Brendhan, still can't smell the billy goat, huh? Visit us, we would welcome that for surely. Now for my post.....been working on it all morning. Fifteen pictures, I hope the thread will hold them all. I typed the text in word first, it was quite the hummdinger of a piece of work.
Wow, so where do I begin? I want to keep this as short as I can, (good luck with that, hee, hee). We got to Brian’s home on Saturday afternoon. Brendhan and Janel were already there, what a nice reception from all three of them.
By the way, my Husband wants to call this get-together the 1st Annual Forum International Bee-B-Que. I get such a kick out of this wonderful man!!!
Brian lives in a beautiful town called Anacortes. Such a pretty town, very close to the ocean. He has farm critters galore, the pictures will show you them. It was hard to get a picture of the rabbits because of the layout of the cages, and the pigeons, oh, they are a beauty. He races some of his pigeons and many had returned from their release the night before, how cool was that!!!!
We visited for awhile and then it was time for Brian to go and pick up a ram (that be a male sheep). Brendhan and Ken (my Husband) went for the ride. Oh what a funny picture coming back. Brendhan had to travel in the back of the pick up truck to take care of the ram. Now that must have been fun, hee, hee. The ram was unloaded and went to take his place in the pen with the lovely and most wonderfully smelling male goat, which is called a billy, there was a nanny (a female goat) and her female young one, not sure what you call that, maybe a doeling (right? Wrong?)
Ever smelled a billy goat? No wonder the goat in that famous story was called “Billy Goat Gruff”. This dude stinks, and man oh man, one can smell it at least 20 feet away. I am finding out the hard way that men cannot smell the billy goat stench!!!! This billy goat loves to rub up against people, and he particularly likes Brian. Brian smelled very strongly of this billy goat, could smell him about 20 feet away too (no offence Brian, hee, hee). Now Ken and Brendhan, they are pretty much the same stinky men from this billy goat. They petted him and now their hands stink, really, really bad. Janel and I both were almost gagging. All three of these men could not smell the stink of this billy goat dude. Go figure that!!!! Must be a guy thing, girl thing. I think it must be common amongst all men. BECAUSE when Poka-bee (Jody) and her Husband, Bruce came, he couldn’t smell this obnoxious smell either. Eeeks!!! What more can I say, I have a different appreciation for the male gender now, hee, hee and more hee hees.
Brian was a wonderful host, the food that he had ready (or should I say, almost ready, that is a different part of the story, told later).
Brian took us on a tour of his area. We went way, way up to the top of a mountain, by the name of Erie. From the viewpoints that he took us to you could see the most incredible islands, an island inside a lake on the island that he lives on, Fudalgo Island. You will see by the pictures that this is the most incredible sight of the ocean, lake, and islands, it was something so beautiful that I can barely begin to describe it. We went on some other tours of his area, parks, seaside park, extremely beautiful, most beautiful….say no more, let your imagination wander, go there in your mind’s eye.
Now, you know that I can be very lengthy with my writings. I am trying to keep this short, but this is an impossibility.
Come Sunday, this was the day to get the pigeons breasts ready for the BBQ that we were going to have this evening. Brian taught us how to ready the pigeons for the table. The guys were too chicken to come and delve in, to get dinner ready, so Janel and I were the watchful crew. Now, I have to tell you, this woman has guts, she has the guts and determination of something wonderful. She delved right in with sharp knife in hand, and prepared two breasts of pigeon, beautiful, along with the heart and gizzard, Brian prepared the other four. Me, being a little bit more of a chicken (hee, hee, get that pun), I just watched, but with keen interest. It was a procedure that was pretty cool. And these we ate for dinner, wonderful and very fresh. We also ate a duck, which I had brought along. It was already eviscerated though, so we didn’t have to do any work there (oh, I thank my lucky stars, a Muscovy duck is a rather large bird to ready for a table, and I don’t go there, hee, hee). Another bonus, some friends of Brian brought us a big bag of crab legs, oh what a feast!!!
Poka-bee and her Husband came Sunday afternoon. It was quite a drive for them, encompassing about 2 hours, and man can that girl bake!!! She brought along a wonderful apple crumble, REAL whipping cream, that was the yummiest apple crumble I have ever tasted.
This was the wonderful menu!!!!
