Casablanca lilies and others from my garden

"The Creator"

given up

Yes, it looks like I have given up on my blog... Seems that Facebook is readily available and an easy way to connect with people and it seems that I am there more often than here. I will give this another few months ,then close it down for good... Maybe I just needed a rest from it. Here I am retired and seeming to be running out of time every day...time for my computer and time to play... Then again it is a hot lovely summer that has kept us busy with the girls here and my retirement party and other lovely visitors...so times have been busy.
Today is Sunday and Emil and I will go up to the driving range so I can practice some more with my new Calaway golf clubs... they are fabulous, but I have to learn how to use them properly. I am looking forward to some pain free golf.
okey dokey have a good weekend, a good week and maybe even a good month. Don't be too hard on yourself and enjoy life!


"The Creator"

Spring flowers

Slater creek...full, but not overflowing!

 My rhodos 

Home again after almost three weeks away in Victoria  house/dog/grandkid/ sitting and keeping the household running while Sonia was away to New Brunswick with her new man Mike. She also got a chance to go see her sister annette ,in Halifax...which was a big thrill to both sisters!
I arrived home to find, that unlike sunny Victoria, the Kootenays have been suffering through many many days of wet soggy rain. I could twll when I looked at my flowers in my big pots...many had gone moldy, where as I expected mounds of fresh blooms by the time I arrived home. My tomatoe plants  are purple with cold and all in all much of my garden never grew from the seeds I planted before I left. Oh well, we can have late garden, so I will reseed some things like my beans.

Also, the lake has risen higher than normal ,giving everyone a big scare that lives along the lakeside.
Lucky for all concerned, the lake is going down...yea!
here are some shots od my flowers and the lake shore below my garen...

 .

 Looking east...


 
 A gorgeous white Clematis I bought from Lynn Bagnal when she was here... so beautiful  and blooming better than ever before!

 

 
 My beautiful Sarah Bernhart Peonies...at their end...



 
 That stick in the middle right of the lake is our dock!
 

LOOKING WEST  see...no sand burram as usual... just trees submerged on Dave's property


"The Creator"

The Franklin

Stopping for a break after planting the Franklin... It is  tree that will grow about 35 feet tall and it has shiny green leaves and white blossoms that start in the summer and bloom into the fall, when the foliage turns bright red. We thought it would make a nice addition to the acreage...Besides that, two other trees have parished in the same location so we hope this one doesn't meet the same fate.

It has been quite some time since I blogged...mainly because I use Facebook quite a lot and the last few times I was having difficulting uploading photos to my blog.
After this last hiatus, I see that the photo option is working again...good! Maybe I will be inspired once again. 

The day is beautiful today so I am back outside. Emil tilled up the remainder of my garden yesterday and that is a huge relief.. I will be able to get it planted before I go to Victoria at he beginning of June.
The time is going by quickly...and will be here before I know it.




 
 Here it is with the bark mulch all around...pretty naked eh!!
 

You might be able to glimpse one of the teeny tiny buds... looks like it needs some serious heat!

 
 This is near Chewelah, where the creek was flooding into the farm lands.

 
 
 This was on our way to Spokane on Tuesday..

On our way home, the water had receded quite a bit and was off the main drag through Chewelah.

"The Creator"

Happy 39th Annette!

Hard to believe that she turns 39 today!  Looking mighty beautiful in those high stepping new shoes darling!
Thought I would put a little note on my blog  just because we love you!
It was so nice to get a visit in with Annette while we were down in Victoria. She has been having a great time with the girls and Sonia. tonight they are all going out for a birthday dinner... I would love to be there to celebrate...but have to settle for being here, since we were just there! Have a great day...and just think... It is Lynn and Bob's 39th anniversary tomorrow... the one wedding I wanted to go to and had the dress and the plans... but look what happened instead... I had Annette...the cutest little baby ...now all grown up! Worth missing the wedding for. The whole bridal party came up to the hospital to see me ...so nice... I think I cried!
Happy Birthday to you!!!!

"The Creator"

HomeSav

HomeSav
Ok...check it out...cause somesome is saying that the customer service at Beyond the Rack sucks... Homesave looks good too... Now to see if they deliver to Canada! Why yes, they do and may be Canadian... about the same charges as Beyond the rack ...$11.95 for S&H. Too bad they don't offer more stuff at once and there doesn't seem to be clothing.
"The Creator"

Happy Birthday Maddie! Happy 13! Hope you don't have Triskaidekaphobia

Here's Maddie last summer ,on the fly!  Have a great birthday and if you post or send me some current pics, I will post it here instead. love you..Granny and Grumps

The Creator"

Doggie friends

Margo's Max and Silky. Max is adorable and very lovey dovey!

Kissing cousins Co-co and Silky... She isn't exactly into all that love...

Little Miss M. with Amigo, Joyce's cute doggie... he is bigger than Silky and smaller than Max...

Bailey...my little man that I am dogsitting right now for the neighbours..He is good, just needs a few manners.

