wedding pictures

The day of the wedding dawned cloudy and muggy. Apparently , it had POURED with rain the previous two days so it was a big relief for all concerned, to see the sun come out around 11:30 am. We left our place in Victoria at 10 and drove up with Harvey’s granddaughter; Bailey.  We arrived in Duncan about 1045 and stopped for some coffee (and in Bailey’s case, some breakfast, before attempting to find the country road and residence where the wedding was to be..

They (the family and friends of the bride to be) had gone to a tremendous amount of time and trouble to make the day run well. It was amazing to see the venue with the constructed log house pole construction and tables ,all protected from the weather and dropping tree needles…

Jason, Harvey’s grandson, took time out with his mom in this first photo…(you can see how proud she is, very cute)

These were the best men; the sun, by this time was drying everything off and it was getting HOT!

Here the ceremony began. Brittany was VERY nervous; she was happy too, but you can see the blush going down her arms!

Awww, too sweet. They make such a great couple.

Lovely!

What an adorable little guy. You can sure see the Italian side of HIS family! He is Jason’s nephew. Hs father: Tyler, was not there, unfortunately…

Lovely flowers, from Jason’s mom’s garden. His Dad, Danny is one of  Harvey’s sons. Cindy, is his second wife, and a very sweet lady.

Harvey was snapping up a storm now he is used to the fact that digital photos are so user friendly!

This was a major event; camping and a concert were planned for their friends for later…

Sweet pupster…

autumn approaches

It’s getting CHILLY in the evenings now and we  have noticed that waking up is harder, as the sun isn’t showing until around 7.00 am(rather than around 5, in the good old summer time!)

We went for our usual walk this morning and saw that some little maples in the park are already starting to turn red…

Harvey took this picture(he really has the eye for composition and we agreed how wonderful the trees looked against the fir trees.)

The only thing is, I am not READY for autumn; I haven’t adjusted my  internal clock to accept that summer is indeed, just about over. I want the sun to be shining early in the morning AND late in the evening. I want to have all the windows open wide, day AND night. I want to  hear the stealthy noises coming up from the garden at night, to know that some animal is enjoying our vegetable garden; crunching away on radishes and inhaling the sweet young lettuces. I want to smell the warmth of the summer mornings and to sit on the deck with a steaming cup of coffee and to feel the breeze coming over from the park, carrying the scent of dry firs and summer grasses.

But in autumn, there is one thing I do look forward to and that is the apples.

This is the neighbour’s apple tree(they never prune it, so it is a bit scraggly but lots of fruit this year.)

 Apples are late coming in to the stores this year, but it looks like it is going to be a wonderful harvest, as the conditions were nearly perfect.

So yes, there are good things with the change of the seasons. Just wish the good seasons lasted longer!

work in progress

So I am now established in my new venue at work; actually a great little building, with CEMENT walls, 6 flights of stairs and tiny halls…It’s kind of like a student residence townhouse; only has 8 rooms on each side of a communal washroom(so 16 kids per floor) There are three floors, the first two; boys and the top floor is girls.The colour scheme is really thoughtful,( as it is such a small building, it COULD be quite oppressive in the winter) they have a nice bright yellow in the bedroom halls with darker yellow on the doors.

VERY bright and cheery.

The kids are all very friendly and I have started to remember names; my main “office/closet” is at the front door so I feel like a “porter”.

Unfortunately , it’s not Balliol college at Oxford, but no matter..

Theres an underground maze of classrooms and such in which I am to descend once a week; to clean two classrooms and the hallways. It is SO easy, its laughable.

I always wanted to go to Oxford, and had my grads been excellent and HAD I the cash, I would have..
Balliol particularly appealed, as so many of my favorite authors had gone there( including that famous sleuth Lord Peter Wimsy(Dorothy Sayers creation)

Here’s a little bit about it…
“What is Balliol like?
With almost 400 undergraduate students and an equal number of graduates, Balliol is one of the largest colleges of the University of Oxford. It’s also one of the oldest, having been established in 1263.

As well as being big and old, Balliol is known for its relaxed atmosphere, for active participation, and for students who achieve outstanding academic results. There are lots of things going on and whatever your interest you will be able to get involved in some aspect of College life.

In addition to the students there are 65 Fellows and about 120 staff who help to make the college a beautiful, safe, and interesting place in which to live and work.

Some famous alumni
Balliol is renowned for producing Prime Ministers (Herbert Asquith, Harold Macmillan, and Edward Heath), as well as literary figures (Robert Southey, Matthew Arnold, Algernon Swinburne, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Hilaire Belloc, Aldous Huxley, Nevil Shute, Anthony Powell, Graham Greene, Robertson Davies, and Robert Browning). Four Nobel-prize winning scientists studied here: Oliver Smithies, C.N. Hinshelwood, Baruch Blumberg, and Anthony Leggett.

John Wycliffe, who inspired the first translations of the Latin Bible into English, was one of the College’s Masters in the fourteenth century. Adam Smith, of The Wealth of Nations fame, was here from 1740-1746. In the twentieth century Balliol man William Beveridge led the development of modern social welfare.

More recent well-known alumni have included Paul Almond, Richard Dawkins, Peter Snow, Bill Drayton, Christopher Hitchens, Cressida Dick, Nicola Horlick, Robert Peston, Boris Johnson, Yvette Cooper, Stephanie Flanders, Amit Chaudhuri, Rana Dasgupta, and Dan Snow.”

Ready for the wedding

I was a bit concerned as I simply have no clothes for events like wedding, even out door weddings require a certain effort to look festive.
We were doing our weekly shop at Costco where there was a display of nice sweater type dresses; Harvey started taking ones off the rack and holding them up to me, and I found a great beige one with a sort of cowl neck and blue Icelandic pattern in the neck( sounds hideous but it looks really nice on) and short sleeves, so not TOO cosy…
I had been looking at the weather for the 23; it was saying rain( HOW can they possibly predict for that far ahead) I thought the sweater dress would be good as it could be a bit chilly, especially as the venue is outside( probably they will have tents, in case of showers)
Great price too, less than $40, which is highly unusual!
So now I am set,( except, now I have no decent shoes, it is always the way)
Oh and I just checked again, NOW they say that it will be around 18( that’s 67 Fahrenheit) so I will probably be cooking…lol
!