5C's Que Pasa

This is a tough one to write.  Caeli was my girl and I am missing her so very much.  She was born April 1 2005 and died March 29, 2017, just three days shy of her 12th birthday.

August 2019 calendar photo.

I just love her puppy photo, middle left.  She was born with a beautiful face mask that faded over time but did come back a bit near the end.  Top right is a photo of Caeli with the only toy she ever played with.  It is a mini bow tie with a squeaky, given to her by Gramma Katie.  She carried it everywhere and often would hide it by burying it in the sand or here in Canada in the garden.  She would use her nose to cover it and her poor nose often had skin missing.  We had to watch where the buried it in case she forgot.  It was a very precious stuffed toy as it was the only thing she ever played with.  Sadly, it disappeared one day in Mexico.  We tore the RV and yard apart and never found it.  Looking back I think it somehow got tangled up in the bed sheets and got lost at the lavenderia.  Once we got home I must have ordered her a dozen different bow ties, as close in color and size to her original one.  She would touch none of them.  Eventually she started playing with an old sprinkler head, see the bottom right photo. She sometimes carried in her mouth as if it was a huge cigar, so comical.  Our landscaper was changing a few broken heads out and she grabbed one and ran with it.  That became her second and only toy.  If you take those three cameo photos out, you see Caeli barking at the horses as they head back down the beach, homeward bound for the night.  She would bark at them from our site and even when we came up to them on the beach.  Sometime she chased them but they totally ignored her.

Before I wrote this post I put Caeli into the search bar at the top right of my blog page and so many things came up.  Some made me laugh, others made me cry as I reread how sick she had been few times and almost died.  As I read through some of these posts I realized that my dear friend and long time blog reader Sandy and her husband Rex had left just a few days before we said goodbye to the girls.  Sandy, you might remember this post.  I of course totally forgot about your visit once we had to deal with the girls and their health issues.  So many memories. I am so happy to have my blog to be able to go back and read about various situations and see the photos of the que pasa of our lives with the girls.

Taken the end of November 2016.

I have been on quite the journey into the past tonight.  Time to stop and to stop the tears.  I am so grateful to all of our girls, we would not be who we are without having had them in our lives.

I am not referring to the wine we drink, what I like to call our house wine.

Painted Turtle is a wonderful BC label and this Pinot Grigio is a good wine.  The price is right if you buy the double bottle.

Nor am I referring to the painted turtles that are in our lake, the ones that are at risk.  You can read a bit about that here.

I took this photo of a painted turtle sunning itself a few years ago.

We often see them swimming just off of our beach. This one was under water so you can’t see its eyes.

Instead I am referring to a painted turtle that I brought home from Mexico about 8 or 9 years ago.

There he is.  No idea why but it is a he and not a she.  He is a wonderful greeter to our yard, however he is looking rather shabby.

I purchased some cheap paints and brushes from Dollarama and asked my neighbours grandson, Thomas, a young strapping fellow, to lift the turtle up onto my top step.  I am so glad that we never put a  hand rail on this side of our front steps.  So easy to unload groceries onto that top step and very helpful in loading and unloading the RV.  I was very careful and had placed a garbage bag under Mr. Turtle. It was an excellent location for me to paint from.  I used the plastic garbage bag to help turn the turtle as needed.

It was a warm afternoon and Colin was working till dark so it was the perfect time for me to undertake my turtle project.  Good thing I wore an apron as I did get some on me and also on the step, likely because I kept turning Mr. Turtle and exposed the step.  Wasn’t going to mention to Colin right off but he saw it the next morning.  So far I am still trying to get it off the step ( composite board ).  Here I have painted the green and the white areas.  The green was easy to do but I had to do the white over at least 3 -4 times.  The Mexican material is extremely porous and the white just kept absorbing.  At one point I was worried that the paint would wash off in the rain but so far so good.

I was never one to color well within the lines. Too impatient I guess.  This tiny plaque was a gift to Colin a few years ago from me but had faded over the years.  I thought I was very clever and mixed three colors, white, blue and green to get the correct hue. However between the poor quality brushes and my being tired I just completed the task with gusto and hence a botched job.  I had not yet painted over the last three letters in this photo.  I figured that we would just throw it out but Colin wants to keep it.

Voila!  The completed makeover of Mr. Turtle.  Hopefully he is good for yet another eight years.

