Island Travels

My one week trip to visit friends and relatives on Vancouver Island was all I could have hoped for and more. We wandered through Beacon Hill Park and enjoyed the brilliant colors of the flowers there.
We stopped on Gonzales hill to capture the view.
We visited Elk Lake where we had learned to swim.

A Willows Beach walk is always lovely.
The fog lifted as we walked down to the beach
at Point No Point.
French Beach is a perfect place for a long walk.

Whiffen Spit is a place of family memories.
The view of Clover Point from Dallas Road is always breathtaking...
by the sea - by the sea - by the beautiful sea...
I had a wonderful time in the sunshine and salt air!

If you'd like to see some beautiful mosaics visit Mary at her Little Red House when you have time.

Going Home...

Unexpectedly, I'll be going "home" next weekend. I am looking forward so much to seeing my family and to visiting good friends. I'll be spending a week on Vancouver Island and until I'm back on the farm, I'll be taking a break from blogging. Enjoy the last weeks of summer wherever you are. I will be linking this mosaic to all the other creative people who gather at Mary's Little Red House.

Our Farm Garden

Just a look at our garden today. We're picking raspberries, potatoes, onions, swiss chard, peas, rhubarb and lettuce but we're waiting patiently for the corn,beets, beans, tomatoes, zucchini and squash. Time will tell as there's always a chance of frost in late August. Wish us luck!






Just an update through pictures...hope your garden is growing well!

Evidence of an Ancient Sea - 5 Minutes From Home

The farmer and I made an amazing discovery while walking along a trail near Athabasca University (15 minutes from home). We discovered this fossil which was fascinating in and of itself. The sphere is perhaps 5 feet across and it has broken sections which have been randomly placed on top of the main half sphere.

Evidence of an Ancient Sea
"This sandstone bedrock was found about 15 km south of Athabasca on the farm of Bertram and Blanche Watson. It contains fossilized clams and snails that lived 100 to 166 million years ago during the Upper Cretaceous Period. Over the years the movement of water formed this bedrock into a sphere, now broken in half."
The farm it was found on is just about a mile from our farm, and the Watsons were good family friends. If they found this just down the road, it follows that our farmland might contain some of these sandstone fossils as well. I suppose the next time the farmer is going to pick rocks for the afternoon I might now be convinced to help him!
Look back to my last post to find what's just 15 minutes from home.

15 Minutes From Home

Although we live on a farm, it is just 15 minutes from a small town with 3 stoplights, 2 grocery stores and 2 hardware stores. You get the picture...most of what you need you can find and there are some wonderful things about our town but it's pretty small. There is an exception though. We have a university at the top of the hill...

"Athabasca University serves more than 38,000 students annually, offering more than 700 courses in 90 undergraduate and graduate programs. Students from across Canada, and 84 countries around the world, take AU programs and courses in arts, science and professional disciplines.

More than 74% of Athabasca University graduates are the first in their families to earn a university degree." John O'Brien - Athabasca News

Athabasca University provides great opportunities to distance students who are in circumstances or small communities from around the world which might otherwise prevent them from completing their University degrees. One of my husband's cousins decided to pursue an interest in history in her senior years and proudly received her degree a number of years ago. You can find out more about Athabasca University here.

http://www2.athabascau.ca/index.php

The idea for this post came from Maggie at Normandy Life who wrote about her visit to a castle 5 minutes from home. That might interest you more. Wherever you are enjoy your day and thanks for coming on my 15 minute expedition from home. While my husband and I were at AU yesterday we discovered something amazing and it was discovered just 5 minutes from home. I'll keep you in suspense til next time because it's time for a cup of coffee on our farm this morning.

Summer At The Lake

This long weekend is a Civic holiday across Canada. In Alberta we celebrate Heritage Day. It's called other names in other parts of Canada but it's a family favorite and many Canadians head to the lake or to the ocean to let the children experience the delights of the sand and water. From a vantage point above we enjoyed watching this young family. The children were all wearing life jackets and they were having so much fun. The parents were enjoying the lake as well and possibly thinking ahead to the future. The mom waved up at the deck as we were eating lunch. I decided to take some anonymous pictures. Hopefully they won't mind if they see these pictures taken from a distance. Hope your weekend is relaxing and fun wherever you are.

Perhaps we'll find some other summer activities posted at Mary's Little Red House tomorrow.