Uncle Pat & Aunt Dolly in Grand Forks, BC Canada

Our trip from Surrey, BC to Grand Forks, BC was beautiful. The mountains were however, covered with a smokey haze due to the many fires in British Columbia.
The town of Osoyoos is a resort town sitting around a beautiful lake. On the far side of town there are grape vineyards.

We were surprised at the amount of farming in the various valleys. Of course, it is all totally dependant on irrigation.
The above picture is what most of the drive looked like.

I was very much looking forward to this trip because I had never met Uncle Pat and Aunt Dolly but had heard so many things about them. For my children's information, this is grandpa Charlie's brother.

Aunt Dolly age 86 and Uncle Pat age 88 and they celebrated their 65th anniversary already.

Aunt Dolly, Uncle Pat and Lee

Aunt Dolly, Uncle Pat and Judy

We parked the RV right beside the house.

Take a look at this beautiful back yard and such a lovely vegetable garden. Uncle Pat takes care of most of this so I'd say he's a pretty amazing 88!!!

Janice, their daughter, informed me how much Dolly likes Tim Horton coffee so we picked her up a can.

Uncle Pat took us out on a ride around the valley. We were amazed at the beautiful alfalfa crops.

You can look at the US from Grand Forks and the boundary is clearly marked.

There is a very large nursery and tree farm in the valley.

The slag piles pictured above are sold by the city to roofing companies. That fine stuff you see there that looks like black sand is the stuff that goes on the very top of the roof shingles. The courser slag is used to make a new kind of insulation. The advantage of course is it is practically non flammable. The company that makes the insulation is right in Grand Forks. There is a lot of lumber industry in Grand Forks which is pretty much shut down right now until building picks up again.

What a pretty pond with the wild flowers in front.

We made a trip to the cemetery where Lee's mother's ashes were spread and where his 2 brothers were buried. The setting is beautiful and it is such a peaceful place. The deer roam freely all over Grand Forks and the cemetery is no exception. There were at least 6 deer there at the time we visited.

Lee's bother Kenneth was 6 years when he died and Donald was 6 months.

One of Grand Forks many deer.

Saying good-bye to Uncle Pat and Aunt Dolly was very hard. They are indeed a very special couple. I can't believe all they do at their age. Dolly still makes her bread, cans and cooks up a storm and most of what they eat comes from Uncle Pat's garden. I look forward to visiting with them again. Dolly graciously shared a couple of her recipes with me and I will have wonderful thoughts of her every time I prepare those dishes. If I lived close to them I would probably drive them crazy because I would visit them a lot. They are just plain fun to be with. Thank you Uncle Pat and Aunt dolly for a wonderful time. I may have only just met you both but I love you dearly. Love, Judy

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Joy is not in things: it is in us