I don’t know if we’ll get a white Christmas this year, but I know our Christmas holidays will be merry and bright in the company of family and friends. We’re very grateful to be going into this holiday with much more cheer than last year. Here’s wishing the same to you and yours from Richard and I. Happy Solstice, and have a merry merry Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year!

Happy Thanksgiving! Yesterday was a gorgeous autumn day, warm sunshine and blue skies. On day two of the new bed construction, after an hour or so wrestling with the “small” rocks as Richard called them, I found I couldn’t work them in between where we’d placed the large ones, both because the small ones are still too big for me, and because the larger ones might as well have been cemented into the ground! So after he’d finished cleaning out his shop, Richard came back with the Bobcat to shift the larger stones and helped me with the jigsaw puzzle of laying out the remaining smaller rocks. I'm very particular about the placement, because I have half an acre's worth of evil quackgrass to contend with, and don't want to leave large gaps in my border to invite it into my new soil, yikes.

I love Richard because he always has the solution to a problem. At one frustrating point he left without a word and returned from the shop with a bright orange wedge of steel and a heavy mallet. And eye protection. I couldn’t really photograph it as I had to avoid flying chips of slate and granite, but he chipped and hammered away at any odd protruding spots until every rock fit into place as snugly as possible, and then he hammered the shards into the earth around or beneath to secure it even more. I can’t take any credit for this bed, really, as I couldn’t lift more than two of the rocks that made it!

I still have a lot of gaps to fill and smaller rock to set into place, but it’s complete enough to fill, as soon as I can get a truckload of earth. Up close it looks quite large and rough, but from a distance the rocks are only a third above the ground, even with my other beds, and inside it will hold fresh soil a foot deep, to be topped with a mulch of fine gravel. I’m hoping to get a few more sunny weekends or evenings this month so I can finish by transplanting all the lilies, irises, and other plants that need to be moved out of other beds, and still get some work on those beds done too. There’s a cold wind today – another frost on its way I bet – and a lot to do to put my autumn garden to rest for winter. But as a birthday treat I curled up with a book most of the day, my work on the new flowerbed finished, for now.

To celebrate my birthday, I made a cheesecake, Richard made me a decadent prime rib dinner, and he agreed (with trepidation) to be my slave for the day to start a new project in the garden that I’ve been plotting for a while – which required some help from the Bobcat. This weekend is also the 7th anniversary of moving into this house, so we did the usual bit of reminiscing about all we’ve accomplished in seven years. We’ve got a reno project coming up in a month or so that will be another belated birthday present, and carry on our habit of renovating indoors in the fall once the weather chills, but first I have my gardening to finish. Here’s a look at what I’m up to. It was a great birthday, and I’m about to go outside and continue with my project.

Inspired by the death of a rose bush.

Enter Richard with the Bobcat and toothed bucket.

Goodbye to the dead shrub and quackgrass first.

It'll match the bed on the west end of the driveway.

We collected rocks from the pile beneath the apricot tree.

Here they are in place, after much deliberation.

The centre rock landed that way. Richard voted it stay.

No big rocks left, so I’ll continue today with smaller ones.

And here was our dinner, after a good 5 hours moving rocks. I was so tired that I couldn't be bothered getting out my piping bag to decorate my cake, I just winged it with a spoon; the chocolate looked a mess, but it was tasty! Richard knows exactly how to indulge me on my birthday, thank you! Thanks everyone who phoned or e-mailed with birthday wishes. I’m hoping it will be a great year.

A belated Happy BC Day, everyone! I had a two day work week this week - waiting for my next assignment now - so I have no excuse not to post the photos from our wonderful long weekend. There are fewer than usual, as I was either run off my feet or completely relaxed, and therefore hardly ever picked up the camera.

The preparations were exhausting, and overall we didn't get much sleep, but this was definitely one of the quieter, more relaxing UNniversary weekends we've done. We missed all the children, though! Their excitement and laughter brings something special to our event - it was like not having children around at Christmas. Next year should be back to normal, and then some! But we had fun, and the weather, finally, was nearly perfect.

