Heinz....

This is Heinz's 7lb trout that he got at a Secret Lake....name withheld pending further confirmation...I want to know if he smoked it or was it BBQ? He is my oldest brother and we get to see he and his wife Marlene when they travel down from Williams Lake to spend part of their winter down in AZ. Marlene tells me they only have 7 months before they leave again. She retires at the end of 2009 as an RN in Emg. and ICU. They will really miss her, but I am so sure she will be in their big rig "Brutus" heading south the minute she turns 60!!!!!and you will only see those tail lights!!!

Sibling relationships - and 80 percent of Americans have at least one - outlast marriages, survive the death of parents, resurface after quarrels that would sink any friendship. They flourish in a thousand incarnations of closeness and distance, warmth and loyalty.

~Erica E. Goode, "The Secret World of Siblings," U.S. News & World Report, 10 January 1994

Outside...

Tonight was warm enough to sit outside for a while, so I picked a few flowers, got out some books, lit a candle, threw a shawl around my shoulders had a cup of tea and relaxed..A lovely way to spend the last few hours of the day.

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Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Weekend Picnic...

Cookie basking in the sun....

Pebbles enjoying the water

Jim and I took the dogs and went on a drive around the west side of the lake. Had a picnic lunch at Fintry, then on to Vernon and back to Kelowna. We saw alot of new places we had never seen before. There is so much new construction in and around Vernon.

We came back into Kelowna, they were having the W.R.Bennett Bridge opening celebration and there must of been nearly a 1,000 people walking over the bridge. It was opened 2 months earlier than expected and under budget. Today we actually drove over it as only the west lanes are open for traffic at the moment..

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Middle age is when you're sitting at home on a Saturday night and the telephone rings and you hope it isn't for you.

Ogden Nash

Country Living....

From the pages of one of my favourite magazines: Country Living UK edition...a wonderful read. It makes you want to daydream.

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Sit in reverie and watch the changing color of the waves that break upon the idle seashore of the mind.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Jeremy and Julie back Home...

Jeremy and Julie took lots of pictures and video's while they were with Jeremy's students in Orlando. The kids really learned alot about science and had a great time as well...Now they are back at the regular job of teaching in a class room setting.

Sunny Monday

Cindy taking me out to lunch at Joey's Global Grill after a busy day of shopping.....We needed lunch..the weather was still really lovely.
Early this morning Cindy left to go back to Nelson, and if you can believe it, she forgot her assorted case of wine....I guess I will just have to get in the car and do a wine delivery!!! Cindy, I will let you know when I am coming. up.

Thanks for everything, I had such a great time with you, you are are such a treasured friend and I am so lucky to have you in my life.

The rarest thing in the world is a woman who is pleased with photographs of herself.

~Elizabeth Metcalf

Cindy's visit...

Cindy picking out her fountain to take back to Nelson

Having lunch at Lake Breeze Vineyards on the Naramata Bench

Lake Breeze Vineyards

Here we are, two old friends...going to have a lovely lunch together. We left at 8:00 am and headed straight to Dogwood Nursery to do some scouting for all things GARDEN...then off to Thornhaven Winery and Dirty Laundry Winery in Summerland. I was the DD, so I only had one small taste at Thornhaven, then off to Blasted Church in OK Falls. It was such a warm and beautiful day, we had the top down on the Mustang, and got a tiny bit burnt by the sun and wind. I showed Cindy around the Naramata Bench, into the town, then lunch at Lake Breeze which was her treat. Yummy food...then over to Poplar Grove Winery, not to taste, but to buy some of their artisan cheese...heading home in time for Cindy to take her nephew and his family out to dinner....tomorrow, shopping!!!!

Thanks to Jimmy for making sure the "girlies" were cool and cared for at home while Cindy and I went out to play.

A good friend is a connection to life - a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world.

Lois Wyse

Cupcake Magic...

Kate from Cakeadoodledo sent me her Cupckae Magic book as a gift...how sweet is that? So over the next few weeks I am going to learn some of her magic and hopefully be able to spread some cupcake love...