Potato salad (Brian had readied the ingredients, Janel and I assembled it – she learned many things this weekend, she can now prepare a potato salad from scratch and get a live pigeon ready for the table!!! Yeah Janel, go, girl, go!!!!
Pigeon breasts, hearts and gizzards
Muscovy duck, cranberry sauce
Rock crab legs
Hotdogs and delicious hamburgers coming out our ears
That most beautiful apple crumble
Lots of soda and lots of wine
Brendhan was the master of the barbequing, and oh, can that dude bbq some mean food (I didn’t think they bbq’d in hot Florida). He cooked the food perfectly, and my hat is off to him!!!
We had the most wonderful time together. Each person is delightful, and stronger bonds have been created, far more than the already created bond of cyberspace friends.
We tasted Brendhan’s, Jody’s and my honey, each one is so unique and wonderfully tasteful, I feel privileged to have been able to taste these, special, special honeys. And yes, Brendhan’s made it there, without the TSA touching it!!!! What a bonus that was, hee, hee.
I loved to see Brian’s home and all his critters that he keeps right smack dabble in the middle of a neighbourhood of houses. He has been able to keep this piece of land, untouched by modern development. He has many neighbourhood children that come to see his farmyard critters, it is something like what we call a petting zoo, and it does wonderful PR in this neighbourhood. It is so great to see that he can keep all his chickens, pigeons, livestock so close to many houses, that have their tiny little yards. It must make all the children that come to visit his stock very, very happy. My hat off to Brian!!!! Brian has a myriad of fruit trees, fruit shrubs, flowers, flowering trees, he is a lucky man. And, you should see his wild bird feeders on his porch, he has many, and the hundreds of birds that one can see at any time of the day, would make your head swim. Looking out his kitchen window, one could stand there for hours…..these bird feeders and in plain view, and the birds cause such a compelling need to watch them. A thing of beauty for surely.
It was time to say goodbye on Sunday night. Jody and Bruce had to go back home. That was a long day for them, the travelling. Brendhan and Janel were heading off early in the morning to catch a ferry to go and see Vancouver Island, and Brian…..well, I knew for surely that he would love to have a great sleep in. He had worked very, very hard to make our Barbeque happen, and that he did. Ken and I headed off on Monday morning too, having spent a wonderful weekend at Brian’s and having the time of our lives.
Brian gave me some hatching eggs to take home to incubate. He has some beautiful chickens and I wanted to bring this little memory of his beautiful place home, to make my barnyard stocked with some of his stock, that be a wonderful thing.
I am going to put in some pictures, I am not sure how many can go in a thread, but I will give as many as I think the thread will allow, enjoy. If I can figure out ever how to get a link to bring in the rest of the pictures, I will….but I cannot make any promises.
Our first glimpse of Brian's cool place:
Brian, Brendhan, Janel and me, we didn't get a whole group shot, unfortunately, but this is all that we got
Poka-bee (Jody) and Husband, Bruce
THE t-shirt
The rock crab legs and yummy pigeon breast
Me and the duck attack
Brendhan, saying "oh no" did I really ride home with that? The beautiful ram that Brian got!!!!
Standing at a viewpoint on Mount Erie, I think Brian said the elevation was something like 1,495 feet (Brian, corraborate or deny, hee, hee). An island in a lake on an island, outlooking to beautiful islands on the ocean
Looking out at three islands in the distance
A beautiful, craggy old tree at one of the viewpoints
Brendhan and Janel, sitting in a tree, (oops, I guess it was standing on a beach), K.I.S.S.I.N.G., first came love, then came marriage, no babies yet in their baby carriage.....little diddy from what we used to tease each other with as kids.
My Husband, the love of my life, standing at one of the viewpoints
The billy goat, that apparently no person of the male gender can smell, what's with that?
The ram (male sheep) that all three men went to get on Saturday, Brendhan, having the joy of riding home in the back with, hee, hee
Some of Brian's chickenyard critters, what a beautiful rooster eh?
Enjoy these pictures, there are many more, but I was reluctant to put too many in this thread.
If someone can teach me how to make a link, I could link the remaining photos, (hint, hint, I know someone can). Beautiful, beautiful day, Cindi
I concur with Brendhan, so many hats off to Brian for instigating this wonderful and awesome get-together, hugs, Cindi