Seriously how is it possible that half of 2025 is gone already?!
I went to the office, which was very peaceful today and got a lot done. I listen to Jake’s podcast while I worked called help lines all the things that need to be done and then was planning to come home and mow my lawn, but it was 30+ degrees so I stopped at Fenwick & baker. We ended up having an interesting chat with a guy beside me at the bar. 
As it was the first conversation and I was not in a mood to entirely argue, I had a civil conversation let him speak his peace and lay down a few things about myself and how I disagree with him. It was very civil, but I suspect it may be less so the second time around. Hard to believe this philosophy, major lives here in Cranbrook.
I did have a lovely visit with my friend Jim, who has been very sick of recent and has decided to give his notice at the Baker Hotel and move to Grand Prairie to live with his daughter. He is 61 this year and has lived a full life. It will be good for him to go be with family, although I will miss him.
I got up at a decent time got myself ready and went and met Emmy, Jake and Ashley at Elizabeth Lake Lodge, where they have Hawaiian shaved ice. Jake treated us and we had a nice little visit. We stopped at my place to give Ashlée my railroad watch. Jake and Ashlée are the only two people that I know that don’t wear smart watches. I want to make sure this watch that is special to me stays in the family. Ashlée is going to take it to a watch person in Edmonton and see what it would cost to get a new crystal on it and a new battery. And then she will decide if she is comfortable with the size of it and the cost. Otherwise, Jake will take it and add it to his watch collection.
The professional photographer posted some pictures today from the grad walk last night before prom, which I was unable to attend. Gene and Charlie look fabulous as do Jake and Chenia.
I spent some time this afternoon, putting the brackets up in the pool so that my gate hangs straight and opens properly and put it around doing a bit of yardwork and house work before it was time to get out of the heat so I have been sitting crocheting and doing laundry, etc. It was a good relaxed necessary kind of day for me.
It was nice to have a good sleep in my own bed. I meant to get myself to the Guedes’s house in time to say goodbye to Haylee and Jack. she is the daughter of Roger’s oldest sibling, Travis, who passed from cancer years ago. I have not seen her since she was quite a bit younger on Salt Spring Island and it was such a pleasure to spend some time with her. She is a lovely young lady and her boyfriend Jack is also very sweet.
Gene showed me that his Fluevog are starting to separate a bit at the toes so I’ve got a follow up and see what can be done
10 of us went to see Lilo and Stitch. I quite enjoyed it. Rae still feels that the original is the best and it is one of her favorites.
I had a brainstorm to buy three large popcorn for $30 and ask for small bags for the kids so that I can split it between everybody.
After the movie, Jake, who had taken my car and gone to Hot Shots to do some work, came back and he and Emmy and I went to Shoe Co to see if they were yellow crocs, which she desires. There were not, unfortunately. Ashlée picked us up at the mall and we went and had a short visit with GG. We are all still pretty annoyed with her that she wouldn’t come out for the family dinner visit after grad. Her excuse is that she doesn’t like crowds. She’s cutting herself off but expects people to bring her things and do what she needs.
Once back at the house. We played a game of Outsmarted in teams and it was fun. Jake and Emmy were ’Outfarted’ and they won
It was nice to hang around out in the yard and visit. It was a lovely surprise when Diana popped by to bring Gene a grad card.
I popped home to pick up materials to crochet a blanket for Maia‘s baby and then to Safeway for zucchini. Roger loves his wife very much and it is their anniversary and one of her favourite food foods is grilled zucchini. Bill supplied some amazing steaks and we had a delicious dinner followed by Bill’s homemade rhubarb pie.
Tanner, Rae’s friend, showed up for a visit. She is working in Castlegar now it is good to have her closer than Winnipeg. Her and Jake got into a battle of asking Alexa to play songs to annoy each other. The constant changing of songs every 30 seconds was making me crazy so I said goodbye to the Knights who will be leaving in the morning and took my leave. I am loving her beautiful. My tiger lilies are even though they were dug up to do the walkway.
I slept very decent last night, but I’m still tired. I dragged myself to the office got everything done that I needed to and then headed to the first Ed Fest meeting. Unfortunately, there were only five of us there, and I am still trying to define my role in helping it to succeed. Galen was very complementary in expressing that my experience with festivals is a great value.
I went to the kids house to await them all coming home and Roger had made an incredible dinner and we all hung out again as Gene and his friends headed off to prom. I didn’t get a picture of him with his date Charlie, but I did get a good one of Jake and Chenia. It was cute seeing her fit her beautiful dress into his dad’s Porsche. I admit to being very happy to see that Gene was wearing his Fluevogs that I got him.
