A piano Virtuoso or Visiting with the youngest Greatgrands

The mums and the boys, out for a stroll in their amazing push carts,

stopped for tea

and a little gleeful piano entertainment

You're going to love this piece!!

well, perhaps it gets a little loud here......

but isn't it fun!!!!!!

A solemn ending....

the little one listened and smiled

and took nourishment

while the adults sat around pulling silly faces

to elicit these lovely grins!

Khayyam

ABC Wednesday
March 25th, 2015

K is the letter

Omar Khayyam and lines from his Rubaiyat are the subject

Omar Khayyam was a Persian poet, mathematician and astronomer who lived from 1048-1131, well known for his mathematical theories, but also for his poetry, especially among the Romantics!!


Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse - and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness -
And Wilderness is Paradise enow.

or perhaps...

Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears
Today of past Regrets and Future Fears -
Tomorrow? - Why, Tomorrow I may be
Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years

Lo! some we loved, the loveliest and the best
That Time and Fate of all their Vintage prest,
Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before,
And one by one crept silently to Rest.

 or this....


I sometimes think that never blows so Red
The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled;
That every Hyacinth the garden Wears
Dropt in its Lap from some once lovely Head.

For more Ks skip on over to ABC Wednesday, here, with many thanks to Roger and Denise, and those who visit on their behalf.

Jiggs and Maggie

ABC Wednesday
March 18th, 2015

The letter is J

I JOG your memory with a bit about JIGGS and Maggie and some of the information Mr. Wikipedia provides, and some of my own remembrances about this cartoon that ran in the local paper all the days of my youth - and beyond!!

Particularly relevent as I write on St. Patrick's Day, and Jiggs was a typical Irish Shanty immigrant, a former hod carrier who won a Million Dollars in the Irish Sweep Stakes, but clung desperately to his old life and his old friends at Dinty Moore's Tavern, despite the social ambitions of his harridan wife, Maggie!

Cartoonist George McManus (1884-1954) started writing the series in 1913 and it ran until the year 2000 in newspaper's and in comic book form.

Younger enthusiasts will remember Jiggs and Maggie as the inspiration for the movie "Bringing up Father".

"The strip deals with 'lace-curtain Irish', with Maggie as the middle-class American desiring assimilation into mainstream society, in counterpoint to an older, more raffish "shanty Irish" sensibility represented by Jiggs".

Through the character of JIGGS McManus' humour gave voice to the anxieties and aspirations of Irish Catholic ethnics during the early 20th century, and took the middle position in the conflicts over assimilation and social mobility which aided readers in becoming accepted in American society without losing their identity.

Jiggs and Maggie was a great success and made McManus a rich man. He generally drew his characters with circles for eyes, and had a bold, clean-cut cartooning line.  'His strong sense of composition and Art Deco design made the strip a stand-out' (Wikipedia).

Do you remember Maggie with her rolling pin, and Jiggs with his fondness for corned beef and cabbage!!!!

If you want to make your own Jigg's dinner put a four pound (or thereabouts) corned beef brisket into 3 cups of broth (and water to cover) into a Dutch Oven.  Add one large onion cut into six or eight wedges, and a medium clove of garlic, minced.  Bring to a boil and then simmer for two hours.  Remove the corned beef to a platter, cover with foil and keep warm.

Skim the fat from the broth and add about six potatoes, peeled and quartered, four large carrots, halved and cut into three inch lengths, one small head of cabbage, cored and cut into six to eight wedges and one medium turnip, cut into two inch chunks. Cook until vegetables are tender.

Slice the corned beef and serve with veggies.

Pretend you're Jiggs, or Maggie, - sitting down to a traditional Sunday dinner in Irish America and enjoy!

More Js here at ABC Wednesday, with thanks to Denise and Roger and all jolly helpers.

A little of THIS and a small bit of THAT make a busy week

It is raining!  Has been for some hours, - a perfectly delightful drizzle bringing complete satisfaction to the thirsty bulbs, turning the lawn green for St. Patrick's Day and making small puddles in the back lane.

All week is has been threatening - or promising, depending upon how you feel about rain and gardens.  Cloudy skies in the mornings, partially clearing in the afternoons, making way for sunshine and lovely warm temperatures.  But the rain is so welcome....

