Lazy, Hazy Days in Kelowna

Maryse and I just got back from 10 days in beautiful Kelowna visiting with her mom, brother and nephew. The weather was great, the company fantastic, the food fabulous, the weather great, the wine-tasting tingling, the sights exquisite and - did I mention the weather was great? It was sunny and well into the 30s when we left - a far cry from the wet, cool conditions we left behind - and returned home to - in Aylmer.

But it didn't look too promising as we sat on the tarmac in Vancouver...

Kelowna's down there somewhere...

Anyone for a swim? This is the pool in Jean-Marc's backyard where we spent most of our afternoons... Evenings were taken up playing golf on Pierce's Playstation and shooting pool.

The first trip we took was to the Myra Canyon trestles in the mountains above Kelowna, formerly a railway and now a winding hiking and biking pathway. The trestles where destroyed in the 2003 forest fires and have recently been restored and reconstructed...

Maryse and I drove to Osoyoos one day and visited the Nk'Mip First Nation's winery, resort and cutlrual center. It was a somewhat breathtaking sight to see a golf course in the center of what's basically a desert. Their cultural center included both indoor and outdoor exhibits...

And later in the week Jean-Marc took us out on his boat for a trip on Okanagan Lake, south towards Penticton...

Here's Pierce doing a little archeology work in his backyard...
About half a kilometre up the road from Jean-Marc's is the Summerhill Pyramid Winery. Maryse and I walked up, had lunch, did the tour, did some tasting and bought some wine...

Near the end of our visist we celebrated Jean-Marc's birthday at Bouchons, a French bistro. The meal was to die for. Pierce was sure pleased with the food...

Book: What Happened - Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception by Scott McClellan

Music: Harps and Angels by Randy Newman

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The Polka Dot Door

A long time ago, when I was 22, my first child was born. That kid grew up on a little Canadian kid's show called Polka Dot Door, produced by the TV Ontario network. And Dad, more often than not, sat through those shows with his little one. Nine or so years later when a brother, and a year after that when a sister came along number one son was moving on to Knight Rider and The Dukes of Hazzard. But there was a nice overlap where his siblings picked up where he had left off with Polka Dot Door. And Dad was right there to welcome them. So you're looking at a Polka Dot Door veteran. The show began in 1971 and ran to 1993. I didn't watch the full run but I did get in my fair share. The formula was pretty simple. A young male and female host, which seemed to change every week, sang songs, told stories, made crafts and generally did their best stimulate little brains. The show opened as follows... Imagination Day! Oh boy! ...

30 Days of Photos III #4 Sour

Check out Ziva's Inferno for the rest of today's photos.

I Am Charlie, I'm A Bore

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