The first of September and in my mind our third winter on the island begins. Our life continues on the learning curve but now as we look back down the curve we can see we are making some progress. The projects and achievements of our first winter were over shadowed in our second with the wild life activity. What we have in store for us this winter can only be imagined. Marked the day with our first bowl of winter porridge. I do like porridge but can’t bring myself to have any during the summer.. It just doesn’t seem right…

We celebrated a friends milestone birthday on her deck this weekend at a wine and cheese party. She is an amazing woman who exemplifies living life a day at a time with a smile on her face.. Such a beauty inside and out. She and her husband are rocking the empty nest life and always make me laugh. Her son brought his drone with him (as you do) and “droned the party”. I am pretty sure this is the first time most of us have been droned at a deck party. I suspect JN would have shot it down if he’d seen it flying above the island..            

Still struggling with water issues. Thanks to our neighbours sneaking us 6o gallons here, 60 gallons there we have now showered again and are presentable to be amid decent folk.

The garden looks pathetic and the tomatoes are coming in a few at a time… poor things are thirsty…. My kids like green tomato relish so they will be pleased as it looks like I will have a lot of the green tomatoes to preserve.

When E built the porch on the shed I had to dig up and move some bulbs. I didn’t know what they were as they didn’t bloom the first summer we were here but the R’s assured me they were late bloomers.. After I dug them up, I divided them around the garden, gave some to my Mom, some to AW and some to my old last next door neighbour. Its been two years and no flowers here or at my Moms… and probably not at AW’s or MV’s…… However… this morning I was up in the garden kicking the dust around when to my delight… These kids were peaking out…

Aren’t they lovely? Three winters in and I still am thanking the R’s every time I walk in the garden.

I have been raking the property again. It is much easier to do when the leaves are dry. If I don’t get the Arbutus leaves cleaned up the Garry Oak and Maple will be on the ground mocking me…. I am not so much a tidy person as a person who loves to sit by a fall burn pile with a beer and a

nice long stick.