Martin and Suzanne Blyte come to visit.

Thursday, August 16th continued.

So while Ray and Judy were visiting, today the installation of our ductless heat pumps in the two upstairs bedrooms began. So again, people running around the house. This will be a two day process. Meanwhile it was changing bed time to prepare for our next weekend guests.

By Friday at 3:30 the heat pumps were up and running. Beautiful. So nice to be able to get the heat out of those rooms.

And voila ... heat pump installed.

Also on the HVAC guys list was to close off the duct in the foyer as they were useless. These holes will be drywalled over when we have the construction crew in here later this fall. (They sent the tallest crew member up the 24' ladder).

Saturday morning was pretty clear of smoke but it started to move in more in the afternoon. Here is the view of the lake from the dock this morning. Never get tired of the view.

Our friends Martin and Suzanne arrived about 1 pm and we all went out for lunch at Jakes at the Lake. Thanks for lunch guys. Once we were back it was time for some lake time. Too hot on the dock so we retired to our beach again. Both Martin and Suzanne went for a little paddle in the kayak. Ray and Martin worked together at Sproat Lake and Log Supply and met over 19 years ago. He often came to our campsite at Macktush for the weekend to go fishing with Ray. Camping was not Suzanne's thing but she did come to our parties at the house. :)

Drinking Ray's famous Margaritas

You can see how hazy the sky is.

And Suzanne is off!

Ray asked Martin if they'd eaten "Pork Belly" the last time he was here, which they hadn't, so of course that's on the menu tonight. Turned out beautifully. Love that InstantPot. We left the beach around 4pm so I could start dinner so we retired to the deck.

Martin did not like the last side view picture I took of him a month ago so now he "suck's it in or covers it up. lol

Dinner was ready with the help of Suzanne around 6 pm.

Suzanne helping me.

Smile Martin

Can't you see I'm eating!

After dinner we served dessert outside on the sundeck. Still pretty warm out.

After a few more hours on the deck, Ray and I retired, Martin too, but we set up Suzanne in the loft with the TV up there. A lovely day.

Sunday morning, Ray and I were up followed shortly by Martin by 6:30 am. Suzanne stumbled down around 8am. After I served up a breakfast of bacon and french toast it was time to go for a boat ride. It was much smokier this morning and continued all day getting thicker.

These two have spent many an hour doing just this! Chasing fish.

After I fed everyone pulled pork sandwiches for lunch it was time for them to head back home to French Creek. A fabulous visit. See you again soon hopefully.

Smokey Skies and Judy Comes to Visit.

Monday, August 13th

Well the smoke from the interior finally arrived here in the Cowichan Valley Monday morning. Probably a combination of the Nanaimo Lakes fire as well. You could actually smell the woodsmoke. We have been fortunate to miss this for most of the summer unlike friends of ours living in the interior. Here's a couple pictures of the setting sun Monday night. Very spooky.

With the smoke, the temps stayed down to around 29C instead of the predicted 32C but was really muggy. I noticed the smoke was making me a little wheezy so we only stayed on the deck for the morning hours between doing chores. The afternoon we mostly stayed inside. Bummer.

Tuesday it's even smokier. Too bad as Ray's sister Judy is coming up from Tacoma WA for a couple of days for a visit. This time she will get to see Kristi as she will come down to the lake after work on Wednesday. Last time Judy was here, Kristi was on holidays back in mid-June.

Will, our landscaper was busy all day, finishing putting in the stone path and spreading topsoil. We are 9/10ths ready to put in the grass seed. Judy arrived at 4 pm and we sat down at the beach for an hour or so enjoying the cooler air down there. As Judy is gluten-free, I made a roasted beet salad and prawn fettuccine, using gluten-free noodles for her. Delicious. We hung out until 10 pm and retired for the night.

Wednesday morning we were all out the door by 9 am for a trip to Chemainus to tour the town and murals. Lots of fun. A very nice walk around town.

What a Candy Store.

Choices, choices.

Definitely a store our son-in-law Jason would love.

Beside the candy shop was a little path into a "secret garden". Beautiful sculptures. As usual we tour early to beat all the people arriving on bus tours so the shops in this area were not open yet. A great place to have an ice cream cone or coffee.

On the pathway coming out of the garden was this mural.

Continuing our walk down the street.

At the end of the main street we found an outdoor market, the public restrooms and museum.

Ray and I ended up buying a very whimsical painting of the Cowichan Bay Houseboats for our powder room. The artist and his wife were a very interesting couple. Robert says he goes to warm places like Hawaii, and Mexico to store up the sun and warm colours and then brings it back for his paintings to make himself  "feel good".

Apparently they are making a cartoon about themselves so are "living" the part in advance!

View of Chemainus Harbour

H.R. MacMillan (a Canadian "Lumber Baron")

Ray and Judy in front of the "Waterwheel"

Very Colourful

On the way back towards our car we stopped for a few more pictures of a couple of the many murals.

The tug Chemainus (painted above) would later be strand on a rock and blown apart.

Posing with my new picture.

Just before we got to our car we made a stop at the Christmas Store. Judy bought us an ornament so we will think of her every Christmas. Ahhhhh. Thanks sis.

On the way home we drove into downtown Duncan to support Pirate Pak Day at White Spot. Also needed to go to Superstore to stock Judy up with some more non-alcoholic wine as it is not available in the USA. (She drank quite a bit of Ray's stock to figure that out last time she was here! Ha Ha.)

