Back on track, I think

Oh my! I didn't realize it had been so long. I guess I took the summer off. We had almost four months of sunny hot dry weather and I didn't spend too much time indoors. I don't actually know what I did all summer, but now it's the first of September and it's raining.

The rain  made many firefighters happy and much of the forests in British Columbia were burning and smoke travelled all the way into the eastern parts of Alberta. Smoke and fires also crossed the border between Washington state and BC

But now it's rain. And I'm indoors and I'm knitting and crocheting again and thinking about winter and Halloween and Christmas. And it all goes so fast. I really swear time speeds up the older we get!

I also see that I have lost almost all my readers and so I will have to begin like a  new blogger to build everything back. If you're reading this, could you comment so I know if anyone is still here?

Barefoot Sandals + Fire!

When we had our little heat wave, I didn't feel like doing too much yard work and I certainly didn't want to be be inside anymore than I had to so I spent some time in the garden working on projects like these - are you familiar with barefoot sandals? There is a loop at one end to go around your second toe and then long straps to go around your ankles in a variety of tying patterns.


They can be worn on the beach, for a beach wedding, they can be worn to festivals (Hello BASSCOAST!!) or on stage for performances  plus worn under or over flipflop straps or other shoes.

This is the most recent pair I just finished making - they have a beautiful soft blue trim and a textured cream section in the centre. (In my shop, ready to ship if you're interested)

Currently our heat wave is over and a little rain has fallen. Hopefully more rain has fallen in the mountains - the Vancouver/Whistler area is known as one of the wettest places in Canada, and parts of the area are even considered to be a  Rain Forest, yet during this last heat spell we were on fire. Smoke filled the skies from Whistler to Chilliwack. And crews came from many places to help fight the fires. This is one time many of us are okay with seeing the rain, in fact, we welcomed it. Especially if it means that our precious forests may be spared from being destroyed by fire.

Swimsuit season

Did you hear the news? It's swimsuit season my friends!!!

Are you ready? Check out the photo after the jump to see some warm weather inspiration

End of Summer, or Beginning of Fall?

The beginning of September for many is like January 1st. For many it means new things - new pencils, books, clothes. For some, it's a new way of living as they start university living away from home in a dorm.

I imagine that last night there were many tears as parents tried to kid their young ones off to bed early for the first day of school after a summer of late nights. Which is why, I presume, the first day of school is also usually only a couple of hours - probably EVERYONE is exhausted.

But I too, like the beginning of September. Sometimes I take a new course. Or start a new hobby or journal. I take advantage of the cute notebooks and school supplies out there and pick up one or two items for myself. And each day I start my dog walk in the dark, waiting longer and longer for it to be light enough so I can put away my flashing light and to turn off Eco's collar light  - once I assume that people can see her (being dark brown has it's disadvantages in the dark).

I assume this time of year is meaningful to others when you hear songs like "September Morn" or "Try to Remember the First of September"  which longingly recall the glorious days at the end of summer. For us, we had a wonderful, textbook summer which was a little dry for our area, so even though it hasn't gotten cold yet (still no less than 12 degrees celsius) in the mornings there are some leaves falling due to our heat and the dryness. It's starting to feel like fall, and I'm starting to think of Thanksgiving and Halloween, and of course the fact that Christmas is only 3.5 months away -but I try not to get too far ahead of myself. And you? Does this time of year instill any great thoughts or memories?

Where have I been?

I've been to the mountain and back.

Last week I was away on business in meetings at Bear Mountain Golf Resort. Wowza, is it ever a beautiful place, and the weather could not have co-operated any better. What a tourism commercial. We had people from Western Canada and Ontario at the meeting and I think everyone wanted to return (or move) to Vancouver Island!

Travel-wise it was fantastic. For those of us on the Vancouver side, we have to take a ferry to the island which is about an hour and 45 minutes. That too was wonderful. And the ferries have much improved. They used to be so 'functional' but now they are quite well designed breaking up the sitting areas making them smaller to reduce the noise levels. And landcapes and ocean were superb - and that's coming from a personal who's seen it many times and lives here! British Columbia is a gorgeous place to be.

The craziest part is no one golfed! The events co-ordinator booked a whale watching expedition instead. The thinking was that everyone could be together and mingle since we are all so spread out across the country and you'd only get groups of 4 doing that for golf - but still, two beautifully designed golf courses at your door and no one from our group stepped on the greens. I did see licence plates in the parking lot from Colorado and California though - I bet they had a good trip up here too. If you eve come to Vancouver, you must plan a trip over to Victoria. I'm sure you will be glad you did. (No I do not work for the tourism board)

The weather this spring and summer has been stupendous and I am over the moon. Being a summer baby I just love the sun and hot weather, however, being an adult I no longer get to lay about for hours on end just being outside. Maybe that's why I appreciate it so much.

Friday night Jp and I walked out of the house to go to the grocery store and then realized we forgot our bags (they don't give bags anymore in many stores to reduce the waste and damage to the environment - do they do that where you are too?) so we turned around and headed back into the house. Just then we heard a crash and I see a pile of boxes I had in my office covering the floor. Poor Eco was under my desk, probably not sure what to make of it. First thing we did is call her to make sure she wasn't scared and that she could get out.

Although I'm not happy about the mess, I'm so glad that I was there when it happened. First because I wouldn't want Eco to be hurt by it, and two because if it had happened while I was away I might have felt that Jp was somehow responsible.