Our local guests who joined us Saturday night included a 2-year-old cherub named Elle, and she had learned some new words for the occasion: "Garden Party". It definitely had more of a garden party feel this year, a little less rough around the edges. I'm especially pleased with my decorating splurge, the colourful paper lanterns with LED lights. After work on Tuesday, I went back and bought a few more for next year. I'm hopeful that by next July, when party prep gears up again, we'll have much less to do in the yard because so much work got done this year to make our space as welcoming as possible. Three of our visitors weren't here last year to see the major landscaping changes from last spring, and they were all very impressed. Thanks for that, we're so glad you enjoyed our place - and of course, the food. If you couldn't make it, here's what you missed.

I think we were talking about straw hats. Photo by Dagny.

We spent most of our time just sittin' around.

Dan insisted he didn't need to try the satay dipping sauce.

I loved the salad rolls, in spite of the cilantro.

New with the pork, scratch-made baked beans.

Smoky, yummy pulled pork and brisket.

One of the big changes to the plan this year was the new "International" menu, and I tried to get my camera out at every meal to capture the food, but as you can see I missed half of them. Friday night we had the most mouth-watering dinner: freshly made kalamari with Richard's Greek yoghurt tzatziki, Greek-style ribs with oregano, garlic and lemon, and his Mediterranean pasta salad with rotini and feta. We all voted for larger servings of the kalamari next year.

Saturday morning Richard made his delectable corned beef hash, and Chris made two kinds of eggs: scrambled shiny, and scrambled almost to green. I am as particular about my eggs not being cooked too much as Dagny is about them not being cooked too little. We were all well stuffed, so it was a good thing Richard planned for a light lunch: Vietnamese shrimp spring rolls and grilled ginger chicken, both with homemade Indonesian satay sauce. That was a hit, but next year we may skip lunches entirely, which is what happened on Sunday - we never ate the Indian butter chicken, one of Richard's new favourites, because we were still stuffed from Saturday night's pulled pork and sundae bar, and Sunday morning bennies.

Some of us had leftover salads - including Richard's awesome grilled veggie and tortellini salad in my case - for lunch on Sunday instead, and everyone did their part to make sure the last of the ice cream in the soft serve machine didn't go to waste as we enjoyed the breezy, sunny afternoon. The neighbour's grandson came by to help too.

Sunday night was Mexican, and I'd be hard pressed to say which of the three dinners was best. We had tortillas warmed on the grill with chicken barbecued in our homemade blend of Tex-Mex spices, smoked paprika-spiced black beans, lettuce, tomatoes, yellow peppers, and canned jalapenos, my guacamole, and store-bought pico de gallo because Richard didn't have the hours it takes to make his from scratch and the Lunds weren't here this year to appreciate it. And of course all the cheese and sour cream you could want, not to mention more ice cream sundaes for dessert.

Monday morning we had blueberry pancakes and I think Richard said we polished off 5 pounds of bacon, which considering by then we had only 8 of us around the table, is a lot of bacon. Mmm. And then everyone helped take down all the canopies and pack up leftovers to take home, so Richard and I still had energy to debrief and make notes after everyone left before we collapsed for a nap as usual. Such a short holiday, but so much fun! See you next year!

Poached eggs for Sunday am bennies.

Eggs benedict with ham and hash browns.

Richard trades his chef hat for his uncle hat.

Cheers!

Good morning, campers. Actually, they aren’t up yet – except maybe the ones in tents. Despite forecasts to the contrary, I woke up at 4am to the now familiar sound of showers, and dashed outside to rescue anything caught in the wet. Lovely.

Luckily someone else had been there before me, perhaps before they retired for the night, and put most of the chairs and baby Olson supplies under the canopies. The Sesame Street book talked to me when I picked it up, so I guess that’s a good sign.

I found a puddle in my cushy camp chair, a couple of soggy rolls of paper towels and other items at the uncovered fringes of the outdoor kitchen, and moved several damp chairs and other things under cover to hopefully dry out by morning. The rain has already stopped, and we only got about half a centimeter, but I’m peeved that showers didn’t show up in our forecast, as we could have prevented all our things from getting wet. At least I moved my new paper lanterns under cover before I went to bed!

