Amelia and Olaf visits. - October 1st - October 2t1h

Pretty quiet week. We went to our exercise classes, me at the arena and Ray his physio. His leg now bends to 120 degrees. Thursday I went for my pedicure. After a bit of grocery shopping, we decided to try out this little ramen noodle place, called Neko Ramen. Delicious. Apparently the Dad comes in every morning at 8 am to make the noodles for when they open at 10am.

Is this utensil called a spork?

Friday, instead of going out for lunch, I made a "Pub Lunch". Fish and chips with home made tarter sauce ... Yumm.
 

Sunday and it's warm enough to finally sit outside and have a fire. It is bright enough that you can't see the flames lol

As you see it's been pretty boring around here, not many options of taking pictures. The lake is pretty quiet now that fall has arrived. We've enjoyed some beautiful fall mornings.

Wednesday, Oct 9th, I picked up Amelia at the Highway 18 interchange from Jason. She is out of daycare this week to keep her healthy for their plane trip to Halifax, NS on Saturday. A little sad at first missing her mommy and daddy, but once she's at the house and all her toys she hadn't seen for awhile, all was good.

We had a busy 2 days playing and baking. Amelia went to bed at 7 without any trouble and slept through the night both days.

Making blueberry pancakes.

After breakfast we made 2 apple pies. Amelia did all the turning of the apples. 

We took her out for lunch at JV Diner for milkshakes. Here they are counting all the old radios on the ledge above the tables.

Vanilla for Papa and Strawberry for Amelia.

After lunch:

Riding her scooter.

Puzzle time with Papa.

Papa and Amelia made a big fort.

Bathtime before dinner.

Friday morning she helped me scramble eggs and make bread.

Car races.

While Papa went to Duncan for his doctors appointment, Amelia and I sat outside in the sun and she played with her sidewalk chalk.

Time for lunch and pick up all the toys as we wait for her daddy to come and get her. So much fun. She seems to absorb so many things when you talk with her.

Jason arrived about 1:30, Amelia's really happy to see him. Fed Jason some of our bread that Amelia and I made and a slice of pie and off they went leaving Olaf with us for a week. They are all flying to Halifax tomorrow morning.

Olaf was happy to be here.

Saturday, we had our "turkey dinner". I prepped 2 turkey thighs to cook later on. After morning chores, Olaf and I sat outside on the lawn, well I sat and he played fetch lol. It was a lovely warm afternoon at 19C.

Monday and Tuesday were kinda wet, but Ray managed to get out for some "Fall Colours" around town, Tuesday afternoon.

Roy, next door, took this picture taking his boat out for the year showing our houses and fall colours.

I noticed a big black "blob" on the other side of the lake by the marina .... it was a bear. 

The bear was right below our friends house.

It's been a quiet few days with Ray's knee hurting, especially after physio and my right foot flared up with arthritis in the ball joint. Getting better though. Olaf has been a real good puppy. Ray gives him 4 short walks a day. Lots of play in the house.

Cuddle Time

Play with me Grandma.

Saturday morning after voting for our Provincial Election, we took Olaf home to Nanaimo. Amelia's very happy to see her dog. Kristi made us breakfast and we left at 11 back to the lake. 

We have an "Atmospheric River" happening here in BC. Started yesterday with pouring rain and has not let up. It's still raining on Monday morning. The lake level increased substantially in 3 days.

Saturday afternoon, Oct 19.

.

Sunday afternoon, Oct 20th

Monday, Oct 21st.

Here are a couple of pictures of Vancouver area in the news.

This morning a much better day. The lake is officially full.

Some early morning activity on the lake.

That's all that has been happening with us for the past 3 weeks. 

Summer weather is over! Sept 23 - 30th

Monday I went to my Chair Yoga. Boy did Ross work us hard on our cores. I realize now the chair is only to help balance you, not for sitting. LOL

Tuesday is the day I put "summer" away. The rest of my front planters were emptied out ready for my gardener to move them under the sundeck for the winter. I put the rest of the deck and driveway furniture away using my "green dumper" and adjustable dolly into the basement. Most of it I did while Ray's at physio, so he couldn't try to help me lol. He did disconnect my front irrigation though and blew out the lines. With all the lifting, I'm pretty sore afterwards, even after having a hot tub. 

The rest of the day we spent sitting in our chairs on the deck, the ones we just cover and use over the winter. It's a really warm, humid afternoon at about 21C (70F). Last warm day, the rain begins tomorrow. I went to bed at 8:30 pm and asleep immediately. 

