This morning, due to ‘family’ commitments we had to forgo our morning walk of 10,000 plus steps, however we did have time to partake in our twenty minute ‘Yoga with Adrienne’ and three five minute exercise sessions with ‘Lucy Wyndham-Read’ thereby ensuring we maintained our daily fitness levels.
We were off to see Tracy, Maice’s cousin who lives with her husband Don on the other side of town and we were driving there in Myrna’s car. We were well prepared. We knew how to unlock and lock the car doors correctly, we had the address noted in the SatNav so we couldn’t go wrong and the added bonus was that all the roads are wide and straight. There’d be no squeezing between parked cars or driving down narrow or windey roads so we were extremely confident that we’d get there a) on time and b) without incident. We strapped ourselves in and Maice reverse manoeuvred the very large car out of the parking lot and we headed towards the exit of the complex. SatNav was switched on and spoke to us…. ‘Go East onto Springfield’ it said. Ok, so which was is East? We looked at each other, flummoxed. Do we go left or do we go right? We know that the moon rose in the East the other night which is left but we felt sure we needed to go right, you know, to the west. We took a chance and turned right, then we ended up in the wrong lane, going straight ahead instead of left. Finally we managed to get back on track and believe it or not we made it all the way to Tracy’s house without any further deviation or confusion about what was north, south, east or west!
Maice and Tracy haven’t seen each other for twenty seven years so of course they had a lot of catching up to do. We had a lovely morning chatting, drinking coffee and eating Tracy’s delicious homemade pumpkin cake and all too soon our coffee morning came to an end and it was time to leave. But hey, not to worry, as we’re all going to see each other again on Sunday at Eldorado, a hotel in the Mission area of Kelowna where there will be a dozen or so females, with maybe the occasional male thrown into the mix if they dare!
The drive back seemed much quicker and went without incident and just twenty minutes later we’d arrived back at Myrna’s, popped in to say hello then headed straight out to walk to downtown Kelowna to visit a) the Art Gallery which we wanted to do last time we were here but didn’t have time and b) there was a consignment shop, a jewellery store and a hat shop that we wanted to visit. We both purchased some clothes at the consignment store, two hats each at the hat shop, nothing at the jewellery store and as luck would have it when we arrived at the Art Gallery it was free to get in on a Thursday. The current exhibition, Stories that animate us had this very interesting write up …..’Stories that animate us highlights a diverse selection of works on paper and animations from a wide range of collectively shared oral histories, knowledge systems, and cosmologies, as well as personal memories, imaginings, and dreams. Whether evoking the spirit world, creating fictional tales, or reflecting on historical and current events, the featured artists vividly reflect on such themes as culture, community, memory, death, and identity in order to speak to the past, present, and future’. So with this in mind we made our way around the exhibition and exited it with a different concept. It was all very dark and gruesome and foreboding, not really our style of art at all. Fortunately, there was another exhibition going on which was quite colourful which was.….. ‘The 2024 Okanagan Print Triennial features the work of twenty-five artists from six countries: Canada, Finland, Greece, Italy, Poland, and the USA. The exhibition presents a wide array of aesthetic approaches, from gestural and highly abstract pieces to representational and photo-based works. The stylistic diversity highlights the deeper philosophical connections that unite these artists. Through this triennial, the Kelowna Art Gallery celebrates the richness and interconnectedness of international printmaking, offering visitors a unique opportunity to engage with this dynamic and evolving art-form’. On that note we left the building, thankful that we didn’t have to pay to go in.
It’s a shame that Katana’s self-portrait wasn’t hanging in the art gallery anymore as it had been exhibited there for quite a while, specially chosen out of hundreds of pupils artwork. What an accolade for Katana to see her work of art hanging in the Kelowna art gallery in amongst famous local and international artists. So Katana we salute you.
Back out in the sunshine we were sauntering along the road when Maice spotted a four legged beast on the pavement ahead of us. Turns out it was a deer, and there was not one but two deer who by the time we got to them had moved into someone’s garden and were eating the shrubs. It’s the last thing we expected to see in downtown Kelowna but hey, what a lovely thing to see. By now we were feeling slightly peckish and went in search of somewhere for a snack. We were eating out tonight with the whole family so we didn’t want a big snack but we found a very nice pizza restaurant where we shared a pizza, that most bizarrely was brought to our table by a robot! No kidding. Ha, can’t see this catching on at the Horse with the Red Umbrella although it would be interesting to see how he’d get on with John!!
By the time we returned home we were both suffering with sore feet, particularly our heels. We didn’t intend to do a lot of walking today but it transpires that we walked over 10,500 steps to the shops and back……no wonder our feet are sore! We weren’t being picked up until 6.45pm tonight so we had at least three hours to relax, put our feet up, have a doze and then get ready. We were going Greek tonight, to ‘Yamas Taverna’ which Maice and I were very much looking forward to. It was a real bonus to be eating Greek food and in particular we were looking forward to the cheese saganaki. Yum. So tonight was a family occasion with Tara and Dave, Kerris, Katana and Kyran, Myrna, Maice with Tyson, Kerris’ friend and me both being the honorary family members, so nine of us all together. The food was amazing as one would expect, the cheese saganaki was delicious and as always there was too much food so doggy-bags were handed out for the left-overs. It was a lovely evening enjoyed by all, in a great venue, with great company…..there was no better way to end such a lovely day.
Καληνύχτα …..Μ&Α χχ
Robots!!!!!! Would it do as I say???