Little Tiddlers Road Trip

We just had a second Christmas, a second helping of *happy*!   We have been away to see the grand kids and spend time just soaking them up in all their sweet, noisy glory!    Then, we came home exhausted and our ears ringing but a very happy Nana and Grandad.

Madison has grown and is now ten months old and has personality plus.  I know I'm somewhat biased  but she is a quiet, happy baby.   She babbles and talks but in a calm way.  You can see her concentrating on your words as you talk with her.

I thought I'd try my luck at getting her to say "na-na"...... and she nailed it!   For the rest of the visit, I was clearly "Na-na"!

Ethan, who is four in April, is a whirling dervish. He simply does not stop moving.  Consequently many pictures just didn't pan out as he was too blurry.   He's the opposite of Madison.... action filled, loud and boisterous.  I heard the phrase "inside voice Ethan" a lot!   To be fair, he was excited and happy to play trains with his Grandad.

Ethan is train crazy and has all the Thomas the Tank engines and miles and miles of wooden railway track.  He just received more track to add to his empire.  He builds his railway out of the play room (formerly a dining room) and down the hall way..... around through the kitchen and back again.  It all gets picked up and put away as their rhoomba vacuum cleaner will "eat it all up".  (It doesn't, but Ethan doesn't know that yet to his mother's delight! )

There was one special moment with Ethan when we asked him who runs the train.  The engineer.  Did you know that Grandad used to run big trains?  No, don't be silly Grandad!  Then we showed him this picture:

What is this Ethan?  a big locomotive. Then we spread the picture with our fingers on the iPad and asked him who the Engineer is?      His eyes went wide and he gasped   GRANDAD!!     He stuck pretty close to Bruce after that and Bruce spent much of the time there on his hands and knees building track and having crashes  off the big hill they made.

We had a grand time....


Now, I do have two finished scarves waiting for some sunshine to snap some pictures for you. I also have two more that are waiting for fringe twisting and a wash..... and the loom is already reloaded again.   Towels are being woven up next and I have silk being wound on the warping mill.  So there will be weaving related posts very soon.   Its been darker than Hades even with all the lights on and anything I have taken have not been very good.  The scarves are dark to begin with and the flash just washes things out as it bounces off the tencel.    Its been raining steady for some days now.  Our little stream on the property was up and over its banks a few days ago and close to the underside of the bridge decking.

We have a hand made stone wall on the back yard built many years ago by one of the former owners of this property. The land goes uphill just beyond it and so the run off fills the flower beds.   I took this picture just as it was getting dark(er still) outside and the flash shows the draining water flowing out of a small hole in the wall to its best advantage!

This is normally my herb bed in better weather. I'm not complaining as I at least don't have to shovel it !

We'll show this picture to Ethan next time.....  I think he might be impressed.

A Mighty Good Time

I have a real difficulty announcing ahead of time that I will be leaving home and going on a trip.... as that means my house will be empty. In this day and age of internet and GPS, I shudder to think.   So, sorry to leave you waiting so long but we are now home and getting our life back to normal.  The laundry is almost complete, and I even managed to squeak in some weaving yesterday between loads.  Sort of like doing warm up's for the main event.

Our adventures started two weeks ago with Bruce's model train show in Victoria. I'm the one who handled all the sales receipts and money, so it left things to the guys to simply talk  and make the sales. They did this in fine style and Bruce had better results from the last spring's train show!  They had over 2200 people come through the doors and it was great to see many children with their parents and grandparents.  The little in-house cafe and coffee bar sold out of all food and drinks in record time!

Here's the gang just ahead of the doors opening: (from left to right) Bruce, Colin and Heath. Set up was still under way. Its a lot of work bring everything in and setting up.... standing mostly all day and then packing up and hitting the road for home. They love it though.  They are just as passionate about their modelling as we are our looms and yarn.

