Monthly Archives: October 2020

October, 2020 – Autumn arrives

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The month began with +25 sunshine and a road trip to Spirit Lodge and several wineries near Osoyoos, and some local chanterelle, lobster and matsutake mushrooms. Spent most of the month getting ready for winter – getting stuff organized, stored or given away – and giving the 100+ seedlings a final watering. Had a day of record cold and snow later in the month followed by more sunshine and warm weather.

These are all tomatoes grown from seed that Mizuho brought back from France 10 years ago – tasty, large and slow to ripen. They finally ripened and became tomato sauce and spiced tomato jam
Some neighbors and friends helped out another neighbor picking grapes over 3 days – chardonnay, pinot gris and noir and some gewurztraminer. It has since been crushed and put into vats, about 2500 liters worth.
Organized wine celler – diminishing quantities of French wine and growing quantities of Okanagan wine.
This was an incredible dinner we had with 4 other friends at a resort on native land near Adam’s River (renowned for the fall salmon spawning run) and our 4th time there. The dishes were interesting, mouthwatering and filling and the pours were generous. All for $100 each, tax and tip included!

And lastly, for your viewing pleasure…

September 2020 -Outdoor Leisure

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Not a lot to report on the house front as the month has been largely devoted to outdoor leisure – golfing (Mizuho is getting really good), biking, camping. September set a new monthly high for the valley. Spent several hours every 3 to 4 days watering the 100+ tree seedlings (which are doing very well). Dug out and gave away dozens of irises to friends and neighbors. Mizuho saw a bear in a tree beside the driveway – it was scared by Taisho. Spent a few days power washing 4 different rock faces and badly strained my shoulder in doing so. And we celebrated our 33rd anniversary with an excellent tasting-menu dinner at the new (and very impressive) restaurant at Cedar Creek.

Delightful 3 day bike camping trip with Coop to Wells Gray Provincial Park – about the size of PEI and a beautiful wild area that is not crowded with tourists. On the way there, we saw a portion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline being built.
Nice to let everyone know the proper etiquette
Helmcken Falls – 3 times taller than Niagara Falls
The meeting of the Clearwater and Thompson rivers, one glacier-fed green and one clear.
A solo bike camping trip to the Upper Narrow Lake in the Kootenays – beautiful spot near Nakusp
Very few people around at the end of the season.
We had several days of smoke from the fires in California, Oregon and Wash State – could not even see Kelowna
But looking up the hill, it was pretty clear as most of the smoke lay down in the valley.
Made some plum pickle from Cam and Elizabeth’s plum trees – they had a bumper crop
First outdoor fire of the season. Average daily highs for the last week of Sept and the first week of October are in the low 20s with average lows of 10.