July

  We are well into Summer now here where I live. The wild flowers are out in perfusion everywhere.  Yellow Tansy waves valiantly beside the highways at the cars fly by. Queen Anne's Lace delicately nods to passersby, and along the rivers edge delicate blue Chicory flowers stand strong in the intense heat. It is nearly August and our last month of freedom before school is officially supposed to start.

  How has your Summer been going? Some people are heat lovers and the heat is what fills their cup. Other's are so affected by the heat and find it causes them to wilt. My mother was always so affected by the heat and I remember she needed to keep her body cool or she would be ill. I am finding sensitivity to the heat this year so I am not out in it too much. We had this one glorious weekend where our neighbors, who own a pool, allowed us free access to it since they were away. It was a blindingly hot weekend. The children spent every waking minute they could in it and the happiness overflowed. It was beautiful. We've gone to the beach a couple times and to the river and the public outdoor pool. We have visited friends here and there, and we have mostly stayed at home. We have spent time in the Sprinkler, time bored, time watching TV, time reading, and overall our Summer has been a success so far.

  Something that has been an important focus for me this Summer has been taking all four children to counselling. This has been a learning curve for all of us. We all attend together at first and then have individual sessions as well. It has been a wonderful experience so far and I feel like it is a gift I am giving my children for the future.

  I hope these last few months have felt like a gift to you somehow. There are so many ways to look at situations.

 Have a wonderful last couple days of July and may August be a triumph.

Love Tansy

                                This is our newest family addition. Her name is Laya.

Fifteen Years Part Two

  After we spent a couple hours in Sooke where we unsuccessfully tried to find lodging for the night we were able to find a place to stay in Victoria.....and what a place it was!!!!!

While I adored the place we stayed in Port Renfrew and it filled up so many parts of my soul this last place we stayed filled up all the other parts and I felt so full.

I have never booked any places to stay before in my life and so the two places I found were quite by accident and I really had no idea how amazing they would be. I felt so thankful.

When we arrived and I realized where the building was and what the building was I was in such awe.

                                                              It was so beautiful.

                                                      Our room blew me away!!!

                                                   We had a view of the harbour.

After we rested we went out for dinner and then enjoyed the sunset. We listened to a cello player and people watched and it was amazing.

                                            The Parliament buildings in Victoria

                                                         Our B and B in the morning

                                                     All the details that I love

                       Since our place was a bed and breakfast this was our breakfast :)

                                                     It was elegant and delightful.

                   The gardens were so bright and I loved the color and scents of everything.

After breakfast we did a little shopping at The Irish Linen store, where I bought embroidered handkerchiefs to my hearts delight, and at a book store, where I bought gifts for my children, and then we headed back to our children who we found covered in mud and deliriously happy. It was a trip that could not have gone better.

 We have almost made it to fifteen years. It has been one step at a time with many hard times yet we have persevered and I am thankful. I hope you enjoyed taking this trip with me :)

Fifteen Years

  I remember when my husband's sister and brother in law celebrated their fifteenth wedding anniversary when I was newly married. It seemed SO OLD, like they had been married a life time. Of course, little did I know, how quickly that all happens because suddenly here we are! In a few short months my husband and I will have been married for fifteen years. My friend so kindly offered to take care of our children so we could have some time together just the two of us to celebrate this momentous happening. We ended up on a beautiful quite spontaneous adventure. It was glorious. As usual ~ here are the pictures. XO

This is part one of the pictures. I had to snap some pictures of this person's yard. It was amazing.

We stopped to buy some snacks and then headed down a heavily tree'd road that reminded me of the road to Bella Coola. We were going to Port Renfrew. Before we went to Port Renfrew though we stopped here at the Avatar Grove.

It felt like this part of the world had existed from the beginning of time. There was a sort of hush and regalness you don't feel everywhere.

So many deep roots ~ a good reminder of what is needed to stand the test of time.

We then proceeded to Port Renfrew which felt beautiful and moody and perfect for us.

We went to Botanical Beach and the rain poured and I sat in the bushes and enjoyed the sound of the waves and the Sea Gulls.

We would have hiked more but it was raining so hard so we headed to our destination where we were utterly enchanted with our lodging.

                                      This was the view I could see from my pillow.

                                      This was the view out our front door.

                                                    Our own little garden to enjoy.

           I got up early the next morning to capture whatever sunrise their might be.

We ate dinner at the Pub at the end of the wharf and that was really fun. There was a full house. The food was delicious and the atmosphere perfect.

We had breakfast at a delightful little café and then headed out to Sooke. On the way there we stopped at the Jordan River beach and gloried in the incoming tide. It was wild and freeing and majestic.

                                  This is Heritage property on the drive that I loved.

We stopped in Sooke and the visitor center had a little gift shop and museum. I found my grandpa's book there.

                                               A café that my husband chose for lunch.

                                                               Beautiful Sooke

                                       We found a beautiful home and garden that we enjoyed