I think he looks great as long as you don’t look too closely 😉

Paul came into my life when Colin and I hired him to video my Dad’s memorial service at U of A in Edmonton back in March of 2017.  Both my Mom and my Dad had given their bodies to the University of Alberta to be used by medical students to further their medical studies.  Usually the annual celebration is the end of April but it was changed that year and I was unable to get there for April 1st as we were scheduled to be on the road from Mexico to Canada. I knew that my frugal father would not have wanted me to spend the exorbitant amount of money to be there for only one day. Once we had found Paul and interviewed him I was able to relax. I knew that when we got back home that there would be a video waiting for me that would make me feel that I had been there.  It was then that our friendship with Paul began.  He began to read my blog and we met him here in 2018 for a quick visit to our home and then for a dinner.  He truly enjoyed his visit to our RV park.

As an owner here at Holiday Park Resort I get a discount for RVers.  Paul contacted me to book a site for he and Jan  and another for his friends.  They arrived July 22nd which was Colin’s birthday.  We saw them the next day and met their friends.  We arranged for them to all come over for drinks and dessert  and whatever on Wednesday the 24th.  Brad and his daughter Abby ( 11 ) went out for a bit in our kayaks.  Finn ( 10 ) sat with her Dad in his kayak.  It was a cool and very windy day and seemed to get cooler as time went on.  We started  a fire in our ceramic fire pit but heard a very loud bang and shut it down. More on that in a future post. Colin and Paul went to get Paul’s fire pit, the same one we have in Mexico.  I think I was the one with the most clothes and jackets on.  The Edmontonians thought it was nice and warm while us locals were freezing.  We still had a wonderful evening complete with fresh Okanagan peach pie and cherry ice cream thanks to Paul and Jan.  Best peach pie ever 😛  We were all having such a great time that no photos were taken.

We all got together again two days later on the Friday. We chatted with Paul and Jan before the family arrived.

Mom, Alexis is getting everyone sorted out.  We did manage a happy hour with snacks somewhere along here.

Paul is taking photos.  Abby on the board and Finn and Dad, Brad in the kayaks.

Suddenly Odie, the rescue dog, that they have had since October, dove into the water.  Odie was abused in his early life and is just leaning how to be a real dog.  He hit the mark this day.

He eventually came back in. No he did not have a lifejacket but he soon will.  Everyone was amazed to see him in the water.  Photo by Paul.

Odie kept going back out, over and over.  They tried to keep him on the patio, we even blocked off the access to the stairs down to the beach.  At one point he got away and scrambled down the rocks to the beach and the lake.  Photo by Paul.

I was worried about Odie’s stamina but he seemed to manage going back and forth.  I have to say that I think I took a very good photo here.

Each time Odie came in, Alexis would hose him off.  Photo by Paul.

However each passing duck would entice Odie  back in.

Eventually he came back in and stayed in once the girls and Brad came in off the lake as well. I have heard that since this particular day, Odie is into running into the lake, playing fetch and of course chasing a few ducks but not encouraged to do.

Dinner prep was happening. I don’t think we ate until close to two hours later than planned but a good time was being had by all.  Thanks for the photo Paul.

Finally dinner was served.  Caesar salad, coleslaw, potato salad and pasta salad.

And fresh BBQ sockeye salmon.

So great to have quality time with Paul.

By the time we ate the 32C temps had declined to a tolerable temperature.

Thanks for the sunset photo Paul.

Colin and I have had visitors this week as well as quite a bit of photography to get done 😀  I will catch up with all of that in the next few days but thought you might enjoying this bit on cherries.

We have had a very wet season here thus far which affects the cherry crop. When water gets on the cherries and the sun comes out it causes the fruit to soak up the moisture and to split. There was a fascinating video with dialogue on how helicopters are used to save the fruit in the online news this morning.  What makes the article of particular interest is that this is the helicopter company out of Abbotsford that Colin has flown with for many years of aerial photography.  The pilot on the left in the photo ( but on the right while flying 🙄 )  is who Colin flew with last Sunday while the fellow with the red control helmet is Mischa ( who Colin usually flies with ) the owner of the company, pilot and instructor.  Link to the online article as well as the video.

In case that link does not work, here is the video.

A fellow blogger who lives here in the Okanagan just did a post of a bike ride that included photos of helicopters drying cherries.  You can see that post and photos by clicking here.