The last four months have set records as the driest ever and forest fires have plagued the province and Washington State, but August blew away with the worst wind storm since 2003. The entire southern province suffered power outages and felled trees. Stanley Park was closed and the zoo was evacuated as the Grizzly enclosure was damaged. We were fortunate to only lose electricity for five hours and to be able to toast the approaching autumn with an appropriately named beer. Cheers to life!!! |
As mentioned earlier, Keith Urban kicked off the month with an incredible concert at Sunfest. The following day we saw Sam Hunt & Thomas Rhett perform. Throughout the month, we continued to explore the Cowichan Valley area, making trips to Ladysmith's Transfer Beach Park, the Kinsol Trestle Bridge, and Cowichan Bay. We hiked Mesachie Mountain again, and enjoyed a couple more quad rides to beautiful vantage points. August provided a bountiful harvest - we picked more than 550 peaches from our single tree! We enjoyed peaches with cereal, yogurt, and ice cream. Our neighbour canned 76 jars of peaches in exchange for half of the product, while we preserved still more peaches in both vodka and brandy. The neighbours' tomatoes were also plentiful, so we got to try eleven different varieties. I enjoyed the blooming roses this month, too. Unfortunately, the dry weather meant that fire fighters were kept very busy in BC. 27 kilometres from us, the Lizard Lake forest fire spread for days as helicopters continuously shuttled giant buckets of lake water in attempt to combat the blaze. Winds dictated how smoky our area would be at any given time for almost two weeks. Towards the end of the month, we made a trip over to the Lower Mainland, primarily to celebrate two birthdays - Kristen's 16th and Alison's 40th! It was a nice opportunity to play with my niece, catch up with my cousin, and swim in my parents' pool. We had dinner with Auntie Janet, lunch with John, and both a breakfast and dinner with my parents. We also managed to pick up a manual lawn mower and a bike rack for our car. Meals are a good way to bring people together and we appreciated several opportunities to visit with family and friends over good food and drinks. We learned that one of our favourite restaurants, Malay Curry House, is closing so we will have to find a different venue for our visits.
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We concluded July and began August by spending the BC Day long weekend at a music festival in Duncan. The headliners were Lee Brice, Joe Nichols, Keith Urban, Sam Hunt, and Thomas Rhett. Keith Urban was sensational; what a talent! I had a chance to meet some of the other performers: Madeline Merlo, Karen Lee Batten, and Jesse Roper. I also enjoyed performances by The Washboard Union and Chasin' Crazy.
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