May ~ Memories and Musings

Let's go back to the beginning of May...and the making of 'hay'.

I can share the photos...

but not the smell.

There's nothing quite like the pleasant scent of freshly cut grass!

I watched from the kitchen window...

...and later drove lunch out to the field a mile away.

Dad was quite happy to join the crew for lunch...

and add a few words of wisdom.

Ranen and  Broni celebrate their birthday together every year. 

The sun was warm and a family pool party was just the thing!

Ranen is now a teenager...
and several inches taller than Auntie Broni.
 How did that happen?

The annual ladies-getaway sponsored by our feed company was a one-night cruise from Vancouver to Seattle on the Ruby Princess. 

Perfect cruise weather...

great company...

lots of laughs.

Thank-you, Ritchie Smith Feeds!

Mother's Day 2019.

A picnic with the whole gang at Harrison Lake 

The guys decided they wanted a photo with mom.

I will treasure it, since I don't think there are many pictures in the files of the three of us.

We checked out the new Chilliwack park that opened up this month on the eastern hillsides. 

It is called Lexw Qwò:m or 'Lots of Moss'.

Appropriately named!

A lovely spot for a picnic or a hike.

The Compassion Experience came to Chilliwack...

an interactive traveling exhibit that takes visitors through the true stories of children living in developing countries.

 It was good to hear that many new sponsors signed on.

The Compassion trailer is soon moving on to Alberta...

but is parked at the farm in the meantime.

I hope it doesn't take on the barnyard smells while it rests.

It had been a year since we were in Kelowna to visit family there...

so we made the trek across the mountain pass (where there was still snow). 

We passed our next door neighbour on the highway...

driving the semi-truck with cattle.

What are the chances?

I enjoyed my kitchen window view of the birds at the feeder all winter...

usually tiny songbirds.

Then the red-winged blackbirds arrived...

and brought all their friends.

The wee songbirds kept their distance...

while the blackbirds emptied the feeder in a few days.

Unfortunately the feeder had to be removed.

The hummingbirds are grateful for the feeder that took its place.

The coyotes  keep their distance from the house...

but get caught in my lens on occasion.      

Lucy played beautifully and confidently in her year-end violin recital.

We took our annual drive out to Silver Lake last Sunday and had a picnic there.

A lovely peaceful spot!

And on the same day that we were relaxing at Silver Lake, two of my granddaughters were 'giving it their all' in the Abbotsford Run for Water.  

They ran their hearts out for a good cause.

Of the 1100 female runners of all ages...

they finished third and fourth overall.

And so ends the month of May...
which also includes memories of good times with friends around their table or ours

I shared things that were 'lovely and of good report'...

but the skies were not always blue and some of the happenings we would like to erase.

How reassuring to know that God is still in control.

 

Good-bye April

And just like that April is gone!

The fields are green and the peaks are covered in snow.  

I almost wish I could stay a little longer in this 'springing of the year' month.

Let me go back to the beginning of the month and share a few snaps.

April started off nice and warm. 

Had summer arrived early?  

Maggie and Lucy spent some time here here while their mom was away...

and Ryder joined us for a hike one afternoon.

And since it felt like summer, why not  have watermelon and  rollkuchen on April 1st?

A Sunday afternoon drive took us down Chuckanut Drive and to Larrabee State Park...
somewhere we had never been before.
We tested our new Nexus cards...and they worked!

Who can resist a visit to the local tulip fields?

So many things are better when shared.  

Coffee and flowers, to name a few!  

We had a great morning.

There is always one that stands out in the crowd!

Tulip fields are not just for moms and grandmas.  Kids have fun too!

Where flowers bloom so does hope. ~ Lady Bird Johnson

Last but not least...let me share a field of red.  

It  is really quite striking, though I am more a fan of softer colours.

April 9th. 

The day the cast came off.  

At long last!  

Just in time for spring fieldwork.

Easter dinner 2019.

Maggie and Ranen read the Easter story for us this year.

We had our traditional Easter dinner...

because some things have to stay the same.

There were 19 of us around the table...

and I forgot to take a photo.

They hunted for eggs...

...and then cartwheeled across the lawn.

Because they can.

Because its spring.

There were walks along the river trail...

...and bike rides through the countryside.

