If it's Summer, this must be Alberta!

Three weeks into our 2015 Summer and we've enjoyed every moment of it. Busy? Oh, man, you won't believe it unless you read on.

We arrived in Calgary on June 10 and stayed with cousins Shane and Peter in High River for five days, right up until they left for England for their own holiday. At that point Jim and I packed up and moved to our summer house at the ranch. What a wonderful place - thanks Mom! And thanks to Tony and Debbie as well, for taking such good care of it in our absence each year.

On the 13th Shane, Myrna and I took part in the 6th Annual Lobsterfest at Stavely. Hard to believe that way out on the prairie, hundreds of miles from the closest ocean, about 300 fresh lobsters found their way to the small-town community hall and fed folks from around the area. We had a great time, made new friends and plan to be there next year.

Joy, Shane, Myrna with their own personal lobsters.

A week after settling into the old ranch house we were visited by good friends from Maui - Tom Reed and Judy McCorkle were on an excursion of their own, from Glacier to Jasper and on to Seattle. They stopped by our place for a couple of nights and we had a wonderful time showing them the surrounding area. An evening drive turned up an array of wildlife: a black bear, a grizzly, five elk, three deer and two Sandhill cranes. The only critter missing was a moose!

Jim, Tom and Judy on a perfect day at the ranch.

We took them on a day trip down the Cowboy Trail (Hwy 22) to Highway 3 and west to the Frank Slide where we investigated the interpretive center and hiked the trail atop the rocks that covered the town in 1903. After lunch in Blairmore we drove the forestry road north and took the Hump Road turnoff. A glorious day, blue skies and puffy little clouds the whole way.

Jim and Joy at Frank Slide.

When we were on our own again, Jim got busy in the studio and has finished two or three landscapes mostly done plein aire. His favorite spot is a duck pond up the road but in the last few days the biting flies and mosquitoes arrived so it will be a while before he can get back out there in comfort.

Meantime, you all know what I've been up to: sewing and fishing. Well, more sewing than fishing I guess, but I've done well in both departments. Some of the things I've made will be taken back to Maui and listed on the Bag of Joy website or sold at the fall and winter community fairs. The fish, as you can imagine, get eaten pretty darn fast and with great gusto.

Three cutthroat and a brook trout.

Yesterday my best friend arrived from Maui. Robin Webster (no relation) visited us at the ranch two years ago and made it work again this year. We're at Peter and Shane's until tomorrow when we take Jim to the airport for a flight to Atlanta. He'll be gone a week and Robin will help me fish, read, cook fish, relax, eat fish and enjoy the ranch the whole time. Peter and Shane return on Monday, Jim returns on Tuesday and Robin flies home on Wednesday.

The weather has been darn close to perfect - not too hot mostly and not too cold mostly, with a thunderstorm thrown in here and there to remind us where we are. As you know, if you read last year's blog, we sold our RV and now get around in Dad's old Jeep, a 1998 Cherokee Sport. It's just the right size for two adventurous seniors so that's what we'll be driving when we head out on the road in August. But first we have the month of July coming up. We're looking forward to seeing Sherry and Sharon from Sun City, Rick and Daphne from Kimberley, and an old high school friend, Murray Castle and his wife from Calgary. It's been 46 years since we've seen each other, so it will be a fun reunion. We hope you check in again for our next post on this blog.

View from the summit of the Hump Road. Is that Saskatchewan I see in the distance?