Trumpeter Swans

Last week while at Wyndson Cottage, we took a drive north to Penticton.  We had wanted to look at TVs.  Perhaps it was more like I wanted Larry to go and look at TVs, while I looked in the thrift store.  Oh, lucky me, the Salvation Army Thrift Store just happened to be across the road from a TV place!  So I wandered around and found two pair of pretty good jeans, a plain neutral cotton bedskirt, and some of the same pillow shams that I already had.  I use pillow shams to make dog beds.  Unpick or rip out the row of stitching that runs a couple of inches in from the edge of the sham.  Buy an old quilt, also from the thrift store, usually only a dollar or three if you get it on a sale day, fold it to fit and put it in the pillow sham.  Luckily for me, it was customer appreciation day, so everything was 30% off, and the total was just over $11.  My kind of shopping.  But I digress....

 On the way to Pentiction we pass Vaseaux Lake, which is an important bird sanctuary.  There is a parking area and some trails to walk down, which we stopped at on the way back, but it was rather cold and miserable, and seemed like something that was better saved for a nicer day.  Of the eight days we were at Wyndson Cottage, this was the only day that the sun didn't shine.  Just down the road though, these Trumpeter Swans were standing on the ice.

Those are some big birds.  The males average 26 lbs with a wing span up to 10 ft.

I think that young one was getting in trouble.

I love that looking through a camera lens sometimes makes you notice things that you might otherwise not.  It wasn't until I started taking photos of the swans that I noticed their reflections in the water on the ice.

I did manage to do a bit more thrift store shopping while we were away.  A jacket, a belt for Larry, a cake pan and a citrus juicer for a total of $4.25 at the hospital thrift store in Oliver.

On the way home I convinced Larry to stop in Osoyoos, so I could check out the tiny United Church thrift store there.  Four sherry glasses and another pair of jeans there, total of $4.50.  I'm a big spender:)