Tomorrow I am taking the ferry to Powell River where my buddy Wayne will pick me up.  His wife, Terry, is off on a cruise, so he is alone for a week and I am heading over to spend some time visiting him.

It is not that unusual for them to have separate vacations.  Terry is adventurous and Wayne is… well he is a good friend… but a bit of a recluse.

In any event we will have 4 days together at their lovely ocean front home on Half Moon Bay.  Going to be nice.

But… there is a slight issue.  Wayne is a vegetarian.  So we will be dining on fish (thank god he is not a true vegan) for the period.  Actually not a problem as he is a very good chef.

In preparation for the lack of animal flesh.. I made a huge meatloaf today.  1 lb of beef, 1 lb of pork,  1 lb of veal with lots of veggies and feta cheese and olives etc … I could go on.

Pat admits one of the best meat loaves I have ever made.  I am topped up on meat, which should last me until I get home on Sunday.

The weather looks good so I suspect Wayne and I will have a great weekend.

Best part is I have left Patty with meals while I am gone.  A big slice of the meatloaf meal,  Chicken Enchilada (from last Monday) , leftover meat pie from last night along with leftover mashed potatoes and veggies.  She will only have to prepare one meal from scratch.  Now that is what a good husband leaving his bride at home for a few days, prepares.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I am just about finished the hull of the Frigate Themis and started work on the masts and spars as well as the tops.  I like this work as no two pieces are the same so lots of variety and yet needs lots of attention.  First picture is the hull now mounted on its base.  I made the base out of Cherry and it looks OK but not the match I was hoping for.  Will have to think about it.  The other picture is the various masts, spars, tops and gaffs that will go onto the model.  And this does not include the bumpkins and studding spars.

Some background on this model.  The Themis is from a series of novels by Sean Russell about a young officer in the 1790s in the Royal Navy that I read several years ago.  It is an imaginary frigate but according to the author, based on an actual Frigate Pallas class.  Turns out the author lives in Comox and after I met him we got into a discussion on ship types and I decided to make my next model based on the Themis.  By the way the Themis is the goddess of justice and you might recognize her as the lady wearing a blindfold and holding in one hand a sword and in the other a balance.  Very difficult to carve for the figure head.

In any event, Sean has grown very interested in the model and has come over several times to see the progress.  I keep expecting him to ask me to sell it to him but he has not yet popped the question.  I am taking a short break from the model.  Sean introduced me to a friend of his that has a model that his uncle made for him 50 years ago that needs extensive repairs.  I am taking that project on and it will be the subject of a future blog.

Thursday night.  It is raining and 7 deg.  Not a great day in Paradise but better than the -6 and snowing back in Oakville.

We had a busy afternoon visiting our financial advisor and then had a couple dropping in to provide me pictures of their 40 day cruise around Cape Horn.

I am the editor of the club newsletter, and have added a page on the exotic trips that our members take, and the stories are interesting.

Anyway I promised the wife that I would prepare an Indian meal for this evening but I copped out and suggested I would order take out from the very good Indian Restaurant we have in town.

Last week I was reading an article in Economist that Curry Shops in England are closing every week in the anticipation of Brexit.  Apparently most of the chefs and staff at Curry Houses in England are actually from Eastern Europe and they are being sent home.  Due to the immigration rules the shops cannot bring in actual Indian and Pakistani workers.  Again an interesting bit of info.

But the article did say, that in a recent survey, Chicken Tikka Masal was voted as the national dish of England.  Just beat out Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding.  Granted this was the kind of survey from a few years ago where Canadians almost picked Don Cherry as the greatest Canadian of all time.

I cannot recall ordering Chicken Tikka Masala before.  It was pretty good.  But does not hold a candle to the prime rib beef roast we had last week with Yorkshire pudding.

In any event a good evening, and you are correct, I am writing this as the bride cleans up and loads the dishwasher.  I did go pick up the meal.

I could not put the term Tupperware in the title because I would get hundreds of hits, but this blog is about Tupperware.

When we were living in Markham in the 70s, Pat went to a Tupperware party and ordered a number of containers.  Many different sizes from 2 cups to 10 cups.

Most of these containers have been with us for 40+ years, and they get used all the time.  Our kids would remember over the years all the leftovers stored in them, and when they went into the fridge for a snack there was surely something good in one of these (right, James?) … but they are starting to wear out.

Tonight I noticed a tiny crack in one of our orange 4-cup bowls.  A tiny crack, but granted, it is over 40 years old.  Leaking some of the strawberry juice from the berries I bought on the weekend.

Now this container did not have any of the emblems on the bottom for the politically correct recycling which proves its age.

Over the years, we have purchased new plastic containers, occasionally Tupperware, but none of them last more than a few years.  Eventually throw most of them out.

Now I may sound like one of those old guys who says “they do not make things as good as they used to”, and that would be wrong.  99% of stuff these days have better features and are superior.  Case in point … cars built in the 70’s were crap.

But 1970’s Tupperware are much superior to the modern, made in China plastic containers.  This particular tub will go into the trash with regrets.  Fortunately we can still go to our local thrift shops, and if we are lucky, find some good old Tupperware from estate sales.