Life's a Stitch

This is a picture of Janett 23 years ago, prior to her arrival in North Vancouver as our homestay student.

This is Janett now. So happy!

Twenty three years ago Bryant was 12 years old, about her daughter Emma’s age. Emma pointed out that Janett has known our family longer than she has known her own immediate family. We have history.

So much fun. While they visited we watched BC Day fireworks from our deck.

There was a daytime show in the sky, the Canadian snowbirds performing one off their last shows prior to going on hiatus as they wait three years for the construction of new planes.

A flying object on the beach didn’t fare so well. We bought the pirate ship kite in Bali. Over the years it suffered seemingly irreparable damage and as C was headed to the trash bin a man stopped him. He explained he used to have a similar kite from Bali and would be willing to give this one the tlc it needed to try and fly it again. Done. I hope we see it fulfilling its purpose in the future.

We drove the 12 minutes to Crescent Beach for a loop walk on a beautiful day.

We churned butter at the historic Stewart Farm.

When the two weeks came to a close it was time for the official group shot.

Living on the BC coast of Canada it’s easy to attract summer company. When I lived in Omaha NE, not so much. The past five weeks have been a whirlwind.

You’ve read about the first two with Mari, KC, Bella dog and puppy Luigi, whose energy in particular I miss.

Shortly thereafter, Bryant arrived with Justus, a friend from Berlin. They overlapped with former homestay student, Janett (who joined our family 23 years ago) accompanied by her wife, Anne and their daughter, Emma (age 11), all also from Berlin. Emma did a good job filling in the missing sweet Luigi energy.

This post will focus on the food, which was spectacular. Justus treated us to his mother’s one pan salmon recipe that required a giant cooking vessel. Always wanting a handled roasting pan, I found this recently, new in box at the Salvation Army.

My other purchase that day was a new kabob attachment for our gas grill:

Other special meals were vegetarian by Janett and Anne

and Thanksgiving in August when I discovered they had never had turkey:

Emma and I made homemade ice cream

And pizza:

The weather cooperated for a barbecue on the beach, which included Anne’s German potato salad, a recipe I’ve used many times over the years and shared with others.

The house was alive with happy voices and live music. Dinners expanded with the addition local friends. We did more than eat. Stay tuned…

In anticipation of a houseful of guests I have undertaken sheet inventory to assemble five beds. So many mismatched sets, how does that happen? The usual family scapegoat comes to mind. BRY-ANT? That’s the spelling of his name in my exasperated parent accent. He’s had a number of RV’s over the years the contents of which, when they are sold, infiltrate my linen closet.

Adding to the frustration is the fact that many are so old the tags have degraded to a point that there’s no telling their size. The thought of digging out the tape measure adds to the tedium of the task.

One bed is a full sized/double. The only sheets I can find are floral ones reminiscent of one’s granny, circa 1970’s.

I cannot bring myself to dispose of the last Charlie Brown pillowcase from my university dorm room uover fifty years ago, then passed down to my children, two of whom are in their 40’s. It’s only a pillowcase requiring minimal space.

With that task complete, we are eagerly anticipating the arrival of one of our former German students, her wife and their daughter and Bryant and his friend, also from Berlin. If anyone else shows up this weekend, you will be relegated to the camping trailer. Could be fun.

I love when the kids return to the nest. This time it was Mari, KC, Bella the grand dog:

and 12 week old Luigi, technically the great grand dog.

Bella’s recent litter have all gone to their new homes, but M & KC agreed to look after Luigi while his dads were getting engaged in Italy. Is he not one of the cutest pups you’ve ever seen or am I biased?

Bella is an Aussiedoodle and the puppies are Ausdiedoodle/Mini Poodle.

I put the humans to work in the kitchen abiding by KC’s instructions to give him the ingredients and tell him what to cook. This time it was homemade pasta – roasted cauliflower and smoked Gouda agnolotti and pappardelle with smoked short rib ragú I had in the freezer for this occasion.

Another meal included Yorkshire Puddings. I was today years old when I finally learned to make non-collapsing yorkies. It’s all about the eggs and the baking temperature.

It was a wonderful week. M and I crossed the border for a run to Trader Joe’s, Walmart and Costco. It was hard to believe that Canadians were still boycotting the US when there was an hour and 50 minute border queue. That will probably change again with today’s tariff announcement.

We participated in Pride Week festivities: the flag raising ceremony, the car parade and the family festival.

And we fit in beach time, a five minute walk from our house.

It was a perfect week revolving around food and dogs. We hosted dinner for KC’s former manager on his retirement and went out to celebrate KC’s new position as his replacement.

