Weather

Whether you like it or not, weather is the leading topic of most Canadians' conversations. And now it's expanded to climate and become one of the main concerns of the world. This old planet has seen many changes over its billions of years, but with all the wild fires, especially in Australia and California, the flooding of some Pacific islands and in Venice, I can't help but take the well informed word of most scientists today that since the industrial revolution man has exacerbated the problem to such an extent that it is now up to us to take drastic action. We are living in the Anthropocene which we brought on by thinking we could use the planet to satisfy our extravagant desires. Our children are going to live in the whirlwind of our excesses, so we better do the very best we can now to manage it to the extent possible. 

All that to say that, climate aside, the weather is crap at the moment in Vernon, BC. As I look through the rain mottled window I still see white everywhere, but if I put on my glasses, the slush and dirt on the road are revealed. Two days ago we had a wonderful snowfall, all yesterday slush dropped down on it and I slowly shoveled the heavy mess. Now its raining. 

On the bright side, I've been skiing twice. As always the snow at Silver Star and Sovereign can be counted on. Although even there the visibility has not been great all the time. But on Monday it was perfect and I went to the Star with Lynne and Priscilla. They stayed out longer than I did, but I was happy just being there. Writing these last two words reminds me of one of my favourite movies, "Being There,".  I'd like to see it again. We went to Sovereign on Thursday and I made it to the Black Prince cabin and back. I'm glad about that because this year the young couple on my street that has invited me for Christmas Eve dinner the past two years is planning a ski lunch at the cabin instead, and I will be able to go. I've been doing physio exercises with a fervour that almost rivals Greta Thunberg's enthusiasm for the environment. My aging body, like our planet will never regain its bloom of youth, but with determined effort we both might at least have a chance of carrying on. 

The painting is by Carl C. Rungius, a wonderful painter of wildlife who spent many summers in Banff. I first saw it two years ago when I was hiking there with the VOC. I stuck my copy in the snow and added a tiny old Santa I've had for years. 

Jay, having been recently crowned King of Popcorn at his hagwon's Christmas party, attempts to extinguish a small fire in the popping machine. The photo was captured on the hagwon's CCTV. 
My much more muted exchange of Christmas sweets with Ian, the nephew of my student Norah. He and his mom, Norah's sister, are living with her and her husband this year while he goes to school in Vernon, so I offered to help him with English. 

Teenagers have always been melodramatic. 

And the drama isn't any more mellow in the early 21st century than it was in the mid 20th. For the last six weeks Jinhee has been part of my life. I've really enjoyed talking with her, having dinners together, watching her strike poses and click pictures on her phone, getting her to move around things that are too heavy for me and watching her youthful swings from attentive to distracted or from hopelessly in love to determinedly independent. Youth isn't wasted on the young; it's inflicted on them, and a good thing too. The old could never take it. Whenever my life has started to border on the boring, Jay or one of his gang has entered to shake it up a bit, give me a boost which I couldn't live without. It helps me appreciate the fact that the pace of my life is suited to a person of my age. 

The last three days with Jin were crazy. I picked her up just before noon on Monday, and we drove to the airport in high spirits, arriving 3 hours before her plane for Seattle was scheduled to take off. Three hours and twenty minutes later she was loading her luggage back in my car. The tale is too aggravating to dwell on here. Suffice it to say that even though she was just switching planes in Seattle, Alaskan Airlines couldn't let her board without either a visa for the USA or an ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization). We did our best to get the latter on line at the airport with a lot of help from a wonderful Alaskan Air employee but no luck. They even kept their baggage conveyor open an extra 20 minutes but the ESTA was still not processed. The woman who had helped us said that the approval of the ESTA application used to be very fast but in the last year it has really slowed down. So after 3hours and 20 minutes Jinhee was loading her luggage into my car again. We drove back home and finally, by 8:30 that night, had everything organized for her flight to Incheon on Wednesday. We kicked back, had something to eat and went to rest in our rooms. We had had a few laughs during the day; got to work on our patience, which neither one of us excels at naturally and both had a good night's sleep. Jin felt as if she was in a fine hotel because the room and bed she had shared with Min seemed so much bigger when she was alone in them, and the shower is powerful and even had her favourite shampoo, left by her mom when she returned to Korea. On Wednesday we had to rise at 5:45am to make her new flight. This one was with Air Canada and did not touch down in the USA. All went well. She's safely back in Korea and my feeling that it's best to avoid the US for the moment has been reinforced. 

