What's that saying? Don't count your chicks before they hatch? I did something I have never done before. I bought one thing before the other thing that I was trying to sell, sold. Yup. I'm bad....but how can something this good be bad?
The above photo is the fully loaded, leather interior Buick Rendezvous in mint condition that I am trying to sell. Anyone need a really cool vehicle that has an extra seat in the back so you can carry 7 people? There is nothing wrong with this car, I absolutely love it!
It could be your dream vehicle if you like to drive with a roof over your head. I prefer vehicles with no ceilings. Such as the one you can see through the passenger window in this photo. I really need to sell it because I had an impulsive moment with my addiction and I purchased..........
THIS!!! OH YA BABY!
Note the sporty "Quick Draw McGraw" look of this sweet baby. The Sexy Sunna is itching to take me for a ride on her chariot of fire. I had great control for two whole months as I looked at used and new V-Stroms. I was just pricing them out and dreaming of having a motorcycle that can go off road, as my V-Star is very limited to pavement.
I was patiently going to wait for my vehicle to sell when I saw this ad on kijiji. This '09 650 has many ad-ons that would be very expensive to buy separately. To top it all off, when I saw the colour....welll......anyone who knows me will understand that the path I was heading down was a slippery slope of no return. It was even worse than walking past a Purdy's Chocolates without going in to get a Sweet Georgia Brown. So, yes Andrew, you were very perceptive my friend...and yes Terry, this just may mean "no fixed address" for me. Note the luggage bags. :D
Aaahhhhh......kacited! (my grandson's word for excited) and very very HAPPY!
I took a little roll through the Kootenays last month and things are still the same there. Only better. If you go to Nakusp, this is the place for a good cup of coffee. In fact it was so good I had to stop again on my way back through a week later. They also make the best muffins, equal only to Mirage on Goldstream close by my place here in Victoria.
I had perfect weather riding through the mountains. The Kootenay Lake was, like always, idillic. The colour and clarity of the Arrow lakes draws me to them like a bent old nail to a magnet....me being the nail. :-)
Coming from Vancouver Island I am always surprised and very happy to find that the ferries that cross the Arrow lakes are still.......drum roll....FREE!!!I probably shouldn't say that too loud. There is not too much that is free now.
FLASH! WE INTERRUPT THIS POST TO BRING YOU SOME SHATTERING EARTH SHAKING NEWS!
WWWHAT in the world is THIS??!
Aaaaannd THIS????!!!!!!
And what does this have to do with anything? Oh dear! I'm sorry but I have to go now. I will let you in on my latest plans in my next post and by then you may have guessed what this is all about.
In June I did some riding in BC. The spring runoff was extreme this year. The sudden heat spell after so much cool caused the rivers to overflow their banks, almost crawling onto the road in places.
The North Thompson River spanned some of the valleys north of Barrier. I felt like I was riding beside the Amazon.
Canada Day celebrations were exciting. It was a great day in Kamloops. A variety of music, entertainment and local artists made the day interesting and fun.
My grandkids had their first taste of cotton candy. the stuff that gets you going like the energizer bunny and then drops you like a blue water balloon on the sidewalk. But hey, you have to try everything at least once.......
Whoever said that was wrong. :-)
Old buildings have always fascinated me.
They are scattered throughout Alberta like blueberries in a pancake.
"They all look the same." The person that said this to me has no imagination, nor is he my kindred spirit, as Anne 'with an E' would say.
Like a mystery novel, each building tells it's own story. If only there were words to read.
"......and when little Emma heard the clatter of the wagon wheels she ran to the window......" I would love to know who lived in this house and learn about how their lives played out on this isolated piece of land. Some day the houses we built will be over run with packrats and moss. But they won't be as pretty because of the material they are built with.
Someone must have fell a tree and hand split these shakes, and his wife brought him a lunch while he was working.
Someone forged a fancy door latch and everyone was proud of it. It was different than most.
And someone took a tiny shoot from a neighbour's lilac bush and planted it beside their house, hoping it would flourish and bring beauty to their little homestead......and it did.
They didn't know that someday two people would ride past their place on motorcycles and take pictures. They didn't know that someone would pick a lilac from the bush they planted. Didn't know that they would be thought about and wondered about.
They didn't know that the lilac would be placed in the motorcycle's cup holder and that every time the rider stopped she would take it out and sniff it until it was all used up and wilted. And that she would think about those people as she rode back to Vancouver Island, a far away place they had most likely never been before.
So, as Sharon and I were kicking back enjoying the view, the guys, as men will do, found something productive to do and had fun doing it. They removed a huge log that was getting in the way behind the cabin.