Today the house is too quiet and I’m counting the weeks until their return.

Driving out of Malakwa we resisted the urge to stop for a third ice cream lunch, but if we did, banana fudge might have been my choice.

Our next gas break was scheduled at Costco in Kamloops. I also wanted to pick up a gift for Rika as she and Mack bailed us out big time at Pinantan when we discovered our camp stove and gas grill had been left behind at home. They happened to have a spare of each in their shed at their seasonal campsite. And who do we run into at Costco? Mack, Rika and their son, David.

Setting up at Logan Lake we were greeted by one of the locals.

In the morning I went hiking up the snowshoe/cross country ski trails. Chuck went fishing. The trails used to be totally forested until wildfires struck a few years back.

It was a strange feeling walking amongst the skeletons of trees.

Evidence of life in a burned out stump, a young Northern Flicker waiting for a feed:

Luckily the fire didn’t jump the road into the campground.

On our last day of the trip, Mack and Rika joined us for the day as they live under an hour from Logan Lake.

I was impressed by Rika’s progress on her initial knitting project:

We took the trail through the woods to the village

and made it back just in time before the skies let loose.

It was close quarters eating lunch under our tiny awning while it poured.

After our goodbyes, C headed back to the dock for a successful round of fishing.

It’s that time of year – more baby birds in the gazebo by the dock:

The final count was six trout bound for the smoker, four caught by Chuck and two donated to the cause by Mack.

The next day was the long ride home, about six hours including a 90 minute rest stop where we both fell asleep on our comfy trailer mattress.

And that’s a wrap for the first camping trip of 2026.

The “hot pool resort” actually has several highly heated swimming pools, as opposed to natural hot springs, plus a cold plunge. It’s a little village of tiny homes, apartments and two campgrounds. Our site was nice, large and private, but located between Highway 1 and train tracks, it was not unexpectedly noisy.

It was terribly expensive, $100/night for a serviced site. And, we found out, the discounted pool admission was no bargain. If we had added that on, the bill would have been $500 for three nights. Our decision was made when we took a look at the pools that were heavily populated by families with small children and babes in diapers. I was reminded of the concept of Zuppa di Bambini (child soup). There was no adult area so we declined the bathing option.

The grounds were lovely, with walking trails along the Eagle River, passing by ruins of a former logging town.

A back road and trail took us to the “beaches,” sandy areas on the river.

On Father’s Day we hiked at Eagle River Nature Park, a beautiful quiet walk in the woods. Turn up your sound to hear the birds.

There was a grove of giant cedars. Notice little Chuck next to one?

I asked Chuck to pick a place for lunch and he chose Dutchmen’s Dairy for another ice cream meal. It made sense since we were halfway there. He chose cherry custard and triple cherry and I had maple butter, another new one for me. All the ice cream is made onsite at the dairy where you can visit the cows. First stop was the nursery.

Then the adult Holstein barn. These cows were huge.

The next morning we were serenaded by a chirping ground squirrel, our second wildlife encounter.

There was a sign posted that a cougar had been observed the morning of our arrival, but thankfully he hid from us.

All this doesn’t compare to Mari’s experience driving to Sicamous. They pulled off the road for a nature break so to speak. When she departed the cluster of trees she saw a grizzly bear down the train tracks a bit.

On our last afternoon there was a sudden heavy storm. I texted to see how houseboat Captain Mari did during the deluge. Regulars said they had never seen waves on the lake to that extent. I was glad to be on terra firma.

After three nights we were off to our beloved regular camping spot, Logan Lake, BC.

We met Mari and KC at our campsite located at a golf course. They had ten spaces right on the river.

We spotted our first wildlife. Not a great photo, but it’s a Beaver swimming by dragging a branch for its den.

Dinner was at the Narrows Smokehouse in downtown Sicamous. It was impressive for a town with a population of 2854. We met up with most of the group of friends who had rented an armada of five houseboats.

The Best Western had no dog friendly rooms available, so we took Mari and KC’s Bella for the night. She slept right up against my leg as our Gracee used to do on occasion.

It was her first night away from her recent litter of five puppies. I think she was enjoying her freedom.

In the morning we joined Mari and KC for breakfast at the hotel, returning to the campsite with friends waiting for their boarding time.

Lunch was at Dutchmen’s Dairy Ice Cream Shop.

My kids remember when I’d let them have ice cream instead of lunch or dinner, when we’d drive past Edeleen Dairy in Washington.