Jin on her way to customs after our farewell breakfast at Tim's

Sunday, December 1 The first snow of the winter falls in town. I think it will stay for the winter, so I set the snowman Jin made the first winter they were here on guard. 

On Monday I have an appointment to find out the results of the MRI.  

 The organ recital of old age

I'll begin in this way since I mentioned last time that I expected a miracle from my favourite physio on November 21. As I suspected, we are not living in an age of miracles. At his office, I again put on a pair of one-size-fits-all shorts and had my knee examined. He's older, manipulated the joint with more authority and was more definitive in his diagnosis of the problem, a torn meniscus. He described it using an analogy with a washer. That made me laugh because just this week I had come to the same conclusion about the problem with my ancient espresso maker which had been sputtering for ages. I was given it by a colleague at North Dundas District High school in 1973 and had only replaced the washer once, I think. At any rate I replaced it and it works perfectly again. I don't have such high hopes for myself, the human body is more complex than those old espresso makers, but I am now faithfully doing the new set of exercises I was given. One thing that could almost be classified as a miracle; however, is the fact that I was called by the hospital on Friday and have an appointment for an MRI this Tuesday afternoon. I readily accepted but then had second thoughts because the physio had given me a confident diagnosis and told me that the latest research indicates that in cases like mine physio works better than surgery. However my own inclination to accept all good luck and Miriam's agreement have kept me on the list for Tuesday. This knee has limited activity to an ever changing variety of physio exercises in my ever-being-modified spare bedroom/ healing centre. I have jerry-rigged gear that would amaze even my dad, the master of making do. That and walking to medical appointments now makes up most of my activity. 

Life as a spectator continues. On Monday evening I walked to the Towne Cinema to meet a friend and watch the film club's presentation of a documentary, "Honeyland."  It's an amazing presentation of the life of a middle aged Macedonian beekeeper and her old mother. The countryside is awe inspiring and their stark life in tune with it until a breathlessly rowdy family of seven moves into the surrounding ruins. I've never seen anything that so clearly juxtaposes the vast and silent rhythms of nature with the noisy acquisitiveness of humanity. Yesterday I went again with Miriam to watch 'Live from the Met.' And again I really liked it. The opera was "Akhnaten" by Philip Glass. I've seen another opera of his. Phelim McDermott was in charge of both productions. He's a genius. The visual element perfectly matched the music. I loved it. The role of Akhnaten is played by the counter tenor Anthony Roth Costanzo whom I had never heard of. His voice is very high and yet seems effortless. His entire body was waxed for the role because he first appears almost naked as a young man. I really laughed at his answer to a question he was asked about the waxing during an interview at intermission. He jokingly responded that he was used to it; that's how he got his high voice in the first place. 

The physio workout room. You can see from all the horizontal and soft gear that I am not doing rigorous training.  That's what I like about physio. It's targeted without being strenuous, at least in my experience. I have included my espresso buddy in the shot. Lucky for it the dried out and cracked washer was quickly replaced by a lovely flexible new one. My old meniscus is another story. 

It's a cool , rainy Friday in the Okanagan

The snow that fell in Vernon last Sunday night had gone by Tuesday, but there is enough in the hills now for Sovereign and Silver Star to have opened for Xcountry skiing yesterday. I will not be among the first to try it out. I still can't even walk any distance. But I'm ramping up the remedies. I saw the doctor again yesterday and convinced her to get me on the list for an MRI. She convinced me to start taking an analgesic because the pain was making me move in weird ways that were causing pain in places other than my left knee. I am continuing to do the exercises the physio gave me and on November 21 will finally see the physio who helped me so much with my shoulder problems years ago. He's very popular for good reason. Of course I'm expecting that he will preform a miracle. And as is always the case, the day after I finally made some serious moves my knee feels better than it has in ages. But that's probably the analgesic talking. I haven't been drinking. 

Jin came for dinner last week and will again tonight. She has helped me with a few heavy jobs and we have a good time together, at least for a few hours. 😇😇🤣

