August 30, 2009

Sunday 30~~~~We decided to stay home and not go fishing today. We had a late breakfast, I decided today would be a good day to fix Kent his "duck eggs" that he bought from Alex the produce man on Friday. Alex told us that the shell would be very hard to crack and there is less white in duck eggs. I was glad he told us that, as I was prepared for cracking the egg real hard and I still had to whack it twice to get it cracked. I wish I had taken a picture of how big those eggs looked on the plate when I served them to Kent. The yolk was so big they looked like two small mountains on the plate. I wouldn't even taste them, for some reason, eating duck eggs just sounds yucky. Kent wants to take egg sandwiches in our fishing lunch tomorrow, I told him that I don't want to eat any eggs for awhile after cooking those duck eggs for him. Kent said they were OK, but he wouldn't eat them again. One of my friends in Salem who takes care of wild ducks in their back yard picks the duck eggs (where they lay them in the weeds behind their house) , daily so they won't nest and hatch more ducks for him to buy feed. He gives all the eggs he finds to some Asian people who really like eating duck eggs. Alex the produce man likes them too, and he eats them everyday. This afternoon we drove to the town of Comox to get some steel line for one of the down riggers for the boat. Boy that fishing gear is sure expensive, another $49 for the steel line and of course two Frappacino's for the Captain and his First Mate. As the Captain was in the sporting good store buying the cable the First Mate was helping drink his as she had finished her Frappacino(nothing safe when it comes to a Mocha Frappacino. On our way out of town, we saw a lot of cars parked around a park like setting and we could hear music. We parked and walked to where the music was coming from and we were delighted to see what we found. Once the home of Bob Filberg, President of the "Comox Logging & Railway Company," the largest logging operation on coastal British Columbia. This nine acres of landscaped waterfront 4000 sq.ft. Lodge (called "Grancuna" grand estate by the sea) and gardens was willed to the city of Comox upon his death. The front door weighs 300 lbs. and is
2 1/2 " thick and was hand carved out of old growth Douglas Fir. The knocker is a modified logging choker hook. The hinge hardware was handcrafted in the smithy shop of the logging operation. Four types of wood are used through out the whole house, Red & Yellow Cedar and Yew. There is free live music in a large open area in the yard every Sunday and people come from all over to enjoy the music, dancing and food that you can purchase or bring your own. Many are the adjoining neighbors, they bring their own lawn chairs, some just lay on the lush green grass. There are benches all over the grounds and you can hear the music all over, I saw a very old white haired lady sitting in the house yard on a bench with her sack lunch reading a book while she enjoyed the music and the beautiful surroundings. The music was "South American" folk music and you couldn't just listen, some part of your body was moving to the music and a lot of people were dancing with their children or a partner or alone. Kent and I danced to a couple of our favorite songs. The Lodge (house), dairy barn, chicken house, tool sheds and more are all on the property. You can walk anywhere you want on the acreage, there was a wild (tame) deer and her fawn Kent took pictures of. There is a long grape arbour (picture) that is made from large logs standing on end to make the side supports and cross beams for the top with grape vines so beautiful draping over it all. There are several interesting sculptures of people made from tree stumps and branches. (picture of me by one) The inside of the home is so unique, I can't write about all of it. One more interesting thing I do want to mention is the art deco style bathroom & powder room that was styled after the Filbergs' stateroom on the "Queen Mary". What a neat thing for us to tumble onto by just driving around the town, we sure enjoyed our day there and we are going to go back again next Sunday with a picnic lunch to hear more of the music.