Our Trip to PNG Part 2

 A typical scene in PNG. Lush mountains, covered with vibrant greenery.

 A traditional hut all made from local reeds & grasses.

 The sides of the hut are tightly woven & the floor is made of the same material.

 Gave these 3 little children the dolls I made & brought to hand out in PNG.

This is my most favourite picture that I took during our trip.

 A bundle of bananas growing in the compound where Chris & Charlotte live. About a month later, the bananas started to ripen.

Big green grasshopper.

 Some of the beautiful flowers in PNG.

Bright coloured dahlia.

Our Trip to PNG - Part 1

 February 8th, at sunset, at Wpg airport waiting for our flight to Vancouver & then to Sydney, Australia & then to Brisbane where we spent the night before boarding a flight to Port Moresby, Paupa New Guinea & then to Goroka where Chris, Charlotte & their kids are serving with Missionary Aviation Fellowship. 5 flights with a total of over 25 hours in the air with the longest flight being just over 15 hours over the ocean.

This is the New Tribes Mission compound where our 4 grandkids are attending school. There are just over 100 kids in this school. It is about a 20 minute drive from their home to the school.

Carly at her desk in school.

Nick at work.

Carly helping make pizza.

Nick with the cinnamon buns we had together.

Chris & Adam got rained on during a bike ride.

Carly with her pan of cinnamon buns.

Banana Spider.

Bunch of bananas.

Christmas Celebrations

 We hosted 2 Christmas celebrations at our home during this past week. During this past summer, we painted our garage floor, repainted the walls & installed the baseboards. With floor heat, the garage is toasty warm & is a roomy place for a larger group.

 Wednesday evening, our Small Group got together for a lasagna & salad supper. I found instructions for a fun game on the internet & thought I 'd try it to entertain our Small Group & entertain it did! 

 I wrapped candy & some Dollar Store items using plastic wrap & made a large ball. To add to the fun, I used pieces not one long piece. Made for a more difficult time to find the end!

 One person rolled 2 dice, trying to roll doubles while the other person unrolled the ball. Surprising how long it can take to roll a double!

 

 Also it sometimes took a few seconds to find the end of the wrap.

 Fun game.

Produced lots of laughter!

 Saturday we hosted my sisters, their spouses & added 2 families who live in the area. Make your own taco salad is always a favourite.

 We fed 16 at lunch time.

 Nick enjoying his food.

 During the afternoon,  the children left & we added 2 cousins & 1 spouse for supper. Didn't get a picture of the BBQ Farmer Sausage & scalloped potatoes. This is a picture of goodies we enjoyed for coffee.

 Sisters - Helen, myself, Edna & Carolyn.

 Cousin - Lois & Milly.

Great day, great food & great fellowship!

Burwalde Woods

 On the other side of this bridge, are the Burwalde Woods. It contains large maple & oak trees, natural prairie grasses, a variety of wildflowers during the summer & beautiful vegetation to photograph in the fall.

 The Dead Horse Creek also meanders through the woods & there is a small amount of water in places.

 

 In the meadow, there are many Milkweed plants & some pods are still filled with seeds.

 

 These seeds are just waiting for a strong wind to take them to another area where they will grow. Milkweed is not wanted by dairy farmers in grassy meadows where cows graze as it can taint the milk.

 

 Lexie, my assistant, looking for a squirrel to chase.

 

 Looking across the meadow, is a slough filled with bulrushes.

 Golden leaves & rose hips on a wild rosebush.

 A green cluster of berries gives a contrast of colour to the reddish stem & the brown & green leaves.

Sharp thorns on a hawthorn tree. I found so much colour & textures when exploring the Burwalde Woods. 

Visiting the Rockies- Final

 At Radium, the Mountain Sheep know exactly where to cross the street!

 The highway on the way to the hot springs. We spent about an hour at the hot springs & then I was so exhausted from the minerals in the water that we went to our hotel room & had a nap!

 A stream in the ravine beside the highway at Radium.

 Gateway Motel where we stayed at Radium. Someone here has an amazing green thumb as these baskets of flowers were filled to overflowing with bright, large blossoms.

This was taken on the way to Panorama Mountain, just west of Invermere.

The mountain stream was so clear, the beauty of the changing leaves contrasted sharply with the green of the pines & the air was so clean & fresh - memories of the Rockies.

Sunset in the mountains. We cut our holiday short because it started to rain & the weather forecast was more rain for the next 3 days so we decided to go home & to return another time as we didn't see all the sights that we had on our agenda. We said that we needed to leave somethings for another time.

Visiting the Rockies Part 2

Driving onto the ferry at Kootenay Bay to cross the Kootenay Lake to Balfour. It was a free ferry crossing that took about 30 minutes. Beautiful sunny day.

We spent the night a a resort that overlooked the Kootenay Lake & we saw the ferry cross the lake several times.

At a rest stop where the lake was so still & clear that it looked like a mirror.

A clear mountain stream.

Another peaceful lake with fog in the valley.

And then we found this waterfall at rest stop.

Beautiful & majestic!

Here we are at Galena Bay waiting for another ferry.

Mountain streams caught my eye & always great for more pictures.

And more mountains.