Since my early morning exercise woke me up completely, I’m enjoying one of Richard’s delectable brownies from the best ever brownie mix from Costco (thanks to the Lunds’ friend Ottawa for introducing us to these at Marrowstone!) and catching up on one of the last pre-party tasks I didn’t get done by Friday afternoon. Posting the pics of all our preparations. Richard and I have been working every evening and long hours on weekends on projects in the yard and shop, as well as planning menus, seating, decorations, etc, to get ready for this weekend, and I think the lack of sleep and bad backs were worth it. We were really in the weeds Friday morning, but it all came together. I didn’t quite get everything done in my garden, but overall, the place looks great. And the food… Richard has outdone himself. But more on that later.

First on the list – flowerbed rehab.

It took me a weekend – much better.

Under the tarp, mulch awaited shoveling into beds.

Cleared the patio to make room for these.

I started expanding these beds in May.

My back wasn’t up to getting the flowers planted Friday.

Thank goodness for the weed trimmer for tough spots.

Here’s an appealing shady spot. Fixed that.

Visions of French country dining but no time for a tabletop.

We had to buy apricots – ours are still green.

I had to show you this photo from a couple of weeks ago. I was pruning my roses when movement inches from my nose made me look up past the mass of branches I was removing below my office window. Don’t know how I missed it before, but the size of this nest was incredible. I had to admire the papery quality, all the folds and whorls, so delicate. But these black and white wasps are among the most aggressive, likely to sting. One person has already been stung this weekend – by the more common yellow leatherjackets (is the name because they dive-bomb like fighter pilots?) – so I don’t feel quite so guilty about destroying this beautiful thing.

Busy bees ourselves, we had quite a stressful week trying to finish major projects on Sunday and evenings after work, and although we both had Thursday as well as Friday off, it wasn't quite enough time. Next year, the 5th UNniversary, which will involve more work for Richard as we'll have a larger group of guests (only 13 of us this year), we're hoping to convince one of our guests to come up early on the Thursday. One extra set of hands (and muscles) would be a huge help. Everyone pitched in as they arrived on Friday night, and by nightfall nearly everything was done, but with the smoker malfunction at 1:30am keeping Richard and I up, we both got only two hours sleep that night. It was a 22 hour day for me and I felt it yesterday. But Saturday was spent mostly relaxing in the sun with great food and company and everybody pitched in on meal prep and cleanup, so I think it was a success. A surprise guest who'd never been here before was very impressed so that was a nice pat on the back for Richard and I. We will do it again next year, with a few helping hands.

And now it's time to prep for Sunday breakfast and see if the chairs have dried out. I see blue sky!

Another area that needed some work.

Petunias, check. The toilet didn’t go 'til Friday – thanks, Chris.

Thursday AM, locked out and in the weeds!

Lots to cut down, pick up, set up, and put up. Like lights.

These were thankfully already prepped for Rick’s stag.

Kitchen, check. Now we’re ready – let’s eat.

Happy Canada Day! I can’t believe midsummer’s eve has passed and July begins on Friday. Where does the time go? Work has consumed us this spring, and June saw two weddings, involving reunions with friends on the Coast and family in the Interior. Since then every spare minute of mine has gone into my garden, and the work is starting to pay off, although when I think of things to accomplish before our next long weekend, only a month away, I’m overwhelmed. So I just step back and look. The main bed I’m featuring here is looking so stunning in magenta and chartreuse (a happy accident in some ways as I didn’t know what would bloom when with these new plants!) that I completely relax whenever I stop to look at it. So, in honour of our Canada Day long weekend (and happy Fourth to our American friends), here is my version of R & R, relaxation care of Mother Nature. Now if Mother Nature would just make the sun shine for the next 6 days in a row that I’m on vacation, I will happily enslave myself to her again starting next Wednesday! Cheers, everyone.

At left, by the way, is Canadian columbine, which the hummingbirds love just as much as I do. Great colour this year with our cloudy, wet spring weather, less sun to wash them out. (But I still want more sun, thanks!!)

Black iris after rain.

Flirty yellow iris with purple catmint.

