Playing with Fire , Oct 30

This is the next craft show I will be participating in. I've been busy trying to get ready for this sale in the middle of my busy, busy fall. I will have some pictures  to post of work I've been doing in a couple of days.

It's a great sale, lots of new vendors every year. Some of them come from different parts of the province which is always exciting I think. All the artisans are asked by invitation only and we try to keep the quality high.

Playing with Fire

Penticton trip

the Nicola valley grasslands on the way to Penticton

We made a quick trip to Penticton on the Friday and Saturday before Thansgiving. We arrived home from Victoria and 8:30 pm and got up at 6:30 the next morning to leave. We had to go meet with the real estate agent and finalize putting my Dad's house on the market. We have spent all summer getting him moved into first complex care and then assissted living and coming to terms with his dementia. We are all hopeful that the house will sell quickly and that things will settle down soon.

                                                a fruit stand in Keremeos on our way home

Victoria Trip

On the Wednesday and Thursday before Thanksgiving, we had to take a quick trip to Victoria for Rick's job. He was celebrating 30 yrs of service with a free trip and  dinner at government house. It was a fun, but very quick trip. It took us 8 hours to get there , with the ferry trip included,  and we found it quite a lot of driving to turn around and drive home the next  day. We had family commitments in Penticton on Friday and couldn't extend our Victoria trip by another day. The weather was beautiful for the trip over and we had a great time.

 Coquihalla highway, driving through the mountains

BC Ferry slip at Tsawwassen. The city of Vancouver is in the distance.

Mt. Baker, Washington from the ferry.

the hotel in Victoria

BC's parliament buildings from our hotel balcony

 foggy day on the way home

Happy Birthday Auntie Katie

Katie's birthday was on the 13th of Oct.

Thanksgiving Geocaching

We had a fun afternoon on Monday doing some kid friendly caches in the local parks while the turkey cooked!

Oct. Fun

We are having a busy, busy month including some babywitting days. This was a sunny Saturday at the local wildlife park with the girls. Katie came along to help and have fun!

Week 2 of our Holidays, Lac la Biche

After spending about 3 days slowly driving to Jasper and another few days there, we headed out to Lac la Biche, to visit our oldest son, Mike. Lac la Biche is 2 hrs northeast of Edmonton, Alberta on the way to Fort McMurray. It's almost past the agriculture part of the prairies and is in the boreal forest with miles and miles of aspen trees. The land is very flat to our eyes .  It took Mike a long time to get used to the landscape. There are hundreds of lakes nearby in the county that he lives in and fishing and ice-fishing are big-time activities.

The town of Lac la Biche from the provincial park across the lake. Lac la Biche is right on the lake and was settled by french  Canadian fur traders and missionaries.

the beach at the campsite

cormorants lined up on a little island in Lac la Biche lake

pelicans on the lake

The weather had been cool and rainy almost the whole summer and a lot of the birds had already migrated. Usually there are hundreds of pelicans and cormorants around. We did manage to find some though.

Rick on the viewing platform at the park

a pelican in the sunset

spectacular sunsets when the weather co-operated

Mike had a new fishing boat this year and we enjoyed our days out on the local lakes. The fishing was not quite as good as some years, again because of the rainy weather.

Muffy waiting for a fish!

Touchwood Lake

After spending nearly a week, we headed back towards the Rockies through rolling foothills and prairie scenery.

Vernon Quilt Show

Here are some pictures from a great quilt show in Vernon. Some of my friends and I did a road trip today to Vernon today and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. There were so many quilts that it almost became overwhelming!

quilt blocks decorating the walkway to the entrance

On the way home we drove around through Salmon Arm and Sorrento. The Sorrento Centre was hosting the display of African themed quilts by the Glacier Grannies from the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island. 

This is the description from the Sorrento Centre web site.

Art Quilt Exhibit: "Turning the Tide... one ripple at a time"


Friday, October 1 (2-7 pm) - October 2, 3 (11 am- 4 pm) - Quilts created by members of the North Island Quilters for Community Awareness on display. The theme - "Turning the Tide...one ripple at a time" - stresses the changes that are occuring in sub-Saharan Africa as a result of the generosity of Canadians. For more information on these beautiful works of art please go to glaciergrannies.org. The Glacier Grannies are a group of dedicated women from the Comox Valley who raise funds for the Stephen Lewis Foundation's Grandmother to Grandmother Campaign.

Here's the link to the Glacier Grannies  http://www.glaciergrannies.org/

My camera batteries died, so I couldn't take pictures. The display was incredible and really worth seeing. They are travelling across Canada through the winter and I would really recommend seeing them if at all possible.

Alberta Trip Week one

Here are some pictures from our recent trip to Alberta. We were heading to Lac la Biche , which is 2 hours north-east of Edmonton , Alberta, to visit our oldest son.  If we had driven straight through, it would have taken about 14 hrs. It's about 1000 km from here.  We love camping and hiking in the Rockies , so we always plan to take our time and enjoy the mountains coming and going. This time we left Kamloops about 3 in the afternoon and spent the first night at Clearwater in a provincial park on the North Thompson river. From there we went to Mt. Robson provincial park. Then we spent 2 nights in Jasper doing some exploring and then 1 night in Edmonton before arriving in Lac la Biche.

the Fraser River at Mt. Robson

rafters on the Fraser at Rearguard falls

Maligne canyon northeast of Jasper

Medicine Lake on the way to Maligne Lake. This lake is a special "disappearing lake that has underground springs that drain the water at differnt times of the year. This was the fullest we've ever seen it.

me on the way to do some painting at Medicine lake

a pika in the rocks

fresh snow in Aug. at Medicine lake

mountains in the evening light at Pryamid Lake outside of Jasper

Mt Edith Calvell with new snow from Pryamid Lake.

We had a lot of rainy weather for the 3 and half weeks we were gone ,so I didn't get as many pictures of the mountains as I usually do.