Shmoopy

This is an extremely Shmoopy type of entry after a particularly long trying week at the the theatre (oh the theatre process, always good for a few tears.. I promise I'll get back to that) and of being homesick and having all of these things coupled with PMS...

And I have a whole other less Shmoopy entry in process that I promise will be posted sometime shortly after we open this Bitch.

But I just wanted to say how much I am thankful for both technology and an amazing man like Rob. Who turns up the volume on his end of Skype while he live streams Obama's acceptance speech so we can listen to it together. This is the same man (without either of us realizing our future together yet) that skyped over Jack Layton election results while I was in an Ottawa hotel room under similar stressed out and homesick conditions... Which was likely the beginning of me falling in love with him in the first place.

And I am just so glad that no matter how far we are apart, we will always share history being made together and that will become our own history together.

Love this man. So much. <3

Idle Hands

I feel awful that I haven't been here as much as I had planned to be. I had hoped this new blog would be the perfect outlet for reflecting on what was going on in my new West Coast life... But it turns out, as Greg MacPherson aptly sung in one of my favorite songs ever (I'll add it to my "music" blog in the attempt to getting back on a song a week routine) "... we're the same collection of faults and accidents no matter where we are."

my ... fault? is that I can't be idle. To the point where if I am idle too long I will over compensate, resulting in over extending myself. Every time. I thought I would be different out west, with Rob's help and a new laid back attitude... and for a while I was. Just cooking and cleaning and sleeping and blogging... and then the idleness set in and (more by chance then actual design) *boom*... One minute the lovely Samantha was visiting and helping me harvest the garden

and the next...

I was working on two projects at once in two different cities.




So August and September were a flurry of shopping for supplies. Teaching kids how to sew in a crazy amazing week of Fashion Kamp with Theatre SKAM

(I suspect I will be coming back to this later... as Theatre SKAM has been and now will officially be playing a major part of my west coast life), 

and ferry ride after ferry ride to Vancouver and back in preparation for Home Free! at the Victoria Fringe, leading to another week of house guests and barbecues and flyering, and then doing it all again for most of September in Vancouver, where I spent an amazing couple of weeks being afraid and lonely and coming around to learn how to get around Vancouver on my own. Turning 30 in Davie Village and feeling the most grown up (and proud of myself) that I have ever felt.

And now I am in Saskatoon. And it feels very strange to be here and be homesick for everything out West at the same time. In some ways everything is exactly as I left it and in some it isn't at all. Maybe because I am not exactly as I left it. But its given me a better grasp of what is and will stay the most important to me "back home" now that I live far away. And I am so grateful for the time with the people that I had to leave behind... and the time to spend with (and get to know) the little ones.. who for 6 months is a life time.

... And now I promise to come back and break down some of these wonderful experiences for you... Including the one I am currently experiencing at Persephone Theatre with a beautiful script and a beautiful cast and a beautiful crew. If I have to be away for this long from my guy and my kitty, I couldn't have been given a better set of circumstances. <3

Yikes!

In all of our move ins and outs from our house, and my back and forth to Vancouver, I haven't been here at all. I am so so sorry (I hope the instagram's on the side of my blog have been keeping you up to date). One more time back to Vancouver tomorrow for a few days.... and then I will sit down to tell you all about it, and gush about how spoiled I am by everyone on this wonderful island and in Vancouver. The little family of people I have surrounded myself with (whether it be Rob's family, my new theatre network or old homesick Saskatchewan friends transplanted to the coast) have been more than I could have ever asked for when moving out here in May. I feel so so blessed every day by them.

I can tell you this, for now... In the almost two months since I've been here... We've had adventures all over the island with Samantha, we moved Mom into her own apartment down the street, we (and I say we because I would have never made it without Rob) opened a show in the Victoria Fringe and hosted some wonderful people from Vancouver, we moved Scotty into the basement, held two barbecues and I have been back and forth for over nights to Vancouver 3 times. In that time I learned how to get around Vancouver on my own (at least the places I need to be), I opened a show there, was reunited with my very best friend, (who I get to keep out here with me!!!). And I turned 30 walking down Davie street on my own at midnight, feeling more grown up under big city lights than I have ever felt in my life.

