Dear readers - Part 1 of my Valentine's Day entry was inadvertently posted on my China Blog - I blame it on all the chocolate I ate that day. Check out the details of Julia's Hunt for Hearts there - I can't figure out a way to bring it over to this blog without losing it in cyper space.
Julia made a request that after church we went to the Chipican for lunch, a nice treat for Valentine's Day. (For Shauna, this is the equivalent of The Rooster for our family.)
The restaurant is just at the end of our street, a location that has always puzzled me, this restaurant and motel in close by to an established residential area. I guess back in the day, it was out in the wilds of the north end of Sarnia. It's been around for over 60 years -- can you tell from the less-than-politically-correct signage. I had my Gr. 12 Graduation dinner her - it was, and my sister says it still is known for its steaks. We like the great deal for breakfast.
Sara and I - notice the lovely art work behind us - classic.
Carmel's traditional cupcakes - these ones were TITAN size.
A lovely bouquet for Carmel from her Valentine, Ralph.
We spent the afternoon visiting my mom. She was very alert and talkative. We love to see her this way. I was delighted to see her wearing her festive red - always has been one her best colours. When I was little I remember she had this lovely red fine wool dress that had a black patent belt that cinched her tiny waist. There are a few pictures I have etched in my mind with my mom wearing that dress, but this is my favourite.
It was New Year's Eve 1966 - my mother is 12 years younger than I am now -- and looking like a million bucks. Dad is looking pretty dapper too, I must say. I searched for this photo while I was home and showed it to my dad. Carmel said, "Mom looked great in red" to which my dad replied "She looked great in everything." Such a dear response from the man of few words who I'm sure my mother thought didn't pay much attention to what she was wearing. How touched I was to hear that he, her Valentine, had noticed.
Sara shares her Valentine with Nana.
Sara shares her Valentine with Nana.Nana reads Julia's message.
What's of particular note with this picture is what Sara and Dad are doing. During our visit my mother pulled out of her sleeve -- literally--a valentine from a secret admirer. Sara and Dad are trying to get to the bottom of that one. The valentine said "You are the coolest!" Mom wasn't going to share any info on this one.
A spin around the room while Katie played the piano.
Carmel shares one of the roses from her bouquet from Ralph with my mom. This was always something Carmel did for Mom when she was home. She'd put the rose on the little altar in her bedroom.
It was such a treat to be home to celebrate Chinese New Year at home in Sarnia with the family. So it kind of felt that we were sympatico with all those in China making the pilgrimage home to their families. Imagine my delight when I saw that Dad had hung the Chinese lanterns that I had bought for the family when I went to China the first time. It was a wonderful welcome home.
Julia was excited to give the hong bao to her cousins -- another first for us. We have an assortment of different designs so she chose a different one for each cousin. The Waterloo cousins received theirs the night before. The kids were delighted to get the unexpected treat - we also celebrated Jack' s confirmation and Katie's 18ths birthday with a little extra in the little red envelopes.
Ralph assembles our Chinese take-out feast! A bit ironic since one of the best lines from his stellar performance the night before in Over the River and Through the Woods was said in response to his grandson eating Chinese food -- "It's like eating cancer."
Enjoying some soup -- and on all day was, as you can see, the HD big screen with CTV thrilling us with all the Olympic programming. Let me just say a little something about HD -- it's practically 3D -- Fantastic!
Julia helps Carmel select her Chinese lucky fortune using our lucky bamboo sticks. This is Carmel's year - the year of the tiger. Not the best of years for my Tiger friends -- hoping they can turn it around.
Could Family Day Weekend have been any better - so many wonderful things to celebrate and enjoy with the Devine clan? Hoping it's the beginning of more time together through out the year. 
5 comments:
Sounds like a perfect weekend - family, love, food, Olympics. What could be better??
Now this was a post chock full of fun - love it!
What fun, and boy oh boy you did lots of stuff . Loved the reference to my beloved Rooster restaurant. thanks for the wonderful post.
Okay, here is the Tiger horoscope that I am going by! ;-)
Being the Tiger’s own year, 2010 holds great promise for those born under this sign, with exciting developments happening for them both personally and professionally. Some Tigers may be feeling disappointed and disheartened after 2009 and it will be important to leave the past behind and concentrate on the future, which is looking so bright! Financially, everything improves this year for those born under this sign and money-making thoughts and ideas should be fully explored and investigated. With the fast pace of this year for all signs, the Tiger needs to take extra care in planning and thinking all projects through – no rushing headlong into schemes during 2010! Tigers looking for romance will possibly see a friendship suddenly develop into something more personal with exciting consequences. August, December and January will see a very active and entertaining social calendar, but all of 2010 will see fun activities for the Tiger. The Spring months, March to May, will bring encouraging and interesting job opportunities, but the Tiger will still have to make sure he puts himself forward and gets noticed at work.
forgot to mention that I don't know of the chinese fortune tube??? what is that about?
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