Our 45th Anniversary Today

Finally got the trailer cleaned out and put away on Wednesday afternoon. Our daughter and grandkids were here and picked blueberries, blackberries, apples and also got some beans and zuchinni..."grocery shopping at Grandma's and Papa's"!!! We all went over to my Mom's because my sister and her daughter were there. Mom and my sister made dinner for us to celebrate our 45th anniversary...a bit early but at least we were all together!

Thursday morning our friends R&C called so I invited them down to pick some blueberries. They also got some beans, zuchinni and apples then we went to the local casino and they bought us lunch. It's been such a fluke because 2 years ago they bought their motorhome on our anniversary then last year we bought our new trailer on their anniversary...neither of us knew the other's anniversary at the time...but we do now!!! The casino had a special on pasta with your choice of pasta, sauce and meat or seafood. It was really yummy.

Friday we took Mom to the lab for some blood work and when we got home B cut the grass and I canned 9 quarts of beans and made some applesauce. G&D phoned and asked us to go to their place for a visit and see a DVD of the Baltic cruise they had been on. Really enjoyed the evening. We thought we'd meet for breakfast this morning but unfortunately it didn't work out, but tonight we're going to #1 daughter's and son-in-law's for dinner to celebrate our anniversary. Can't believe we've been married for 45 years! My Dad always told me you only get 25 years for murder!!!

Are We Backwards???

We finally managed to get out in the trailer. Left late Sunday night to avoid the long border lineups...it worked...only 8 or 10 cars ahead of us. Unfortunately I thought we were leaving Monday so when B suggested we leave Sunday night it was quite a rush to pack...not to mention I'd been canning beans, freezing applesauce and blueberries and blanching eat-all peas to freeze...it's no woner I ended up forgetting more than I remembered to pack!!

We spent the first night in the casino parking lot...drove in there at midnight so was really thankfull that we weren't trying to back into a campsite...just pulled into the lot beside a motorhome. Next morning we went to get some groceries...trailer in tow...thankfully Fred Meyers has a nice big parking lot! Came back to the casino to partake of the senior's buffet...mmmm...it was soooo good. Even had these little oysters cooked in the half shell with a creamy tarragon sauce....I don't even like oysters, but these were delicious!!!

Went and checked into the Naco park...part of our Thousand Trails membership. Nice park and very nicely maintained with really nice clean showers and rest rooms. Only problem is...it's raining! Not to fret we've camped in the rain before. By the end of the week it was sunny and hot...just in time for us to come home....Think something is backwards here...shouldn't we be home in the rain and camping in the sun???? Oh well, we had a very relaxing getaway and looking forward to our next outing!

Boo Hoo Didn't make it out in the Trailer

We were supposed to be out with the trailer this past week but Mom wasn't well so we took her to the Dr., and I just didn't feel comfortable leaving when she wasn't up to par (especially in this heat) so we decided to stay at home. I think there was a master plan in there somewhere because after we cancelled we got a couple of days of record breaking heat and a bunch of days of just plain HOT so it was probably better that we were at home...and Mom's doing much better!

On the positive side of things we did get to go swimming in #1 daughter's pool a couple of times, had friends over one day and our son and his family and #1 daughter over on Monday to pick blueberries and have lunch. I even got to play with my grand daughter and hold (not spoil) my new grandson! Our new neighbour asked if we could spare a bag of apples to make an apple pie. She came over and I loaded her up with 3 bags of apples from our trees. The next day she brought us an apple crumble...yum...Picked and canned 18 pints of beans and made some apple-pudding cakes and tons of applesauce. Got my rose bushes trimmed and B got the garage doors painted. Whew!!! no wonder I'm tired!!! .... and to think we could have been out camping, sitting back and reading a book!

You know your getting old when...

This is quite the heat wave we're having. We broke the record for the highest temp set at Vancouver Airport on Wed then broke that record again yesterday. The previous record was set in August 1960...it's scary, but I remember that day vividly! I went upstairs, laid on my bed and thought it was sure hot. The radio was on THE "in station" C-FUN and the anouncer said it was 91 degrees...of course we were in faranheit at that time! All the teens listened to C-FUN and especially to the DJ Red Robinson.