Busy week - some of the days spent in the loom room winding the linen warp for a quartet of fine linen huck finger towels.  Less practical than kitchen towels, but I have this left over linen, and it is partially to prove to myself that I can still manage this strong, stiff, wiry, inelastic thread that ends up being so lustrous and beautiful.  For a while I wondered when the end of one section of the warp somehow turned into what looked like a bird's nest of delicate white threads, thoroughly entangled. Patience and a large strong comb saved the day, - no, that's not really what saved the day.  It was the wound-in cross that it is essential to all warps to keep the threads in order and separated.  It behaved beautifully, and now the threads hang docilely from the back beam, waiting to be threaded.

Wednesday I left the loom to go singing, and then came home to make a chicken and honey casserole and a peach pie for dinner with a son and daughter-in-law, -  and then we watched The Strange Case of Benjamin Button, and I was totally engrossed in his adventures, growing young backwards....

It was nice to cook for someone else too, - I miss this on evenings when I open the cupboards and the fridge and find something easy to put together for a watching-the-news supper.

Three meetings and a Thursday morning spent watching a Philharmonic concert (Martha Argerich, pianist, playing some Mendelsohn and Robert Schuman's Piano Concerto in A Minor with Ricardo Chailly conducting, filled in the week quite nicely and brought me to Saturday and the Catholic Women's League annual St. Patrick's Day Tea....

They go all out,  - it is a crowded affair with wonderful Irish decorations, a few men dressed up as Leprachauns or Irish gentlemen with bright green pork pie hats.  And one man who was not prepared to declare his allegiance in a tie striped with orange and green....  Wonderful fancy sandwiches and little cakes, - and to round it all off a Looney Auction - which I must explain because if you aren't a Canadian you probably aren't familiar with the Looney - a one dollar coin.  (the two dollar coin is a Tooney).

Looney Auctions don't stir me as they once did.  When we were raising funds for our Parish Hall we had them regularly, serving coffee and Exotic Desserts.  They are great fund raisers, and that was how I viewed Saturday's, - hoping that I would not end up with any of the objects I bid on.  Very nice, - but more STUFF, if you know what I mean...

Here are a few pictures from the week - the beautiful golden forsythia was brought to me as 'sticks' by my granddaughter, who now lives in our House on the Hill with her men and tends the garden there.  The men include two sweet great grandsons!  The forsythia comes from the same bush that used to provide the blooms that  Charles looked askance at when they inhabited our big bathtub to bring a little early spring to dreary winter...

I miss his gentle grumbling.....

Ice Cream

ABC Wednesday
The letter is I
For ICE CREAM
which most everybody loves

Here is the recipe for a special Italian Ice Cream

Old Fashioned Stracciatella (vanilla Bean Ice Cream with Shards of Chocolate)

A favourite, consisting of a vanilla bean custard, churned, with the addition of a stream of decadent melted dark chocolate added in the last minute of churning.

So - you heat 250 ml of heavy cream and 500 ml of half and half with 1/4 tsp of salt, 1 Tsp of corn flour, 1 vanilla pod, slit in half,  and 3/4 cup of condensed milk .  Bring to a boil, then  lower the heat.

Separate five nice large brown eggs and stir the egg yolks with a little of the warm milk, whisking constantly as you pour.  Add to the remainder of the warm milk, whiskig constantly.

Cook it over low hear, stirring and scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon until the custard has thickened and will coat the back of a wooden spoon.  Then, just for good luck, cook it for another three or four minutes.

Leave it to cool completely, then strain, removing the vanilla pods.  Pour it into the bucket of an ice cream maker.

Freeze the custard in the ice cream maker for about an hour,

In the last few minutes melt 85 gms of dark rich chocolate, chopped, in a heat resistant bowl suspended over a pot of simmering water.  Then leave to cool for a minute.

In the last two minutes of churning pour as thin a stream of the chocolate as you can manage into the ice cream.  The chocolate will harden on contact and shatter. Allow it to sit overnight in the freezer.

If, perchance, like me you do not have an ice cream maker, here is a way to make

 ice cream  by hand,  and wing it with the chocolate shards.....

Prepare the custard, then chill it over an ice bath.  

Put a deep baking dish made of something durable into the freezer

 and pour your custard mixture into it.

After forty-five minutes open the door and check it.

As it starts to freeze near the edges, remove it
 from the freezer

 and stir vigorously, - then return it to the freezer.