We had four days to sort stuff to where it goes between sales and rest up. Then start packing up again for our trip away. We were off to visit our grandson and his parents and later, head onto see Bruce's mother in the Okanagan Valley.  To help reducing the work load and stress factor, we opted to stay in a hotel. Its tough working full time and managing a home and active toddler and then throw in house guests to the mix! It also meant we had some quiet time to ourselves.

Soon our island was in the rear view and we checked into our hotel. Navigating the greater Vancouver area's traffic is always interesting as they have many road improvements under way. They have two new bridges, rapid transit trains (and I heard just yesterday another bridge has been announced for 2017). Just the sheer numbers of cars and people always has us flustered!

Once at the hotel on the 18th floor, I took some pictures from our room facing the mountains.

These are the new support cables for the one year old Port Mann bridge. The hazy north shore mountains in behind.

Then there's the Golden Ears Bridge way off in the Mission area. The mountains are in behind and they are called the Golden Ears. They can be stunning with fresh snow and sun light on them!

Then I looked down and then across the vista and noticed that the city has a lot of green space. Though I'm not crazy with what they did way over on the hillside near the mountains. I think that's called the Westwood Plateau.

Ethan is 17 months now and literally running everywhere!  He's so fast it makes your head spin. He loves technical toys and is looking for buttons to press to make them go. (He will be ready for all the high tech stuff in short order) We took him some old fashioned reading books, a sock monkey from Hilary and this toy transformer:  (sorry Hilary... I planned to take his picture with the monkey but he didn't hold it long enough to snap off a picture!) September 25th Edit: Ethan's maternal grandpa took this picture a few days after we left:

Ethan with his Prime Mate Monkey   Thanks Hilary!  He's perfect. 

He had no time for hugs and kisses, but I could hold the toy steady so he could better press the buttons and set off the lights and voice recording. That was my job for two days: hold the toy for him.    Geesh!

His favourite toy of all (right now) are these plastic rings. He has become a pro at spinning them with a flick of the wrist. He spins them on everything and can even do two at a time with both hands. Rather then spin them with a twist to the right (practice in your mind how you would do it) Ethan turns them to the left or inwards!

One last picture as it is my blog and my grandson :)  Then we were on our way.  It rained from Vancouver to Hope. (Hope is where was the first Rambo movie was filmed for the movie buffs out there)

This is somewhere out in the Fraser Valley.... no sign of hills and mountains due to low heavy cloud. But things sure changed when we came down off the Connector route to the Okanagan!

The sun came out and we had sunshine all the way in to Kelowna.  Traveling through Westbank I got a nice shot of Mission Hill winery: (click on any picture to enlarge)

Kelowna had the world's longest floating bridge but they rebuilt it after we left and I'm not sure of the stats of this one. (It was featured as an episode of  Mega Structures on the television)

Then, as part of your Kelowna tour, here's the classic lakeshore view of the city:

The Grand Hotel and Casino along with the yacht club

The downtown city park complete with sand beach.

We spent three very pleasant and relatively quiet days with Bruce's mother  and caught up on family news and simply spent time together.

Lorraine lives in a lovely town home and is doing very well on her own for having just turned 90! The time flew by and we were heading home again.

The clouds appeared to accompany us home. Here's a last look at the new bridge, with Black Mountain on the left,  as we left town.

We came down the hill off the Connector route at Merritt and turned for the Information and Tourist log house for a break and stretch our legs. A car suddenly pulled in beside us and out popped Lynnette and her husband Michael!  They were on their way to the Okanagan and somehow it all timed beautifully for us to have this chance meeting at Merritt!  A chat and a few hugs later and we were back on the road again. We had to push straight through and aim for the 5 pm ferry. Except we weren't sure of the exact time as we didn't have any internet to double check.  Going to 'wing it'.

This one is for Wendy.  This Mount Cheam between Hope and Chilliwak. Wendy recently did the high altitude Mt Cheam hike and from her pictures on Facebook, she went almost to the top, or to a high shoulder at least!

