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Tuesday ~ August 5th
Me, Chris, Auntie Skye & Uncle Garry ~ Pemberton, B.C.
We've been back from our road trip for several days now, but I'm just finding the time to update now.
Pemberton was wacky. The music was amazing but the campsite was gross, I guess you take the bad with the good, eh? Despite a disgusting campground chalk full of frat boys using the place like a giant garbage dump & screaming their guts out 24 hours a day, when 3 p.m. rolled around, we headed off to the main stage to see the bands & all was right with the world again.
For me, without a doubt, seeing Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers was the best part of the entire festival & they did 4 encores! In fact, the entire lineup on Saturday, the day Tom Petty played, was awesome along with Friday's lineup. I enjoyed each & every band. Sunday was a bit of a different case. We got to see Vampire Weekend, which we were highly anticipating & enjoyed thoroughly. Then we attempted to see Wintersleep on another stage, but couldn't really get close enough so we went back to the main stage & watched Death Cab for Cutie, which was o.k. Jay-Z was next on the bill & Chris & I decided we would sit that one out & go back to the campground for a quick nap before Coldplay. That was a mistake as the place was so jam packed for Coldplay, there was no chance of getting close enough to even bother watching them so it was an early night, but by then we were pretty tired & were looking forward to leaving the next morning for the next part of our trip.
* Sorry there are no pictures of the festival (you can go on "youtube.com" & type in Pemberton to see what it was like). We were shuttled into our campsites so I decided against bringing my camera because I couldn't lock it up. The photo above is just before we parked our cars & left on a bus for the festival. *
On Monday, Chris & I drove to Kelowna ~ a stunning, scenic drive through the mountains. When we arrived we stayed at my mom's condo; check out the view from her patio:
There's a bird sanctuary directly below her place & it is so pretty & the place was so clean & we got to have showers & wash off all the dirt from walking around in dusty farmers' fields for 4 days straight, you can imagine how wonderful it was for us!
The next morning I got up very early & went down to explore the bird sanctuary. There are 2 osprey living there, here's one of them just hanging out.
Later that day, Chris & I went to the Elysium Gardens & wandered around the gorgeous yards there (4 acres of perennial gardens on an old apple orchard). I took a picture with a Japanese Maple because they are so stunning & there are so many of these wonderful trees in Kelowna. Unfortunately Japanese Maples are Zone 5 (we are Zone 3) so unless I want to grow one in a pot (a very big one), quarantine it every autumn in the garage & find a place in my house for it over winter, I just can't grow one here. I think I won't bother, & instead just enjoy seeing them elsewhere.
We did happen to pick up this fabulous daylily called "Prairie Blue Eyes". We also bought a beautiful red peony for our front garden.
After lunch at the Eldorado & the trip to the gardens we stopped at Mission Hill Winery for a tour, which was pretty cool. Here's the wine cellar storing 800 barrels of wine.
We left after two nights rest in Kelowna & carried on to Banff for a night. I lived in Banff in my early twenties for a ski season & have very fond memories of the place. I've only been back a couple of times since, the last time being almost 7 years ago, so it was great to go back for a visit. Before we headed home, I took Chris on my favorite drive by the golf course that has this beautiful view of the Bow River (above).
We arrived home last Thursday night & scheduled for 11 boulders to be delivered to our house the next day so we've been busy all weekend building a rock wall along the side of our house... pictures coming soon.
A side note: I've decided not to carry on with documenting "Weigh in Wednesday". I still have some weight to lose & plan on continuing the Core program & weighing in each Wednesday at Weight Watchers, but I think I'll refrain from publishing my progress here as I fear it is getting a little uninteresting for you all. I originally wrote about it as a way to make myself accountable, but I now believe that I am committed to a healthier lifestyle period. Perhaps I'll mention future goals when I reach them, but for now, I will just carry on with it quietly. |
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Thursday ~ August 6th
Baby Robin
Yesterday morning I woke up early & looked out to see over 10 baby robins running around in the front yard & one adult female robin. I'm sure she didn't lay 10+ eggs so I don't know what was going on there, but boy are they ever sweet the way they tear around on those stick legs of theirs. It seemed as if they really didn't know what they were doing, just running around trying to figure out how to act like a bird. Some of them were zipping behind the Dahlias & Burning Bushes & then poking back out again with a confounded expression, some were jumping up on rocks & then jumping down & some of them were just zigzagging across the yard haphazardly; I didn't see a one of them actually catch a worm.
Magnificent Magpie
Our neighborhood has also been overrun by noisy magpies that like to start their squawking around 5 a.m. This magpie above has the most stunning tail I've ever seen, I'm hoping he might drop one of those feathers in the yard for me to find later.
