Clouds

The rain this evening caused great things in the sky! The clouds, the light, the rain...wow!!

This is at 9:30 pm and it is facing east - looks like a sunset but it's just the sun rays in the sky! Again...wow!

Flowers Finally

Well, I finally decided it was time to put some flowers in - even though it is the end of July or almost! Since we (or me) will likely be here this month instead of going camping or the coast, I dropped in at SuperStore to check out their garden centre. If you can believe it...they are closing down this weekend. They have a big SALE on right now. All plants are 24 cents each.  Yes....24 cents. A quarter. Normally, you pay a couple of bucks but not today! So, I didn't need a lot but at 24 cents you can't go wrong. I picked up enough to do my flower boxes on the back deck with petunias - the Wave - and some yellow marigolds for the front. Also, some fully grown geraniums, pink, red, orange and white for the white flower boxes by the garage. Well,maybe not so white...more like...white/brown..they need painting but hey...whose got time! I spent the afternoon putting things into the dirt and as I sit here now, it is raining! I just watered everything and now it is raining. Timing! Guess we could use a little rain. haha

The cedars in our back yard have loved the moisture. They have grown at least 15 inches each. I can't hardly believe it. But..it's true. Soon, we will be secluded on our deck in the backyard. Wonderful. Since we got new eavestroughs, the plants under the overhang on the garage have not received the same amount of moisture anymore. They now require a bit of TLC with watering. Oh, and the plants I got for 24 cents each also need TLC. Trust me, they are not the 'cream of the crop' as I think SuperStore was just wanting to get rid of its stock and therefore have not been tending to them very well. Guess they have been letting nature take its course.

I hear my neighbor outside watering her plants in the rain. They are going on vacation and she wants to make sure everything is tended to before leaving. I guess that makes sense - OR not. They are now doubly-watered by nature and herself. I can't argue with her as whatever she does seems to work as her flowers and yard are absolutely beautiful! She definitely has a green thumb!

The rain has now stopped and there is a bit of a breeze. We sure get a mixture of weather these days. Half an hour ago, it was sunny and hot and now it is cloudy, light breeze, wet and cool. Don't close your eyes...

Rain, Rainbows and Clouds

It's raining again this morning. Last night it rained as well and then stopped about 9:45 pm and it appeared to be daylight, along with a beautiful rainbow! The clouds and skies are really phenomenal these days.  Take a look at these pics...



July 19th Double Rainbow about 7 pm

Then again last night, July 21st

July 21 double rainbow but at 9:45 pm



Strange sunlight, low clouds & eerie sky after rainfall



Our Blue Spruce bathed in sunlight at 10 pm

Of course, it is still summer but the clouds, the rainbows and the skies are unbelievable!  I guess the moisture in the atmosphere does sunthing amazing!!

Raining again

It is raining, with thunder and lightening right now so I thought I would take a moment to blog. I was thinking about the rain we had in Nelson, BC while there at the beginning of the month. As we were heading to the campground for our first time, the clouds were hanging low over Kootenay Lake. Very pretty. It was warm and humid and thankfully, it stopped raining while we were 'setting up camp'.  After we were finished, a downpour came. We were glad we had the gazebo over the picnic table so we could sit. By the morning, it had stopped and the sun came out. It was beautiful then too as I made my way down to the ladies room at the end of the circle! At first, it seemed too far but later on, it was a nice walk - as long as I didn't leave it to the last minute!



Kootenay Lake taken through the car window

Sun is out and time to walk to the ladies room!

Relaxin' in the morning sunshine!

All in all the park was a beautiful place. There were quite a few mosquitos but you just had to spray yourself. That being said, I was glad to go to Radium a week later and experience NO mosquitos. I got spoiled there because I was not prepared for the little critters by the time we came back to Edmonton!

We were meeting our daughter and family there for a week of camping and they arrived the next late afternoon. The sun was out and very welcoming! We had thought it was going to rain more so had bought another gazebo to set up for them as well. It was like a little community by the time we were all packed in there together. Quite homey!

