Visiting with family in Kelowna.

 Well what's been going on?  We arrived in Kelowna last Wednesday and we've been busy every since.  Ian's son Gordie arrived on Friday and we had a nice visit.  We haven't seen each other in years so we had a nice catch up.  

Eric, Gordie and Ian having happy hour and a chat. 

Here's Linda cooking dinner for us.  We really like her " restaurant" and all the lovely meals she's prepared for us...yum!  We are here a little longer than usual as the Harley is in the shop having repairs done and Eric's been looking at lighter Triumph motorcycles to replace " Big Red" for our Mexico trips. The Harley weighs 900 pounds and it's great cruising down the highway but unwieldy with me aboard in Mexican towns.  Tight spaces, unexpected stops and cobblestones make it difficult to handle.  We did test ride one last Saturday and will go back to have another look at a different model tomorrow.  I'll keep you posted!

Dinner is served!

Linda's been cooking " heart healthy" meals since we arrived and they are delicious. 

Here's Gordie taking a picture of me taking a picture.

Spicy asian salad, yams, Greek rice and greek chicken.  Just delicious!

Saturday night Ian's other son Jason, wife Deb and children Ella and Cooper came for dinner.  We haven't seen them since 2019 and boy have the kids grown.  That's Jason with Cooper beside him. 

Gramps wants the phone...nope!

Ella's all grown up at 14 and was sitting quietly by herself in the living room.  A very lovely young lady. 

Dinner time.  Cooper and Ella are eating burgers.  We had beef burgers, chicken burgers and vegan burgers as well as mango salad and the spicy Asian mango salad.  All delicious. 

That's Deb getting her food. 

Ian and Eric having some sort of serious discussion. 

The NHL playoffs have started and the guys are glued to the TV.  The ladies....not so much!

Yesterday I was off to have lunch with my cousin Barbara, husband Brian, my sister Anne and niece Adrian.  Barbara is my mother's sister Doreen's daughter.  We saw a lot of each other when we were kids but it's been 55 years since we've met.  A lot changes in all those years.  She looks a lot like my Auntie Doreen and even my mother Grace.  Norwegian background on my mother's side.  Barbara is three years younger than me.  We really had a lovely lunch at a local Vietnamese restaurant and chatted for a couple of hours.  Lots to catch up on after 55 years.  Barbara and her husband live in Vernon and drove in to meet us. They are snacking on tempura prawns. 

This is my sister Anne's lunch and it's huge!  Bits and bites of everything.  In the end I'd wished that I'd ordered what she ordered.  Isn't that always the way!

Adrian sitting behind Anne is a cardiac nurse at Kelowna General and she has never met Barbara.  Anne is looking at her lunch suspiciously.  I think she's wondering how she's going to eat all of it.  In the end she took half home.  Anne used to live in West Kelowna with her husband Craig but since he passed two years ago she's sold her house and moved into a lovely older condo in Mission.  Nice and central to everything and she's really happy there.  

Adrian and Anne having lunch.  

I ordered a conglomeration of things that came in a bowl.  Pork, spring rolls, skewer of chicken, salad and noodles.  Very good but I couldn't finish all the noodles. Brian ordered the same thing and did a better job of finishing his.

We all spent some time gabbing and " getting to know each other" after 55 years.  Barbara has been living in the Okanagan area since the early 70's but we'd lost touch until we connected on Facebook over the past few years.  Adrian really enjoyed meeting some " family" as she is an only child and doesn't have any family close by.  

Barbara, Adrian, Anne and Brian.  Brian was very brave showing up for lunch with four women but the big draw was the food as he really likes Vietnamese cuisine.  In the end we all had a really good time.  

I don't know what Anne is doing here but obviously we all thought it was funny. 

Great photo of the four of us.  So nice to catch up after all these years and Anne and Adrian are close enough to stay in touch.  Usually when we pass by in the spring and fall we only stay two or three days while we buy what we need and carry on.  

Last night we had fish and the left over salads.  Just as delicious.  I'm not used to having someone cook for me and I could really get used to it!  We've been having a really good time here.  Linda and I have been busy shopping.  It's too busy here for us but we really enjoy the accessibility of everything compared to home.   

Another good day.  I really must go for a long walk today!