Yesterday was my DH’s birthday and my SIL’s birthday. My husband and his sister were born on the same date six years apart. While growing up, my SIL told everyone that my husband was more her brother than anyone else’s (there were 4 other siblings around at that time) because my husband was born on her birthday!

We were together as a family yesterday to celebrate the reunion of the families of my FIL and his sister. Both my FIL and his sister are now deceased. It has been at least 30 years since this branch of the family has gotten together.

This is a picture of my FIL and his sister taken many years ago before they were both married.

These are the first cousins.

First cousins again arranged in order of age. Yes, my husband is really the youngest in this photo!

First cousins again………this time arranged in order of height. There was quite a bit of laughter and joking around while we were organizing these photos. Arranging the cousins in order of age and height for photos was a family tradition–“Just like we used to when we were little!” could be heard above the laughter.

These are the children of the first cousins–or at least the ones that were at the reunion. Unfortunately, not all of the kids could make it.

And finally, the grandchildren of the first cousins.

These two stole the show as far as I was concerned. These two boys are sons of my husband’s niece.

Today marks the 140th celebration of Canada Day, which commemorates the day that Canada became a nation.

Because July 1 falls on a Sunday this year, we all get tomorrow off making this a long weekend.

I am behind in meeting my monthly goals — finishing one of the BOM snowmen blue work blocks and finishing off one of the listed UFOs on my side bar each month. I hope to get back on track this month–starting with the extra time I have this weekend.

To those blog readers in Canada–enjoy your long weekend!

The flood threat seems to have passed!

On Father’s Day we took my parents for a drive down to the river to take a look first hand at the height of the river. The river had dropped substantially from when we last drove under the bridge a week and a half ago.

Perhaps life can get back to normal now–no more waiting on tender hooks to see what was going to happen.

These pictures were taken by my mother from under the bridge on Father’s Day during our drive.

Things have been relatively quiet on the quilting front in this house for the past couple of weeks. We have been in various stages of flood preparedness since early April. Many of my books, magazines, and totes of fabric have been removed from the basement and are scattered throughout the upstairs area–raising them to safety above the flood plain. I have managed to quilt a customer quilt and finish quilting one quilt of my own, but much of my free time has been spent focusing on the possibility of flooding. Many parts of British Columbia remain on various stages of high stream advisory, flood watch, or flood warning.

On Monday, the Fraser River plateaued at 6.0 metres on the Mission gauge. Although this indicates a reduced level of flood hazard, the water level is predicted to remain at close to 6.0 meters for at least the next few weeks. During this time, any period of hot weather or heavy rainfall could increase the water level beyond 6.0 metres.

The first disastrous flood in the Fraser Valley occurred in 1894. With no protection against the rising waters of the Fraser River, the Fraser Valley was inundated with water.

After the 1894 flood, a diking system was constructed throughout the Fraser Valley. The diking and drainage projects greatly improved the flood problems, but unfortunately over time, the dikes were allowed to fall into disrepair and became overgrown with brush and trees. With some dikes constructed of a wooden frame, they gave way in 1948 in several locations, marking the second disastrous flood.

In June 1894, the Fraser River flooded the Fraser Valley. The high water mark at Mission reached 8.9 meters.

1948 saw massive flooding in areas along the Fraser River. The high water mark at Mission rose to 7.2 meters.

In 1948, throughout the May 24 long weekend, the waters of the Fraser were rising steadily, but only a few thought any real danger lay ahead. Cool temperatures during March, April and early May had delayed the melting of the heavy snow pack that had accumulated over the winter season. Several days of hot weather and warm rains over the holiday weekend in late May hastened the thawing of the snow pack. Rivers and streams quickly swelled with spring runoff, reaching heights surpassed only in 1894.

Locally, we measure the level of the Fraser River downstream at the Mission bridge and we measure the flow of the water as it passes under the bridge at Hope. These two measuremets coupled with the level of snow pack remaining in the interior mountains helps to predict the likelihood of flooding near where we live.

Year Level at Mission (m) Flow at Hope (cms)
1894 8.9 n/a
1948 8.2 15,300
1972 7.4 13,000
1999 6.3 11,000
2007 Forecast 7.0-7.5 12,500

We are very dependent on the weather and river conditions in the north central area of our province. 60% of the snow pack remains in the mountains in the interior of the province. As this snow melts and finds its way down northern rivers to the Fraser River, the level of the Fraser River rises. What happens to the Fraser River in Prince George finds its way quickly to the Lower Mainland within 2 to 3 days.

We continue to watch the level of the river as it passes by our community. We remain equally focused on every word of the weather forecaster on TV as we watch for signs of significant weather changes–either prolonged periods of heat or rain. Flood forecasting has become a topic of conversation everywhere and it seems everyone is trying their hand at predicting just how high the river will rise this year and whether or not it will topple its banks and challenge the diking system that protects our community.

The following link leads to a page with video clips of the Fraser River. Scroll down to “Agassiz Rosedale Bridge” for a video clip of the river as it passes below the bridge that crosses the Fraser River between Rosedale and Agassiz. My DH and I stood in this various spot days ago and watched the mighty Fraser River both amaze and terrify us with its force and speed.

http://www.district.kent.bc.ca/dh-flood-preparations.html

Last week was a week for gifts.

I received these cute potholders from Phyllis as a thank you for quilting the following quilt for my quilt guild’s We Care Committee. The quilt was far too large for the ladies to manage to quilt easily on their domestic machines. I told them that I wouldn’t mind doing the quilting for them. I returned the quilt to Phyllis (one of the We Care Committee coordinators) on Wednesday night at our guild meting. The piecer has the quilt back to put the binding on. Once the quilt is bound and labelled it will be donated to a new hospice starting up in our community.

I love anything with snowmen on it. I collect snowmen. I love snowmen! I thought to myself, what a wonderful gift. I asked Phyllis, how she knew her gift would be so perfect and she whispered to me, “I read your blog!”. What a perfect lead into my presentation on blogging that night!

This is the quilt that will be donated to our local hospice.