In my sedentary period I have read and spectated more than usual.  On October 26 I went with Miriam to watch Massenet's opera "Manon" at the Vermon Cineplex. It was live from the Met. I'm not a big fan of opera, but that one was wonderful. I do love dance, and last week I saw the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet at the Vernon Performing Arts. I've seen them before. They are inspiring, especially when you have to stand for a few seconds to get your footing before you can hobble out of your seat at intermission. And last night I drove to Kelowna with Miriam and Bill to listen to Robert Fisk speak. He was brought in by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East. His presentation was entitled, "Trump and Chaos in the Middle East". After years of covering the Middle East, he has many well informed insights. His sympathy for the Palestinians is undisguised. His direct contact with the area, its leaders and people make his comments well worth taking into consideration. This morning I listened to a few minutes of the tv coverage of the public Congressional Hearings into the Trump impeachment. That was enough for me. The US has put more effort into educating a minority of its citizens in the exchange of legal semantics than it has in explaining to the majority how a democracy works and their place in it, which is understandable given that it is above all a materialistic, capitalist country and the law pays. The wealthy minority certainly has never wanted the increasingly numerous much less rich majority to understand anything about how democracy works let alone that they could control government. So what I saw this morning was an exchange of very slick semantics. As Antonio warned Bassanio (I realize that neither of these characters was without predjudice) in "The Merchant of Venice",

" The devil can cite scripture for his purpose"

I'm beginning to think that Leonard Cohen was wrong. It's not democracy, it's autocracy that's coming to the USA. 

Enough. 

Now for some pictures of real people. 

Min and her friend at her 20th Birthday dinner

Jay and May at Min's Birthday dinner


November 16 was dad's birthday, so I include my favorite picture of him with Jay and one of Jay in James Bay Park, taken when we were visiting mom and dad. 

Travel

Henry 6, Part 2

Act4, Sc4, ll. 57&58

King Edward:

What dates impose, that men must needs abide;

It boots not to resist both wind and tide. 

And so with VIA Rail,

What freights impose 

Must also be abode. 

Passengers do not roll until they pass. 

And then at last 

Move

To somewhere else. 

To someone else's home

Where things are done

In other ways

At other times. 

Strange at first,

Neither better nor worse,

In most cases. 

Best adjusted to,

To learn from

To keep the peace.

Later, to leave.

To carry on,

Altered,or not. 

Jinhee's 17th Birthday and Hallowe'en

Jin turned 17 the day before Hallowe'en. I picked her up at the gym. When we got home, she put the winter tires in the car for me. She's very strong. When she was younger, she once said, "Lola is power."  But I'm not any more. Maybe I will be again if this knee ever gets better. Actually, it is better but not great. We had a good birthday dinner together. 

Last night was 🎃Hallowe'en. I wore a mask and carved a cantaloupe; when I went to buy a pumpkin the day before, there were none to be had, not even for ready money. Fewer kids came to the door this year than last, so I had lots of candy left. I ate too much of it. The rest is now frozen until I think of who to give it to. I hope that will help me exercise what little restraint I have. 

Jinhee's birthday had an Italian theme, lasagna and

and a DQ triple chocolate ice cream pizza cake. 😋

Hallowe'en cantaloupe 

Jay's school decorated for Hallowe'en

May and her Hallowe'en class


May in her facial mask. Jay sent me this picture with the explanation, not Hallowe'en related. But I beg to differ. 🤣

Walkerton and home

 I dodged a bullet with my assigned seat on the train. My mate was a pleasant young woman but just behind and to the side of me was a bulky biker with what was left of his grey hair caught at the nape of his neck in a whispy pony tail who told the poor older woman seated beside him more stories of his adventures and operations than I've had hot dinners, as David Glover used to say. By putting in earplugs I could dim the sound enough so that I only actually heard what he was saying when I took the took the irritating things out every once in a while. Otherwise I wrote and read and the trip went quickly. Union Station in Toronto is still not finished, but it's much better than it was the last to I was there. Cathy and Brian picked me up at the Kitchener station and we drove home through the subdued fall colours of the farmland of eastern Ontario. It makes you wonder how there can be hunger anywhere on this planet when you see an area of such plenty, field after field of corn, the heavy cobs dropping around the middle of each plant, ready to be harvested. We sat around drinking wine, eating cheese and Mark's deer sausage and talking.  

On Friday we drove to the Mennonite market where more of the riches of the earth were arrayed before us, the most enormous broccoli and sweet peppers I have ever seen. Then we went to Mr Martin's farm and bee supply store to buy things for Mark. He and Emily and Evan came by to say hello shortly after we got home. Then we settled in to a delicious beef tenderloin dinner and the first night of our semi binge watching of the BBC series, "PeakyBlinders". It's gripping. 

 

Saturday was Brian's birthday, so the whole gang came over for  a birthday/Thanksgiving dinner. The weather wasn't great so the kids were inside most of the time, but they were great, no fights. I played a kind of Scrabble mostly with Alex and Evan. We made the rules very loosey goosey and had a lot of fun. Leah was very proud and happy to be able to sit for dinner at the kids' table. As Dave was carving the turkey, I stood by and picked and ate too much of the skin and tasty bits. My body rebelled by throwing much of it back up late at night. It's not the first time I've done that and likely won't be the last. 