Emmy and I played a fun game. It amuse me that they actually had a warning on the box that you needed to know English well.
I purchased tickets for nine of us to all see Lilo and Stitch tomorrow and then came home to collapse in my chair. I should be putting away all the stuff from my trip and doing laundry and things, but I am weary. This has been a very long stretch of people. It is a good exhausted, but it is exhausted nonetheless.
Missy definitely missed me as she is not in the habit of sitting in my lap
Woke up at 5, sigh. We got ready, loaded the car after breakfast and headed out.
First stop was Costco. It was good to grab a bunch of staples and a new lawn chair. Next was Chinook Centre to hit up the Lego store where I grabbed a few fave items
We headed out of town and stopped in Nanton for Subway and Zoomed in to the Rotary lunch to listen to Chenia the valedictorian who won our scholarship. The sound was terrible. We did clearly hear Steve Roberge who had arrived there with Denise from Calgary on their way home to Coeur d’Alene. He fulfilled wish #2 (#1 had been giving me his flag pin) by telling the club that Leanne and I were the best Rotarians ever and that we would explain when we returned. We both had a great laugh. I’m sure it left the club wondering.
We made it back to Leanne’s to unload her by just after 4 and then I headed to Western Financial for the grad ceremony. Thankfully enough seats were saved. It was great to see so many kids of clients and friends as well as Gene’s besties cross the stage.
Leanne’s nephew
A ripped home and unloaded the car with the help of Tracey before going over to the house for the family party. It’s so amazing that Roger sister and her family came up from Washington State and his niece and her boyfriend came from Salt Spring Island. There were friends of the family and a lovely surprise of Brenda Tyson the middle school principal who came to the party because she just loves this clan of ours. I enjoyed visiting with her and all of us getting pictures taken and then I drove her home around nine as we were both very tired and honestly, I’m pretty peopled out. Jake and Emmy decided to stay at Bill and Deanne’s tonight as they have the room at my place is a bit of a muzzle from just unloading the car everywhere. I will have them over Saturday night for sure.
This day was less jammed than others but still so full of learning and connections I want to fill in all the blanks but I risk not getting anything done so here is a big dump and I will try to circle back. I did speak at both my breakout sessions and was thrilled to connect with Joan from the meeting I attended in Vancouver in May.
I kept intuitively trying to leave the loo via the wrong door BananaMrs Bromley was the bestMy view from the stage Nigerian DG with the best storyPancreatic Cancer is a bitchI wish I could afford to goIncredible human!!!!Nobel prize winner!Hunter BrothersKorean connection Castle air bnbMmmmmmRotary Power Rangers!Train! (Glad Leanne drove back!)Me, Heidi,Leanne, Bridgett, Denise
That’s me!
Invite to Taipei
It seemed like only moments after declaring to Leanne that all skepticism was gone, that I had not drunk the Kool-Aid…. I was concerned about the ‘kkk’. That may be overstating but it was certainly unnerving and disappointing
Hunter Brothers
Following the closing of the event, we joined The Roberge’s on a tour of the Keyes Airbnb castle. I was scared to sit in the furniture. Dinner at Nash (the old national hotel) was exquisite. I know we have made good friends and I was grateful that Steve gave me his two country pin. He did border on a little bit creepy tonight though.
This may be just a lot of photos and videos as today seemed three days long. I enjoyed my breakout sessions, had so many chats and connections, laughs and apologies (from Americans), and requests to take a picture of the back of my shirt (the one with Rotarian ‘at work’ crossed out and ‘at play’ written in)
Hotel is getting ready for Stampede
The opening session speakers were remarkable! I loved hearing their passionate tales of overcoming polio and cervical cancer, two completely preventable diseases now.
David Keyes, our District Governor Elect, and I had several great chats and I mentioned that I loved seeing us describes as People of Action. I dared to add that We are people of actions rather than Facebook Reactions.
The session started and ended late so I booked it over to the HOF to see Over the Moon perform. I could only stay for one song as I needed to eat. It was great to see and hear them again
My breakout sessions were extremely interesting and I look forward to applying them at home.
We all met up for a bit in what has become our living room before heading to the Peace Park for a hands across the border moment followed by a District 5080 photo with as many as we could muster. Poor Heidi had a bad asthma attack when she ran to try and make the picture
The evening finished off with 5 of us in the VIP (included food) and 3 in the regular seats for the Rotary Western Showcase, complete with barrel racing, bronco riding and more. I was mad to have missed video of the hoop dancer.
