The Life of Mrs. Miles

HAPPY CAMPING MINI-KIT

(includes paper, tree templates, star-frame and stitched lettering

in colours shown and also in silver!)

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Oh my - so much to tell! I've been a real lazy-bum about blogging... was wondering what my sweet sis Nina would be doing for her coffee-break at work if I'm not providing her entertainment... Well, this ones for you big Blister! I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend - us Canucks for our Canada Day celebrations and you's to our south for your July 4th.

Can you get over the hot weather - finally, it's here. Though we groan when we are the ones stuck in our vehicle, back hot and sticky on the car seat - thats if you're like us with an older vehicle and no air conditioning... yet, for any discomfort it's all part of the genuine summer feel. It just would not be the same without having to deal with sand in the towels and ice cream cones having to be licked up before they run down your arm. C'mon... admit it folks!

ANUDDER BRAND SPANKING NEW 'PACCA BABY!

Thanks, Roger and Marie for this sweet picture of your newest family member, aptly named 'Fudge'... we WILL get up to see her... whats an appropriate baby gift for an Alpaca??? Fudge made her surprize arrival on July 3rd.

OUR MELS

We enjoyed our time with family over the long weekend. My Sister in Law, Judy and I have been trying for MONTHS to arrange a get together... and we finally managed to pin it down to the long weekend - a perfect time with all the fun activities going on around town. Judy and Barry (our brother) and grand-daughter Melissa and daughter Sam arrived Friday night - camped at the up-scale RV park in Oliver (there are no places to rent here in Osoyoos for the Canada Day weekend unless you book wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy in advance - truly, some folks book one year ahead!) We drove up and enjoyed a relaxing visit with them that evening - heading home directly after an impressive little thunderstorm!

Our daughter Melanie arrived later that evening with her boyfriend... and the weekend began. Barry and Mel's boyfriend are avid fishermen so they hit the water first thing in the day on Saturday, after we all enjoyed a hearty home-cooked breakfast. The boys fished their little hearts out until well into the evening - in fact they had to be rounded up later, they were having such fun.

Melissa - we loved having you here - you kept Uncle Miles busy with swimming - I think he's growing fins now???

The rest of us 'gals' spent a relaxing day about the house, swimming etc. It was SO GOOD to spend time with you - we don't get much time together with our busy, busy lives. We also recieved a 'surprize' guest on Saturday - it was awesome! A highlight of our weekend - thank YOU so much for coming...

I'LL CATCH YA!

Osoyoos was a regular hive of activity and we all took in the parade on Sunday morning. The streets were packed and shops filled to the brim. We hung out at a public beach afterward and then our daughter melanie and I spent the afternoon making homemade apple strudel. She taught me some new tricks with my hair - thanks sweetie! I love and miss you already!

2007 FIREWORKS DISPLAY

Our little community of 4,800 people put on a 60.000 dollar fireworks display. Yep, you heard correctly - 60,000. It WAS truly spectacular. Miles have a tradition of sitting out of town a bit with a good vantage to photograph the fireworks. We always pre-order pizza and take it with us, along with lawnchairs, blankets etc... for the ultimate in comfort. This year we were joined by our relatives, making it a true family event!

The downside to such a huge event is the fact that trying to drive anywhere afterwards is pretty much impossible for at least one hour afterward. Miles and I have learned its best to just wait for a while after, then go, when the traffic thins out. Barry and Judy decided to leave earlier - about 1/2 hour before us... I even suggested they take a 'shortcut' in town, to get directly onto the main highway, to save time. It ended up, though we left later, we wound up 5 cars AHEAD of them... because everyone else and their dog decided to take that same 'shortcut'.... ah well....

THE ULTIMATE VW CAMPING SETUP

Wow - if Miles had his way - our van would be 'tricked out' like this one. We have almost this exact model of Vanagon, only not with all the goodies on this one! Ours does have a furnace, sink, solar panels... but the one in this picture has the following features:

• 
  a Thermal Systems 6000 BTU Platinum Cat power vented catalytic heater
• 
  Warm Window insulated curtains and a uniquely designed self-supporting awning
• 
  a Sony SAT-B3 DSS receiver; a portable, collapsible Winegard satellite dish;
• a Sony Trinitron AC/DC color TV;
• front & rear Boston Acoustics Pro Series speakers;
• an Alpine AM/FM cassette receiver with wireless remote control; and a compact disc changer
• 
  a 90-watt roof mounted BP solar panel; a Morningstar Sunsaver photovoltaic controller;
• an Exeltech XP125 true sine wave inverter;
• and a power distribution panel with the meters and switches to monitor and control it all.

Today in History:

1307 - King Edward I of England died on his way north to subdue a rebellion in Scotland; he was succeeded by Edward II.

1713 - German composer George Handel's "Utrecht Te Deum" was first performed at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. Handel's Te Deum, his first important English-language Church musical composition, was christened in honor of the Peace of Utrecht, which ended the War of the Spanish Succession between several European powers.

1754 - In New York City, Kings College opened. For its first year of operation, the institution admitted eight students and one faculty member, Dr. Samuel Johnson, who would also serve as the school president. In 1784, Kings College was renamed Columbia College, and later would became Columbia University. Many prestigious awards hail from the university today, including the Columbia Award for Journalism and the Pulitzer Prize for Journalism that was named after former Columbia professor, Joseph Pulitzer.

1802 - Created by Robert Rusticoat, the first comic book to ever be published was "The Wasp." Today in history, it was published in Hudson, New York.

1862 - On the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad in Missouri, the first railroad post office was tested.

1865 - Mary E. Surratt became the first woman to be executed by the US government after being found guilty of conspiring with John Wilkes Booth to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. Her conviction was a subject of controversy as the only crime she appeared to have committed was to own the boarding house where Booth planned Lincoln's assassination.

1876 - The most notorious train robber of the American West, Jesse James, held up the Missouri-Pacific train and robbed about $15,000. Accompanied by his gang, Jesse James came to typify the hazards of the 19th-century frontier as it has been portrayed in motion-picture Westerns.

1950 - Jack Walsh, from Trenton, New Jersey, set a world weightlifting record when he hoisted 4,235 pounds, beating the record set in 1905 when a weightlifter lifted up 4,140 pounds on his back.

1959 - While under police arrest for narcotic addiction, singer Billie Holliday died at age 44 in Metropolitan Hospital in New York City. Holliday was one of the greatest blues singers in America. She had battled drug addiction for years, and was arrested twelve years earlier for possession of heroin for which she served one year and one day in prison. She was arrested while lying in her hospital bed just before she died.

1986 - Jackie Joyner-Kersee was the United State's biggest success at the Goodwill Games. At the event held in Moscow, Russia, she broke the heptathlon world record with 7,148 points. The same year, Jackie broke her own record when she scored 7,158 points in the United States Olympic Sports Festival where she won all the heptathlon's seven events.

1999 - The soundtrack album from Disney's film "Tarzan" was certified platinum on this date.

BARB'S HANDY TIP #290

Get into a Whacky Camper!

This site has all sorts of neat and unusual information - but I got a kick out of some of the Campers they show here!

GADLING