On Sunday Cathy and I drove out to visit Dave and Dana's farm. It really is becoming a working farm, garden and hunting location. They have donkeys, a horse, goats, about 6 pigs, chickens and numerous barn cats. The second floor of the barn was cleaned up and made firm earlier this season. Dave and Zak were cleaning the main floor when we arrived. Zak wields a pitch fork like a hockey player, Bobby Orr. Dave took me and the kids for a ride in the side-by-side all through the woods: past Mark's bees, wrapped up for the winter; over to the perfect new blind he and Dave made so Brian can hunt deer in style and by all the trees they have planted, including some thriving European tamarack. Back in the house we saw Dana who's pregnant with their fourth child and watched Dave make jalapeño poppers. He grew baskets of jalapeños this year and gave Cathy a bunch which she took home to make  into poppers for us. Delicious 😋 

On Thanksgiving Monday we all, except Dana who had to work, drove to the Greenock Swamp to walk along the trails and out on the new floating boardwalk. Mark led the kids at a fast pace and the rest of us followed. My knee continues to be pretty painful. In fact I phoned from Walkerton to make an appointment with the doctor for Friday, the day after I get home. Cathy, Brian and I had dinner at Mark and Jen's. It was fun to see the kids rooms, play some amazing crashing spinners game with Evan and see Em's rock collection. She gave me a Thanksgiving card she had made. I was touched by what she had written in it. She also made good deviled eggs, almost as tasty as her mom's pumpkin pie and her dad's barbecued bear, which was tender and just nicely smokey. 

 

The holiday continued with a drive to Kincardine, a visit to the kids' Karate class and a traditional, delicious roast beef dinner. 

Cathy and Brian drove me to the Kitchener airport where I was caught again by the excessively vigilant and underworked customs staff caught me again. When they first scanned my carry on they spotted the two deer sausages Mark had given me. They thought they looked like cans, which are not permitted. When they discovered what they were, they let them go but insisted on another scan. This time they spied my hair cutting scissors, took them out, measured then, discovered they were 1/4inch too long and refused to let me take them on board. 

Mo and John picked me up at the Kelowna Airport at 11:00pm in the pouring rain. They are very good friends. When I told Jay this in a Kakaotalk message I made a mistake and wrote 'licked me up' instead of 'picked' me up. His response follows:

On Friday I saw the doctor and had an X-ray of my left knee. On Monday the doctor phoned to say that there was no arthritis. Now I'm seeing a physio who thinks it's a torn meniscus, so I'm doing specific exercises, icing it and limiting activity. I will have a series of appointments over the next two weeks and hope for the best. 

Ottawa and Wakefield

Mela picked me up at the VIA Rail station in Ottawa. Thus began my visits with good old friends and family. I stayed with her and Don for a few days. Mela and I spent time together in the  local market and coffee shop. We walked in Mud Lake and went to make final arrangements for the engraving on the stone that will be placed at the base of the tree they have chosen to be planted in Britannia Park in memory of Blake. She and Don and I had time to just sit around together at meals and renew our friendship. Caroline and Albert joined us one night for pot au feu and birthday clafoutis to celebrate Caroline's birthday. Mela, Caroline and I began the evening with our traditional tequila cheers. 

Mela at the market buying vegetables for the pot au feu she made for Caroline's birthday

The bear in his den

I then spent some 'quality' time with Caroline and Albert. Again we seemed to slip easily into conversations and activities as if we hadn't been apart for as long as we have. Caroline and I visited the Museum of Nature to see a special exhibit of butterflies. We walked through vertical, clear Venetian blinds into a warm, humid room full of plants and butterflies of all imaginable colours. It was exotic. As a complete contrast, we then visited the relatively new exhibit of Canada's north which includes artifacts and interactive explanations from ancient Inuit tomes to Martin Frobisher's first European explorations to the present day. Another day we went to the Museum of History, my favourite for its architecture and setting. We spent a lot of time in the Neanderthal exhibit and then watched the IMAX film, "Great Bear Rainforest, Land of the Spirit Bear". I had seen it in May with Terry and Barbara,  but it's so well done I happily watched it again. I also realized my two food ambitions of the trip while with them. We had dinner one night in a real shawarma restaurant and bagel breakfast at Vince's. There I met Jim's old gang who still have breakfast together almost every week. Caroline and I of course did not eat with them. 🤣We  women went to our own table. On Thursday I had fun with Caroline and Simon, her youngest grandson. He's Gabe's second boy. On Friday we drove to Wakefield for lunch at Le Hibou. Christine Stobbert who lived on our road and babysat Jay a few times came up and introduced herself to me. She is a part owner there now. It was a very pleasant surprise to see her again. 