Thank you so much Kate for this lovely gesture!!!

Orlando Trip

Riverside School Chicken Logo


Julie and Jeremy waiting to board their Red-Eye Flight from Seattle to Orlando. They have 52 students having a week of Science excitement and fun. 7 Teachers on call for the kids 24/7...I hope they slept some on the plane.

What's blooming today..

Apple blossoms in Kelowna

Alpine plants in my front courtyard

Mexican Mock Orange in planter.

Still cool here, rained all last night, but they say we are getting warmer weather, ha, I will believe that when I see it.
Jim is in Calgary visiting his 94 year old Mom and son Brad and Carmen until tomorrow. Jeremy & Julie are heading on the red eye out of Seattle today with 5 other teachers and 52 students to Orlando for 10 days of Science and hopefully some fun. Christa is in Airdrie without her grandchildren and feeling rested and riding her bike. Shannon is back from AZ. in Vancouver and heading to Nelson for the summer. Shirley is hard at work at the Cancer Clinic in Vancouver planning a hiking holiday in Patagonia. The Ya Ya's are in Vancouver and Kamloops respectively. Frosso is busy in her garden and working hard in Vancouver. Noreen is minding her clothing store in Nelson. My brother Werner is heading to the Baja, Heinz and Marlene are still cool in Williams Lake and the rest of my bro's and sisters are all in Bull River all doing their own things. I work for the next 3 days and Cindy comes to visit me on Saturday for 3 nights. I can hardly wait to see her again as it has been 7 months..Ya Ya!!

So there you have it..my tidy little world..I am off to walk the dogs, buy some groceries and have my friend Andrea over for dinner tonight.

Friends are those rare people who ask how you are and then wait for the answer. ~Author Unknown

Christa's Crew...

Hanging Out to Dry...even the toys have to be clean..

The boys all squeaky clean and ready for bed.

Ella hanging out to dry!!!!

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Smile. Have you ever noticed how easily puppies make human friends? Yet all they do is wag their tails and fall over.

~Walter Anderson, The Confidence Course, 1997

All things blue..

All things lovely & blue, shapes, colors, textures & hues.

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A love affair with knowledge will never end in heartbreak.

~Michael Garrett Marino

Cookie's Birthday...

Just look at how cool Cookie looks for her 98th birthday, (14 years in dog years) dressed up in Purple.

Happy Mother's Day. The dogs gave me a wonderful card. Jeremy and Julie phoned a couple of times, I am being taken out for lunch, & I don't think that it gets much better than this.

These lilacs where from my Mom's garden in Bull River. I gave some to my friend Cindy, and when we moved down here to Westbank, Cindy dug up a few of the suckers, and here they are blooming in my garden. How sweet it that. These are the times that I miss my Mother the most.

Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling in at night. Mom, you are missed so very much.

~Edna St Vincent Millay

It's Saturday...

I haven't posted anything for a while, but am inspired once again. We have had such a lousy bout of less than spring like weather that everything around me seemed gray...but I am sure that spring is just around the corner, in time to collide with summer...one can only hope.

We had a lovely visit with our friends Shannon and Del from Kamloops. Like us they have a winter home in Queen Creek, AZ which is where we met them this winter. It was great to have a catch up visit...Shannon and I continue to have great taste selecting good wine to drink that keeps us so young looking...We sure missed our other Ya Ya sister Sue, who is in White Rock and on call..but we did have a drink or maybe even 2 for you Sue!!!

Put a grain of boldness into everything you do.

~Baltasar Gracian

Visual happiness for my locker @ work

I made this 5x7 magnetic frame for my locker at work...This will e will make me smile everytime I look at these photos.

Why not seize the pleasure at once, how often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparations.

~Jane Austen

Happy Thursday May 1/08....

Finally a lovely day here in Westbank, a good morning to have a treat outside with a good strong
cup of coffee.
Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.
~Harriet van Horne