September

Digital Painting "On Sandstone"

Well, September has come and gone fast. During the first part we were at the cabin at Pigeon Lake, some of which time we shared with our young people. Our grand-daughter Jenessa ( now almost 17) brought two school friends along. It was refreshing to be exposed to their youth and energy. I called them the three Graces, music, poetry, and art. They ended their long week-end pouring buckets of ice-cold well water over the boys and each other and playing volleyball. Some Graces! The boys were very helpful, making pancakes, chopping wood, and pruning pathways. There were so many different berries: black currant, red currant, snow berries, and rose hips, to name a few. The middle part was busy with visitors, our Shushwap friends came down; the weather was great; we attended Summerland Fall Fair with Barbara and Kaj, Adam and Elise blew in from Vancouver, and at the end of the month our Local Wine Festival is opening, with prizes for the best wines, and cooking competitions. Some friends from Calgary are visiting for that. Friends Vera and Johann from Armstrong will soon be moving into their new abode in Penticton. On a sad note the Oliver senior school burnt down, the students are now in temporary portable class-rooms, and we attended a friend's funeral in Calgary. We will be starting October with a short trip to Vancouver Island, (so there will be a hiatus in the blog). More on that next time!

Symmetry

Penticton Lake Side Garden

Seeking Treasure on the Lake Bottom with a Metal Detector, Sand Digger, and Waders.

Two Kayakers are missing since yesterday off Sooke BC. This one looks safe enough...

Canna in Penticton

Vera's Hazel Nuts in her Penticton Garden

Symmetry is a complex subject. Sometimes we like it ( e.g. human faces, bodies have to be symmetrical; rose windows in cathedrals; the Taj Mahal. ) Sometimes it makes us uncomfortable ( e.g. boring repetitive designs; photos with even numbers of objects ) Such feelings can also be cultural: e.g Muslims feel more comfortable with symmetrical designs than others apparently. Test your own feelings with these photos, some of which are symmetrical; others not. Enjoy!

Yesterday

An incredible weather system blew in yesterday. We were on our way to Okanagan Lake in the car when it started. By the time we arrived by the lakeshore the wind was whipping up foaming waves in which the gulls were dipping for morsels, and the rain was battering our roof, so we just parked and waited. Soon a patch of blue sky started to spread in from the west, and two rainbows appeared on the lake against the black clouds. By afternoon, we were able to sit on our deck in the hot sun for our afternoon tea! We had to make do with beer yesterday, as there was no water for the whisky, but we survived!
Here is a poem from another wet day in Alberta back in August:-

" On Driving Home from Thorsby"

Cows lie in wet, thistly fields,
Hay bales moulder in the rain,
Petunia baskets, pink plastic wrappings
Bedeck telegraph poles,
And glowering, low black clouds
All overhang the drive home.

Adam's Portrait of Elise and Hanne by Skaha Lake

Clouds over Penticton

Linden Fall Bouquet

Adam, Elise, and Hanne, Skaha Lake

Waterless Tuesday

Today is "Waterless Tuesday". The City is installing new water pipes under the road outside our building, because there are two new fifteen-stor(e)y condominium buildings just completed next door, and they need extra water for their daily showers and multiple flushing toilets, and today is "Connecting Day". This is the third or fourth time they have dug up the road to do pipe work, but they will hopefully finish by "Paving Day" on the 30th. So the 30th is "Drive-less Friday". I hope that's a word. Anyway, I just made it up so it has to be. If Shakespeare could do it.....
All over our apartment are bowls of water, waiting.....

Condominiums next door. A sparkling new three-hole Astroturf putting green was installed yesterday.

Connecting water for the above.

Outside our Athens Creek Lodge Front Door at Nine a.m. Another apartment building is shown across the road...

The taps come on again at five p.m.
Have a nice dry day!

Old and New

Hanne's daughter Elise and her Adam came for the week-end from Vancouver so we had lots of fun, no time for blogging or commenting only fun entertaining!.....
I remember as a boy getting several "Wonder Books for Boys" for birthdays, and in one of them was the story of the famous bridge over the Firth of Forth in Scotland, and how it took so long to paint that the poor painters had to go back to the beginning and start painting all over again once they had reached the other end. For some reason this story so impressed me that I have been recalling it ever since. Now for an update. The 2.4Km long structure is still doing well even though it was completed way back in 1890, but the powers that be have invented a new paint they hope will last 25 years; they will still need 214,000 litres of it, but the painters will be out of a job once they finish in a couple of years!
I suppose I must be a futurist or something because futuristic news always excites me!.....e.g:-
Two more notes. 1 Maybe laser beams will take over from wireless in future communication technology as they are 100 times faster. Just imagine being able to use a computer without having to wait!

Our Decorated Lunch.( Not Air Canada but Athens Creek.) It was Borscht actually...
Photo by Adam from his Blackberry.

Hanne's lovely bouquet from our walk

Folk and their Pets; someone we met in Linden Gardens

What is going on down there?

Adam and Elise relaxing with Iced Tea at Linden Gardens

2. There is a chap in Devon in South-West England who has a successful vegetable/fruit farming business using a horse and a couple of rented fields. He sells locally using a subscription system. Congratulations to him!