May

The merry month of May came and went!

The wild roses bloomed along the roadside...

...crops were planted and the land was thirsty after an extremely dry April. 

We lived in a dust bowl in our neighbourhood while the fields were worked.

Elmer spent most of the month in the fields...

but we went took several Sunday afternoon bike rides.

We drove out to Ladner and then rode to Westham Island across the recently re-opened historic bridge...

after being damaged by a tugboat.

The bridge is 116 years old and one of the oldest in our province.

We stopped to watch someone land their big catch...

...which happened to be a fair-sized sturgeon.

Dinner on the river was a good way to end the afternoon.

Ranen turned 20! How can that be?

The clematis put on a show!

Maggie was busy with track meets...often competing with her friend Adrianna.

Maggie was invited to a 'Leaders of Tomorrow' event sponsored by the Rotary Club...

where she was honoured and received a $750 bursary.

Mother's Day. 

Jeremy and Broni came for a visit in the afternoon...

and we were at Kris and Lina's in the evening, with Tim and Heidi as well.

He found it quite amusing that we bought property on Little Mountain.

Just planning ahead!

Doug Perry retired from 35 years at Rogers/Shaw...

 and we celebrated with Doug and Corita and Ron and Ruth.

We had planned to take the motorhome to Whistler for our first outing of the year...

but with the cool and unsettled weather forecast we stayed at Cascade Lodge for tow nights instead. 

We cycled the Valley Trail and the Lost Lake trails...

and enjoyed dinners at Mongoli Grill and Milestones.

We can't count the number of times we have visited Brandywine Falls.

Always so beautiful!

I rode my bike to the eastern hillsides a few times...

and walked among the cedars, moss and ferns. 

Always a breath of fresh air!

The hops started their climb at the beginning of the month and by the the end of May...

they had covered the the arbour. 

The white roses are in their glory!

Last Sunday we took the '47 Monarch to church.

 

Incredible to think this 'Sunday-go-to-meeting car has been driven to the same church for 79 years.

Mr. Voth was the original owner and attended East Chilliwack MB church back in the day...

now Central Community Church.

In the afternoon we rode our bikes to Yarrow along the Vedder River...

and had ice-cream at Mighty Moose.

On May 31st we stood in Emme & Jaden's 'field of dreams' and took a photo as the sun set. 

Only six weeks left to keep the field green and get the corn to grow!

April

April of 2026 turned out to be the driest in the last 147 years, with only 18 mm of rain...

and there wasn't much of a snowpack on Mt. Cheam.

Artemis 11 launched on April 1st and returned to earth 10 days later. It was the first lunar mission in over 50 years.  One of the four crew members was a Canadian, so it was fun to follow.   We remember the July 1969 mission to the moon well.  Where have the years gone?

 

On Easter Sunday we stopped by Little Mountain Cemetery and visited Hannah's grave. 

She would have been 18 years old now.

The whole gang came for dinner later that day and I forgot to take a photo once they were here.

For the first time since we had grands, I never hid eggs or baskets.  Each grand got a Lindt bunny and a gift card to Starbucks or Subway.

We celebrated Mavis and Irene's birthdays with a luncheon at Irene's. 

On April 12th we did our annual bike ride through the blossom trail at Luckakuck Creek.

Ranen played in the year-end concert with UBC symphony orchestra at the Chan Center.

It was bittersweet for her since it may have been her last concert ever.

Majoring in science and finding time to play in the orchestra is not easy!

It seemed most days this month were busy days on the farm!

On Sundays Elmer found time to do something besides work.

Kevin and Linda spent one afternoon with us.

We went for a walk at the top of  Nixon Hill and then at the Wetlands...

before dinner on the patio at the Wildcat Grill.

I became a great-aunt to two new wee ones this month.

David and Kiley had a little boy named Johan...their first. 

He was born in Iowa but he will be living on the Baja Peninsula. 

Closer to home my nephew and his wife welcomed Baby Maxine...

her two older brothers are thrilled.

Last Sunday afternoon we cycled the dike trail along the Fraser River...

...where there are few people and beautiful views!

That evening we had dinner with Allan and Darlene at the new Italian restaurant downtown.

Amata Trattoria is in the historic Skelton Building, built in 1930...

the home to Gord-Ray Menswear as long as I remember. 

On April 29th the first fifty acres of corn got planted...including a strip of corn around Emme and Jaden's wedding venue.

Good-bye April!

March

We spent the beginning of the month at our favorite spot in the desert of California...

...the Worldmark resort in Indio.

 
Usually we are here with friends or family...

or have friends staying nearby that we meet up with.

But this time it was just the two of us...

enjoying the sunshine and floating down the lazy river with our e-readers.

One day we followed the road to Anzo-Borrego Desert State Park...

...to check out the flowers blooming in the desert.

We were apparently a week too late to see them in their prime...

since the temperatures had been near 100F (38C) for the past week...

but it was still quite spectacular to see!

We enjoyed a picnic lunch in the park and then headed back...

with a stop at the Salton Sea.

Elmer had intentions of sticking his toes into the water but suddenly found his shoes sinking into the quagmire and made a run for higher ground.

Friday night is vintage car night at El Paseo.

We went for the parade at four o'clock and then had dinner on the patio of The Daily Grill.

One day we watched tennis at the PBA open in Indian Wells.

Amazing tennis and so fun to watch...

though it was a little too warm to be sitting on the bleachers in the sun!

On Sunday we again drove to Indian Wells...

but this time it was for the morning church service.

We have attended Southwest Church many times when we are in the Palm Springs area...

but it now has a new name.

They have five services on the weekend...

and we chose the 11:00 am outdoor service.

Always a blessing!

The other Sunday we checked out Garden Fellowship church on Jefferson...

another large and growing church with many snowbirds in attendance.

Soon it was time to say good-bye once again.

Allegiant Air had us back n Bellingham in a few hours time!

We stopped at the Olive Garden for their soup, salad and breadsticks special...

a tradition on the way home.

A special invitation arrived 'in the mail' this month.  Who knew invitations no longer come in the mail?

Emme and Jaden are getting married in July!

Just so we couldn't say we never had any snow this winter...

we woke up to a dusting of snow on March 13th.

It didn't stick around for long!

There was an 'atmospheric river' heading our way once again.

Just before the rain arrived... I took this photo from our back patio, of a pink halo over the greenhouses on Prest Road.

Spring break happened mid-month and most of the grands had a getaway or two.

Tim and Heidi and girls flew to NYC for a week...where they saw the sites and Maggie ran in a track meet.

 Dylan went on a one week missions trip to Belize. 

Kris and Lina and the rest of their gang went skiing at Sun Peaks.

Spring has sprung!