Here's to a million new adventures.
See you soon to tell you about the 1st 20 or so. ;)

#ReasonToRise

Sorry everyone, I am busy living under my rehearsal rock. Which feels bizarre since I have been in a total of 4 rehearsals for this show that opens Saturday. But in that time we had the wonderful Samantha here for a week and I worked as a coordinated/camp counselor/shopper for this amazing kids fashion camp. Not to mention arranging for MY MOM to move to the coast.
Now I'm in full Fringe mode and will be getting up by myself in front of room full of people tonight to promote Home Free! I feel like the island is making me into this somewhat fearless shorts wearing woman that I didn't know I could be (still full of plenty of fear but I'm getting great at pretending. Maybe by the end of September I'll actually be able to take the #19 bus in Vancouver past East Hastings all by myself without wanting to cry).

In the mean time I want to thank my friend Dani for bringing me out from under my rock and making me aware of this.

#ReasonToRise

Growing up with a feminist mother when I was young my rebellion was to declare that I WAS not a feminist. And then I met this amazing lady named Diana Relke at the U of S who taught me that being a feminist didn't have to be about not shaving your legs and wearing men's suits. That if I was proud to be a woman that was reason enough to be a "feminist".

And feminist or not our bodies are our own. As a victim of rape myself (by someone who claimed to love me no less) I stand in solidarity with these women.

Because my dear, I want to do it better.

Both of these blog entries by total strangers have left me in tears just now. Please go read them and see for yourself.

Been Thinking

"Every once in a while, I watch him twisting his ring with his thumb and I think what I said then:  If I believed in karma instead of grace, I might say it took me this long to meet you because I needed time to make and then atone for so many mistakes. I needed this long to become a person who could equal your character."

In the midst of a lot of people's current chaos I am at a loss again for words to describe how grateful and amazed I am to have Rob by my side.

I got soul but I'm not a soldier

This week's song of the week is dedicated to my dear friend Mikayla

The whole time Sam was here I couldn't help but think I was roughly her age when I visited Victoria for the first time (just a little older.. turned 24 here). And then All These Things That I've Done by the Killers started playing non stop on the radio and I could clearly remember what it felt like to be 23.

Because you see, that song was the song of the year 23. Of the (school) year 05/06. Of the year of Mikayla and Erin. And that song became our anthem. After a night of bringing in my 23rd birthday at the worst stagette I've ever been at, having to leave my own surprise dressing room Bomb-itty birthday to go to it, heavy into the year that began my drunken blackouts, Amber and I decided we would have more fun watching me blackout then at that bar hopping every 25 minute stagette where the bride completely forgot it was my birthday. Mikayla met us for last call at the Scuzz and it became the kind of night that memories are made of. The best part was when I woke up on Amber's couch, really hungover but with a clear memory of all of it. Triumphantly 23, Amber and I loaded up the mix CD Jessica had made me in honour of this birthday and the first song to play was this one. We blared it through the windows on our way to get Mikayla for greasy fries and gravy with a side of bacon at Smitty's and an anthem was born. (as most of you know, clear memories of drunken nights didn't last and I eventually gave up drinking all together, but I'm glad that I got this night and this memory)

That song carried Mik and I through the year. We played it over house speakers in the North Studio, we played it in my bachelor suite apartment, we requested it in bars ("you girls like the keeeeeelers??"), it blared out of our cars on road trips. That was our song and that was our year.

And yesterday when I felt sad and somewhat hopeless I kept getting lines from it stuck in my head.
"when you can't hold on... hold on."
And Mikayla and I had time to FaceTime and everything looked a lot better.

(Thank you Jessica Klein for the mix CD, I bet you never knew how epic it became)

Quiet

I have been so lucky to have my little Sam here for a whole week that this morning when I got up to an empty house and the prospect of Rob being overnight in Vancouver I found it very hard to want to do anything.

I've finally just dragged myself out of the house to run some errands and decided to check on something I'd seen in the Cook Street Village yesterday that might work well in our bathroom. Having moped through my day not eating I decided to take a little detour to the Fairfield Market for an ice cream sandwich. Salted Caramel Coconut today.

