May 20, 2011

Home Alone

At 4:30AM yesterday, Colin left me and the girls!  He has gone to Vancouver to do aerial photography, both from a helicopter and fixed wing.  He has enough work to be in the air for over 8 hours, which is a lot.  Here are some examples of what he will be doing.

Meanwhile the girls are here, home alone.  Not too bad for me as I always have something to do but really tough on Carmeh & Caeli as they miss their Dad so much.

Carmeh is on constant alert waiting for him to come home. Every time a vehicle goes past she rushes to the window and waits! Notice the other one...not too concerned.

Such different personalities, Caeli is so very laid back versus Carmeh who is always so intense.

Last night Carmeh refused to go to bed and chose to keep vigil just in case her Dad came home and she might miss it.

My bedtime and she won't leave her post, so I covered her up with a few blankets and let the blind up just enough for her to see out.

The good news is that it is Friday afternoon and Colin is on the road back home.  He got it all done just as the clouds were starting to come in again.  Good job!

Oh, oh, delays expected, typical start to a BC long weekend, car accidents and a car fire.  Colin stuck in traffic for hours….he will get home but when?

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May 19, 2011

It’s here!!!!!!!!!

I just returned from another appointment in Kelowna and the highway is full of convertibles all with their tops down, RV’s of every size, cars pulling trailers and SUV’s towing boats.  The sky is blue and the sun is shining.  It is 23C  with a possible 2 or 3 more degrees to go!  As I drove through the park I could hear lawn movers going and the sound of soil being moved as annuals are being planted.  All three outdoor pools have people in them and the street is becoming congested with bicycles and golf carts!  Spring has arrived in the Okanagan, just in time for the upcoming long weekend.  I best rush out and join the throng.  It must be happy hour somewhere!

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May 18, 2011

Our tree, the tree!

We moved here almost 8 years ago and did not want to wait a lifetime for trees to grow.  Because of the huge fire in Kelowna in 2003 there were no mature trees left to be purchased locally so we headed to Vancouver.  We purchased a Dogwood, a Tri – Color Beech and a Persian Parrotia.  We had to book a semi to transport them here and then hire a crane to lift them into our yard.  They were large trees.  Unfortunately after all the coordination to make this happen, tree planting day turned out to be 42C  (June 15, 2004).  The heat caused the the largest, the beech to die, despite our showering it from a ladder to keep it cool.  We waited till early May of 2005 to replace the beech.  The largest tree  that we could find, that we liked, was a Fagus Purple Fountain Beech.  The nursery replaced the first tree at no charge.  That saved us $1000.00 but we still had to hire a semi and a crane for the second time!!

I told you it was big! What I find sad is that every tree you see in the background (other than the cedar hedge) has since been cut down.

This was an event, we had neighbours from blocks around.

The hole was already there from the first tree that had died.

Perfect!

Planted! My garden was sparse in those days.

I love this tree in the spring. Each bud holds so much in it.

The bud opens to several other buds which in turn open again so many leaves come out of the same bud.

I call it a miracle.

Each set of buds and leaves create this cascading fountain.

Here she is, our lovely tree, planted six years ago, how she has filled out. We call her our four thousand dollar tree and she is worth every penny!

This photo was taken this morning.  Yes that is blue sky you see.  We awoke to 1C and frost but today is another day, a glorious day.

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May 17, 2011

To plant or not?

We have used the furnace every single morning since we returned from Mexico.  It is cold, wet and miserable.  Today there is new snow on the hills and still a good deal of snow on the mountain.  The low forecast for tonight is 3C with a risk of frost!

We haven't had snow on these hills for a few weeks, till this morning that is!

This is a first for Kelowna, snow so late in the season.

Yesterday I stopped in at the nursery that happened to be next door to the appointment I was in town for.  It was not a pleasant experience, the wind was whipping up and down the aisles and the plants looked sad.  We have decided to forgo planting numerous flowers this spring ( what spring ) and just put is a few here and there to add some color to the patio.  Most of the lovely Mexican pots I have brought north over the years will remain empty.  As I wandered through the rows of flowers I listened to two old men talking about the weather and how in all their years they had never experienced a spring like this.  They are gardeners and just did not know what to do.  They also seemed to be sad, disappointed in nature.  Spring and flowers is what give them the energy to continue on with life.  They finally said goodbye to one another, making plans to come back next week.

One of the nursery staff was giving advice to another customer, ” the rule of thumb” she said, “is if there is snow on the mountains, don’t plant”.  So I too will wait for another day, a better day.

For mucho pesos $37.39CAD I got 5 tomato plants and a few annuals.

Some bird must have dropped the seed that bloomed thru the cement.

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May 16, 2011

I heard a rumour….

….that Sundays were suppose to be a day of rest!  Someone forgot to send us the memo!

Several hours were spent shredding business documents, four pages at a time and even then the motor kept shutting off from over heating....a several hour process but at least it was a sit down job!

While I did that, Colin got to do the easy job, clean the bathroom, kitchen and to pull the vacuum around. I did help with the dusting.

Then it was time to head outside to fertalize our trees, the boxwood hedge, the cedar hedge and the juniper hedge. This really should have been done a few weeks ago but the weather just wasn't cooperating.

After that it was C & C time, meaning that each of the girls got their nails dremmeld, their coats brushed, their ears cleaned and the their teeth brushed.  That is a weekly to do plus yesterday they got to play in the tub.

By the time we took out the garbage, the recycle, and picked up 5 gallons of water (not delivered like in Mexico) and walked the girls, all done here at the park we were tired and hungry!  A quick and easy dinner of tuna pot pie and caesar salad hit the spot.  I was in bed by 9:00PM!

Just to share Saturday’s meal, I made a healthy version of pizza.

The one on the left is mine made with a healthy thin flatbread while Colin's in put on a whole grain tortilla. Covered in pizza sauce, onions, mushrooms, pineapple, precooked broccoli and cauliflower and a few slices of a soya pepperoni!

Normally I use a low fat cheese but for these we used some of our wonderful Mexican cheese. Can you believe we each ate two of these?

I heard another rumour…..some of our friends from Mazatlan were heading to the beach on the Isla yesterday!  Hope they had fun!

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