In magenta - sea pinks and wild thyme.

Top tier of the same bed, creeping lamia.

Lily, rusted metal in background.

Roses thriving! It's all the rain, not my thumb.

The new bed, more recently.

This shy one loves catmint. Luckily, cats don't.

Hooray for gorgeous spring mornings! Happy Easter from Poplar Road. I hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend. Thanks to the new wagon Richard built from scratch for me, I managed to haul four bonfires' worth of tree and shrub prunings spread all over the yard out back to burn (and got a good start on this year's freckle crop in the process). The sunshine may be short-lived but I think I have just enough time to mow the lawn and pull up some daylily corms for a friend. And make garden plans. A productive weekend! However you're spending your holiday, I hope it leaves you feeling rejuvenated and blessed.

Happy anniversary, Chris & Dagny! Dag and I were comparing notes on spring, and how lucky she and Chris were that spring arrived so late in Vancouver two years ago, just in time for their wedding. Well, spring is definitely late this year, and I could say my yard still looks a bit dreary. But here's how it looked on April 18th of last year. Yikes! Last spring I never posted all the photos of the landscaping process, which was so transformative but I was NOT permitted to share at the time because Richard wanted it all to be an UNniversary surprise. I'm vetoing that next time. If I don't do it right after or during, I get behind and never catch up! If you're interested, I might do a bit over the weekend if the flowers come up and I can show off before and after. IF the flowers come up - between the hordes of hungry deer and the late chill I've lost quite a few plants out of the new ones that I put in when we finished the rock walls and lawn. But the forsythia are in bloom, the hyacinths are close, and one daffodil has got some yellow showing. And deer have little taste for irises, thank goodness. Soon, soon! And it's a long weekend, thank god!

Thanks for posting a comment, Chris! In return I shall post the long-overdue pics of the marathon reno job you and Richard pulled off over last Thanksgiving long weekend. And in case readability is lost in the reduction in file sizes, I’ll caption the pics per Richard's hilarious signage.

I wish I could show everyone the complete slide show, the way Richard set it up for me on the TV as I came in the door from my long weekend on the coast and collapsed on the couch. The first shot at right isn’t the first one he showed me, but it was the point at which I finally registered what I was looking at: Chris in my basement, looking even cheekier than usual, above a large hole in the old bathroom floor.

The plan, as you’ll see in the following photos, was to surprise me with a new laundry room for my birthday. My pretty new steam washer and dryer (aka Anita’s new Ferrari – the closest I may ever get to a shiny red sports car) are full-size, not compact apartment stackers like the old ones which just fit in the downstairs bathroom. Richard was dismayed to find, when the ensuite upstairs could not accommodate the laundry as planned, that my new units wouldn’t fit in the only other possible location, our new basement storage room. They stuck several inches out past the door jamb. Our newly framed, drywalled, mudded, taped, and painted storage room would have to be renovated again!

So this was a bigger job than just hooking up the washer and dryer to the vent and plumbing Richard had already built into the existing wall. And of course this is Richard we’re talking about. Go big or go home. So instead of a functioning washer and dryer, I got a complete room, all in one weekend. Woohoo!

"Happy Birthday!" A drain. Thank you.

"He has a PLAN." Wait. What?

Quite the birthday present, don’t you agree? The boys wore themselves out doing an amazing job, not only to finish a brand new laundry room floor to ceiling, but to re-route the labyrinth of old drains in the basement floor to allow the guest bedroom to be finished, and to eventually get a tub into that downstairs bathroom.

Above, Chris is kneeling in the rotten old sink’s drain in the first pic, which will become the drain for the tub as in the third shot. They'd already done half a day of gruelling work digging up concrete and moving drains before they started taking photos. Huge thanks to Dagny for reminding the guys they ought to take some pictures. (And loaning Chris for the long weekend!)

"Fit These" - "In Here!"

The solution to fitting the huge washer and dryer in the narrow space was to take out the bottom half of the wall and set it back several inches. The equipment in the mechanical room had set the placement of the storage room wall, but there was enough leeway in just the lower half of this corner to inset the laundry. It even created a perfect shelf to house our satellite internet modem and all the satellite TV switches. Brilliant!