My favourite pic that I’ve taken this week. The showcase winners
This was an exhausting yet amazing day in which I woke up far too early so got up and at it. Packed last nights treats in my bag for the day. Another Uber, this time through traffic. I herded all the kittens to our seats together for the group session. First up after intros by Nacho and Sam was John Hewko, CEO of Rotary International. It was interesting to see how aligned we are with the UN
Next up was Dr Truglio complete with Elmo and his Dad!
RYLA talk, game show and now Dr Hayhoe about the environment
We took a Karaoke stretch break.
(OK, I’m about ready to lose it because I had everything ready to go and upload it and it went back to the previous update and I think there’s just too many people on the Internet here so I’m going to try to upload more tomorrow in the meantime please enjoy the video of Geena Davis)
And then it was time for my personal hero. I have always wanted to be her, lol.
I spent my two breakout sessions in the morning and afternoon learning more about AI and the best use of it for club purposes, especially since I’m taking over archiving, etc. I met some interesting people along the way several from Vancouver Island, and others from North Carolina and Virginia.
Our MC Nacho!
I connected with Rick and Leanne and we decided to head back to the hotel for dinner and I’m more relaxed evening. Rick treated which was lovely of him, and after they went up to bed, I settled for an episode of Endor and a martini. Was a lovely way to end a very full day.
Neither of us slept well so we were up and ready as dawn was breaking. We headed to the hotel to meet Rick, drop off our stuff in his room, and then have breakfast before catching an Uber to the convention site.
We met up with the Roberges, accidentally which was awesome, then found Ed & Jennie, David & Marlisa to grab seats with for the first session Opening Ceremonies. It was fun to spot ‘our Lorne’ go by three times as a flag bearer. The speakers were very good, the dancers a little riské and David LaMotte was fabulous.
Premier Danielle Smith
I have a video of Danielle Smith’s live speech but it is too long to upload tonight. Must sleep (done!)
Afterward we got in line for the free pancake breakfast. These folks are all volunteers who put it on and do so for Stampede and other big events.
This was followed by a trip to the casino for a break. Rick played blackjack and I won on a slot that I have only ever played online
Leanne and I wandered to the House of Friendship while Rick attended the second session of the opening ceremonies. I found some great branded clothing and pins and paid for a lifetime membership to the Whiskey Fellowship. ($100 US) we returned to the casino for some food and I put my pins on my hat.
I then got a text from Denise and we went to find them in the 2nd floor bar. I plugged in my phone and watch to charge and we all had a fun visit
We next headed over to the venue for the Rock Show. We saved a table for 10 of us and there was much dancing and laughter The drinks were 26.99 for a double rum and coke!!!!!
I was fading fast and was glad when the Uber was called and Rick got us back to the hotel so we could check in. It was a wonderful long day. Time to sleep so we can do it all again tomorrow
It was pounding down rain for the whole set-up and procession of the parade.
William
I was drenched through three layers, except my feet stayed dry and I am very grateful.
I got home, took a hot shower, packed my car and headed to pick up Leanne. Our trip to Calgary was ‘interesting’ as it rained and then snowed like crazy. I felt bad for all the people with summer tires pulling trailers.
Once we arrived we headed to the BMO Centre to register and just had time to pick up my Cowboy hat before going g to Leanne’s cousin Sarah’s where we are staying for this first night.
Boyfriend Cam drove and daughter Danica joined us at a lovely restaurant called, The Livingroom. Good conversation and food made for a lovely evening
It cracks me up how much Cam reminds me of Jeff Crozier
Sarah’s place has a lovely view
My body and hand are aching a bit and I glanced down to see that when I tripped on my treadmill, it was as bad as it felt, leaving a big bruise
Had a struggle to sleep again last night, but I did manage to get up and at the office by just after 10 in order to engage with everyone for Keri‘s 50th birthday party surprise. The party was awesome. The food was ridiculous and the gift was very well received. I had wanted to leave the office early however they were still audit questions very very late for one of my clients so I had to deal with that before. I finally left in time for my 330 pedicure and now I am very tired, even though I’m working still getting the things sorted and put away before Jake gets here. It is rainy and nasty and there’s a horrible dip in my driveway that they were supposed to fix this week, but I have not returned to Do so. I am not happy considering how much I spent.
