A bit of August

I've tried to cram all my favourite summer things into August, because, as the dreary downpour outside my bedroom window reminded me this morning, fall is just around the corner. *Just think about the pretty leaves....* :)

Birthdays- this girl loves her ice cream cake, and we love her.

B-B-Q's: See that bag of cherries? Looks big, doesn't it? We can down that in record time.


Boats


Beaches


Butchart Gardens


We've had some company this August which was absolutely wonderful. Cortney came and we talked a mile a minute, sat by the ocean and ate sweets- ah bliss!

Jon and Ronan were passing through and we played a fun, yet rather unpolished version of John Denver's "Take me home, country roads". Try it! All you need is a piano, violin, mandolin, and guitar and a desire to sing in double-or triple time.

***Peru and Nicaragua Slideshow***

Although we actually went to Peru first, the slideshow has the trip starting in Mateare, Isla de Ometepe, Granada and Managua, Nicaragua, and going to Cusco and lastly Lima, Peru.

My Hometown

I have never been so excited to call Sidney, BC my hometown as I have been recently. Why? Well it all started a week ago when I opened our little Peninsula Review newspaper (which I used to deliver back in the day) and the headline reported that the one and only Jessie Farrell (amazing country singer) has opened up a juice shop on Beacon Ave! So I head on in for a delicious local, organic, and tasty smoothie served by Jessie herself... crazy eh?





I have never met anyone even remotely famous before so this is a new thing for me.





Next, I find out that she's performing at the Butchart gardens for only a fraction of the price that I would have to pay to see her in a big city somewhere. To top it off, she sounds even BETTER in real life than on the radio.





Google it: "Heart of gold" or "Fell right into you"

I kindof liked Sidney before... but now I'm REALLY proud of it:)

Confession

Now is the fun part. I get to sift through my photos and try to remember all the cool things we saw.

So I confess that I am just slightly obsessed with this fabulous building. It's a Catholic Church and Convent in Lima, Peru. That's not why.

I just love that it is so OLD. It was first built in the 1670s, and a lot of it is still original.

There are cattacoombs and underground tunnels beneath it filled with human bones- eerie. The belief was that you would be closer to heaven if you were buried under the church.

Apparently you can decode a lot about the culture, important people, and beliefs of the time by the paintings on the walls. Some of the paintings where covered over with tapestries and were just discovered in the last 20 years. How exiting would that be to find?!

I think another reason I enjoyed exploring this place so much was that I got in really cheap with the use of my trusty Student card. After all the hullaballoo I went through to get it, I was glad to finally go to somewhere that would accept it!