THE DAYS COME AND GO IN THE OKANAGAN

 The clouds were moving in over the lake

Hockey hockey everwhere

What about the Phoenix Coyotes????

Meet Hunter

Mr. Friendly dog

Mr. Peppy dog

A true true companion

The young boy's school had an open house

This is his self portrait

Here's the big guy

the young boy

and

the little boy

checking out the workbook

This wasp nest hangs in the library

Imagine having this view in your

school playground

Posters in the gym

They say it all

Everyone loves the playground equipment

The little boy comes for a visit downstairs ..........

He comes into our room

Hi Ganny

Where's Bing?

This little fellow is

an animal lover

that's for sure!!!!!

We spotted the doe and her fawn in an apple orchard

The fawn seems to be fascinated with the dogs

We've taken in some hockey games

The young boy has the puck

He got a hat-trick

One day we jumped on the quad and

went down through

the vineyard to the cliff to collect rocks

Hunter and Gwendolyn chased after us

Some of the rows are really long

I can't even guess how many grapes

we have picked

Tasting the grapes

The 'pickers' have a pail that they fill with grapes

The pail is emptied into the large white bin

The bin is picked up and loaded on a truck

which takes the grapes to the winery

A bin weighs approximately

800 to 1,000 pounds when full of grapes

When the grapes arrive

at the winery

they are weighed by Lyndsay

'the vintner'

She then takes over and

does her job

Lyndsay has been working

very hard

day in and day out

seven days a week

One day we will sample her 2010 harvest wine!!!!!!

KETTLE VALLEY TRAIL

The Kettle Valley railway was the tie that bound the Kootenays to the rest of BC.  It started at Hope and went all the way to Midway, a total of 325 miles.  The building of the railway started in 1910, finished July 31, 1916

Myra Canyon
Sixteen trestle bridges cross along a 18 mile stretch of railway.  Myra Canyon was destroyed in the Okanagan Mt. park fire in 2003.  It officially re-opened June 22, 2008.  All trestles have been re-built to historical specifications using BC wood and labour

I have not seen the trestles yet....... a good hike for Joe and I

*******************

One beautiful sunny morning

Lyndsay, myself

Hunter and Gwendolyn

took a walk along the

Kettle Valley trail 

We drove to an area then 'hoofed' it along the trail

The horses were oblivious

to us

This is a straw bale house

What a view from the trail

Okanagan Lake in the background

Rows and rows of grapes with

mesh nets protecting the

grapes from birds

We met up the doggie daycare lady

Hunter sometimes goes for a day

Gwendolyn and Hunter visited when

we were in Windsor

You can count on me to find

this pit stop!

Sorry, you can't come in

not enough room

As I walked the trail

I kept thinking about the train engineers

How they would have loved this route

Yeah

We see the tunnel

As we came around each turn

I expected to see the tunnel

But

it was a long time coming!!!!

Imagine the work that went into getting

through this rock

and

building the track way back in 1910

What a magificent view coming out of the tunnel

Thank goodness cars are allowed on the trail

Lyndsay and Hunter jogged back down the trail

to pick up the car

as

Gwendolyn was plum tuckered

So could not make it back down

Gwendolyn and I slowly walked along

In the distance we saw two deer

however

they hip hopped down the slope

before we could catch up to them

It was quite the walk

a good morning

THE SECOND DAY OF STROLLING DOWN MEMORY LANE...........

I've decided to tell three stories

the first being

Two Families

the second being

Seven Families getting together

for summer parties

and

November birthday celebrations

the third being

A trip to Prince Edward Island

shared by seven friends

I googled 'friend' on the computer

Value that is found in friendships, is often the result of a friend demonstrating the following on a consistant basis

The tendancy to desire what is best for the other

Sympathy and empathy

Honesty

Mutual understanding

Trust in one another

THESE ARE OUR FRIENDS

WAY BACK WHEN!!!

Oh.... we were young and foolish

OMG

Dig those plaid pants

Here's Jack

Mugan as a young Mom

We played volleyball at Stag Island

and

at the home of Jack and Janette

on the river road

Chatham

We also played horseshoes

Children gathered

Kelly and Mary Beth

Lynn and Amy

Kelly and Sharron on the same team

Sharron....... the water is a bit far from the cup!!!!!

Lynn and her Dad

Some of the girls

Jacqueline, Kelly Ann, Mary Ann Jennifer, Stephanie

Jeff, Jacqueline, Shawn

CELEBRATING BIRTHDAYS

BIRTHDAY CAKES

FOR MANY YEARS THE COUPLES GOT TOGETHER

FOR A WEEKEND OF CELEBRATION

TO HONOUR THE BIRTHDAY LADIES AND MEN

EACH SPOUCE HAD A BIRTHDAY IN NOVEMBER

The cake is there but we also have Donna Mae

holding up a large photo of the gang

which had been made into a puzzle

Check out Mr. Finn

snuggling up to Mugan!!!!!

On one occasion Joe could not attend a gathering of the friends so

HE SENT ME WITH A DATE!!!!!

I must say

He was not as handsome as my husband

ON TO THE BEST

 

WE HAD SOME GREAT LAUGHS

Shared hugs

and

Cigars

EACH YEAR THE 'BIRTHDAY PERSON'

Was responsible for bringing

 birthday gifts

As you can see

they had to think outside the box

Not sure what Mugan and Sue are up to??????

They look good though

Joe's gifts to everyone

NEW CLOTHES FROM THE GOOD WILL

Lovely, just lovely!!!!

Life doesn't get any better than this

PERSONALIZED LICENSE PLATES

And

Your very own plaque

We even had jackets

with

November displayed on the sleeve

WOW

YOU MUST BE FAMILIAR

WITH THE SONG

THAT'S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR

WE ARE FRIENDS

Such a wonderful journey

we've  shared

We couldn't have done  it so far without

each other