Fran is treed!

Yesterday was an exciting day for Frannie and his caretakers. Connor, the neighbour's dog managed to send Frannie scurrying up a pine tree near the back door. Connor was very pleased with his efforts. Frannie was not!! He finally returned to earth with a thud and spent the rest of the day in recovery mode. The food dish was visited at intervals and requests were made frequently for water from dripping taps but there was no way that he was going outside again.

Of course, in typical cat fashion, after sleeping and resting all day he was more than ready to play all night. We finally closed the door, excluding our bedroom from the play area.

This morning, after the usual affectionate greeting (ie: thank God you're still here), a quick nibble at the food dish and a sip of water he demanded to be released. Is it possible that they forget so easily?

When Connor came around the side of the house looking for cookies, Fran bolted for the door with a frantic look that said "Let me in! I remember him!"

The avid reader

He has finished reading Thomas King's "The Inconvenient Indian"...twice!

Apparently almost every line required highlighting!

This is a throwback to University days when underlining

helped to reinforce the importance of the message.

He has just started reading Orhan Pamuk's "Snow".

Thankfully there is no pen in hand.

Next is Will Ferguson's "419"...

...after I finish with it!

Weekend visitors

The weather is warmer every day since the storm passed through. Dorothy and Kevin (my sister and her husband) came for a visit this weekend bringing a load of fresh fruit, amazing steaks and a bottle of tasty wine. We drove over to Lightning Lake and walked around a portion of the trails.

The day park area is home to hundreds of ground squirrels. Their network of underground tunnels and entrance holes makes it very risky to walk on the grassy bits so we stayed on the pathways.

Two brave bodies decided to cross over on logs!

From Lightning Lake we drove up to Cascade Lookout, a steep and winding road that led to a gorgeous viewpoint over the mountains and down to Manning Park Lodge.

Leaving the viewpoint we continued to climb up a gravel road to the Alpine Meadows. I am not sure if they were in full bloom but there were some beautiful samples.

Later in the afternoon we continued with our pentathlon. It was a challenging competition of Mexican Train, UNO, Saskatchewan Rummy, Baganole and a final bout of Mexican Train as a tie breaker.

Dorothy and I were forced to concede the championship to the men!

C-C-Cold at Eastgate

11.7 degrees outside at 2:00pm

We are very grateful to have this fireplace

and a generous supply of firewood to keep us cozy!!

The first visitors

We have company and they brought groceries! Adrian and Ashley arrived on Monday night, driving from Vancouver after work. Yesterday the four of us went for a river walk in the morning.

C-c-c-c-cold!

In the afternoon the young ones went for a walk around Lightning Lake Loop while we prepared a dinner of brie stuffed salmon, roasted baby potatoes and blue cheese, bacon enhanced broccoli salad. When they returned we held a triathlon of Baganole, UNO and Mexican Train.

It was a bitterly fought competition between the girls and the boys, interrupted only by a delicious dinner and several glasses of wine. The victors lorded it over the girls before we all fell into bed, exhausted from the challenge!

Sunday activities

John decided to help this morning.

He managed to find a dust buster and tackled the carpet.

After the carpet cleaning exertion we headed down to the river.

The sun was trying to shine but it was mostly cloudy this morning.

Very peaceful... only saw two other people and one dog.

Thistle Road

Our morning walks take us down a winding hairpin road to the highway. John swears that it is at least a 3000 foot decline in elevation! It feels like that on the return uphill portion of our walk. The road is named Thistle Road and is lined with fireweed, lupin, clover, yarrow, many more wildflowers, grasses and, of course, hundreds of purple blooming thistle plants. Chipmunks entertain us with their chatter and acrobatics. Birds sing and flit.

At regular intervals there are small wooden structures on posts with the same telephone number printed on the front of each box. I peeked inside to discover coils of fire fighting hoses. Adjacent to each box is a hydrant. One of these is situated close to our driveway. Given the current forest fire situation in BC, this is very reassuring.