The boys took over 30 photos, each with a caption written on the cardboard pulled off my washer and dryer. At this point in Richard's slideshow, my jaw was on the floor and I was beginning to realize Chris was probably still in the house!

(On the coast for the weekend, I’d spent Friday night with Dagny and she’d spoken to Chris via cell as if he’d run out of the house on an errand just moments before we got there. I was clueless! More on that below.)

But Richard made me stay put and watch the whole slideshow (stalling!), up to the point where it showed Chris desperately assembling a storage unit with the caption “10 minutes left” crossed out and “2” written above it. (They were so rushed to finish it, Richard called me as I was passing through town and made me turn around and go back up the hill to the fast food place furthest away, to get a ridiculous amount of food for dinner. Perfect for three, but I didn’t clue into that until I saw these pics. It gave them an extra half an hour.) Only after I'd seen them all - but not with any questions answered - would he let me downstairs to give Chris a thank you hug and see the results.

"The Plan." Notice he's holding a chainsaw.

"Help Me! The walls are closing in....

"Drywall Done", again, with 5" inset.

"Anita says, Dryer on the Right / Washer on the Left." Hah.

"Plumbing Done. Exception: Laundry Sink."

"Electrical Done. Exception: Mount new light."

Cheeky man. The sign reads: "No Top Gear marathon... She knows nothing."

Richard just got off the phone with me at this point, claiming he was watching TV. Even gave me grief for taping a couple of hours' worth of one of my shows when there was a Top Gear marathon on BBC! As other slides merrily reported, when I had checked in before Sunday brunch with my friends from Japan, and he was complaining his back was out, he was actually just sore from working until 1am and had been up at 7 to do another run to to town for materials before breakfast. Few things entertain Richard as much as being sneaky and surprising the hell out of me. I have tried and failed to pull something like this on him. (Suggestions welcome.)

The long hours were making them really goofy. Sunday night they painted, and the sign on one photo reads "No Dinner 'Til You're Done!", followed by this next shot, as well as several comments about Chris and his caulking gun that I've deemed too juvenile for print. (But I admit, I laughed.)

"Kidding. 8:30pm Dinner." Painted!

"Chris is OK." On a floor!

I was floored. Ha ha. Chris's sign continues, "I checked his pulse and he's still breathing", which is surprising when you consider what the guys accomplished.

They installed plumbing from the back of the washer, around the mechanical room, and over to that drain from the first photo; cut out and re-studded the wall, moving the electrical and dryer venting; re-drywalled and trimmed the 5" inset nook (which you can see more clearly in the photo at right), and painted the whole room; laid 100 square feet of laminate flooring (leftovers no longer taking up storage space, yay!); created a custom cabinet with sink and gorgeous faucet from a one-piece Costco unit; installed an attractive and bright overhead light fixture; assembled two rolling storage shelves complete with clear bins; and last but not least, got my washer and dryer working.

Happy Birthday to me!

So there you have it. It looks a bit more cramped than this now that I've filled almost all of those bins, but it's working well for me. With all that storage I was able to tidy up a considerable number of other areas around the house that have been landing zones for all manner of junk, including our bedroom - another facelift post on that to come - and the living/dining room. And none too soon, as we went on to update all our living and dining room furniture just before Christmas.

If you were keeping track you might notice that past posts on renos have generally included the phrase "Playing House" at some stage of each project, and this post could have been labelled number XIII. But now that we have painted walls and a couple of nearly finished rooms in the basement, and our upstairs has had a makeover to bring it from 80's shabby to modern country chic, it doesn't feel like playing house any more. It's home. Which is especially nice when outside is dull and grey (or - ugh - snowing as it is right now). I love my new rooms and I can't wait to show them off, in person or here, as time allows. Now if I can just land a new job, we can get on with the next round of renos!

Happy Spring, readers – the few that are left. To somewhat explain why I’ve been silent all this time, let me briefly recap our longer than usual winter. Back in mid-December, Richard was involved in a bizarre and frightening incident while doing driving training for work, and the health and financial ramifications of that are proving difficult for him to deal with. A couple of weeks later, I lost the competition to continue permanently in my admin job, getting the bad news on Christmas Eve. In a word, winter sucked, and then it dragged on and on and on.

