Trip to Vancouver with Kristi and Amelia for Uncle Ken's Celebration of Life, June 13th - June 21st

Wednesday, I decided to head up to Ladysmith and buy some Spot Prawns right off the boat. I usually buy some every year to freeze. They certainly are not cheap. I waited until the price dropped from $25/pound to $20/ pound this year. Three years ago I bought them at $12/pound. The season is only one month long and then you are out of luck. Prawns are Amelia's favourite so of course we had to get some.

Thursday another not nice day.  We processed the prawns, ripping the heads off so I could freeze them in water. Needed to do it early as it's organics day and I didn't want the prawn heads in our garbage for a week. lol We had all this done before 8 am

On Friday we finally found someone to fix the panels of our fence today. One panel in particular is coming apart as it's rotten on the bottom. I worried about losing my clematis. Jason suggested Mountain Man Services. We drive by this business everytime we go into town here at Lake Cowichan. As it turned out, he put the arbor fence in 6 years ago. All fixed, panels lifted, one taken out and the bottom repaired with new wood and restained. All in probably 90 minutes! No garden destruction.

Today was also big breakfast day for Ray. I had some fresh berries to use up that didn't make it on my cheesecake last week.

Later on is our Lobster Feast at Roy and June's next door. It was a "Black and White Dinner" and we were supposed to dress up. Some of us missed the memo lol. 

They flew in 25 pounds of lobster from Nova Scotia for our neighbour dinner. Yummy! This is really for us to celebrate June's birthday. Thanks for hosting this guys. The lobster is delicious.

All 20 of them!

As usual, I'm in the kitchen helping. :)

Ray assuming his position. :)

Donna and June

Mike all dressed up. lol

Roy serving Donna, look at our butter bath. lol

Mike, Debra, Darryl, Ray, Deb, June, Roy, Ron and Donna and Pat taking the picture.

Darryl, Ron, Pat and Donna

All bundled up.

Debra, Mike and Roy

At 9 pm we all called it a night. What a great evening.

Saturday morning and I'm out the door early heading to Nanaimo at 6:45 am. It's my Uncle Ken's Celebration of Life today in New Westminster. I picked up Kristi and Amelia and then we were on the 9:05 ferry to Vancouver. Amelia was a good little girl all day. Kristi and I spent most of the day feeding her lol. She had 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches and 2 dinners and multiple snacks in between lol.

It was a very moving service listening to my cousin Gord give the eulogy. The slide show was awesome with a lot of pictures of Ken and Norma visiting us in the Charlottes and Port Alberni. I ended up giving a bit of a speech as well, regarding a bunch of memories. A few tears later it was time to go to the tea.

Amelia had a great time with her cousin Stella at the tea service, running around. It was nice to see her, my son Garrett and partner Kat. 

Long day for me ... 15 hours door to door but so worth it.

On the ferry to Vancouver.

Of course I didn't think to take pictures at the beginning so only managed a few before everyone was leaving.

Stella being chased by Amelia.

Amelia catching up.

L to R My cousin Pam's son Jackson with his girlfriend, My cousin Wendy from San Francisco, My cousin Gord, Ken's son, and Gord's son Connor and my son Garrett.

My cousin Pam, long blonde hair, Ken's daughter. Kristi in the far back talking to Gord's wife Suzana.

Back to the ferry lineup to head back to Nanaimo. After a quick snack at Trollers Pub, there's time to play at the park before heading back to the car.

The new car works well for Amelia to play in while we wait to get on the ferry. She's dusting Papa's car. lol

We were so lucky, Kristi and I with the weather. We saw very little rain even though it had been raining everywhere we'd been. When we had lunch before the service in New Westminster, apparently we missed a hail storm and rain. By the time we left and walked the 4 blocks back to the Funeral home the sun was out again. Ray said it poured off and on all day at the lake.

Arrived at Kristi's to drop them off at 8:30 pm. We had one very tired little girl especially since ii was an hour and a half past her regular bedtime. Back on the road to the lake arriving at 9:30 pm.

Sunday, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Amelia made a card for Papa on the ferry which I gave him and he received a video of Stella saying Happy Father's Day and a text from Kristi. I think today will be a quiet day here as the weather still is not great.

Today I bought Ray a Boston Creme Cake and made him homemade Chow Mein for his special dinner.

Monday and Tuesday we stayed home and did some chores. For some reason my left knee is protesting ... sympathy pains for Ray lol Mostly cloudy both days. We decided to take out the Yew trees against the fence. They were getting too big. This also allows Ray to build two more tiered gardens for me for next year's herbs and flowers. :)

Wednesday the sun finally came out and is a beautiful day. I did a major shop in Duncan for groceries and then made my way back home. We spent the afternoon on our deck. It's so nice out that I actually stayed outside until 10:30 pm. There's no wind and the lake is flat calm.