Caroline under the moon at the Museum of Nature

A brand new butterfly at the Museum of Nature

A friend and I on the shore of the Ottawa River at the Museum of History

Gabe and his boys at home


Albert's signature poached egg on a bagel 

Then it was off to Micheline's for the gathering of the WWW. Unfortunately Rosanda and Mary Lou were not with us. In spite of that we had some good old times: walking, talking, laughing and eating. Although we don't need liquor to loosen our tongues, the fact that Lindy brought the makings for martinis probably added to the ribald atmosphere. The Wild Women of Wakefield don't have to change our name yet, but we had fun thinking of names we might use in the future such as, We Were Wild and maybe in the distant future, What Were We?

The WWW -2 at Micheline's 

I stayed for a few days with Miche. Paul was in the southern USA at a motorcycle exhibit. Miche and I did lots of things we both enjoy. The weather was cool and often sunny, and the leaves got more colourful by the day. They were at their peak by the end of me stay. We went to the Wakefield market where I saw quite a few old neighbours, walked on the paths around the village, biked along the Ottawa River, had two spa days and watched two good old movies. She drove me to the Baughan's where I spent my last two nights in Ottawa. I've had good visits with them on my last two trips. Carolyn managed to coral Megan, Geoff and Sarah again for the traditional delicious family dinner. Carolyn and Ken drove me to the station the next morning where I caught the train for Kitchener.  

The traditional Baughan dinner

Kamloops to Ottawa on VIA Rail

On this trip I have learned by going not only where I have to go but also where I should have gone and how and when. If or when I take another train trip in Canada I will do it differently. I will go east from Vancouver, NOT KAMLOOPS.  This time I carried my pack and rolled my carry-on down 32nd Street to City Hall where I caught the ebus ($25.00) to a mall in Kamloops where I caught a cab ($20.00) to the Riverland Inn and Suites where I had taken a room to wait for the train in ($110.00). There was nothing to eat there so I walked 15 minutes to the nearest place, Dairy Queen, where I bought a crispy chicken salad and Orange Julius to carry back and eat while I watched tv and waited for the train that was due to leave at 1:00am. At 11:00pm I phoned VIA. The employee who answered was as surprised as I was to discover that the train was almost on time. So I ordered a taxi for 12:15 to take me to the Kamloops North Station ($20.00). The train did finally leave the station at 2:00am. As I waited for it I watched two of the longest freights I've ever seen roll slowly and loudly by, one pulling an uncountable number of tanker units labeled, not odourized liquified petroleum. I later read of the dangers of transporting that because odourless leaks can not easily be detected. By 2:15 I was snuggling into my upper berth, jolting east.  I was asleep in minutes. The rest of the trip had it's high, low and medium moments, but I'll never take a VIA train east from Kamloops again. I'll take the bus to Vancouver and train east from there. While I was with Miche, she had this thought. The other suggestion she made was to plan the time of the next trip not only according to dates that suit me but also with the sale dates on the Via web site in mind. The prices are spectacularly lower than normal fares. I have added this site to my favourites. 

I have seen many good friends in the last couple of months. Terry Keough was in Vernon in mid September, visiting relatives. He came to my place one evening and we had a beer and chat. Then we walked up to his niece Coleen's for her usual great dinner. After dinner we talked, watched CNN and talked some more, this time about the furor in Trumplandia as impeachment looms ever nearer while simultaneously getting nowhere. This topic and CNN have gone on to become a leitmotif of my trip east: at Don and Mela's, at Caroline and Albert's and a bit at the Baughan's. The only Trumplandia free zone was  Micheline's where we watched a couple of good old videos. The word impeachment never crossed our lips. It's a testament to the US mastery of media that their problems with a narcissistic president have captured the attention of Canadians more than our own upcoming federal election. I've been reading a bit about the latter but haven't watched a single debate. 

