A HOME, OUR CASTLE.
In October of 2001 we moved to our new home, a 2400 sq. foot, triple wide, manufactured home.  We had looked at plans and made many changes to the original design and were delighted with the results.  The open design makes everything so roomy, the huge kitchen has a big nook for our breakfast table and the seven windows in the kitchen make it so light and we have huge open views of the visiting birds and squirrels in our yard.
The whole house is light and airy, the only doors being in bedrooms and bathrooms.  Dave installed a big wood burning fireplace which divides the “great room” into a family area and a more formal sitting area but, when we have get togethers we can have big groups in comfort.
The acre we subdivided from the campground was all peach trees, the campground was in the cherry orchard and we had kept the top acre as a buffer from spray drifting from nearby orchards.  This acre is where we had our home situated.  The peach trees were old and very neglected so, as I had the backhoe remove them I planted small shade trees in the holes the peach tree roots had vacated.  Those small trees are now enormous and so beautiful.
I had an entire acre to play with and plan my new yard.  We started off with big lawns and flower beds, in later years we removed large patches of grass and replaced with coloured gravel.  It seemed such a waste to water an acre of grass and to try to keep it green.  We still have a long patch of grass for visiting grandkids to pitch tents and enjoy but it is mainly gravel and easy to care for grasses and raised flower borders.
Landscaping the yard was pure joy and every day I thank God for giving me this lifestyle, I feel really lucky and extremely blessed.  Dave built a big garage and turned one third of it into a workshop for baking and prepping for our catering events.  We have it government inspected every year so we can keep our commercial licence.
For many years we took our products to the local Farmer’s Market and to craft  shows, where we really sold tons of stuff.  We also catered weddings, reunions and any kind of get together. However, I now feel ready to wind down from such a busy enterprise and we take on less each year.
We have been fortunate to be able to do so much travelling, some alone and much with good friends.  Dave has also been to many weird and wonderful places on his own or with various groups.  His one big love is watching a total eclipse of the sun and he will travel anywhere to see one.  I think they are wonderful but frankly, if you have seen one……..well you know what I mean.  Luckily, he is happy to go alone to the desert, to the mountains and to almost anywhere on earth and he even went with a group who chartered a plane to see one over the North Sea, in mid March.  There was so much cloud expected on the ground that the only way to see it was to fly above the clouds, so I figure the four minutes of totality cost us one thousand dollars a minute!!!!!  Another reason he went alone.
Dave also loves hiking in England and Scotland and frequently goes for six or eight weeks at a time, he meets up with his sister and they explore together, they love it and it is as wonderful way for them to spend time together.  I stay here and play in the yard, which is probably my favourite place on earth, but two weeks by a sun drenched pool, in Mexico, is my idea of February Heaven.  To leave the dark days behind for a couple of weeks refreshes my soul and gets me through winter.
We have been in Oliver for twenty eight years now and I cannot see us thinking of wanting to make changes, maybe future health issues will mean our last move but, if we stay healthy I would like to spend my final days in my garden, surrounded by the flowers I love.  There really is no place like home.
By Pat Whalley