How the truth brought us closer together than ever

There are signs of her everywhere: the stripped sheets on the bathroom floor, waiting to be washed. The empty box of cinnamon buns, one of which we ate every morning as pre-breakfast. 

The bottle of 'Itch Relief Lotion' on the counter we used - unsuccessfully- on her 80+ mosquito bites 😩

Stepping outside, I inadvertently look at the Little House, expecting her to sit there with her morning cigarette - and the empty stoop leaves a hollow emptiness in my stomach. She's gone.

But then, a beautiful surprise: a blond chicken with a blond hairdo (looking very much like this one) is sitting on the back of 'her' chair, looking as much as my sister as a chicken possibly can. And it reminds me that she is still with me: in my heart, my memories, my photos, on the other side of the phone/computer - and reunited once again next year, when we embark upon our next sister trip. 

A day in wine country

Yesterday we spent the day in Kelownafornia! Oh, you haven't heard of it? It's an easy 1.5-hr drive away from home, otherwise known as Kelowna. Ha! Driving through the rolling wine hills, my sister said "that's what I picture California to look like!", to which my friend (and tour guide for the day) Christine replied: "they call it Kelownafornia!". I'm absolutely loving the name, and shall henceforth use it exclusively. 

Anyway, moving on to the wine tour!

We went to two wineries, The View and SpierHead Winery.

Happy summer!

Summer is in full swing around here (albeit with almost daily thunderstorms, which is unusual for this area), and I'm finally doing all the things I've wanted to do when we moved here, but somehow haven't! Funny how that works, isn't it? 

That's the great things about having out-of-town visitors: you get to play tourist, and see your home with the eyes of an outsider. And what I see is pretty damn beautiful!

My sister is currently here, and not only are we having a fantastic time (and she takes great photos!), but we are apparently re-living our youth (in the words of my daughter). Nothing wrong with that!

Here are a few photos from our canoe-trip the other day:

My sister is here!

Sorry for the radio silence, it's been a weird two weeks. I will talk about that another time, because today is gonna be a happy post! My sister ~Emma in the book~ arrived last Sunday for a visit, and I couldn't be happier about it! There's nobody who can me make laugh as hard as she can, and we're having the best time.  

Here are a few photos!

When your brain is broken

I'm not a label person. I don't own any designer bags or sunglasses, because I never had the desire to. Yet, when I was looking for a phone case 2 years ago, I ended up picking a black-and-white striped case by Kate Spade - the only designer item I own. 

Hearing about Kate Spade's heartbreaking death last Monday shook me deeply. Not so much because of my phone case, even though I'm still very fond of it - but because mental illness won. And every time mental illness wins, it results in a huge, terrible loss for all of us.