My first time leading a Ramble was a success. No great feat but I did think about it
and prepare some information. We
walked up from the Anderson home, through a ‘draw’, over the hills and
grasslands of the ranch to a dam on Goose Lake and back over different
hills. It was all very easy, but
the day was perfect and the 58 people who had turned out were happy to be in
the sun. In preparation, I had
looked up what a draw actually is.
It’s like a small ravine or gully except that it rises on 3 sides. We entered between two high sides and
walked gradually uphill so that we rose to their height and continued on the
higher ground. Barbara Anderson,
the widow of Pike Anderson, had suggested to Miriam and me when we scouted the
ramble that we start by going up the ‘draw’. We could see what she was pointing to and did that, but I
wondered exactly what a draw was.
In looking it up, I discovered that the word ‘draw’ has hundreds of
meanings, as a verb (transitive and intransitive) and a noun. I didn’t bore the gang with anything
more than the one that applied to what we were doing. I also told them a bit about some of the birds and wild
flowers we might see and about Pike Anderson; he was a genuine cowboy and is in
the BC Cowboy Hall of Fame.
Another local activity that I attended this week was the
Powerhouse Theatre production of Georges Feydeau’s “rollicking comedy”, ‘A Flea
in her Ear’. It was a bit long and
frantically farcical for my liking, but, some of the actors were very good and
a few scenes were perfectly timed and ludicrous.
I volunteered to work twice at the Friends of the Library’s
big book sale in the Curling Club.
What a well-run, moneymaking event that is. I found a copy of The Lonely Planet, Japan from 2012,
which I bought for one dollar.
Japan is a rapidly changing country, but I think some of the information
will still be current when Jay, May, the girls and I go to Kyoto in the fall.
On Friday, I drove to Kelowna Mazda for the spring check up
and tire change. When that was
done, I went to Bert and Peggy’s for lunch. We then went together to celebrate Jules’ 91st
birthday with him and Carol at the residence where he now lives. The staff was very friendly and some of
the other residents also tried to be helpful, with more or less success. One man was removing things from the
table as fast as they were laid down.
He had to be gently steered in other directions a few times, but a woman
pulled her walker up to our table, sat on it and stayed with us the whole
time. She had a very pleasant expression
on her face and seemed to find our conversation entertaining. Everyone in the room had a piece of the
cake Carol had brought, and, aside from the woman who dropped most of it in
carefully broken off pieces onto her lap and the floor, we all enjoyed it. Even she seemed to be pleased with what
she was doing.
Bits of blue are showing through the cloud, so I might spend
the afternoon in the garden.
Jules' 91st Birthday
Rambling over the Anderson Ranch to Goose Lake
The leader and the sweep
Me with Mo on the Goose Lake Ramble
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