Thursday another gorgeous day. the car was picked up by a Toyota employee to get it's full detail done that was promised when we purchased the car last month. Also, we're having front and rear recording dash camera's installed. They will have the car for two days, so are dropping off a demo car for us to use while they have it. They gave us a Rav4 to drive. Boy did it seem small and cramped compared to our new car.

Friday, first full day of summer. Another beautiful warm day. I spent the morning prepping food, making a cheesecake etc. for Steve and Dianne's visit tomorrow. The afternoon was spent on the sundeck with a fan on. Ray's knee and back is sore so we decided not to walk down to the dock.

Liam, our sales guy, brought our car was back at 5:30 pm, all nice and shiney. 

The Oiler's hockey team won again in game 6 against the Floriday Panthers. One more game to go and they might hoist the Stanley Cup!

At 8:30 pm we were invited over to Roy and June's for dessert and a campfire. A lovely way to end the day. Ron and Donna, our other neighbours were there as well. At first the blackfies were terrible. I have never seen so many, but must have been from the hot weather a few weeks ago and then cooler wet weather, and then warm again hatched them. Fortunately, as the temperature became cooler, they disappeared. 

Tomorrow Steve and Dianne arrive!

The kids come for a visit, RIP Uncle Ken, June 3 - 11th

Another week has gone by. We just puttered in our yard and garden. Ray's keeping up with his physio twice a week. On Thursday his physio told him to take a couple of days off, as he's doing too much and irritating his muscles. lol An over achiever!

The first part of the week was wet and cold, but the sun came out by Wednesdsay when Kristi, Jason and Amelia came for the day. Amelia hadn't seen her Papa since mid-April, two weeks before his surgery so is very happy to see him. It's a busy day of playing with her scooter in the cul de sac, colouring with chalk on the driveway, having a weiner roast in the back yard and playing with our kayaks on the lawn. A whirl wind of fun. We were exhausted when they left lol. I served up breakfast, lunch and dinner before they left at 6:30 pm.

Amelia's scooter we bought her so they don't have to bring her's from home.

Going down the rapids. lol

He who never naps .... Jason.

Olaf sure is getting big.

Tents in the backyard.

After a dinner of spaghetti and meatballs they headed back home. A very busy day for us. Ray's knee and back are done. Time to take a few days off. Ray did manage to get my hats mounted on the wall though. I seem to have a few. lol

Friday, Ray took his bandages off. He is healing well.

Friday and Saturday were really warm and sunny. Saturday we even had coffee down at the dock.

Later it's sitting up on the deck. My planters are coming along.

Saturday morning is our annual Strata Meeting at our house. I'm hosting, so I made a cheesecake yesterday and fruit platter. I cheated a little buying some fresh donuts from our new bakery in town. Debra, next door said this cheesecake is even better than my last one. :)

After the meeting, Ray decided to wash our car for the first time. I sat and watched. lol The first butterfly I have seen this season, landing right beside where I'm sitting.

The rest of the afternoon we spent sitting down at the dock. It's hot and muggy at 27C with no wind. Too hot to sit on our deck or the front of our house. If the water in the lake wasn't so cold, I would've jumped in.

Monday we went into Duncan for our Covid shots and for a bit of shopping. Back home for 11:30 just in time to go to Jake's at the Lake for senior's day lunch. We noticed that the lake is higher than usual and you can see it flowing right over the weir at a fast pace. We should be good for water levels this summer as it is usually down quite a bit by now.

My afternoon is spent prepping for cooking my brisket on the Traeger tomorrow. I injected and seasoned it and left it in the fridge overnight. Otherwise, another lazy afternoon sitting on our driveway patio.

Tuesday we woke up to rain. I woke at 4am to get the Traeger going for the brisket by 4:30 am. It will be so worth it in 11 hours though. I made a potato salad in the morning, so dinner would be ready when the brisket is done.

The Brisket cooked exactly 10 hours and after an hour resting ... delicious. Nice and juicy. An early dinner at 4 pm. :)

My Uncle Ken unexpectedly passed away on June 3rd. So sad for my family and my Aunt Norma. They had been married for 62 years. They always came and visited us where ever we moved to. Lots of memories. 

RIP Uncle Ken, you will be missed terribly.

The picture below is me at 1 years old. He was always in my life. I think this is when they had my Christening.

L to R Val Eves, Ken holding me, behind my Uncle Paul, my Mom Stella, Dad George and Jean Westaway.

Ken's favourite thing, fishing.

