A generous bouquet of baked goodies. When I was in a store waiting for baked goods, a little boy and his mother were waiting for his free cookie and he insisted that I have an orange when I didn’t get a cookie. I was so touched and his mom was so proud of him.

a big bouquet to the guys who let me know my tickets had slipped my grip. That really make my day.

A dozen Turley’s Florist bouquets to our 87-year-old mother for hosting and cooking the family Thanksgiving dinner with a little help from family members. We love and appreciate you.

a dozen beautiful calla lilies to the woman (and her son) who returned my debit card to the credit union when I left it at Save-On-Foods. She didn’t leave her name, but I wanted to thank her any way I could – what a Good Samaritan.

A green bouquet to the Longwood Brew Pub for providing compostable cardboard take-home containers instead of styrofoam.

An energy-efficient bouquet to the B.C. Power Smart program. I love my new fridge. Thanks also for all the helpful info.

Thank you to Tim at Pioneer Fireplace, Bev at The Stained Glass Studio and Future Shop for their generous donations to my fundraising effort.

A virtual bouquet to the folks at Boutique Mac, notably Doug, for service above and beyond the call of duty in retrieving old data from a failing laptop. Putting it in a new laptop saved me many hours of software reinstallation and data retrieval.

Belated birthday blossoms to Tony from Frontrunners whose excellent service, while working on his birthday no less, enabled this enthusiastic runner to acquire the perfect footware for her favourite cardio sport.

A father’s Bouquet to my daughter Christine who paid the postage for a soldier on temporary leave. He was sending a package back to his friends in Afghanistan and will be returning there soon. If only all Canadians were so supportive of those risking their lives for freedom for others.

A BIG BAG OF TEMPTATION TREATS to Shirley from CatNap for helping me trap and find homes for all 23 cats/kittens abandoned on Hammond Bay Road. Your love and commitment for these felines was amazing and heartwarming.

A huge bouquet of roses to Dr. Ho, the nurses, imaging personnel and other staff in the emergency wing at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital for their caring and efficient treatment during my stay there.

A million “Blesses” and thanks to the best retirement party anyone could ever have. Huge thanks to the incredible organizers and everyone who came to help me celebrate. I am deeply grateful. The work you all did to make this so marvellous was unbelievable.

A belated Thanksgiving bouquet to Dr. Hayward and staff at Nanaimo Veterinary Hospital for your humanity and compassion toward Serena and Shandy.

A bouquet of orange and black roses to the person or persons who decorate at Beban Park for special seasons and holidays. The Halloween display is great. It is a pleasure to drive down Bowen Road and see what is there for each occasion. Well done.

A large thank you to Gary, Marilyn, staff and the permanent residents of Rondalyn Resort for their kind donations of unwrapped toys for the Port Alberni Motorcycle Toy Run in memory of our son Glenn. Mr. and Mrs. Scott Louden of Port Alberni were able to make arrangements for Glenn’s ashes to accompany the motorcycles on this year’s run. He would have been so happy and proud. A special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Ludwig who donated a loving armful of stuffed toys.

A big thumbs down to all the litter bugs in and around Nanaimo. Whatever happened to “Beautiful British Columbia?” And to those who dump cardboard – have you never heard of recycling?

A bad driving beef to drivers who tie up traffic while turning left across double solid lines.

A beef to whoever hacked up the blackberry bushes behind the Janitors’ Warehouse Industries Ltd. They’ve been cut back from the fence, which is a good thing. It’s a neat, clean path with all the debris removed. But they – or someone else – cut a big chunk out of the middle of the bushes for no good reason, leaving the hacked up branches there. It looks terrible.

A shin dig beef to abusive people. Physical, emotional, sexual, mental, financial, etc. Let us love one another. You know who you are.

A beef to those who’ve gone up in flames over Nanaimo’s “Hottie.” I confess that I’m a prude. I don’t like to see women displaying themselves like that. In my opinion, it demeans them.

a We-saw-you beef to the four or five people witnessed stealing a motorbike in Harewood. You were caught on a store’s surveillance tape. You will be identified.

A beef to gossip disguised as news, then done to death. I’m sick to death of Jon and Kate. As far as I’m concerned, they deserve each other. A couple of stories for a few days – with the occasional update – would have done the job.

A beef to the person who picked up my multi-coloured stone bracelet at the Tsawwassen ferry terminal. It was very sentimental to me.

A BIG pick-up-the-pace BEEF to a caretaker/maintenance man. Are your dust pan and broom broken? I watch you go through the parking lot sweeping up a leaf or two. What about the broken glass that has been in the parking lot for months now or the pile of cigarette butts? Maybe you would get more friendly smiles if you did a better job.

A sympathy beef for the wheelchair-bound reader who wrote that he/she can’t get around cars parked on the sidewalk. There is seldom any need to park in this way.

A second beef to drivers who do not realize just how dangerous it is to park on a bend in the road. Traffic negotiating the curve cannot see oncoming traffic until a very dangerous head-on collision situation is imminent. This is taught in European driving schools, but seems to be neglected in driver education here.

Beefs of discrimination to the health authority for not holding a flu shot clinic downtown. There are many of us who don’t have transportation to get to the clinics, which are all located miles away from downtown.

A Halloween Ghost to the hoodlums who scared my children. We were out having a great night enjoying all the spooks and goblins only for my children to come home and see with horrified eyes what had happened to our own Halloween spirit. The decorations that my children had made and hung on the trees and our mini graveyard had been destroyed.

a mean beef to the person or people throwing branches and rocks on trails in the south end to try to keep mountain bikers and others off them. You don’t own those trails and have no right to do that. Plus, someone is going to get injured.