As you may have guessed from my absence here for a few days, we took a little four day holiday over the Thanksgiving weekend. We had a lovely drive, enjoying the gorgeous fall colours and scenes of numerous mountains and valleys. The interior of our beautiful province with its rolling grasslands and sagebrush peppered with pine forests and colourful decideous trees are at their most beautiful this time of year.

We visited our eldest daughter and her partner who had moved to the country east of Kamloops a year ago. One of their neighbours raises llammas and goats, and we met them, fed them and fell in love with the gentle and friendly llamas in particular!

We also visited a friend from Winnipeg who has retired to Vernon, another gorgeous area located at the north end of the Okanagan valley. He likes the mild climate and doesn’t miss the cold winters of Winnipeg!

Our final visit was to the waterfront home of former neighbours and dear friends who retired to Lac la Hache in the Cariboo region further north. Everywhere we had warm get-togethers with good food, sunshine, nature’s beauty and fresh air. On the way home, we stopped at farmer’s roadside stands for apples, pears, colourful squashes, and homemade raspberry pie.

I’m slowly trying to catch up with blog reading. I really want to point to a very eloquent and moving post written by Jarrett at Creature of the Shade, notes of thanksgiving for all the wonderful things in Canada on the occasion of our Canadian Thanksgiving. This is particularly special because it comes from an American who recently moved to Vancouver, and whose blog I’ve been reading since then, thanks to Dave’s introduction.