When we look at what we accomplished and experienced last spring, summer, and fall, we had a really good year; it just went out with a whimper instead of a bang, and unusually grey days with little sun or snow and lots of mud since then have added to the tarnish on the new year.

Desperate for signs of spring, I’ve spent a few hours in the garden the past few weekends clearing away winter debris (enabling the deer to find my tender tulips and other shoots to chew to pieces), and finally pulled out the camera tonight in search of some colour. I also visited with the mini-minis, kids of the neighbour’s miniature goats. (They look sturdy in the pics below, but they aren’t much bigger than kittens.) Lots to keep us distractedly busy around here, and lots to be grateful for, all things considered. I think our spirits will revive when winter is truly behind us (daffodils by Easter, let’s hope!) and it’s wholeheartedly spring.

I always watch for a full moon, more often since moving here where skies are clear more frequently than most other cities in Canada - and I live in the countryside with hardly a light to be seen this time of night. But tonight is Winter Solstice, so I'm very grateful to my friend Beth for letting me know that the full moon marked on my calendar would turn into this. A full moon eclipse at winter solstice won't happen again for several thousand years. And as much as I love Christmas, it is as much about the pagan traditions of Solstice and New Year's Eve for me as the more recent Christian traditions that overlaid them - recognition of the change of seasons, the year's passing, winter's hold on everything, that suspension of time that comes with ice and snow, and yet the promise of day returning. And no more potent an image for me than a lunar eclipse on a starry night where the woods stand out in stark silhouette against snow.

The Earth's shadow has receded most of the way now, the snow outside my windows brightening again, and for once the moon is still high and southward enough to see here, not hidden behind the hills to the west just yet. I'll stay up just a little longer, until the eclipse is over. Here's the song again, in Latin, the way I like it best, so the beautiful melody stands out in the solemn syllables without the connotations of the hymn getting in the way. It does fit, though, for a solstice moon: grazia plena, full of grace.

Outside the snow is Vancouverish enough to stick to every twig and leaf, a fresh three inches that started while we were at an office Christmas party last night to add to the icy stuff that hasn’t left since the first fall on November 18th. It’s prettier now, but by this afternoon it could be a muddy bog out there, ugh.

To beat the winter blues, I’ve just spent a few hours this weekend back in the height of summer, enjoying the photos from our UNniversary 2010 gathering. (That’s yours truly at left.) 2010 has been an extremely busy year for us with projects at home, travels for holidays and visits with friends, and overtime in our challenging jobs. I have a lot on my plate this weekend (reapplying for my job, cleaning and decorating my house for the holidays, helping Richard with basement renos), but the guilt over not getting my blog updated is killing me, so while it’s still pitch black and silent – up at 5 again today for some reason – I thought I’d at least get the UNAnny pics up.

This year’s UNEvent was wonderful, a great turnout of our friends again despite the distance and even busier lives on the part of our guests and their growing families. The odd summer rains held off long enough for a great day at the river on the Saturday and a special construction project Sunday, and made for a lush new lawn to entertain our friends on. (I never did do a proper reveal of our new landscaping, but pay attention to these photos and you’ll get the gist.) Richard’s food was one of the highlights as usual, and since I spent most of Saturday in the river myself, joined in on badminton, and tried to spend some quality time with all of my surrogate nieces and nephews, I didn’t pick up my camera as much this year except when the food came out. And I admit I wasn’t last in line for dinner every night this year, either! Or dessert…. Did I mention we got a soft serve ice cream machine for the occasion? Two words: sundae bar. Mmmm.

Early risers Kahlyn and Anika in the Saturday AM hush.

Our landscaping facelift was a hit. Look, a lawn!

A flat spot for badminton, and the girls saw a perfect stage above.

Washing station: the guys built a sink, complete with hot water!

