Many people told me I was going to love Vancouver & how right they were. It's a beautiful city, easy to get around & the people are gorgeous & helpful when asked for directions. Speaking of gorgeous, lots & lots of very good looking men everywhere! I mean everywhere. Now I don't know if it’s just because I’ve got time to take in my surroundings & notice this phenomenon but it’s very easy to have a smile on your face all day long (make of that what you will)  

Big thanks & much love to Ed & Lynn Williamson for picking us up from the ship & taking us around their town & looking after us so very well . Really feel part of their family now especially Lynn’s Mum & Dad, Carol & Tom, who opened their home to complete strangers & allowed us to stay & who are now our adoptive Grandparents. In fact everyone we met in Maple Ridge was just really wonderful to us & we felt very welcome & at home. Their kids, their friends, very generous & kind in this neck of the woods. So much in fact I could see myself living here but will wait till I get to New York to make up my mind! Not that I don’t love Adelaide & my life there but that’s reality & Sammy on holidays & learning to dream again.

Went to Fort Langley on the Sunday with Christine & Libby & had a good look around especially in a rather large antique shop. Bought a serving fork & spoon to add to the collection of other vintage finds I already have. Was about 30 deg today, maybe more & nice to see the sun after Alaska but it did feel hot. A BBQ back at Ed & Lynn’s finished off a wonderful day & got the chance to meet some more awesome people & the 'boys’ Sandie has been talking about.

Caught the local train into the city for more of a look around on Tuesday, a couple of quieter days, a night with Brad & the girls & then back down to Granville Island for the Improv show which was hilarious, rounded out a great week. Up at 4am on Friday morning for a train ride south, we said a very sad farewell to Vancouver but it won’t be forever that’s for sure .

Love & hugs Vancouver, miss you already.
Sammy xxooxx

PS - And thanks Ed, can't stop thinking about Chinese chicken steam buns! 

Blog 8 Oh Canada, oh Canada! – Maple Ridge

This update packs a week into one blog! Arriving back in Vancouver we have arranged to meet Ed & Lyn in the foyer of the Pan Pacific Hotel (God how I wish we could ever afford to stay there, what a place!) & I sidle up the sizzling hot concierge & bat my eyelids a few times, explain we are very far from home & meeting people that we have never actually met before, then ask for the hotel guest wifi key so we can connect with our hosts….he smiles widely & lets us log on for free. What a sweetie!

Within 5 minutes of Lyn & Ed arriving we seem to all fit like we’ve known each other for a while…I guess we have, via the kids & Facebook (I met their Son Cole, in Venice in 2009 & their Son Mackenzie’s ex Girlfriends’ Sister Libby & her friend Christine came to stay with me for a few days in 2012) it’s a lovely connection & we settle into a smooth relationship . We are comfortable & relaxed & get lovely tour of Vancouver, I get a trip to a Gluten Free bakery (for the best scone of my life) & Ed get’s Sam addicted to Chicken filled Chinese style buns.

Maple Ridge is gorgeous & a fab time to see it as the trees are starting to turn delicious shades of autumn, as Ed & Lyn they already have guests (these shall forever be referred to only as "The Germans" – we are to stay with Carol & Tom, Lyn’s Mum & Dad. We arrived very late the first night to their house & they are gone by the time we wake; the same thing happens the next day & we feel like naughty school girls sneaking home late & sipping vodkas in our rooms! When we finally meet them we are enchanted – they like us too & we chat for hours – it’s like we have known them forever! Over the week we become very attached & leaving 'Gramma’ is a very hard thing indeed… The next few days are spent catching up with the kids & it’s so much fun being with them all in the same room, sitting at a table just with the boys for the first time in 5 years & meeting new people also.

Saying goodbye to Tom & Carol, well, I fought the tears as hard as I could but it was no use – this then started Sammy & Gramma & poor Tom is standing back looking a bit bemused by all the crying women!

Thanks so very much Cole, Brandon & Mike for making the effort to spend time with us, I am very proud of you all for the fine boys you were & divine young men you have become - please remember my house is your house – use it! xo

Libby & Christine – thanks for the beautiful day in Fort Langley & the hilarious improve show – I had a little cry as you dropped us off, I miss you both too much already & can’t wait for the day you are again in my home – which of course is waiting for you anytime (you too Kyle & Alec!) xo

Ed & Lyn, thanks so much for allowing us into your lovely home & beautiful family & treating us like ‘one of the gang’ please visit us soon! xo

We spend the last night back in the divine Sheraton Wall centre in Downtown Van City (yes, I am so cool I have adopted the locals speak!) & get up at 4am for the famous ‘Cascades’ train from Vancouver to Seattle…research showed that this part of the coast is stunning, the train hugs the coast line & the sunrise is divine…we wouldn’t know as the weather is shite, it pisses down the entire time & we cannot see a thing..wow! LOL

Love to you all!
Sandie xo