Family followup

Still no photos of old photos. Be patient. But the trip out to BC for the celebration of life mentioned in the last couple blogs went really well. We drove, rather than struggle with airlines and probabilities of cancellation and paying through the nose for a rental car. One of my cousins was flying back to Bermuda for work, and what with one thing and another, had to drive from Chilliwack to Kelowna, fly from there to Victoria, to Vancouver, to Toronto, to Bermuda. That got fixed at the ticket counter, at least.

We stayed at a lovely AirBnB that was a very short walk from this. We totally would have stayed there had it been open. Soon, it says. In the end where we stayed was right next to an AMAZING bakery. If you're ever in Cultus Lake area, drive a few minutes to Yarrow and check out Chestnut Springs Bakery. We went up to Cultus on Friday morning first thing to avoid the hordes, and had a lovely walk along the beach. I think I saw where I'd lived as a small child, but that home has long since been torn down and replaced with something large and expensive.

Nearby is the Vedder Rotary Loop, a 20 Km bike path along the Vedder river and the Blue Heron Nature Preserve. We didn't do the whole 20K, mostly we stuck to the shade. It was scorching hot in the direct sun. This is the last heron in the preserve, and the volunteers were surprised when I showed them the photo. They had thought all the herons had flown off to do secret heron stuff. I had the wrong lens on the camera, so this is cropped way in.

Beavers grow big in BC.

So do the trees.

Another bird. I think this is a pelican.

So it's obvious I brought the camera on the trip. I even brought the big film camera, but didn't see anything I wanted to capture. But I didn't bring the camera into the service or reception. I thought about it, and decided I wanted to be present with and for my family, not hiding behind a camera. Someone was taking cell phone photos, but that was them. I have no regrets.

Rather than looking around to see what's interesting to capture, I was looking around to see who to chat with next. And really, except for a very few of my readers, it would be photos of a bunch of people standing around talking in a gym. I had a wonderful time! 

The next day we visited a cousin on my mom's side of the family, and checked out their new home. They had a major fire in the old house, so they tore it down and built new. I would live there. 

I did take the camera onto the boat and captured a couple of my cousins on the tube. Meanwhile, she captured me and Linda, though she didn't do the tube.

The actual drive was uneventful. Traffic was so slow at one point we were passed by a couple of guys on pedal bikes, going up hill. The construction delays were short. We stopped lots to stretch our legs and enjoy the scenery. 

Many thanks to Michelle for taking care of Celina while we were gone. First thing we heard when we got back was, "Oh, it's you. I want the other human. She was better." We expected nothing more, but she's come around, back to her usual demanding self.

Of the Day

Driftwood

Flower

Peony

3 really similar shots of the same peony, one of which showed up on Facebook a while ago. Which do you like best?

Film, more of the white peony. (GW690 Kodak Gold 200)

A cloudscape from late June.