As we were off to Vernon today we decided to forgo our usual early morning walk due to it being an early morning start. We planned to leave at 9.15am and be at Tara’s place at 9.30am but the reality was that we didn’t leave here until 10.00am….no surprise there then! Fortunately we did manage to fit in one twenty minute yoga session and two five minute exercise routines so we don’t feel too bad and we should be getting some steps in when we’re in Vernon. The reason for our visit to Vernon is to partake in a Wine and Pottery class at the local arts centre…..a strange combination to be sure but hey we’ll just go with the flow and see what it’s all about. It doesn’t start until 5.30pm so we thought we’d make a day of it, you know, have a look around the shops, have a drink, have a late lunch and then head off to the pottery class.
We’d only just arrived at Tara’s and in the process of swopping from one car to the other when there was an incident. An incident involving a walking stick, a raised flagstone, loss of shoes, a band-aid and a very bruised finger. Thankfully no bones were injured in the making of this incident but a chair was brought out for the recipient of said bruised finger who chilled for ten minutes before being bundled into the car and then off we went on our journey to Vernon. We stopped off at Tim Horton’s drive thru on the way for drinks and totally confused the server with our order. ‘Single shot…we don’t do that’ she said. ‘Skinny cappuccino…..what’s that’ she said. ‘What, you want triple shot’ she said. Not managing to articulate the exact coffee orders that we wanted we just had to order two cappuccino’s and hope for the best. Let’s face it, nothing could be as bad as the Urbanfare cappuccinos of the other morning.
We arrived in Vernon and headed straight for Tara’s favourite shop, the toy shop to have a mooch around and see if there were any new games that she could buy. Having placed her name on the list for the ‘What’s the Point? The Cactus Card Game’ we made our way to the high street and parked up. Then we drove along to the next block and parked up. Then we drove along to the next block and parked up! The only things purchased at each block was a set of thumb print stemless wine glasses, a foldable cap for Maice and a pair of boots for Tara. By this time we were in need of refreshments and soon found ourselves seated in the Silverstar Brewing Company with three double Caesar’s and an espresso martini playing CLR, a fast-paced dice game which every one loves and which was introduced to us by Tara via Maice this time last year. Drew, our server was lovely, very friendly and helpful and she even brought us an ice pack for the recipient of the poorly finger which was now sporting a very vivid bruise that was slowly creeping up the hand. CLR is such a fun game and I won the first game, or so I thought until Tara said no, you’ve got to play on until all the ‘money’ is in the pot and the last person who adds to the pot is the winner. Of course it was Maice who translated the instructions to us when she brought the game over to the UK so all of us have been playing it to Maice’s rules, not to the ‘official’ rules. Trust her to get it wrong! It was so much fun though and most definitely warranted another round of drinks, and an ice pack. We were having such a good time that before we knew it we had to leave and find somewhere to eat but before we did that we had to pay the bill. On this holiday Maice is in charge of the kitty purse, which is most unusual we know, but it’s about time she had the responsibility. Now, here in Canada its customary to tip for good service anywhere between 15-20% of the bill. So when the bill of $96 was presented, Maice very proudly and with a flourish takes out two $50 dollar bills from the kitty purse and says ‘keep the change’!!. Poor Drew walked away wondering what she’d done wrong and was obviously very upset as she could be heard talking to another waitress about it. Fortunately for Drew, Tara and Myrna provided the proper tip and enlightened Maice on her shortcomings who was totally mortified by her actions. She called Drew over, apologised profusely, gave her a big hug, we took a selfie and peace, love and calmness was restored. On another note and just sayin, six double caesars and two espresso martinis cost less than our breakfast at Heathrow airport! Ok, we’re gonna park-it now, its in the past and we’re movin’ on!
We hot-footed it across town, in the car, and found an eatery where we explained to the server that we were somewhat stretched for time and could we order quickly please. Sometime later a) our drinks arrived b) our very large plates of food arrived and c) our doggy-bag boxes arrived! We had five minutes to eat our meal and pay the bill so piling our food into the doggy-bags we once again hot-footed, it in the car to the arts studio with a minute to spare. Phew we made it! We were handed a ‘glass’ of wine and then introduced to the art of making a decorative pot after which we were left to get on with creating our masterpieces. The level of concentration was quite something considering the amount of alcohol we’d consumed during the day with more being provided in the class…..what our pots will look like after they’ve been fired is anybody’s guess, but it was great fun and a big Thank You to Tara for organising.
We got home around 9pm, finished off the contents of our doggy-bags and headed for bed. It had been a very long day with lots of laughter along the way. Fingers crossed, poorly ones included, that everyone is fit and well in the morning.
Night all….M&A xx
Don’t you girls ever stop eating??