Jun 11, 2020
How I miss our international travel. After leaving nursing, I worked for Air Canada and I was able to travel the world here and there. Once we married, we traveled annually to Hawaii plus visits to Singapore, London, Malaysia, Antigua and India ( twice ). There were several trips within Canada and the USA. We’d been married ten years when dogs were added to our lives. So twenty four years ago, once we first got Cloii and shortly thereafter Channel, international travel stopped. We were not the type of parents to leave our girls alone. As most of you know, that is when we purchased our first RV. When we lost Carmeh and Caeli three years ago, we traveled to Venice about two months later for ten days. We needed to do something to change our thinking. It awoke our senses to traveling further distances and to exploring the world.
This wee one reminds me of our girls when they were mere puppies.
Two years ago we traveled through Italy, with time in Nice, Cannes, Monaco, ending with a special time in Barcelona. We were gone for four weeks which seemed like an eternity. Just this past year we spent six weeks visiting Greece, Spain, Marrakesh and Portugal. We had plans for this year and years to come. At this time travel for us has stopped. The pandemic might even affect our next winter in Mexico. We have been traveling to Mexico every winter for nineteen years. I can’t image not traveling there this winter. We certainly plan to, but it is not in our control.
We truly had hoped for a few more years flying over to Europe and beyond. Have we been stopped from traveling? Who knows? Life as we know it has changed in so very many ways. I yearn for just one or two or possibly three more years.
Our June 2020 calendar photo. Snapshots of Cinque Terre, Florence, Pisa, Nice and Cannes.
Jun 10, 2020
…but this one is in our yard.
Meet Munchkin the Marmot. He was slowly scampering across our patio last week.
Then moved across the rocks to the neighbours. Caught him in mid jump.
Isn’t he cute?
Yesterday the renter next door asked us if we knew that we had a marmot living under our house 😯 He sees it every evening going into a certain area. So he and Colin went to check it out. Later Colin went back and saw that there was no way for it to get under the house but that it was going under our propane tank which is not a problem.
Twice now I have seen Munchkin go under that white shed on the far side of our renter neighbour. Maybe he sleeps there at night, more sheltered.
We think this is the family that came out of our hedge. We have only seen them twice now and instead of nine babies there are only eight left.
We have so much kale that I even put it on our pizza the other night. I was a good addition.
Sadly our best garden cucumber died. It is a suspicious death. We last saw it at 4PM and it was healthy and strong with lots of blossoms. The next day we found it totally limp. Something or ?? happened to it. Fortunately the same plant that is in our pot at home is doing very well. Meanwhile we replanted some seeds where this one was. The strange thing is that the other cucumber plant that is just twelve inches away is fine.
Jun 09, 2020
I ordered this window and a smaller one back in early September and it took forever to arrive. Granted they had to be made in the US and then shipped to Canada. The smaller one arrived and was installed shortly before we left for Mexico but not the larger one. Once we got home in March and because of being in quarantine and then not wanting strangers in our home I waited before calling. Well they called me first, last week. So today was the day. It rained most of the morning and just before the install time the rain stopped 😆 It started again about twenty minutes after the window was installed.
Of course he had to come inside to cut out whatever was holding the window in place. When he did the small window last October he made quite the mess. So today I asked him to take his shoes off and to please not touch anything that did not need touching. Grumble, grumble. He made a point of touching the outdoor stair railing, the top of the railing and all around the patio door frame and all areas around the actual window which was to be expected. Fortunately I kept an eye out and knew which areas to sanitize once he left.
Cutting the seal from the outside.
They very carefully slid the window out and down to the patio at an angle.
The new window. Only it turns out that they had two new windows. More on that in a bit.
Almost ready to put it in.
So it fit and was nicely installed. This is the first time however that I have been asked for window cleaner and paper towels to clean the ‘outside’ of the window. He did not do the inside. Even the fellow we used in Lake Havasu to fix rock chips on the RV windshield, cleaned the outside of the window with a commercial product. Actually even the guy who fixed our windshield crack in Tucson, back in November, cleaned the entire windshield with his own product.
The window was under warranty but for some reason two windows were delivered. I think perhaps because the first one took so long to come that the company ordered a second one. We only needed the one as the other two still have their seals intact. The windows are custom made for our home and the installer said that the extra window would be thrown away. So we decided to keep it for now. Why not? With our luck the seal on one of the other two might break before the year is out. We just squeaked in under the warranty so now we have an extra window on site hiding behind the shed. Because of its precise size we can’t sell it to anyone ( $300.00 ), but we just might need it one day. You never know.
***Copy/paste including the spelling error 😎
Jun 08, 2020
So many unique things to see in our park during a walk.
Can you see the old man?
This lady has quite a collection.
There are a few of these in the park to remind drivers to slow down.
You can’t help but smile when you walk past this place.
This is a herb garden open to everyone. In a few weeks it should be flourishing.
Someone has converted this yard into a garden.
Difficult to see but the light hanging from the arbor has crystals swinging from it. I like the birdhouse, lots of hinges and decorative handles.
Part of the same yard. Interesting privacy screen.
I wonder where they got this upright garden? Great idea but looks expensive.
Between some of the private condos and rental units some owners have created a very special garden area.
It changes every year as more is added. Hard to find unless you explore every nook of the park.
Interesting support for this birdhouse.
We love where we live as no yard is the same, all individual looks and expressions of the owners.
Well actually it was just over ten weeks ago that we got back from Mexico in the midst of the virus crisis. Who knew it would last this long? Who knows when it will end?
Jun 07, 2020
Last week our BC public library system reopened. It is only open from 1 – 5 PM four days per week. I had some books on order and they are ready to pick up. I was notified via email as is usual. It is curb side pick up only and the new normal for now. Each branch has its own system.
Step one is the book return area. Only one of the two slots is open. Apparently returned books will be put into quarantine for 72 hours before being put back into the system for check out.
#2 is to the right of the first photo. It contains information.
Basically giving updated information. We could only take out books for three weeks previously and that had been increased to four weeks.
You are asked to have your library card ready in your hand.
Between #1, where the fellow is dropping off books and #2 and #3 are white lines and bright orange cones indicating where you are to stop and social distance if there is a line to pick up your books.
The double white line on the sidewalk is #3.
It took me a few moments to figure out what to do with my library card. I thought that I needed to hold it up to be scanned. Instead a librarian came to the window and had to manually write out the number on my card. She then indicated that she would be back.
No parking, pedestrian pick up only. That red bin on the upper left has a sign on it saying do not touch. I figured that the librarian would exit the library ( there is a door to the right of this photo ) and put the books on it. I had read that the books would be placed in a paper bag.
I should have given Colin the camera at this point. The librarian did come out with a large paper bag that she actually handed to me rather than put on the red bin. I asked her if it would be better if next time I could bring a bag that she could just drop the books into as I thought it a huge waste to use a paper bag to hand over three books. She agreed that it would be more environmentally friendly but that this was how it was currently set up and not everyone would remember to bring a bag. Next time I go, I will be sure to indicate through the window at #3 that I have a bag fo her to drop the books into via pantomime. Hopefully that will work.
We then went for a drive in the area as there is new construction and road work happening. Out of the corner of his eye Colin saw this tiny marmot and what we both thought was a large dog around the corner. Turns out is was both Mama and Papa and they are huge, each the size of our two dogs combined or even larger. We were both so surprised and by the time we had stopped they car they had disappeared.
The marmot family were living under this pile of apple boxes. You can’t see them but I can see three of the kids peeking out.
We followed Beaver Lake up for a bit and turned around to get a lovely view of our park and Duck Lake. It was a pleasant half hour out of our day.
