Crossing the Georgia Strait to Hotel Vancouver

One of the adult orcas and a baby Peter photographed from the ferry last Wednesday. You can see the fins of some of the others in the water.

Here we are at the Fairmont, taking Mavis, the hotel dog for her walk. Mavis is quite the girl. I'm convinced she's autistic from all the mauling she constantly receives at the hotel. And as for her walks, she pulls, big time--it's a good thing I lift weights. And she's a garbage can--I had to keep her from nibbling on all and any disgusting bits she came upon in down town Vancouver. She got her chops on something rather crunchy and bone like--she refused to open up and drop it for me. So, if you hear anything about famous Mavis coming down with a nasty case of the trots...don't breath a word about this blog.

Now back to the present, I must confess being in Victoria inspired me. Everything there is about tea and sweets. And I am the biggest tea fan. I drink it all of the time: black, green, white, oolong, you name it, I love it. And sweets? I have the biggest sweet tooth I know. So, I baked a cake today with Mistaya. A lemon, raspberry tea cake with lemon cream cheese frosting. It was in honour of my birthday last week. We did manage to bring a Dairy Queen ice cream log back to the camp site in our cooler before it turned into a puddle, but I wanted to treat myself to a proper cake baked by me. I love to bake. I must confess, I make the most delectable sweet desserts. Yet, I almost never allow myself to bake, as I don't like to eat too many sweets. So yes, baking the cake was a birthday present in itself, to myself.