Sophie

Meet Sophie! My friends Lynne and Al just got a new puppy. She is a harlequin Great Dane and she's 8 weeks old. They also have an old female dane that is 9 years old now and Great Danes don't seem to live as long as other dogs. So they wanted to get a new puppy before Babe was gone.

Thursday night was girls night and this week Jude and I had to go to Mission, BC to see about a job. Another car through a hedge. Lynne is on holidays right now so she met us and when we were done with the job viewing we headed up to Westminster Abbey. It is a Monastary of Benadictine Monks and a Highschool for boys interested in the seminary.

It is so beautiful up there and is open to the public to walk the grounds during the day. There are private out of bounds areas but for the most part you can wander around and walk the paths. The Abbey is stained glass all the way around. It has 64 stained glass windows totaling over 7000 sq ft. It is incredible inside. A pool that runs and as you sit in the silence the sound of the tinkling water with the light streaming through the windows it is a holy experience in itself no matter what your religious beliefs.

If you follow the path up you eventually come to a lookout way up overlooking the valley with the Fraser River running through. Really incredible view. We sat up there and enjoyed the peace and coolness and quietness for awhile and then wandered back down and sat in a shady spot and had a picnic. It was really a great way to let the stress of the day go.

When we were done we headed down to Lynne's for our craft night and to meet baby Sophie. We usually do scrapbooking or card making but lately we have been into beading. Man I am getting old! My eyesight has deteriorated to the point that even with magnifying eyeglasses on I was basically just blindly stabbing the tiny beads at the line and hoping they would hit the right spot. Lots of fun though and it's just nice to get out one night a week and chit chat with the girls.

The week at work flew by with both busy days and days where I could just concentrate on getting more of the pictures of trees onto the pages. All of our Hydrangeas and Butterfly Bushes (Buddleia) are blooming right now and if I don't get them on the page shortly after they are taken then they disappear into the groups of pictures and then I can't remember which bloom went with which. The Hibiscus are just starting to bloom now. Next week I should be able to get them up. Khushwinder has been working on the pond area and we are hoping to have an upper pond that runs and falls down into the lower. Khush has only been working on it for two days and it's coming great. He thinks he can have water running for us by Monday. If so I'll get a picture.

Al has finished Harry Potter and is waiting for me to finish so we can discuss it. Josh came home from camping on Tuesday and came for dinner. I knew I would be busy on Wednesday night and Thursday night and that Al would be done by Friday when I wanted to finish it so I sent him home with his copy. He was very happy to get it. I didn't want to rush through the last bit. I wanted to take my time and save it til I could sit and finish it without being bugged by anyone or falling asleep. When I am done here that is where I am heading. To finish the last hundred pages or so of Harry Potter.

Feeling pretty good this week. The heat gets to me and triggers hot flashes but I am so used to them that unless I am out too long I can function quite well. The office itself is cool and has fans running. I'm going to end this with a series of pictures that were emailed to me from a friend of a friend. They were taken in Chief Lake BC near Prince Rupert. They speak for themselves. :)