I had gone straight from Charlotte North Carolina to Toulouse (didn’t seem worthwhile to fly back to Vancouver for a day…) and so I was in Toulouse a little earlier than normal for these trips. That left me with a full Sunday to explore (and adjust to the time zone), so I took a day trip to Albi, another ancient fortified town that I had been told was a nice spot to explore.
Read MoreOspreys in Charlotte
I have been on the road for over three weeks now, starting in late May. I had a trip to Charlotte NC, and then from there it was off to France for a week and a half. The, immediately on getting back I had a long-planned golf trip with some friends to the Okanagan. So I have a lot to catch up on, a few photos to process, and some blogs to write. With Mom and Dad coming to visit later this week, I doubt I’m going to get caught up any time soon!
Read MoreLate May Visit to Reifel - A Great Egret!
Justine and I headed over to Refeil for a wander. We had a great day, seeing many new species (for us), including one that isn’t even supposed to be here - a Great Egret!
Read MoreA Visit from Shawn and Mackenzie
We were quite excited to have Shawn and Mackenzie come out and stay with us for a little less than a week in late May. We didn’t have a lot of time, and they wanted to see out new spot on Galiano. So I took a day off from work (plus the long weekend) and we explored Vancouver a little bit, and had a fantastic weekend over on the island.
Read MoreA Trip to Reifel with Friends
It’s been a busy start to the year, and strangely we haven’t been to Reifel since January. We also haven’t seen our friends Stuart and Jo since they have their new baby, almost a month ago. So we killed two birds with one stone (so to speak…) and met Stuart, Jo, Sova and Matisse (for the first time!) at Reifel for a walk in the sunshine.
Read MoreA Visit to Galiano with Family
Justine’s parents were in town visiting, so we headed over to Galiano with them, as well as Stu, Tammy and the kids so they could have a look at our new place on Galiano. We had a fun weekend exploring and showing them all the cool things on our new home-away-from-home.
Read MoreGaliano Project #1 - Complete!
We headed back over to Galiano Island on Saturday as our first project (of many to come) on our new property was completed, and we want to see the final result. It’s a lot more than we had planned, but the end result was great, and it should last a lifetime.
Read MoreA Beautiful Spring Day on Galiano
It had been over a month since we were last over to the island to see the property. The (relatively speaking) harsh winter had put most of our plans on hold, but the contractors we were working with finally were able to start work on our utility building project and some landscaping work. We were anxious to see what progress had been made.
Read MoreOur Last Full Day in Wales - the South Coast
For our last full day, Julie took us on a drive south to the coast. We headed to the tiny village of Rhossili, which is in an area that has been designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, encompassing Rhossili Bay and the small tidal island called Worm's Head.
Read MoreA Day in Wales - Learning about the Local History
On Friday we had a busy day exploring the local area, learning about the coal mining history of the region. We went to the Welsh Mining Experience at Heritage Park in Rhondda, and then went to have a look at a local castle (more of a folly than a real castle, but still very cool!). We wrapped up the day with a visit with Justine’s Great Aunt and a hunt for lambs up on the hills.
Read MoreTintern Abbey, Wales
As out trip in Wales continued, we were heading from our hotel near Caldicot, to meet with Justine’s family a little further north and west. Before we did that, Justine wanted to see Tintern Abbey, ruins I had visited on a previous trip.
Read MoreMeeting the Extended Family in Wales
For as long as I’ve know her, Justine has talked about her extended family in Wales.For years we’ve been trying to arrange our trips such that we could go for a visit, and this time around everything aligned and we were able to spend 3 1/2 days with her mom’s cousin Julie and her family. They were kind enough to host us and Julie was an amazing tour guide as we got to see a little bit of the Welsh countryside.
Read MoreLondon to Wales... via Lincoln
Wednesday was a big day of driving, as we had to go from London to Lincoln for my meeting, before driving to the eastern part of Wales where our hotel, the St. Pierre Marriott Hotel & Country Club was located.
Read MoreA Trip to Europe - Mostly London
For my quarterly trip to Europe to our office in France I extended the trip to do some work with our team in the UK. This mean a few days in London, which is always great. Justine decided to meet me in London, and we added on a few personal days to go and visit with her family in Wales. I’ll probably do a few posts to cover it all off.
Read MoreSnowy Galiano
Justine and I spent a snowy day on Galiano. It was supposed to be a busy day working on the property, but the weather had other plans.
Read MoreThe Crazy Month of February
This February has been one to remember. We went from clear and beautiful, to one of the snowiest in memory. I thought I’d share a few pics from the last week or so.
Read MoreFebruary Trip to Reifel
You guys are all probably getting tired of pictures of birds. Sadly, my travel of late has been uninteresting, so I’m limited in the choices. Hopefully that will change soon, but for now - birds!
Read MoreThe First Reifel Visit of 2019
Justine was still in Paris, and after a long week of travel in Atlanta I felt like I needed a walk. Saturday was overcast and a bit grey, but it wasn’t raining to I decided to head down to Reifel for a look around. It turned out to be a pretty great day for a number of reasons.
Read MoreA First Weekend on Galiano - Surveying the Storm Damage
Justine was off in Australia, so I was on my own for the weekend before having to head to Atlanta. Over the Christmas break, BC got hit by what was described as the worst storm in the province’s history. The Gulf Islands were particularly hard hit, with it taking almost 2 1/2 weeks to get full power restored to Galiano. We knew we had some storm damage on the property, so I headed over to see how bad it was and start the clean-up process.
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