The kids had their bikes so enjoyed themselves and it was fun watching Grace trying to walk. We did a number of things while there, visiting town, going to Castlegar to see the Doukhobor 
Discovery Centre (also hoped to find where my two Aunts lived in Kinnaird -outside Castlegar-but with no luck), Ainsworth Hot Springs, Balfour ferry to the other side of the lake and driving to the Glass House. I was there in 1955 and still have a picture of my dad and me! How nostalgic is that!

My dad & me in 1955 at The Glass House

I am listening to the Oldies music channel 312 on Telus.  Talk about dropping back in time.... guess that is enough for now. Need to organize my other pictures or maybe just listen to the music!

Unbelievable!

I awoke this morning at 5:40 a.m. with the whole room seeming to light up. I looked out the window and it was bright yellow. Mostly due to the sunrise and the cloud cover. I went looking for my camera and John called me to look out the back window.  A storm was coming and the sky was bright yellow but with these huge clouds. It all happened within a 45 minute time frame of light and dark and wind and rain, loud thunderclaps and lightening.! Truly amazing. Then came the rain in torrents. Now....45 minutes later....it is lightly drizzling on and off and to the west...it is clearing. I still can't believe how BRIGHT it was and then how dark. The clouds were amazing. My pictures do not do justice to the beauty and majesty of it all.  But the change of colours were definitely captured by my camera!

I immediately thought of these words 'and the whole earth was filled with His glory' which comes from Isaiah 6:3 "And they were calling to one another:  "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory."
Amen!

Relaxin'

It has been a beautiful summer day. High of 29 on our thermometer. Clear blue sky and lots of sunshine. Our new windows and siding keep the house a lot cooler than before. It is still warm but cooler than before!!

Right now the sun is behind the garage and there is a light breeze so it is a perfect summer evening (except for the mosquitos). But...I am looking at my backyard through the full patio screen so I FEEL like I am there but I am not with the mosquitos!

The kids left for Vancouver this morning. A long road trip home. They are dropping off Josh somewhere near Vancouver to attend a week camp so his summer is well planned out. I am sure Brandy and everyone else is just happy to finally get home - back into their own beds. After a few days they will want to be back in Edmonton!  I just got a text message that they are nearly home 8 pm.  Prayers for a safe trip followed them all the way there!

Back to work tomorrow for me. Guess I am ready for it too. My next break comes on the long weekend.

Saturday Highlights

Saturday morning and we are off to a good start. Headed to the mechanic to check out John 's Explorer problem and get them fixed. While we were on vacation, we ran over a plank or metal pipe and it bounced up under the wheel and took off the decorative bumper panel and scratched one of them. It is all fixed up now. As well as the idling problem we were having. Good as new.  My car is with the mechanic now as he replaces my radiator as it has a long crack horizontally on the top portion. It was steaming up in the hot weather but thankfully it has not caused me any problems but better get it fixed while I can.

In need of some TLC

We missed our grandson's ball hockey game today as we had to have the car fixed. They won 3-0. They lost the first 3 games so it was time for a good win! The finals are tomorrow but we will be missing them in the morning as well. They take off to Vancouver right afterwards so it is 'good-bye' until we see them the next time (likely at their place).

Weather is overcast but at least not raining. We should be putting up the tent trailer and getting it all cleaned. If we use it again on the Aug 1st long weekend well...it will be clean...and if we don't...well, it will be clean!

Summer is whizzing by again!

Sunshine

I am happy to report we have sunshine today. We cleaned up our deck and cleared off all the leaves and dust from the siding work and if it weren't for the mosquitos we could sit out there and be quite happy!

The kids all came for a final 'hello and goodbye' lunch. Chicken fingers and hamburgers with veggies seemed to be the right menu items. Salad for the adults (and Alicia)! She loves salads too. A look around at all the changes to the house and then it was time to leave and head to the West End Soccer facility for Josh's ball hockey tournament. Unfortunately, they did not win their first game, even if it was close. John's words of wisdom for Josh were that if you are going to lose a game, make it the first one and get it out of your system. Josh agreed, so hopefully, we will only experience WINS from here on!!

