Ice Cream Days

They're baaaaaaaaack.  The littles ones were in Vancouver for about 10 days. Now they are back home.  I picked them up from daycare and we ate dinner at McDonalds.   Mmmmmmm.  Then to my house for Ice Cream.  Double mmmmmmm.

The Ice Cream was apparently pretty good.

Summer had finally arrived and we are suppose to have one more week of this "heat warning" weather.  My yard is excellent in this weather as it is shaded with a breeze blowing through.  Comfortable for eating and playing.

July 24th Tea Party

Had a wee Tea Party today.  Summer is here FINALLY and although there were severe heat warnings my backyard is shaded and a breeze blew so it wasn't hot at all.  We had a variety of sandwiches, mini quickes and some veggies along with Rose Wine and Iced Green Mint Tea.

Of course it wouldn't be a proper tea party with scones and Devonshire cream and I added French Macarons.

It was a lovely afternoon with old friends.

AND THE BEARS

I know I have already posted a bear movie, but these are some more photos of the grizzly with her 3 cubs.  They were so cute.  We saw them swim across the river, mom first then they 3 little ones following. Then they stopped just under the bridge which crosses the river.  This is where a I took these photos.  

Looks like she caught something tasty to eat.

Looking for that scrumptious salmon that is now running.

Bears are like Norther Lights to me.  I never get tire of viewing them.

Haines (still again)

The next day we drove out to the campground as is was AGAIN a beautiful hot day.

This is a photo looking toward the ferry terminal (which we tried to get on, but BOTH ferries were fully booked).  You can see the catamaran Fast Ferrie in the mid left hand corner.  The mountains are amazing around Haines.

The salmon were running so we are expecting to see a lot of fishermen on the river.

Here we are close to the boat launch at Chilkoot Lake.  Other than the mosquitoes, it was beautiful.

 Right beside the lake there is this kiosk.  They have kids life jackets in case you were stupid enough NOT to have a life jacket for your child when you went out on the water.  I was VERY IMPRESSED!

We watched the fisher persons on the Chilkoot River, as the salmon are now running.  You know, the state of Alaska allows all Alaskan resident to put nets in the river to catch up to 50 salmon for their family.  We saw nets, but thought maybe they are only for the First Nations.  No sireee.  Not in Alaska.

Haines Continued

FINALLY, there was a store here that not only sold XtraTuf boots (what I have alway called Juneu boots as EVERYONE in Juneau wears them) but they also had my SIZE, which has always been the problem for me.  Now that I am not living in the bush any longer, I don't really need the high boots, and luckily XtraTuf now makes a variety of boots, one that was just perfect for me.

After a  hard day of shopping (the only thing we bought were my boots), we went into the local brewery and had a cold one.  Didn't sit outside though as it was too hot and as you can see there were no picnic tables in a shaded area.

Our next stop was to purchase a beverage for our hotel room.  We found these cute little glasses of wine which were just perfect for a night cap and they came in their own glasses!

Haines Weekend

Received a phone call around 9 on Saturday morning asking if I wanted to go to Haines Alaska.  The weather was spectacular and I haven't been to Haines for so long, I cannot remember when I last went... so I said YES!

The road was clear as it was Dawson City Music Festival Weekend, so lots of people went north rather than west!

I always love driving around the Yukon!

Where else would we want to stay for the night but the Halsingland Hotel.  There is al lot of history in this old hotel (http://www.hotelhalsingland.com/history/ ) and I cannot tell you how many times I have stayed there (as well as my Mom, Dad, and Aunt Liz!!!)

Here is the view from our hotel porch (where we sat drinking wine at the end of the day).

Joan relaxing at the end of the day.

Me relaxing at the end of the day.

Haines Alaska

One of the highlight of my recent trip to Haines Alaska.  Saw this Mom and her 3 cubs swim across the Chiloot River then look for fish on this side.  Soooo kewl!

Breaking Bread ... again

Cousin Andrew leaves for Galiano Island on Sunday so I had a farewell dinner with family and friends.  Was originally going to  host it outside in the yard, but considering the weather ... 13 degrees and spitting with rain ... we all stayed inside with the fireplace on!  Where did summer go???  The meal was (lazy) cabbage rolls with the meat being bison, courtesy of Jean's hunting skills.  Another good evening eating and gabbing together.  

A Rainy Saturday

The kids slept over on Friday night.  On Saturdays we sometimes go garage-sale-ing but this Saturday morning it was pouring with rain.  I thought crafts would be fine entertainment.  As their mother's birthday is coming soon, I had them design a birthday card for her.  They loved the project and made wonderful cards I am certain she will love.

Fashion Show

I don't take selfies, and now you can see why.  Joan and I attended the Adaka Cultural Festival's Fashion Show.  This is an event put on as part of the Indigenous Festival held at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre.  As this is a very popular event, we attended early to get our seats.  And as there was a lot of just sitting and waiting for the event to start, I took some selfies for amusement.

One of the emcees of the show was an indigenous man from New York.   The first thing he did was apologize for his President.  Imagine having to do that!  We all clapped.

The show features all First Nations designers and there was quite the variety of dresses/coats/pants etc.

Some pieces were quite plain, others, over the top.

One of the coats featured was the original Yukon Parka.  Yes, we miss the Parka factory that we had in the north.  The fur pieces on these coats and on all of the clothing were fabulous and locally trapped.  

All in all, an excellent evening.

Dinner

Was invited to cousin Frank's house for dinner last night.  His brother, cousin Andrew was in town from Galiano Island.  Since I had been working on family history in our family tree, thought some pics of the cousins would be a good addition.

Then, when I left the house and arrived at the Alaska Highway, I saw this rainbow -  and it hadn't even rained!  Guess someone was looking down on us from above.