Friends!

All our missions and tasks have taken a pause this week as we host friends for a visit. It is baffling that we possess such good friends that they would choose to come visit us and spend their holidays in this (currently quite) rustic place. It is wonderful to see them, a taste of home, and wonderful that they have come and have come armed with a fresh view of this place and an enthusiasm for weeding and old things.

We spent a few days camping in Waskesiu, and it was lovely. The lake was refreshing and warm and the campground was spacious and quiet, with the sites being nestled happily in the trees.  It was good to camp, and it felt friendly and familiar. If it weren't so humid and generally wet it could have been Alberta. There were even some hikes to be had!  We explored a bog with some amazing (including carnivorous!) plants, and many plants that are unfamiliar to me, which is always a delight. Plants seem to be the theme this week and I'm going to have to replenish my library book supply on the subject to fill in some of the mystery.

Before we left for camping I mustered the courage to brave our forest of (potentially tick-bearing) unreasonably tall grass to go exploring towards our wetlands. It seems like Jeff goes exploring every other day and he always tempts me with tales of flowers that sound lovely and unfamiliar. Whether he knows it or not he's been baiting my curiosity.  So between the two: waskesiu and our marsh, my camera and I have now enthusiastically collected a small image bank of unfamiliar flora. A collection to puzzled over and slowly turned from mystery to knowledge. Just another thing for my spare time.

Now we are back home at the acreage. I have spent the day tackling things like laundry, groceries, dinner and weeding. Although my garden has been chugging along in terms of growth so have the weeds, and I am growing many more green things in my garden plot than I want to. My veggie garden had become pretty much overrun, and thus a very intimidating task.  Today I had help in the battle and two of us tackled it and made some seriously good progress.  It's not that many days until our midway through summer trip back to Calgary so it is good for the weeds to be stopped now, before we go.