July 29
Time’s up for Marlena and Krzysiek. Today I brought them back from Bellevue to Calgary. They will be leaving soon and need to go on a shopng spree which is hard to do in Bellevue (lol). Before we left Bellevue we went on a little walk around Chinook Lake - check pictures here.
July 27
Monday, back to work – nothing interesting to report.
July 26
This afternoon we had another BBQ dinner. Again, lots of mouths to feed but this time Sister and Ken could not come. I BBQ-ed pork chops for a change. Accordingly to the “audience” they were as good as ribs day before.
July 25
Right from the morning worked in the garden. Being busy with all our guests I neglected our garden. Our grass was in bad need of a “hair cut”. Plus all the treas, shrubs and plants badly needed water. Ninka helped me a lot with my garden duties today.
All kids in our place, we had serious BBQ session – BBQ-ed ribs. Sister and Ken came along so with all the kids we had something like 12 people to feed. Luckily I made enough ribs for everyone.
Raphaelle left tonight. Drove her to the airport after 10 pm.
July 24
Friday, back to work after pleasant few days off. After work drove Ninka and Pszczola to Ela’s place for dinner, ended up staying myself. Matt prepared very nice steak while I BBQ-ed them. Ela prepared nice assortment of salads plus delicious coffee and ice cream to conclude the event. I took few pictures of the occasion. Later had to drive to the airport to pick up our Chinese crew coming back from their side tripto Vancouver.
July 23
This morning we had even earlier start. I got up well before 6, prepared real breakfast (fried sausage and eggs) and we set out for Beaver Mines again. This time fishing was really pitiful. Three of us fishing caught one fish each after fishing for hours while Marlena was reading “Last Mao Dancer“. We were back shortly after midday with three fish only. Meantime weather had changed, it clouded over, temperature dropped - looked like cold front was moving in which might explain poor fishing. After good more traditional meal Limin and I had to drive back to Calgary while Marlena and Krzysiek stayed in Bellevue to enjoy this beautiful place and each other. Finally they can have vacation just for themselves. I hope the weather will be good and Krzysiek is going to catch tonne of fish. I left him my fly fishing rod, he’ll try his luck in Crowsnest River.
July 22
This time we had early start. We got up before 6 am (!!!!!), had something insignificant for breakfast and off we went to Lee Lake. What a beautiful morning, what a beautiful fishing this time. We had lots of fish at the end of our lines. At least four times as many as we kept we put back in the water. Twice local Bald Eagle provided us with unforgettable experience when we watched him diving for fish which undoubtedly were victims of our fishing. What a sight to see this magnificent bird dive down only to slow down before hitting water surface while his talons closed firmly on wiggling fish. Wow, truly “Kodak” moment. After good morning fishing I took Marlena and Krzysiek to Waterton while Limin caught up on her studies. We had great day in Waterton – check out our pictures, start from here or click here to see some highlights of our trip. After long day enjoyable day we had whole fridge of nice and cold things to enjoy (see below) 
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July 21
Late start today. After good “Bellevue” style breakfast we went to Beaver Mines Lake. It was past 11 am by the time we had our boat in the water…lol (click here to see pictures). Fishing was not the greatest but…..we managed to catch 7 fair size trout. Two of them caught by Limin and one caught by Krzysiek were actually pretty good size indeed. Well, fishing was not the greatest but supper was. I BBQ-ed nice Alberta beef. Yummy, we had nice steaks with salad and cold beer After sumptuous dinner we went for a long walk. We walked to the old Bellevue cemetery, I love walking there. Every time I walk there I can not help but to reflect on our rather short and insignificant existence. There are tombstones of people who departed this world before my Mother was born !!! Now they are gone, she is gone and it won’t be long before we are gone – we all are just passer-byes. Here are some pictures I took during our stroll - click here.
July 20
Limin worked today while we (Marlena, Krzysiek and I) were preparing our trip to Bellevue – including new electrical installation on my trailer. Krzysiek is an avid angler and I promissed him great fishing in Bellevue but without boat I would not be able to deliver on my promis. By the time wewere ready to leave it was already after 10 p.m. – later start. We arrived in Bellevue shortly after midnight. Yes it was late but…..what a beautiful night it was )
July 19
This afternoon went to Banff with Krzysiek, Marlena, Ninka and Maja. Unfortunately did not put battery in my camera. Similarly batteries died in Marlena’s and Ninka’s cameras. I guess we were not prepared for the little afteroon outing….heheheh I took fewpictureswith my phone but now I am not sure how to extract those pictures from the phone.
