Backtrack to Summer in Canada!

Heading back home after our first year abroad was a welcome plane flight! We were all tired and ready for some fresh air, reconnecting with family and friends, and general lazing around. There was so much we did I can't capture all in one post. I will put together another album you can access online (stay tuned). We had fabulous weather the whole summer and it made me love Canada even more. Everywhere we went was so beautiful. The Kootenays, West Coast, Gulf Islands, & across to the East and onto a small, rock island tucked away in Georgian Bay were all stops for us this summer. Geoff finally actualized his wish to ressurrect our tipi at the Starbelly Music Festival in Crawford Bay. It looked awesome! If it hadn't been so hot and buggy we could've spent more time inside it.
This was the first summer in a long time where I really didn't have much I 'had' to do. It was so nice to do a lot of nothing. I must admit it took me a bit to get used to it and not feel guilty about being the productive virgo I usually am (or think I am!). Once I got into the swing of having my own time to ride my bike, swim, wake up when my body wanted to, visit with all of you (which never felt like enough time), I couldn't imagine going back to work. If it wasn't for the ol' bank account dropping, I might be somewhere else right now. It was so wonderful to see as many of you as we did. I never felt like there was enough time though and for those of you we missed, I hope next summer will bring us together. We split our time between West and East so it makes planning a challenge sometimes.
We did something different this year and rented a solar powered cottage in Georgian Bay with Geoff's brother, Michael this year for 2 weeks. It was absolutely beautiful there. Endless waters, sunshine, warm lake temperatures, cousins playing, boatrides out to fabulous rock islands where you could lounge around like otters sunning on the smooth, heated rocks and then slip into the natural rock pools to cool off. Summer is the time to charge up the 'nature battery' and store it inside so when I'm feeling deprived of nature, I can give myself a charge from the storehouse. One strategy for surviving life in a desert.
I can't recount the events of the summer without mentioning that significant changes impacted the larger Peake family. This was the very unfortunate passing of our dearest and sweetest sister in law, Bev. I found a quote that helps me to grapple with the changes and accept that which does not come easily ~ "sorrow comes to stretch out spaces in the heart....for joy." For those of us left with the gift of our breath, we find ways to keep moving on. Move forward with joy and a zest for life that allows you to have nothing to regret when the angels come for you.
Our family wishes all of you the best of health and that your days are filled with love and joy. Allow yourself to be surprised!