Cold

Winter drove into the Okanagan the day after I went up to see the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre.  I was outraged at first, but now I've walked and driven in it and watched the almost- full moon, solid and white behind the stiff bare branches of the walnut tree; I remember winter and I like it.  I'm glad I bought snow tires in Victoria; I need them.  And I'm going to the Mayan Riviera next week.  I can hardly believe it; I'll be there, a minor hot spot and Jay is in Korea,  where the war that never really was a war has never ended

  I awoke this morning to the sobering news that N. Korea had fired on a tiny island off the N.W. coast of S. Korea, killing at least 2 marines.  The report also mentioned that the people of nearby Incheon, where Jay is living, were frantically buying up all the noodle soups and water they could.  At least this is not a worry.  Jay eats little but the former when he is in his apartment and he's always drinking from a litre bottle of water when we talk on Skype, so I'm sure he'll at least be well stocked with the basics.  It is worrying non-the -less, and I'm trying to get all the information I can.  It seems as if where the Kim Jongs are concerned, if it's an 'ill wind that blows no good,' an 'Un' one isn't much better.  But as my parents said when they heard I was going to Mexico, " If you avoided all the danger spots in the world, you'd never leave your house."    

A hairdresser's salon in Kelowna was a dangerous enough destination for me this morning.  I arrived early as usual and idled my time reading about and looking at great new cuts.  As I always do, I chose one that looked spectacular on a glamorous 20 year old model.  I got exactly what I'd asked for; the hairdresser knew her stuff.  I just didn't hold up my end.  Now I look like what my mother would refer to as a 'peeled eel,' and my ears are freezing.  I paid, put on my head band and left.

After a long walk up good old Knox Mountain and a hot shower, my cheeks are so red you hardly notice the ears, but they still feel over exposed.  On the walk, I was reminded of my Gatineau River home by the smell of woodsmoke and the honking of geese as they flew overhead in their chevrons, where to at this time of year I couldn't imagine.  Bert told me later that they have stayed all winter in the Okanagan for years, flying daily from the lake to the orchards and back.  The nuthatches are also here, flitting from pine to pine making their little pip squeaking noises and bopping head first down the terra cotta black -cracked trunks pecking the bark with their beaks.

I was going to add some pictures but the server was rejected, whatever that means.  I'll try again tomorrow.