Continue to check the mixture every thirty minutes,

 beating it up as it's freezing, with a stick blender 

or a hand held blender, if possible.

When it is a good consistency do the chocolate thing, as above.

The whole thing is going to take about 2-3 hours, so leave yourself a lazy afternoon to tackle this ice cream making, - the results are worth it.

Enjoy!

Many more variations on the letter I here at ABC Wednesday 

with thanks to Roger and Denise.

The Good and the Bad

Well, we'll start with the BAD.....

I was out in the garden the other day, - stubbed my toe which somehow caused a mechanical failure in my left hip - which is why I am walking with a cane....

And the GOOD!

There is an elevator in the theatre where we are going to hear the Irish Rovers perform tonight!!

The GOOD just keeps on happening.  The loom is in a stage of undress right now,

 while I decide whether to retain the remnants that are still threaded and sleyed, 

as a dummy warp, and just tie on to it.

I think I have made up my mind, as a consequence of a little more confidence

 gained with the outcome of the recent project.  

Very prosaic, - just kitchen towels, but I am pleased with them 

and think I may attempt some lovely linen huck towels 

with the four cones of linen that linger/languish in my stash, 

so the loom will have to start off naked....

Here is the loom, half dressed, - and the towels as they came from the loom,

 and then the towels after they were washed and pressed and hemmed.....

  The yellow one is missing from the last picture, - it has already been claimed.

I hemed the towels yesterday morning as I listened to another wonderful concert from Berlin.

Isabelle Faust, violin soloist playing her beautiful old violin nicknamed 'the sleeping beauty' to acknowledge the 150 years it lay unused in an attic in Europe.

More Beethoven - his Violin Concerto in G Major, and then, after the intermission,

the Pastoral, my favourite.

As I listen I am transported to quiet woods, a stream and in the trees the flute courts the nightingale, the oboe flirts with the quail, and the clarinet quavers to the cuckoo.

Just lovely, - I enjoyed it so much!

Today I am favouring my hip, so that I will be in good shape to hear the Rovers,

 grown old, but still with that old Irish magic.  

We have their twentieth anniversary CD - this will be their fiftieth.

I count among the GOOD my reading of Lewis Thomas and his little book of essays,

"The Lives of a Cell, notes of a biology watcher, "

Although it was published first in 1974 and Lewis Thomas died in 1993,

it still contains for me a great deal of wisdom and keeps my perspective

on a steady track.

The book is said to be 'a blend of hard science, elegant language and thoughtfulness....

guaranteed to intrique both scientist and poet'. 

 I would add good common sense to that!

I am also reading 'the life-changing magic of tidying up (the Japanese

art of decluttering and organizing) by Marie Kondo

I was seduced into buying it by my night-time musings about all the 'stuff' we

accumulatd over the years, and what are my plans for it after the children 

have gathered those things which are most precious to them, to add to their

stashes of STUFF?????

However, after learning how to fold socks in the most practical manner, and realizing that 

I must throw all my clothes on the floor (every last stitch) before I start discarding

and the same goes for books!) and that this must all be done in one fell swoop,

I decided that this girl and I are not on the same page, and have not lived the same life.

She has not been married for almost 68 years, had six children, - small dear tots who 

have laboured over crayoned cards that say "I love you Mother" -

or received small bouquets of wildflowers from damp grubby dimpled hands, 

and then dried them for posterity.

Charles beautiful blue work shirt that matched his eyes so perfectly

hangs in my closet, next to my clothes, - and how could I toss it away, even if I did thank 

this item of clothing for all the joy it brought me (as Marie advises her clients to do)???

Well, I continue reading to the end, but I have given up on the premise

that the magic of tidying will dramatically transform my life, - 

or even make me sleep better at night.

Lunch time - I must go and have a bit of yogurt, or maybe something more substantial

so that I can get by with just a smidgin before going out and about tonight!!!

Can't think of anything else BAD to write about, except the lonely

hours that still persist at times.

Oh, I just thought about something else NOT SO GOOD.

I got up during the night and filled a hot water bottle to comfort my hip.

At 4:11 a.m. I discovered the hot water bottle had sprung a small leak

(or I didn't fasten the top firmly enough)

which is why I spent the rest of the night in the big chair

with Callie tucked in beside me, quite happy with the company.

