The heat's on

An orchardist said this morning on CBC that they had lost about a third of their cherry crop this year because of splitting caused by too much rain. But the heat seems to be here now, and although it's cloudy today, there's nothing but sun in the forecast. 

 The world situation is much gloomier: disturbed, angry, unemployed people grasping on to extreme causes and unleashing terrible violence while the powers that be take advantage of the chaos to instil fear and tighten their control, sometimes unsuccessfully.  Brexit was a surprise to David Cameron,  but Erdogan seems to be working the failed coup to his advantage. And as the Democratic Convention begins today with the revelation of an anti Sanders campaign by the party powerful, Trump must be jubilant. The vision of him head hunting and arm wrestling with Putin makes reality tv seem tame. And what are we doing selling arms to the Saudis?

Back in the Okanagan, I've been escaping to the hills and water that surround us. 

On the Twin Lakes hike, approaching the lakes below. 

Me on the shore of one of the lakes.  I didn't  jump in this year because there was more snow than ever. It came right into the lake at points. 

My kayak on the shore of Swan Lake. 

One of the many turtles I disturbed as I paddled  

Weird Weather

July in Vernon is usually hotter and sunnier than it is this year, but I'm not complaining, yet, although lots of locals are.  The yard looks better than it usually does because the weedy lawn in front of the house is more green than beige.  And I like doing things outside when it's cool and cloudy much of the time. 

Min Hee and Jin Hee performed the miracle of turning night into day.  Their day is 12 hours, from around 2pm to 2am and they sleep most of the other 12 hours, the listless summer life of teenage girls.  I'm usually back from doing my main activity of the day in time to see them shuffling around the kitchen looking for something to eat for breakfast.  I get up for my mid night trip to the loo just in time to see the last glow of the lights in their room.  

Meanwhile back in the adult world, Jay is working 8 hours or more five days a week.  He gets quite a bit of overtime because On Side takes jobs anywhere between Kamloops and Kelowna.  May has spent the last two weeks training to work in the Vernon Casino.  This is a record length of time for her to stick with one job. She finds it challenging work and seems to be impressing the trainers because they are introducing her to different aspects of the work so that they will be able to call her more often and get her off part time and on to full time, which is her goal, as soon as possible. She's been very busy with the girls, each of whom has had problems lately, but her aim is to get work and earn money.  She's been surprised by how much more difficult that is in Canada than it was in Korea, where she made a lot working in English language daycare and tutoring in English.  

My main adventure lately has been hiking on Queest Mountain in the Shuswap last Sunday. Fortunately I didn't take my car.  I never do.  I walk to the City Hall, where the VOC meets, and take advantage of their excellent system whereby passengers pay a set rate to drivers who have high clearance vehicles.  My little Mazda 3 is a great car but it could never have cleared the water trenches in the road to Queest.  It took ages for the trucks and SUVs to bump and scrape their way up.  Drivers were cursing the hike leader who had said the road was passable.  The hike itself began as an uphill grind on an ugly all terrain road, so the negativity continued. But once we started walking up the trail, across the alpine meadow and over the snow the tone changed.  The views of Shuswap Lake and Mara Lake with the Monashees in the distance were worth it all, certainly for those of us who only paid $20.00 and didn't have the undercarriage of our cars dented and paint jobs scratched.

Glacier lilies on the meadow on Queest

Walking across a meadow

The VOC on Queest

Graduation time

It's a quiet Canada Day in Vernon.  I got up early and did some things in the yard then came inside to look at the celebrations on Parliament Hill on CBC.  The hyped up sound and spectacle of it took the wind out of my sails so I turned the tv off.  Jay was out doing something and passed Polson Park where the festivities are held here.  He pronounced them to be "lame", just face painting and stuff for young kids.  I spent a lot of the day there the first year I was in Vernon and had a good time, but I think I would share his assessment this year.  It's cloudy with a light rain falling, a good day to stay inside.  Next year I will muster more enthusiasm for the 150th.  This year the family has concentrated on adapting to life in a new place and done remarkably well,  next year we will be ready to join the public party.

Last week was devoted to graduations.  Jin Hee graduated from grade 7 and will start high school next year.  Min Hee went to her boyfriend Tobie's festivities.  The getting of her dress took three days of searching in Vernon and Kelowna and one day for alterations.  The total cost was more than I have ever paid for a single piece of clothing, but I also have never looked as stunning as she did.  Clothes don't make the person but they certainly can make them look good.  The difficulty of finding a dress was compounded by the fact that Min is really tiny and her dress had to be the same colour as Tobie's suit, navy blue.  Nobody else seemed as puzzled as I was by this odd dress code, so I didn't bother to ask any questions but it seemed to me that it would limit the possibilities for variety of colour, unless some of the boys wore suits the same colour as their girlfriends' dresses.  

I'm back to hiking and biking, neither as strenuously as when I first came to Vernon, but I now have friends to go with so I don't always have to keep up with the VOC. I picked raspberries and cherries with Miriam yesterday.  It was the end of the former, so they were a bit soft but great for jam, which I turned them into.  The cherries are the best that I have ever eaten.   

Min Hee just before the grad.

Jay, Jin Hee and May ready to leave for the graduation ceremony at Harwood School

Me on a rock on the Rose Swanson hike.  Lake Okanagan is in the distance.