Wednesday night we were invited to #1 daughter's for a swim in their pool...Heavenly!!! Cooled us down nicely. Last night we couldn't go for another swim so I had a long COLD bath. This morning we have the nice cool breeze that we almost always have here so it is rather pleasant. I've got the windows open and the fans on to get the house cooled down because it's supposed to get hot again this afternoon. Better get off the computer so I can go out and pick some blueberries to have on our ice cream tonight.

Quite a Day!

B took the car in for servicing today...he even got the air conditioner fixed!!! While he was gone I had the house to myself so I got busy, put the big floor fan in the kitchen so it was nice and cool. and I made a double batch of Pineapple-zuchinni cake and a double batch of chocolate-chocolate chip zuchinni cakes. After I cleaned up the mess (I always make such a mess when I'm baking!) and got all the cakes out of the oven I decided to try something different.

My friend W gave me this cooker which is really interesting...only problem is the instructions are in German and I don't know any German...oh well...nothing ventured, nothing gained. The cooker consists of a shallow bottom pan, which you fill with water. The second part has a hose coming out of the bottom and it goes over the first pan. Inside the second part is a perforated liner into which you put fruit. Put it on the stove and as it cooks juice comes out the hose and runs into the bottle you have ready for it. I cut up a bunch of apples that had fallen off our transparent apple tree and put them in the cooker....what do you know??? It worked great! I got 1 3/4 quarts of juice then I let the apples cool a bit and put them through the colander and made a big bowl of applesauce.

Beside the cooker you can see one of the chocolate zuchinni cakes, which we just had to try to see if it turned out good...the rest all got wrapped up and put into the freezer before we started testing them as well!!

Back in Town

We got back from camping at Cultus Lake Thousand Trails with our daughter and grandkids. Had a great time. Sunday night there was a thunder and lightening storm. I'm used to living in a flat area where these storms blow over rather quickly...not so up in the mountains. It started late in the evening and flashed, rumbled and echoed all night long. I felt sorry for the the families whose kids were sleeping in tents...it was noisy enough in the trailer! Kinda neat though! We've been through lightening and thunder storms, hail storms, snow storms and even an earthquake with our old trailer. With this trailer we've been in snow and now thunder and lightening.

Yesterday we spent the day taking Mom over the new Golden Ears Bridge and headed out to Webster's Corners where Mom had lived on an 80 acre farm. Saw her old school and even drove up to the farm which is now subdivided into several farms. We went up what would have been the original driveway and saw the hazlenut trees and the old pond but it felt strange not see Grandpa's old dog come running down to meet us! Funny the little things that stick in your memory! Visited with my Uncle who still lives in the area and we also drove up to Rolley Lake Campground. We used to go camping there in our tent trailer when our kids were little...hard to believe that was 40 odd years ago!! Talk about a trip down memory lane!!!!

Cherries, cherries and more cherries!

My sister was in town for a couple of days. She came over with her daughter and our Mom and picked a couple buckets of cherries off our tree and we had a good visit. We also picked a couple of buckets. Friday we went to visit R&A. We met these people about 19 years ago when we were camping...of course I brought them a bag of cherries. Saturday we went to a bar-b-que and I was asked to bring dessert for 16 people, so I brought a cake and a big bowl of cherries. Someone else had also brought dessert so I got some bags and sent cherries home with everyone. Went to church today and gave some friends a bag of cherries. D phoned tonight and said how wonderful they tasted! Tonight our friends G&D came and they picked two buckets of cherries. They are so ripe and sweet right now, but we can't reach any more so the rest will be left for the birds...hope they enjoy them as much as we did!!

This tree hasn't produced much fruit for years and usually the birds get all the cherries. This year it's gone crazy!!! We must have picked at least 25 or 30 ice cream buckets of cherries off that tree!! I looked at the blueberry bushes and they are just beginning to ripen and it looks like there'll be a bumper crop of them as well...but those two bushes always do produce a lot of berries!!