Lovely summer to re-connect with our "home" roots in Kalso

We are grateful to have had the holiday time during the summer to get home and reconnect with family and friends in North America.

The summer began with a trip to Parksville, on Vancouver Island, to drop in on our DD students who were spent 5 weeks in a full English immersion program course of Social Studies 10. It was fun to see them experiencing things they had never done before.

                                             

From there some too short time to be based at our serene Kaslo home overlooking the mountains.

                                          

We took as many opportunities as we could to get out in the beauty of nature in the great Canadian wilderness...

Paddling on Duncan Lake:

Hiking up to Mt. Jardine:

Paddling on peaceful lakes in the Muskokas:

                     

Totally appreciating the exquisite taste of camp food on Slocan Lake:

The rhythmic exercise of long paddling days:

And the gentle waking up of yoga on the cliffs:

                                        

Our daughters lives were busy with their work but we got in the visits we could with them. Helene enjoying her new career and home in Creston, BC with the city's planning department:

And Sarah, based out of Kananaskis and Calgary work her work as a supervisor of one of the biggest Y camps:

We really enjoyed spending time with each of their partners as well; Eric...

                                       

And Alexi; news flash Sarah and Alexi have decided to get married!

This summer was also our chance to celebrate a very special milestone for us, this being our 30th wedding anniversary. Thanks to friends and family for sharing the celebration with us, and for Sonya and her group for beautiful music.

It was also Mary Stickel's  (Shelley's mother) birthday on that dad so we celebrated with her as well.

We also celebrated other friends celebrating their own relationship markers: Sean and Uli with their 25th:

A trip to Ontario permitted us to celebrate Shelley's sister Patty and Blair, starting a new marriage this summer with Shelley as the officiant:

This was a chance to reconnect with family (Mary and brother Charlie)

Charlie and his children...

And Mary's gathering of great-grandchildren around her:

We said good-bye to the Sinclair home where three generations of Sinclair doctors have worked (Shelley's uncle Duncan and wife Marg, the last doctor to work out of the house). This house has now been sold.

We visited some of the historical Sinclair family grave sites near Aylmer. 

We made a point of visiting other relatives in Southern Ontario; aunt Norma:

Aunt Agnes:

And in between visiting we fit in as many swims as possible and enjoyed as many sunsets over the great lakes as we could

On Dan's family side a trip to the finger lakes in up-state New York gave us the chance to celebrate with family the life of his aunt Nancy who passed away this year. We enjoyed some very special sharing time with cousins Walter (and Rebecca and kids)) and Ben (and his daughter) and Alice at the long time water front family cottage.

Back in the Kootenays we continued to be grounded at Argenta Quaker meeting with our community there.

Dan's last breakfast on the house deck in Kaslo to soak in the view, the quiet, the green came all too soon...

An over-night with Art and Lin in Vancouver helped Dan slowly re-orient to the world of the big city..

To dive back into this amazing, huge world of Tokyo: 

And our home here:

In this world of air travel and instant communication, it is a blessing to be linked to friends and families around the globe, reminding us that the norm in this world is people who care, who are kind, and who are working in their own way to make this world a better place.