To be thankful for.......

Sunday, July 19th, 2015.

The list is long and open-ended - the things I have to be thankful for....

At the moment the main reason for gratitude is the amazing way our dear granddaughter of 34 is recovering from two major strokes!!!

Here she is with her grandfather, many years ago......

And in the last few months as she works at her art of wood sculpture....

The sweet work she did in honour of Charles, when he died......and to comfort me.

And following close behind on the thankfulness list  - the many things my family does to make life pleasant and easy!  And the thoughtfulness and love each of them express...

The daily visits...loving and reassuring and helpful and such a good part of every day....

The house I live in and the garden I can call my own, to add a little zest and beauty.....owned by family and lent to me to make town and church accessible as I drive less and less.  So much appreciated.....

All the help I have in keeping the garden looking respectable .....

The phones calls, night and morning.....

The sunset evening calls on Skype that share with me the marvels of the Chilcotin sky, painted with purples and blues and mauves and rose and cream, - changing momentarily as the camera moves across the sky...

The weekly loaf of bread from DIL's contribution to the Farmer's Market in Penticton.

Tall sons to change lightbulbs!  And to put railings along the long hallway that I find assurance in and unexpectedly use much more than I ever thought possible......

The thoughfulness of family who ask - would you like to see the Columns, or go on a little road trip in the countryside with the camera, or go shopping, out for lunch, visit the garden shop, see an art exhibit, share a holiday with us.

Books, - always books....

The marvelous contraption the Meadow son attached over my bed that holds the Ipad and puts me to sleep at night, as I watch as much as I wish, and when my eyes grow heavy just press the close button.  A nice Spanish TV series right now, - The Gran(d) Hotel....

Weaving - that keeps my mind working as I plan warps and dress the loom and delight (mainly) in the finished product.

Friends - and the memory of friends who have gone on ahead of me.  So many of them, but they leave behind wonderful remembrances of a life shared...

The opportunities the internet provides to keep in touch with new friends and old, and the surprising peek into the way the world goes round!!

Grandchildren - and great grandchildren.  The lovely continuance of life - the world as seen through the eyes of a child.....

Good health - a blessing I am always aware of and for which I am eternally grateful.....

Snapshots, that remind me what a wonderful journey it's been through life....and how fortunate I was to have that lovely man to share it with!

Music!!!!  The piano, - when I am sad I play Albinoni's Adagio, - when I am happy or reminiscing I play some Scott Joplin.  Or jazz up hymns on the organ.....

The humming birds in the Bee Balm....

The scent of Phlox and evening stock and nicotiana in the evening...

And the Abraham Darby rose....

Only the beginning of a long list, but certainly enough to remind me what a lucky old lady I am!!!!

And how love sweetens life....

Praise What Comes

surprising as unplanned kisses, 
all you haven't deserved of days and solitude, 
your body's immoderate good health
 that lets you work in many kinds of weather.  Praise

talk with just about anyone.  And quiet intervals,
 books that are your food and your hunger;  
nightfall and walks before sleep. 
 Praising these for practice, perhaps

you will come at last to praise grief 
and the wrongs you never intended. 
 At the end there may be no answers 
and only a few very simple questions:  did I love,

finish my task in the world? 
Learn at least one of the many names of God? 
 At the intersections, the boundaries 
where one life began and another

ended, the jumping-off places 
between fear and possibility,
 at the ragged edges of pain, 
did I catch the smallest glimpse of the holy?   

Jeanne Lohmann

A for Anahim Lake

ABC Wednesday
July 15th, 2015

Off on another wonderful jaunt through the Alphabet!

I decided I would like to introduce readers to the beautiful province of British Columbia by choosing towns and communities and territories to match the letters of the alphabet, - and so we start with:

A for Anahim Lake

The Anahim Lake area of the West Chilcotin has a rich and colourful history.

Home to the native Carrier/Chilcotin (or Tsilhgot'in) peoples the recorded history begins with the arrival of the famous explorer, Alexander Mackenzie, in 1793 when he became the first white man to reach the Pacific Ocean by land, a full twelve years before the better promoted Lewis and Clark expedition in the United States.

