My guest bedroom has been fire engine red for about 15 years, so last week I decided to paint it a shade of gold.  Unfortunately, I didn’t know how to remove the valance or mirror, so decided my best approach would be to leave that one wall red and say I wanted a feature wall.

The painting didn’t go too badly, except for the overall body pain after I was finished.  But I like to think of the money I save whenever I embark on these projects.  And besides a few bits of paint in the wrong places, it looks quite nice.

I need a bed table for that room, so I went to my fav thrift shop, the Helping Hands in downtown Kelowna.  They had a couple of bed tables, but they were too large, and instead I found an original water colour, all nicely matted and framed, which I bought for $20.

The sticker on the back showed the original price of $420, so I felt quite happy with that find.  I hung it in the newly-painted room and it looks great.  I still need to continue to hunt for the bed tables so imagine the stuff I’m going to end up with!

Petra and I, along with her sister in law Cheryl, had lunch at the Harvest Golf Club last week and I had the most delicious martini.  It was made with peach-flavored Absolut vodka.

I raced out and bought a bottle and would recommend it highly.  It’s delicious mixed with orange juice and still tastes very peachy.  Unfortunately it’s one of those highly drinkable concoctions, so I have to be careful because a hangover is always lurking, waiting to pounce if I make one wrong move with alcohol.

Another thing I’m loving right now is a series on Netflix called Cosmos: a Space Time Odyssey.  It’s so interesting and really helps a person to get a grip on their very, very small worries.  When you think of the billions of galaxies out there, you can take a lot on the chin and go, “meh.”

Today the tile setter’s returning for the final day and then I’ll have a lovely new shower downstairs.  As you know I had a disgusting glass-fronted stall and it was horrible after 15 years of hard use by the kids.

I was hoping to get the whoop de doos out of my driveway from the tree roots this year, but may have to wait until next year for that project.  Anyone who’s driving into this yard knows the pronounced heaving of asphalt due to the many pines.

Those crazy people, the Lynch’s my friends from Vancouver, came through town the other day so I asked them to take their daughter’s wedding gift for me.  I’m going to the wedding next month, but didn’t want to transport the gift, which happens to be a case of wine so is heavy and unwieldy, plus should be kept at a decent temperature.

How was I to know they’d arrive in their tiny pick up truck, and then proceed to put the case in the back in full sun?  I e mailed the kid and said look, you’ll probably have vinegar by the time you open this, but it’ll be a very high-end, gourmet vinegar.