We hiked Old Baldy Mountain. The changing, inconsistent weather at least provided rainbows. We were happy to have drinks and brief visits with some of the neighbours and Elahe spread some love through her baking. While in Cowichan Bay, we made modified efforts to celebrate the coming Persian New Year with cake and a bastardized Haft-seen. We returned to the mainland in time for Chahārshanbe Suri, the Persian Fire Festival celebrated on the final Tuesday evening before Nowruz. I jumped all five fires TWICE just to make sure that the old year's negativity and misfortunes were cleansed and good luck and health were ushered in for the coming year. We watched another great Ambleside sunset, enjoyed kebabs with extended family, and danced in a crowd to live music. Each trip to see Mom seems more difficult than the previous one. We enjoyed Chinese food and puzzling with my family in Langley. Elahe had never observed Saint Patrick's Day before, so we celebrated all weekend with wonderful people. Some of my favourite people gathered for drinks at Carlos O'Bryan's Irish Pub at the Quay in New Westminster on Saturday night. The party continued at Dublin Crossing in Vancouver on the 17th. The entertainment featured Celtic dancing and live music, including the Cat Murphy Band. After Saint Patrick's Day, our focus returned to the Persian New Year. We attended the 1403 Nowruz Market at Lonsdale, planned and hosted by Termeh, the daughter of Elahe's friend, Narges Joon. We admired artistic renditions of the haft-seen, sampled Nowruz treats, soaked up the atmosphere, and met Persian police officers. Elahe takes pride and pleasure in her haft-seen, so I was happy to be able to contribute some unexpected blooms that provided Spring life. We welcomed Spring & rang in the Persian new year at Hessam's with great company, tasty treats, plenty of drinks, a huge meal, & joyful dance. It was fun to watch the Canucks with Joe (Lucas & Liz) at the Village Pub. The Alaska Cruise & Travel Show was very lame, but it did allow me to transform into a lumberjack, gave us an excuse to wander around downtown admiring the Spring blooms despite the rainy weather, and eat at Five Guys. It's always nice to get outdoors; we enjoyed walks in Cowichan Bay, downtown Vancouver, around Deer Lake, at the Quay in New West, along the Fraser Foreshore Urban Trail, and in Tsawwassen. We loved exploring Centennial Beach and the Boundary Bay area. We even returned for a second visit, checking out more real estate, and the Easter weekend market at Southlands, where I enjoyed sampling snacks, ciders, whiskeys, and mead. On Easter Sunday, we paid another visit to Langley Lodge. The sunshine allowed us to take Mom outside to the garden where she promptly fell asleep on my shoulder. Afterwards, we had Easter dinner at Dad's, did a fun finger puppet project with the girls, worked on a puzzle with Alison, and admired Annika's newly found hide-and-seek prowess and patience. Whether at home on the island or the mainland, out with friends, or celebrating with family, we continue to enjoy great food together. Amongst everything else, I managed to find time to watch a few games. We watched some television and I watched some podcasts. We watched six movies on Netflix. After finally surpassing my old score and posting what I consider an unbeatable result on Blockudoku, I wasted some more time playing another hexa merge game.
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