Half Way There

They say a picture tells a thousand words....

Its been many years since I had a cold and/ or flu bug in the summer.....but this one was simply dreadful.  It came with all the usual symptoms but I never suspected the train wreck that was to come!  Colds aren't simple anymore when you have Lupus.   I must confess that some days simply having a shower and changing to a clean nightie was the accomplishment of the day.   It moved into my throat and bronchial passages and so there's a whole new meaning to that term "coughing up a lung".   I feel like a mule has kicked in my ribs!

I'm slowly improving and thanks to Bruce, I haven't starved to death.  I couldn't taste anything mind you! Did you know that even when you can't taste food, you can still register salt and sweet with your tastebuds?

Have you ever noticed that if you have what you might call "your normal aches and pains" how they totally all disappear when you get sick?  Its like the body says "I simply can't do all of this at the same time!"  Rather cruel I thought....being able to walk better, but too sick to go.

Needless to say, there has been ZERO weaving done..... and all of this was going on in the middle of a heat wave here.

Now Bruce is coming down with this bug and so I'll be passing the tissue box to him shortly.



Like the rest of the world,  I was stunned by Robin William's death. I loved the way he found the funny in ANY situation and made huge difference in so many people's lives. I'm just saddened by the way the same genius that moved through him, also came with demons.

While he was a crazy manic comedian, he was also a incredible serious actor: Dead Poets Society, Good Will Hunting, The Fisher King and many more.  One movie he made never gained much notice but I actually went of of my way to find it and buy it.  Its a amazing kaleidoscope of colour and imagery but with a very dark and gritty subject matter.

What Dreams May Come   was made in 1998. Its about a man who dies in a car crash and he searched the afterlife for his wife. When he finds she's not there, he goes to Hell to recover her.  It would seem that Hell is actually her mind and he must rescue her from herself.   A poignant subject now that we know how Robin died.

.... and you simply must watch Patch Adams too....that treatment plan is based on an actual real life Doctor and his hospital.  Should be required watching for all medical students and doctors who take their job too seriously.

Five Days Away

We just took five days off and crossed the pond and visited family and friends in the Vancouver area. We missed one ferry by four cars and so had to wait two hours for the next. That was okay and we sat reading. The crossing was beautiful and the water flat calm.The main object of the visit?  This little boy:

Sitting with Grandad ( or Crum-Dad as Ethan calls him)

Ethan is now two and a half and a real going concern! Favourite word? NO (not much of a surprise there). His usual speed?  FAST!  I didn't even try to keep up. I couldn't....
Hours of operation? 8 am to 10:30 pm. (with a brief lull in the hostilities between 1 and 2 pm for a nap that he generally fights). I have no idea how his mother does it and holds down a job too.

We had a great time and enjoyed their company .... and the BBQ with their friends was super. We contributed home made potato salad and strawberry shortcake. Bruce taught them the easy peasy microwave method of cooking corn in the husk that impressed everyone! A trick we learned on Facebook.

We shifted to a hotel over town to be close to where my Dad lives for our visit with him. It was his birthday and it was a lovely afternoon spent chatting, eating trifle my sister had made,  and watching his little chickadee family come and go from the peanut feeder on the patio.

This adorable little man is my Dad at age two or so.

We took time to visit another elderly family member of Bruce's and had a lovely afternoon reminiscing  about people, times and places as he helped me with dates and data for my genealogy program. The time flew by!

The farm area around Vancouver is enjoying a bumper crop of blueberries this year. We saw the bushes are so loaded with fruit they are bright blue and branches are bending with the weight. We bought a ten pound box. We plan to freeze them but so far we are enjoying them fresh like candies.

Its also corn season and so we got some of the famous Chilliwak corn. Tender and sweet. Nothing says summer like fresh fruit and veggies!   We had taken fresh plums from our orchard at home and gifted them liberally everywhere we went. The tree had given us a bumper crop too.

We soon found it was time to head home. I was starting to really feel the heat along with painful joints from all the activity.  We have been 'enjoying' a heat wave again and hot weather and I are not on friendly terms.  People with Lupus are advised to stay out of the sun and that suits me just fine.

With the coming weekend being a holiday weekend, I had had the foresight to book reservations to come home. Best money spent ever!  The line ups for the ferry at Horseshoe Bay was right up onto the main highway and judging by the sheer numbers, at least a two or three ferry wait. They stopped us and confirmed our reservation for the 12:50 pm sailing and we drove right by the entire parking lot of cars. Then they saw I needed to be near an elevator on the ship and we were first up in line to get on.

They like to pack everyone in tight! We made our way upstairs and went out onto the decks to take in the view. Here are some random shots of Horseshoe Bay, the marina and the traffic on the water.

Busy place... and you can see the next ferry coming around the point.

If you look closely at this one above, you can make out the cars lined up on the road, upper left.

This lady and I took pictures of each other and shared a laugh.

I got a nice one of Bruce who was also leaning out and taking pictures.

The prop wash from our ferry and the distant islands.

For emergencies....

Lucked out with this nice shot. That's the view towards Squamish and beyond to Whistler where the 2010 Winter Olympics were held.  The pictures below were taken by Bruce:

RCMP boat for patrols.

Yes, that's me snapping pictures. Notice my new wheels? Yup, the knee is that wobbly now.

The Bowen Island ferry or otherwise called a "puddle jumper"! 

....and then we were under way and heading for home. Its just under a two hour trip. The water was flat calm. No observable wild life such as whales or dolphins. Maybe they took a little break too?

So now we are trying to revive our gardens with watering, doing laundry and catching up. Calli might have enjoyed her stay at the doggy resort initially but she's letting us know that five days was too long for her. She's alternating between ignoring us completely or following closely on our heels!

Okay folks.... August is high summer... the dog days of summer.... the last four weeks before school again.  Get out there and enjoy!