes. We did meet them the next day at the same place so it turned out fine.

After I’d picked up Rosalie we went for dinner at a local Chinese restaurant where we ran into Eddie. Eddie is our local expert on all things to do with the Mexican Government as well as owning some taxis and selling satellite TV boxes. He also runs tourists to and from Puerto Vallarta during the season.

We use his services often. He got our car registered for us and does the re-licensing every year. We are going to get our car insurance through him. He mentioned that he can help us with our ‘Residente Permanente’ next year. This was important information as we were told by immigration that we would need to be back here in September when It’s hot and rainy. Eddie said that all we needed was a few days ahead of our expiry date which is 11th October 2023.

Three of Rosalie’s sisters and one brother-in-law arrived yesterday and we had a great evening with them at our place; lots of food, lots of catching up, and of course lots of booze.