Blanche & Lucy go West

Blanche and Lucy take one more roll on Judy & Marlene's lush grass.... that was their favorite thing to do here on the farm.

It was hard to say goodbye to such a beautiful place - but we decided it was time to move on.... so Judy, Marlene, the girls and Cheryl & I took the RV's and headed out to Shuswap Lake area for a little camping and boating.

Are you wondering what these brilliant little yellow flowers are?  Well if you ever wondered where canola oil comes from.....

This is one of many Canola farms in this area that produce canola for that canola oil you cook with.

As we said goodbye to Leslieville we passed many beautiful Canola farms with acres of yellow pastures.

These are some of the beautiful wildflowers in Judy and Marlene's property.

These and the two photos below are called Indian Paintbrush - beautiful brilliant red delicate flowers.

As we left Alberta and crossed into British Columbia we drove along the Canadian Rockies once again - a majestic sight.

We drove by Lake Alexander and marveled at the green waters.

We spotted 3 black bears on our drive on the Rte 1 Trans Canadian Route.  Most of the bears we saw were at the edge of the woods off the road but this bear boldly crossed the road in front of Marlene's RV to get to the other side for better berry picking.

The closer we came to the Shuswap area the more lush and green it was - of course we found out very quickly why it's so beautifully lush and green here in BC - it rains a little (and sometimes alot) every day or evening.

The first few days at the Campground in Shuswap were pretty rainy - off and on.

One of our friends (Flo) who loves 'weather' would have loved this day - stormy, thunder, lightning, wind, blinding rain and even hail!

As we looked out at Judy & Marlene's RV and boat it started to look like that boat wasn't going to hit the lake water.

But the rain stopped and we went out to enjoy the area. 

We dropped by a dairy farm named D&D (Dewitt & DeMille's) where we got great fresh milk, cheese and the best ice cream ever!

 

 

The farm had a petting zoo with goats, chickens, rabbits, cows and more for the city girls to pet and feed.

We stopped at this Farm Market nearby for fresh farm veggies and fruits.

Cheryl & Marlene found a bicycle built for two near the antique store here at the dairy farm.

This little calf who poked it's head out of the pen wasn't more than a week or two old.

A Canadian Pow-Wow

 

The Pow-Wow started with the grand entrance of all the First Nations representing every area in Canada & carrying flags of US, Britain, and various Canadian Provinces.

 

After the grand entrance, the dancers in each category from adult men and women to children performed competition dances.

 

If you double click on these composites that I made throughout this Blog -you will be able to see the images a little closer.   As one of the elders -this chief was a very proud and graceful dancer.

 

I loved the face makeup that this dancer had and his dancing was wonderful.

 

This little 'First Nation' danced with her refreshment between her teeth.

 

Though we enjoyed the adult and teen dancers - it was the babies and kids that I loved watching most.

 

Families are together dancing and having fun.

 

Even the little girls tried their best when it was their turn in the dance ring.

 

These little girls had more fun tickling each other with the feathers than dancing with them.

 

The young teen boys had the most energy and pride in their dancing.

 

With his glasses this teen boy looked like a student ready for his big test.

 

The young women and girls lined up with their competition numbers ready to go into the dance circle.

 

I think this is the costume that my grandaughter Tyler would love the best.

 

This little dancer was a colorful dancer with a colorful dress.

 

Just before they went into the dance ring - these girls looked very nervous - concentrating on the dancers before them.

 

I took so many photos as they were dancing it was hard to choose the best so I created a few composite cards of some dancers.

 

These Feather dancers were very serious and proud.

 

This little Butterfly dancer reminded me of my grandaughter Tyler in her shyness and yet pride of performance.

 

A very proud and serious Feather dancer.

 

This little Butterfly dancer was the pride of her elder grandfather in the background.

 

After the 'Butterfly & Feather dancers' performed, the girls waited nervously for their scores.

 

The Elders brought the young women through - the butterfly dancers, the feather dancers, and the bell dancers.

These two girls did the bell dancing beautifully.

 

The day was beautiful  weather-wise and dancing and dress-wise.  The first Pow-Wow where we saw so many children, kids, teens and young adults dancing and happy to do so.