The West Commences: Back out west

My friends in the VOC were ready to push me back into shape when I returned to biking and hiking in Vernon. I’m not a self starter when it comes to real physical exertion, but after two VOC bike rides, one long hike and one short one, I am ready to go for a week of biking in Canmore tomorrow. I wouldn’t do these things without the gang, but I now realize that I can keep up with them, and that, in fact, they are not the intimidating grinders that I first took them for. They’re just a group of fit, mostly older, people who love being outdoors as I do. Last year, Priscilla drove to Coeur d’Alene, so this year I will drive her and Mo to Canmore. Today I’m going to drive with Priscilla and Mo to the Art Walk in Lake Country just south of here on Lake Okanagan. I went last year and found the art and crafts to be of very high quality and the atmosphere, a high school band playing jazz outdoors, perfect for a fall day, which today is, blue sky and temperature about 25c. Tonight Mo and I are going to hear a local jazz and blues man play at the jazz club. Some on the Thursday bike ride spoke disparagingly of his character and the fact that he’s not pure jazz, but Mo and I are new in town and will to give him a try. Besides, I like the blues.

I spent Labor Day like a 21^st Century serf, working on my own small plot of land. My neighbor was doing the same thing, but unlike me, he really does work for ‘the man’ most other days. Anyway, I enjoyed it. I dug and raked the ground for the path I’m making at the side of the house and chiseled the bark off the dead tree that I was going to ask someone to chop down for me but decided to leave standing and paint Tremclad red after seeing David McKenzie’s Tremclad blue fallen tree in Wakefield. I used one of the chisels that Jim and I had bought from Lee Valley in 1979 when he was just starting up the business and still selling tools from an area he had set up at his home. We bought two chisels; they were the first purchases we made in preparation for building our post and beam home on the Gatineau River. It’s still sharp and took the bark off in no time. Then I rubbed the whole tree with steel wool and swept it with a broom before brushing on the bright red, shiny paint. When I get back from Canmore, I’ll hang the bird feeder from it, along with some sunflower heads I saved from the plants this year. Another day I put down the newspapers and bought and placed the steppingstones for the path. Finally, Mo helped me again to get and distribute the bark, so that side of the house is quite presentable now.

Priscilla told me today that the place we are staying at in Canmore is the Canadian Rockies Chalets, and more specifically, our gang of women will be in the Cougar Chalet. So the mothers of Canmore better keep an eye on their sons next week. What a laugh.