Monday morning

It's 10:25a.m. new time and the highlight of the day as well as most of the work is over and done.  I talked with Jay on Skype at 6:30 Kelowna time which is now 10:30p.m. Incheon time because they Korea doesn't fall back and spring forward as we do.  I preferred calling him at 7:30.  I know that many people in  Canada are questioning the wisdom of our clockwork calisthenics and I think I will add my name to their number, not that I advocate taking Korea's lead in all aspects of our lives.  Jay's trying to learn the language now; today he told me the word for a woman of a certain age, 'ajjuma'.  He says that the Koreans are very respectful of age and that I would fit right in.  That's at least better than what he told me a couple of weeks ago which was that my hair style resembled that of many young Korean men, short and dyed red. 

As for work, I have almost finished 2 loads of laundry. It's the first time I've done laundry since I was in Victoria.  I'm beginning to think that once I've washed my clothes in a place, it's time to leave.  The other highlight of my day will be to go for a flu shot in the aft. with Bert and Peg.

I went on a different walk yesterday, along the Mission Creek Greenway from the park to Lake Okanagan.  It was longer than I thought it would be and by the end my toes were sore from bumping against the front of my hiking boots.  Pretty minor, considering how beautiful the path was; most of it was covered in fallen poplar leaves.  I think that's why my toes got sore; I kicked my way through the leaves most of the way instead of walking.  Poplar leaves smell almost as wonderful in the fall as the buds do in the spring.

The stuff's in storage

The stuff’s in storage

It’s Thursday, Nov. 4, and Qwest Haven and Pernell have finished the move.  My original belief that they would do so and well had been challenged by my dad’s serious doubts.  I had been willing to take the leap of faith required to go on line, research various moving companies, choose one based on its very good Better Business Bureau ratings and place my possessions in their hands, but to his way of thinking such blind trust in the complete unknown was tantamount to dancing naked in the dessert and expecting it to rain the next day. 

Just after 8 this morning, I scraped the frost off the car windows in the semi dark and drove to Tim Horton’s in Kelowna where I finished my Tim's gift card by ordering coffee and a breakfast bagel.  By the time I got back into the car, the sun was shining.  The drive to Vernon was really pleasant, no traffic and beautiful scenery.  Vernon was still shrouded in mist or low cloud when I pulled into the Storit Place.  Pernell arrived not long after.  His swamper, like the one in Ottawa, was a wiry, hard-drinking, incredibly strong little guy who told me at one point, in his semi-toothless lisp, that he had had his jaw broken 4 times, once by a woman.  Together they emptied the van into the storage container in under 90 min.  I shook their hands, went into the office to buy a lock, put it on the container door and drove back to Kelowna.   The sky was blue and the sun brilliant as I drove along Lake Kalamalka.  The hills on the far side were either a patchwork quilt of luminous autumn colors, where there were orchards and vineyards, or an undulating beige carpet of dry grass intermittently patterned in green pines and bright yellow leaves.

The move is almost over.  At the Storit Place this morning, I even reserved the truck and 2 movers for Sat., April 2 when I will finally get into the house.  The weather has been wonderful the last couple of days.  I’ve been walking and helping Bert to rake the leaves and pick up the hundreds of walnuts that cover the yard.  It’s 2:15 p.m., and I think I’ll go outside to celebrate the rites of autumn and one minor victory of faith, or is it blind luck, over doubt.

Pernell doing the paperwork while the swamper, Doug, goes to open the doors

The swamper getting ready for the transfer

Notes from the underground

I said goodbye to Barb and Terry in the dark some time after 7 on Thursday morning and drove to the ferry on a shiny black road in the rain.  I caught the 9 o'clock ferry and for the first time didn't take even one turn around the deck.  I rushed to get a coffee, muffin and seat at a computer terminal.  I'm becoming quite a techie.  I drove off into the grey and rain at Vancouver and continued nonstop to Kelowna.  I kept watching the temperature gage in the car which read 10 in Victoria and Vancouver,  4 or 5 over the Coquihalla, 0 with snow on the connector road down into Kelowna and back to 10 in Kelowna.  Almost all the leaves are still on the trees here and the temp. is around 8 today.  I went for a good walk up the hill at the end of Bert and Peg's street, and took some pictures.

Now, I am sitting at the computer in my basement suite at Bert and Peg's.  If I put on my glasses and look up and out the kitchen door, I see bright blue sky, a few leaves falling, and in the distance, a rock face fringed with dark green conifers.  I've enjoyed finally organizing some of my stuff, including some very useful kitchen equipment that Bert saved when he sold the Boler.  I've spent the last 2 days doing this, and visiting with Bert and Peg who are helping me find out how to make my way around Kelowna.  At the farmer's market yesterday I bought a carving done in cottonwood bark by a local man.  It looks like an old wood imp and is supposed to "ward off undesirable spirits, bring good luck and help to keep households safe".  This combined with the fact that it's made from the bark of the cottonwood tree made me rush uncharacteristically quickly into my wallet to buy it.  I will put it near the door of the Vernon house when I move in in April.  April 1st in fact which is a rather inauspicious date so it's best to ward off spirits.  There are a few strange coincidences revealing themselves around the house, and as it is Hallowe'en day, I will write them down and hope in that way to lessen any evil magic they might otherwise hold.  The house was built in 1934, the same year that Cole Porter wrote the song, 'Don't fence me in", that has been haunting my head since I left Ottawa.  He wrote the song based on a cowboy's poem for a cowboy musical that was never staged, and he said much later that of all the songs he had written, it was the one he liked the least.  In that song the cowboy says he wants to ' listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees', so how could I not buy the carved spirit in the hope that it brings good luck to the house and that the purchase of it will complete the circle and get the irritating song out of my head.I got a call from Dan, the realtor who is renting our house, within 15 min. of arriving at Bert and Peg's.  He informed me that there had been a leak in the sewage system and some sewage was in the basement, so he needed the insurance information in order to get the cleanup and repair started.  What a downer, but that was before I bought the wood nymph, so I'm hoping that when I phone him tomorrow, all will be well.