I will get a day by day account of our adventures this past week put up soon but for now... I'm just taking in all of the quiet.

(come see us at the Fringe directly across from the Fairfield Market and have one of these delightful ice cream sandwiches. I know I will be having one every day).

Feels like Jan Lake up in here

It's been to busy too get to my song of the week on time because the lovely Samantha is here and we have been all over this city, island and even Vancouver.

But a few days late, in her honor, Runaway by Kanye West is up. This song could take you from the start of the Jan Lake grid right to our Staff Room doors... exactly. And no song in the world feels more like Samantha and I at Jan Lake.

I promise to blog all about our adventures together soon, until then, head over and look at What's Cooking. Since I have my very favorite kitchen partner with me to use up all of this amazing island produce at last.

(instagram holds a photo documentation of our week together so far as well)

The Furies

On Thursday I was so excited about linking my post about reuniting my west coasty Saskatoon friends to this week's song of the week,  but I didn't want to do it early so I waited...

And then on Friday I got so busy getting lost going to a hair appointment, visiting Mary Jane and Peter and baby Lucy, making pie dough, and Sun Tea (that I haven't even tried yet, its still sunning itself on the deck, and I am so excited), picking Rob up from the inner harbour, and watching the Olympic Opening Ceremonies in replay...

That I forgot about my song of the week entirely.

And now its a day late.

But it is there now. This Diamond is for Children, by the now defunct Fury and the Mouse. My beautiful prairie deserters.

This song was about how much they missed home and for a long time became about how much I missed them ... and now its just a pretty song about the best parts of Saskatoon.

Harbor Air

Waiting for Rob's flight to land from Vancouver.

I love this city.

This Diamond is for Children

Do you remember in 2005 when almost all of my friends moved away at once and I was devastated? Well, probably not because most of you didn't even know me yet. But for those of you that did, you will probably remember a heart broken little girl wandering around campus seconds away from tears listening to too much Greg MacPherson. I could be found in various states of sobbing in corners all over campus that fall. One time I spontaneously started crying so hard driving down Idylwyld that my mom made me pull over so that she could drive.

I vowed to move to the West Coast to be with them just as soon as University was done and I meant it... but life moved on without them and I found a new family in the drama department and the pain started to numb and by the time it came time to make the big move, my life was pointed in a different direction.
Over time those friends came and went from the coast and we all grew up a little, the group expanding into new west coast girlfriends and boyfriends and time erased the urgency of needing to be where they were doing what they were doing... but I guess it never really went away, and Saskatoon never really felt like home anymore after they had all left, even though their absence led me to some amazing friendships that will be with me forever.
And then by fluke I met my own West Coast man and here I am, and most of them have congregated back to this place, and here we are.

But because we have all grown up and expanded we are constantly busy and I haven't seen much of these hidden prairie gems on the coast (although the knowledge that they are here is sometimes enough on a bad day).

 Finally last night we were able to rally them all together (just in time for Brooke and Sam to move away, but they are staying in BC so we will see them again) and we all had a little corner of Saskatoon on our deck and in our kitchen.

So naturally I made Saskatoon Berry Pie.

And then the propane ran out on the barbecue. Whoops. 

So Blair and Rob moved inside to finish cooking dinner. Home made veggie burgers, "grilled" (now pan fried) portabella mushrooms, bacon wrapped turkey for the few meat eaters and bad vegetarians (and some extra bacon for Shauna's veggie burger...), a million sides, more cooler corn on the cob and lots of beer and cider to go around.

(Side note: I've added a new feature to my blog, the "What's Cooking" link at the top will bring you to a photo blog of all of the goings on in my kitchen.)

And after almost 7 years we were finally (almost) all together in my new West Coast dining room. 

(missed you Jodie)

When we were watching out the window for people to show up we saw Brooke and Sam drive up and Rob said "yep. here comes the plaid."

So much plaid.

Tastes of Home.

Every time I think I couldn't be more charmed by my new home and island and whole province I am proved wrong.

