I didn’t get to sleep until after 2.30am and awake by 6. What is it. I should be tired from all the activity. I went for a walk by myself as Jane and Barb wanted to read and Al was pottering. I found myself on the ‘beach’ side of the jetty we visited yesterday, stumbling over totally encrusted barnacle covered rocks heading for the creek and huge boulder rocks beyond. Sitting atop the boulder and with no-one about except for 2 sea kayakers an hour or so later, I gazed out over the waters, which were at low tide, and thought about how artists, be they painters, sculptors, musicians, dancers or photographers or writers or poets, could not help but be inspired into action when in such a beautiful, peaceful environment. Canadian Geese slowly made their ... read more

The cloud free, bright sunshine day began with a walk around the neighbourhood which took us through a track covered over by forest of large Douglas Firs and Alders which made it pleasant walking and past the local Pickleball court where a number of locals were playing and socialising. We joined them after the track walk and watched a few games of doubles before moving on. Many birds, particularly the robin red-breast, various canaries and red tailed hawks were about as well as the occasional garter snake of no more than 40cm long. Not long after we hit the “Big Tree Trail”. Yes, the trees were big. Again, the forest covered us and the trail with the sun breaking through only occasionally which suited us fine as hiking in coolness in a forest always gives you ... read more

Another beautiful day in Ladner. We cycled for over 4 hours, exploring areas we had not seen before. We rode along track at the top of the man-made dyke that protected the farmlands (and wetlands) and bird sanctuary from the tidal effect of Boundary Bay. As the weather was conducive to ‘being-at-the-beach’ many of the locals of the area were out enjoying the sunshine on their beach. (See photos). Definitely not Cottesloe however one makes do with what one has. We stopped for a short while at a small café, Beach Grove, and had the best coffee in all of our travels. The blueberry lemon muffin was first class too. I wasn’t ‘allowed’ or ‘encouraged’ to sample anything else! Retracing our tread-marks we made it to the major bus stop to check the departure time for ... read more

This would have been a painful departing, however, knowing that we are returning to this beautiful environment in 3 weeks or so puts the pain on the back-burner for a while. Lori took us along the ever changing and beautiful scenic route until we joined the main highway to Ladner. One cannot get enough of the magnificence of each scene. The ultimate … we saw a bear … in the wild … sadly no photo. On reaching Lori’s home we found that Anni Lind and her husband, Brian, were waiting for us as we had organised dinner at a Japanese restaurant in Ladner. Anni was a teaching colleague from Champlain Heights in ’86 and a very close friend of Lori’s. I had had much fun with Anni whilst working and socialising with her in ’86. For ... read more

Began the day with a half hour double kayak paddle on Shuswap Lake with Jane. Very good unison even if I say so myself. From there I left with Wayne to Adams River to ride the trail that follows the river and to find the rapids we aim to raft down. Great ride and we found the fast flowing, water churning, white rapids too. The trail is completely through cedar forest which extends from the bank of the river. We spent the afternoon skiing … well, Jane had more success than me, which wasn’t very hard … while Lori and Wayne excelled; Wayne on one ski doing all sorts of tricks. I’ve got to find something that he has difficulty in doing and I excel … could be pretty difficult. The water was just so beautiful ... read more