Mabel & Armstrong Meanderings

We spent some time at the end of the summer up in the North Okanagan. We parked Shaggy at a spot up at Mabel Lake and then just generally biked and hiked and meandered around.
It was a great place for meandering .... (and setting up badminton!)
We spent some time at the Armstrong Fair, too --- looking at pigs & produce & people....

This gangsta crew (below) was obviously looking for trouble.....


Bye summer .... see you in a few months!

Blame it on the Moose

For whatever reason, maybe those damned Moose everywhere, I sorta fell in love with Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

The whole town is like one big movie set. I actually said this a few times to people and found out that --- yup, Hollywood has discovered Moose Jaw, too! That crazy church beside my motel was the site for a scene in one of our own homegrown Canadian boy's (Ryan Reynolds) smash hits, "Just Friends." Watch the first few seconds of the clip from it below (seriously, don't watch the whole clip... it's agonizing....)

If you caught a glimpse of that awesome restaurant right at the beginning (where a bunch of the movie takes place later but there's no way I'm putting you through any more clips of the movie).... anyway, here's my photo of same place, below --- $4.00 breakfast! Greatest people --- the owner & his daughters would have talked to me forever, telling awesome gossipy stories about fussy Amy Smart & Ryan Reynolds and their Hollywood attitudes (like... did I die & go to heaven? Fresh gossip and scrambled eggs with Earl Grey Tea?..... bliss!)

I know I'm super late in posting these "road home" pix .... but, seeing as how we're packing up the motorhome & heading out for some more travels tomorrow, I figured I'd get these photos up before I've got more to post! It was so cold in Calgary that the locals were wearing toques! (and shivering while holding my camera, it would seem)...... great hosts, those Calgary folk, tho!!

Bye bye Kicking Horse River approaching summit hill.....

Bye bye fabulous flirtmobile .... you served us flawlessly this summer!!

ég er a víkingur (I am a Viking!)

"August long" in these parts translates to: Islendingadagurinn

Islendingadagurinn is the festival of my people --- the Vikings ---- the Icelanders! And it has been held every summer here in Manitoba (Gimli, or "New Iceland", to be exact) for the past 120 yrs. In fact, my own Amma (great-Gramma Kristin Stefanson) was Fjallkona of this festival some decades ago ("Maid of the Mountain")!

We stayed at a cousin's lovely home in Gimli ("baldurshaga" is Icelandic for horse-dumplings, I believe.....)

The "Velkomin" sign was a harbinger of the great times that followed our arrival! Our cottage was nestled snugly on the shores of Lake Winnipeg and we could see the Viking Village (!) right from our porch.

Every morning, we watched as the viking ships arrived at the Gimli shores, prepared to set up camp for the day.

Below is Carrie waving to our viking visitors ....

"Langt síðan við höfum sést"

("Long time, no see" - she says, sarcastically~!)

Our cousin's art was all around the house .... which made it an even MORE culturally immersive weekend!

Plus --- there were all kinds of photos of our original Viking ancestors (such as the two below), hanging here and there as reminders of our Icelandic forebearers

The absolute height - the pinnacle - of the weekend was meeting Christina Sunley, author of the amazing "The Tricking of Freya" !!

A beautifully-written debut novel that deftly weaves together Iceland’s
distinctive history, ancient mythology, reverence for language, and passion for
genealogy, The Tricking of Freya is a powerful exploration of kinship, loss and
redemption.

Everyone who has read it agrees: amazing, lovely, fabulous book. And - turns out - amazing & lovely author, too!

All three brilliant women below have read it and they report: "The Tricking of Freya" should be considered a quintessentially Canadian novel. Move over, Atwood .... Sunley weaves a wonderful saga!

The remainder of the weekend was spent in debauchery --- which included MANY purchases (like the Pönnukökur pan below).....

Fireworks and wine rounded out the weekend and juuuuuust as Islendingadagurinn was coming to a close, we visited ANOTHER cultural wonderland ....

Casa Kurtz, which boasted such lovely gardens that I actually started to miss my own green corner of the world, back in Kelowna

"Bye bye, Badminton-Partner"! (below) .... Time to head back to BC now!! This Manitoba summer has been rainy and cold but, nonetheless, I'm pretty sure I've had one of the best summers of my life!

It Was a Dark and Stormy Summer

A brief halt in the torrential rains yielded a quick chance for sun exposure. I think there's been about 20cm rainfall everyday here. There are definitely no fires, tho....

Mr. and Mrs. Wharf-Finch (above) have been lovely hosties .... so have the musical clan below (at "Violin Camp"!)

We got treated to a concert at the end of the violin camp! (Yes, it was at a Senior's Centre... which is probably obvious from the reflective heads at the bottom of the picture).

Then --- it was Ballet in the Park with the students of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet!

Later, we put our collective craftiness together and sewed an "ugly bunny" (and it sure was ugly!)... I think it's named Robert or Billy or something but I wanted to call it Tommy-Two-Teeth!

'Pegged!

Folk Fest '09 ended with a WA-BAM! .... thanks to the sturdy folk above!  Many whales-tails were eaten (and almost regurgitated), much kettle corn, Alex Cuba's rhythyms were enjoyed, as were Patrick Watson's (click HERE for a view) .....
After festing, came sailing (in the form of "yard sailing") ... tho' we still haven't found a sewing table!
It was Katy's 22nd birthday (woo hoo!) so we celebrated with an indulgent "Spa Gal's Night", complete with peppermint foot scrubs and....
Mint-tea, eye-soothing treatments
Then .... it was a trip to Matlock, Manitoba to visit old friends in their super splendicular digs out there~

Acres and acres of praire peace and tranquility and herbs and veggies and (here and there) some little, teensy mosquitos to serenade us....
And then it was straight from the Matlock porch to the Moose Lake porch .... rough life!

Moose Lake is Manitoba's "cleanest" lake, you know! (or, so Mrs. Mulgetta Wharf-Finch claims...) Mr.Finch was unavailable for photo opportunities (he's super shy anyway!!) .. but I did catch the young Finch in action (below, zipping along on that clean water).....