We had a wonderful full busy wonderful weekend this weekend. This is mostly a picture post :)

Cruise ship lights.

 Niko and Adam came over on the Ferry on Friday around noon. I picked them up, let them drop their stuff at our house and whisked them off to see the cutest neighborhoods in Victoria so they could get an idea of some great neighborhoods to live in if they move over to the island. I was able to drive them all over my favorite parts of Vic without having to look at a map at all. That was very exciting. Later that night we made supper here after Rob got home from work and we took them on a night time drive to see some of the pretty lights.

The next day we left some transit info and a list of things for Niko and  Adam to see while we headed over to Vancouver (really really really early, 7 am Ferry) for the day so I could go to my very first BC rehearsal ever. I was so excited to not only see Brian, but for us to be back at the rehearsal table together. The Home Free bunch are absolutely lovely and I am very excited to be joining this team for the next few months. Sitting down to work with them I was struck by the feeling that I had already known them for years which was a very startling feeling. I am constantly overwhelmed here by how right everything feels. As though I have silently slipped into life here after merely being away for some time.

After rehearsal Rob and I had a chance to have our first ever day time Vancouver date. Usually he is at work if we are there during the day so we have only ever wandered around the city at night or on a dash back to the Ferry. We walked down Robson while I oohed and awed at all of the stores and dragged Rob into a few home decor stores and then after discovering the Blenz iced belgian chocolate drink... actual chocolate on ice, like drinking a fudgesicle, so amazing... we sat on a park bench in Stanley Park for a while just enjoying the Sea Wall and the heat.


Then after a loooooong wait for the public washroom in Stanley Park we realized we were going to be late to meet ....

My Best Friend! In Vancouver! We didn't have a ton of time, but we got to eat a quick supper with her downtown before running to get on public transit back to the last Ferry of the night. But the amazing thing about best friends like this is the cliff notes version is all you really need to be totally caught up... I do so wish it was longer though.. Next time. We met her and her sister, brother-in-law and their little one at White Spot and it amazed me how it doesn't matter where you are or who's around you when you find your friends and family, you are immediately home.

We just made it to the last Ferry which got us home around 11:30 PM where our lovely guests were waiting to tell us about their adventures (or at least Niko did on his way by to brush his teeth) and then we collapsed into bed, what a whirlwind day.

The next morning we all slept in. When we were finally ready to go we took Nico and Adam for brunch at this great motor inn diner (Paul's Motor Inn) that is a bit of a Victoria staple (Rob's mom worked their when she was a teenager... possibly alongside some of the waitresses that are still there). And then we set out on a road trip adventure to Chemainus where I had interviewed to Stage Manage this summer. It is a pretty little tourist town on the sea with a pretty little Festival Theatre.











We stopped for Saskatoon Berries along the way at a Saskatoon Berry farm on the island.






Made sure Nico and Adam got to try the most amazing Island delicacy... Ice Cream Sandwhiches from Cold Comfort. Seriously, go to this amazing lady's website and check out her flavour journal. Unbelievable. And because she makes them all in small batches and distributes them to the stores that are carrying them, you never know what flavour might be there when you go.

 So far Rob and I have tried:

• The Blondie
• Pepita Hot Chocolate
• Cidre Pomona
• Raspberry Rose
• Rosemary and Sour Cherry
• Carrot Cake

and some that I don't think are even listed in her journal yet. If you come visit, don't worry, we will make sure you have an ice cream sandwhich...

And then we took them to the top of our world to see the whole city. Before we went home to the treat of Nico cooking us supper in our kitchen.

By then it was late but I still couldn't resist making a few Saskatoon Berry tarts for all of us before bed.

And today Ember is sad her new friends went home.







and I'm feeling a bit like a bum around the house. But at least I wrote this blog entry and since there was only a very little bit of cream left I felt obligated to make sure I finished it on some Saskatoon Berries with brown sugar... just like Grandma would have.

Now to get my hands on a Saskatoon Berry bush for our front yard....

Whew. I had more words than I thought.

Song of the Week!

Song of the week is up!

Bells & Whistles by Steph Macpherson.

