2017 December Escapades

We had an action-packed (!) final month of the year with business and family bookkeeping, family and pal visits, decorating for Christmas, and doing painting at our commercial property. Yolanda again made gingerbread for the VDDS kid’s party – a joy for her each year.

Mid-December we hosted a sleep-over with little Francis Sandoz and one of the evenings that he was with us we hosted a dinner and evening for colleague/pal Chris Hildebrand and his boys Luca and Finley – Francis thoroughly enjoyed preparing for the visit and making Lego with the older boys.

Closer to Christmas, Yolanda and pal Stacy went up-Island one day to craft fairs and happened upon a firefighter’s fund-raiser to which Niece Alex & husband Evan had contributed baked goods – we bought lots and gave them as gifts to staff and neighbours as Christmas remembrances. Niece Alex & husband Evan hosted a lovely Christmas Day Brunch in Chemainus for us and her parents, and Yolanda was home in time to sit with her mom for Christmas dinner and evening at Oak Bay Lodge. We hosted brother Rick & family for our annual after-Christmas visit, which we look forward to each year, and New Year’s Eve dinner was with the Harbeck-Sandoz family. We ended December 31st with Frances arriving home from Lethbridge in time for a midnight toast with the Attwell gang.

2017 Halloween to the end of November Escapades

We were officially on our home-bound trip from Eastern Canada until November 16th. After leaving the Okanagan, we spent time in Port Coquitlam with brother Rick & wife Maureen and in Vancouver visiting Shanti Williamson (& Cory) and Sarah Ronald (& Bieu). Of course we did a food-bliss stop at Granville Island!

We stopped home briefly to carve pumpkins and check in and to park Gr@y, whose insurance was just about to run out and then aded off again to complete our trip via Cluxewe and Tofino. While in Cluxewe we learned about staying by the month in the off season period from October to April and so booked a cabin for April 2018 – the larger, two-bedroom so we could invite guests up.

In Tofino we visited with sister Janis and storm watched. Janis hosted her 60th belated birthday dinner with local Tofino pals – what a treat to be included. On our way back down the Island we popped in to wish nephew Fisher happy birthday.

Francis Sandoz’s fourth birthday outing was to a Raffi performance at the Royal Theatre – he really enjoyed the environment, in particular the flip-up seats and he sang along at times, which was fun for Yolanda.

At the end of November we hosted an “American Thanksgiving” for a gathering of our McDougall nieces and nephews – we feel so very fortunate to have them in our lives.

Gr@y & Blue Fall Road Trip 43-45

Monday morning Theodora was back at work and Alexandros was back at school so Nektarios and Nikolas helped us pack the trailer and bid us goodbye. We drove to Keremeos via a few lake-side birding stops.

We set up the trailer at Eagle Campground in Keremeos and the we headed west to explore the Red Bridge and the Forest Service sites on the outskirts of Cathedral Provincial Park - unfortunately the private road into the park is closed for the season. Once back in Keromeos, we headed out for an evening drive of the South Okanagan Circle Route (including Osoyoos, Oliver, Okanagsn Falls, and Penticton).

The next morning, we did laundry and at 11:00am arrived at the organic farmstead of pals Yvonne & Morris. We enjoyed great conversation and a wonderful brunch and then headed out again on a second visit to the South Okanagan Circle Route,  a bit earlier than yesterday, in order to capture photos in a new light.

Wednesday was a drive from Keremeos to Harrison Lake, but first we visited a farm stand to get squash, apples and preserves to take home.

We stopped in Manning Park to make lunch where we became a special interest of a small group of Grey Jays, but could not stay, as we had some business calls to attend to and our proposed camp stay did not have cell reception so we pushed on to Deer Lake, above Harrison Lake, but again did not have reception so we went back to near Harrison Lake to set up in a camp with WiFi for blogging.