Happy in Budapest

ABC Wednesday
March 4th, 2015

The Letter is H for Happy

Remember Pharrell Williams and his Happy Song - wasn't it great!  Didn't it make you feel like dancing!!!

Here's how it affected the inspired in Budapest....

How about you, - could you listen on your MP3 and do a little fox trot around the kitchen???

While you do so sing a happy thanks to Roger and Denise and all the rest of the Hilarious Helpers.

More Hs here, at ABC Wednesday.

Saturday Snaps

It's a concert day, from Berlin, but a morning concert here, starting at 10:00 am. with live streaming half an hour before the baton first marks the beginning notes.

I settle myself with my knitting and await the arrival of the orchestra.  The cello's are already in place, and soon the audience is clapping the orchestra on to the stage.

More clapping and the first violinist arrives, -  and the orchestra starts tuning up

The guest pianist, Helene Grimaud arrives, and the Russian conductor, Valery Gergiev.

The concert opens with the first few bars of Beethoven's Fourth Concerto in G Major, - a small piano solo, and then the bassoons, the clarinets, the french horns and cellos and the flutist join in.

My knitting falls to my lap, and I am mesmerized by the piano, and the expressive, quiet intensity of the andante movement.  I think 'what marvelous things mankind has learned to do with fingers and an apposite thumb'!

The Rondo is more vivacious and I find my foot tapping to the rhythm - so beautiful.

I take up my knitting again during intermission, and I must confess also during the Prokofiev symphony that follows, -

I am so impressed with Helene Grimaud, who is not only a young French pianist of considerable note, but also a writer and an animal activist.  So talented, and so serene at the piano in contrast to some who play beautifully but are painful to watch.....

The concert is over   It is lunch time and a I rustle up some yogurt and an apple and take them down to the loom room, where I spent yesterday and finished a blue tea towel and started a pink one, and now I must wind pink bobbins and see how much of my stash I am going to be able to use on this last bit of this warp, - and before I start another!!!



The sun is shining brightly, - no clouds in the blue, blue sky, but the wind that has blown them all away is a trifle chilly, so after a bit I find my garden gloves, put on a coat and gather some bulbs that I want to plant......

Here is a picture of the lovely blue crocus I bought at the grocery store a few days ago. (well, it was more purple, but my phone camera sees blue!)

They were beautiful for a few days, but then  the blooms faded and died, and I thought if I dug a couple of small holes I could just ternderly empty the pots into the garden and hopefully next spring they will poke through again ....so I did!

I couldn't resist a beautiful Hellebore in full bloom as I passed the flower corner (in the store) and came home with a gorgeous plant, which I also plan to put into the garden as soon as the weather says O.K., - now!!  Callie is finding it difficult to find space on the table that flanks the front window, where she sits and says menacing things to visiting cats, what with pots of bulbs and flowering narcissis and the amaryllis that is slow to grow.

My son-in-law has been busy in the garden, doing things that I find difficult now - and in the case of the great repair job he has done on the garden shed, things that I never could have managed.  However, he brought an extra wheel barrow to the garden, and how could I resist filling it with bits of prunings and dry leaves and the ever ubiguitous  cutch grass that I am trying to remove from amongst the flower beds.

I had a little nip of sherry, - warmed up a beef pot pie that has been awaiting me in the freezer, and now I shall say good-night and after my nightly session with gmail, and facebook and Skype, I will go to bed and sleep contented with the day......

A little poem that makes me feel that way, - contented!

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

G is for Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss) and Graduation

ABC Wednesday
The letter is G
and it's all about Ted  (Theodor)  Geisel and Graduation

Starting with Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss as he is known to millions of readers of all ages) and the wonderful poems he wrote to delight his readers,  I am thinking in particular about the last poem he wrote at the end of his life, when he was battling cancer.

"Oh, the Places You'll Go"

It is well known and most appropriate to those starting out in life, at birth, or about the beginning of a new venture, - say after Graduation, and his little book containing the poem is a popular gift for new babies and those preparing to leave school behind and face the Great Unknown.....

"Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away.

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own.  And you know what you know
And YOU are the guy who'll decided where to go

You'll look up and down streets.  Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

.......................

Dr. Seuss is not all roses and honey.  He acknowledges the challenges

and the loneliness we might encounter...

I'm afraid that some times
you'll pllay lonely games too.
Games you can't win
'cause you'll play against you.