Good sportsmanship!

That's Josh on the left!

We were watching, along with our daughter. Brandy, and granddaughter, Grace. She enjoyed just playing with the water bottle and sitting on papa's knee. Poor little thing, has been eaten up with mosquitos but it hasn't changed her happy disposition!

More interested in us than watching the game!

"Papa, can I have some of your water?"

"Oops, spilled some"

"I love you, papa!"

It was a good afternoon and we will be seeing everyone again this morning as Josh plays his second game. We are cheering him on for a big win!

With all the crazy weather happening around us, I got this great picture of this morning's sunrise through our bedroom screen...beautiful (if you ignore the black screen)!! Love the colours!

Back to the Real World

Well, to get started, our house exterior is finished and while on vacation our neighbor sent us a picture of it. We love it. Looks great.

New siding, windows, soffits, eavestroughs and we cut down the cedars

Now that it is all finished, we have to finalize it with a new front light, street address numbers and a mail box. So, I guess we are not really  finished yet.

In the meantime, we had a great time camping with our daughter and her family out in Nelson, BC. If you ever get to Kokanee Campground, you will love it. Beautiful. We had side by side sites so it made cooking and just 'being together' a lot easier.

Something for everyone!

The weather was wet when we got there and set up. However, although it rained overnite and a bit the next morning, it dried up in time for the kids' arrival that same night. From that time on, it was sunny and warm. There were mosquitos but the OFF kept them off. Alicia was the worst bit of everyone. She was covered but then again...she chose to run around in shorts and tank tops and was an 'open invitation to lunch' if you ask me. She scratched and scratched and scratched but still continued to wear shorts and tank tops! Kids!



Visiting the Glass House

 The kids brought their bikes and even Grace was pushing her newly acquired push cart around. There were two young boys in the site across the street from us so the boys were playing ball hockey or riding their bikes. The girls had to be more creative in their activiies.

Grace playing with clothes pegs

Since this picture, Grace has ventured out on her own into the real world. Now it will be hard to keep an eye on her but ... c'est la vie! 

Our usual 'around the campfire' included talking and of course, roasting marshmallows. Ethan was the best at that!

Always make sure it's all over the fingers!

Everyone has their own way of roasting!



Justing sitting around the fire is fun too!

  There was always something going on with all of us there so it was a good time. It had rained a lot in the area so the ground was saturataed but the kids found lots to do.

Just relaxin' with Grace

We spent a week here and then we all moved on. We headed to Radium and they went to Kelowna. Both of us had great weather at our separate locations. Radium was almost empty this year as they had been making some infrastructure improvements and were not allowing any reservations on line. It was 'first come, first served' so I guess people were unsure if there would be space.  Well....there was LOTS of space. It was nice and quiet with about 30% occupancy. Real easy to go for a shower in the morning!!




Quiet and peaceful

After a week here, we thought we would overnite in Kananaskis country where my brother and wife are working this summer. As it happened, the weather was going to be rainy overnite so after a short visit we headed home instead of having to put down the tent trailer in the rain. I guess it did start raining about 4 am so we would have been 'saying a few words' while putting down! It all worked out in the long run though. It is a beautiful location so we will have to go back sometime in the future to camp there as well. They did have a few grizzly bears in the area as this picture shows. They were only about 20 feet - give or take a few, but whose counting!

Note baby bear just by the truck fender

Anyway, we had a great two weeks and even though we ended up home a few days early, it all worked out well. There is always something to do here and I have been doing it too! The kids are back in Edmonton for a ball hockey tournament that Josh is in so we will enjoy watching him play a few games and then they are back to Vancouver on the weekend. We packed a lot into a few weeks.

Time to relax and enjoy our new place. Summer has just started!