We made it to the ferry with forty five minutes to spare as it left at 5:45 pm. Its a two hour crossing and so after unloading the car we finally had our very tired feet up at 10 pm. We just got home on this past Thursday night and been settling in ever since.   Calli came back from the kennel and had a double bath and is glued to our sides when she isn't sleeping.

The ride home was fantastic!  The water was flat calm and there was a beautiful sunset....with a warm breeze.

going home!

Great end to the week!

So we are getting things caught up and we should have things back to normal soon.  I also found when we got home that we had forgot to lock the back door.  Oops...  its all okay, my looms are still here and the yarn is fine.

Happy Fall Equinox!  

Road Trip: Friends and Family

Sorry to leave you waiting for so long! That last overshot post should have kept you thinking for awhile at least. I have been away on a road trip to visit friends and family..... and I just couldn't bring myself to announce here at the blog that we would be gone, leaving our house empty. Being a policeman's daughter, I'm cautious about such things!

After packing and making up dog dinners for Calli's time at the doggy resort, we started our trip with this view:

These gals were waiting in the ferry line up to cross to the Vancouver side!  Soon we were all aboard and on our way. This is leaving Nanaimo:

We had a grey start but these clouds soon cleared away and we had sunshine. Also the start of a high pressure that was to bring hot weather to much of our area. Our air conditioning in the car couldn't be fixed as they couldn't find the leak.... this could be a problem!

We buzzed through the Vancouver area and out into the Fraser Valley. We were heading to Merritt the first day so we had a great drive. Once past the town of Hope, we were into big mountain country and a section they call avalanche alley. While I've showed you pictures from there on last years trip.... here are some fresh ones:

Mt Yak

Not sure of this one's name but its across from Mt Yak

After a few hours we reached Merritt

After a pleasant evening there we headed out to Kamloops and found this lovely view from the hillside east of Merritt of the Nicola Valley.  This is sage brush country...home to logging and cattle ranching.

Kamloops is also a hot and dry place but a confluence of highways, rivers and quite a boom town! We stopped here for breakfast at a Denny's east of town and I snapped some pictures of the hoodoos they have all along the river. I tried hard to get the three dimensional feel of them and all the benches. Tough when you are a basic point and click shooter!

They are really beautiful and reminded me of our visit to Dinosaur National Park near Brooks, Alberta in 1993. If you are ever near there, you *must* see it!

After Kamloops, there are small little places along the road: Pritchard (Hi Wendy!), Chase, Sorrento, and Blind Bay. We used to live in Blind Bay and we just had to cruise by the old house:

The trees are larger, fuller and the place looks nice. Yup, we should have stayed there.... oh, well! Too late now and too much water under the bridge. (I'd cut those cedars back if it was mine still)

We arrived at Gudrun and Alfred's place in Tappen just after lunch. They live at the foot of Mt Bastion, across the Shuswap lake from the city of Salmon Arm. Their little community of Sunnybrae is beautiful and a real slice of paradise.  Gudrun had some of her weaving on display at the local art gallery and the day we arrived was the last day of the display, so we had to go and see it!  Now there was weaving by three other weavers but unless you had their express permission, you could not take pictures, not even a over-view shot from the doorway!  So it looks like a one woman show as a result.

Gudrun with her metal sample loom. Her Jacquard woven yellow sunflower weaving in behind.

Beiderwand table cloth with Pine Tree Borders

Interesting bit of history associated with this one!

We posed for pictures: Elizabeth (Shuswap Guild President), Gudrun and myself.

Gudrun played the grand piano (she is a lovely pianist!)

We left there about 3:30 pm and had some time so we visited Lori Talerico's Fine Art Gallery nearby. What a delightful little gallery! Lori has so much talent and when we arrived she was working on a 'caustic' painting (I think that was her term) Its where you paint and then apply wax over top, more paint and then more wax and you build the painting up in layers. The finished result has a 3D look to it. It also means using a heat gun to melt the wax and given the ongoing heat wave, Lori is truly dedicated to her craft!