All Alone!
Whether you like it or not.
Alone will be something
you'll be quite a lot

And when you're alone, there's a very good chance
you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.
There are some down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much you won't want to go on.

But on you will go......

....................

Somehow you'll escape
all that waiting and staying.
You'll find the bright places where Boom Bands are playing.

With banner flip-flapping,
once more you'll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky.
Ready because you're that kind of guy!

...................

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed)

..............

A great and encouraging overview of what lies ahead and how to deal with it, told in the kind of verse that keeps you reading and amused and challenged.

Sometimes when I stir in my sleep at night and reach for the hand that is no longer there I waken and think of Dr. Seuss and his poem (poignantly) and the possibilities it opens 

no matter where you are on time's schedule..

Oh, the Places you'll Go

I suppose the die-hard materialist would have little choice - you go up in flame or decompose.  But for those whose mind is open to other options - 

Who knows?  Who knows?

You just never know Where You Will Go, or what adventures await.

If you would like to hear the whole poem read here is a nice Youtube rendition....

More Gs here at ABC Wednesday

with thanks to  Denise and Roger and Gallant helpers.

The Weekend

1. A sunny day.  A walk to church, and then a lovely, lazy Sunday afternoon after such a pleasant day on the town yesterday.

We were off early Saturday morning, ( my daughter-in-law and I)

A beautiful spring-promise day - the trees had a faint aura of green, so early in the year, and the sun shone down through the morning sun, on to the lake.

and all the necessary purchases made by noon, so time for a leisurely lunch at Salty's on the lakeshore in Penticton. I had a most delicious sea food chowder, - mussels, clams, shrimp in a lovely red tomato soupy-sauce, and Terry enjoyed fish tacos and a nice spring salad.  Topped off with a Gingerbread Cheese Cake. - a specialty of the house.

There was a stiff wind blowing as we parked on the lakeshore, - not cold, but pretty brisk.  Enough to put white caps on the dark blue waters.

We stopped at the Flower Shop (which contains an enormous variety of flowers and garden accessories and jewellrey and bangles, and various other things to tempt the unwary shopper.  Over the years I have become more 'wary' and don side blinders (mentally) before I open the doors to treaure land.  For the first time in history I left the shop without purchasing anything, - although I greatly admired the pure white orchards and the glossy green orange tree with tiny oranges here and there.  I think the flower shop is a morning adventure, before the budget has felt the pressure of other purchases!!

The day continued bright and sunny as we returned to the Similkameen.  We passed the pretty lake community where all the willows are raising their golden limbs in welcome to spring

and the new calves are out in the meadow with their mothers

We had bought a new doorbell, and an added sound box that I planned to put in the loom room at the back of the house.  We had this nice drive home, little knowing that installing the new doorbell was going to be such a problem.

In the beginning, the batteries in the main doorbell button affair had laid down and died during their months on the shelves of the Hardware Store,  and they required us to go and get new batteries in the village.  Then, although the appendage was supposed to be audible at 150 feet, it was silent when we installed it in the loom room, just 40 feet away.  No Westminster Chimes to alert me when I am at the loom.......I was thankful for a daughter-in-law who was so patient and capable and cheerful, even when it didn't work!!

Well, life is made up of pleasant surprises and disappointments,  and ever the twain shall meet!!!

I visited this afternoon at No. 44 Scotland Street, with Alexander McCall Smith, whose new adventures there arrived in the mail just the other day.  Callie and I dozed a bit, read a bit more about the residents on Scotland Street and enjoyed the sun shining through the prism 

that hangs in the front window.

We warmed up some chili for supper and watched the finals

of the Canada Women's Curling -

great excitement, lots of frantic sweeping instructions

making the air ring above the rink;

a very close competition, and in the end,

the very last rock,

Jennifer Jones led her team to a fifth championship.

It's back to the loom and out in the garden tomorrow!

While waiting for the Avon Lady

I hit the 'New Post' button with not a clue as to what I will write about!!!!  I seem devoid of inspiration!

I have been weaving this morning while I wait for the Avon Lady to visit with my order - the Avon Lady is a good friend - Callie is especially fond of her and loves the special attention she gives the furry creature greeting her at the door.

