The view from here

We went for an evening hike to the area that was hit by the forest fire. We hadn't been out that way in years, since well before the fire. It was a shocker to see the difference in the landscape. 

We set the timer, hiked in for 30 min. and then back out. Good thing too, we saw at least 12 chipmunks, and who knows what they do when the sun goes down.

 Kerry said this one was flossing to get the last of the last humans out of his teeth. I didn't have my 70-200mm lens, so I had to move in close, I was less than 4 feet away from him.

 We used the timer and took this picture, love it!

 Saturday was CROP day! Our little Project Life group got together for over 12 hours of fun, food, and laughter. And a bit of creating. We made ATC cards to swap with each other so we'd have a little bit of each other for our PL albums.

 We had lots of snacking to do, good thing we had lots of snacks to eat.

 Heather made an awesome dinner! We sat out back and dined in the shade. Much cooler than our lunch at the pub in the heat!

 Marg brought dessert, strawberries, dipped in sour cream and Demerara sugar. It didn't sound good, but it was delicious. I've been craving it ever since. (Turns out I'm not allergic to strawberries, it might have been something on the strawberries I had this spring.)

 Dipping! And enjoying (sorry Marg, had to post!)

 You would think no one wanted their picture taken!

 Seriously, we were having a great time. And everyone was taking pictures.

 Yum!

We decided to ask Emily if she wanted to see the fireworks this year, and of course she did. So we packed up, oh, nothing, except a blanket and went down to the park, with everyone else in Kelowna. No snacks, no cash, but we had a good time anyways. But I don't think we'll go again. It's maybe 15 minutes of fireworks, hours of waiting, hours of traffic. 

And less than 2 weeks to the Jinky workshop!

The Vegan-ish experiment

It has been reported aplenty in the cycling news of late that Dave Zabriskie is racing the 2011 Tour De France as a vegan.

Zabriskie attacks the 2011 TDF with gusto as a vegan. 

Presumably, however, not atop a bike made of vegetables.

Well, a vegan that will be eating salmon, so not really a vegan. Despite the salmon qualifier to Zabriskie's vegan-ish ways, it's a pretty exciting time...and hey, who am I to judge; each to their own. My vegetarian-ish ways have seen me eat fish and other salty wet things with no feet on and off for fourteen or fifteen years.

Long gone are the days of athletes 'needing' to eat meat every day in order to perform at the top tier.

My own vegan-ish challenge began a few days ago...delayed by a good night out at a friends place, vast amounts of cheese and red wine. The aim is to adhere to vegan-ish-ism until the end of the month.

I am well aware that this annoys my husband no end, and also that I run the risk of depleting my iron stores rather quickly. However, I have sorted out the iron issue with some sneaky supplementation which is ongoing and the husband...well he's very patient.

Here are the rules:
•Try not to eat any animal products
•Some animal products—if hidden in a sneaky disguise and unable to be determined if it's vegan or not (ie: delicious cake...ok the likelihood that the cake is vegan is very, very slim, but it's a possibility) can be eaten occasionally
•If eating out, try and make the best possible choice in line with being vegain-ish, but also try and have fun. And don't be a drag with your buddies; noone likes and awkward hipster vegan

Hipster, possibly of a vegan nutritional orientation. You know who you are!