Catching Up

Please come in. How are you? Let me pour you a cup of tea and we can sit and chat for a little while. It's been so long since we've spoken. A typical summer, so much has been happening with little time left to catch my breath, let alone sit at the computer and type.

In a nutshell, much abbreviated, this is what my family and I have been up to over the summer holidays:

At the beginning of my holidays I took Daniel up to Grandma & Grandpa J's log house in the woods. It is such a magical place. Daniel is so fortunate to have such a great place to visit with and get to know his grandparents. That same week we spent some time with one of my best friends and her two little ones picking berries at one of the local berry farms.

The following week Daryle, Daniel and I went camping in a rented motorhome. It was so nice to get away together and relax. We stayed at the following campgrounds: Skihist, Lac le Jeune and Knutsford. Also, Chris welcomed us to join him and his family at his cabin on the Shuswap. Of course we had a great time and Daniel made friends with little Ava, Chris' grandaughter. We spent time out on the lake, swimming and boating, and Daniel and Ava caught little minnows and played in the water near the dock. They were like two little bush babies - so cute (dirty and dishevelled, but cute nonetheless).

The week following our camping trip was pleasantly busy. On Monday we again joined T and her kiddos for some berry picking. On Tuesday Grandma and Grandpa N, Daryle's parents, came over for lunch and a visit. On Wednesday they watched Daniel while I attended my doctor's appointment and had my 3 hour gestational diabetes lab test done. On Thursday morning Daniel and I packed up and headed over to another dear friend's house to spend the night with her and her family.

On Sunday, August 1st, the three of us caught the ferry and had a fleeting visit with Mom & Dad J. for Mom's 65th birthday. We caught the first ferry up and the last ferry back. Thank goodness it was a long weekend, so the ferry lineups weren't terrible.

On August 3rd I returned to work after a whirlwind three weeks off. Yikes, what a long time it took me to catch up! Just when I caught up I took half a day off to catch the ferry back up to Mom & Dad J's for the Writers' Fest weekend. Daniel came with me so that Daryle could get in lots of time working on his bedroom.

What a fabulous weekend. We attended Ian Brown (wow, what a speaker) and Nino Ricci's lectures on Friday evening, Louise Penny's on Saturday morning and the most powerful speaker was Denise Chong. To my utter embarassment, I broke down in tears both during her lecture and afterwards while waiting in line with Dad to have his book signed.

Daniel stayed behind with my parents after I headed home on Sunday. I'm sure the three of them have been having a blast. For myself though, I've been on autopilot. I actually drove almost the entire way to the daycare lady's house before realizing what I was doing and on Monday I asked Daryle if he was going to pick Daniel up from daycare. Yikes, my brain is such mush these days.

So, I hope you enjoyed your cup of tea. Can I pour you another one? I haven't yet heard about what you've been up to over the summer...