The blueberry fields are in bloom.

The yard is in bloom.

And the field that will be mowed shortly is in bloom.

The birds are singing in the sunshine.

As  the month ended...

the first grass harvest of the year was underway.

Last night we went to watch Ryder play hockey.

He plays in a spring league, so has another month on the ice. 

He scored the first goal of the evening and his team won their game.

Dad missed watching the Blue-Jays game so he could come watch his great-grandson play hockey.

Good choice!

I'll end this post with an April rainbow pic taken from 'my front porch'. 

Thanks for stopping by!

March ~ memories and moments

Another month has come and gone..

and I will start my re-cap with the last photo I took in March.

On this beautiful spring day we enjoyed a drive through the Chilliwack River valley.

March may not have had 'great beginnings'...

but it definitely ended well!

 

It's been many years since we had as much snow in March as we did this year.

With Elmer recovering from wrist surgery...

and hanging around the house much more than he was accustomed to...

we went for a drive to Hope one Saturday afternoon.

Who knew there was still so much snow in the hills?

I had somehow thought the roads would be bare... 

and decided this was as good a spot as any to turn back!

Mid-March and Cheam Lake was still mostly frozen.

I don't recall that ever happening before.

 On a sunny day earlier this month...

I had a lovely walk in my neighbourhood with Sharon Gaetz.

 Sharon served as our mayor for 10 years...from 2008 to 2018.

Now that she is 'footloose and fancy-free'...

she has decided to walk every street in Chilliwack in 2019. 

Since she was walking my neighbourhood, I joined her.

It took us three hours to walk to walk six or seven miles.

I think I will walk with Sharon more often...
it's a great way to connect with my neighbours.

Sharon knows everyone and stops to talk to them all...

even the animals along the way got a talking to!

BTW...As of yesterday, she has walked 1,000 kilometers so far this year.

How amazing is that?

 

On March 16th, I boarded a plane and flew over the Rocky Mountains...

and then on to  Fort Lauderdale, Florida where I joined the rest of my siblings and spouses for our 

'10 year anniversary cruise'.

 Oh, and my niece Kiley joined us as well.

(We needed a selfie taker along!)

Since we had 5 adjoining cabins...
we had our steward open all the partitions between our decks and had one long patio.
That was great!

As much as Elmer would have liked to be there...

he obeyed his surgeon's instructions and stayed home.

Trunk Bay

Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands 

Twenty years ago...

 we sailed this same area...

and snorkelled in these very same waters.

It is such a beautiful spot.

Another port of call was St. Maartin (Kingdom of the Netherlands)...

where we opted to spend the day on the beautiful beach. 

We also stopped at Princess Cays...

a private island in the Bahamas.

Once again, we had a wonderful week together at sea...

five sisters and one brother from the west coast, the Canadian prairies, the US Midwest and Texas.
Dad would have liked to join us, but that just isn't possible anymore.
We brought him this photo instead. :)

In 1999, my parents took us all on a family cruise through the Panama Canal.
We decided then that would would try to do a 'repeat' every ten years.
Little did we know that one year later, my mom would no longer be with us.  

In 2009, we did a Texaribbean cruise from Galveston.

We parted ways in Fort Lauderdale...

until next time. 

We have no idea what the next decade will bring...but we will plan to be together somewhere again. 

The family is link to our past, bridge to our future.—Alex Haley

While I was away... 

Elmer was holding down the fort.

With one arm.

Apparently it was a very long week!

He spent a lot of time in his shop working on cars.

By the time I returned home...

he had the 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle completed.

That is quite a feat...

for someone who has never done a jigsaw puzzle before.

He also had lunch with dad several times...

lunch with friends...

dinner with the kids. 

 Even so...

he was quite ready for me to come home!

I came home in time for our annual spring break wiener roast with the grands.

It was a little chilly that night...

so we pulled out the hoodies and blankets.

Emme and Spencer just returned from a school trip to Thailand and had lots of stories to share.

What a great experience for them!

God painted a beautiful sky for us that night!

Today we hiked up to Bosumarne Falls, near Chilliwack Lake.

It is such a beautiful spot and not far from home!

And so ends March 2019...

'the lion and the lamb' and everything in between.

I will treasure the memories!