By the early part of the 20th century a few hardy pioneers, lured by stories of huge expanses of untouched ranch land, had made their way into the Anahim Lake area.  One of these men was Rich Hobson Jr, a former insurance broker in New York who had suffered financial ruin in the Crash of 1929.

He teamed up with a wily cowboy by the name of Panhandle Phillips and they headed north in pursuit of this new ranching frontier in the Chilcotin region of central British Columbia.

Their adventures eventually became a trilogy of books written by Hobson, filled with the colourful cast of characters who made the Anahim Lake area their home at that time.  They were such fascinating real life adventure stories that the CBC eventually made a series based upon the books.  It is a great many years since I have read these books, but I am thinking of investigating what the Library has to offer as they are no longer on my shelves.

"Grass Beyond the Mountains"  Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy"  and "Rancher Takes a Wife".

These books remind me of Thomas Firbank and his wonderful tales of the Welsh mountain farm he bought, especially as they pertain to the surroundings of the country(s) they describe and the life of the farmer(s).

Besides being a magnificent ranching country the Chilcotin area has become a tourist attraction to those who would take a tour into "God's Country".

Come early in the summer to enjoy the Anahim Lake Stampede

The Chilcotin is a varied country

Ice Fields in the High Chilcotin country

And below, in the meadows, lakes and ranchland

 Farwell Canyon and the Chilcotin River.

 Pelicans on Anahim Lake

and a country for Eagles

 Hanlon Falls, which plunge over 1000 feet down a perpendicular cliff
from Lake Turner into Lonesome Lake.

The Falls were named after a Chilcotin chief, Hana-lin, who used to fish at the foot
of the falls, and had a trap line nearby.

The south end of Lonesome Lake was the home of Ralph Edwards -
his life made famous by the book "Crusoe of Lonesome Lake"

Rainbow Mountains

How to get there!

Eagle's Nest Resort advertises that their main lodge is built around a log cabin that was at one time a  "watering hole" for many of the original Grass Beyond the Mountains characters.  Long before there was such a thing as a liquor store the men would gather at Eagle's nest to swap stories, barter goods with one another, and generally be sociable while enjoying the potent production of the local still.

I am in daily contact with the Chilcotin country and that part of my family who live

on a beautiful meadow on top of a plateau 

where they delight us with photos and tales of the wild critters

they share the countryside with, and the marvelous sunsets

that paint the sky!  Take a peek, here.

Another fame to glory for Anahim Lake!!

Carey Price, Olympic Gold goalie calls it his hometown!!!

More A stories here at ABC Wednesday, with thanks to Roger and Denise

and Able helpers....

post script......

a little bonus - found this marvelous picture from space

of the Rainbow Range in British Columbia's Chilcotin

while looking for Pluto pictures....

Hemming and Hawing

Friday, July 10th, 2015

A third of the way into July, - it seems only hours ago that I was saying White Rabbits!!

It has been a torturous time, heatwise, but we now have the prospects of a little rain and mid 20's temperatures (as opposed to high 30's).   This inspires me to put aside my reading and reminiscing and get on with life!!  And it is where the 'hemming' takes first priority.....

First of all I must find a place for the ironing board, where it can be comfortable for a few days and not in the way, and that of course raises the question of 'why do I have so much stuff around taking up space - and furthermore, when am I going to remedy this situation'.

Well, apparently it will not be an immediate task so I move the spinning wheel and squeeze the ironing board into a corner of my bedroom,  (all the while thinking of the one my mother had in the 1930's, built right ito the wall). and I plug in the iron.  It's a start!

My daughter is waiting for a pair of pants that required a little lengthening, but what appeals to me most is the linen towels that left the loom almost a week ago.  Washed and pressed, but not yet hemmed.

I remember the shortage of 'findable' straight pins to secure the hems before basting - this the result of having cleaned out the sewing machine drawers and moving the sheet of straight pins elsewhere -
some mysterious place elsewhere the location of which escapes me!!

Ah well, I will make do with what I have.  As I pin and press the mistakes that I made in my weaving immediately catch my eye.  I think this is where I start the HAWING, but there, I know they will be treasured, skipped dents and all.....