Alfred enjoying a coffee and some of Lori's art.

Then Lori and I realized that she had bought one of my shawls a few years ago and agreed to model it for me! My first "post purchase" picture. I usually never really know where my weaving goes after it leaves my hands so this was neat for me! 

Next up, we went just a short distance from Lori's gallery to the lake foreshore and Alfred and I sat in the shade of a tree and admired the view:

Shuswap lake and Mt Bastion is to the right of the picture. Gorgeous huh?

Bruce and Gudrun walked the pier.

At 5 pm we went into town and met Shuswap Guild friends for supper. What a GREAT time! I was hugged so much and it was nice to see them all. Given it was a long weekend, it was nice of them to take time to come and see us.  

Meet (left to right) Elvi, Judith, Gudie and Julia. Elvi is a beautiful weaver; Judith a spinning instructor, Gudie is the Queen of Recycling Fibre (and yarn bombing), and Julia is an accomplished fibre enthusiast, and woodworker. She usually plays a harp every Christmas at the annual sale that she made

This is Darlene with Gudrun. Darlene is a sweetie and also a beautiful weaver/ knitter.

We spent the next day quietly at Gudrun and Alfred's home. Gudrun and I discussed all things weaving. She has two studio rooms: one for her antique Scottish loom and the other is for her tapestry loom.

Tapestry loom with new project under way! This will be revealed here in the future when its all done. Trust me, its very unique! On the wall to the left, a tapestry called "Night Migration"

Here's all the shades of grays being used and all fibre types depending on the effect Gudrun wants to achieve.

The light from the windows make getting a shot of the front difficult but you can see the fly shuttle boxes.

Its an amazing loom and built in 1932 or so.

There is weaving all over Gudrun's home: rugs on floors, tapestry on walls, table cloth on the dining room table along with placemats and napkins. Even new upholstery fabric on their Ikea chairs! Its really a weavers home and every room had something special.

Transparencies hanging in the stairwell...

...and the most amazing overshot coverlets on the beds!!

This was our bed. It was woven in two pieces and sewn together. It takes a careful beat to get two sections to match up and trust me, they match! (on both coverlets)

After my last post on overshot, this was a real treat to find!

We enjoyed the cooler evening air on their deck with this stunning view of Mount Ida and the city of Salmon Arm along the shore of Shuswap lake.

Next day we headed off down the road and drove through towns like Enderby, Armstrong, and Vernon:

Swan Lake north of Vernon

Coldstream Valley

The beach at Kalamalka Lake was full of people trying to keep cool!

Almost to Kelowna!

and then we arrived in Kelowna to visit Bruce's mother. She was celebrating her 90th birthday! By the time we arrived, the heat had me all done in. It was reaching 38-40 degrees Celsius and I'm used to a more sedate and cooler 20-22 degrees on the Island.  A cool shower and some time in the cooler basement and I felt better!

We stayed with Lorraine for three days and before we knew it, we were on the road home again. We weren't too far along on the highway between Kelowna and we came across these beauties browsing along the highway near Pennask Summit:

The scenery between Kelowna and Merritt on the "connector". Rolling hills...

Then back through Avalanche Alley....

This rock cornice looks menacing...especially when you look at the slope below it!

The fresh green growth is where previous snow slides have taken out the trees. We try not to travel during the winter months and that starts in late September way up here.

Finally we arrived in Vancouver!  We stayed overnight at the Sheraton and I upgraded our room as a special treat: king size bed on the top floor, free internet and wifi, free dinner appies and a free full breakfast. Best of all, air conditioning!! It was the crowning touch to a great week away!

Then we were looking at this welcome view.... That's Nanaimo in the middle there and home is forty five minutes away. Oh, and the heat wave eased off once we got in the door.