NORTHERN VANCOUVER ISLAND ONCE MORE

After staying a couple of days longer at Cousin Bill’s than originally planned, we moved up to Cluxewe Campsite near Port McNeill this past Wednesday.  We had a great time at Bill’s and had many shared tasty meals on the patio (sorry Charlie) with the nice warm weather.  Bill hosted a barbeque last Sunday and there were nine of us present.  There were three large and very yummy desserts so it took a couple of hard days for Bill and me to diminish the leftover desserts. 

I did a bit of geocaching on my bike from Bill’s and on Tuesday, I took the car and went north of town and had a pretty good day.  I cached and did lots of walking until about 2 pm when it just got too warm so I went up to Robert’s Lake and had a refreshing dip in a quiet section of the lake.

We had a good trip up to Cluxewe on Wednesday with Aileen bringing the car while I towed the ATV trailer.  With the sunny weather, the scenery looked very nice.  The forecast was for rain to begin today and it did so the temperature is much lower which makes some of our team happy.  One of us would still prefer to be in tee shirt and shorts, though.  I did a bit of caching on my bike yesterday then last night and the night before, brother in law John and I were out caching late, needing to use flashlights both nights before finishing.   Today has been a quiet day other than going to town this morning.   We did a load of laundry at Aileen’s sister Anne’s then played a game of Fish with John and the two grand kids.  We picked up a few groceries and I stopped to chat with my Cousin Donna at her workplace.

We are probably not staying here too long as the campsite is fairly booked for the summer months and not having a fixed plan in place didn’t allow us to make prior reservations.  We got a site next to John and Anne’s trailer the first night but it was booked starting tonight.  When I found another site close by that would allow us to stay until next Thursday, we moved yesterday rather than waiting for today, not wanting want to move in the rain if we didn’t have to.   We’ll see what the weather is doing next week to decide on whether to find another spot here or move elsewhere. 

This was the Super Moon handheld with my Canon SX50

This is the moon after putting the SX50 on the tripod and using a two second self timer

Sunrise at Storries Beach south of Campbell River

I popped into Kelsey Bey on Tuesday and it was quite windy.  This is a crew boat making its way back to port. 

This does not look like fun to me

Almost home

Cruise ship heading to Alaska from Storries Beach

Morning contemplation at Storries Beach

Beaver Pond

The ring around the sun yesterday announcing today's rain

It was windy here yesterday

Feeding frenzy, if you look close you can see minnows in their beaks

Yep, rainy today

Peek a boo

THE BIG WHEELS ARE FINALLY ROLLING AGAIN (part one)

After two months and two days parked at my brother Charlie’s (and Sheila), we have put the wheels to the pavement and moved the motorhome up to Campbell River where we are parked at Cousin Bill’s.  We went to the wharf and had fish and chips at Dick’s for lunch today.  Some of the people at the Celiac BBQ the other day had mentioned that Dick’s now has a dedicated process to ensure gluten free fish and chips.  The meal was very tasty but we’ll wait and see if Aileen has any reaction overnight before declaring it a success.  Some friends are coming to Bill’s on Sunday for a BBQ supper and another couple who can’t make Sunday are coming over to see us tonight.  We hope to putter our way northward from here next week with no firm plans in place.  

Richard and Georgia had been with us Thursday to Monday, then, on Tuesday we drove down to Victoria for the day (fifteen hours worth!) to visit.  We had morning coffee with Richard’s in-laws, lunch with Richard and Georgia (Robin working) then a visit with Cousin Pat and Irene.  Irene was just out of hospital after a major tumble on her (very low) doorstep which resulted in two broken wrists and an arm along with multiple bruises.  She was in fine spirits though and enjoyed our visit.   We helped celebrate Georgia’s twelfth birthday that evening.  That was a busy day!   We’re looking for a little peace and quiet for a few days soon.

Please note there are two parts to this post as I had too many photos for one.  Just scroll down further after viewing these photos.

I had several requests for more photos of Aileen's party so that will be most of the ones posted today although there are some different photos near the end of part two/

Bev D and Aileen shared their dinner table with some of the grandkids

We'll call this one the old guys corner

My youngest sister Becky in the middle and her daughter Heather on the left with our daughter Bev on the right

Some of the dessert at Aileen's party

Lots of inter-generational visiting was happening

Anne, Becky and Cousin Neil's wife Carol

Enjoying the firepit

Mitzy was enjoying some attention

Front view

Back view

The subject, my sister Janet with one of her grandkids plus two other people's

The singalong.   Continue down to the next post to complete today's set.