Today is complicated to explain. I was busy with the usual Thursday things bookkeeping, Rotary lunch, where I hosted the Columbia treaty guy Stan Doehle, locking down the details for my rental car in Florida, gathering information for the upcoming trip to Calgary and ending with trivia night with Brett. We were Brain Wilson’s. we came in for tonight but all things considering that was pretty good and it was great to visit with him at a deeper level. We both consider it therapy to be there on Thursday nights. Before I left the office it was fun to see the ladies decorating Keri’s office for her 50th birthday party tomorrow. I was in charge of the gift. People gave money and I went and bought two expensive amazing bottles of gin. I forgot to take a picture, but I will do so tomorrow. When was mermaid gin and the other comes in an oil cam because at that age you need to oil your joints
The bad news of the day was that a musician that I know from music fest who shares a great connection with so many people in the Comox Valley passed away last night. Anela Kahiamoe will be deeply missed.
The morning started with a reminder of my cousin Kelly as a dragonfly was her favourite
I am so extremely tired and I’m not entirely sure why it could be because I had to run around and do a lot of different things today, including a waxing appointment and taking mom to the dentist and then sitting with her for an hour while we try to get through to air miles as she was going to transfer some to me so that I could pay for a rental car and then finding out that there were no air miles wasn’t available
Gene at work
And now I apologize I am just voice to texting to get this done before I head to bed so improper grammar as I’m a bit mumbling as well.
For a couple hours in the evening, I got to enjoy seeing Lukas and Gene and his best friend Jake play in the Mount Baker jazz band. It is the last time that Lukas will get to play with his brother and it was a lot of fun and they were good.
Gene and Lukas
My allergies are bad. That’s probably why I’m feeling the way. I am so off to bed. I should go. 
Today was a whole lot of things except much billable time. But you know, that’s OK. I am enjoying the slower pace of June, the catching up on things, being able to visit with people during the day, etc..
At one point today, our new IT guy showed up as my system wasn’t connecting correctly to the network and it was Sanjay! He tried very hard to solve the situation and while he was working on it, I built the other two of my Lego botanicals. It was good for me to just sit and meditate on the build. Although he wasn’t completely able to solve the problem, he did a good work around and even set up outlook to work with all of my emails so I could get rid of Thunderbird. I believe I told him I loved him lol
Once home, I made some dinner and watched a bit of Insatiable which I am enjoying in a weird way. And now I am going to continue working on the sorting of things as I don’t have much time left with leaving on Saturday and Jake arriving the day I return on Thursday.
Today was a little challenging at work as I was getting payroll done and being interrupted by email from an accountant about a year end audit. They were supposed to be all done with the initial work done in May but were still reaching out this morning for a lot of information. Their lack of time management is not my emergency however it is what I get paid for.
I came home and had a nice visit with Tracey before coming in to continue sorting. The next tote I came to was of all the binders from music fest. I had put everything aside and here it was at a time when I would normally be getting busy replacing the paper in the binders with the next year’s schedule. It was bittersweet to empty all the binders and get a bag ready of stuff to be shredded. Interesting timing after just talking to Cresslynn yesterday as well. It did make me smile when I came across a binder with a divider in it that Riley had drawn years and years ago. I decided to keep it. It’s all over but the shredding. Sad feels.
On the upside in spite of how my dining room table looks at the moment, I have made great headway on the sorting of all the totes of randomness.
I slept late and then got busy sorting the bins of random stuff. In between a went out and watered my new grass portion. It’s supposed to be water three times a day, which is turning out to be annoying already. It better grow.
I got pretty far with the sorting and feel confident that I will have a space for Jake and Emmy before I have to leave on Saturday. However, there are piles of things and partial totes of sorted items everywhere at the moment.
Roger Ray and the two younger boys stop by to pick up a bunch of bottles from my neighbour and while they were here, I got Roger to place the rest of my pavers that were stacked in an annoying spot. I will settle them all better on a cooler day, but super grateful.
While I was sorting, I finished watching Ginny and Georgia and then the rest of Pieces of Her. The first I really liked the second not so much. I found myself very in my fields today while I was sorting I was trying to be brutal about the things to toss and the things to take to the thrift store. It took a little while to remember why I was sad though. I still miss my dad.
I did put some things for free on marketplace and was grateful there was a quick response from a lady who can use it for kids camp. I also listed my CPAP mask cleaner on Combi wars and hope that it sells. It was a productive day, but I still see so much to do. that being said, I am relaxing now watching Trainwreck the AstroWorld tragedy. My ankle has not loved me being so busy on it this weekend.