I find a fine needle with a decent sized eye, baste the hems, after some difficulty in making a little knot in the end of the thread.  Despite having passably mobile hands  I find it very hard to twirl the thread into a small knot between my thumb and forefinger - but persevere with patience....  Done!

I put on some music, settle myself into a comfortable chair and prepare to "get it done".

Hemming is so mindless, like plain knitting, but so comfortable as your mind wanders and your eye follows the length and depth of the stitches.  A nice way to spend an evening, and while I do it I think about the cotton that arrived in the mail yesterday for a new warp to dress the loom, and weave up all those bits and pieces and lengths of cotton that linger in drawers and plastc bins.  They will make colourful wefts for tea towels to distribute amongst family.

I have no picture of hemmed linen towels yet, but here are some of the garden which has been flourishing in the heat, mainly because I have been a slave to the need for water in the pots and beds;
night and day, night and day!!!

and the linen warp as it came off the loom

Zanzibar

ABC Wednesday
July 8th, 2015

The letter is Z  for Zanzibar

Zanzibar is an archipelago made up of Zanzibar and Pemba Islands located in the Indian Ocean about twenty-five miles from the Tanzanian coast.  Sixty miles long and twenty miles wide it is known for its beautiful sandy beaches with fringing coral reefs, and the magic of historic Stone Town, said to be the only functioning ancient town in East Africa.

There are no large wild aimals in Zanzibar, and forest areas are inhabited by monkeys, bush-pigs and small antelopes - and rumour has it the elusive Zanzibar leopard!  Various species of mongoose are also found on the island, and a wide variety of birds and butterflies..

The coral reefs surrounding the East Coast are rich in marine life and make them a great location for snorkelling and scuba diving.


Zanzibar's local people are an incredible mixture of ethnic backgrounds, indicative of her colourful history.  Islam is the dominant religion, and the 100,000 inhabitants speak Swahili.

People have lived in Zanzibar for 20,000 years.  History starts when the islands became a base for traders voyaging between the African Great Lakes, the Arabian peninsula and the Indian subcontient.  Although the archipelago had few products of value Stone City was a convenient point from which to trade with towns on the Swahili Coast.  Zanzibar has been inhabited, perhaps not continuously, since the Paleolithic.  A 2005 excavation at Kuumbi Cave foud heavy duty stone tools that showed occupation of the site at least 22,000 years ago.

A certain magic is attached to Zanzibar, with its aura of spices and ivory, blue waters and beaches,

and in recent years its great attraction as a tourist destination.

Cinnamon bark and nutmeg

In my own personal history I remember Saturday afternoon movies

and the "Road" series, starring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour

and in particular "The Road to Zanzibar"

Don't ask me for any details, - it was a long, long time ago!

The last letter in the alphabet, and many thanks to Roger and Denise 

and all their zippy de-do-dah helpers!

For more Zzzzs zip over here to ABC Wednesday.

Summer Days

July 2nd, 2015

When my knees started whining this morning, after a couple of hours at the loom, I chided them for letting down the side, but did admit that it might be time to see what the kitchen had to offer for lunch, and them maybe find a shady spot and a new book.

I try to keep in mind the way Grandpa Sid (Charles' father) managed when he was with us in his late eighties,  and emulate his way of life;  busy during the day, but at a leisurely pace.  Never hurried or distraught, and always aware of the energy short rest periods generated, he taught us all
the advantages of pacing oneself through life....

So I made myself a toasted chicken and cheese sandwich, had a very small nap, and then gathered a book and the camera and my phone in a basket, and went out into the back garden to find a cool corner.

I finished reading Julia Blackburn's 'biography' yesterday - "The Three of Us", astounded at the lack of stability in her childhood and surprised by the maturity, and the love and forgiveness that she achieves by the time the book ends.   It kept me reading all afternoon until I closed it with a sigh, and laid it aside for Happy Hour, and a little musing about life and how different it is for all us.

Today I started to read "Habits of the House" by  Fay Weldon - a Downton Abbey kind of book that doesn't require a great deal of concentration but so far is entertaining.