THE BIG WHEELS ARE FINALLY ROLLING AGAIN (part two)

In back is Bev D, Anne's son Mike, Aileen, Belle and Anne

In front are my siblings Charlie and Wendy getting ready for the singalong

My Cousin Judith from Donnelly, AB, Aileen and our daughter Bev

Charlie's dog Belle schmoozing with John and Anne 

More party visiting

Some pond lily pads

Arbutus trees shed their bark throughout the year and have this lovely green new bark ready to take over

These could pass for upper and lower torsos if you have an imagination

Mt Baker framed through an arbutus tree from the deck at Cousin Pat's

This is a mid afternoon shot of Mt Baker from near Victoria.  Mt Baker is about 75 miles away. 

This is a late evening shot of Mt Baker from the Malahat Highway viewpoint.  Mt Baker is well over 80 miles distant.

WASN’T THAT A PARTY! (sorry Irish Rovers for stealing your song title)

Today is Aileen’s 65^th birthday.  Our AZ friend Sandi also turned 65 today.  In Honour of the momentous occasion, we had a garden party for Aileen yesterday here at Charlie and Sheila’s.  We ended up with 57 for supper.  While the majority were family, there were some non family friends who also attended.  My cousin Judith was the furthest away guest, coming from Donnelly, Alberta.  Our daughter Beverly managed to make it down from Salmon Arm, gladdening her Mother’s heart.  Son Richard and Georgia are in the middle of a four day visit so we had us all together for the first time in several years.  We took the opportunity to take a family portrait. 

There was a ton of food, when you go to a Pickard event, you don’t go away hungry.  There are enough leftovers to last us a few days.  Brother in law John from Port McNeill was the grill chef relieving me of the duty so I was able to spend my time wandering and visiting and taking a few photos.  It was nice to see the new crop of little rug rats and slightly older having a great time playing on the lawn.   A lot of care went into ensuring that the gluten free servings remained uncontaminated and I’m pleased to report there were no after effects felt from that.

Today we went up to Cumberland to attend the celebration of our friend Lynda’s life.  A British immigrant with her husband, Perry, her son Matthew and our son Richard were best friends from Grades 3 to 7.   This was during the time we lived up in the hills above Chase, BC and Lynda and family were further out in the sticks.  Lynda passed away a while ago after several years of declining health.  There was an eclectic mix of celebrants attending today but the one thing in common was their bond to Lynda and Perry from different aspects of their life.  There were some interesting memories shared, mostly quite humourous.

This past Thursday was haying day here.  Charlie ran the rake then baler.  Others of us used two ATVs and two small trailers to haul the hay in and that worked superbly well.  The small trailers were lower to the ground and they were much more manoeuvrable in the barn.  We had 445 bales stacked in the barn shortly after 4 pm so supper was on time.  Luck was on our side as it rained the next three days.

I spent a couple days waxing the motor home using ProtectAll.  It went well but my shoulders are still sore.  I should do what some other RVers do and buy a cordless polisher.   Applying the wax is easy, getting the shine up is a lot more labour intensive.

We went to see Ian Tyson last Saturday evening in Nanaimo and it was a wonderful show. Our son gave us the tickets for the show.  I had longingly looked at going but had trouble spending that much for the tickets. For 80 years old, he still has a great voice and is pretty on the ball still.  He and his two accompanists gave us great instrumentation and harmonies.  After a standing ovation, he came back out and did three more which were about the best of the evening.  On Sunday, we went to a barbeque with the Nanaimo Celiiac Support Group and Aileen thought it was great that there was no chance of cross contamination so she was able to eat without worrying.

We are off to Victoria on Tuesday this week to visit Aileen’s cousin Pat and Irene.  Irene recently took a tumble in her doorway and broke both wrists and one arm.  She also smashed her dentures and cut the inside of her mouth, along with other injuries.  She is home from hospital now.   That evening we will go to Richard’s to celebrate Georgia’s twelfth birthday.  On Thursday, we are thinking of moving up to Cousin Bill’s in Campbell River for a few days then perhaps up to the northern section of the island.

Several turkey vultures came to visit during the haying.  This was a long shot with my SX50

My ATV and trailer getting a good workout

Aileen, Mitzy, Georgia and me at Morison Creek

I spotted this white raven while out geocaching and he let me get a few shots

There's a tough little Marie under there at Aileen's party

A visiting good time at the party

Here's the birthday girl herself with her gluten free cake

Queen Aileen

Ava (from my side of the family) and Danika (from Aileen's) became best friends for the night

My sister Wendy led a singalong.  From left friend Bev D. brother Charlie, our daughter Bev, sister Wendy and sister Janet

The heat from the fire pit was appreciated on the damp evening.  All of the above shots were taken with the Canon SX50.  The next two shots came from my Canon 6D.

From the left me, Aileen, Bev. Georgia and Richard, daughter, grand daughter and son

Part of Triple Falls on Morison Creek where we went for a walk Friday morning