As long as you get to use your boy toys, everything turns into play.
In my life there have not been many times when I got to just watch work and not be involved in it. So the birds and I had a great time.
Another long quad ride with all our gear and food and we were at another little cabin in the woods. We saw a little rabbit on the trail coming in.
The cabin sat on the edge of a prestine little lake. We watched a cow moose with her twin calves grazing in the water. Later another moose walked out of the bush. They were too far away to photograph. I felt like Goldilocks finding the cute little cabin in the woods after a trek through the forest.
We were just about to sit down and eat our porridge when we heard a noise in the outhouse where Sharon had just come from.......... and there was BABY BEAR! coming to see who was sitting in his chair.
There were actually two baby bears. So the fairy tale had it all wrong. Mama bear was trying to get out of the outhouse when she heard us making noise. It was a bit of a struggle but she made it.
That is when Al came out with his itsy bitsy teeny weeny....uh.....oh ya, it was a gun. Not a bear gun. But it was enough to scare them all away. And we lived happily ever after, undisturbed.
"Hey People! If you have any crumbs I'm over here!"
There was a whole family of squatters at the cabin. I sure enjoyed watching these little critters dash from cover to cover with their chubby little bodies.
......and there was a boat.....and a river.....and fishing rods.......and......and.......leeches for bait!!!! .....and yes, I had to bait my own hook. Surprisingly I did not have to be hauled out on a stretcher and admitted into the psyche ward. I've never touched leeches before and I'm not going to lie to you, it was as bad as I thought it would be.
Did you see it?
Proof that leeches are good for something!
We had a fish fry feast that night after the guys did the dirty work. Perch and Jackfish, both very tasty.
Did you know there are pelicans in northern Alberta? I think we stole their fishing hole.
Where did they come from and where are they going to? I will have to research these birds because I thought they were southern dwellers.
Besides mosquito bights there are some things about Alberta that can really grow on you. There is the wide open sky that shows off every morning and evening with brilliant colours that out do any fireworks.
The quaint little farm houses surrounded by endless grain fields, corrals full of horses and fields speckled with cows and calves..
Then there are the people, the toys they have and the things they do with those toys. I had the privilege of being taken out to someone's isolated retreat on the Athabasca river and was treated like royalty....royalty that is willing to use an out house. I had to leave my Yamaha behind. The only way to get into this spot was with quads. And even that was tricky in some places.
But we finally arrived at the little cabin in the woods where we crammed so much fun into a few sunny days. I'll tell you more later.
A few days in Kamloops and I was off again. The mountains and that rope of highway that winds through them are rather addictive. The scenery around Jasper exhilarates me. I will never tire of the mountains, rivers and wildlife in this part of Bc.
Riding 15 kms off the main highway to experience Miette Hotsprings is well worth it. If you go there off season the rooms are very reasonable and the pools are not full. For some reason I am not able to post 2 of the photos I would like on this blog. Hrmpf.
In northern Alberta my new friend Emma introduced me to her pet, Alex the Dragon. One of Alex's favourite pastimes is sitting in front of the aquarium and flicking his sticky tongue out whenever a small fish swims past his face.
And I thought I had scaly skin!
I have always wanted a lizard for a pet but perhaps I will wait until I can hold still enough for him to relax on my shoulder. I imagine he would not enjoy a road trip on a motorcycle, although bugs would be plentiful. He could clean my windshield at the end of each day.
Most of Canada is strewn with rivers, lakes and streams. But unlike many other areas, BC is known for it's clean water, usually unsullied by muddy lake bottoms or weeds. Yes, I am spoiled. I will not swim in a lake if I cannot see the bottom of it. Kamloops Lake is a body of water our family likes to float on.
I've been wandering around BC and Alberta spending time with miscellaneous sane and whacky people, all of whom I enjoyed immensely. I've noticed more than ever that people are like water. Some are clear, transparent. You can see into them and it's comfortable. You don't have to wonder what is lurking in the depths waiting to grab your leg unexpectedly. Then there are people whose waters are murky and threatening to spill over the banks.. Their current picks up debris along the way and never lets go of it.
When I am with people like that I want to hang on to my paddle board for dear life and hope to make it to the still clear waters of the lake. Although once I did not, I now know that lake. The cool colour of greenish blue, that shade of peace. Still, the silt of the streams that flow into me sully my shoreline. But that is the way of life.
I want this to be my lake.
(The statements above have nothing to do with the people that are in them. If they were I would be in big shit. Oh ya. )
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