Walking up PKOLS with Petra

The cherry tree, doing its thing

My friend Petra (from the Netherlands) came to visit for a week!   Fun times!   It was raining when she arrived, but that just means that things are green.  And, the cherry tree in the back yard is in full bloom. 

    

Stopping to admire the rock face

This morning, it had been dry enough that I decided it was worth doing a walk up PKOLS.  

So... off the two of us headed.  

Well... three of us, since Petra thought Penny the dog-of-adventure could use the walk.   Yikes!  It was Penny's first time going up the hill  :-)

The ferns like a waterfall of green on the rocks

High enough to begin seeing the water below

I love the part of the walk where you finally emerge out of the forest and can begin to see the waters below.  

As we were moving up this side of the hill, there were a pair of (what I think were) falcons, floating around in the updraft currents of air that seem to swirl around the hill.  

can you see the bird behind the trees?

 I had my camera out, trying to catch a picture of them as they soared by.  

There was a fair amount of waiting... hoping one of them would just fly by into to the picture window I had open and waiting.  

Success!

The sky was a beautiful blue, but streaked through with clouds that did make me thing of cotton balls... or cotton batting.  

I do love how the colour of the sky and the colour of the water seem so closely related.  

And the ways that the Islands seem to also be inscribed of a dark inky blue.

mountains floating on clouds

 When you round the next set of corners in the walk up the mountain, you are facing towards downtown, and can see across the waters to the US side of the border.

Today, you could see a cloud bank covering the other coast, and the mountains peeking up above them, seeming almost to be floating on a horizon of cloud.   Yes, this is life when you live in a rain shadow.   

taking a rest on the rocks

 I acknowledged my gratitude for the beautiful clear day were were having, knowing that some 45 km way, folks were having a cloudy day.

We did take a rest here on the rocks, stopping to eat an orange, and enjoy the winds.  

The birds joined us again on this side of the hill, floating effortlessly on the updraft winds.

Birds floating in the wind

Stopping to get a selfie at the PKOLS sign

My lovely hair do tells you something about the wind!

Islands spread out across the waters

Arbutus Cove - April 15

Just a little photo album of the walk down to the beach this morning with Penny

The sun rise visible at the end of the block

Clouds out on the horizon

My Doctor's Prescription for the upcoming year

Well, it was time for the annual physical, so I headed off to my wonderful doctor, to take stock of where I am on my journey towards adulthood.   As always, I came away with his advice, and two prescriptions. The first prescription was for the basics (thyroid pills, etc).  The second prescription was for the more complicated work.

You can see that prescription to the right:  it is taped into the front of my daytimer.   Basically?  Balance. Everyone, says he, needs to take care of their mind, their body, and their spirit.   The challenge for me is that my mind/intellect gets so much exercise, and is so very very big and strong and heavy, that it is getting harder and harder for my aging body to carry it around!  (let alone the challenge of also carrying around my delicate and fragile ego!)  :-)  Thus, the importance of a well balanced three-legged stool (so my body can have a comfortable rest when my brain is just to heavy to walk around with?) 

OK.  He is always reminding me of my brain's duties to my body on the nutrition and physical activity front, but this is the first time that he made a slight re-adjustment, and instead of telling me to reduce stress in my life (as IF?!), he told me to focus on incorporating joy.   

OK.  Joy.  I like that word a bit better.  

So... this morning, in an effort to work on two of the stool's legs, I took Penny the dog out for an early morning walk down to Arbutus Cove (10-15 minutes walk from home).

 It was quiet apart from the birds chattering away in the trees.  

 https://youtu.be/jqveLPdu2qg

The sky was full of clouds, and the beach was empty.

I love the dance of light on the water

A seal's head kept bobbing up to take a look along the beach

Try these two links if you want to join me on the beach (videos!)

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlSotfXtEdQ (a view of the beach panning across the horizon)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p43kJ4b4Tw (a view of the beach panning up and down)

Is that a Cypress or Sequoia towering so high?

The walk back home is equally lovely. 

The street is lined with cherry trees (you can see them looking so small against the height of the larger trees around them.  

It is cherry blossom time here , and the occasional breezes were bringing the petals down like a gentle snowfall.

Penny wondering if petals are tasty

Too bad I can't capture the fragrance

The view of my own feet certainly reminded me that I prefer having to kick petals off my shoes than to kick off the snow.

So, in short, I most definitely got my daily dose of joy.  Just following the doctor's orders (or at least a FEW of those orders... I am pretending I just didn't hear what he said about cutting back on the coffee)

Trip to Quaaout Lodge, April 3-5

Team selfie (Rebecca, Brooke, Jess, Diana, David and Simon)

At the beginning of April, the ILRU team (Indigenous Law Research Unit) headed out to the Quaaout Lodge for a workshop with our partners, the SNTC (Shuswap Nation Tribal Council.

We flew into Kamloops, and it was then a road trip from there to the Quaaout Lodge, which is just past Chase, near Squilax.

I love the furs around the fireplace in the entry

For some time now, Bonnie Wyora has been suggesting to me that we take a visit there.  

I am sold.   

What a wonderful place for us to have a meeting!

So much wood, so much warmth.  

I also loved that they had pictures of pictographs all over the place. I also liked it that they had a legend for the pictographs, so you would know what they meant (a big like hieroglyphs from Egypt... and maybe actually from the same time period, but here where we live).

I assumed the room would have a wonderful view of the Little Shuswap.   

Indeed it did, but is was a gentle foggy morning when I woke up, and it looked like the water just vanished into the clouds.  

It was not clear to me that there were actually hills on the other side of the lake.

But, as the day went on, the clouds slowly started to lift.

The lake begins to mirror the world above

By later in the day, the clouds are higher, and the geese are enjoying the lawn

 Evenings are always beautiful on the lake.  It was lovely watching the sunset on the Little Shuswap rather from our place an Annis Bay.

But even better than the view of the lake?  

The conversations at the workshop.  

It was such a gift to spend time with the people at the workshop.  

We had a bit of time at the end to talk more with Minnie, Patricia and Mardi (Tully Wheel exercise in the back)

I loved the doors!

All the arrowheads made me think of histories

Last view from the Lodge

Flying back home with so much to think about