Bloggers Out and About in BC

Continuing with Friday , the second day of my Canadian adventures...

Lovella and I headed over to another little township, a place named Clayburn.
The tiny township was established in 1905 by a family named McClure, and it became British Columbia's first "company" town. It's claim to fame was its brickmaking (burned clay: Clayburn, get it?) and neat 20th century brick worker's cottages such as this one still line Clayburn's main street:

Lovella and I drove over, parked, and started to walk through the residential area, enjoying the flowers along the way.

One garden had a sign out front that promised a hand made soap shop was open for business at the end of the side garden path.
Notice the little bricks inserted into the concrete pathway?
Those are historical Clayburn bricks...when the property owners had to dig up all the bricks to restore the property, they were required to reuse each of the bricks! Further in this post you will see how cleaning and relaying a few thousand bricks eventually lead to a brilliant idea.

It took a while to actually go into the shop; the garden surrounding the shop was just too amazing to breeze past. Happily the soap maker came out of her shop and was delighted to share about her garden, telling us names of plants and how they grew, and what she had learned along the way. What a treasure she was!

Tell the truth: Haven't you ever dreamed of having a perfect cottage garden with a shingled studio or shop settled in neatly, where you greeted shoppers with a smile and sold charming goods or services? It might be a tea room, or quilt shop, weaving studio...you know what your secret dream has you doing.
I really wish I had recorded the sounds, as in the background the birds were trilling, the water bubbling, the breezes were causing the flowers to gently sway with a soft rustle, lofting the fragrances from the blossoms to complete the sensory delight.

(I have to credit my husband here: He actually built me a shingle sided weaving studio in the middle of my San Diego garden. I have lived the dream of having a garden studio, albeit I never actually turned it into a shop. One day I will have to post some pictures about that memorable space. Thank you B. for making that dream a reality for me at one time.)

I could have happily stayed in the garden area for a week.

Window boxes, small bench...

A patio area, and bird feeders with chickadees flitting about.

Eventually we did go side the shop. Clayburn bricks, a perfect shape for soap!
The owner had eventually made the connection and had a mold made from her property bricks to use in her soap making.

Lovella took many gorgeous shots of the shop and its garden. Maybe if we all ask nicely, she will be willing to put up more of her pictures of our visits on her blog some day. If you ever are in the area, especially in summer, the Clayburn soap shop is a must see!

I was a doofus, and when I went to pull out my credit card at the shop, I couldn't find it in my purse. Since my passport was with my credit card, we curtailed our Clayburn explorations and high tailed it home, where I found my card in my other purse. Yes, I traveled with one large carry on zippered purse, one open sack purse, and one small strap across the body purse. Too many purses for sure, but each has its purpose while seated in tight quarters on a long flight.

As it was, Lovella was needing to begin getting ready to go to a wedding that evening. She had blogged about making this dress, and I couldn't resist offering her a selection of hats to compliment her outfit. Of course she was welcomed to decline all offers....but in the end she did choose one hat to wear for the evening.

"Barbie-Lovella" tried on a cocktail hat that I had made awhile ago. (above)

Then a slightly larger more casual sinamay cocktail hat that I made in a class. (A Kate Pernia design named Inga.)

Fellow blogger Becky from Random Pondering dropped by mid-style show and gave a vintage hat a try on. Lovella was sorely tempted to wear the white lace covered straw with large black bow, black velvet edging and large flower, but in the end, she went with this hat:

A 1940's vintage hat upon which I had replaced a tattered rose with two large prarie point style ribbon leaves, a single large mother of pearl button and a vintage 1920's cloche hat pin (the pointy item behind the button.) The organdy band is original. The shallow crown is held on the hat with velvet covered wire which gently clamps to the sides of the head , somewhat like a hair band.

While Lovella and Terry finished gussying up, Becky and I got comfortable in Lovella's living room. I chose that moment to give Becky a gift.

This might seem like an odd gift, but one of the more comic part of my relationship with Becky. It has to do with one of her blog posts where she bemoaned the fact that she was so far behind on laundry that her husband and three sons were out of underwear, which was why she was unable to keep up with blogging in a timely fashion.

With visions of piles of stinky boy panties festooned about her house, I commented that most children who are capable of using a television set, DVD player or computer are also (usually) capable of using a washing machine and drier without too big of intellectual strain. My own admittedly brillinat children had mastered the art of dumping clothes, pouring detergent, twisting dials and slamming a lid shut by age 10.

Becky, it seems, does not trust her guys with this task, and is very protective of her new washing machine.

As we say in Texas: "'To each their own,' said the lady as she kissed the cow."

When I knew I was heading to BC, I did a search on ebay for items related to the area. Up popped this flyer from 1890, (it is an original!) and I bought it from a pensioner in Australia. I suspect the town in the flyer is either UK or Australian, but how funny is it that it would be the ONLY item with the town's name on it. It just seemed like the perfect thing to give to Becky.

She tells me it now has a place of honor beside her revered washing machine.

With the Mr. and Mrs. dressed and ready to go, we went into the front yard for a picture taking session. Naturally Otis assumed he would be welcomed into the picture as well.

Terry didn't agree....

Take number two.
The happy couple heading out for an evening wedding and a little dancing to boot.

Otis actually deserves his own picture anyway.

Becky then whisked me and my suitcase full of thirty hats over to her house. A quick picture from their balcony overlooking one corner of her garden.

I did not see a single pair of skivvies anywhere in the house, so apparently Becky had successfully managed once again to wash the underwear output of her four men before I arrived.
Gorgeous piano music was filling the house when I arrived; at first I thought it was a CD playing, but no, it was one of the boys. Amazingly talented!

Becky's husband Ray was manning the stove, and the aroma of Italian food had my mouth watering immediately.
How I missed taking a picture of that I can not say. You will just have to use your imagination: think of a gourmet magazine layout, and you will be close.

After dinner Becky was invited to try on all my hats. She wears all styles equally well!

Ray watched, and provided cultural and cinematic referencing for each style.

This above is a close up of the hat Lovella was tempted to wear to the wedding, before settling on the black hat.

Becky and I attempted to load my pictures into Blogger so I could access them, and I got to visit her computer/sewing room while we did that. She works as a home economics teacher between her stints at the washer, and we found lots to talk about.
(Becky, if my son played the piano like your son, I would have cheerfully done his laundry too!)

Later Lovella and Terry dropped by to pick me up, and the five of us enjoyed a glass of wine and a nice visit before returning back to my home away from home.

(A dahlia in front of Becky's house. Yes, it was, as we say around my house, "As big as my head!")