Life's a Stitch

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.

It was Chuck’s birthday, something that doesn’t thrill him these days. His only wish for his day doesn’t involve favourite food except for Pavlova, the lighter than air Aussie dessert named for ballerina, Anna Pavlova.

Here is the inside. When hearing that it’s meringue like, some assume it will be dry and crispy when in fact only the outside has a crust, the inside is soft and delicious.

Pavlova history: my best ever, back when I didn’t reduce the sugar to make it “healthier”:

Grandson Rye at 3:

And now at 14:

The recipe

Ingredients:

 6 egg whites (without one smidge of yolk!)

1¼ C sugar

3t cornstarch

1t white vinegar

1t vanilla

Whipped cream (made from 1-2 C of cream)

Fruit for top – bananas, berries, kiwi

Preheat oven to 290 degrees F (a fully preheated oven will assure that there is no moisture present). Line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Draw a 10-11” circle on parchment.

Place egg whites in a large, dry mixing bowl. Beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar beating thoroughly after each addition. Continue to beat for 4-10 minutes until sugar is dissolved. Fold in cornstarch, vanilla and vinegar.

Spread mixture onto circle marked on parchment. Shape evenly, running along edges and top with a flat bladed knife to achieve a smooth look. Run knife vertically up the edges all around (see photo). This is not only decorative but gives the Pavlova structure.

Bake 40 minutes until pale and crisp. Turn off oven and cool with oven door ajar. Top with whipped cream and fruit (recommendation – assemble and refrigerate just prior to meal at which it will be served).

More blossoms.

And a sweet spring bunny appreciating the flowers as much as I do.

My new garden elephant:

I wanted so much to bring back a metal garden sculpture from Tanzania, but there was no way to get it home. I found this, made by a family business in Indonesia, in a thrift store three blocks from home. Memories of two past trips: Africa and Indonesia.

They were late this year, but I made sure my walks passed some of the most impressive.

Today starts the time when you walk through drifts of petals:

I did a quick little painting using the paper and paints Elina gave me for my birthday:

I finished the self striping cardigan:

Pattern: Double Crochet All The Way by CroJennifer https://crochetjennifer.com/collections/cardigans/products/double-crochet-all-the-way-cardigan-crochet-pattern

Yarn: Sirdar Jewelspun – I really liked this yarn despite it being acrylic and I’m a yarn snob.

Colourway: Glacier

Yardage: bought three balls and used an over two and a half, a total of 513 grams/1282 meters.

It took me about three months as a couple of weeks in I realized I was going to need more yarn. Ordered from the UK, it took a wrong turn, sitting in the US for a month. So frustrating to view it in tracking trying the clear customs in the wrong country.

Very happy with the outcome, it fits perfectly. I had difficulty with the pattern in the beginning, but by the end had it memorized. Pattern designer is available for help and replies very quickly. She also has Youtube videos on customizing fit and assembling projects.

I deviated from the pattern by assembling it first, then adding a double crochet front and back rib all around, with five button holes and ribbing on the cuffs. Now waiting for custom wood buttons from Chuck’s workshop.