Rolley Lake - yes, that is salt beef and cabbage you smell ....

Two Augusts ago, on the long weekend, we took a part family trip to Alice Lake - the part of our family that couldn't go were way up northern Manitoba, and I miss them every day. However - this August, on the Saturday of the long weekend, Neil, Steve, their others and kiddies, and we all went to Rolley Lake Provincial Park for the day.

Howard and I spent the previous night at Neil and Shannon's place in Mission, where I saw the most spectacular sunset that wasn't ocean-fuelled. It didn't last for long - by the time we had picked up some last-minute day-at-the-park stuff, the skies were black and night had set in. 

Early the next morning, we (by we, I mean everyone else) packed the van with almost everything we needed,

and the rest of what we needed was stowed in Neil's trailer. Well, almost the rest. Who has ever gone to the beach for the day and taken absolutely everything they needed?

There. All ready to go. Almost everyone was excited about a bit of canoe-dling.

And off we go through the streets of Mission. Meanwhile, back in Surrey, Steve, Nikkie and the kids were busy packing their car up for the day. It really was a bit of 'everything  but the kitchen sink' day.
Some of us were really excited about the trip.

And here is Rolley Lake, calm and quiet at 10 o'clock in the morning. We chose a picnic table that was nestled in a corner of old-growth forest, and another picnic table that was near by. After all, we had 11 people, a car load, a van load and a trailer load of Stuff.

Besides being beautiful, this lake has a story.

Table number one, with a gas barbecue all ready for a wienie roast, and some of our provisions, which ranged from a pineapple to a bucket of salt beef. Chances were nobody would go home hungry. However, it appears we had forgotten several things - such as ketchup, mustard, relish and fuel for the barbecue. After a  quick call to Steve, he was able to stop at a store and pick up these items.

The kids hit the water pretty quickly. Tanner and Clayton are two little water rats. Chris and Lizzie had fun, too, and the life jackets they were wearing made them really brave. Brave enough that Chris started paddling out to the floats - and I had to strip down to my bathing suit to waddle out to him. For some reason he wasn't listening to my shouting his name. I was really happy when he reached the rope and turned around - after all, I had almost got my bathing suit wet.

Talking about bathing suits. I hate bathing suits, and don't know why on earth I subjected myself to trying some on. The only thing that got me through that ordeal were the wise words of Tommy, the 500 year old boy vampire in the Zombie Fallout books - he couldn't understand why women were worried that certain clothes made them look fat. He said, ' Clothes don't make you look fat. Fat makes you look fat.' 

How smrt is that? Once I realized that no matter how many suits I tried on, none were going to look better (or heaven forbid, worse) I picked the one that sort of kind of looked like it would cause the least amount of trauma to the beholder.

Howard felt right at home at the chopping block, getting the veggies ready for - yes, you guessed it - a Jiggs Dinner. I figured if there were any Newfoundlanders in the park, they'd find us soon enough.

Neil, Shannon and Dominik were the first to go paddling, and after a while Howard and I went out. Let me tell you, paddling a canoe is not the easiest thing in the world, especially when you're in the front and can't notice the man behind you probably not doing anything but watch you work your heart out. 

This is the cloth for the peas pudding bag. I had forgotten to pack the bag the night before, and I called Steve to make sure he brought it. They couldn't find it, so I told Nikkie were to go and get my surplus fabric. A meter of muslin doesn't go far when you're forever losing your peas pudding bag, believe me.

I was so glad Steve brought a guitar - unlike an IPod or a boom box, his battery never runs low!

We were angled in the trees, and this cheeky little noise maker came to visit. We also saw a tiny little squirrel, who turned out to be a chipmunk. What do I know .... I never went to Wild Animal School.

By 3 o'clock, the quiet lake wasn't so quiet any more. All the picnic tables were taken, and there were lots of canopies set up on the beach. By now the sun was beating down pretty hotly, and the sand was almost too hot for my feet to bear. We spent most of the time in the shade.

And finally, dinner is served! Salt beef, potatoes, turnip, carrot, cabbage, onions, peas pudding - it was all so delicious that no one took the time to open the mustard pickles, so they are back in the cupboard til next time.

The only thing that tastes better than a Jiggs Dinner cooked in the kitchen, is one cooked outdoors. Neil brought the bottom part of his Turkey Deep Fat Friar, and that, hooked up to a propane tank, provided the stove for out huge boiler!

And his Coleman stove provided the heat for the very first Molasses Steamed Pudding I ever made - together with a Molasses Coady, it was the perfect dessert for our feast. (I had the top sliced off before I remembered to snap a pic, though.)

Many hands made the clean-up and subsequent packing-up much easier, and it was soon time to leave. I babysat all our things while the strong manly men brought everything to the road so it could be packed into the vehicles. Steve set up a chair in the shade for me, and everyone probably thought I was a bit crazy, but I did get a couple of Nature snaps while I made sure nobody stole the stuff in the trunk of his car.

And that was that. Another beautiful British Columbia Weekend day. In beautiful British Columbia.