Wednesday off to exercise class. Wasn't sure if I would go as I'm so sore, but decided to go after loosening up in the hot tub. What beautiful warm fall afternoon. Great water reflections.

Ray finally got to take off the bandage from knee surgery. He is healing well. He can bend to 112 degrees, at 4 weeks. Awesome.

Thursday Raywent to physio, so that pretty much did him in for the day. I puttered in my kitchen a bit, another batch of tomato sauce with the last of my tomatoes and an apple pie. Ray bought a bag of apples at the Duncan Farmer's Market last weekend and they were already going soft, So instead of throwing them into the compost, I got out my "Johnny Apple Peeler" and made him a pie. Today is a miserable rainy day. Our gardener postponed taking our planters off the deck until tomorrow, so he wouldn't be tracking all that dirt and mud through the house, since that is how we get them off the deck.

Tonight's my Island Art Night at Jake's. My first time painting on a canvas. It was 2 hours of lots of laughs. My picture actually turned out not too bad. The hardest part is that I had a TV behind me that kept changing colours which would reflect on my canvas. That made it hard to seeif I had the appropriate coverage of paint. My picture turned out not too bad.

How it starts out. Mario gave us a stencil to trace out the plane and then paint it.

My tablemates.

I'm definitely going to give it another try and booked for the October 24th class. Pat, our neighbour, is also coming with me.

Friday, definitely a bit tired after staying up later than usual. Then moving fast in the morning as Sean's coming at 8am to clear off all the planters and put them under the deck for the winter. First Ralph and Sean had to dig a bunch of the dirt out and dump it into my front garden before moving them with my dolly. Now I have to finish cleaning the deck this weekend. They also helped me pull the ladders up on the dock, so now I just have to clean them from the green slime from the lake. I'm glad I went into the water on the last warm day and tied the ropes to them instead of swimming now!

Dirty deck!

While I'm busy with that Ray started figuring out his Christmas Village .... I had hauled out all the boxes of houses etc. He has 47 houses, 3 trains, 10 other bigger features, lots of people and a bunch of diecast cars. He will have to paint everything white, make hills and carve out his foam. A lot of figuring out how to go vertical! He started it downstairs, so has 2 months to figure it out before moving it upstairs. 

Decided not to go to my exercise class as I'd done a bunch already today. At 2pm I drove into Duncan to the Toyoto dealer for the first service on our new car and get our extra key fob programmed. Due to a chip shortage, we only received one key fob for the car. A bit of a pain between the two of us, as I clip my keys to my purse and often leave Ray in the car while doing a small shop. Then he is stuck unable to open windows etc. Also a bunch of times, he comes into the store with me for picking his stuff, then waits in the car. Several times he went to the car and then realizes he can't get in. Problem now solved. lol

Saturday morning we have a bit of a nice sunrise before the clouds moved in again. Morning temps are certainly chillier at 5C instead of 11C now. They have opened up the weir more, so more water is getting into the river for the salmon. 

I spent the morning pressure washing the gazebo and ladders down on the dock and then moved up to do the front of the house and part of the driveway to clear up all the dirt from the planters. My hose to the dock is 10 feet too short, so borrowed one from Pat and Darryl ... Ray gave all our extra hose away with the motorhome. 

That's exhausting work lol. Ray took me out for lunch as I'm too tired to throw something together. lol Sure looks much better. Tomorrow the sundeck! I kept 3 planters of herbs until they die off later in the fall.

Sunday, I managed to get the sundeck all pressure washed. This is my last big job for the fall. Looks much better. I'm glad to get it done on a nice day instead of the rain.

Ray played with his village setup downstairs for a bit. We have to make 2 villages .... so he can show off his 3 train sets. lol

He still has lots of pieces to figure out, then he will be painting the foam white, gluing his tracks and then build boxes to raise up the houses ... alot of work to do.

Monday, the last day of September OMG. This month went so fast. A very foggy start to the morning where we couldn't see across the lake. By 8 am though the sun broke through. Today is "take it easy" day, with both of us quite sore. I see a hot tub in my future, while Ray is still unable to go in until his incision scar is "scab free".

We did manage to hang our 2 new paintings. 

After doing a bit of grocery shopping, Ray took me out to lunch at Jake's for Seniors Day ... 25% off food. Great deal.