We spent last week visiting cruising buddies.  We had a great visit with the crews from Gavia Arctica, Toketie and Cop Out.  The last two boats left Canada with us and Toketie sailed back from Australia and have their boat at Maple Bay on Vancouver Island, while Cop Out was sold in Langkawi. We went to Saltspring Island to see Cop Out home. They have recently renovated, adding a bedroom with an ensuite bathroom and big walk in closet.  Wendy is a potter and at the moment they are building a potting studio below their main floor. 
                                     

While we were there a cement floor was poured and the walls were being framed in.  She will have a beautiful view of Ganges harbour.  A load of gravel, oh excuse me, a yard of 3/4 inch crush was delivered to make a driveway into the studio and to spread on their road.  Barry and I promptly dug in :) and loaded up first wheelbarrows and then the back of Ken's truck and proceeded to spread the gravel around.  As you can see there were compensations involved.  The hot tub was enjoyed by all at the end of a hot dusty day. 
                                     

It was nice to be afloat again, if only briefly on Toketie and we had a great visit with Linda and David.  The Captain of Gavia Arctica slaved away in the kitchen and produced a wonderful meal while we were there.  They have a home full of antique furniture and it is beautifully decorated. We really enjoyed catching up with our chums, it was great to catch up with them once again. 

David, Linda and I on Toketie in Maple Bay

We are headed to Calgary tonight and then on to Trinidad in the morning.  We are all ready to go, Doug our brother-in-law after putting up with us for almost a month is very kindly driving us to the airport.  We thought we had a buyer for our X-Trail but it turns out there are a few more things wrong with it than we thought.  We are leaving with our cousin to sell for us.  I hope there are not too many surprises when we get back to Cat's-Paw IV.

                                 MOVING DAY                            

Well we accomplished one of our primary goals in returning to Canada today.  We consolidated our "stuff" and moved it into a smaller storage shed.  It took us three visits to the unit to trim down what we were going to keep.  We made three trips to the recycling area conveniently located 200 meters down the road, and three trips to the thrift shops in the Duncan area, managing to cull about 10 boxes worth.  What it comes down to is that we are going to save about $30.00 per month, which doesn't seem like much but over a five year period it would mean about $1,500.00 and that is a new main sail, so I think it was worth it. 

We were lucky and a smaller unit was available during the time period we were here in B.C.  It took us about an hour to transport our goods from one area about 100 meters to the other side of the storage area.  The mean red machine was loaded up and it coasted around the lot and manoeuvred around the stuff that was piled up outside the new unit. 

Note the mattress on the roof.  

All the heavy stuff was at the back of the old unit, on the bottom, so in order to get it in the back of the new unit all the lighter stuff was piled up outside awaiting the heavyweight boxes which were unearthed and transported to take their rightful places against the back wall.  

The old unit with the heavyweight big boxes against the back wall

The smaller newer unit with the boxes neatly piled in the back and the rest of the miscellaneous stuff added in at the end.
Barry really wanted me to get rid of that ironing board, but the frame is really heavy duty, and it is the best ironing board I have ever had, and just couldn't part with it.

 It was an interesting exercise, going through all the stuff.  I couldn't believe some of the things that had been packed and stored for 8 years.  There were half used bottles of shampoo, Q-tips, and the junk holders from the kitchen with pencils, old batteries, etc.  I guess I didn't get a chance to go through that stuff before it was packed up!  I could stand to throw stuff away for about two hours at a time and then I would just get overwhelmed and have to tell Barry I just couldn't do it any more and it was time to go back to Sherran's place  The first day I was completely ruthless, especially with my clothes and I gave lots of my old work clothes away.  The second day I went through a lot of my casual things like sweaters and fleece pants.  I just couldn't let go of most of them and we will pay to keep them for those cold Canadian winters that will be in our future. I am not sure but I think Barry managed to part with the container of socks he had!

The Lange Family

Now it is time to continue to work on accomplishing our other main goal in coming back to Canada, visiting with family and friends.  We are currently staying with Barry's older sister, Sherran and her partner, Doug, who have kindly let us stay with them.  We will be here longer than any other place we stayed in our trip across Canada, it is very kind of them to put up with us.  We have been spending lots of time visiting with Barry's Mom while we are here.  Now that our stuff has been taken care of, I want to get together with former cruisers that are in the area, Lynn and Debbie, David and Linda plus Ken and Wendy.  It will be great to catch up with them. The four months we have been here has flown by but it is a long time to be without your own space.  I am longing to get back to the boat and complete the repairs that are needed.  

