quiet weekend

Spring in Alberta has unfortunately become synonymous with massive forest fires. There was (and still is as of writing this) a huge fire burning in Northern Alberta around High Level. High Level is almost 800 km from Edmonton but the winds carried the smoke south and it was horrible. 

The photo below was taken by our house on the worst day of the smokey air (May 30). The air quality was rated 72 on a scale of 1-10. The scale only goes to 10 because 10+ means the air quality is very poor and there is a high respiratory risk to being outside. We were on par with the air quality in Beijing. Not something to strive for.

Given the air quality, we weren't sure that we would make it out to see Charlotte on the weekend. Friday night the air was still quite smokey and Saturday morning it was questionable (a 6/10). This is a photo on our Saturday morning walk through the ravine by our house. 

We had been gathering some supplies to take out so we decided to head out and if the air was bad we would come back home. That's the beauty of having the trailer set up less than an hour from home. 

Turns out it was blue sky in Seba Beach...and no fire ban. Just an "advisory" - whatever that means. Most of the province has a fire ban.

I wonder what is under the paper!

The smoke wasn't bad at Seba but there was a lot of poplar fluff.

We had a relaxing time - we did a bit of organizing, visiting, eating by the fire and reading. 

A few new pillows for our sofa

camp food

lazy day

The drink of the week was a Licor 43 Screwdriver. The Licor 43 is a gift from a very kind friend who tried the drink in Spain. The review and recipe are here. I'm excited to try additional recipes with Licor 43.

While we did some decorating inside, Charlotte was busy on the outside. She loves her cobweb decor.

Ned and Fred prefer when I take their photo at night so you can't see that they are going white. We also have little lights in the wood pile to help them with their guard duties.  James did a bit of crazy glue surgery on Ned (or Fred's) leg.

It was another quiet day on the lake...

it might be because of all the rules. Just sayin'.