Happy Hallowe'en to you all

Hallowe'en 2010 in Kelowna

The day of the dead 2007 in Puerto Vallarta

The cottonwood bark spirit

The new bridge in Kelowna from the top of the hill at the end of Bert and Peg's street

 A turkey at the farmers' market in Kelowna yesterday.  The look in his eye seems to indicate that he won't go to the table without a fight.

Memories of Jim

Bill had 3 discs of photos he'd taken in India and while kayaking along the north shore of Lake Superior which we put into my laptop to show to our parents.  They were very happy to see slide shows of both trips, explained by Bill and accompanied by music I chose from among the many pieces Jim had downloaded onto the laptop.  We had a good time.  This led to my working on iPhoto this morning to straighten out the photos.  While doing this, I looked again at old photos of Jim and cried and laughed.  Here are two that seem to catch a part of the spirit of the man I remember.

Jim in Victoria with Barb and Terry

Jim on the beach at Barb and Rod's in Mexico

Re Bar

Thanks for telling me about Re Bar, Miche.  I've just returned from lunch there with Barb and Terry.  The food was delicious and the beer, a Kelowna pale ale, the best I've tasted in ages.  The veggie club was so good I didn't even miss the bacon and the Yukon gold and yam fries with chipotle dip beyond my wildest hopes, and I did have high hopes when I ordered them because I love yam fries and all good fries.  So much for the left coast foodie section of this blog.  Back to the pictures.

dad's spider which pulled up it's web and left two days ago

dad, mom and me on our way to lunch at the Oak Bay Marina.  I look as if I've been having a few too many lunches out.

with Barbara on a walk.  At least I'm not eating all the time.

Bill and I in front of an arbutus on a hike we took up Mount Finleyson near Gold Stream near Victoria.  I'm biting his apple.

Left Coast update

Greetings from the south island on the left coast.  Vancouver Island weather reports are almost always issued in 4 parts, all quite different and equally inaccurate according to locals.  Victoria is in the south island where rain and wind are in the forecast for today.  The morning didn't dawn; it just paled into grey.  I  woke up at 6:45 and decided to get up and turn on the computer to see if Jay was on line for a Skype call, so I saw the slow transition from black to a paler shade of grey.  Yesterday was supposed to be rainy, but it didn't come down much until late afternoon and there were good periods of sun.  I went to Gold Stream with Paula and Bill, and we hiked up Mount Finlayson, a rock wall that rises out of the ferns and moss covered trees just beyond Gold Stream.  Some of the firs and cedars on the lower part are enormous old creatures with thick moss-covered bark on one side, or all around if they're dead.  The path was carpeted in needles and huge maple leaves.  Near the top we almost entered the back yard of a golf club condo, a bit of a disappointment after a vigorous uphill walk in what had appeared to be the great outdoors, but beyond that we really got to the rock climb.  After rounding a couple of juts of wet rock that got me closer than I wanted to a formidable drop off, I snuggled into a corner of rock and sat in the sun while Paula went a bit farther and reached her limit and Bill went further yet and came back to join us as the dark clouds threatened imminent rain.  We walked down and reached Gold Stream in the dripping wet.  As we approached the water, we saw that people were gathered watching the beginning of the salmon run, so I finally saw that spectacle.  The fish were huge, grey and moving slowly upstream in a fairly large school until some native boys walking fully clothed in the stream with poles and fishing rods disturbed them.  Then they contorted their bodies, rose and turned making the stream a moiling mass of salmon.  A couple of the boys caught big ones after quite impressive struggles.  It was a great day.  Today I think we'll shop.

The dam's been opened

I'm practicing my new trick by sending more photos.  At the moment I'm in the Oak Bay library escaping the tense atmosphere at my parents' place as they await my brother's arrival on the ferry.  Today is the first day of real wind since I've been here and this adds to their level of concern.  Fortunately, they don't have internet access, so I was able to use the excuse of having to check something on eBay to get out for a walk in the wind and a trip to the library.  I actually am awaiting the end of the auction I entered.  The time will be up in 10 min.  Here are some pictures:

Bill, Barb and me on Mount MacKay

 a train entering the spiral tunnel in the Rockies

Joanne and her sister Barb outside Jo's condo near the Berard Bridge in Vancouver

More anon.  As my mother would say, "Is that a threat or a promise?"