I took my first evening nap, in a LLONG time, last night from eight to ten.  My intention was to stay up beyond doing my blog posting.  I wanted to read but within just a few minutes I was nodding off and was fast asleep by midnight.

We were expecting the Griggs by late afternoon until I got an early morning e-mail letting us know they were still in Hope, just an hour over the US/Canadian border and won’t arrive until Sunday morning. 

Judith and I discussed the day over breakfast before I headed to the garden.  I planted the other cold box with lettuce even though my first planting is holding up extremely well.  We’ve had beautiful lettuce for the last month and it has produced TEN times what we have used.

Judith did one of her wonderful soups for lunch; a perfect choice for this sunny but chilly day.  After lunch I headed up to the new garden to do patch work on the last pouring and get things ready for the next pour.  I hadn’t been up there much in the last two weeks and today reminded what a beautiful place this will be to tend a garden.

Russ called in mid afternoon to tell me the boat would be ready for pickup tomorrow.  Towards the end of the conversation he said “I guess I’ll see you in a couple of hours at Dale’s”.  That took me surprise as I didn’t have a clue to what he was talking about.  It turns out we were invited to an event called Christmas in July at Dale and Natalie’s which Judith had failed to mention AND had forgotten about.  It seems when she was asked she knew the Griggs were scheduled to arrive and felt we wouldn’t be able to attend. 

We seldom turn down invitations and decided to go.  Just before we turned into their driveway we spotted a bear crossing the road and what we think was a cub in tow.

The party started at four and was scheduled to end with fireworks at midnight.  We arrived at five thirty and joined the twenty some people on the sunny front deck.  People kept arriving until a good thirty were in attendance; mostly neighbors, friends and family.  This whole thing started about ten years ago;  July offered better driving conditions than December so the family decided to get together, exchange gifts, etc.  It became known as Christmas in July and the name has stuck.  There were lots to drink, great appetizers and TURKEY CHILI.  They also had a “Mexican gift exchange” which was fun to watch.  We didn’t stay for the fireworks and got back to River House at ten thirty.

I’m planning on picking up the boat before the Griggs arrive and while in Smithers I’ll pick up the snacks for tomorrow night’s poker party.  Darrel won the last time he was up and the guys want a chance to get their money back.