It's Another Anniversary Today!

No trick or treat kids even come up Heck Hill... so it is pretty quiet here tonight as usual.

Ten years ago tonight Shirley and I worked until midnight loading up the last of our stuff from our home we sold in Westbank at Pebble Beach.  It was Halloween night.  Pretty spooky, eh?  We had bought a 10-foot trailer that we could pull behind our truck, and this final load was number 8.  This was our final goodbye to the Okanagan.

We had been moving thru the summer... and we did the whole move by ourselves.  So we had kind of been living here.  But since we were involved in our final CHIP program and it didn't wind up until the last week of October, we spent the last month living in our home there and getting things packed up.

Today it rained here most of the day.  But in the last half hour of daylight the sun broke thru the clouds so I grabbed my camera.  It was still raining and it kept raining and I kept working until it was too dark to see.

I hate getting wet... so I worked under a 4 x 8 sheet of 1/2-inch plywood all day to keep dry.  I started out with it about the same height as the top of the window... but when I got too close to it I had to raise it higher.  So I cantilevered a couple of 14-foot 2 x 10 planks and set the plywood on top of it.  This should keep me dry tomorrow for most of the day.  You can see I got rain drops on my lens taking this shot. It just won't stop raining for very long... and time is running out... so I just got keep working somehow.  This wall is the last of the shingle siding.

I was so happy to see the sun come out at the end of the afternoon I just kept wanting to take pictures... in spite of the rain which kept on falling and it's still raining as I do this blog post.

Tucson is looking better every day... and thankfully it's getting closer.

The cobwebs in our house just became decorations today... Thanks Halloween.

Hope your Halloween was great... it was a non event here!

What happened at your house tonight?

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart

Roses are not always red...

And violets are usually some shade of blue...

Sugar is not the only thing that is sweet.

In fact, it doesn't even hold a candle to you!

Happy Birthday, Shirley Ann.

My all time favourite photo of my sweetheart is this one she gave me at the end of the 12th grade school year.

Why do I love you?

Let me count the ways.

You will most often see Shirley smiling... she can always find some reason to be happy.  This was at Canon Beach last Thanksgiving/Birthdays and Christmas celebration with our family.

I love Shirley because she not only loves to walk but we encourage each other to take the time to get out add walk every day.  This arbutus tree is behind her is near the end of the trail at Edith Point.  Photo taken Dec. 30 last winter.

Shirley showing off her new pantry cabinet... before we got the granite countertop.

Shirley is here holding the granite slab secure as we used the tractor to move it from the truck to the front door.  Always willing to help.

Once again Shirley with her perpetual smile.

This photo was taken to show the BlueSkin water deterrent product we used.  It was a pretty cool January day... and Shirley is trying to keep warm as she is getting ready to pass the window thru the opening so I can nail it into place.

With the exception of six windows that were too heavy and too high on the front elevation , Shirley helped install all of the other 30 windows.

We did a Caribbean cruise in March.  Trying to take a photo of the bridge on the ship I caught Shirley's reflection in the window... smiling again as usual.

We usually walked the track on Deck 14 of the ship... but on a couple of rainy mornings Shirley and I went to the gym.

We had four days in New Orleans after the cruise... walked a lot of streets and saw a lot of sights.

Our favourite hiking trail in Tucson is Sabino Canyon.  We often hike this track several times a week.

Shirley always enjoys going to Butchart Gardens... an excellent opportunity to capture some beautiful flower photos.  On this visit we had my sister Dolores and Merritt with us.

Another sunny day at Butchart Gardens.

When I look back on the year and all the photos I have taken I realize that I don't take as many photos of my sweetheart as I could.  That is one thing I am going to change in the days ahead.

With each year I'll love you more.  The best years are still ahead and I'll be there for you for every up down and in between.

How I Met Your Mother

This blog post is dedicated to our children, Shelby and Sherilee.

On the 20th of October 1962.... 50 years ago... I had my first date with Shirley Ann Kandt.

The day Shirley gave me this picture at the end of 12th grade I thought I had died and gone to heaven.  It was so awesome!  It was the first time a girl had ever given me her photo.

We were at CUC...a boarding school near Lacombe Alberta.  On this particular Saturday night 50 years ago tonight, most of the students met in the chapel where we broke into groups of about 20 for a Progressive Party.  Each of the groups would spend 15 to 20 minutes at one place and then move to the next.  Thru the course of the evening we likely went to 8 or 10 departments or faculty homes.

