All-a-flutter

A few weeks ago I had the chance to go to Butterfly World, down island by Coombs. It was truly magical. I hadn't been there since I was in highschool, and it was the perfect rainy day adventure! I went with Daniel's mom -- Judy-- and youngest sister -- Kristianna--, and two of his mom's clients. Judy works with elderly men and women doing regular homecare, but she also does fun things with them like picnics, coffee dates, and, of course, Butterfly World trips!
It was a perfect opportunity to snap a few photos with our new 60mm lense.

This was one of my first photos. It was so warm and humid inside the building that my camera immediately fogged up... and stayed that way for about 20 minutes!


What can I say, I love water droplet photos!





I got so nostalgic when I saw these flowers growing. I don't know the name of them, but they are the same flowers that grow all along the roadsides in Kenya. The ones in Butterfly World were all a magenta pink color, but in Kenya they ranged in color from white to pinks to deep purple. It was such an unexpected gift to see these flowers.




Even though his heat lamp made for terrible lighting, I had to snap a picture of this big fella. The poor guy was trying to push and pull his way out of his box, but eventually wedged his shell between the two boards and just ended up hanging there for a little while until he fell down on his back. Not the most graceful position for a tortoise, let me assure you!

And "sew" it begins...

I am excited to announce that I am now taking an online sewing class! It has been something I have wanted to do for some time now. Although I know some of the basics of sewing, I still am rather intimidated by anything more than a straight stitch line, and patterns make me want to hide under my bed. Hopefully, this will help!



The course was developed by three very talented ladies, and takes you from sewing a simple drawstring bag, to drafting your own patterns, to sewing a fancy messenger bag and a tote-style purse. My plan is to document every step of my creative journey HERE, so keep checking back :)

Also, for anyone interested in starting this class as well, you can register here.

Bakery in the Bush

It’s been so long since I wrote on here, so I hope you devoted three readers haven’t given up on me yet!

At I type this, I am sitting on the edge on a little grassy bank at the edge of a river. With all the rain and melting snow, the river has risen a lot this year, and right in front of me is a poor little who has been half way drown since we moved our camp here nine days ago. I’m not sure what date it was, the tree planting calendar consists of five days: day one, day two, day three, day four, and day off. I can tell you we have been here for two days off, and that we are now on day three.

For those of you reading who may not know, I am presently living in a tree planting camp near Smithers working as the camp baker. It’s a bit of a family affair, as my mom is working as the camp cook, and my two youngest siblings, Alley and Zac, are here as well. It’s been really very fun working with my mom in the kitchen all day, and by “all day” I really do mean ALL day. Our days start at 5ish, as mom is supposed to be in at 5am and I am supposed to be in at 5:15am. I have to admit I have slept in til’ closer to 5:30 am the last few days… time to get my own alarm I think. Between about 3 and 5:30 pm we manage to get a break in, at least now that we are cooking for 45 rather than 80 like at the first camp. Those days were nearly 17 hours straight.

Dinner is at 7pm, and then we are usually doing clean up until around 9:30. Then there’s a bit of snuggle time with my fiancé, Daniel, and off to sleep. It’s repetitive in so many ways, but there is always the excitement of baking new things every day. I try my best to bake at least one exciting thing per day. Something I am looking forward to making, or something I haven’t tried before. Today it was some yummy granola bars (my first attempt), and a variation of the Morning Glory Muffin (a big hit around here) with apple and butterscotch chips and rum flavoring… I call them Candy Apple Muffins J. Every day I am expected to make a type of muffin, a type of cookie, a type of square, and the dessert for after supper. I also make the granola for the morning breakfasts and the fruit salad as well.

The routine for the planters is to have breakfast between 5:45am (actually usually the people who are in the kitchen that time are just getting their morning coffee to accompany their morning smoke) and 7. We have all of the stuff out for them in the mornings to make their lunches, that’s where all my baking goes. Then they are gone from 7am to 6:30 pm; long days for them too.

Hopefully I will be able to get some pictures up soon!

Love to all,

Jordan