Most of our guests made up here Friday afternoon and evening, which is a treat for us both because we get a little extra help with preparing the yard and the outdoor kitchen, and we squeeze in a few more hours of visiting. Rob helped me set my new solar lights around the garden to light our new stone steps, and someone had the great idea to string Christmas lights around the canopy over the cooking/serving area. We had burrito night on Friday as usual, which keeps nicely for any late arrivals who didn’t get dinner on the road. Somebody helped Richard make the requisite salsa, but I was outside greeting a steady stream of guests and missed the work in the kitchen. Later a night-owl few of us chatted around the patio table, catching up and waiting for Chris and Dagny’s arrival, last of the Friday-nighters.

Lightweight that I am after a full day like that, I was in bed before they made it here, so it wasn’t until morning that I saw their surprise – the new addition to Richard’s outdoor kitchen, at left. Gorgeous, and just the right size to fit in between the grill and fryer. No more carrying giant pots of boiling water out the kitchen and across the deck! Thank you, Chris!

As usual on the Saturday morning, excitement has me out of bed early, tidying up the kitchen and making sure the early risers find the coffee pot and supplies. The first ones up are always the parents, chasing after their young ones who haven’t quite got their bearings yet. After four years of holding this gathering with most of the same families each time, with kids of similar ages, I’m always so thrilled that the kids can see each other again after a year has gone by, and settle back into the friendships of the past summer so quickly. And they grow so fast! I watched the big sisters position their little brothers with props and lines to say for an impromptu play – the pier of rock and gravel sticking out into the lawn from the upper part of the yard just begged to be a stage – and remembered summers with my cousins on the Island, doing much the same thing. (I’ll help get the play off the ground next summer, girls!) I can’t express just how much we value having everyone come together at our home, and knit our circle of friends that much closer together. Of course, most of you just come for the food!

Lunch on Saturday is a simple affair, then off to the river.

Hot dogs, salads, raw veggies, and a fridge full of bevvies.

The rascals found the stash of vanilla cream soda.

Kahlyn and Bob’s vehicle is roomy enough for extra river-goers.

A smoky day was nicer at the river.

River mud isn’t quite as good as beach sand, but it’ll do.

Cute swimsuit, Lulu piglet!

Ben makes a splash.

Baby says, “Let’s chill”.

Baby says, “Let’s eat!”.

Our neighbours join us for pulled pork night.

Spice rubbed pork, smoked for hours, finished in the BBQ.

With Chilliwack corn and caramelized onions.

Hm, potato, coleslaw, Mediterranean, or veg & tortellini?

Richard forgot to write down the salad recipes again.

Our local guests arrived – welcome, UNAnny newbies!

Our outdoor setup gets better and better.

New places to sit… and climb?

Saturday night is our pulled pork dinner, where our campers from the coast (a small group this year) are joined by local guests. At left, the sundae bar makes UNniversary newbie Jen a very happy pregnant lady. I think she’ll be back next year! (Congrats and welcome to baby Logan at Thanksgiving, by the way.)

Richard added smoked brisket to the menu this year, and Pam brought fresh Chilliwack corn. I was done my photos and waiting in line when I saw Warren, whose family drove out from Vernon to spend the day with us, struggling feebly to rescue his corn on the cob from the vat of butter it had fallen into, LOL. Although I think Marcus, above, takes the trophy for best corn enjoyment of the evening. Richard outdid himself with the food as usual, although his excellent grilled veggie and tortellini Taste of Summer Salad had to be reinvented, because although it was a huge hit last summer, he forgot to write down the recipe. I found every photo I had of it so he could identify what was in it!

I tried very hard not to over-eat this year. I managed only one helping of the pulled pork, but then the soft serve machine got going…. Richard found the used machine on a sales trip up north, and picked up soft serve “milk” at the local dairy in Kamloops. The first run was too soft thanks to the hot day, but at the end of the night it was working just fine for second helpings. And again after burger night Sunday, and as our guests packed up on Monday morning… Yum.

Josh is doubly wide-eyed at the Sundae Bar.

The soft-serve machine is brilliant!

From sundaes Saturday night, to pancakes Sunday AM.

A lazy Sunday morning watching the kids.

Danaeya and Olivia get wings, and find a perch.

Andrew’s thinking, I’m gonna kick big sister’s butt.

