New Header Graphic Shot from Backyard

Posted September 18, 2008 by Rosalind Gardner · Filed Under At Home

What do you think of our new header graphic? It’s actually cropped from a photo that I took from the backyard.

Here’s the original photo. Kinda makes you wonder why we bother travelling at all, doesn’t it?

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.

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Penticton Peachfest Kiddies Day Parade 2008

Posted August 10, 2008 by Rosalind Gardner · Filed Under At Home

Part of the fun of Penticton’s Peachfest is going to the Kiddies Day Parade, which started at 10am, ran down Main Street to Okanagan Lake Parkin Okanagan Lake Park.

Kids and their folks went all out again this year with fabulous costumes, festooned bikes, carts and mini-floats for the parade.

There were pirates and princesses, tigers and Batman. My personal favorite was the ‘Just Married’ wagon replete with bride and groom. The bride didn’t look overly pleased with the situation and by the end of the parade, she was no longer in the cart.

International childrens entertainer Charlotte Diamond greeted the kids, their parents, grandparents and a few odd souls like Ed and I as we arrived at Okanagan Lake Park.

A full afternoon of kid’s entertainment is planned including face painters, stilt walkers, balloon artists, and the one and only Ronald MacDonald - and his inflatable world of fun - and his knock out stage show!

Kiddies Day marks the last day of Penticton Peach Festival for another year with more (adult) entertainment and the official closing ceremony happening later in the day.

See the rest of the Penticton Peachfest 2008 Kiddies Day Parade pictures here.

Penticton Air Quality Almost as Bad as Beijing

Posted August 9, 2008 by Rosalind Gardner · Filed Under At Home

OK, perhaps saying the air quality in Penticton is almost as bad as Beijing is a bit of an exaggeration, but when the smoke rolled in yesterday from a forest fire near Omak, Washington (the picture to the left shows the leading edge of the thick layer of smoke)- the air quality and visibility in Penticton took a huge nosedive.

Earlier in the week, skies were a little hazy due to smoke from forest fires in California and Oregon, but at least there wasn’t an obvious smell of smoke in the air. According to reports from the Kamloops Fire Centre, points south in the Okanagan valley were getting hot ash dropped on them.

The wildfire started last Thursday on the Colville Indian Reservation, which is about nine miles west of Nespelem and has burned 19,500 acres as of this morning.

Reports stateside indicate that 300 firefighters and air tankers are to be working on the blaze today. Such a shame that Washington State obiously doesn’t have the resources to contain fires earlier in the game - ’cause if it’s bad here, it’s worse there.

Click here to see more pictures of the smokey Okanagan valley.

Penticton Peachfest: Raining on our Parade

Posted August 9, 2008 by Rosalind Gardner · Filed Under At Home

As I write this, the Penticton Peachfest parade has been underway for 1.5 hours and it’s been raining almost the whole time.

Amazing, considering we’ve enjoyed an incredibly beautiful summer in Penticton up to this point - hot, dry and completely clear skies day after day and month after month… until today.

Ugh.

And the fact that I’m here writing this post rather than showing my support down on the parade route is just testament to the fact that I must now be officially a Pentictonite, i.e. someone who runs for cover the moment that it rains. :-)

Actually, I did partake in the festivities for about half an hour. I listened to music of the various marching bands as it wafted up the hillside to my hot tub.

Oh well, tomorrow is Kiddie’s Day at Peachfest and they too have a parade. With a better weather offing in the forecast - Ed and I will venture down to see the kids for sure. In the meantime, here are our pictures from the Penticton Peachfest Parade of 2007.

Snowbirds Perform at Penticton Peachfest 2008

Posted August 5, 2008 by Rosalind Gardner · Filed Under At Home

As I write this, I hear the sound of jets departing the Penticton airport. If you live in a big city, that might not sound like a big deal. But here in Penticton - where the biggest commercial aircraft that serves the city nowadays is a Dash-8 - the sound of jets is something special… especially when it’s the sound of the Canadian Forces Snowbirds in formation.

