Goodbye Nanny...

Jeremy's Nanny passed away quietly yesterday just short of her 95th birthday. She lived a very good and healthy life and was very active in her church community.She loved and was loved.

 I am forever grateful that she was in my life all these years.

Here she is with my mom Carol in Bull River. They both became widows only a few months apart in 1994.

Here is to all the wonderful family memebers that have touched our lives and have passed on to their next life.

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Barbara Brown   September 17- 1915  April 29 - 2010

Carol Leuenberger    September 11 - 1924 September 30 - 2000

United by married, these  2 lovely Grandmother's were so special to Jeremy.

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My mom, Carol on left and Barbara on the right. Our old dog Sable in the background.

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My Grandmother always made you feel she had been waiting to see just you all day and now her day was complete.

Marcy DeMaree

Alexander in the Maldives

We were happy to get these lovely photos of Alexander, Shane and Laurie when they were in the Maldives Island last week. Alexander had his first swimming lesson in the Ocean and as you can see, what is not to love about this?

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Blooms....

As Frosso and I walked around her neighbourhood we saw all kinds of little treasures around every block. This lovely little cat comes to visit every day and has a well established route. As you can see, she is well loved.

Driving back to Westbank was good, except for the 3 miles of thick in your face dense fog..that was scary. I could not see more than one foot ahead of my car as this was at the summit on the Coquaihalla Highway. Once it cleared away I definitely had a sigh of relief.

It is really cold here today and windy, a good day to stay inside and get things done.

Walking in Frosso's Neighbourhood.

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These were some of the wonderful flowers and things we saw on our walk yesterday morning.

This is Sheelagh and Frosso.  She is Frosso's neighbour who was kind enough to show me her lovely garden.

Heading back home today after the morning rush hour. It is always wonderful to come for a visit, getting great ideas and then

have all the fun of changing things around when I get home.

Blooming at Frosso's Home...

Spending a few lovely days here with my dear friend Fro....today we are going around the neighbourhood and seeing what else is blooming.

Here for your enjoyment is what is showing off it's colors at Fro's Home.

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Salt Spring Island Trip...

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We took the BC Ferry  over to Salt Spring Island where Jeremy's Nanny is. We got picked up at the Ferry terminal buy Strick, Jeremy's Uncle and when we got to the nursing home, Barb (Jeremy's Aunt) was there to greet us and bring us up to date on how Nanny is..
Nanny recognized Jeremy and myself and we spent about 45 minutes with her until she went to sleep.She is weak but still able to talk and ask a few questions.

Smokey the cat is a regular visitor to all the the patients beds and he was sleeping at Nanny's feet when we arrived and moved on just to check out someone else who he had to look after.

I loved the fact that the cat was allowed to be with the seniors that live there.

After a stopping at 3 Islands along the way back we got back to Vancouver.  It was great going thru the Gulf Islands, even though the Ferry ride took over 3 hours. Julie is still visiting her family in Victoria. Jeremy and I had Sushi for dinnern then stayed up until midnight watching the

Star Trek movie that I had not yet seen.

No rain here today, YET, and we are just heading out for a bit to eat. Off to stay with Frosso and have a look around the gardens in her neighbourhood.

Rain in Vancouver

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It was a good drive down, except I ran into some snow and (-1) weather...Didn't last too long and I was glad that I decided to take the Jeep. Then it started to rain and it has been pouring ever since.

Julie is going over to Victoria tomorrow to stay overnight with her family.

Jeremy and I and taking another Ferry over to Salt Spring Island to see his 96 year old Nanny who has just come out of ICU..It will be great to see her one more time.

New photos will be taken over the next few days, but I love these of the kids!

Brad and Carmen..

Brad and Carmen are heading for a few well deserved R&R days in Palm Springs this weekend..

Jim and I are so excited as we are going to see them in Calgary in the middle of May.

 I will bring my jewelery making stuff and Carmen and I will craft up a storm..Jim and Brad may be tackling the landscaping together. We will also visit with Jim's Mom, Joyce who 95 and is in a nursing home.

I am heading off to Vancouver tomorrow for a week to see Jeremy and Julie and stay a couple of days with Frosso.

The drive down will take about 4 hours and the music will be loud as I zip along!!

Have a great spring day where ever you are reading this from!

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Simplicity....

sim·plic·i·ty   /sɪmˈplɪsɪti/ Show Spelled[sim-plis-i-tee]

–noun,

1.the state, quality, or an instance of being simple.
2.freedom from complexity, intricacy, or division into parts: an organism of great simplicity.

3.absence of luxury, pretentiousness, ornament, etc.; plainness: a life of simplicity.

4.freedom from deceit or guile; sincerity; artlessness; naturalness: a simplicity of manner.

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A single flower in a vase on a window sill.

Alpina Willy Clemetis
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Be content with what you have, rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.
Lao Tzu

View from our window..

This is our view from our kitchen, dining room and living room windows.

This is the 5th green. We also see the 3rd, 4th and 5th fairways, and yes, we get a few balls in our yard.

Jim gathers them all up and we give most of them to Jeremy for the golf program at Riverside School where he teaches.

Mission Hill Winery at the top of the hill and Lake Okanagan behind the trees and to the left.

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Signs of Spring here in West Kelowna.

Yesterday was a beautiful day. I had time to go our local plant nursery and get a few plants.

