First of all, I want to wish you a very happy Victoria Day Weekend and a welcome to the unofficial kickoff of summer! Here in the Okanagan, where it’s been in the upper 20s and low 30s, we’ve already had more than our share, so, fill your boots!
 
How appropriate that so many are going to be watching the wedding of a descendant of Queen Victoria herself, adding yet another branch to the family tree. I hope that all goes well tomorrow; we’ll be watching, but out here in BC it’ll be stupid-o’clock, so my sister Cindy will tape it and we’ll sip English Breakfast tea and perhaps enjoy a few crumpets. Sounds good, yes? And please, no spoilers! LOL Fun to hear that CHFI and a few other Rogers joints have gone to the UK to take in the celebrations. Shades of what we did with Will and Kate and that was SO much fun!
 
Funnily enough, tomorrow marks a bit of a Victorian anniversary in our lives, too: it was 40 years ago that, as a teen, I first set eyes on the provincial capital that has become our home! My eldest sister Heather was in the Canadian Armed Forces, posted in Esquimalt, a part of the greater Victoria area. She held her wedding there; my Dad gave the first of a total of eight Father of the Bride speeches he would go on to make for his four daughters over his lifetime. Of course, he’s still with us, but I think we’re all done marching down any aisles!
 
Here we are on a walk of a different kind near his home in Kelowna on Wednesday.
 

 
Anyway, Heather would joke that Victoria was for the “newlywed and nearly dead” but we’re told that “flower beds” has joined that quaint saying. We are familiar with none of those three, but we are so grateful to live in what we consider to be the most beautiful place we’ve ever had our mail delivered.
 
Despite my sisters’ seven weddings (I had just the one – slacker!), I was never a bridesmaid. But I did get to sing at Heather’s first: it was John Denver’s “You Fill Up My Senses” (or as Heather calls it, “You Filled Out My Census”). Sisters Heather, Cindy and Leslie now live in the Kelowna area and so does Dad. Funny how we all ended up in this province when none of us was born here, but having spent so much time in Alberta as kids, and having been born in Edmonton, any place with mountains has always called me to come home. And here we are.
 
It’s impossible to believe that those nuptials happened 40 years ago tomorrow, but let’s hope that Harry and Meghan manage to stay together and, in four decades’ time, mark this anniversary. I doubt I’ll be around to see it, especially if what happened to us yesterday ever goes down again. 
 
I hope you’ve enjoyed the pictures and journals this week; I’m going to take the short week off from writing next week, so I can concentrate on family and give Rob a break from the technical end of things. But be sure to return on the 28th: I have one heck of a story to share with you. It’s that “professional nightmare” theme I’ve talked about; it happened to us yesterday and it was entirely our doing. Talk to you then – you won’t want to miss it. And enjoy the Victoria Day weekend!