We are now in the Okanagan visiting my brother and his wife.  They have been showing us a great time.  This morning we went out picking peaches, something we have never done before.  There is nothing quite like fruit ripened on the tree, the peaches are really sweet. We are going to have our fruit fixes for the next few weeks. The other day when the temperature hit the mid 30's we went floating down the channel in Penticton, unfortunately the camera's batteries went on strike so I was unable to get any pictures.  It is quite the tourist attraction, because if you have your own tube or blow up boat it doesn't cost a cent.  It took over 2 and 1/2 hours and we floated the better part of 5 km. At times we would run into a traffic jam of 4 or 5 floaties tied together and we would madly paddle with our arms to steer around them to find our own space.  

We also climbed the rather large hill behind Bob's house, something I have been wanting to do since he moved in.  We left early in the morning to avoid the heat and managed to get back to the vehicle before noon.  My brother Bob and his wife Barb went up with Barry and I and we managed to stick together almost all the way to the top. Near the top we got separated and we were both relieved to see each other back at the car.  I think those hills were echoing with the sounds of our shouts as we tried to locate each other.  Yesterday we indulged in the other time tested Okanagan past time, wine tasting.  There are lots of vineyards within a stone's throw of my brother's place and we managed to find some pretty decent g.  We also managed to fit in another round of golf, much to Barry's delight.  I find the game quite frustrating, at times I can manage a great drive while at others, the ball just dribbles off in any direction after I have topped it, jeeze!!

Gavin, our great nephew, James and Kendra's son. 

Our great niece, Avery, James and Kendra's daughter

Our nephew David, his wife, Roxan and our great niece, Adeline. 

Before we arrived we indulged in all sorts of family visiting in Alberta. We were entertained in the homes of our niece's and nephew's at James and Kendra's, David and Roxan's and Mark and Laura's.  I am pleased to tell you that all of them can really cook and we truly enjoyed spending time with them and getting to know them and their progeny better.  Kids grow up so fast, the last time we saw Avery she was just learning to crawl.   

My sister-in-law Margaret and her son James

We were invited out to see our nephew James' work site about 30 minutes outside of Rocky Mountain House.  He works in a gas plant, one of the by products of the gas in sulphur and the plant stockpiles it and then processes it for sale.  Here you can see the layers where they poured the molten sulphur before it solidified into a huge pan.  

Barry gearing up in his brother's motor cycle duds and taking his bike out for a spin. We thought he would be gone for a good while but he was back in short order!!  Must be getting old!

c

As we passed through the Rockies on our way to BC.  Taking in our ninth province on our cross Canada tour, we enjoyed the majesty or the gorgeous mountains.  We headed south from Revelstoke and crossed the Arrow Lakes twice on a ferry in a very picturesque route to the Okanagan from Calgary.  Canada truly is a large, beautiful country.  

We are in Innisfail visiting with Barry's brother and his wife.  They have a trailer that is stationed at their favourite spot, Wilderness Village, in west central Alberta.   We have been spending time walking, bicycling and sitting around the camp fire, one of Bruce's enjoyment in life.  We have also gone out golfing twice.  While we couldn't be described as anything but hackers we have managed to play 27 holes in the last week.  Our first foray was to Nordegg which is an old coal mining town and we played golf in the shadow of the Rockies.  It was a very scenic if somewhat rustic course.  Today we were at Eckville, where my jeans on the course were not frowned upon and best of all it was $10.00 Tuesday.  We had many laughs at each others expense as we shanked balls into ponds, deep bogs and bounced them off of fences and trees.  Fun was had by all!!

In my rather esoteric collection of pictures of signs I think this one will rate pretty highly.  Not too many places in the world you would come across this sign. It will go in the collection along with the elephant crossing and the kangaroo crossing signs. The thing about those signs is that I did not have my two oldest grandchildren in the picture with me so this make this picture extra special.  I love our vehicle in the background with the canoe on the top, that beautifully rounds out the scene, I don't thing you can get much more Canadian than that!!! I am truly disappointed that I was unable to get Barry to stop to take a picture of the penguin crossing sign we came across in Simonstown, South Africa, that would have been a good one. 

                         Eli with another mighty pike.                              

We have spent the last two weeks engaging in outdoor pursuits with our family. We have gone fishing about half a dozen times. Our friends in the sailing community came through and took us out sailing on two occasions, Eli came with us the first time around and took his turn at the helm. 

Aboard Pendragon, along with captain Kevin Quinn. Thanks for the lovely time Kevin. 

Cassidy and I were invited to be crew for the Wednesday night races.  We managed quite well and Cassidy did a great job on the controlling the main and has garnered herself the name of Mainsheet Specialist. She gave her number to the boat owners who we crewed with and hopefully they will give her a ring so she can do some more sailing this summer.

We all spent a windy afternoon down at the local beach.  The kids and Heather went in for a swim but I couldn't find the enthusiasm to join them.  We also played a rousing game of something that is a precursor to volleyball, tossing the ball over the net trying to toss it to an empty space so your opponent can't catch it.  The sand was flying as players were sacrificing their bodies trying to get the rather beat up old ball that was being blown about by the wind, fun indeed.  

