This past Friday we had a holiday. I can hear some of you screaming that my life is already one big fat holiday…no need to yell.

And, well, yes that’s sort of true. I don’t have to be anywhere at any regular time. I don’t have a real job, no kids at home, no commitments other than the ones I keep creating…so yes, it sounds rather holiday-like to me too.

But it’s not quite like that. It’s almost impossible to imagine another person’s life. I know that. But suffice it to say that by the end of last week, I really felt in need of a holiday.

Luckily, we were already booked into the Painted Boat Resort & Spa in Pender Harbour, British Columbia for the night. This was another one of those times when the opportunity to try something because of my travel writing connections was oh-so-welcome.

It’s less than 30 minutes to Pender Harbour from our house in Sechelt and by 5:00 we had arrived in our two-bedroom condo overlooking the lovely bay. Our dinner reservations were for 8:30 and quite honestly, I wasn’t sure what to do with an entire three and half hours of uncommitted time and no laptop…but after we picked up some crackers, olives, Camembert and onion/garlic jam from the local Marketplace IGA, it all came pretty easy. Doesn’t take long to remember how to kickback…especially once Kevin uncorked the bottle of red.

We sat on the deck, smelling the resin from the pines, watching the birds and geese doing their birdy things and I felt something fall away from my shoulders and roll down the back of my chair. I swear I saw that tension crawl away and retreat under a cold, dark rock. There was no room on my sun-warmed shoulders for any of that.

And then we had the most sublime dinner. Seriously fabulous. I had sturgeon served with ice syrup, potatoe bellinis, baby veggies and sundried tomatoe caper vinaigrette. The plate looked washed by the time I let them take it away. The sun set on the bay outside the open French doors, Diane Lines sang smoky jazz and life was about as good as it gets.

In the morning we had coffee on our deck. And here’s where one of those little things in life somehow took on a bigger meaning. I opened the fridge and found an entire 250 ml brand-new Creamo. I took a picture. I was so excited. In my defense at getting this wound up about cream you have to know, that though I have been in tons of five-star hotels where every detail is perfect, there is almost always one exception;  usually the in-room coffee is drek and they leave packets of non-dairy creamer or some other nasty edible oil product equivalent.

But this place? They nailed every last detail. I wouldn’t mind moving in. That condo was as big as any home I’d ever have. It all made me smile. And hopefully I’ll be adding some photos shortly.

We had a holiday in the truest sense of the word. And it was good.