Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Cruising

We went to Alaska on a big boat. Here's what that looked like (in random order, for reasons I can't figure out):


Crusing

Friday, June 2, 2017

Business time

I got a new job. "Yes, you told me that months ago" would be a reasonable response - but I have an even newer job than that. In short, I was looking for a job and then I found a job (and heaven knows I'm... etc.) and then a different one found me. So I'm back in the small world of trying to stop cancer, working with some folks I know and some I'm getting to know. To celebrate this change we moved my office to the basement into the "amazing wallpaper" room. I did get rid of the haggard carpet and painted some of the brown parts green. 

Speaking of brown, if it wasn't for the upstairs bathroom we would currently be celebrating the end of the War on Beige we have been fighting in our house. The hallway is now green. We had to find a colour that would collide pleasingly with purple (living room) and blue (kitchen). It's a fine line between colorful and living in a circus big-top.

Collision
I also was able to live out one of my greatest ambitions - owning a really big paper lampshade. Even since I found this amazing bamboo-stuff importers in our old neighborhood I knew the dream of owning a lampshade that was last fashionable around the time of my birth could be made real. There was a healthy layer of dust on the packaging when I went to buy the Holy Grail, so perhaps it actually dates from the 1970s. Tav greeted our new addition by saying "Ball!" at it every time he passed for three days.

The Dream - realized
And now onto outdoor news. We finally made it to the Kal Park waterfall. This thing is hidden out of sight, which is a shame seeing as it's pretty nice. Tav wasn't terribly keen on the noise, as you might be able to detect in this picture.

"This wonder of nature is too loud"
Then last weekend we did some brief camping at Sugar Lake which is conveniently located about an hour away. We loaded up our truck with the canoe and a large tent from Walmart - then realized our cultural assimilation to the Okanagan is complete. We're going to buy a better tent so we can at least pretend to still be outdoor snobs.

"What if I just lean a little bit further..."

"Mine now"
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Back at home, the massive snowpack is finally melting and has stolen our local beach. On the positive side, the lake is now about 15 meters less far to walk from our house.


As if pictures of our new lampshade weren't thrilling enough, here are some of a pile of dirt and some grass. Those are among the new things that arrived in our back yard the past month. Don't fear though - the pumptrack survives, but has become somewhat gentrified.

Yes, it's a pile of dirt

I should have taken the opportunity to have a go at driving this - but didn't.

A few week later, we have this.

Blueberries and raspberries - one day.