There just aren't enough blogposts about donkeys...

Here's my attempt to do something about this interweb crisis. Allow me to introduce Ozark and Isabelle:

They live on my uncle and aunt's farm in Nova Scotia. We've just returned from our family summer vacation in the Maritimes, so prepare for photo posts over the next little while. It is pretty tough to take a bad photo in the Maritimes...it is such a scenic part of our country!  Okay, so donkeys.

Ozark is still getting used to his new stable-mate Izzy (witness ears back in top photo). Both of these cuties are rescue animals that now get to live a lovely life in a gorgeous barn and pasture, along with Bailey the horse (photo below). My aunt Karen is such a compassionate animal-lover and she's taking very good care of these donkeys.  She recently lost her first rescue donkey Owen and everyone was very sad and missing Owen and his hilarious personality terribly. A farrier alerted her to Izzy, who was suffering terrible neglect. Luckily, Izzy recently got to come live at her new home and she's settling in just fine.

Look at that face!!! She's a character like no other. Karen's been trying to find out what kind of donkey grows hair like a llama.  Apparently there is a very rare breed of long-haired donkey, but a large rescue centre in Ontario thinks it unlikely that Izzy is that kind of donkey, just because they are indeed so rare.

She likes to fill up her hair-do with dust.

Ozark seems mystified and rather embarrassed for her.

They both loved the love, though. I think Ozark's ears are back just to maintain his reputation. He really does seem like a sweet fella.  We had such a nice visit - it was my first time seeing the farm since they'd moved there. D was all smiles because she got to ride around the pasture on Karen's horse Bailey.

I took a zillion photos because a farm is too good a photographic location to pass up!  I rode and had my own horse all through high school.  I miss being around horses regularly.

The chickens get to free range all day and bring themselves inside every evening.

This is the neighbour's old barn next door.

After our visit we drove to a well-known lobster supper spot in Hall's Harbour for dinner. The tide was high when we arrived, but dropped about 6' during the 2 hours we were there!

Here's B with our dinner. You choose your lobsters from the tank in the gift shop, then walk them outside to the boil shack where they are prepared for you.  D couldn't quite reconcile the tank to pot scenario, so she chose to eat lobster mac & cheese instead.

I never imagined writing a post about donkeys with a side of lobster, but there you have it. More Maritime goodness to come. I hope you are enjoying your summer.

Strike Camp

Our kids are not in school. I'm trying to stay calm, but our son is supposed to be in his final year of high school and the teacher's strike is still full on because the union leadership and provincial government employees are behaving like....well, they are NOT behaving! At least not like the professionals!  Talks have repeatedly broken down, the provincial mediation guru has walked out, the government continues to provoke the union with unrealistic offers, the union continues to demand too much money. I just want my kids in school and my teacher friends working.  I think they should televise the talks so that we can all monitor behaviour and see what is really going on behind the closed doors and media black out. At least maybe then they'd act like grown ups.

So, instead of returning to classrooms last week, the kids and I returned to one of our favourite places: Thormanby Island. We had our own little strike camp with our hosts: my generous friend Andrea and her dad Bruce.  His sweet pup Sophie entertained us, too!  B was able to join us for the weekend and we had such a nice time reading, playing cards, hiking, swimming, paddle boarding, eating and drinking (sunset happy hour on the beach!). We've enjoyed a record-breaking hot, dry summer that just keeps on giving. The weatherman says we'll have sun right through till this Sunday, with temperatures heading back up to the high 20's Celsius.

Here's a little photo summary of our extendo-summer 5 day trip:

This is how people and stuff get from the dock to the cabin one bay over

deer tracks in the sand

And while I'm here, I just need to say Happy Anniversary to this incredible husband of mine. I never, ever, dreamed 28 years ago when you introduced yourself to me in Physics 101 that we'd end up together 3 years later and married now for 20 amazing, happy years!

  I so look forward to the next 20, B. xoxoxox

The weather was hot, the beer was cold...

My skin has turned a golden brown, my shins are covered in an itchy red rash and I spent two days this week doing laundry. Yes, we are back from camping.

Washington Pass lookout - spectacular!

Last week we ventured south to Bellingham, then east over the Washington Pass to find ourselves in Winthrop. A refurbished gold mining town that is picture perfect for a western movie set, or a Harley convention. There were tons of riders in the valley and parked in town, strolling in the 100 degree heat in their leather vests, chaps, beards and bandannas. You've got to give those guys & gals credit for commitment to the brand!

Ten families from our elementary school joined together and camped at Pearrygin Lake, a state park on a perfectly-sized little lake nestled in the grassland hills a few miles above the town. It was just my husband, daughter, her circus friend and I (our son is learning the ropes of construction with his uncle back east for 5 weeks).  We scored a great site; shady, right on the water and complete with nesting ducks who were sure to invite us to their breakfast party at 5:00 a.m. each morning.

The days were filled with lots of activities including water sport fun; as one of the dads rented a little Sea-Do speed boat to pull the kids on tubes and a wakeboard.  Everyone in our very large group had a bicycle of some kind. There were the downhillers and cross-country riders seeking single track flowy trails through the grasslands and ponderosa pine forest, a few road riders (myself included) looking for quiet valley roads to tour, and kids who just had fun ripping around the campground.

Our group of four departed one morning in search of inner tubes at the Winthrop Motors gas station - we'd heard it would be great fun spending a couple of hours floating down the Methow River that runs through town east to Twisp. We handed over our $20 each (and were assured our tubes would be purchased back for $5 if we returned them in PERFECT condition).  I don't have any photos of this adventure (no waterproof camera), but suffice it to say we had a ball for an hour and a half, froze our asses (literally. Like, completely numb in 5 minutes and remained that way for the following 85, which came in handy for the one or two times we bumped over the smooth river rocks), screamed a little in the rapidy parts, laughed a lot, held hands and hoped we wouldn't miss our landing place downstream.  This was a very 'local' experience, made even more so by the humourous advice we got while trying to figure out how to make the river float happen. At the gas station, the attendant told us "don't land at the KOA campground, they don't like it if you're not actually camping there. Instead, go further and park your car on the side of the road where the big pile of dirt used to be". Uhm, ok.  B left us girls at the starting place (the big red barn in town) and drove down the highway in search of the phantom pile of dirt beyond the KOA campground. Having no luck, he asked someone at the campground where to leave the car and they said "just keep driving down the highway until you get the place where the big pile of dirt used to be."  Seriously?  In the end, it all worked out and the lovely local Jennifer picked up my hitch-hiking husband and drove him right back to us at the starting point.

Later that afternoon we were told that the local outfitter wasn't running river float tours because the water was too high. Oops.

There are some things you just don't see in the city...

I'm pretty sure we're all in for returning next year. The road riding and mountain biking were fantastic (I managed one fun trail ride on a borrowed full-suspension bike and that's where the rash comes in - my legs are covered in tiny welts from riding through the dry grasses and shrubbery).  Despite the fact that it was over 100 F each day, the lake cooled us off, ice was plentiful in our coolers and there was a lovely old willow to shade our group at the beach.

I hope we can get reservations during a full moon next summer. Camping under this super-moon, in warm and dry conditions with no tent fly required was truly dreamy.