Back to chronology and VIA Rail. On Tuesday, September 24, I woke just before 7:00. By 7:30 I was eating a delicious omelette in the dining car. After, I went to the observation car in time to see Mt Robson as we approached Valmont. We stopped in Jasper for an hour. I got out and walked around town with a Korean woman,Han, and another woman, both of whom had been seated with me for breakfast. I sat for meals with one or both of them from time to time but not always. The Maitre D' was very skilled at mixing people up. Han was sweet and very enthusiastic about her trip in Canada. It was an ambitious one. She had been traveling alone for about three weeks and would not be visiting friends until we reached Toronto. She is retired after having taught English in elementary school in Seoul for her entire career. In spite of this, she had great difficulty speaking English; although, she knew the basic grammar well. It made it clear why so many Koreans send their kids to English hagwons like the one Jay teaches at if they want them to be able to actually use the language. 

I had conversations with many interesting people from Norway, England, Wales and Waco, Texas. But there was one crashing bore. I tried to avoid him after having my first lunch in his company. He, unfortunately, was Canadian; although, he was born in England. He looked about my age, with grey hair that must have been intentionally worked into the worst case of bed head I've ever seen because it remained as it was when I first met him until we detrained in Toronto. As we sat down we all introduced ourselves using our first name. He said he was Geoffrey-James. I assumed he had a hyphenated first name and prepared to find him pompous. He did not disabuse me of this notion. I learned later from Mela that his first name is Geoffrey and his family name is James. He assumed we would all have heard of him if he said both, but we hadn't. He proceeded to fill our ears with the hyperbole and superlatives that he seemed to find necessary to impart to us even an inkling of his extraordinary life. I can't remember how I managed to get a word in (which is saying something since I am rarely lost for words) and why I mentioned Mela when I did, but his reaction was positively gleeful. She had "worked for him".  He was sure she'd be impressed that I'd met him and say, "Wow!"  Well she wasn't and didn't. She told me when I got to her house that he had hired her at the Canada Council. She had been happy to get the job so easily but not impressed by the fact that he sat with his feet on his desk while he conducted the perfunctory interview. She was impressed however once she'd worked there a while by how lazy he was. I could attest to that because although he boasted of the fact that VIA had given him the trip from Vancouver to Toronto with an option to use in a brochure some of the spectacular pictures he would take with his magnificent camera that had also been given to him by the best makers of cameras in Germany. It turns out he is a recognized Canadian photographer. He did have an impressive looking camera, but he didn't seem to go to any great lengths to get good shots. Whenever I saw him he was either sitting sideways on a bench in the games room below the dome idly snapping pictures through the window or filling someone's ear with stories about himself. His unfortunate hair and narcissism might qualify him to be a Canadian Trump. Thank goodness his name won't be on any ballot on October 21. 

The dreary VIA Rail station in Kamloops

The Sleeping Giant seen from the dome car as the train headed east out of Jasper. Coming from Thunder Bay where the real Sleeping Giant rests in the Harbour, I was slow to appreciate it,but it is impressive. The country that the train rolls through east of Jasper is well worth sitting in the dome car to appreciate even though it's not as starkly rocky as the Banff/Jasper area.  The tamaracks along the sides of the tracks were healthy and swayed gracefully in the strong wind. They were still green but the aspens and birch had already turned bright yellow. 

A grain elevator near Raymore, Saskatchewan 

The Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg. Han had really wanted to visit this museum but it was closed by the time we reached Winnipeg. But we had about an hour to walk around and fortunately it's close to the train station. 

Frozen grapes

When I mentioned to Priscilla that I was sorry that Barb and Norm would arrive after the grapes were past their prime, she told me to freeze some of them. I did but couldn't believe they would be very good. They're delicious. Barb and Norm liked them. They left last night, and I'm eating the last of the frozen grapes now. 

We had a good though not incident free visit. Things started to go awry about a month before they arrived. I developed weird sensations of taste and feel in my mouth. I finally went to the doctor who was surprised given my generally good health but determined that I must have some kind of candida virus or thrush. She prescribed, and I took for almost three weeks, a month wash medication. It helped but Mo thought I should see a dental surgeon as things were still strange. I finally got an appointment for Sept. 17. Then I started getting a bit of toothache. As I have only gone to the dentist in Puerto Vallarta since 1996, I asked Jane and Miriam who they go to. It was the same one and luckily I got an appointment with him for August 27, the day before Barb was to arrive. He found the source of my pain and calmed my worries about the things I saw and felt in my mouth. I had been doing a few Google searches about mouth disorders. That's a direct root to the worst assumptions. I now have an appointment tomorrow for what will either be merely the replacement of an old mercury amalgam filling or the beginning of a root canal. Consequently, I have cancelled the appointment with the dental surgeon. Unfortunately I have also had to drop out of the bike camp in Yakima, Washington because it begins next weekend and my tooth might not be fixed by then. I'm sorry to be missing the fun with my friends, but I had reservations about going to Trumpland anyway and certainly would not go there with unresolved tooth problems. 

