Busy Days

Trey was off to a birthday party at Panago's Pizza today. They got to color their own hat, wear an apron and make their very own pizza. My next stop was at the wool shop which has great samples outside and Carola's quilting store which has wonderful fabrics and examples on the walls.
Our evening was complete when we had guests for dinner and Suzanne made lamb braise on eggplant cream. Delicious.

Hana has an Audition

Hana has always been involved in acting, now has an agent and had an audition in Vancouver today. We made 3 business stops on the way, then arrived at the North Shore Movie Studios. It was very interesting to see the young girls waiting their turns and this very large movie complex. Needed to stop for Japanese food on the way home while waiting for the ferry, Matthew had it waiting for us, and then met some neighbours on the trip hone as the sun came out and shined down on us. Told Daddy and Lexi about our interesting day.

Back Home and Off to Gibsons

Well, we moved back to our RV park Wed. and it's so good to be home. It was really good to house sit for G and L but we realize that after 10 years of full timing, that is what we really like, the neighbors walking by, dropping in and always being outside.
I went to the Sunshine Coast Thurs and what a busy life this family has. Suze picked me up at the ferry, off to school, home for snacks, off to Lexi's art class in Sechelt. The entire bathroom in the studio is covered in silver foil. T, H and I played in a wonderful park on the ocean with a Tore-ii Gate while Suze had a business appt.

Loving Abbotsford

This is a really nice town to live in. There are a million things and events going on all the time and beautiful parks. I love Mill Lake in the middle of the city. I walked around it today in 16 degree sunshine. This is the best winter BC's had in 65 years. I've been gardening and getting ready to move back into the RV and head back to our park. Our 2 squirrels run up and down the huge cedar in the back yard, tearing off strips of bark for their nest.
There is quite a religious presence in this area. This notice about abortion is sitting in a field by the freeway surrounded by many small crosses.
I went to the Quilt show yesterday with a friend - always many ideas.

4 Siblings and Such Fun

We had the very best time last night. Rosemary and A are down for business and Peter and I and spouses joined them at Marg and Brads for dinner. We saw their new kitchen after 8 months in the basement and it's beautiful. They've made great choices, opened up some rooms and it is really nice. Rosemary brought 3 new quilt art hangings she's just finished, very detailed and well done. We saw Marg's riding trophy and ribbons, very impressive. We are so lucky to have such a great family and had an wonderful time.

A Visit to Haney

We took a drive to Maple Ridge as it is now know, where we grew up. We stopped to visit mom and dad and people have placed about 40 wind chimes in the tree near the headstones. Very peaceful and we passed Thomas and Anne Haney's monuments near the entrance, whom the town was named for. We drove past our old house that was on the Lougheed Highway and later moved back, so the Chevron garage could go in there - still looks good today. We went down Carr's Hill, past the old meat packing plant and Billy Miner's Pub. It used to be the Bank of Montreal when Dad was a kid and the Church next door was where the horse was tethered and broke loose every Sunday so they'd have to walk all the way uphill home. We went up to the Westminster Abbey in Mission which was built by the Benedictine Monks in 1982. It is 162' long, 110' wide and has 64 stained glass windows, blue on one side and orange/red on the other. A dome of coloured glass rises 60' above the altar. Very beautiful.

We lost a good friend

Our friend Debbie passed away from a brain aneurysm Wed. So difficult to believe. This picture is from a Christmas in Palm Springs. We think of her and Peter with love and will miss her wonderful smiles and laughter.

Trethewy House at Mill Lake

The Abbotsford Lumber Company built this "arts and crafts" style bungalow in 1920 for B.C. timber baron J.O. Trethewey. The house has been restored to c.1925.
Abbotsford's most important early industries are represented in Trethewey House: it was built with the finest fir lumber produced at the mill on Mill Lake. The mill was operated by the Abbotsford Lumber Company, which was owned by J.O. and his brothers. The bricks used in the chimneys and fireplaces were made with clay mined on nearby Sumas Mountain and processed at Clayburn Village, B.C.'s first company town.
Trethewey House was designated as a heritage site in 1983, and is now operated by the MSA Museum Society.
Heritage Gallery and the MSA Museum Office are located in the Carriage House, a reproduction of the original building used to house the Tretheweys' automobiles and Joey's pony and motorcycle. See an interpretation of Mill Lake and brief history of the company and its connections to the oldest extant Sikh Temple in Canada where Abbotsford Lumber donated building materials for its construction in 1911.
Joey's Playhouse - Joey Trethewey had the smallest family bedroom but compensation for this included the space for his pony and motorcycle in the Carriage House and his two room playhouse, now used as a pioneer classroom for school programs and venue for summer day camp.