We noticed when we got home that Will had not come today? Found out later that he unfortunately has a ruptured spline and is in the hospital.  He was hit in the stomach by a friend horsing around last Saturday and had told me Tuesday that it really hurt and he just went to bed as he was nursing his swollen ankle. I guess that blow probably caused this damage to his spleen. Poor guy.

These are the before and after pictures of the yard showing all of the work Will completed. He's been working hard for a month.

When we first moved in.

Ready for grass seed and planting the lower gardens.

Once back home it was lake time. We all went for a swim as well as Freya. Auntie Judy took her stick!

Freya, I have your stick!

What!!! Give it back!

All mine!

Two Stick Girl ... Mine! Come and get me Auntie Judy!

Back up to the house to wait for Kristi. I had lots of help making dinner. Nice to have a large kitchen.

Ray and I retired about 9 pm so Kristi and Judy could have some time by themselves to catch up. They had not seen each other for a couple of years. It was nice to have the sitting area in the loft where we could hear them giggling for an hour or so. lol

Thursday morning Kristi was off to work about 7:15 and by 7:45 am Ray and Judy headed up to Chemainus to have breakfast with their cousin Brian and his wife Sandy. We have not seen them for a few years and Judy had never met them. I unfortunately had to stay home for the contractors installing the upstair bedroom heat pumps. (As it turns out Brian and Sandy will come for dinner here next week so I will get a chance to catch up.)

After breakfast Ray and Judy were invited back to Brian and Sandy's house in Saltair for a short visit where Judy got to meet Brian's son David. So another great family reunion for Judy this trip up.

Sandy, and Judy in front and David and Brian in the back, on their sundeck in Saltair.

After their visit, Ray drove her back to her car in Chemainus where she headed down to Victoria to catch the Coho Ferry back to the USA. Head loaded with many new memories of family and a car load of non-alcoholic wine. lol

Kristi and my Grandpuppies here for the weekend.

Skutz Falls taken in July

Saturday morning we woke up to clouds and showers. What a temperature change. The forests sure need some moisture. Unfortunate for our neighbours though, as they had 3 large party tents erected to celebrate Roy's 60th birthday including a live band. It sounded like everyone had a great time anyways, just not all evening as they probably originally expected.

As you can see, our yards offer privacy from the other house. A nice design. We only see the tops of their tents from our deck.

Kristi and her dogs arrived at around 11 am. Unfortunately with the yard being all dirt at the moment they were corralled onto the deck or house for the visit. With the park across the driveway, it was easy to give them a few walks though.

After lunch Kristi, Ray and I sat under our gazebo with the fire table on and listened for a couple of hours to our neighbours live band. Mostly old stuff but well done. We lasted until the rain began in earnest and retired back into the house. Kristi and Ray managed a nap while I prepared our roast beast dinner on the rotisserie. Kristi was on call Thursday and up all night, so definitely needed to catch up on sleep.

Jason arrived around 4 pm to stay for dinner and then left at 9pm heading back to Nanaimo. He hurt his neck and didn't want to sleep in a different bed in case it got worse. I can sure appreciate that, as I am still fighting with my neck and seeing a massage therapist once a week. Ray, Kristi and I managed to stay up to 10 watching a movie. First one we have seen in months. Jason got us hooked up to Net Flicks so we are good to go in the future. All in all, a pretty lazy day. Jason also took one of our kayaks home for Kristi ,as they are seeing if it will fit in their trailer for the Yukon trip coming up in a week.

Five years ago we were at Heriot's Bay on Quadra Island, second year on the road. I am missing our vagabond life a little, and the less "things" to worry about, but Ray and I are really enjoying being on the lake overall with our beautiful timberframe House.

Heriot Bay Inn

Sunday woke up to more clouds. Showers look like they might happen again although it is predicted to show some sunshine later this afternoon. Kristi was waiting to go for a kayak ride so hopefully it clears and the wind stays down for her.

She finally managed to get out around 9 am for a short paddle before loading up to go home after breakfast. With the weather cloudy and cool Kristi felt she might as well get back home early to get her stuff done before work Monday. Had a great time visiting.

More stone work and a trip to Cowichan Bay

Cowichan Lake Marina

This week saw Will, our gardener, making great progress in the back yard with the placing of the slate for the patio area and path to the stairs. He also moved a bunch more topsoil into the areas that needed to be raised up ready for grass seed. It sure was hot for him though. Several days this week were over 30C so pretty hot work. We encouraged him to take water breaks and swims in the lake to stay cool. The rocks were pretty hot to work with.

Can't wait for the grass seed!

Ray and I do any chores first thing in the mornings and then spend the afternoons on our beach in the shade, swimming to stay cool. Our beach with the trees are a godsend with this kind of heat. Way too hot up on the deck and without a gazebo on the dock, too hot there as well. Our new dock will have a gazebo, so in the future we will be able to stay down there so we are in the breeze. We're very thankful to have a heat pump for the a/c in the house. Usually by 5 pm we've had enough of the hot air and wet bathing suits so come in for dinner. Usually after dinner we can sit back on our deck as it has cooled off, but that was not the case most of this week. It has been staying 28C outside until well after 9 pm.

Lots of time spent just like this. lol

Ray working on Garrett's walking stick, gluing crushed turquoies into cracks.

Earlier in the week we went to Cowichan Bay to pick up my new pottery I ordered to match with my current dishes. They look fabulous.

Little stores on the walk to the Mud Shack.

On the way home we decided to eat lunch at the Pioneer House. They are all decorated up for "Barbecue Season". Even the buffalo dressed up in a red and white neck tie. As usual, our meal was excellent. Ray and I shared their Westcoast Chowder and a two piece Fish (fresh Halibut) and Chip entree.

Another week flown by.