It has been such an unusual spring and now
summer here in the
Okanagan.
First we had the wettest spring on record with some of
the most serious flooding this area has seen.
Right after that, the fire season started with high tempetures and strong winds.
The summer months where filled with hot smokey days.
77 days without rain.
To celebrate one of the clear days we had over the weekend,
we drove the WestSide Road, up to Vernon and
had a lovely picnic along the way.
You definitely can feel that fall is in the air.
I celebrated my 68th birthday on the 13.
How blessed I feel to be so healthy and happy.
Always a bittersweet day for me as I was born 2 days after my
Mom's 25th birthday.
I miss her each day.
In order to be a dolphin trainer,
you need at least as BSc.
It looks at this point she is
following in her Dad's footsteps.
Who knows what she will want to do by the time she is in Grade 12.
I hope you have a really good
Grade 2 Claire!
She's busy being a kid.
Doing what little girls do, she's growing up.
I was there for her first day back to school.
She only had 1 hour of classtime, back in her grade one room.
Next week she will be full time in her grade 2/3 split.
I will see her again in October before we leave for
our time away in Thailand.
Since I had to take Claire back to Vancouver
on her July solo visit to us here,
this time she brought her parents so she wouldn't be so homesick.
We had lots and lots of fun.
Jeremy and Julie celebrated their 19th wedding anniversary on
August 22 and we looked after Claire while they went out for dinner.
There wasn't any homesickness or drama.
I gave her a mannequin that Frosso had given me.
She spent hours draping her clothes, fabric and trim all over her.
It was a great hit and she took it back home with her.
She dressed her mannequin all by herself with just some fabric
when she got home.
Taking a week to visit friends,
to see new sights and get away from all the smoke and heat.
We are enjoying a wonderful couple of days on our friends floating home
on Lake Union in Seattle.
Bliss.
Here are a few photos as we headed here to Seattle over the
North Cascade Highway,
as well as a few more I took when we got here yesterday.
It's an eerie sight, smoke so thick it looks like fog.
The air quality is simply dreadful.
I can not imagine how hot and hard the conditions are for all the firefighters.
Lucky for us we can escape to our air conditioned home.
33 - 36 degrees all week.
The sun sets as an orange flaming ball.
Inspite of this all, there is still work to do in garden and within our community.
This smoke will eventually leave our valley, the sun will shine thru and
summer will return before the kids have to go back to school.
Where does the time go?
Here we are nearly at the end of July.
It's been a good time for us, lots of sunshine, some smoke, picnics,
friends visiting, trips being planned.
Happy weekend to our family and friends.