History and Chess

We drive past the Gur Sikh Temple every time we go to 7 Oaks mall where Ron walks if it's raining. The first Sikhs had arrived in the Fraser Valley in 1905, from Punjab in India. This heritage Sikh Temple, opened on Feb. 1912, is the oldest surviving example of the temples which formed the religious, social and political centre of pioneer Canadian Sikh communities. It was built on a one acre property on a prominent hill adjacent to the mill at Mill Lake where about fifty or so Sikh men worked. These men and others who worked on the farms in the area used to carry local timber donated by the Tretheway family’s Abbotsford Lumber Company on their backs up the hill from Mill Lake to the Temple site. Architecturally, it is an adaptation of traditional Sikh forms, to Canadian conditions which nevertheless embodies the fundamental beliefs of Sikhs and their early experience as immigrants in Canada. It is 2 stories and has 2 soldiers on horseback outside to the right.
Ron watches the locals play crib in the Mall, even got in 2 games one day. Players arrive with a round cylinder containing the board and men, and there are usually 3 -4 games going in the afternoons in the food court.

The town of Chilliwack

We went out to Chilliwack and had a lovely visit with Adele and Bob.
As always I am fascinated with the history. 10,000 years ago there were 40,000 to 60,000 the native Sto:lo living along the Fraser River. Europeans arriving in 1782, introduced diseases reducing them by 95%. When gold seekers first arrived in British Columbia in 1857, there were few aboriginal people left.
By December, 1858 up to 30,000 miners were pouring into the area, with most traveling through the Chilliwack area on the old Yale wagon road. By the mid-1860s a few of the gold seekers had established small farms to service this growing population. These farms were located near riverboat landings. In Chilliwack, this meant that Miller's, Sumas and Chilliwack Landing became early population centres.
The Township of Chilliwhack was incorporated in 1873, the third oldest municipality in British Columbia. The settlement was concentrated along the Fraser River where the steamboats carried goods and passengers. It expanded to the junction of the New Westminster-Yale Wagon Road, Wellington Avenue and Young Road,the main commercial area of the town moved up the road, now Five Corners where heritage buildings like the 1929 Telephone building remain.
In 1881 a large subdivision called Centreville was developed. In 1887 the name was changes to, Chilliwhack.
Weather is so funny near these mountains, sunshine on the way out, then a massive hail storm under black clouds.

Back to Mill Lake

We had Chris, Julie and kids over for dinner Monday so are really enjoying being in the same town. Today's walk took me back to Mill Lake, stocked with rainbow trout right in the middle of the city. I talked to an old guy in his wheelchair one day 'just dangling his fishing rod in the water', likes the fresh air. It's beautiful with babies feeding ducks, mountains in the background, a huge eagles/osprey? nest in the tree, swimming pool and water park at one end.
In 1903, the Tretheway brothers bought the Abbotsford Lumber Company on the north shore and soon the mill site and area became Milltown, due to the mill buildings, company housing and general store. Due to employment at the mill, many newcomers and immigrants were drawn to the area. The Lumber Company donated lumber to build the Gur Sikh Temple in town and bath houses for the Japanese workers. By 1930, the Great Depression shut the mill down and today only the pilings remain at the edge of the lake.

Come to the ARC

That is Abbotsford Recreational Center - it has everything. As I walked in, for my Sunday swim, a little girl and dad were leaving, both with their hockey sticks. There's a small skating area for beginners and there is even speed skating and a local hockey team.
The pool is very nice with a climbing wall and fun equipment for the Family Fun Swim, a TV to watch while you're in the hot tub, all sorts of lessons.
There are 4 different areas with fitness equipment, always in use, seniors center, weekly movies, crib tournaments, indoor walking track and many many more activities. A picture in the senior's center say 'Dance like no one's watching, sing like no one's listening.' It's just a 10 minute walk from the house.