Last Sunday at this time, I was just arriving home from Victoria after a long day of rising at 5:30 am at Barb and Terry’s, taking Bill to the airport, carrying on to the ferry and arriving there just a minute too late to catch the 7 o’clock, resting in the car and drinking coffee until 9 and driving home to Vernon. I was so tired I just unpacked, had a bath, ate a bowl of noodle soup and went to bed without setting the alarm. So I missed the Monday morning Skype with Jay. The house was in good shape and the cedars and new bushes that I worried might suffer in the hot sun were happily enjoying their third day of rain. Vernon has entered a rainy fall; the camel hair hills are soaked to a dull dun color. Even my parched lawn has a faint greenish tinge combined with the dark grey clay. I miss the colors of the season in the Gatineau, but I do have some bright roses left.
Since I’ve been back, I’ve put away the summer clothes and brought out the winter. I keep the mid season things out all the time, and this year I tried to make sure the stuff I’ll need for Korea in May would be easy to get at. The weather has been cool all week but that didn’t interfere with the outdoors club bike in Armstrong on Thursday. I began as usual cursing the long ‘faux plat’ and ended as I always do thinking that biking is wonderful. Many of the roads had been gravel and not too hilly, perfect conditions for my old bike and me. I felt so elated I even went to the club G.M. with Priscilla that night and made the first serious investigations into buying a new bike the next day. Good as it was on the gravel, the old one is heavy and I could use a few more gears. I went to the 2 bike stores in Vernon and have a possible purchase in each. The decision should be made by late next week. On Friday I had a fitting for my host’s uniform for the BC Winter Games in February. That’s bound to be an experience. The woman running the show seems very efficient, and I will see more of Donna, the Caring Clown, whom I met at the Filipino Fiesta. She’s usually good for a laugh. Saturday I awoke around 6:30 with a cold nose. After checking the manuals for the gas furnace and the furnace itself, I determined that the problem must be with the thermostat, which was just reading ‘LO’ and some things that were neither letters nor numbers. I could not find any papers for it so I went on line but it was hopeless. I emailed Honeywell with my question about how to open the thermostat and had breakfast. I tried calling the company that had installed the whole system, but of course they weren’t working on Thanksgiving weekend. The house wasn’t really that cold in the bright light of day after a strong cup of coffee, so I carried on with my planned bike ride with Marie and her friend. It was sunny and we went all over areas of Vernon that were new to me. When I got home I decided to try to open the thermostat and install new batteries myself, but not without reservations. Mom used to say that I was a member of the awkward squad, and Jim agreed that if there were a wrong way of doing something I would find it. So I began very carefully feeling all around the unit for something to push or press. But it was hopeless. I finally tried just pulling but without enough conviction it turns out because a woman I hiked with today drove me home, came in and yanked it apart. I replaced the batteries, the furnace hummed into action and we celebrated with a gin and tonic.
Bill on Mount Doug in Victoria
The last roses of summer in my front garden
Lake Okanagan from Pincushion Mountain
Bright green moss on Ponderosa pines and a splash of yellow poplar leaves in the distance.
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