This morning I was back at the loom again, and so pleased with the way the left-over linen is weaving up into small guest towels, although I have to admit that there are a few lines running through the length of the warp that could be construed as decorative, but are, in reality, mistakes in threading....  I have probably another twenty inches of warp left to weave and then the happy experience of cutting off the warp, wet finishing the material and watching it morph from a stiff linen netting type of weave to a lovely soft huck pattern, the threads all relaxed and cosying up to one another.

And so the summer days go by, - I go to town when I absolutely have to, but my days begin and end in the garden in the cool of the morning and the quiet of the late evening.  Often, if there is a particularly lovely sunset in the Chilcotin, our youngest son scans the sky with his Ipod and sends by Skype these beautiful Monet colours, - mauves and purples and roses and cream and lilac, bright golds and blue.

In the morning I can expect to see on Facebook the same sunset, beautifully photographed by our second son,  and accompanied by wonderful tales of the Meadow where they live.

Warm summery days, and life is good....

Enchantment

ABC Wednesday
July 1, 2015

The letter is Y - for Enchantment

Are you prepared to be enchanted???

Here is Yo Yo Ma with his magical rendition of The Swan by Saint Saens

Bound to enchant you....

And furthermore - the addition of Charles Riley (aka Lil' Buck) and his
dance interpretation is quite magical

For more interesting takes on the letter Y - over yonder, here, at ABC Wednesday

with thanks to Roger and Denise 

We're having a heat wave...

In the late afternoon I leave the coolness of the house and go out into the garden to check pots and open the side gate to peer at the air conditioner to see if any ice has formed around its entrance into the house as happened yesterday.  Luckily not.......

We are in the midst of an unusual heat wave.  No blazing sun or brilliant sky, but rather a grey and rather ominous cloud cover much resembling the lid of a pressure cooker - and there is distinct impression of being steamed in it as one ventures forth.

I have seen worse!  Picked peaches and apricots in the orchard when the temperature was well over 100 degrees F. (With constant  re-telling over the years the actual temperature has grown to117F but I hesitate to intrude on credibility).

We had no air conditioning in our home at that time but a large Rainbow sprinkler turned lazily all day on our flat roofed house, and as the water fell over the eaves it gave the illusion of coolness at least.

I found some of the potted plants gasping for water, even though I had been out in the garden early in the morning with the hose.  These are the days of morning refreshment -  happy hour about five, and perhaps a little sparkling water at noon.

What relief and delight to step back into a cool kitchen  - even Callie left her little damp spot in the raspberries to scoot between my feet.

She had spoonful of her soft tinned cat food that she has a passion for, and I had the remains of last night's refreshing fruit salad for supper  -  with ice cream!

Last night as I got ready for bed the eastern sky and clouds were bright with a show of sheet lightening.  I can't wish the same for tonight because of the very real danger of igniting wild fires, but it was pretty spectacular.

Tomorrow promises to be a little cooler than the 40C that was recorded on Charles' old thermometer!

X is for kisses

ABC Wednesday
June 24, 2015

The letter is X - a symbol for kisses

so sweet.....

'Tis when the lark goes soaring

And the bee is at the bud,

When lightly dancing zephyrs

Sing over field and flood;

When all sweet things in nature

Seen joyfully achime -

'Tis then I wake my darling,

For it is kissing time!

Go, pretty lark a-soaring

And suck your sweets, O bee;

Sing, O ye winds of summer,

Your songs to mine and me;

For with your song and rapture

Cometh the moment when

It's half past kissing time

And time to kiss again!

So-so the days go fleeting

Like golden fancies free,

And every day that cometh

Is full of sweets for me;

And sweetest are those moments

My darling comes to climb

Into my lap to mind me

That it is kissing time.

Sometimes, maybe, he wanders

A heedless, aimless way -

Sometimes, maybe, he loiters

In pretty, prattling play;

But presently bethinks him

And hastens to me then,

For it's half-past kissing time

And time to kiss again!

Kissing Time, by Eugene Field, who also worte "Wynken, Blynken and Nod"
and 'The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat"

The last two lines stir fond childhood memories of my Grandmother....

More Xs here at ABC Wednesday, with thanks to Denise and Roger
and all their kissing cousins who visit on their behalf....