July 18
Today I was on call and got called in ($$$) Later had to pickup Matt’s Mother and Agnes at Calgary airport.
After work we had little welcoming party for Marlena and Krzysiek as well as ournewly arrived students.
July 16
Today Limin’s friends 3 kids came from China to study English at University of Calgary ESL program. They will stay here almost till the end of August. It has been pretty hectic day for us since we had to head for the airport straight from work. Once we all arrived at home we had good Canadian meal – hamburgers….hehehehe. Have a peek at the pictures by clicking here.
July 15
Ungodly hour – oo:50 AM – Krzysiek arrived in Calgary. Happy couple reunited below:
July 12
Very busy till late night hour getting “stuff”organized for Marlena’s husnband – Krzysiek. Monday first thing in the morning he is going to Canadian Embassy in Warsaw to get visa. Hopefully he’ll be joining us soon.
July 11
One of the longest days in my life……hehehehe. It started at 00:30 AM when I got up to go to Calgary airport to pick up my friends coming from Warsaw, Poland. Plane came at 00:50 AM, oneof my friends – Marlena – came but her husband was not allowed on the plane due to the fact that hi did not have “biometric” passport and required visa for the old one. Here is Marlena -
After good breakfast we (Marlena, Matt and I) left for Lake Loise to pick up Marek. We stopped by Lake Minnewanka , took whole bunch of pictures there. Arrived in Lake Louise 30 minutes before we were supposed to, Marek was already waiting for us. Before heading back home I wanted to take my visitors to one of many sites around. Marek suggested Columbia Icefield so we drove there stopping for little “Kodak”moment by Crowfoot Glacier. If you want to see fewpictures from our little Rocky Mountains Tour click here. We arrived back home after 9 PM.
July 10
A while back our young friends – Maurine and Xavier (you might have read about their wedding earlier in my blog - click here) asked me for help with their floors. They needed a bit of guidance with laminated floor and advice on tiling. One day I came and showed them how to do laminated floor by staring it in one of their rooms. Few years earlier when Maurine was living with us while studying English she helped me a lot with my floors in our basement. Now she and her husband were going to do all the floors in their house. Well, few months have passed and today they invited us to see the fruits of their work – wow, they did absolutely marvelous job. One needs to see it to appreciate the quality of their labour, it is simply flawless. To crown our “floor inspection”Maurine and Xavier prepared delicious dinner, just like their floor job – dinner was marvelous )
July 8 and 9
Nice to have Matt backwith us, we enjoyed his company a lot these last few days.
July 7
Finally, today Matt came back home form a long journey. Maybe one day he’ll tell his story but for now we are happy to have him back )
Welcome back Matt.
July 5
After late start in the morning we had to hit the road since we promised Marek to drive him to Golden BC. Well to get to Golden from Bellevue is a long way - click here to view the route – and of course at the end of the day we had to end up in Calgary. After reaching Radium BC we all were pretty hungry since it was well passed lunch time but……..there was no electricity in Radium BC at that time (lol) so we kept on driving. Once reached Golden BC guess what – still no electricity. We dropped Marek off at Whispering Spruce Campground which is pretty close to his Monday destination – white water rafting “adventure” provided by Alpine Rafting Company. Too bad there was no electricity in Golden as well. We could not take Marek out so he could recharge his internal battery before we left him in golden. we will pick him up in Lake Louise, AB next Saturday.
July 4
Big day for Marek and I. Seven or eight years ago when Marek came here first time we promised ourselves to “do” Crowsnest Mountain next time he comes. Well, today after breakfast we set out to do good on that promise. Wow, it took us 7 hours to the top and back and it took pretty much all I had out of me. I guess i am getting old…..hehehehe If you want to see few pictures from our Crowsnest mountain hike click here.
July 3
Last night we arrived in Bellevue. Marek has been on his own this past week and did OK. It was nice to see him though. After breakfast we went fishing of course. first we tried Beaver Mines but still not even a single nibble – season comes late there I guess. After our fishing fiasco at Beaver Mines we went to our faithful Lee Lake and……..fishing was still poor. Too late in the season there, too much food everywhere, lots of insects etc. after supper we treated ourselves to little movie marathon.
July 2
Still at work but going to Bellevue tomorrow since I took Friday off.
July 1
CANADA DAY 
Day off for me but not for Limin. Even though I stayed home I did lots of work aroundthe house, mostly in garden. After I picked Limin up we went for delicious supper at Tea Pot, boy they have good traditional Chinese food. The place even manages to retain very Chinese character.
