After doing a fair bit of prep on the driveway with Bob in April and June, we were ready for the pros. They spent two days grading, wetting and packing gravel then came back in a week to pave the entire drive in one day – 16,000 sq ft. Should eliminate the dust and make it much easier to plow in the winter. Now shopping for a longboard. In addition, Upper Booth now extends up to Farmers and is now paved.

After the paving, Coop and I did a 5 day motorbike trip through Creston, Waterton and Glacier National Parks, Montana and back through New Denver and Sandon in the Kootenays. 2,000kms, some rain, hail and sunny weather, snow beside the road in the passes, and an emergency tire replacement in Kalispell. Great trip.

Lots of rain in June and milder temperatures so everything is green and no forest fires. Am building an equipment/wood shelter and will be working on the rafters and roof this month. Posts rest on saddles in concrete with one side bolted to the container. Will be home for the trailers, Bob, the plow, the ATV and other odds and sods and will replace the “tent garage” that I have given to Klaus, a neighbor. Also spending quality time with Bob, a wheelbarrow, a shovel and a rake placing gravel beside the new pavement to avoid any erosion.

Not much to report on the house front this month as we spent 3 weeks in France – a few days in Paris, a few in St Jean de Luz and Toulouse, and 10 days piloting a boat with another couple down the Canal du Midi.

We slipped very quickly into the cadence of Paris and enjoyed an Impressionist exhibition (real and VR), restaurants, cafes, cheese shops and strolling about, and a 4 hour dinner with our Parisian friends we had not seen in a long time. St Jean was a peaceful Basque town on the Atlantic while Toulouse was aerospace and machine museums and more restaurants.

Boating was delightful, and something I had wanted to do for a very long time. Great weather, foods, vistas, crew and adventures.

Late May saw us weeding, gardening, planting and doing the final prep for the driveway paving and a busy June.

We started the month off with a few days in Vancouver, with Taisho, and enjoyed a delightful dinner with my former Ambassador and his wife during my second posting to Japan. We transitioned from ski to golf season and worked on the garden. Got the ECU on the Audi tuned and am now enjoying close to 550hp and 550 ft lbs. Zoom zoom!

Spent quality time on the Bobcat scraping and back blading the driveway to remove the hardened asphalt to get ready for paving in early June. Rather ironic as I had spent the past two winters being very careful when I plowed the snow.

Dug out the unirrigated grass and weeds from around the cocktail rock and replaced with fir mulch.

And found time to do a taste test of some Auchentoshan we brought back from Scotland last year.

Off on a 3-week adventure in May with stories to follow.

March – busy month with the snow all gone at the house but lots still in the mountains around us. Finished the closet in the guest bedroom and knocked down loose rock at the switchback – 20 Bobcat buckets – and removed the river rock beside the basement entrance wall to get ready for paving this summer. Lots of yard clean up and M has been fully occupied with getting the gardens ready.

I found the skis I wanted in Vancouver and Coop was kind enough to bring them back and I love them. Skied 15 times so far this year. Almost had a true Kelowna Double but I skied and golfed on two consecutive days not the same day. Picked up 5kgs of spek that had been drying for month and sold my old chop saw, a dresser and an old coffee table. Also enjoyed 3 concerts, two movies , a play and a contemporary dance, and a St Pats party, and discovered a ramen shop run by Japanese that is so good we ate there 3 times this month.

Although there were no specials on pork shoulder this year, we again made several hundred sausage (Italian and smoked) and several kilos of speck and for the first time some back bacon. As we finally had some decent snow and good ski weather, we skied Big White 8 times this month, including 3 days staying with our friends at their chalet. Mizuho replaced her 20 years old skis with all-mountain Black Pearls and loves them. The ones I liked were sold out everywhere so shall have to wait until next year.

Having become a board member of the local Chamber Music Society (which puts on 5 performance a year and nearly sells out a 300 seat theatre) and a member of the Regional Planning Advisory Board (6 citizens providing views to the Regional Board on planning and zoning issues) I have additional demands on my time and hence, some house projects are going even slower than usual.

Below are photos of the nearly finished shoji door closet in the mother-in-law suite – 6 drawers and a hanging closet. Should be all finished in another few weeks.

We were invited by friends who are members of Martin’s Lane winery for a tour and tasting that usually costs $100 per. Their pinots sell for $100 to $200 a bottle and they make only 2,000 cases a year. Vanity project by Von Mandl, owner of Mission Hill, Cedar Creek, Liquidity and many other wineries. He made his $ from the drinks of choice of many young adults – Mike’s Hard Lemonade and White Claw. The winery is spectacular, the wines are not worth $100.

March will see us on the ski hill, doing yard work and getting the garden ready.

Unusual weather – several days of rain, then 40cm of snow and a week of below -10 temperatures (dropping down to -23 once), and then 10 days of well above 0 weather and more rain. Managed only one day of skiing in January but saw a couple of movies and two concerts and a dinner in a dome just before the cold weather hit. At the end of the month, almost no snow on the ground and the parsley and grass is green and growing.

Busy in the shop this month. Finally redid the kitchen sink doors after 8 years – Mizuho did not like the solid cherry doors – and made doors for the downstairs bathroom.

Also started on a cabinet / closet for the guest bedroom that will have six drawers and a hanging closet behind three shoji doors. Used the wood we had bought when I thought we were going to build the kitchen cabinets out of cherry. Built the cabinet and milled the rail, made the top and cabinet side, built six drawers and 3 posts. Next step is to install the top and side and the 6 drawers and then build fronts for the drawers. I will then need to figure out how to install a top rail for the shoji screens and install the shoji paper.