Heather and I heading out on a fishing trip one day when the kids couldn't come. I managed to get one on the line and was greatly relieved when he spit the hook out before I could land him.  Barry wasn't with us and that would have necessitated one of us plying the pliers in the region of a fish 's mouth, not something I like to indulge in if I don't have to. 

We are heading to Edmonton tomorrow to go and visit with Bruce and Marg, Barry's brother and his wife.  

      BACK IN YELLOWKNIFE WITH FAMILY

Our grandchildren, Cassity, 14 and Eli, 12.

Our youngest daughter Heather

A great view of Great Slave Lake with 2 of my favourite people.

We drove up to Yellowknife 2 days after Karen's wedding.  After the first day of driving we ended up at the Alberta/NWT border where we spent the night.  We woke up in the morning to a record low on July 15 of 4 degrees, youch! We crossed the new bridge across the Mackenzie River for the first time. Yellowknife is no longer cut off at spring breakup having year round access by road.

On the road from the bridge we passed a number of bison on the road.  Thankfully none of them decided to cross the road while we were driving by, they are big creatures. 

We have been very busy meeting old friends and spending time with our grandchildren.  The other day we met the kids down at the basketball court, after a fairly sedate game of horse we decided to try out Eli's new soccer ball.  I haven't seen Barry move so fast in over a decade, he was running around like he was a 40 year old.  I got the ball and slowed the game down to a slow trot so Barry and I could walk the next day.  Eli's ball control was amazing and his athletic ability shone as he ran up and down the field. 

                          

Today we took them out to Reid Lake, about an hour's drive east north east of Yellowknife.  We borrowed a canoe (thank you Lorraine and Paul) and had a great day out on the water.  We paddled across to a set of rapids, it had been about 20 years since we had been there, 

Girl power, three generations under a canoe. 

did a short portage and then caught two jacks as we paddled around the area below the rapids. 

If you look closely at the end of the line you can see that there is a fish at the end of the line. It was a very small jack fish which we let go.  

I had a great time paddling around in the waves below the falls, once when I did it I didn't time it quite right and got a little sideways.  The kids were a little freaked when the canoe rocked a bit but I didn't dunk anyone this time around. 

Here, Barry is being a Good Samaritan. This guy must have got hung up on this curb and his front bumper was hanging off on one side.  Barry used a pair of pliers try and pull the rest of the bumper off, another fellow came by with a leatherman and lent a hand and the two soon had the bumper off.  The fellow who owned the car was using a cane so Barry figured he wouldn't be able to help.  

This is our buddies Ian and Helen's boat.  They bought it in San Diego and trucked it up to Yellowknife.  It has spent the last four years in this shed being metamorphosed from a tired old boat into a thing of beauty.  The shed was made out of fibreglass insulation and they just cut the sides apart and a crane lifted the parts of the shed down.  The amount of work they have done is unbelievable, we just hope they have many years of pleasure sailing her.

Here is a piano that has been in our family for at least 60 years being transferred into the house where Heather is living.  We would like to thank Ian and Helen for storing it at their place over the last five years. Having it out of the way is just one more hurdle they have cleared on their path to the west coast. I hope Heather enjoys the music that she can make on that wonderful instrument. 

We have another week in Yellowknife and hope we can continue to make connections with old friends throughout the week.  Send me a message at ann_lange@yahoo.com if you are in town and would like to see us.  

karen and craig mccauley

we had a delightful time attending karen and craig's wedding this past weekend.  the party started off with a rousing game of family feud at the rehersal dinner.  craig set up a computer survey and sent it out to his friends and had the two families try and figure out what were the best answers.  it was great fun.  

 here is karen in front of the screen which would show the answers and how many points each of them were worth.  the next morning we went to the wedding venue at the university of alberta's faculty club and decorated the tables for the dinner. apparently the shade of purple to be used was a real bone of contention between the bride and groom.  

the bride's mother actually performed the wedding ceremony, she did a wonderful job, her words were very heart felt and moving, it must have been very special for karen to have her mother say them to her.  we had a great dinner and afterwards there were great speeches and much dancing. 

 the lange family, it was great that all the four family members could be there. 

 mom and i on canada day

prairie first nations peoples on canada day

a street performer doing his thing for the canada day crowds

 checking out the fishing boats on  hecla island

with my bridesmaid from 39 years ago. 

friends and fellow sailors the skopyk's from uranium city days

 i have been wanting to take pictures of falling down barns since ontario, i got a chance when we visited the malloys in leduc, alberta,

please excuse my lack of capitals, those keys won't work on this poor computer which has been subjected to the marine environment for too long.