So Barb's visit fit perfectly between dental appointments. I picked them up at the airport around noon on Wednesday. We had a leisurely afternoon and went for a swim before dinner at Jade Beach. It was a beautiful evening, but we stayed a bit long so the dinner was overdone by the time we got back to it. But it wasn't as dried out as I had feared. Even I who can only chew on one side managed to eat it. 

Our Thursday outing, a wine tour, was not all smooth driving. I heard a bit of clunking somewhere in the front of the car as we left Vernon heading along the scenic lakeshore route for Mission Hill Winery in West Kelowna. I tried to pretend all was fine. It got louder and finally Barb commented. Norm agreed.  I asked him to take the wheel. It was getting worse, so he turned us around and we stopped in a repair shop in Lake Country. The mechanic was busy and said we would have to wait at least an hour. BUT...the woman in the office had been listening to our descriptions of the noises. She came out, had a look and returned with a tool to tighten the front driver's side tire. It was so loose it would have rolled off if we hadn't stopped when we did. I was relieved  and gave her a big hug and a torrent of compliments. We carried on with the winery tour. The next day began with what was the last catastrophe of the holiday; the coffeemaker sprang a leak.  I got out my old French press, we had breakfast and carried on to the Star for a gondola ride and hike. On the way home we stopped at Mike V's to have the tires torqued. We carried on with visits to local sights and events. The days were hot and Barb and I revived ourselves almost every evening with a swim at Jade Beach. Today they are driving to Vancouver Island and I am getting back to normal. I will have a class with Norah after a month off. 

Barb at the Brown Derby in Armstrong where we had breakfast and watched the IPE Parade

Barb, Norm, Mo and John ar the Brown Derby

Pipers in the parade

The Waking  by Theodore Roethke 

Great Nature has another thing to do

To you and me; so take the lively air, 

And, lovely, learn by going where to go .

This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I learn by going where I have to go. 

This poem often comes into my mind. Although I don't fully understand the whole thing, parts of it seem to be closer than I will ever get to expressing me. 

Today I eventually got out of bed around nine with no idea what I would do. While eating breakfast I remembered thinking the other evening as I watered the grape vines that the white grapes looked pretty sparse but the purple ones seemed to be full. So when I finished eating I went outside to wander around the yard. I tasted the grapes. They were ripe, so l picked them all. The rest of the morning evolved around this. I now have 3 jars of grape cordial concentrate, some clean, plump bunches of purple grapes and a few spindly strings of green grapes. 

When I taught, I really enjoyed Wednesdays, my day off. I was alone and free to organize the hours as I chose. Although the options were limited to school work, house work, cooking and the near outdoors, they were mine to organize and I was perfectly happy with that. It was liberating enough for a Wednesday. I have always felt most free when labouring under the delusion that I am inventing the wheel. When cooking I rarely follow a recipe strictly. Baking is another matter. I do toe the line there, at least the first time I try a recipe. As a teacher, my subject was English in a French Lycée where every lesson in every department was structured strictly according to edicts emanating directly from Paris, except for the English department.  We were left alone to create our own curriculum. 

Now that I'm retired and living alone, weekends are what Wednesdays were.  The work and play that now make up my life I do on week days in groups that I have joined so that I keep moving and thus a bit balanced. They involve activities that usually require getting up, dressed in some kind of gear and out of the house early. So it's on the weekends that,

"I learn by going where I have to go."

Some of my grapes. It's the first real crop I've had since I planted the vines two years ago.  

Some of the Monday biking gang gathering at Polson Park

My tattoo is cursed. First, I cut myself shaving in preparation for getting it. Second, on Thursday I wrapped my leg in gauze before going biking, fortunately, because as Priscilla and I climbed around looking for a good place to have lunch by the river, I got scratched by a branch. That doesn't show in the picture Mo took today. Luckily it is on the other side of my leg along the edge of where the bandage was. Third, this morning as we biked through a quiet suburban area of Coldstream, the Kanata of Vernon, I was thrown off my bike by a fluffy, white standard poodle/? cross that bounced out from behind a cedar hedge right into me. I banged my head a bit, but as I was wearing a helmet it seems fine. The only part that shows any signs of damage is my lower left leg, right where my new tattoo is. It swelled up and is a bit bruised and scratched. The man whose dog it was felt so badly he drove me home, and I spent the afternoon reading with ice on the leg. It was a blistering hot day, so I was happy to be inside. And as I was reading, I Shall Not Hate by Izzeldin Abuelaish, a Palestinian doctor's recounting in detail of the unimaginable frustrations and deprivations of living in the prison that is Gaza, I certainly didn't feel sorry for myself. The curse must be broken after three.