The bad news is that my weekend plans were changed as I dealt with this issue. Oh sure I could've just thrown the boxes back together and restacked them, but I decided I'd better deal with them since they were a mess and so I cleaned out my bookshelves and other areas as well. Day 3, almost done! I'm sad that I'm missing the sun, but so glad that the visual clutter won't be clogging up my brain.

How are things going for you? I must catch up in the next couple of days!

Is it Naked Day today?

Okay this is really odd, first I see a naked man standing in the doorway of his house during this morning's walk, then a couple of hours later Jp drives by a topless chick on the by-pass - are we missing something? Is it Get Naked In Public day today? It's not that hot out there, is it?

Additionally - a friend of mine just sent me this message, " that's interesting because I just got off the phone with my sister - she was commenting that she can see her neighbour going to the toilet because his doors are fully open, yet at the same time she's telling me this, she's topless because she's too hot, go figure!"

Did you see (or have) any unexpected nudity today?

Gorgeous Long Weekend Ahead

When I checked the weather at the beginning of this rainy week, the forecast indicated we'd be stuck with wetness for several days. We endured days of weird weather - bits of sun, light rain, heavy rain, thunder, sun, mugginess  - sometimes all within the same hour. But late Thursday night I found out that glorious weather has been forecast for this long weekend (Happy Canada Day) - sun with top temperatures between 25-30 celsius. That's a good temperature to be in, not like the 36+ degree weather in places like Phoenix or San Antonio and so I am over the moon to hear about this wonderful forecast.

I thought I'd be spending the weekend in the house, maybe cleaning up my office/work room - but now I plan to be outside - clean up the garden, do some painting and maybe just kick back and relax as it is a long weekend after all.

This morning's 5:30 dog walk was heavenly - the weather was perfect - 18 degrees, a warm wind so early in the day?  I didn't want to come home. In fact I almost didn't, instead of being out for 30 minutes, it ended up being 45. So very grateful for this lovely, lovely weather.

Now off to work -for a productive day with minimal interruptions since so many people take the Friday of a long weekend off as well - and then time to enjoy the weather. I don't even care if there are mosquitoes, I'll put up with them so I can enjoy the warmth and sunshine! Happy Weekend to you too!

the bees did a really good job

Many Saturday's we head out to our community and the neighbouring community's Farmer's Market - we have found some wonderful jams such as Strawberry Pineapple Jam and Rhubarb Jam, as well as beautiful bread and streudel and farm fresh sausage. But yesterday we tasted the most delicious  HONEY!!! Oh yeah! The jam lady also has her own honey and we bought a jar from the blackberry bushes - IT. IS. THE. BEST. HONEY. EVER!!

Now typically with many foods, you can not compare grocery store alternatives to home made and there's been stories in the news about our honey being mixed with poor quality Chinese honey (I don't know if that's true or not) but farm fresh honey, direct from the apiarist is the way to go.

I'm not normally much of a sweets person, and although I like honey, I don't remember to eat it daily, but I definitely want to eat this sweet and very flavourful honey every day.

So thank you little honey bees. The odds are always against you, but we really appreciate your tireless efforts. Our taste buds are thanking you every day.

Picture credit

Some completed projects

Here are some finished pieces which I thought you might like - I took a little break from embroidery and knitting and crocheting and painted these little birdhouses:

I admit I'm no expert painter but I think  I did a pretty good job and I'm happy with the results. They were just the plain wooden ones from Michaels and some Patio Paint so they are waterproof. I'd like to coat them in some outdoor Mod Podge but I will have to buy that first. 


Also, I was just using what I had and my Patio Paint was drying up and the paint brushes were from the dollar store and very crappy - my exercise was to use what I already had in the house.

Bloody Skeeters!

Summer weather in June/July our area is bittersweet  - yes, I absolutely LOVE the sun and the heat but with it comes the dang mosquitoes. And don't you just hate when you squish one and you're left with a bloody smear? Eeww so gross! Yesterday that happened to me in the car and I had to pull out the wipes to clean my hand and the part of the car I squished it against. And one of my next thoughts leads me to wonder who's blood it was -was it mine (not so bad) or was it some one else's (totally disgusting!) ?

PHOTO CREDIT: http://www.ci.greenville.tx.us/index.aspx?NID=720

While the sun's shining

I'm still here - it's just the sun came out and we took a little trip and it's summer and I don't want to be on a computer especially after I've been on one all day for work - I want to be outside in the sun and in the garden. Unlike the boys in my house who keep saying it's too hot outside and stay indoors in the air conditioning... I hope you're doing well, I'll stop by as soon as I can.

Anything I've missed?

Summer passed..

Have you ever been part of a production like a play, or trade show or perhaps even a wedding where you spend months waiting and planning and working and then suddenly it was all over in 1 day or a couple of days? And you're happy that the event went well, but it was so fast compared to all the preparation? Well that's how I feel about this summer. We had a wet and miserable spring that lasted all the way up until the end of June. Two glorious months that seemed to whir by so fast and then by September it was back to cooler temperatures and rain again. I didn't even get all of my garden ornaments out and some plants didn't even get much of a chance to grow like they normally did. I never sat outside in the evening with candles glowing, enjoying the cool summer evening after a long hot day. It all went so fast. Do you feel that way too?