Well, I guess last night’s emotion sat with me because I woke up at 5:19 AM and couldn’t get back to sleep so I was out in the yard at a decent time weeding and clearing and levelling so that I could plant my grass that comes in a roll like paper towel. While I was working on it, my neighbour Deb peaked over and we were having great chats and she end up coming over and digging up all the raspberries that were between her place in my shed and taking them as hers needed replenishing. That was a huge bonus for me. I got tired and hot at one point and my ankle was swelling up so I came in to watch a couple more episodes of Ginny and Georgia with my foot up. When I went out later to finish mowing, Deb invited me over for a beverage. We had a great visit. She is 70 and just so full of energy. I came back home showered and headed over for a visit with Monica before we went to the Key City next season preview. There are a few things that I will definitely want to see a couple of them unfortunately, are well I am away. Afterword, we went back to her place and each one a game of patchwork before the tiebreaker, which was very close I only won by three buttons it was a good day, but I am very exhausted
On my way back from Deb’s, I saw my neighbours cat miaowing to get my attention in the front window. Tracy has been away for a week and poor Daisy is likely lonely. Tracy sister has been coming to feed her etc. but I don’t think she’s visiting with her. I’m glad that Tracey got home this evening.
I woke up this morning thinking about my friend Ruth. Yesterday morning the chair of the board for one of my clients came for a meeting and we were all sitting around having a coffee before beforehand when somehow Salt Spring came up and she asked me how long I’d live there and did I know Ruth Kirby. It seems they were close friends at one time had worked together and she had lost touch with her. I was sad to tell her that Ruth had died from cancer over a decade ago now. It was nice to make the connection of someone else who cared for her and once again proved what a small world it is.
The big puddle I came home to yesterday had not dissipated overnight and I texted the caving company to ask how soon they could fix it so that I didn’t have to walk in water to get into my car. I was told they will come next week.
I had a dentist appointment at 10 where the hygienist and I had a giggle as the music that was playing in the office seem to be the karaoke hits. She couldn’t resist singing along.
I got back to the office and did some work and then went to get my nails done as I was lucky to get an appointment today being that I had managed to peel two of them off. Once again, Minh did magic.
Once back at the office, I got more things done, including booking my flight home from Florida and deciding what I’m going to do while I am there. So that was exciting.
I popped home for a break before heading to Key City Theatre for 545 to volunteer for the Canadian tribute fundraiser concert for Fisher Peak Performing Artists Society
I was a little anxious about the whole experience as I knew that I would see the person that treated me poorly this week. The great thing was, I had more hugs and love from musicians and audience than I could’ve hoped for. Unfortunately, the show started 23 minutes late and ran long, but it was so nice to see so many talented people from the area I live in play.
Jon BissetThe ClelandsSarah TurkVelle & the Crow CatchersLarry, Shinobu and Randy, the brassShevaKatrinDave and TomSlo Joe CrowEthan Askey & the elevators Grand Finale
Today was a mishmash of things and feelings. I was at work early and managed to get a lot done today, including transferring information to the society’s new accountant and being proud of handling it in a very professional way
Rotary lunch was interesting as Keith Powell was there speaking on behalf of CAMAL, Cranbrook, archives, museum, and landmark Society. They operate the train museum and now Fort Steele. This is a very good takeover of Fort Steele and I see promise for the future
I laughed when Norm told me it was funny that I had a picture of myself on my outfit
I got some important things done this afternoon, including filing my widowed friend Rhonda, her husband and son‘s tax returns and my daughter’s. I have been waiting for information for all of them and was able to file them as the last ones of the season. This would usually lead me to in the past texting or calling Jackie or more recently zooming all I had to say was it is done and I will get the thumbs up at a good laugh of understanding
I was missing that connection and celebration for the first time as long as I can remember when it occurred to me that I still had my stack of Lego botanicals to build at the office and on top was the orchid, Jackie’s favourite flower. Around 4 o’clock I shut down and began to build in an hour later or so I had a beautiful flower of tribute to my dear friend that I will now see from my office spot every day.
I dodged the pouring rain and lightning to get to Encore for friends with benefits meet up and then Brett and his girls and Roger join me for trivia night where I named the team it’s Brett’s birthday, because it is! We had a lovely evening and we won on a tiebreaker came home with 30 bucks each and five dollars each for the girls just for fun
I snuck a picture of a guy and sent it to my friend Jeppe because this guy reminded me all night of his brother who is gone now. Yeppe agreed that minus the tattoos there was a strong resemblance to Yo. He and I had a nice little text back-and-forth, enjoying the memories of the time we spent together on Salt Spring.
I got home and was thoroughly disappointed at the swimming pool in my carport. I’m going to have to send a picture to the paving guys as this will be unacceptable to leave for very long. I had to step out of my car into a puddle and it will be ice in the winter.
I know they will fix it. I just don’t want them to leave it very long.
triumphgal 