*Today I am very excited about a new arrival, tell you about it later.* |
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Saturday ~ August 8th
Out with the old...
Previous Concentrator
New Concentrator
My "new arrival" arrived yesterday. I've been out of commission since late June because my oxygen concentrator (you need one along with propane to run a torch to make beads) broke down. The timing worked out because it allowed me to focus on the yard, but there were plenty of cool, rainy days in between that would have been optimum for bead making.
After a little research, I found a really good oxygen concentrator ~ the M-15 & it finally came! It's awesome ~ so much more powerful than my previous one that has been failing me for well over a year now & causing a slow down in production & a great deal of frustration. I'm really excited to get back to the torch & to try this baby out, I think it might lead to some new styles & colors that I haven't been able to create before. |
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Tuesday ~ August 11th
Pensive Maggie
I received this funny email about "Pet Diaries" awhile back & have been meaning to share it with you.
DOG DIARY
8:00 am - Dog food! My
favorite thing!
CAT DIARY
Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow, but at the top of the stairs. ...
And while I'm on the topic of funny, this is quite the video, another one sent to me via email. |
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Wednesday ~ August 20th
Chris built this shed for me, isn't it awesome?! The door is the best part, well the door & the curved roof, which we plan to grow woolly thyme on...
Oh, & Chris ran electricity to it so I can plug in my lawn mower & I have a light & an iPod/radio to listen to music while I'm in there writing garden notes. Not that I've ever written garden notes in there before, but I do have a calendar hanging in there that I write things on & it's sure handy to be able to see everything so brightly. And check out the window in the upper middle of the above photo. We had an old window in our house where a milk shoot used to be & we took it out earlier this year, so Chris used it on the back of the shed wall so that sunlight would filter through. He's amazing, thanks bunny, I love my shed!
Today, I ordered a wonderful print from the incredibly talented Allison Strine that has a bird lady holding a watering can perched on a garden trowel with the words, "She's playing in the dirt again!" underneath. When it arrives, I'm going to frame & hang it in my shed ~ here's what it looks like, cute eh?
Allison Strine's Print
Speaking of cute things, our friends Mike & Kelly, just had a beautiful baby girl who they named Cora on the 17th of August, congratulations to you both! I haven't met her yet, but I'm looking forward to it, I've seen pictures & she's a real sweetie pie!
I'm off tomorrow to Jasper for our annual "All Girls Camping Extravaganza". I'll be back next week with some pictures...etc.
I just got back from a 3 hour "boot camp" yoga class after taking the summer off. It feels good to be all stretched out again (I think I needed that), but right now I'm tuckered & should hit the hay. Hope you have a wonderful weekend! |
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Wednesday ~ August 27th
Cactus Flowers ~ photo courtesy of my mom
I took 18 photos in total while I was gone & I forgot to get a group shot, so I won't even bother showing you pictures from "All Girls". But I will say that I had an awesome weekend & it's always nice to get away with the girls. Now it's time to pull up the ol' socks; there's so much to do that I can't think about it without becoming overwhelmed so I'll just plow through, day by day. |
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Sunday ~ August 31st
New Jewelry!
Above, some goodies that my mom has been working on. Many of these pieces have Gypsy-like qualities: small seed bead strands, dangling bells, semi-precious gems, chunky stones & my handmade glass beads. I love how exotic, distinctive & sparkly they are!
We are leaving in a week for SQUAM & will be staying in Montreal for a few nights first. I haven't been to Montreal since 1999 when I was there with an old boyfriend, (originally from Montreal), to visit his parents around Christmas time. He took me to all his favorite haunts, most of which happened to be bakeries & delis. According to him, I've tried the best bagels, smoked meat & poutine this planet has to offer.
Well this time around, I would like to broaden my horizons to include things beyond just food so if you've been to Montreal recently, I would love to hear from you *pretty please*. Tell me about great museums & galleries, activities that you enjoyed, restaurants & cafes that were outstanding, the best live music venues, wonderful gardens, shops, parks, comedy clubs... anything you can recommend worth experiencing while we're there would be so appreciated ~ please email me here with your recommendations. From Montreal we are driving down to New Hampshire & are considering going through The Adirondacks on our way. If you've been there, I would also love to hear if it's worth a visit. In fact, if you live near or in New Hampshire, please shed some light for me, we will be driving through some unfamiliar territory & have such a limited time that we would be very thankful for any suggestions.
P.S. If you "can't live" without one of the jewelry pieces above, email me as soon as possible & I'll give you the price & size of the interested piece(s).
P.S.S. A big Happy Birthday to you Ken! |
