Eagle gifts on a Sunday evening

the late crew still in the water

Sunday was a scorcher (into the 40s) plus some smoke hanging in the air from the new forest fires burning up the Seymour Arm of the Shuswap, and at Mara Lake.  

right at my feet!

While much of the day  involved hiding in the basement to catch the coolest air, as the sun started to set, the temperature began to come back down, and I could see beautiful golden colours emerging in the sky.  

I grabbed bathing suit and towel, thinking to both get a swim, and capture the sun as it was going down. 

an eagle feather waiting for me to find it

As I started walking along the beachfront to where I could hear a bunch of the cousins and niblings playing in the water, I looked down and saw a feather just laying there.   

Not just any old feather.  A beautiful eagle feather.   Just waiting for me to find it.  :-) 

Not one to decline such a gift, I picked it up and continued my walk down the beach.   As I approached the folks already in the water, I started waving my feather and yelling "An eagle feather".  They were yelling something back at me like, "An eagle".   And I was saying "Yup!   An eagle feather."  

Betty Blanche is looking up at the eagle...i couldn't see it yet

But as I got closer, I saw that they had not noticed the feather I was waving at them, but were pointing up to a tree on the beach, where they were telling me an eagle was perched.  Possibly contemplating an evening meal. 

Can you find the eagle here?

I had trouble seeing where it was, so Tim (who was out in the water), made me keep moving around on the beach til I had the right angle to see where it was perched. 

  
Difficult to see with my naked eyes, but once I could see where it was, I knew that the zoom on the camera would do the trick!  So I dragged a beach chair down to the waterline, and set myself up.   The eagle was kind enough to stay put for me, and I got the gift of a feather, of some of its time, and a few closeup photos!  

I also got a  minute of video footage (a bit shaky, as I was using 128x zoom with no tripod!)

Here is the link:  https://youtu.be/tdZ7vLpbkH0

Catching the Moon

It has been a bit hard to get nightime photos of the moon.   Most days, we can see it in the late afternoon sky, framed in pale blue. Here is what it looked like yesterday afternoon (July 13), while we were down at the lake for a last swim while the sun was sliding behind Bastion Mountain. 

the moon on one side of the lake...

...while the sun was setting on the other side

I do love the moon with that blue background, but it always looks sharper as the sky darkens.  Unfortunately for me, as the sky darkens, that darned moon drops down behind the mountains, and that is that.  

But tonight, 10 minutes standing at the top of the road (5 corners) let me follow the moon as it ended its soujourn in the sky.   Here are some photos (taken with my Canon for closeups!), in the order in which they were taken.

I did try to capture a bit of the 'moonset' in video.  Apologies that it is a bit jiggly. I didn't have a tripod with me, so was just trying to rest the camera against Uncle Dave's truck!  :-)

https://youtu.be/HjIQEODsP1U

THRIFTING - Memories of Grandma Johnson (Arta)

In early June of 2021, I asked my children to share a few of their favourite memories of my mother, Arta. Hebe and I were looking at that list today and decided we will share those memories over the coming weeks on the blog. One of Hebe's fun memories is of thrifting with Arta. Arta loved to get a good deal and one of the best ways to get a good deal is to find things at the thrift store. One of her favourite thrift stores was Church's in Salmon Arm, B.C. Here is a photo collage from a trip to Churchs with Arta in the summer of 2018. Hebe was ten years old at that time. First stop was to look at the crafting materials. Hebe found a great knitting loom, so Arta took her over to purchase some yarn to go with it.

After a trip to the craft section, Arta took Hebe upstairs to the botique. Hebe loved the beautiful pink outfit on display in the stariwell.

Of course, no boutique is complete without a bridal section. Arta and Hebe went to take a peek at the recycled wedding dresses.

Although the wedding dresses were certainly too big to try on, there was always the evening wear section. Hebe picked out a beautiful sparkly dress and Arta helped her try it on. Although Hebe didn't end up purchasing it, it was certainly fun to try it on.

THRIFTING has become one of Hebe's and my favourite activities. Quite frankly, Hebe is a fabulous thrifter. She finds the cutest things and has a radar for designer fashions. Two of Hebe's most recent thrifting finds were this beautiful black embroidered dress she wore to her graduationa and a fun pink outfit that she ended up wearing to her Prom. Thanks Arta, for instilling a love of thrifting in Hebe. It has been a fun pasttime, and is certainly easier on the budget than shopping at the regular malls.

