How I spent my summer holidaze...

 Remember having the pencil in the notebook during the first week back at school

  trying to corral all of those wild times you had all summer??

The time spent outdoors from dawn to dusk 

seemed endless (and only because you were called in to dinner!) . 

Cottage bound, car packed to see the cousins at the lake...the fire pit, the days

when all you wore all day long was a bathing suit and a towel around the waist...ah, sweet

childhood summers.

This summer was a working summer for me.

And I don't mean a 'going to work' I mean working at moving.

Once moved, it was all about moving in, painting the new house inside...(A LOT!)

But oh so much easier when there's nothing IN the house yet!

But I did have some fun and just to send you a glimpse of how

the non working side of my beautiful warm days were spent...

As with every summer, my young niece Stephanie came to spend almost

2 months here...such a lovely person to have around...always singing and ever so helpful!

We went out on a spontaneous night on the town in Victoria one evening

and found ourselves poking about in Chinatown as usual.

We were taking a selphie in front of my favourite door in Fan Tan Alley...

...when we were invited up to have a look inside!

Since I was about 12 or 13 years old I had always wanted to see what was behind

#23 1/2! So up the 50 stairs and into the home of a gentleman who's restoring the place...

 My 'real' camera is out of commission so had to rely on the iPhone for pictures...

Looking into the courtyard of a disappearing landscape...

 ...before it gets swallowed up by developers.
Speaking of developing...over a century ago a hole was blasted through this piece of land to allow a shortcut for water to be diverted to the small town of Port Alberni nearby. This 'Hole in the Wall' landmark is what is left behind. Stephanie, Good Pal Irma and her new pup Silas and I took a day trip up there to check it out....

It really is something to see...the hole is about 12 feet in diameter and on such a hot day it was a gloriously cool place to be... 

As mentioned Good Pal Irma has a new puppy!! 

Poor old Frank succumbed to cancer. He was Griffins brother.

We went on so many adventures together so now the torch is passed on to young Silas.

Irma wanted me to get his brother but with moving and all I'm just not there yet. Maybe in the spring.

Up the creek there are hundreds of cairns or Inukshuks that other wanderers have left as 

markers to their journey here. It was quite spectacular!

Another adventure I went on with a friend down from Denman Island was to visit this place...

My family has some history here...my grandfathers brother, my great Uncle Leonard, was married

to Thora Harrison. It was her great grandfather who built this 600 acre farm in 1870 and is one of the oldest continuously operated farms on Vancouver Island....

It's a lovely place...

But it has several different stories to it's past, one being that of a pregnant mare urine milking facility.

This urine is used in the pharmaceutical industry and does not have a pleasant history.

The current owner says she still gets shivers when she goes into this particular barn.

This chewed up window frame could be evidence of very bored,

 penned up horses who didn't get out much...

Now it is a happy place and a refuge for rescue animals...

I have much more to write about this place but for now I leave it on a happy goat note...

One of my criteria when we were looking for a place in town was that of being able to ride my bike to a shop. So after finally getting my bike on the road again, I peddled down to the end of our street and explored this fantastic trail system...

This is the Colquitz River Trail which meanders along the Colquitz Creek 

and through Garry Oak meadows and bog lands...

I am so grateful to have this within such easy reach.

It took me 10 minutes to ride to a large shopping area without being on the road ONCE!!

During these melancholy days of autumn, I am once again missing my

old furry love Griffin to ramble with...

I found this very weathered baseball deep in the grass beside the creek.

I wanted it to speak to me of how far it came and the kids who lost it and what a great home run it must have been that hot July afternoon at the ballpark not far away...

In some places along the trail I felt as if I was Huck Finn travelling under the cool weeping willows...

Sadly the worst part of our move is that our 9 year old Rueben went missing.

It's been a month and a half now and still no sign of him.

He was a real country cat and was not very happy living in the close proximity of other houses and cats. We postered the area heavily, put him on all of the websites on social media we could think of but still nothing. We are not giving up hope though. I've heard some incredible stories of cats who have reappeared after long absences. I read the other day of a cat who found it's family after 9 YEARS! If Rueben did try to go back to where we moved from it's a long long journey of 35 kilometers but you just never know...we have alerted the new owner just in case.

So that's a few highlights (and a big low) of my summer this year.
I am currently trying to fit my old large studio into a much smaller space and hopefully
in the not too distant future I will start to create again.
The grey, wet days will help me in that sense.
Time to hunker down and feel the fall.
Hope you are all well.
*UPDATE*!!!
Rueben was found almost 1 year later about a 10 minute walk from our house!
A bit thinner but all be it just fine and SO happy to be home!
Miracles do happen!

Honey I shrunk the trailer...part 2

Here's a soundtrack for this post to get you going...

As promised, here is the continuing story of my summer project with Stephanie.