This darling is a Victoria native and getting some good airplay on CBC Radio. I hope Rob and I can go see her perform sometime soon.

This song and this message feel like a good fit this week. Good things happening out here.

Rainy day activity

It's a rainy Friday morning around here. Normally I look forward to rain on Friday's because I have deemed it my "day off" day to do whatever I feel like, including rainy day projects like sewing and knitting, but today we are getting company! Nick and Adam are coming to stay with us from Vancouver in the hopes that they may like Victoria better and move here instead. They really really hate Vancouver. So I was hoping for some nice weather so they could see that it rains here much less than there and I could show off my new beautiful city... but of course. Rain. Full on soaking wet dripping everywhere rain.

We spent last night getting the guest room ready and it was really the first time we have spent any time sorting out the downstairs room since I moved in.

 Rob set my desk up and I felt really excited about what the space will be eventually for the first time and loved seeing my beautiful desk (my Mom made it for me and made it so it can be taken apart and moved, given my recent nomadic nature) in its new space.

The obnoxious mirrors in this room are coming down.

Which is also making me sort of wish for a day free to sit down here and sew, or craft, or photo document. But! There are exciting things to go do today, even if they are in the rain. Plus, after we got it all set up I realized I still don't have a desk chair... So until next week...

Someday soon this spot will have a real guest bed.

Sweet Potato Curry Fail

Sometimes even when you were the one to make dinner you still don't want it. Growing up I was the pickiest eater alive and with great frustration wouldn't eat half of what my mom would cook for me.
Now that I do 90% of my meal cooking I have become pretty adventerous. But sometimes even when you made it yourslef with all the best intentions, you still just don't like it.

So tonight like the spoiled picky only child I was I didn't finish my supper and had Alpha-Ghetti instead.
With some oregano mixed in, for old times sake.

I also found this article really interesting this week:

Friends of a Certain Age: Why Is It Hard to Make Friends Over 30?

Rhubarb Dream

Well I didn't make Rhubarb squares, but I did make this.

Rhubarb Dream  

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 c Flour
5 T Sugar
1/4 c Butter

Topping:

2 Eggs
1 1/2 c Sugar
1/4 c Flour
1/4 ts Salt
2 c Rhubarb; fresh, diced

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Blend crust ingredients. Press into ungreased 9" x 9" pan. Mix topping ingredients and spoon over crust. Bake at 350F for about 30 minutes or till crust is golden brown.

To be honest, its too sweet for me. Rob seems to like it better, but of all the sweet things I have made around here, half of this is still left in the fridge uneaten.

Yesterday I finally cracked open this cookbook that I found on tour last spring. I had to buy it for Rob because it was just too wonderful of a find (St. Whalburg -- land of Paramedic cookbooks and hotels made out of old hospitals...). But the even more wonderful thing about it is that it is just another one of those community type cook books so it has some really great Saskatchewan food in it and I think because there are so many young Paramedics all over the province, some other great new things I've never tried. So really, it was only a present for Rob on the outside.

And inside this great cookbook I found a recipe for lemon poppy seed muffins, something I keep meaning to try, annnnd it was a recipe that could use up the leftover plain yogurt I had. I always buy plain yogurt for cooking but it never uses up enough and then I am left with all of this plain yogurt I don't know how to eat.

I love Christie's Mayfair Bakery's Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins like no other muffin, so I added white chocolate chips to the dough in the hopes that they would turn out the same.

Still not quite. Maybe I need to use a less refined flour? Oh well. I have enough for at least another two batches in the fridge that I will bake today. Yesterday the oven made the house too hot and so I turned it off and Rob and I went on a date to our public library. So much fun, its only a few blocks away in behind one of the two shopping centres we go to for everything. Rob even took a book out and made me promise I would make sure he read it. We are going to have regular dates to the library whenever we have to return books. Our library also has an archive of Saanich history (which is technically where I live), so we can learn all about the history of this neighborhood! Although it is only open Monday to Friday until 4:30, so I guess I'm on my own, but some of it is online too.

http://www.saanich.ca/discover/artsheritagearc/saanicharchives/index.html

Today is supposed to be a gardening day, but I'm going to have to get out there to beat the rain. We have peas!! And Eggplant flowers, which surely means we are really truly going to have eggplant right?? Next post I promise some garden pictures. Which means I'd better get on with things and out there to take some.