My favourite is peach ice cream, but I made the decision to choose a flavour that I’d never tasted and don’t have access to. Out of their huge selection I tried the lemon pie ice cream, vanilla ice cream with lemon custard. Delicious. Chuck had wild berries and cream flavour.

We said our goodbyes and continued our trip to Malakwa, 25 minutes down the road.

Our sixth time here, we had an unpleasant surprise. The campsites were reconfigured and the neighbour’s utility connections took up a significant amount of room in your site. The meant while sitting under your awning or eating, you were a couple of feet from the neighbour’s sewage connection. The tiny picket fence didn’t add the intended charm.

Not an issue unless they decide to dump their tanks while you are present. It happened two days in a row.

We didn’t appreciate the lack of warning. Next year more reconfiguring is planned, leaving only one nightly rental on our level. The owners have come to the conclusion that seasonal guests are less work (and presumably provide more income?). And although the planters had been removed from the campsites I was glad the Persian Cornflowers were still located near the office.

There’s lots of good walking opportunities in the area. Mack, Rika and I hiked to the top of Gibraltar Rock from Paul Lake Provincial Park.

Up we went, passing strategically placed fairy doors.

The view was spectacular in both directions. Toward the west:

And the east:

Other walks took us past aspens with their watching eye shapes, flanked by wild roses.

Red Columbine were everywhere.

Other than the daily explorations on foot, we knitted, I sketched and the four of us played the card game Gnomin’ Around every night. I highly recommend it and it makes a great gift.

The sunset lighting was beautiful as usual.

After five nights we moved on to our next destination, Sicamous, where we rendezvoused with Mari and KC for one night. They were boarding a houseboat the next morning with a large group of friends.

We had our first camping trip this year, in and out of cell reception. First stop was two nights in Kamloops, visiting our travel mates, Mack and Rika. My favourite view en route on the Coquihalla Highway:

When we arrived, we were greeted with a rainbow view from their deck on the golf course:

The next morning our little trailer had an appointment for service as the fridge wasn’t working. Suffice it to say we paid $207 for a bit of knowledge we should have known that would have avoided the entire scenario. We have an alternative name for that – stupidity tax.

Next up was an afternoon wine tasting at Privato Winery, a five minute drive from their house. Mack is a member, and as long as he buys six bottles of wine quarterly, he can bring up to three guests for free tastings.

On Saturday morning, looking at the view coming up the steps from their lower level guest suite, I saw we were in for good camping weather:

Check in at Pinantan Lake resort was not until 3:00, giving us a chance to visit Kamloops’ impressive weekend farmer’s market where Rika bought her first skein of yarn in preparation for her knitting lessons. She chose the Sparkle Plenty merino from local dyer, Smith and Ewe yarns. The colourway is Iceland Lights and has a thin strand of silver running throughout. Rika is a quick learner and in three hours had the hang of four stitches to start a scarf.

I packed our refrigerator as our food for the two week trip was transported in four coolers and stored in Rika’s freezer and fridge. Thank goodness she had space.

We left at 2:15 for the 35 minute drive to where M&R have their trailer parked for seasonal use. Another one of my favourite views, a subject of a past painting:

To be continued…

First let’s start with the definition of a dilemma according to the Cambridge Dictionary:

A challenging situation where you must choose between two or more options, all of which are equally difficult, undesirable, or unpleasant.

Tonight I find myself embroiled in a dilemma of the plastic kind. There are four locations on our property where an assortment of plastic food storage containers are stored: the kitchen, the downstairs suite, the camping trailer and a piece of furniture where we store items needing to be transferred to the camper. The issue at hand being there are maybe 100 pieces consisting of lids and bottoms and not all match.

The kitchen is easy as daughter Mari has gifted me high quality, easily nested sets over the years. Their drawer, however, has been invaded by prolific strangers requiring sorting. How and when do those lids and bottoms without matches multiply without my knowledge? Part has to do with a spouse that doesn’t follow food storage instructions. Accompanied by a lesson in container organization, that drawer now looks organized. For now, anyway.

Next comes the sorting: Rubbermaid, Ziplock, Glad, Betty Crocker (the Dollar Store brand), restaurant takeaway containers. This solves the chicken and egg question – which break first, the container or the lid? There are easily 50% more lids than bottoms, mostly of the restaurant variety with writing marked in Sharpie ink: eggplant, lamb, butter chicken…

Sorting done, it’s easy to keep sets of four or more of the same size. Here’s the dilemma. What do you do with individual containers and lids that don’t stack and take up too much storage space? Take them camping and hope they break? Recycle them? They aren’t good enough for the thrift store. A dilemma, indeed.