I already knew I wanted to get into the same group as Shirley Ann.  Our first stop was in the Biology Department, where we walked around looking at various things that Mr. Irvine had set out for display on tables.  As we walked around the tables I made my way to get next to Shirley and we spent that first evening together going from one place to another.

I remember in the Physics Lab we were each given a piece of copper wire... and we were asked to make something with it.  I bent it to write my name and gave it to Shirley Ann.  Just recently Shirley showed it to me.  I didn't know that she had kept it all this time.  So, I wanted to take photo of it for this  blog.  But after looking thru our souvenir boxes tonight, zippo.  When we unpack the boxes of stuff and move into our new studio, it will likely show up.

It was common in those days to make a protective cover for our text books.  I wrapped the cover with heavy white paper and spent the next couple of weeks writing the names of popular hit songs on my Chemistry 20 book.  There actually was a song back then "Shirley."  I saved this cover and today it hangs on the wall in Shirley's office.

We didn't have very many classes together, even though we were in the same grade... our class had over 70 students in it... so there were usually two or three classes for each subject.

I remember buying Shirley a cyclamen plant for her Valentines present.  She loved it.  Since then I have bought her a cyclamen nearly every year.  This plant has high sentimental value to us and it comes with lots of good memories.

In the last 50 years we have shared a lot good times together. We've lived in a lot of neat places.  Built some pretty interesting homes... and we are still building things together.

We have set a goal to get this last side of new addition finished and then head out to Tucson... but this past week the fall rains have started.

Here Shirley is high up on the scaffolding painting the cedar shingle siding wearing my orange rain slicker.  The rain is pretty light and coming straight down, so with 30" overhang the rain does not touch the wall.

Here you can see how I put plywood above this window to keep the rain off the wall so that I could finish these corners during the rain.

Shelby, Kim and the girls came for the weekend, so today we went to Saturna... East Point Park.

Shirley and Shelby stop for this photo as the girls and their dog play around behind.

There was endless photo opportunities.

Lucy was happy to give her Grandpa some of her best poses!

The sea lions were relaxing on this rock off the point... the tide was high.  There were also some seals who gave us some entertainment.

Our day started out more sunny than it ended... and ferries were coming and going as we headed out to Saturna.

The bonus of taking our outing today to Saturna was to see our home from the water.  With a 300mm lens these are the first photos showing the studio and loft.

This angle shows the loft dormer which we added to our original plan... a good decision, as the view from this loft is truly special.

You can see the fresh unpainted cedar shingles that I installed yesterday and won't get painted until this coming week.  You can also see the freshly painted blue/green propane tank just below the unpainted cedar in the photo.  This new larger tank is for our new Kohler generator.

Wishing us all a good week... with just a little sunshine so we can get our outdoor work done!  It is best not to paint in the rain!

Water, Water, Water... one of the Eight Doctors

I received an email forward about how drinking water helps to prevent heart attacks, etc.  I have been having some dreadful cramps in the middle of the night... which I'm told can be prevented by drinking a glass of water before bedtime.

Drinking water at certain times improves its effectiveness in the body:

2 glasses of water upon waking up  -helps activate internal organs
1 glass of water 30 minutes before a meal  -helps digestion
1 glass of water before taking a bath  -helps lower blood pressure
1 glass of water before going to bed  -avoids stroke and heart attack...

My first real job out of college was working for Dr. Hardinge at the Loma Linda University School of Health.  And that is where I learned about the "Eight Doctors".  In fact we spent several years making educational films to illustrate these eight Doctors.

Back then the state of the art low budget film production was to put the slide frames on to an endless loop 16 mm film strip that was attached to an 8-track audio cartridge... so obsolete today!

"Pure air, sunlight, abstemiousness, rest, exercise, proper diet, the use of water, trust in divine power -these are the true remedies.  Every person should have a knowledge of natures remedial agencies and how to apply them." -Ellen White, p. 127 Ministry of Healing

The great thing about these "Eight Doctors," as Dr. Hardinge used to tell us, was that these natural remedies come without a doctor's bill... they are basically free to us all.  That was in the early 1970's before someone discovered that people would pay more for a bottle of water than for a soft drink or iced tea. The bottled water today is a Big Business!

The slide/film productions we made were: 

Sugartime

Mr. Tense

Bubble of Air
Water, Water, Water

I'm Tired

Physically Fit?

Sunlight

The Spider's Web

I remember when we were making the Water, Water, Water filmstrip we drank a lot water through out the day.