Hello everyone... I am trying out a new feature of blogger that will allow me to upload more photos with less effort ...Yea! Trouble is that sometime I see them and sometime I don't ...like right now went to  to put writing under each photo, the pictures weren't  there...s o bare with me as I play around with this feature. I was almost going to call it a day last week and close my blog altogether, but if I can upload more photos at one time, I will feel a little less exasperated...although it took me quite a few hours to get this far. hang in there, I may be back!
Well, I had the pictures here yesterday.. ;Now where did they go to? Ok, I have uploaded the above photos which were the same as the below photos that were there and have gone to cyberspace somewhere, This is driving me nuttier!

Here is Margo's Labradoodle, Max. He is the most loving guy and got along famously with Silky.
Although he looks not too tall, he is quite a bit larger than Silky as you can see by the photo below.



Don't get confused... this doggie down below is Amigo... Joyce's lovey little guy... larger than Silky and shorter than Max.

Beyond the Rack

Beyond the Rack
If you are a shopper, don't miss out on this awesome website... the suctions change up very frequently, so if you like it, buy it now. I am waiting for my new body that I ordered before I shop for clothing, but I sure might have to go to the housewares department. it takes a month before it arrives at your house, so shop for winter early...just joking ! Shop for summer and by the time the clothes arrive, so will the weather!
Thanks Ronda for pointing me to this awesome website.

"The Creator"

Trip to visit John and Ronda...

Here is the newly slimmed down happy couple at the beautiful Sparkling Hills spa and resort in Vernon. They took us on a drive up to Predator Ridge where this amazing new hotel is perched high up on a rocky ledge overlooking Okanagan Lake.

From the moment you see the first sign as you near this beautiful hotel, you are bedazzled with Sparkling Swarovski crystals either embedded or hanging nearly everywhere you look...even the trees!

The whole lobby shimmered with cascades of swarovski crystals

The entire front is made out of glass that is held in place by these huge clamps on cable stringers... jutting out at impossible angles..the architecture is amazing!

Emil and ronda and John hamming it up for our laugh of the day...all wishing we were staying for the night instead of just touring this beautiful hotel! We said we would if we won the Lotto Max that night... You guessed it ..Not a Winner!

This is the view from inside as you look towards the main entrance and look up three stories. The cascades of shimmering swarovski crystals were suspended in beautiful patterns... amazing.. the pic does not do it justice!

This is a high end gated community that offered up gorgeous homes perched high above amazing rock walls that became the normal for landscaping once you were up in the mountains.

On the way to Rutland near Philpott road...a car slammed into the telephone pole after a run in with a logging truck that resulted tragically for the car driver, I am sure . The logging truck lost its entire load of logs onto the highway so we waited well over an hour for the road to reopen while the logs were picked up and transferred to a new logging truck.

Going home was even more exciting as we rounded a curve only to find a long line up of stuck traffic on Highway 33 on the way to the Big White turnoff. Two police cars were in the middle of the traffic and tried to restore order after closing down the highway. We waited quite some time in the wet snowstorm until a snow plow came. The rest of the highway to Beaverdale was no screaming hell either with nearly a foot of snow on the road in some parts and only two cowtrail tracks to drive in... a littel hairy for the bea!


And last but not least the beautiful Paradise Ranch that Ronda says is hers... she is not living there quite yet, but with any luck, the move should come soon! The Modern Spanish architecture was so suiting to the country side. The house was only part of an extensive ranch that raises a special breed of Peruvian horses.

Thanks to John and Ronda for taking us around to all the amazing sites in Vernon!

"The Creator"

Easy Peezy pie crust roll out

In a hurry, can't roll out pastry... Here is an easy trick... overlap two 16" lengths of saran wrap to give you a large square surface. On top, put your ball of pastry.

Cover with two more sheets of saran wrap

Start rolling. This worked well with a hot water pastry...not so sure if does as well with regular pastry... however it is worth a try...

Roll and turn and roll and turn until you have a nice flat piece of pastry a little bigger than your pie plate


Take off the top piece of plastic and either roll up the pastry on to the rolling pin and transfer it to your pie plate or fold the pastry in half and turn it into the pie plate ,then unfold.
"The Creator"

For the Love of Cooking

This is how I would like my recipe blog to look like someday... however, for now I will come back to this one over and over for excellent printable recipes...Check it out! I will put it on my sidebar for easy access in the future.

http://fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com/

"The Creator"

More retirement pics.

Here is Francis and Randy...holding Baily after he just finished drinking a little wine himself! Note his little pink tongue...

This is Chunk, Caitlin's boyfriend, Dustin's, bull dog. He was pretty thrilled with Silky's treat ball

Deb and Francis

Deb and Ashley's daughter, Caitlin and Francis checking out the munchies... those are dry roasted pork ribs.

And look who popped in...Gord! Nothing like a little Happy Hour break on a Sunday afternoon.

Yes, that was last Sunday that we had a little Happy Hour that went on for quite a number of hours...lots of laughs as usual and nice to get together during this long long winter.

"The Creator"