Knowing me...knowing Euge
This blog thing has not been working out for me lately. Not that there hasn't been alot going on, rather that the only time I get a chance to post is during my 2 day stopover's in Ottawa, or sitting in an airline lounge at some airport.
I basically haven't been home for longer than 3 weeks in total since January. We left early February for Australia, spent 6 weeks there, flew back to Canada and spent a whirlwind week in BC, then back to Ottawa for 2 weeks. Off to Calgary for a week and a half, than back to the office in Ottawa, and leaving for Winnipeg 12 hours later. I was glad to be in Winnipeg with family during what turned out to be a very difficult time with the sudden passing of my grandparents within 3 days of each other. I made my way back to Ottawa after a week and a half in Winnipeg, spent 2 nights here, and left for a 10 day trip to Halifax. Halifax worked out alright as I was able to get Sophie down there on some cheap airline tickets, but the work hours were still in excess of 12-13 hours each day, making our time together limited. Returned to Ottawa, and left for Hanover, Ontario which is about 2 hours North of Toronto in the beautiful Grey/Bruce County. Again, spending at least 14 hours on site each day and then returning to Ottawa this last Friday has really left me feeling less than motivated to post photo's/news etc. on the blog. I'm leaving for Calgary early Monday morning for a big week in the hopes that I can fly out on the 12th. Than it's off to Hanover again for an indefinite period, and a major stint overseas coming up in July. Needless to say, I'm not thrilled about the prospect of spending my 30th birthday alone in a hotel in Calgary, even if I've never put much weight on birthday's in the past.
So here's a brief photo essay on the last 2 months:
Hanging out with Euge and Dana on the front lawn of their huge house in Chilliwack. They've got a sweet deal here, with lots of space to breath, and the mountain range literally lifting out of their backyard. It was good to see them doing well, and of course we always leave wondering what could be if we lived closer together.
Euge recommended this short hike on the South end of Cultus Lake that turned out to be exactly what I was needing in order to plant me back in Canada. Sophie described the forest trail as "furry", which is about right with all the abundant moss and ferns everywhere.
The joy was definitely in the "journey" to the lookout. We took our sweet time along the path, taking in all of the miniscule details, such as the paw prints on the trail, or this little stream that feeds from the mountain top.
When you take photo's in nature, it can be difficult to transfer the magnitude of the subjects in the viewfinder, especially when there is nothing to scale to. Sophie standing at the bottom of the creek gives a good perspective of the enveloping nature of the moss and the pine trees. So very different from the desert like conditions of Perth. Hard to believe we were on the same planet at times.
After the hike, we bombed back into Burnaby to hook up with Kehler. He's been working 2-3 days a week in Vancouver, and then making his way back over to Victoria for the remainder of the work week. Euge and Carmen managed to get a kid-free night, and joined us at the hotel for some hot tub laziness.
The wandering couple does a stopover in Merritt enroute to the sunny Okanagan. The Coquihalla climbed high enough in elevation that the shoulders still had 8-10 foot snow drifts on both sides.
We drove along the Okanagan connector from Merritt, and I have to say I was glad to start heading south as opposed to crossing over into Kelowna. From what I hear, Kelowna is booming big time, and is acquiring all of the traffic problems that goes with that sudden growth. Summerland on the other hand was completely chilled out. All the benefits of the orchards, the moderate climate, the vistas over the lake, and it still has that small "backwoods" community feel that used to define the Okanagan. You know...the guys selling used hubcaps on the side of the highway, and the pickups with the trucker mud flaps, with the silhoutte of the naked girl on the back. Love it.
Jer and Tannis have a massive playground in their backyard called "Giants Head" mountain. In the evening, we did a short but steep hike up to a small picnic table overlooking Naramata and the lake to the East. One thing I noticed about the southern portion of Lake Okanagan, was that the Eastern shore has a sharp cliff wall on long sections of it, and if the lake is still, it provides for an awesome reflection.
I basically haven't been home for longer than 3 weeks in total since January. We left early February for Australia, spent 6 weeks there, flew back to Canada and spent a whirlwind week in BC, then back to Ottawa for 2 weeks. Off to Calgary for a week and a half, than back to the office in Ottawa, and leaving for Winnipeg 12 hours later. I was glad to be in Winnipeg with family during what turned out to be a very difficult time with the sudden passing of my grandparents within 3 days of each other. I made my way back to Ottawa after a week and a half in Winnipeg, spent 2 nights here, and left for a 10 day trip to Halifax. Halifax worked out alright as I was able to get Sophie down there on some cheap airline tickets, but the work hours were still in excess of 12-13 hours each day, making our time together limited. Returned to Ottawa, and left for Hanover, Ontario which is about 2 hours North of Toronto in the beautiful Grey/Bruce County. Again, spending at least 14 hours on site each day and then returning to Ottawa this last Friday has really left me feeling less than motivated to post photo's/news etc. on the blog. I'm leaving for Calgary early Monday morning for a big week in the hopes that I can fly out on the 12th. Than it's off to Hanover again for an indefinite period, and a major stint overseas coming up in July. Needless to say, I'm not thrilled about the prospect of spending my 30th birthday alone in a hotel in Calgary, even if I've never put much weight on birthday's in the past.
So here's a brief photo essay on the last 2 months:
Hanging out with Euge and Dana on the front lawn of their huge house in Chilliwack. They've got a sweet deal here, with lots of space to breath, and the mountain range literally lifting out of their backyard. It was good to see them doing well, and of course we always leave wondering what could be if we lived closer together.
Euge recommended this short hike on the South end of Cultus Lake that turned out to be exactly what I was needing in order to plant me back in Canada. Sophie described the forest trail as "furry", which is about right with all the abundant moss and ferns everywhere.
The joy was definitely in the "journey" to the lookout. We took our sweet time along the path, taking in all of the miniscule details, such as the paw prints on the trail, or this little stream that feeds from the mountain top.
When you take photo's in nature, it can be difficult to transfer the magnitude of the subjects in the viewfinder, especially when there is nothing to scale to. Sophie standing at the bottom of the creek gives a good perspective of the enveloping nature of the moss and the pine trees. So very different from the desert like conditions of Perth. Hard to believe we were on the same planet at times.
After the hike, we bombed back into Burnaby to hook up with Kehler. He's been working 2-3 days a week in Vancouver, and then making his way back over to Victoria for the remainder of the work week. Euge and Carmen managed to get a kid-free night, and joined us at the hotel for some hot tub laziness.
The wandering couple does a stopover in Merritt enroute to the sunny Okanagan. The Coquihalla climbed high enough in elevation that the shoulders still had 8-10 foot snow drifts on both sides.
We drove along the Okanagan connector from Merritt, and I have to say I was glad to start heading south as opposed to crossing over into Kelowna. From what I hear, Kelowna is booming big time, and is acquiring all of the traffic problems that goes with that sudden growth. Summerland on the other hand was completely chilled out. All the benefits of the orchards, the moderate climate, the vistas over the lake, and it still has that small "backwoods" community feel that used to define the Okanagan. You know...the guys selling used hubcaps on the side of the highway, and the pickups with the trucker mud flaps, with the silhoutte of the naked girl on the back. Love it.Jer and Tannis have a massive playground in their backyard called "Giants Head" mountain. In the evening, we did a short but steep hike up to a small picnic table overlooking Naramata and the lake to the East. One thing I noticed about the southern portion of Lake Okanagan, was that the Eastern shore has a sharp cliff wall on long sections of it, and if the lake is still, it provides for an awesome reflection.
posted by Develo @ 8:54 PM
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