Will Ya Go, Lassie, Go

We're back for another blog chapter after a whole month off, and a pretty busy month it's been. Our camera has been busted ever since that ill-advised paper towel post some time ago -- though I guess the selector wheel was going to break at the next use regardless. Hoping we can get it fixed soon in Courtenay and get back to shooting, because there's lots of photogenic stuff going on.

First and foremost on the list is the lovely pregnant Bethany (in the room next to me doing her Fit Mama DVD as I type). She is into week 29 of 40, and is by all accounts doing remarkably well. Lots of energy most of the time, enough to still be playing music with the kids and playing brass in her jazzy rock band Full Circle. She's all over this exercise DVD which is working wonders. September-October is typically back to school time for Bethany, so she's really soaking up this time of year having hopped off the eternal train wreck that is the Comox Valley School District. One year was enough! The arts are dying a slow death up here, and the Victoria district is looking pretty peachy by comparison.

Babes is certainly showing her belly now, though much of her maternity clothing seems to still conceal it. At home, we enjoy lots of bare belly time and we're now detecting plenty of movement in there, both feeling and even seeing kicks and bumps. She's getting tagged in the ribs once in a while, which is especially painful I'm told. The baby room is coming along well, now painted along with spruced-up shelving and a new floor. So what was our guest room is now history, we have a permanent resident moving in soon.

Just enjoyed a visit from both our parents over the past week, at separate times. First it was my folks, they brought their brand new tent trailer up and set it on the concrete pad by the garage. That was an easy solution to the fact there's no guest bed anymore. Had a wonderful relaxed time with Lynda and Jim, we did a turkey dinner on Thanksgiving Sunday, also lots of sports to enjoy on TV with Daddy-O. Robyn and Jon popped onto the island few a few hours that Sunday, so we had a nice time with all of my family in one place, short but sweet. It was a wonderful thanksgiving, one of the best ever. I even carved the bird for the first time -- pretty cool.

A few days after my folks left, Anne and Ray were up for a few nights, they left yesterday -- it was quite rainy which kept us inside, but the ladies were hard at work on some curtains for the new room. Ray got some good feet-up time with his book, and he also tinkered around our place on a few things.

The Fasts timed their visit to coincide with the monthly Denman Open Mic night at the community hall. Those events have become a highlight on the monthly calendar, and the calibre of talent which continues to come out is just astounding. Bethany is helping showcase a bunch of the local kids at these sessions, this time there was a singing duet, a soloist, a pianist, a clarinet, all doing their thing with Bethany backing up on piano. Another highlight was when Ray took the mic to sing a traditional Celtic tune with Bethy and myself playing along, also our good friend Mike on fiddle (he's behind a pillar in the photo above, you can see his elbows). The crowd warmly sang along, it was a really cool moment, one that gave me those musical tingles.

I'm gonna sign off now -- these blog stories always turn out way too long, because I'm so infrequent these days. Will try to get to it more often, especially if we can get this camera fixed up. Cheerios.