Again we are about to greet another year and look back on a busy year with many adventures and milestones. The big news for our family is that Linnaéa has completed schooling to become a Licensed Practical Nurse. She will write her licensing exam in January.

I know her dear Grandmother Margaret who passed away this fall, was so proud that Linnaéa found a career that suites her.
Andrew is helping his Father build a house. In his spare time he practices as a DJ and will be assisting at a New Years gig at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort.
Loren and I have kept busy with logging at the woodlot, contract forestry work, some carpentry work and working around here. In the spring we took time out for a sailing trip out of Gibsons with Dorothy and Allen. It was Loren’s first ocean sail. He enjoyed it so much, that he had thoughts of selling the farm and buying a sailboat.
During the summer several of our friends and my family visited. First Mom and Dad with family friends Al and Lori from Seattle and Judy and Maurie from Australia. Next brother Greg and family and then sister Brenda and family visited. All the children enjoyed the farm adventure. Loren’s parents are travelling to Canal Flats for Christmas, so we hope to see them then.
A special treat this fall was that my girlfriends from highschool booked the lodge for a weekend. I can’t remember when I last laughed so hard.
A new addition to our family is our dog Roxy, who has replaced faithful Bella who at 15 years old, moved on. Roxy, an Australian cattle dog, is a bundle of energy. As Loren has suggested "she seems much too young for us." But she is good with people and has a winning personality.
We hosted 6 willing workers (http://www.wwoof.ca/ ) from 5 different countries. Paul from South Korea and Becky and Paul from Britain helped Loren with the siding on the shop. Petra, from Austria finished painting inside the shop, Lucas from Switzerland was on firewood duty and Fred from France painted Loren’s new 1974 bulldozer. With Fred’s help I started a blog (http://ehcanadianfarm.blogspot.com/) so we could post pictures and stories about the wwoofers.
We are so grateful for all the help from our wwoofers. Hosting wwoofers, although it isn’t travelling, brings us a variety or perspectives from a younger generation. Further, getting extra work done during the week, allowed us to share many outdoor activities with wwoofers and friends. Loren especially took advantage of this. Mountain biking, hiking, and scrambling up several mountains with wwoofers.
‘Eh’ Canadian Lodge has now been booking accommodations for over a year, but didn’t really take off until this May. We accommodated a lot of very interesting people from Canada and overseas. And similar to hosting wwoofers, we were fascinated by all the experiences and ideas people shared with us. The nice thing about people staying at the lodge, is that they never seem to be in a hurry, and are always looking for something to make them smile even more.
Well if I am to fit this on one page, this is it. As usual Duke and Duchess are scheduled to pull the sleigh during the holidays. We have already been sleighing a couple of times, and with all of the snow the conditions are great. If you are passing through we’re only a couple of minutes off the Trans Canada, just follow the signs to ‘Eh’ Canadian Lodge.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND THE BEST TO YOU IN 2007.

Becky and Paul from Britian

Becky and Paul were our second Wwoofers of 2006. We however were their first Wwoofer Hosts. I hope their expectations were met. They arrived when the garden was ready for a second major weeding, and when the siding on the shop needed painting.
They were an adventurous couple. Quitting their long time jobs in Britain and selling their flat in Britain to fulfill Becky’s dream of travelling the world and allow Paul to search for the ‘meaning’. They had first landed back east for the winter, then traveled to Jasper for a holiday and then to ‘eh’ Canadian Farm Woodlot as Wwoofers.
Real troopers too, Becky who had allergies braved sun, mosquitoes and dust to participate in all activities. Paul sent us the attached photo collage in an mail later in the summer. They were definitely on an adventure and at that time had been into the US for a holiday. We look forward to summary of their trip.

2006 First Woofer

• Our very first WWoofer of 2006 was Paul from South Korea. Paul was our first WWoofer from South Korea, and as a result we learnt a lot about South Korean and Paul's customs. While Paul was here, Loren and Darren took Paul on the infamous Table Mountain grunt. They didn't summit. As you can see from the photo, they weren't prepared for the snow near the top. Paul was only wearing borrowed light hikers. Another time we all hiked to the base of the Mummery Glacier, partial headwaters of the Blaeberry River. Paul called us from the Vancouver airport, just before he was returning to Korea. I think he would have liked to stay in Canada, but at that point tradition was calling him.

Susan Lake Summer 2006

Our 3rd WWoofer this summer was Petra from Austria. While Petra stayed with us we visited Susan Lake on Blackwater Ridge. It was a beautiful day and even though you should never have three in a canoe. Loren, Petra, Roxy (our dog) and I paddled the length of the lake.

This Summers WWoofers

Paul from South Korea
Paul and Becky from Britian
Petra from Austria
Lukas from Switzerland