A hilarious water fight ensued.

I think the big sisters are winning.

Bob wades in – look out!

Rick crawls his 4x4 – a mini copy of Big Bird.

Sunday night we enjoyed burgers, more salads and fresh cut fries.

One last project, in a thundershower: new steps to the deck.

Monday, everyone packed up after breakfast – see you next year!

By the way, since we've already had people ask, next year's BC Day holiday falls on August 1st, so mark your calendars for the 2011 UNniversary, Friday, July 29th to Monday, August 1st. And in the meantime, enjoy the bustle and colour of your preparations for Christmas. After 9 hours to get this post up, I'm going back to doing just that. After I take a photo of all this new snow. Cheers!

I just got home from work, after a slow but not white-knuckled drive through the latest snowfall. This will be a big one, I suspect, although not falling so heavily yet here at home. At the University, I swiped all the snow off my car before I set out, and the back window was covered again by the time I got round to the front hood. But that's partly because it’s warming up, a much more comfortable –11 now.

This morning, by comparison, it was –18 when I went out to start the car, and overnight it must have been quite a bit lower, because I ran out of water just at the end of my shower – the pipes froze in the well house. Richard had turned on the heating tape wrapped around the pipes on Saturday, and set up a new heater with a fan to keep the whole room a bit warmer, but it didn’t quite do the trick. I didn’t get a chance to crank it up this morning when I found out it was frozen, but since it has warmed up by ten degrees or so, the taps are now running just fine. And thankfully, the deep freeze seems to be over. Above zero by Monday, maybe.

But first, more snow! Here’s how the BBQ looked Saturday morning (always our first gauge of how deep the snowfall is), very typical of a morning in mid-December. (Or of Groundhog Day, which is the movie reference in the title, if anyone is wondering.)

I’m still kind of hoping all the snow goes away so I can rake my chestnut leaves and spread them over my lavender beds for insulation, but then again, if the snow stays around, the lavender will be fine. I only lost plants last year because we had no snow. I also have tulip bulbs I don’t know what to do with now. As much as I love snow – disgustingly so, I know, I know – I have to say I'm just not ready for winter yet. But I’ll still be out of bed early tomorrow, excited as a little kid to see what kind of winter wonderland tonight brings us. And wishing it were Saturday, so I could stay inside with a cup of chai or bundle up with snowshoes and camera and enjoy it, instead of driving to work in it. Sigh.

I opened the front door to a whoosh of cold and confirmation that the high-pitched hum was coming up the street. The trains, perhaps? Then as I retreated from it to the back of my house, and looked across my moonlit garden, a different kind of light caught my eye.

Through the boughs of the firs, I could see flames. I was concerned at first - it's unusually early, and at -19 more than a bit too cold, for our neighbour on the east to be up - but I found another vantage point and confirmed, it's a bonfire. I couldn't see him, but the location confirms he's burning up the debris from the saggy old shed that Richard helped him demolish a few weeks ago. I watched the flames and the moonlight, and considered bundling into winter coat and boots for a quick walk out there myself. Snow and a neighbourly chat across the fence at 5:30am. . . . No, I think not. Brrr. But I'm up, and kind of glad for that odd neighbourhood-wide alarm that got me up to see the moonlight. Winter is here. Might as well enjoy it.

I won't rant about the process of getting it fixed here - particularly now that I found out the problem was crossed cables that Richard swore he had put back in the right places - but the installation company's technician who came out today got us up and running again and I'm very happy to once again be connected to the world, plodding though our $60-a-month connection is.

On that note, I'm heading outside, as I've been glued to one kind of technology or another all week, and I need to shore up my spirits by getting a little earth under my nails. Richard is amusing himself - and getting some free materials in the process - by helping a neighbour demolish an old shed at the back of his property. Between our landscaping efforts and the neighbours on either side, I think we've pulled up the value of the whole street! It's definitely a nicer view out the back windows these days. And inside... well, we just showed the neighbours around and when we stop and look like that, we really have made huge progress this year - and it's not over yet!

Now that I am connected again, I will post some photos from our busy summer very soon. Oh, and Happy Hallowe'en, everyone!