Inversions

I received an email from Barb Steers yesterday telling me that Rod had died in the early   morning.  Although I knew he had declined recently, I was still struck by the news of his death.  The finality knocked the air out of me for a while.  Rod was such a good man, a genuine gentleman.  He helped Jim so much with tennis, and they had great laughs together.   As you get old, the loss of the people who lit up your life is harder to take than all the physical and mental diminishments that must be endured.   

This morning I got up at 6:30 to drive to the Kelowna airport to pick up Caroline and Albert.  They came back from Hawaii because Caroline is not feeling well.  Because it’s unclear what is wrong with her and given the cost of all things medical in the USA, they prefer to have the rest of the testing done in Canada.  I was happy to see that Caroline looks well.  Although she doesn’t feel perfect yet, she has stopped losing weight.  So the 3 of us are back rattling around the house, sleeping off and on, getting over jet lag, reorganizing and eating at odd hours.  The weather continues grey and cool.  I left early for the airport because there was talk on the radio of low cloud and mist along the lake.  I wanted to drive very carefully because I was using Al and Caroline’s car.   I seem to have been more concerned about damaging their car than injuring myself.   Tomorrow, we will find time to drive up to ‘the Star’ and catch a little sun, I hope.  Albert has to take their car into the Honda dealership to have new winter tires put on it, and they still have to repack for the drive back to Ottawa where they will experience part of the winter they had hoped to escape in Hawaii.  They will probably continue their winter in the islands in January, by which time all should be settled with Caroline.

Yesterday, I got back to swimming at the Rec. Center followed by coffee with Lusia.  As usual the sauna and steam bath were a highlight, but I missed Korea because the cold shower at the Vernon Rec. Center is not as exhilarating as the freezing waterfall and pool at the Blue Ocean jimjillbong.  I remained overheated until we walked outside into the bracing mists of October without our jackets on.  That felt good.  This season, I’m going back to studying Spanish; Korean has beaten me.  Instead of a language exchange, I’m going to help Lusia prepare for her citizenship test in the spring.

A view of the inversion below from the sunny lunch stop on Pincushion

Another inversion seen from the sunny side, this time on Tuesday's hike up Rose Swanson. 

Another shot of the inversion from Rose Swanson