Alright...glue out, scissors on hand, instructions laid out...here we go!!

Like I mentioned, this model kit was so detailed and came with

so many tiny accessories that our minds were absolutely blown away...

...books, little pot on the stove, calender, sink taps, cutting board, knife, suitcase, basket...

 ...ok, see the tiny lemons on the cutting board? Yup we actually sliced them off of a little 

clay like roll and put them on the tiny little glasses (made from cut plastic tube) 

complete with crazy straws cut from red wire! Cheers!

The little dining nook we glued from many pieces, made the little cushions, candelabra, guitar, 

added the tea cups and one of my favourite pieces was the 

teeny weeny metal Eiffel Tower just like the bigger

version I bought in Paris!!

Probably the most challenging part, (which just about drove me off the edge!)

was the chandelier...yes you heard me right...THE CHANDELIER!

With working LED lights!!

Every bead and bauble strung onto the wires, glued and then hooked up to a little 

battery pack attached to the back of the trailer.

I told Stephanie that I was allowed one swear word a day while we worked on the project.

This was a two swear word day at least.

One day at the beach we found the perfect piece of wood to make a little deck for 

the patio furniture...

 Stephanie cut all of the tiny fabric triangles for the bunting which we strung between two chopsticks.

Love the awning and the flower boxes!

So there you have it... 

Stephanie and I are ready for our shrinking potion now!

Honey I shrunk the trailer...part 1

A month before my 11 year old niece arrived for her summer holidays here,

I ordered her a birthday present for her upcoming 12th in August.

I found this little model kit on Etsy.

Here's the link

I inquired what it came with?

Everything in the picture was the reply!

So when Stephanie showed up she was absolutely thrilled with our intended project.

It came with many many little pieces of wood and paper...

It came with all of the tools to put it together. Glue, scissors, exacto knife, ruler, pencil, fabric.

Did I mention it came with MANY LITTLE PIECES?

Oh and the directions were all in Japanese! (I think)

But very good pictorial directions.

Were we still in? 

You bet!!

This is how it came. The shell was the only thing put together.

Made out of thin, light balsa wood and painted the most beautiful vintage blue!

We put in the window frames and put together the little box thing by the trailer hitch...

Window boxes...check!

After a few days of sniffing airplane glue and making tiny curtains, pillows

quilts and lawn furniture we were making progress...

But our project would have to wait until we got back from our road trip.

We brought it with us to show a few friends who we were visiting

and took a few pictures of it at our campsite for fun...

 This kit has everything!

Just wait till you see part 2 and the finished product.

But for now I'll leave you at the halfway point...MUCH more to come

 

Jane Ann's garden...

Well it's been a busy summer so far and I'm trying to catch up on my tales of adventure.

First of all, for all of you wanting to know about Miss Georgia, that story will be 

coming soon but suffice it to say she is THRIVING and crazy and healthy!

My sisters youngest girl came to stay for 2 weeks and now that she's left

to go to my folks house, things around here are SO quiet.

She is a child of genuine happiness even though she has been through so much in her 

12 years on earth. Her sing-songy chatter is missed dearly in the rooms

of this house now that she's gone but I'm looking forward to her return visit in August.

One thing on her bucket list for this summer was to go camping.

So we loaded up the van and hit the road!

One of our treasured visits was with my friend Jane Ann who lives

on a little Gulf Island about a 3 hour drive and a 20 minute ferry ride away.

Jane Ann is a constant gardener.

Every room in her beautiful wooden house has a view of some part of her lovely property...

Even though there has been no rain for almost 3 months, her garden is thriving...

 Love the colour of these alstromeria!

 The roses smell divine

And the bees are working steadily...

A few more snippets of some of her gorgeous flowers...

 It's a photographers dream here...

This copper beach in the evening sun's glow cemented my feelings 

of it being my favourite species of trees...

The weather has been so warm that we took a rare evening swim in the lake.

Stephanie absolutely loved that!

In the morning we took a stroll down to the marsh which lies along Jane Ann's property...

 Because of forest fires in the area the sky had a constant glow of golden hues.

It was very surreal and unnerving but beautiful at the same time...

Do you see the bald eagle preening in the tree?

Jane Ann has many tales to tell of her 30 plus years watching life on this marsh...

After breakfast we went for a ramble on 'moonrock' beach with Dez and Beau in tow...

This is a type of conglomerate cold water sandstone when exposed to wind and water

 leaves the holes from the tiny pebbles once embed ed within...

 Once again...time to get the camera out!

I love this type of rock...reminds me of another planet from another time...

Such an awesome place to explore!

So there you go.

Some of our adventure to share with you.

We were treated to amazing sunsets that would begin hours before the sun actually went down

thanks to the Sproat Lake fire.

 A silver lining of sorts.

Till next time!