I said last year that I didn’t want this blog to be a place where I posted really personal stuff, like health issues. I don’t have any serious issues, but part of my doctor’s plan in the last few months was to try various medications to counteract symptoms arising from heart palpitations–and all of them…
For my birthday last year, my husband’s gift to me was a raptor walk–but we could not go during the cooler months, so scheduled it for April 20, yesterday. The owners of the raptors live in the country outside Maple Ridge, and their large yard consists of super-sized bird cages; beyond their home is a…
This morning when I woke up and climbed out of bed, I opened the blinds to gaze out our sliding window to the back yard. It’s a habit I’ve had ever since this summer when I saw Mr. Bear (Mord) out there. This morning was another animal, black in color, but much smaller. It was…
Going into the week of American Thanksgiving, I’ve watched the skies turn rheumy and gray. We’re currently under a heavy rainfall warning, with up to 150 mm by Thursday. Watching the skies in the morning, on the way to work, with the peak of city buildings disappearing into the foggy atmosphere, it seems like a…
I listened to this talk the other day on the way home from work. I really like hearing author perspectives of their writing about the wild. In this talk, the two were in Toronto just a couple weeks ago. I have chatted with both at the main site (see “Selected Interviews” on the front page)…
This week we’re supposed to be breaking records, and we haven’t had any significant rainfall for weeks. It’s so odd that here, when it rains it pours, when it snowed this past winter it came down tremendously, but there are certain times of the summer that are getting hotter and dryer each year. This is…
Going back to rural America was both pleasant and obnoxious. Everyone has guns these days. There is a culture of paranoia and religion. How these two may go hand in hand I’m not sure. Yet the backdrop to it all has a pleasant rural quality, where it doesn’t take very long to walk down the…
I’m waiting on news about my ankle after two tests. In the meantime, I have been so busy at work, with term-end grades and decisions about students’ placements next year, that I haven’t taken proper lunches nor have I had any time outside except on the weekends or the occasional patio dinner to relax my…
On the trail-front, I have had to take a break yet again due to a swollen ankle that is not getting better. I hobbled around on it last week, and thought that if it was not better by the Victoria Day weekend I would make a doctor’s appointment, which I have done–for tomorrow. I think…
Our camping two weekends ago near Saltery Bay was full of sun and rain, waves and wind, endless coasting birds, hiking into wilderness, rushing waterfalls, isolation, running, and admiring the country north of Gibsons, mostly First Nations territories peppered with local foods and artisan goods. After two ferry rides, we arrived at a campsite just…
