Photo Journal - July12-18

And what were the highlights of a week in July?

A boat ride to a friend's cabin and a weekend there with good friends. Breakfast on the patio - Long Island, Harrison Lake.

Jerome, a young man from Belgium, met on the beach at the
Harrison Festival of the Arts, whom we hosted overnight.
A stranger met, a friend made.
A brave fellow to tackle a year long bicycle trip across Canada.
Travel safely Jerome.


Mmmm.. fresh locally grown raspberries and Okanagan apricots.
made into jam.


A precious grandprincess, enjoying the early morning sunshine.

Baby B's first taste of plums and raspberries

- oh yeah - bring it on!An excited grandboy piloting the boat by himself.

A waterfight between grandboy and his PopPop.

Grandson N loving the (cold!) water.

A warm cuddle after a swim.

Wondeful patterns in the rocks on the beach made by the action of the waves.Baby B's delighted giggles - oh how he loves his Daddy!

Watching a moth (?) probing the flowers for it's evening meal.

Enjoying the trellis Harv built for me. My Honeysuckle and Trumpet Vine now have a beautiful place to climb.

Hummingbirds

While visiting at a friends' cabin on Harrison Lake this past weekend,

we were all fascinated by the many hummingbirds that chattered and

buzzed around the two feeders on the deck.

Harv set up his camera and snapped away, trying to capture their speed, brilliance and acrobatic flight. Here are a few of his best shots.

We also did a bit of research on hummingbirds and thought we'd share a few of the interesting facts we learned about these marvels of flight.

• The male hummingbird is more colorful than the female.
• A hummingbird can weigh anywhere between 2 and 20 grams.
  (A penny weighs 2.5 grams )

• A hummingbird wings will beat about 70 times per second; up to 200 times per second when diving.
• 30% of a hummingbird's total weight is made up of flight muscles.

• No other bird has as many feathers per square inch as a hummingbird has.
• The brain size of a hummingbird is 4.2% of its total body weight
  

• A hummingbird can rotate each of its wings in a circle, making them the only bird that can fly forwards, backwards, up, down, sideways or sit still in sheer space. To hover, hummingbirds move their wings forward and backward in a repeated figure eight, much like the arms of a swimmer treading water.
• The normal resting heartbeat of a hummingbird is 480 beats per minute, this number can go up to 1,260 per minute when it is excited. These little birds breathe 250 times per minute.
• The life span of a hummingbird is usually 5 to 10 years.

• A Hummingbird can move instantaneously in any direction, start from its perch at full speed, and doesn't have to slow up to land.
• Hummingbirds can even fly short distances upside down, a trick rollover they employ when being attacked by another bird.
• Hummingbirds can dive 60 mph and their speed can average 25-30 mph.
  

• The most astonishing quality of hummingbirds is their ability to broadcast color. Hummingbirds radiate like hot coals in the sun.
• The color that reaches your eye is created by pigment, which absorbs some colors and rejects others. Like soap bubbles, hummingbird's color comes from iridescence, not pigment. It winks on and off, depending on the light source and the angle of the viewer. This allows hummingbirds to flash colors or hide them which is useful for males who want to impress females or threaten other males.

The beauty, speed and agility of the these tiny birds are a glorious tribute to God who created all the the birds of the air..... from the largest eagle to this tiny marvel.

Harrison Lake

It was our first day out on Harrison Lake this year. The sky was that clear summer blue and the lake smooth and clear - almost glacial green in some of the little bays.

We only saw a few boats all day, otherwise the lake was ours to enjoy.Our sister in law Irene, joined us for the day

- unfortunately Jim had to work.

We marvelled at the snow capped mountains

-layer upon layer of them in the distance,

looked up in awe at the rocky cliffs -(how do those trees and moss take root?) and thoroughly enjoyed the bright sunshine and warm breezes. Truly a day to give glory to the One who created this beautiful world

and who graciously gives us all things to enjoy.

Canada Day BBQ

All over the country people were gathering to celebrate Canada Day. Watching the news last night, I saw that the party in Ottawa was quite an extravaganza. Native born and immigrant, everyone was

celebrating this grand country we live in.

Here in our corner of the country we celebrated too

although, a little more low key.

We invited a few friends,Harv cooked up coconut prawns,We BBQ'd farmer sausage and hotdogs, had some lovely salads and finished up with hot fudge sundaes and fresh, local raspberries.
And we played a little bocci ball. .

A good evening full of thankfulness : for family, for friends and for this wonderful country in which we have so much: beauty, safety and material comforts; freedom to travel, to worship and to voice our opinions.
None of these things, do we take for granted.