The Snowbirds opened the 2008 Penticton Peach Festival this evening at 6PM with a wonderful performance. The show that ran primarily east to west just north of the south shore of Okanagan Lake and between Munson Mountain and Red Wing Estates was particularly tight. The folks viewing from Munson mountain probably had the most fun as the Snowbirds raced directly overhead at low level. Woohoo! We met up with most of the ‘gang’ from our street at Marina Way Park just slightly off center showline. This was Lulu’s first airshow and evidently, from the look on her face (see picture to the right), she thought it was awesome!

Unfortunately, it appeared that one of the aircraft went unserviceable during the second half of the show, so they completed the act with only 8 airplanes. But, as always, the show was absolutely terrific - thanks guys!

You can see more of our Snowbirds pictures here on Flickr — there are close ups of the boys in red from the reception that we went to last night as well.

Penticton Peach Festival Starts Today

Posted August 5, 2008 by Rosalind Gardner · Filed Under At Home

The biggest and busiest event of the year in Penticton, British Columbia is undoubtedly the Peach Festival, otherwise known as Peachfest.

Beginning back in 1947 to celebrate the peach harvest, 2008 marks the 61st annual Peachfest, which runs from August 5th through 10th. It actually started last night with the Canadian Forces Snowbirds reception at the Penticton Lakeside Resort Convention Centre & Casino… but who’s counting?

Anyway, during the 6-day festival there will be parades, bands, dancers, martial arts demonstrations, hypnotist shows, a wide variety of food & merchandise vendors, arts and crafts exhibits, aboriginal arts & crafts, two parades, the Sand Castle competition, and a Square Dance Festival. The featured performer is Nashville country recording artist Aaron Pritchett who will be at the Lake City Casinos Sound Stage on Friday August 8th. No doubt the kiddies will be lined up to see the Hanna Montana tribute artist.

The festival starts tonite when the Snowbirds perform at 6PM with best viewing from Okanagan Lake park. After the airshow, there will be a traditional Syilx Welcome Ceremony with Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Penticton Indian Band. The Honorable Stockwell Day, MP will also give a welcoming address.

The Peach Festival Grand Parade - one of the largest parades in BC - takes place on Saturday. There will be a huge variety of marching bands and floats from all over BC, Alberta, Washington and points beyond.

Kiddies Day is on Sunday and they have their own parade which starts at 11AM that goes down Main Street to Okanagan Lake Park where the kids will find face painters, stilt walkers, balloon artists, and even Ronald MacDonald.

If you’re in the area, come on down to Penticton for the Peachfest. You’ll have a blast!

Snowbirds Reception at the Penticton Lakeside

Posted August 5, 2008 by Rosalind Gardner · Filed Under At Home

Jennifer and I attended a meet and greet for the Canadian Forces Snowbirds last night at the Penticton Lakeside Resort Convention Centre & Casino.

Snowbirds Commanding Officer Major Robert Mitchell and Public Affairs Officer Captain Jennifer Jones presented commemorative posters to Peachfest organizers and Penticton dignitaries including Mayor Jake Kimberly. The team was also on hand for photo ops and autographs.

I tried to get the lowdown on plans for replacing the CT-114 Tutor jet which has been used by the Snowbirds demonstration team since 1971, but no one was ‘fessing up. That said, the boys will open Penticton’s Peach Festival 2008 put at 6PM tonite by putting on a fantastic show in their Tutors.

The showline is set at just 450 metres off the south shore of Okanagan Lake with Center showline at the Kiwanis pier. Best viewing will be in Okanagan Lake Park close to the pier. It promised to be an excellent performance considering the “tight” show box in which they have to perform.

Thanks for visiting - and hope it won’t be 8 more long years before the Snowbirds come back to Penticton!!

More pics from the Snowbirds meet and gredt here — and more to come from Peachfest events!