Who wore it best?

Arta was fashionable. She was often dressed to the 9s, even to go around the corner to London Drugs. Beyond jewelery and scraves, she also loved glasses. One of the most interesting pair of glasses she owned made a top ten list of glasses in 2021 Check her out wearing them here.

Everyone loved these glasses and wanted to try them on. My question is who wore them best? You can answer in the comments below.

June 24, 2024 -- first morning at the lake

When I stepped out onto the cool wet deck with my bare feet and saw this cloud hovering over the lake, i knew I was in heaven.

Then down the path to visit my lovely stream.  Ferns and foxglove on the way.

Last little bit of unfurling underway.

And then the little waterfall...

And last but not least, the skunk cabbage landing.

From the skunk cabbage I heard Rebecca come out on to the deck wondering where I was (I had gone into her room to say good morning and when she was already on a call already, took off on my adventure).

So back up to the house for some visiting.  

Perfect start to the day.

Addendum  (still day one)

Found our first friend of the trip.  Naomi named him Julian.  She later took him with her on our adventure over the Janet and Glen's pottery haven then down to the beach.  They became fast friends.

At the beach:  Axel is on his phone on a video call with his girlfriend Erica showing her the property, so she's in the photo.  Also, see if you can spot Julian.

When Rebecca arrived 2 days ago she made a goal of getting in the water everyday for 30 mins.  So I decided to join the challenge.  According to the internet, the lake is about 14C right now. In case you're not sure.... that is cold.

Post swim.

Rachel Franklin Doll - Part 2

The Story of How the Rachel Franklin Doll come to live at my house in Montreal. The story begins many years before. Really it began the first time I saw Rachel at Arta's house. I loved her. She reminded me so much of Arta and I loved the backend story that she had been pulled from the Johnson family reunion doll raffle and gifted specifically to Arta. I love that the women who made this doll (my aunts and cousins) knew it would be loved and appreciated by Arta.

At some point in the last decade, I made some off-handed comment to Arta like --"when you don't want that doll anymore" or "when you are downsizing your stuff" or "when you are dividing up your stuff for your children, I'd love to have it". I was shocked when she quite firmly responded with NO. I realized then how much she valued and loved the doll. I realized she had other plans for the doll, and I was only going to get to admire that doll when I came to visit Arta. One such visit was in March of 2016. I came to spend a week with Arta to get her settled into her new basement apartment at 2427 26th Ave. The previous year had been very difficult. In the fall of 2015, we had moved Kelvin out of the 2427 house and into a nursing home--the "nut house" as I later called it after he was hopsitalized related to poor care. (A story for another blog post) We then re-moved/removed him from the Clifton Manor when he got a place at Seton Place in Nov-Dec 2015. At the same time, Arta had her hip replaced after a long and painful time of having bone on bone. Arta's recovery was complicated so she spent 6 months recovering at Rebecca's home in Victoria. She was finally ready to come home. In the interval, we renovated Arta's basement at 2427 to create an apartment where she could safely return after her surgery. That too might require it's own blogpost. Never-the-less, in March the apartment was ready for Arta's return and I went to Calagry to spend a week unpacking her. Part of the unpacking was getting enough shelving for all the boxes of things that Richard, Mary, Bonnie, Rebecca and others had packed up speedily in the fall when Kelvin and Arta were ill. Here are some cute photos of Michael and Alice who helped me put together the furniture for the new apartment.

Don't you love Michael's double handed hammering technique and Alice's care with taping things. Spending time with these cute kids was just a joy. Below you will see the plate of sliced apples they "finished" during our work session. I'm pretty sure Arta ate all the peels.

At the very end of my trip, we had Arta moved into her new apartment space. Here are a few photos of her bedroom, her jewlery trays and the new kitchen. You can see that the most important part of moving back in was getting the rods hung for Arta's collection of scarves.

At the end of the trip, just as I was leaving to go to the airport, Arta had me come and choose some of costume jewlery for Hebe. Then she told me she'd like me to have the Rachel doll. I was shocked and moved by her gift. It made me cry. She asked me to take it home and let Hebe play with it, which is what I did. Here are a few photos of the Rachel doll once she arrived back in Montreal. Hebe decorated her with the jewlery I had brought back from Arta.

The doll is sitting on the ledge in my living room and anyone who'd like to see her or play with her is welcome to stop by for a visit. If you have a story about this doll, or know more about her history, please add it in the comments below. Love Catherine