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A very warm December – no snow in the valley, golfing right through the end of year at one course, green grass in the yard, above zero every day – allowed some progress on outside projects, mostly trimming branches, felling spindly or dead trees, and doing some prep for projects next spring.

In retrospect, I could have poured concrete bases in December for the posts for the equipment shelter. But at least the posts are all ready for installation in the spring.

After 8 years I finally installed a door and trim for the basement storage room and finished the trim for the garage and shop doors and the three garage windows. Next up will be doors for the downstairs bathroom vanity, building new doors for under the kitchen sink, and building a Japanese-style closet in the guest bedroom, complete with shoji doors.

Also on the to-do list will be some yard art. I will use the aluminum frames I bought at an auction a few years ago and have started getting some of them powder coated – black, red, yellow and fluorescent lime yellow. These will provide a bit of “pop” in the green forest and snowy hillside.

As we progress deeper and deeper into retirement, progress on the house project continues but at a slower pace – bedroom door, forestry and firewood, gardening and irrigation expansion, two more patios and a 100′ long retaining wall, finishing trim work – as we focus increasingly on life beyond – sausage making, skiing, trips to Japan and Scotland, golfing and road trips with friends, sailing lessons and wine appreciation. The massive forest fire across the lake that burned out of control for days and which started fires on our side of the lake was our most intense experience of the year. Here’s hoping next year is just as much fun but a bit less intense.

Mizuho arrived back from Japan after a great visit with her mom, sister and nephew, some immersive Japanese experiences, and a suitcase full of treats. As I write this at the end of the month we have no snow and the ski areas are not open yet but snow is forecast for the next several days.

I finished 50′ of the wall (starting at the top) in October. I began the 2nd half (starting at the bottom) at the beginning of the month. This unusual approach was a consequence of knowing where I wanted the wall to start and stop but not knowing if I had enough blocks for the full length. If I was short, I was going to use natural rock to fill the gap in the middle. As it turned out, I had just enough blocks. The wall building was rather arduous as I had to hand dig a trench for the 4″ drain pipe, and then set the blocks into the slope, ensuring each was level with the previous and level back to front. Thankfully, and apart for several melon-sized stones, the slope was mostly gravel and sand. Each block’s void had to be filled and the wall backfilled. I learned it is easier to work up the hill rather than down. I still need to cut a few cap stones and run some irrigation but otherwise the wall is done!

Spent the rest of the month cutting and collecting branches, using my new battery-powered chain saw, and working on a new road that will run down from beside the house around to the back outside of the fence. Spread more river rock and mulch and dug out the turf around the cocktail rock that will be replaced with mulch in the spring. Got 4 free truck loads of silty gravelly clean fill with a bit of clay – two near the sea container I will use to level the area and two along the drive I will use to widen. Had 4 concerts this month – a brass quintet, a chamber music octet, a very good word and song theatre piece on WWI and Vimy, and a fun concert by Quartetto Gelato. Also had a camping night with Coop in the backyard (fire and BBQ outside, sleeping and facilities inside)

The heat pump stopped working just before Mizuho got back from Japan (glad to have had a propane fireplace and wood stove) – some maintenance last fall had caused a slow leak in a pipe and the loss of refrigerant. Will be covered under their warranty and should be fixed (hopefully) tomorrow.

Busy preparing for winter – washing windows, blowing needles out of eaves, cutting firewood to dry for a year, draining the irrigation. Mizuho was busy cleaning up the garden and making sauces from hundreds of tomatoes and tomatillos. She is now in Japan for 3 weeks (and is having a great time visiting with her Mom and sister) and enjoying all things Japanese.

I spent several days dragging down and up the ditch branches and trees cut down in the summer. The thinner branches will eventually be mulched and the thicker pieces were cut up and are drying. Moved several loads of dirt to backfill behind new retaining wall. Power washed to uncover granite near garden. In the spring, I hope to expose the rest of the rock and cover the dirt with fir mulch. Getting quotes to have the driveway paved next year. We shall see. Hope to get more done outside before moving inside to work on painting and installing the door for the storage room, and prepping the posts for the equipment shed.

Started the month with a few golf games, 4 person trombone concert on the lawn of our community center (there are reasons few pieces are written for trombone ensembles) and then left for the coast and 5 days of on-board sailing lessons in Desolation Sound on a 40′ Beneteau with sister and Bro in Law. Beautiful area. We saw whales blowing, orcas breaching and seals frolicking. Slept 3 nights anchored in sheltered coves and 1 night at the Toba Wilderness Marina – very remote, serviced by their own hydro electricity generator with an enormous post and beam gazebo. Great experience overall but one that confirmed our preference for powerboats.

After the sailing, we spent a few nights at a spa on the Island celebrating our 36th anniversary and a few nights in Vancouver at the historic Sylvia Hotel beside Stanley Park. During our absence a young Australian couple took care of the house and Taisho and all thoroughly enjoyed. Taisho had his first teeth cleaning and all 42 were in good shape, thanks to Mizuho’s nightly brushings.

Managed to finish (99%) of the first part of the retaining wall on the driveway. Still need to backfill a bit, top up with dirt and mulch, plant my 3-year old spruce seedlings and cut a few top plates. Shall turn to the second half in the spring. In between with be about 4 meters of natural rock wall.

In October, I will be cutting up some trees that were cut down in the summer, cleaning the eaves and windows, changing the hot tub water and attending to a host of other small projects. Hope also to complete some exterior stairs month and start on the equipment shelter.