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Published: September 14th 2012
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Mountain View
Clear, clean air... Technically, they're not
ourcousins, they're our fathers. Dianne, April Lea, Kathleen, and Roy are the children of our grandmother's sister. We did a lot of talking about complicated family trees while we were up there, but I'll try not to bore y'all with any but the simplest explanations of who the folks in this post are and how they are or aren't related to us. In any case, we came up to British Columbia to see these extended family members, but at first we had a hard time just finding them!
Crossing the border patrol station was fairly simple. The border crossing guard asked us questions, like how long we planned to stay, were we bringing any gifts, whether we had any firearms with us... stuff like that. The guard would occasionally repeat an earlier question, and we haven't quite decided whether that was from forgetfulness or boredom, or whether he was trying to trip us up. Since we are as squeaky clean as a pair of brand-new patent leather shoes, we made it in easily.
We'd intended to call our cousin-in-chief, Dianne, as soon as we crossed the border, but we had no service where we were. We
Garden
Delicious as well as beautiful. drove on to Kootenay Ferry in increasing darkness, and as it stayed light so late, you know we were up pretty late. We got directions from a nice old gentleman and his dog, successfully avoided hitting 9 deer in the road, and finally made it to ferry. We'd made it in time for the last boat, but we still had no service with which to place a call. Instead, after crossing the Kootenay Lake in darkness, we drove on to Nelson.
Here we looked for a pay-phone, finding one outside a gas station. We had to go inside and get some Canadian change, but were unable to get the phone to connect to our cousin. We drove around Nelson some more, and eventually found a campsite. At this point we were just ready to go to bed, but when I went into the office to check in, I ended up explaining why we were there so late, and the kindly host allowed me to use the office phone to call.
Armed with much better directions, we drove back the way we had come. Parked on the corner beside the fire hall (as it is called instead of fire
Dianne
Running a garden this big takes some serious work. station) was our cousin Dianne, waiting for us. We drove up the semi-steep, rutted dirt road to her house and pulled in for the night. After meeting immense guard dog Mica, we chatted a bit in the kitchen, cracking hazelnuts and relaying our adventures, but sleep beckoned and we didn't stay up for too much longer.
The next morning we pulled the RV around the right way and got hooked up properly while Rascal played with Mica. She's what they call a Kootenay Hound: part german shepard, part rottweiler. She's sweet to people and a holy terror to bears and deer. Despite her advancing age, she romped like a puppy with Rascal. (The next day she was kind of sore, and thereafter she apparently learned to pace herself better.) Mica gets all kind of bones as treats, and Rascal enjoyed absconding with them and burying them.
Dianne runs an organic farm and herbal company. She and her sister April are the principal property owners, but various family members live on the land or nearby, and even more came up to visit during the time we were there. Aside from the family and family friends, there were also the
Mika
This photo doesn't adequately convey the scale, the immensity of this dog, but you should have a rough idea. "WWOOFers", volunteers who travel through an exhange program (World Wide Oppurtunities on Organic Farms) to learn about sustainable farming in trade for room and board. Here's a link: http://www.wwoof.org/
When we first arrived there was only one WWOOFer, a curly-haired blonde named Anna. As Dianne's husband Larry was back in the states for shoulder surgery, Anna had taken over his usual breakfast duty: delicious, but super thick oatmeal. This is what we had for breakfast pretty much everyday, supplemented with various syrups, milk, and spices. Over the course of the day we met more folks, including Dianne's dryly sarcastic son Che, his cheerful daughter Mariah, creative Noah and Nick, sons of Dianne's other son Jules, and the third of our dad's cousins, free spirit Kathleen.
All the houses on the property were built by those living in them, and Che was working on his while we were there. Dianne's house and April's were were built of dark timber, surrounded by gardens and festooned with various odds and ends. Jules' house was likewise surrounded by gardens, but had a more modern appearance. Just a ways from the cultivated area, the cedar trees rose tall and straight, marching up the
Che
As far as I can tell from photos, Che with beard and Che without look like two entirely different people. mountainside.
Dianne's normal harvesting schedule was all thrown off, not only by a trip she'd taken earlier in the year, but by the unusually wet weather. Despite this, our first few days there were glorious, with sunshine and clear mountain views. We spent part of the first day picking dill in the garden, and part doing laundry. There being no dryer, I got to hang the laundry out on the clothesline, a novel experience. I also helped transport an herb dryer down to Kathleen's darling cabin, which she rents from a friend and does her painting in. Her garden was full of beautiful flowers, but like Dianne's garden, the growing season for the produce was all screwed up.
That evening we went with Kathleen to an event called a zikr, which means "a remembrance of God", and was basically a non-denominational dance service. There were about 15 people there, mostly women. A couple in beautiful Indian clothing led the dancing and singing.
Afterwards, we had dessert before dinner at the local bakery, down by the ferry stop. Jess had a nanaimo bar, a type of layered chocolate cookie, and I enjoyed a lovely caramel turtle. Back for
Noah & Mariah
Sunshine kids. dinner at Dianne's, salad greens from the garden with homemade dressing and a slightly spicy elk stew made for a deliciously filling dinner.
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Marla Spraker
non-member comment
Following your adventures
Hi Jessica & Julia, Reading your blogs & loving all your stories! Ran into your Dad & he said you're in Vermont now!! Can't wait to hear more about your road trip! Just started lessons at reins this week. Has been very hot even in Fallbrook!!! Keep blogging and Happy Trails!!! Love ya, your friend Marla