 Callie is also curious about the time we spend weaving, and often sits beside me, watching the shuttle being thrown back and forth, and the treadles moving up and down, up and down!  I am two thirds through the first blue towel, and am looking forward to changing the colour of the weft and the pattern - a great venture for someone with a short attention span!  And I speak of myself, not Callie.

She is a sweet cat, - demanding, but very affectionate, - at one time she used to lie on Charles' tummy as he watched TV in the recliner, - now she lays her head upon my breast and reaches her paws up to my neck, and is positively "suckey" - I think that's what the grandchildren say of her loving ways.

Both she and I are happy with the way February is opening itself to spring, - we have both been house-bound for too long, and when I closed the garden gate to make it secure for her, and opened the little cat door on the porch, she was quite ecstatic and was off into familiar corners of the garden where she watches the villagers who walk the lane, and probably all sorts of bugs and strange creatures that inhabit the garden.

The Daphne is in bloom, - so early.  And the Hellebore in the front garden, - although that in the back, which doesn't get as much sun, is reluctant to open its stubby green buds.  The weatherman says three sunny days starting Sunday, and I look forward to raking up the leaves that an early winter snow covered in November, and if I put them into windrows my son-in-law will come with his mower and chop them into little bits to nourish the lawn.

The other day, while the clerk who looks after the flower display in the local grocery store was putting out this week's plants and flowers, I treated myself to a pretty bowl of double white narcissis, and a small pot of purple crocus - the narcissis is so fragrant, - I have changed the place where I sit at the table so I can be closer to it and inhale the lovely smell of spring!

Soon the bulbs in the garden (which are shooting wonderful green swords all along the side bed) will be swelling with lovely pregnant buds.  The teasels on the nut tree grow rounder and fatter and more golden each day,  and I am on the watch for the scarlet stubs of rhubarb.

And here is the Avon Lady, and I have not put up any pictures of catkins or cats or flowers, but I will post this anyway, and save photos for another day.....

Frogs

ABC Wednesday
February 18th, 2015

The letter is F and as you have probably already guessed, F stands for Frogs, and here is Red Skelton to entertain you with a poem about those little green creatures.

Enjoy, - and for more great Fs fandangle over to ABC Wednesday, here, and say thanks to Denise, Roger and all frivolous helpers who keep ABC Wednesday on the map, so to speak.

This, that and the other.....

I woke this morning to a bright blue sky - oh heavenly, heavenly...

Soon there was a rosy cloud hugging the mountain tops to the east,

 and the day was beginning to look quite promising.

Well, it was quite promising.

I had a date to go for lunch with Margaret and her daughter Susan, 

who each Sunday drives down from Kelowna to take her mother out and about 

and to a new place for lunch each week.... 

 A splendid daughter!

Margaret is one of my dearest friends from newly married days,

 and farming days, and raising a family at the same time days, 

so we have many memories to share.

Today I was included in their Sunday adventure

 and we set off to Osoyoos, and lunch at Spirit Ridge, 

the wonderful venture that the Osoyoos Indian Band has achieved under the direction

 of their exemplary Chief, Clarence Louie

We set off down through the Lower Similkameen Valley, with the sun shining on snowy peaks, and the meadows suggestive of the colours of spring.

Up over the Pass that skirts the US border

Soon we were overlooking the lake and the vineyards and orchards as we descended into and through the lovely touristy town of Osoyoos.

and up the hill to Spirit Ridge and  the NK'MIP vineyard and resort

Lunch was delicious.  We sat by the window and chatted and admired the view.

we took the back road to Oliver, awash in vineyards,

The sun on the mountains shadowed the contours of the hills and vales

and revealed the small rills and valleys, hidden so gloomily by the last months' 

mists and pewter sky.

 We went past  Macintyre Bluff, whose geological past is

absolutely fascinating -

and I was thrilled to see the shadows cast by eager limbs, the grass turning green

 and the sap rising

spring-time yellow in the willow trees

Around Vaseaux Lake and the Bird Sanctuary, we came at last

to the turn around spot and went westward again towards the Similkameen

and home.

Well, that's the this and that.....

As for 'the other' I have been dressing the loom in left-over cotton,

and now I am weaving!!!!

Very prosaic tea towels, but it gives

me much pleasure and relaxation to have the shuttle moving

from hand to hand, through perfectly lovely sheds,

and the pattern growing

under my hands.

Weaving and Sunshine - what more could one ask !!!!!!