Mike and Nick

This week I have been thankful for the fact that before returning to Korea Jay put me in touch with two young men, Nick M. and Mike V., that he got to know while he lived in Vernon. 

On Wednesday, after the usual sauna, swim and coffee with Lusia, I walked to Five Fathoms Tattoo at noon for my appointment with Nick. I liked the sketch he had made of my photo of the driftwood bird I had seen in Victoria, so he began the tattoo. As usual when I'm nervous or excited, I began by babbling. But he so obviously knew what he was doing that I soon calmed down and we had a good conversation while he worked. I now know why Jay liked him so much. He's a real professional and a humane person. The place where he put my tattoo is not one of the more painful parts of the body, but it did hurt, and by the time he was finished I was glad it was over. It only took about an hour, so now I have an idea how Jay must have felt after some of his 3 or more hour sessions on tender parts like inside the bend of the elbow. My tattoo is still a bit swollen, red and painful. I had to cover it with a gauze bandage yesterday on the bike ride because we were on dusty back roads. 

I covered it again today because I was working in the yard, cutting all the old yellowed iris leaves and the sprawling new branches of the mullet maple. I gathered them up and filled the back of the Mazda with them. As I backed out of my parking space on the way to the  new compost drop off at City Hall, I knew something was wrong. The car was clunking and bouncing, so l immediately pulled into the church parking lot across the street. The front tire on the passenger side was FLAT. The hub cap was on the asphalt. For the second time in 2019, I called BCAA. To think I had thought of not renewing my membership last year because I had never used it since I moved here in 2010. I waited about an hour for the tow truck to arrive, but when it did all went well. The little spare that had been lying under its mat since it was put there in the Mazda factory looked so cute when it was in its place on the car. It was like a newly hatched chick except that instead of having bits of shell stuck to its feathers it had little feathery bits of the yellow felt it had been lying on stuck to its bright, black rubber. I didn't want to drive far on such a delicate thing, so I went  right over to Mike V's Garage. He worked on Jay's Toyota Tacoma, and Jay thought I should start taking my Mazda to him since it's ten years old and should be weaned from the Mazda dealership in Kelowna. Thank goodness he did because Mike has already helped me a couple of times and today they found the problem, a staple in the tire, removed it, replaced the tire and charged me nothing.  He's another professional and considerate person. I was so exhilarated by their competence and generosity that as I drove home, I let two cars into the endless stream of traffic that is the main drag of Vernon in summer. It's especially frantic on the August long weekend when everyone rushes to the Okanagan to use the expensive summer toys they've been paying off and storing for months. 

After dumping my yard waste, I am now sitting drinking a glass of cold white wine with a fan blowing on me and feeling thankful.

My tattoo with a red scab under it that I made myself when I shaved my legs in preparation for getting the tattoo 

Colette,Shirley, Priscilla and me biking on the Rail Trail on Monday

Jay playing with his nephew

Today is Tuesday. At ten Miriam will pick me up to go biking and at 4:45 I will meet Norah at the library for our class. She's the best student I've had so far at Immigrant Services. She's smart,hard working and we enjoy talking with each other. So life carries on in much the same way as it has since Jay and his gang moved back to Incheon. 

Wednesday will be different. At 11:00am I will meet Nick Matovich at Five Fathoms Tattoo on the main street in Vernon to discuss getting a tattoo. He's the tattoo artist who did most of the tattooing that Jay has. It's very good work, and I've thought for a long time about asking him to make a small tattoo of a crow on my leg. But I couldn't find an image of a crow that I liked. Then I saw a driftwood bird set on an enormous driftwood stump on the shore in Victoria. I took a picture of it one day as I biked past and have finally decided to see if Nick thinks he can design a tattoo based on it. I'm excited to see what he'll say. More anon. 

Also tomorrow I have an appointment with the doctor to talk with her about a weird condition that has been going on in my mouth for about three weeks now, not exciting but necessary. 

Vernon is now into normal summer, almost. It's hot, near 30 every day this week, but with a bit more humidity than is usual here and the odd burst of thunder and rain. So far there aren't many forest fires. 🤞

One of the gnomes hidden along the gnome trail at the top of Silver Star

A view of the lake from the top of Silver Star

The maple across the street, the rain tree in front of my yard and the Spartan Juniper I planted four years ago