Steelhead Fishing, Yakoun River, Haida Gwaii

Uncle Ken, Grandson Connor and Kristi

Our Lakehouse

Touring Maple Bay

Walking the beach at Lakeview Park, next door.

Fishing at Morsby Camp, Haida Gwaii

Helping Ken set up camp.

Walking beach in Haida Gwaii

Catching fish from our campsite at MackTush, Port Alberni

Kenneth (Ken) McCormack

May 21, 1931 - June 3, 2024

Kenneth Peter McCormack passed away suddenly on Monday, June 3, 2024 at the age of 93.

He is predeceased by his brothers Duncan and George.

Ken is lovingly remembered and survived by his wife of 62 years Norma, son Gordon, daughter Pamela and four grandchildren Connor, Jackson, Nicole and Kendra. He will be greatly missed by many other extended family and friends.

A memorial service will be held at 1pm, Saturday, June 15th at the Kearney Funeral Chapel, 219 – 6th Street, New Westminster, BC. Please join us for a gathering and refreshments in the reception hall following the service.

Memorials may be made to the charity of your choice.

May showers brings Junes Flowers, at least I hope so! May 26 - June 2nd

Sunday's cloudy with some showers that ended late morning. With some beef short ribs to cook and Ray's suggestion of Short Rib Ragu over pasta, I took a while to cook but it turned out delicious. Kept me busy.

The weather for the rest of this week is wet, wet, wet. A good forecast to help with the forest fires in the north and help us keep our forests damp down here. Not the most pleasant for us though. We were supposed to go with the kids for a family camp at Salmon Point for a week starting this weekend. Glad we're not going with all the rain forecast. I wouldn't be surprised if they cancel too. Not much fun in a small trailer with a new puppy and Amelia trying to stay dry.

Wednesday I headed up to Nanaimo to get the hitch put in the new car. Jason picked me up at 10 from Mid Island Trailer and Hitches. I took him out for an early lunch and then we did some shopping for Ray for car washing stuff at Canadian Tire. 

The landscaping at Jason and Kristi's is getting close to completion, with the sod going down today.

We were just back home at Jason's and got the call they finished the car at noon. Back to pick up my car and then back to Jason's to pick up our utility trailer and pressure washer to take back to the lake. I arrived home at 2 pm.  It isn't raining at Jason's, but it is of course for me unloading the car, lol.

Thursday is mostly cloudy with sunny breaks. We kept hoping to sit outside but it's too cool. Finally at 3, we sat out on the deck with the heaters on. Ray did a little work on our front mini irrigation system, climbing up a 3 step. That's his exercise for the day, stairs. 

Meanwhile, I spent the morning doing laundry and prepping my Beef Wellington dinner. It turned out fabulous. Ray's a happy guy.

Prepped and ready for it's cover of puff pastry. Prosciutto, mushroom duxelle and dijon mustard.

It turned out beautiful.

Garlic mashed potatoes, parmesan asparagus, tomato salad with gremolata (mashed herbs from my garden) as sides to the main event ... Beef Wellington with mushroom gravy.

Friday morning, we woke to a beautiful sunny morning. We'll enjoy it, as it apparently is the last one for several days. Forecast predicts a cooler moist pattern for the first week of June.

We will be having grey showery days from Saturday to next Wednesday before the weather changes to hot and sunny. We both did a little gardening. I really like the look of my garden now that the bushes are pruned.

This guy constantly pecks at our woodstove chimney in the yard. Fortunately we don't hear him while we are sleeping ...  I even tied some small metal plates to discourage him but it didn't work.

Finally had my hair appointment and got my short summer "look" done. Feels so much better.

My garden is producing some beautiful flowers for cutting, peonies and iris's.

Saturday, back to grey skies and some drizzle first thing and then just cloudy for the rest of the day. Ray's out pruning the top of our lilac bush now that it's finished blooming. I spread some more grass seed in some "bald spots" on the back lawn and top dressed them with topsoil to keep the birds from eating it. Next it's into the front garden for some more pruning as I realized a couple of my sprinkler heads are buried under the bottom branches of a couple of shrubs. The yard is coming together.

As I mentioned earlier, Kristi, Jason and Amelia are supposed to go to Salmon Point for our Family Camp that we cancelled for us this year. However, Amelia got sick with a fever and is throwing up. She always seems to get sick on Kristi's holidays. With that and the forcasted rain, they decided to stay home. If she feels better and no one else gets sick, they could come down for a visit.

Ray finished my hat "wall art". Yes I have a lot of hats. lol

Jason took Amelia earlier this week to the bike store and had her scooter tricked out with tassles, a basket and a new dinosaur helmet.

Amelia and Olaf are great buddies.

That's our week.