purple room vents: TWO WEEKS!!!!!!

Holy cats!!! This is definitely the longest I have gone not posting. My apologies!!! It has been a busy busy couple of weeks. Nothing too amazing except for one thing. ARYN CAME FOR A BIRTHDAY VISIT!!!!!!!

It was her birthday yesterday and she came over on Saturday. It was so awesome and timely to see her. I haven't seen her since last July, almost a year. That is a crazy long time to not see your kid!!!! That is NOT normal for us.

I drove her around to see a few things. One of them was our new camp ground just outside Port up at Loon Lake. It is literally five minutes from Port and it is beautiful. It is camping the way camping should be....on a beautiful little lake that just got stocked with fish and has a trail right around it, right beside a defunct railroad that you can hike to a trestle above Cameron Lake, every single site, and there are tons and tons of them, is treed and serviced, the host that stays at the gate and boat launch area is always on site and has tons of firewood available and if you really need ice or beer or whatever, the nearest liquor store is five minutes away and so are the grocery stores and a Starbucks, but seriously, you would never know. You feel like you are truly out in the sticks. Ask Aryn. She can tell you!!! And if you are jonesing for the ocean, it is ten minutes away.

After an amazing delicious lunch, thank you Arnie, at the Clam Bucket, we went for another drive the other way. We went out past Cameron, a logging headquarters, onto the pretty rough and very very dusty Bamfield road to see the broom field of yellow. And then we took the shortcut that we always took back in the Bamfield days to the highway right across from Loon Lake campground entrance.

As we drove along we noticed smoke rising above what looked like Cathedral Grove. As it turned out it was just a tad further above the highway where it runs along Cameron Lake. Of course they didn't get to it as quickly as they should have and now it is out of control and burning our forest. They have closed Coombs market (goats on the roof) and briefly they had to close the highway. Looking out my window at the moment I can see the smoke, tons and tons of smoke billowing out.

Last nite we three, Monte, Ange and I took Arnie to dinner at our birthday restaurant, Little Bavaria. (if I make mistakes it is literally because Leeloo keeps laying her head on the keyboard). People come from Nanaimo, an hour away, to go to this restaurant. Imagine...little stinky old Port has a famous restaurant in it!!! The schnitzel is to die for! I get their vegetable dish. It is crazy. Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, spatzel, rice, rosti potatoes, red cabbage, cheese sauce, rye bread and I always, always, start the meal with snails, garlicky, buttery escargot. And then I finished it off with amazing apple strudel. They all had prawns and meat and things. We had so much fun. I will post some pics.

All in all it was an amazing week end. She brought aforementioned Leeloo, who, in April's and Myles's absence has velcroed herself to me. Holy Hannah! Crazy little dog!!!

April and Myles are winging their way to Lyon France. The week leading up to departure though almost did her in! She planned, with three other girls, a baby shower for forty people. This shower was the day before they were to leave! What was she thinking????

But I guess Myles saved the day. Her friend, with a ten month old active motoring baby stayed the night before and in April's tiny tiny kitchen proceeded to make a cake and decorate it. Myles helped look after the baby. He also cleaned. He also made amazing fancy sandwiches. He also transported the girls and all the decorations and food etc....to the community hall where it was being held. Later he picked them up and helped them clean up etc... How many husbands out there are like that I ask!!!!!!

Well now the smoke has grown exponentially and is creeping over the sky to cover Port. What a shame. Our beautiful forest is being decimated.

Take care people. Enjoy this glorious weather! TTYL

'inviting all my high school buddies to my baby shower, proving to them once and for all I have had sex.' The Dad (a tweet)