I wrote this today, in memory of my Dad. 

 20 years ago today- We laughed together… it was the last time I heard that magical sound.

20 years ago today- We went out for a lovely meal… it was the last meal we shared together.

20 years ago today- We talked about things… I don’t remember what we talked about, but it was the last time I heard your voice.

20 years ago today- We didn’t know it would be our last visit. If I’d known that, I would have made it so much more meaningful & loving.

20 years ago today- My heart broke and it’s still trying to heal…

20 years feels like a life-time, and at the same time feels like yesterday. 

20 years ago I thought my life was over, but it has gone on anyhow.

 I try to remember our happy times and forget the pain… but I guess 20 years just isn’t long enough.

I Love & miss you Dad… 

Nature break

Bald eagle during a spring snow

It's been a long time since I've written here... and I wonder if anyone has missed me?
But now is as good a time as any, to jump back in and try to continue more frequently :)

 Right now I'm taking this evening off - away from the news and corona virus pandemic storm that has been growing and swirling around us all for the past few weeks, as I start my 3rd week of physical isolation. So that's all I'll say about that right now.

  This is a great time to review/purge and edit my (numerous) photos and to share some of them. I hope you like them :)

Bald eagle & misty mountain

One of our little chickadees- daily visitors most of the year.

Kingfisher by the lake

Song sparrow? Posing ever so briefly.

Stellar's Jay- all puffed up in the backyard.

Stellar's Jay drinking from our birdbath.

Canada Geese 

Bald eagle drying off after a wet morning.

Varied thrush under the feeder.

Woodpecker- not sure what kind though.

A toad in our creek- late fall (October?)

Close up of the toad on the rock :)

And that's it for now!

Please add a comment so I know you've been here :)

Keep safe.

Angie

Osprey rescue

UPDATE:
 Unfortunately all our efforts failed to save this magnificent bird, despite our best efforts.

I want to say a big THANK YOU to my friends that helped, especially OWL Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society and the  Selkirk Veterinary Hospital in Nelson.
The world is a better place because of caring people like this :)

Another Mother's Day

Me and my Mom a long time ago.

Another Mother’s Day!  I’m sitting in the sun on our patio, listening to the birds and reflecting. Today marks the 18th year that we’ve celebrated Mother’s Day... without my Mom. A lot has changed throughout this time, especially communication. Imagine no cell phones ?!    If my mom were here today, we could chat for hours and still not cover everything. I miss her laugh... and she laughed a lot.  She was a wonderful lady and thinking of her is bittersweet. I believe she’s in a better place and if I’m selfish in wishing she was still here, that’s ok.   I thank her for teaching me many things, which helped me to be a good mom too. My boys have turned out to be such wonderful young men, I hope she’s as proud of them as we are.

Anyhow, I just wanted to say "I hope you still have your mom or someone in your life that loves & motivates you as much as mine did. "

Thinking of my Mom and all the Moms that were, are & will be... 

Happy Mother’s Day!

Remembering my Mom on Mother's Day 

New Year, new wedding bouquet photos.

 Happy New Year!
It's all a blur since I last posted in September, we've had a lot going on, but not necessarily for the good. Since I intend to keep my blog upbeat I won't go there... besides it's a new year, full of hope, dreams, love and the chance to make new memories.
My wish is that 2017 is a better year for me, my family, friends and you, my dear reader.

I hope you don't mind if I share something I'm quite proud of.
My Etsy shop hit a major milestone... 10k sales! since opening (in 2008)! That's a lot of happy customers! It's hard to believe and a little shocking, but then, I've put a lot of hard work into my venture.
 Of course I couldn't do it without the support of many people- too many to mention individually, but I must mention my teammates on Etsy- particularly my friends on the Potti Team, and Twitter   who have been so helpful in many ways.
 I mainly give credit to my incredibly supportive husband, who keeps taking on more and more. Thank you Dear! for helping me build my dreams, I'd be lost without you. I know this wasn't what you envisioned when you married me (this year will be 33) years ago, and I love you all the more for it! You're the best partner I could ever have! Thank you!

The Pantone wedding colours for 2017 are out! You can see them here at  Wedding Ideas Mag (btw-I especially love the Island Paradise colour!)

Here are a couple of wedding bouquet photos with my charms from happy brides! I'll add more throughout the year :)

Thank you Samantha! for sharing your bouquet and charm picture.

Thank you to Erin for sharing her bouquet and charms picture.

Thank you to Jessica for sharing her bouquet and charm picture!

BC is Bear Country - fall time in the Kootenays.

