Bearly Here...

Well, as many of you know by now, Paul did in fact make it home, body, soul, and trailer intact. What have we been doing, you ask? Let's see: Paul has done more repairs to the trailer (grrr...), making it much more road worthy. I've finished marking final papers and sent the lot off to Uvic today. We've organized the (1600 sq.ft) workshop (I can hear the Guys drooling from here) so we can move into it for the next 2-3 months while renovations are happening. My daughter Becca and son-in-law Dean are coming tomorrow morning to help heave heavy items from the house into the workshop (hey, didn't we just do the reverse in July??). The shop has a main large room where we can plug in the stove and fridge for meals. We'll use the kitchen cabinets that are being torn out of the house, and there's a bathroom, and three smaller rooms, one of which will be our 'bedroom' and another my 'office'. As soon as that's accomplished, Paul will begin serious demolition duty. Let's see, what else-- the building permit came through yesterday, hurray! And we spent a lovely Sunday afternoon with neighbours up the hill who renovated their Doukhabour home three years ago. Rebecca and Robin moved to Castlegar from Calgary-- Rebecca is a writer and Robin an anthropologist, and they're lovely, warm people. In fact, we're finding that everyone we meet here is terrific. I just met another neighbour on the way to the mailbox this morning, and was given a warm welcome to the 'hood and promises of introductions and plant-sharing-- yay!

People seem to know our house, and many have commented on what a special property it is. We've realized that none of the new houses being built on our street along the river can be positioned as close to the river as we are-- we're probably the closest on this whole stretch of the Columbia for miles. How lucky we are to step out the (future) dining room doors and sit literally on the bank! But more than that, the comments have been about the peace, tranquility, and spirit of the place.

And in that spirit, here are a few more pictures:

Paul brought all my potted herbs, tomatoes, and geraniums from Victoria, and they're adding some colour to the Banya.

One of the many apple trees... we met a woman today who told us where we can have our apples juiced if we want.

Plums are almost ripe... which leads to the next shot:

Yes, we have a Bear, as evidenced by his or her Doo-Doo. Huge Doo-Doo, at that. May signify a huge bear, or just one who is on a terrific fruit cleanse at the moment.
Apparently we'll be vying for the plum crop... stay Tuned.