This is the view from our deck. The hedgehog was a birthday gift from my good girlfriend and gardening buddy, Shannon.

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The flowers that are blooming now in our garden.

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Harvest Moon Hemp Ale.

Sadly only available in keg form from the Nelson Brewery.

But summer is coming and company, right??

(Cindy and Tim's Brewery in Nelson, BC)

Signs from the Past..

Those of you that read my blog regularly (I thank you) know that I love vintage neon signs and every chance I get, I take the picture.

Soon, some of these wonderful signposts of our time will be gone, some to development and others just crumbling with old age.

Here are a few for you to enjoy!

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You don't take a photograph. You ask, quietly, to borrow it.

Author Unknown

Things to do around the house..

Getting back into the swing of things back here at our summer home in Westbank.

As I unpacked our suitcases, I looked around and realized that for the first time we are without  Pebbles or Cookie and it was hard to believe they we only with us in spirit.

Going to make some changes in the house, but for now, here are a few pretty things that might look good.

Spring is definately here. Today we had a warm sunny day and the flowers are starting to bloom.

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Made it back to BC...

Just a quick note to let you know that we made it safely back to BC.

The Ya Ya's left today and my good buddy Karen is living the life in the Arizona sunshine without us!!
Took this photo of the Oregon Trail Motel in Baker City, Oregon...they have some great old vintage signs and a wonderful historic downtown.

Over the next few days, I will post some more photos that I took of the trip..It was a great couple of days driving but as always the best part is coming back to our summer home in BC, safely!!!

Water everywhere...

We drove from Twin Falls to Moses Lake...it was a lovely drive with lots of water everywhere we went.

Here are some of the photos!

We will be back to our home in BC tomorrow.

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Leaving Vegas..arriving in Twin Falls, Idaho

Here are a few of the photos that I took on the road. The Great Basin Highway 93. Keeping the car journal updated as we travel, "Gertie" the Garmin GPS and Jim's sunglassses. McGill frontier town just outside Ely and approaching rain storm that never came our way.

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Keeping water handy, it is along way between places where you can stop.

Seeing Las Vegas

This is what the bridge looks like over the Hoover Dam. It is supposed to be open November 2010. It will be a wonderful thing to be able to drive over it and see the dam below.

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Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville, one of our favourite places to visit.

Saying goodbye to Arizona..

Heading out tomorrow to Las Vegas for a couple of nights then back to BC.

We will really miss the warm weather, our friends that we have made here and our garden.

Jim will miss his golfing buddies.

And I will surely be missing my crafting buddy Karen, But for me, I won't be missing all the allergies that I have had for the last couple of weeks.

I am hopeful to be able to post along the way.

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The trip across Arizona is just one oasis after another. You can just throw anything out and it will grow there, I like Arizona.

Will Rogers

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Arizona Orange Bells

Journal Pages...

Some more bird themes that I am working on.
This is in my journal.

 I took a napkin, pulled it apart, glued it into the journal and started working on it.

I also photocopied several vintage postcards and added them to the book.

This one is for Karen who comes from Iowa

There are so many beautiful images that are out there for us to use to give color and texture to our lives
Make them your own by adding some ink and pencil crayons.

  Just go play and have fun!!!!

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A work in progress...

This is a close up on a piece that I am working on whenever I find my hands idle!!

I see that I need to give my bird some sort of an eye..it is interesting to me to see how it becomes what it finally is...as I usually don't haave a plan, it is the process that is fun for me.
How are you spending you day today?

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Take your needle, my child, and work at your pattern; it will come out a rose by and by. Life is like that - one stitch at a time taken patiently and the pattern will come out all right like the embroidery.

 Oliver Wendell Holmes

more birds...

I really enjoy collecting these vintage postcards. 
They usually have great wrting on the back of them. Some of them  are original artworks and signed by the illustrator.
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Most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Do you see a bird theme here?

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Here are a few of the finds. Cindy left me the sweet little bird flower pot in the top left of the first picture. I bought the linen tea towel becasue it was the year my son Jeremy was born.

Good karma finding that!!! The triangler ruler made it into my basket as well.

Buttons have been a long time favourite but to find them on their cards was a delight!
Who wouldn't want this wonderful graphic photo of women sewing and to get all of these neddles..

I rest my case!!!
I really lucked out with these 2 old bird books from 1911 with colored bird paintings inside. More on these later.

Cindy will be back home in Nelson, enjoying the photos and the great memories we made together down here in AZ.

Happy Easter

This is one of the vintage Easter postcards I bought when I was with Cindy.

Just love these little baby chicks...

What we saw and found...

Before Cindy left on Thursday, we went to our favourite junk stores and antique markets in both Apache Junction and Mesa..It was a very good day for some interesting finds.

We never bought any of these, but I really enjoyed taking these photos.

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Goodbye Cindy...

My Cindy leaves today to continue her holiday with a trip to Seattle to visit her cousins. I will be so sad to drive her to the airport this morning. We played dominos every day, and she whooped me soundly nearly every game. She is a very skilled and crafty player. The re-match will happen when I get to her home in Nelson in June.

We went antique shopping yesterday and spent another day just having fun and hanging out.

So my dear freind, it was a pleasure having you here with me.A big thanks to Jim who was so great about making sure that it was all about "US".