Sexy Laundry Playing at Penticton’s Cannery

Posted July 29, 2008 by Rosalind Gardner · Filed Under At Home, Entertainment

Ed and I are always SOOOOO impressed by the theatrical productions put on here in Penticton and Michele Riml’s ‘Sexy Laundry’ was no exception.

Starring Eric Hanston (Henry) and Jeanne Wnuk (Alice) and directed by Ed Schneider, Sexy Laundry had us roaring with laughter almost throughout.

Sexy Laundry is a one act, 90-minute play set in an upscale hotel room that Alice has rented for the weekend in hopes of reconnecting with her husband. She’s brought a well-worn copy of Sex for Dummies with her and tries to encourage Henry to participate in some of the exercises recommended in the book.

Henry, who doesn’t see a problem with their relationship, is reluctant to participate however and carps about the hotel’s shortcomings instead.

The results are absolutely hilarious. Henry’s dance scene had me laughing so hard there were tears rolling down my face.

If you happen to be in Penticton, this play is a must-see. Sexy Laundry plays at The Cannery Stage on Thursday, Friday, Saturday evenings at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. until Aug. 2nd, 2008. Tickets for this Many Hats Theatre Company production are available at the Can Coffee Company, 1475 Fairview Road, Penticton or can be reserved by phone at 250-493-3044 (no credit card required.)

Please note that Sexy Laundry contains adult language and deals with mature themes.

The Doggy Beach at Okanagan Falls

Posted July 22, 2008 by Rosalind Gardner · Filed Under At Home

The beach at Okanagan Falls, British Columbia (about 20 minutes drive from where I live) is one of my favorite beaches in the Okanagan. The views are spectacular, the beach is never crowded and a good portion of it has been set aside as a dog beach.

So, when our friends Martin and Jennifer entrusted us with the care of our ‘dog goddaughter’ Chinook this past weekend, we were quick to hop in the convertible and take her down to the beach at Okanagan Falls for some fun and sun.

Although huskies aren’t typically water dogs, as soon as we got to the beach, Chinook ran straight into Skaha Lake to cool off after the hot drive down. She chased and retrieved sticks thrown into the water and had fun with a bunch of other dogs who were also down at the beach with their owners.

After she was all tuckered out, she did the ‘girly thing’ with me and chilled out on her blankie in the grass — when she wasn’t checking out the boys from behind her Maui Jim’s.

You can see all of the pictures that we took on our outing to the doggy beach at Okanagan Falls here.

Security Tight at Canada Day Eve Block Party

Posted July 2, 2008 by Rosalind Gardner · Filed Under At Home

For the 3rd year running we held a block party to celebrate Canada’s birthday and our incredible good fortune at being able to reside in the country’s best town and province - Penticton, British Columbia.

OK, so maybe we’re just a little biased, but hey, the word ‘Penticton‘, derived from a word in the Okanagan language, means “a place to stay forever” and such claims aren’t made lightly. Personally, I refer to it as ‘Perfection, British Columbia‘. Mountains, big lakes and hot dry weather that give us cherries and wine as well as opportunities for hiking, biking and boating … what more could anyone ask for?

Anyway, in the party invitation, I’d warned folks that our good friend and neighbour RCMP Constable Marty would “be on hand to serve and protect prudish Canadian dignity, so please bring bathing attire and a towel if you plan to use the pool“, but I didn’t expect that he would show up completely decked out in his RCMP red serge uniform.

Many thanks to Martin for such a wonderful and fun surprise - especially considering the 34C (93F) temperatures!! For the ladies, there’s nothing quite like a man in uniform (Martin cuts a truly fine figure) and the guys were all agog over his numerous service badges. We’ll just ignore the fact that he returned sporting a Montreal Canadiens hockey jersey to counter Ed’s Toronto Maple Leaf’s deck chair.

That evening we enjoyed good food and fun with our neighbours and friends and then spent Canada Day taking in the festivities around Penticton and Naramata. As ever, there were bands entertaining the crowds in Gyro Park, a climbing wall as well as all the usual food concessions, including the not-to-be-missed Mimi’s Mini Donuts.