Al Zylstra

April is one of those months that I have become very ambivalent. Spring is here, the flowers are up and there is a warm feeling in the air.

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But, April also is the month where I miss my Mom and Dad. Dad’s birthday is on April 20 and Mom’s passing was on April 22.

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Our household has grown again.

After the debacle of the four big comet goldfish constantly harassing our big female goldfish…. they were banished to our pond in the backyard where they are THRIVING.

In the meantime, I found that our big girl was feeling lonely. So, back to Craigslist I went. Found our newest additions to the family: Meet Quasimodo, Hunchback, Igor, Thing and Myrtle….

This is the latest news.

We will have some BIG, BIG, BIG news in the next few weeks. Stay tuned

I have one large fancy goldfish that Alex and I about 5 years ago. She was the size of toonie when we got her and her partner. They both grew quite quickly. The white one developed some health issues about two years ago and after spending close to $200 on medication, she finally succumbed to her illness. We buried her in the back yard next to Caramel, our rabbit and Lucky, our rescue budgie.

After that, I felt bad for the Orange one so I scoured Pet Stores looking for a friend for her. Alas, due to her size, any suitable companions were upwards of $85! Yikes! So, onto Craigslist, I went. After a couple of weeks, I found a guy on the North Shore who was looking to rehome his 4 comet goldfish. They were, on average, 4 – 6 inches long. Perfect, I thought! So, I went and picked them up, brought them home and introduced them to our big orange girl. They IMMEDIATELY started to swim after her and tried to incite a mating routine. Big Orange was not having any of it.

So, for the next year, they have tried unsuccessfully to mate with her. They would follow her around the tank all the while rubbing themselves up against her and doing their utmost to get her to join in. I left them to their own devices as you cannot train a fish to NOT do what comes naturally.

Today, however, was the last straw for me. The four of them started to beat her up. She has lost a bunch of scales on her abdomen and I even saw a little blood. Time to take DRASTIC action. Alex and I caught the four culprits, put them in a bucked and took them out to our pond in the backyard. They are now out of the house and away from my Orange girl. Hopefully, she will be able to breathe a sigh of relief. But, I don’t think she will like being by herself for long. So, now the hunt for another fancy goldfish companion for her. Hopefully, I am not going to spend a lot of money finding her a friend.

Today would be my mom’s birthday. I miss her. That is all

Today is the 18th anniversary of my dad’s passing away. I miss him now more than ever.

Alex has finished the kitchen off. We had a section of the kitchen that was almost like an indent as seen below. We originally put a china hutch in there as you can see.

This hutch, while quite nice was very impractical for the spot, so we moved that hutch into our office where it became my bookcase for all my favourite novels.

We invested in a couple of cabinets to put in there but, we grew tired of those, too. So, when Alex started working on the kitchen, he decided that it was time to make a built in cabinet

It is now our pantry and I couldn’t be happier with the result.

I am constantly amazed by Alex’s abilities to take on a project and run with it. When the Pandemic first hit us and we were not able to take our planned vacation to Europe, we decided to work on our home instead. The impetus was, of course, the leak in the water pipe from our hot water tank to our master bathroom. That leak resulted in our bathroom floor being wrecked. So, we (meaning Alex) ripped up the floor and replaced it. We then decided that it was time to change the colours in our home. We went from Blues and Greys, which can read as cool to more earth tones such as Sands, Creams and shades of Green. See my post on this.

He then tackled the kitchen and the transformation has been amazing, to say the least.

Here is the kitchen on the day we moved in.

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We hated it from the minute we saw it and Alex attacked the renovations with a fervour.

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We lived with and loved this new design for almost 5 years. We talked often about ripping the whole thing out and starting from scratch. Kitchen renovations are just too darn expensive, though, and I don’t think we would get a good return on our investment. Rather, we decided to be very selective about what we were going to do. Alex spent a lot of time on the internet scouring you tube to learn how to recover countertops, refinishing cabinetry and doing repairs and maintenance. I think he did well.

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He isn’t quite done, yet. He is now going to tackle creating a pantry where we have two cabinets. I can’t wait to see what he does with that and I hope that the 93 people that follow my writings on this site will, too.

January 22 is a very, very, very special day for me. It is the birthday for three of my favourite people in the whole wide world. Here they are, in no particular order:

Debbi

I met this amazing person back in 1984 back in Edmonton. I was working for a chain of pet stores. She came in to help the Edmonton locations transition into more exotic pets – yup! Snakes, Lizards, Scorpions, Tarantulas and the like. She came in and started training all the staff on how to effectively sell these scaly critters.

Her partner was one of the owners of the chain. One day, shortly after she and Cliff arrived, I got a phone call from Cliff advising me that he had to fly back to Vancouver and would I mind hanging out with Debbi as she didn’t know a soul in Edmonton. So, being a good company man, I agreed.

I called up Debbi and invited her out to a movie. The movie: Out of Africa.

We bonded over that film that very night. I knew then and there that she was going to be in my life FOREVER. It was shortly after that memorable night, I got the call that the Edmonton locations of the chain were being sold. Debbi was the one to break the news to me and told me that I should come to Vancouver as they needed managers like me to run their BC locations.

It took me two nights to make the decision and by the middle of February 1986, I was in Vancouver.

Debbi has been my rock, my confidante, my partner in crime, my boss and most importantly, my friend. She was “Best Man” at my wedding and I couldn’t have asked for better.

So, Happy Birthday, my friend, my partner-in-crime, my confidante. Every part of my life that is good can be tied directly to you! Thank you for EVERYTHING.

Sharon

Sharon has been a friend since I was in high school. While we drifted apart after I moved to BC in 1986, she has always held a special place in my heart.

Sharon was my first and best friend from my youth. She made me laugh, she made me cry, she made me stretch my wings and become the person I am today. The world needs more people like this woman and her family that I am fortunate enough to be an honorary member of.

Kathie

Kathie is the only child of my sister, Anna. I am so fortunate to be her uncle. She is strong, fierce, funny, brave, passionate, focused and a force to be reckoned with.

She has been one of my staunchest supporters and I love her more than she will ever know.

Kathie has definitely been one of the most resilient people I have ever been fortunate enough to be related to. I have never known another soul to be strong willed enough to stand up for what she knows to be right and true. I wish I had her strength.

Happy Birthday to you all! You make my life complete!