Saturday Walk

This is early into our walk today. View from Dallas Road.
Right after the coffee, of course.

It was so gorgeous here today. Gorgeous, wonderful summer weather. Did you hear that word - summer?  It evokes such an amazing feeling in our bodies.  And our minds.

Well, today was one of those perfect summer days. A gentle and warm breeze. Full on sunshine, maybe a little sunburn. In fact, it was so warm, make that hot, that there were hundreds of people wandering around in shorts and t-shirts.  And some, make that lots, were eating ice cream.  Sigh.

I found an abandoned rusty mattress that was screaming for a little attention ...

After dinner at home, I discovered the lilac bushes behind our building are officially in bloom. Well, the purple ones are, in any case. The white ones are a little behind, and the California lilacs are trying very hard, as well.

 Can't you just smell that distinctive, lilac fragrance? It was wafting in the back stairs, so I went out to get up close and personal.  Then, look who popped his head out the window! 

My sweetie!

Unpaid Vacation

Judith was awarded the picnicker of the month award for randomly finding this new spot.

Cruising south for a couple nights on the inside of Vancouver Island.

My cruising hosts. The Skipper, Chef, and Cruise Director.

Cruise Director or Skipper, you be the judge.

The second best part of cruising is when your lovely wife picks you up, and whisks you away for a picnic lunch.

The boat was fun for sure, but walking around in the mountains with Judith tops it all.

Yup, it was thirty plus degree's and we needed a swim at six thousand feet above sea level.

Mount Washington Ski Hill.

Paid Vacations

July 21st - Another early morning drive from Victoria to Hornby Island.
Ah, the sun and fluffy white clouds!

... watched a remote controlled sailboat race (July 22nd)

... visited friends (July 22nd),

... amongst them Anna and Ava (July 22nd),

July 24th - went hiking up Mount Geoffrey
with the visiting Alberta Snikles,

After our hike up the mountain, it was time to cool off and have some lunch.

That evening we went down to Ford Cove to watch Alex and Paul
swim in the rather cool water.

July 28 - Peter enjoys a much needed chair
massage at the Saturday Market.

Sunday July 29 - picnic at the beach. Here
Meka enjoys a roll in the warm sand.

Some of us attempted a game of frisbee in the frigid waters
of Whaling Station Bay.

Some of us enjoyed the warm sand ...

One of us happily got buried in the sand,

 and all of us enjoyed a bite to eat, al fresco!
Check out Alex's six-pack.

The next day the Alberta Snikles started on their journey home and Judith drove back to Victoria to go to earn her next paid vacation.  Frank and Mary Jane stayed home to recover from 2 weeks of visitors and Peter stayed on Hornby for more 'healing.'  Thankfully, we are all recovering nicely and looking forward to warmer weather in August.

I Can't Believe it is July Already

Really?  July 1st?  What happened to June already?  Let's see ....

It was a glorious day, although not
bathing suit temperature

Visit to Vancouver - Peter and I had a quick weekend visit to Vancouver. We managed to take time to share some sushi at Spanish Banks and make the obligatory visit to Granville Island.

Getting my hands dirty

"Empress of the Underworld" - hey,
I 'earned' that title the hard way!

Two weekends on Hornby Island - as Peter's parents are staying there now that the weather is better, we went up to visit and help them get ready for summer.  We managed to clean the roof, plant some flowers in pots, replace some fencing so the deer can't get in and eat the flowers we just planted, and move some things into storage under the house.

Peter in his natural habitat.

Right out of the oven - yummy!

To balance it out (it was the weekend after all), we made a loaf of gluten-free crusty boule that I absolutely had to try (Peter found the recipe and it was quite good), the hot tub was up and running so we tested it out, we made dairy-free ice cream with sugar-free hazelnut flavour, went for a walk in Helliwell Park early one morning, walked along Tribune Bay and saw the new tennis court surface.

Looking southeast towards Vancouver

New court surface!

We even had some time to visit with  friends and wander around the farmer's market both weekends. It was sunny both weekends but just a little cooler than one hoped it would be.  Looking at the selection of fresh flowers and strawberries available, the sunshine was more important than the temperature.  It was a good month.

Fresh flowers from Maia at the Hornby Island Farmers Market

August in a nutshell - Part 6

Back to work - Peter seemed amused by Judith riding her mountain bike with a long dress and fancy sandals!

Another lovely evening picnic at Willows Beach.

Aug 20 - it's the weekend! Is there any better way to start the weekend than a stop at Fol Epi for a latte and pain au chocolate?

August in a nutshell - Part 5

Aug 13 - mmmmm, roasted bananas for breakfast.

Aug 13 morning - we drove out to La Push, which is on the other side of the Quillayute River mouth about one mile south of Rialto Beach.  Here you can see we are waiting for the fog to burn off and testing the water.

Aug 13 afternoon - Just after our picnic lunch at the beach the sun managed to shine through.  Here we were visited by a flock of pelicans.

Aug 13 - a view toward the mouth of the Quillayute River.

Aug 14 - time to leave the campsite and head back to Port Angeles. On the way out of the Olympic National Park, we stopped at the Salmon Cascades on the word of a young Park Ranger that she had seen salmon jumping.  We did in fact see salmon jumping and in this photo you can just see one below the surface of the water. Really!

Aug 14 - in Port Angeles the Snikles dropped PeJu off at the ferry terminal for their ride home. Here is Peter all packed up and ready to go!

Aug 14 afternoon - after a lovely sunny ride back to Victoria we arrive at the breakwater. So many times PeJu have stood on that very breakwater and waved at the Blackball ferry!

New Workstations

What's wrong with these pictures?

Judith's new workstation ...
Peter's new workstation ...

Welcome 2011

Happy New Year from PeJu!