Gr@y & Blue Fall Road Trip 40-42

The Prairie landscape sucks energy when cycling we learned in June this year. Now we know it also sucks energy when driving. With just our car, we can get over 650K on a tank; in hilly Ontario and Quebec with our canoe on the car and towing our trailer we got about 350K per tank of gas. On the Prairies, flat and windy, we consistently got about 240K per tank; back in the BC Rockies, we are getting over 420K per tank!

Friday evening, after a sunset stop at Munson Pond Park in Kelowna, we happily arrived at the beautiful home of niece Theodora and her family: husband Nektarios, 6yo Alexandros, and 3 & 3/4yo Nikolas. Saturday morning after Theodora's wonderful waffles we went up to Myra Canyon to see and walk on the rail tressels. En route, we saw a few hunting parties, including one set gutting a deer.

It was an exciting walk across many tressel sections and in one tunnel. As we exited the tunnel, it was quite windy and it began to snow, so we headed back.

After a yummy picnic lunch at home, we went out to a local turtle pond and had a laugh getting un-stuck from the muddy shore. Puzzles and stories ended a fun day. After Theodora's scone breakfast on Sunday, we were outside for a "mitten-run" to the pond and then played with Uncle Tim's Go-Cart and had fun collecting leaves. Lunch out was followed by a visit to the Kelowna Art Gallery for Yolanda, Theodora and the boys: Alexandros & Nikolas.

Bob and Nektarios went afield to seek bird photos. At the Gallery, Yolanda, Theodora and the boys painted paper plates in preparation for an over-weaving.

As the paint dried, they visited three exhibits, including an outdoor woven branch sculpture, an exhibit of tapestry works by Jane Kidd and drawings & paintings by school students. In the evening we did more drawing & puzzle making. We had such a great, busy visit with the Koulis' and look forward to returning!

Gr@y & Blue Fall Road Trip 39

Today was a slow and easy start with a nice frittata cooked by Kathleen and a walk in the neighbourhood for Yolanda, Kathleen and Andrew. 

What a darling Andrew is and what great parents Kathleen & Jon are. We feel privileged to have seen them all.

We didn't get far driving today, due in part to the foggy weather in the mountains and in part to highway construction.

We stopped in Revelstoke to eat dinner and to stay for the night, with new plans to get to the Kelowna Art Gallery by about 2pm Friday, as we might not have a chance to get there on the weekend and they are closed Monday.

Gr@y & Blue Fall Road Trip 38

The birds were tucked away out of the wind this morning after enduring 90K gusts in the past 12hrs so we didn't see any on our daybreak Rosetown walk with Shirley S.

Our travels today were from Rosetown, Saskatchewan to Calgary, Alberta, which, door-to-door is about 525Kms. With road construction, gas breaks and our grocery pick-up needs for making dinner at niece Kathleen & nephew-in-law Jon's place took about 7hrs. We were surprised to see melted snow banks by the side of the road.

We were pleased to find an Italian market not far from K&J's and very near the butcher where Bob found and ordered nice chickens. After a visit with our newest nephew Andrew, together with Kathleen, Yolanda made a yummy roast chicken & gnocchi dinner and Kathleen's mom, sister-in-law Sara brought along a "lemon surprise" chocolate dessert.

Gr@y & Blue Fall Road Trip 37

Driving from Regina to Rosetown took us Northwest into a new-to-us section of Saskatchewan. 

This was up towards Saskatoon, and deep into farm land. We are awed by the scale of the landscape and compelled by the subtle, vibrant shards of colour.

As we approached Rosetown, Bob caught snaps of snowgeese and pronghorn and we saw our first wheat chaf fogs, which were high plumes due to the winds (up to 90km gusts overnight).

We were welcomed warmly into the home of Shirley S. and with her we visited the studio of fabric artist Anne Rice. We walked in the neighbourhood, enjoyed a delicious home-cooked meal by Shirley and shared stories over tea. We went to sleep early as we had plans with Shirley to go out early to maybe see some local birds.