Fun with Lynne and Sally

I have this habit of getting almost euphoric about how well things are going right before I have some kind of melt down crash. I can't seem to get the balance between that great feeling of "I can totally do this" and "I can't do this at all".

Yesterday I was sitting on the patio with lemonade and then cleaning the kitchen with Patti Griffin music pouring out of the living room (and probably down the street out my open windows), thinking about summers past. I'm happy to be here for a million and one reasons. I love my deck, I love love love my kitchen, I love this city and my kitty and Rob. In fact I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world. For years when I was asked the silly question "if you could transport yourself anywhere in the world right now, where would it be?" The answer was always Victoria, even though then I had no idea the answer should have been into this kitchen right here. I've always known this is where I should be, I just fought it off for a while first.

And I loved Jan Lake with my whole heart and Staff 5. But I stood at my kitchen sink thinking of my teeny Staff 5 sink at the lake and how the counter was on a slant and all of the soapy water from the drying rack would puddle under the microwave for me to find in a slimy mess every time I had the chance to really clean my kitchen, realizing I didn't have another lake summer left in me. I knew that at the end of last summer but haven't been able to admit it until just recently.

The Universe knows where we need to be, even if we fight it off. My first summer at the lake Scotty made me two CD's full of Patti Griffin. I didn't even touch them. I didn't know it but I wasn't ready to know where I needed to be yet. I popped one of those CD's in my car on the way to the lake my second summer and Patti Griffin became my summer anthem. And I knew that I needed to get here to this kitchen that didn't even exist to me or Rob yet (he found the house later on in the summer and while I think we both knew then that this would be our house we were no where near admitting it). So, Making Pies by Patti Griffin is this week's (and the first) song of the week (click the music notes up top to listen).

By last night all of that turned into my being (maybe a little irrationally) angry at Rob for not appreciating his new baby niece and brother more. This is often a touchy subject for me having grown up an only child and not having real siblings. I love my cousin Alison and her boys as much as anyone loves their brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews and I know she does too, but you wouldn't believe how often I still get told "well they aren't your real nephews" or "Your not really their aunt." Anyway, that's probably a whole different post for a whole different day. Point is. I miss my family and my friends and their babies so much. And every single minute I am going to miss of those babies lives. Even though every other part of me is so much happier here then I was ever going to be in Saskatoon. And I know I will be a big part of Lucy's life, and the kindness Pete and Mary Jane have shown me over the whole span of me moving out here has been amazing (another reason to get up in arms a little when Rob doesn't appreciate his brother enough) but right now I still don't feel like any of the things out here belong to me yet.

So I spent the night angry and crying and too hot to be upstairs. So I moved down to the couch and watched the lightning storm and felt like it was just for me, since I know they are rare on the island and I was so so homesick (I didn't actually believe the first thunder crash when I heard it and had to check the weather report) And I slept all morning and I'm still in my pajamas and feeling sort of lousy so I'm taking today off for myself.

And not making pies, but making Rhubarb Squares and listening to these wonderful girls I just found on the internet. The Rabbitfoot Duo's Fun with Lynne and Sally. While they play bluegrass and giggle.

And remember the first time I ever visited Victoria in another kitchen in Saanich, Chris saying to me "I think growing up means there will never be a place I can be again without missing somebody."

Home Free

We've had some pretty exciting things happening around here since we were off to Lillooet. In no particular order...

Exciting thing #1 - I signed on to do a Fringe show with Brian Cochrane! I am very very excited about this for several reasons. I love working with Brian. I love doing the Fringe. I get to be part of the Fringe in my new hometown! And also a chance to spend some time in Vancouver.

The show is Home Free by Lanford Wilson and Brian is directing. A Company called Staircase Xi out of Vancouver is producing it and we will be in both the Victoria and Vancouver Fringe Festivals! I will have the opportunity to meet and work with some lovely Vancouverites and spend some more time immersed in the BC theatre scene for almost all of August and September. Our run closes on September 16th -- my 30th birthday -- and I can't think of a better way to usher in a new decade.