Well it's that time of year
The long hot sunny days of summer, with colourful blooms, birds, and butterflies are fading away into long shadows and shorter, rainier fall. The Kokanee have been spawning, kids are settling into school, and it's time to shift into autumn mode.
 Harvest season is coming to a peak and everyone seems to be busy, picking, pickling, canning and  gathering firewood.
 We didn't really do a garden this year, but we can count on our walnut tree, which is just starting to drop a few walnuts- time to get out the buckets & rubber gloves :)
 There's so many things I want to write about, but right now, I've got bears on my mind since there's been 3 different bears in our yard this week & have been so many sightings in town and all around. I have some great pictures to share, here's a few and I'll add more later :

A bear on a hill

I'm so fortunate to have a good zoom on my camera.

We were getting firewood when I spotted this bear in the distance.

He's been watching us.

Usually, this is all I see- a brown blob in bushes.

A few minutes later, I saw another black bear.

                                                       A bear in the backyard...

When you're taking pictures of trees & stuff & see this silhouette in the background!

   

so you take a couple of zoomed photos...

but it's not holding still... or is the photographer moving?

nope it's the bear....

finally a couple of good shots!

A  healthy (brown) black bear watching us... and posing for just another moment.

 

A bear beside the highway

We stopped to watch this bear across the highway-

zooming in to see what it's doing/eating.

  

Spotted- it sees us in our car (a long way away)

Running for cover?

Hiding?

Nope- bringing a friend

Click here to See my Black bear/s video 

Note: While making this blog- we had another bear visit- next door... it was a big one! Here's another healthy looking brown (black) bear...

Baby River Otter - an amazing experience.

Our 1st good look at the baby river otter.

Long story short... we found an orphaned baby river otter and gave it to our Conservation Officer.

***********
The whole story:

 I heard there was a dead otter on the side of the highway near our home and have thought about it off & on for a couple of days, then heard it may have been a mom! I've never seen one up close, but really didn't want to see this poor dead one, so have avoided going there... but the possibility of babies? I had to see for myself, so I could stop wondering. 

  Friday- on my 1/2 hr drive home from work, I decided to go and investigate.  I also thought about my dad and asked him,  if he heard me, that this would be a great time to let me know. I was going to see if this was a female, and if so, have a look around for the possible baby/s, before it gets dark. 

   I got changed and headed out there... and ran into a neighbour on the way. 

We could smell it (eww) so we knew that it hadn't been removed yet- (the dead otter had already been reported to a couple of places). 

As we headed away from the smell talking about the possibility of pups, something caught my eye, a movement in the grass. I looked more carefully and said I'd seen something moving, and shortly it popped it's head out of the grass! It WAS a baby otter! I can't tell you how surprised we were.

 I texted my husband:

 I'm not going into details about how we caught it (right now), but we managed to catch him ( sorry I don't actually know if it's a he or a she). He seemed in good shape and wasn't frantic about being in a "cage", which I covered with my jacket to help keep him calm.  I had planned to look for this little guy, but hadn't really expected to find it, let-alone know what to do with it if I did!

  Just bringing him home was a surprise- Taz was so curious & excited... as were we! We ended up making some phone calls and having to leave messages, of course, it's Friday night and most offices are closed. Anyhow, we'd have to look after him until we can get some professional help.

He's surprisingly calm, but we weren't sure what to do with him.

It has been a scary few days for this little guy... 

Saturday-  I went back to look for signs of any other babies, with no success. I stopped to look around the dead otter and took a picture of it, when an Officer arrived.

 He was here to remove the carcass. We spoke briefly and I told him of the pup. 

 

   

I've never really had any interactions with a Conservation Officer before and was hoping I hadn't done anything I shouldn't have. (Of course I took a bunch of photos while I still had the chance. )

  He was very professional, and sincere. 

Unfortunately it's not his place to decide on the fate of this adorable little orphan, but he said he would let me know either way. 

With trepidation, we watched the Conservation fellow take him away, 

so glad he's in good hands. 

Yes, it's a very cute orphaned baby,  but it's still a wild animal.

Glad to see he's spunky, feisty & got attitude! 

Taking a moment to pose for photos! 

Looks like he's waving good bye!

Saying goodbye to this 

adorable little animal, 

who in this short time 

has our hearts 

wrapped around it!

UPDATE:
 July/16 It's a girl!  She is doing well and is now in good care at the Kamloops Wildlife Centre.
http://www.bcwildlife.org
So happy to hear that she will likely be released to the wild in 3 or 4 months :)

UPDATE: She was released in Oct/16 at Kokanee Creek Park