Week Seven: A Painted House, A Sad Goodbye and the Town of Hope

Thursday, July 18/18

Another early morning walk to the farm with Loesje and Bijke to count the cows, while Rikst went for a run. Loesje wanted to pet Bijke and she did while Rikst held him.

Bijke: A miracle happened. The little human petted my neck and my back. She touched my ears and my tail. I stood very still. I wanted to lick her, but I didn’t.

During Loesje’s nap, we checked out campgrounds in the Okanagan Valley, but when we googled the BC wildfires map, we learned that many fires were already causing havoc in the Okanagan. With more hot weather on the way and no rain in the forecast, we changed our plans, deciding instead that it would be wise to stay west of the fires.

When Loesje woke, we went to Cowichan Bay, where Bijke went for a swim with Albert and we went shopping. The Bakery in Cowichan Bay had been our favourite coffee shop for the last six years. We always order the same thing - coffee and apple strudel. Loesje ate half a raizy bun and many bites from Mom’s strudel. While we enjoyed our treat, one of Canada’s favourite authors walked into the Bakery; Laurens Hill. We were all excited to see such a celebrity in Cow Bay.

When we arrived home, Johny had created another scrumptious meal, which we ate out on the deck. We couldn't walk at the farm, tonight. The trails were closed to the public for the Music Festival and the field was filling up with camper vans, tents, trailers and motorhomes.

On Friday, Albert took the Tiguan into the Nanaimo Volkswagen garage, for a scheduled maintenance service, as we had put more than 6,000 km on, while towing the snail house. We worried about the breaks or anything else that could go wrong during such a long trip.

Rikst went to work and Johny planned to paint the west side of the house. Last year Albert had helped him paint the front and the garage.

Loesje wanted to watch Daddy paint. We dragged two chairs out on the grass at the west side of the house and added encouraging comments while Johny worked. Loesje shouted, “Carefill, Daddy!” when Dad stood on the ladder or sat on the roof. “Stop painting, Daddy!” when she had enough.

We took Bijke for another walk and when Loesje fell asleep, I pushed the stroller beneath the snail tree in the shade.

Albert returned with great news. The checkup was perfect. The Tiguan had sustained no injuries while lugging the trailer up and down the mountains.

That afternoon, Albert and Johny continued painting, until it was too hot and the sun came around to the westside of the house.

Johny’s parents came for dinner and brought salmon hamburgers, zucchini and potato salad. Rikst had made a green salad and for dessert we had fruit salad with coconut ice-cream. Loesje had her first taste of ice-cream. She gobbled it up and ate it with both hands.

Bijke had his walk around the neighbourhood. This same weekend, Duncan was also hosting the BC Summer Games and the town was crazy busy.

Early Saturday morning we went to the Farmer’s market in Duncan, while Albert and Johny finished painting the West wall and gable of the house.

“What will we buy at the market?” Rikst asked Loesje. 

“Eggies, bueberries and chocolate chips,” she answered.

“I can’t believe it,” Rikst said. “She’s only had chocolate chips once in her whole life!”

“They must have tasted really good, that she still remembered,” I chuckled. “Who doesn’t go for chocolate?”After we finished at the market, ran a few errands and headed home, Loesje suddenly yelled from her carseat, “Coffeeshop!”

Oh boy, we missed a very important stop!

By the time we arrived home, Albert and Johny had finished painting the second coat. What a difference a lick of paint makes. Their house went from several shades of turquoise to dark grey with turquoise doors.

Rikst, Johny and Loesje went to the Island Folk Festival, but the music had stopped for dinner break. By the time the music started again, Loesje was ready for bed.

Sunday morning early and it was already warm.

Albert and Johny prepped the South and Eastside of the house. Before they could start painting, Albert and I went to Cowichan Bay for coffee and apple strudel. It was our last visit to our favourite bakery.

After lunch, the last wall to be painted was attacked. We felt for the boys. It was an extremely hot job.

While they painted, we FT with Klazina and Alexander, who were busy packing their motorhome, for their big trip to Winnipeg, Drumheller and Banff.

Bijke: I was beside myself. I held very still. The little human hugged me. I had to restrain myself not to kiss her all over, but I’ve learned that kisses and licks will scare her. It was a good day.

After the paint job was finished, we drove to Andrew and spent the afternoon playing and swimming in Lake Cowichan. Bijke swam and barked for half an hour. Jess, Grace and Georgia had left for North Bay, the day before to visit Jess' parents.

At the Forest Research Station, where Andrew works, we had a BBQ. The temperature had risen to 35 degrees.

Loesje fell asleep on the way home and Albert was tired from the hard work and the heat and went to lay down on the bed.

Bijke: Why is A in bed? I want to go on the bed, too, but M keeps yelling, “Off the bed, Bijke! Off!” I was so mad, that when M took me for my peewalk, I pulled and pulled the whole way.

Our last day with Rikst, Johny and Loesje and it was hotter than hot.

While Albert and Johny painted the second coat on the east wall, Loesje and I played inside. We sang songs, read books, sang more songs, drew pictures of stars and moons and read more books.

Sharon came for tea and to say good bye.

We ordered PadThai for our last family dinner out on the deck.

Loesje swam in her pool and splashed us all. We did groceries and packed the trailer.

One more breakfast with the Tillies. We spent such a special time with them. It was amazing to hear how Loesje’s language develops so quickly. Every day, for the two weeks we spent with her, she used new words. One last time we shared our blueberries with Loesje and then it was time to go. We were sad to leave the kids and to leave the island. Vancouver Island has become one of my favourite places. The people are laid back and friendly and so in tune with nature and I will never get enough of the ocean.

At ten, the ferry took us from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassan. We passed the Gulf Islands, saw Mount Baker in the distance and the hour-and-a-half ride was over before we knew it.

We drove east of Vancouver through the Frazer Valley. The soil is very fertile and this area. It's is a growing paradise, for produce, berries, flowers, potatoes and corn. Big farms stood scattered along the river.

Our first stop was the town of Hope. Everyone had told us that there was nothing to do or to see in Hope, but the campground was lovely. At our site stood two tall cedar trees, that provided shade for our snail house. The backdrop of the mountains was stunning. But,we soon found out that the campground was a noisy place. It was situated right on the Trans Canada Highway, with on the one side the busy highway into town, with a CardLock for Transport trucks and the train tracks on the other side of the campground. Two cows grazed in the pasture behind our campsite. The scent of manure, brought back memories from our childhood. We preferred the cows over the eight bulls in Ellensburg.

We heard many dutch speaking campers on the campground. We spoke with two young men from Sneek. Their family was making a three-week tour of the interior of BC, Banff, Jasper and Vancouver Island.

Bijke: I liked digging at this site and I already buried a plastic stake beside the tree. Nobody will be able to find it. Only I can see the yellow tip sticking out of the sand.

As we walked around the campground that evening , we made a gruesome discovery. We are camping on top of the Kinder Morgan pipeline. A big sign read, High Risk Pressurized Petroleum Line! AAAAAHHH!!!

Fortunately, the temperature cooled down at night and the campground was lovely. When we went into town, the temperature rose to 32C by eleven o’clock. At the tourist information centre we learned about the many attractions Hope had to offer. The mighty Frazer River runs through Hope and the salmon spawn in this area. In the 1800s the Gold rush came to town and during the Second World War, the Japanese people were interned in this area.

After supper we  tried to find the many chainsaw sculptures, Hope is famous for. Seventy-two all together, but we missed a few. We walked along the Frazer River to admire the amazing scenery and went to the Japanese Friendship garden, which was created to honour the 2600 Japanese citizens who suffered here during the war.