On that same note... we are fundraising. The Fringe Festival as fun as it is can be a huge financial risk for small companies like Staircase Xi and as of right now there are no assurances that we will get paid at the end of the day. Obviously the very best kind of support is to come see our show, but if you can't and want to help out there is a link with our fundraising campaign on this blog just under all of my favorite bloggers links. You can track our progress there and see what Staircase Xi is all about or even spread the word by linking from your own blog or Facebook or Twitter or good old fashioned email. Every little bit helps to ensure Arts in Canada can stay alive and well despite all of the cuts to our funding.

And now to get completely away from politics. Yikes.

Exciting thing #2 - Rob's sister in law had her baby! Despite being told that because of certain complications there was no way she could possibely go into labour and we were all expecting the little one by C-Section July 18th. And despite having gone to the Doctor Thursday morning and being sent home with all being normal... She went into labour early Friday morning and little Lucy Louise was born at around 6 PM on July 6th. 

Uncle Rob is very very serious.

Exciting thing #3 - I managed to host a family barbeque for Rob's Mom's side of the family. The Bradshaw's. This may not seem exciting enough to warrant an entire Exciting Thing paragaraph about it, but Rob has a very close knit family orientated extended family and the idea that we would eventually have them all over to our house was terrifying to me. They are also very spontaneous, so at the end of our time visiting them at Cowichan Lake on Tuesday when it was casually mentioned that Heather would be going back home to California on Saturday and that Colleen still hadn't seen our house suddenly we were having everyone over for a barbecue. In fact I think I may even have been the one to suggest it. I don't know. It all happened so fast.

So Wednesday night in Lillooet we were sending out an official invite and Thursday night after one Ferry was canceled and we had to wait for the next one we hurriedly bought enough groceries to feed 20 or so people side salads and desserts. I made an enourmous pie.

 We cooked corn on the cob inside of a cooler.  

 Everyone brought their own meat/veggie burger to barbecue and I finally won all of the kids in Rob's family over (they have mostly just been staring at me warily at every family function) with ice cream floats. 

The best part of the night was that when the announcement came to Rob's phone with a picture of baby Lucy at 6 PM, the entire family was on our deck to hear the news and see the first picture of her. A story we will get to tell her for the rest of her life.

And I almost didn't get a single picture of our successful hosting experience... Only this one, of my other favorite part of the night, when two of the girls ran upstairs and burst out on to the deck calling my name to show me what they had built. 

 I was finally at home.

B.C's Little Nugget

I am up in these mountains right now and it is hot already at 9 am.

Apparently Lytton/Lillooet are often the hot spots in the province and it will be 30 degrees here today (was 32 yesterday) Ive been missing that summer time heat. Victoria rarely gets over 20... Although I guess you all are missing it in Saskatoon too.

We are delivering a brand new 4x4 ambulance to the Lillooet station and Rob is loving being with the crew. Yesterday he spent over 2 hours with then transferring all of the stuff over from the old ambulance and finding places for it in the new ambulance. This morning he wanted to "stop by" to make sure the day crew was all brought up to speed and we've been here for an hour already :)

This is the part I can tell he really misses about actually being a paramedic.

It's alright, I've caught up on everyone's blogs and the souvenir shops don't open until after 9 anyway.

I wonder if I will ever get over being afraid to touch anything while I hang out in ambulances.

Welcome. Again.

Oh good lord. While waiting today for Rob to do his ambulance stuff in Vancouver and for us to hit the road to Lillooet, I started writing a lovely post about our day at Lake Cowichan yesterday... I decided to save it as a draft and delete what appeared to be a pile up of blank drafts. But instead I deleted all of my previous posts.

I'm glad that the me that would have cried over that was able to laugh about it. And Rob said, well welcome to r2. (revision 2, just in case you aren't all drafts people ☺)

So for anyone just joining me... Welcome to the new blog. For anyone that caught the previous two posts. You were the lucky ones. ☺ they were too long winded anyway.