Stories, Excerpts, Backroads
Finally a clear night in what has been a mild, overcast winter. Willow and I took a quick trip behind Swansea, stopping to see Mom and Dad before returning home.
It was good to look up at the winter stars. I was surprised to see how far they have drifted west since the last time Willow and I were under them. Spring is inching forward.
There is nothing like a fine day of skating. And to enjoy it with grandchildren makes the day even more satisfying.
It has been a mild winter, excluding this past week of -30 Celsius temperatures.
The cooler temperatures have been welcomed by Lisa and I, as they have been accompanied by clear skies.
A friend with a solar panel system that keeps track of sun light recorded only 4 hours of sunshine in December. The rest of the time was overcast. That is not unusual here in the winter.
To see the sunshine and stars, that have moved considerably since the last time seen, has been a relief regardless of the chilly air.
Bright sunshine. I watched the sun come up from the river bottom at 9:28, and watched the sun go down at 3:39 from the woodpile. Very fine day when you get to stop and watch both.
A Very Merry Christmas to everyone.
It was good to put the skates on, doubley great to be joined by Cooper and Kelsie even if they didn’t have their skates. Kelsie still thinks it is unsafe. Considering there is still open water not far from shore she is probably right. Still I insist that Lake Windermere has to be skated in November.
It seems, every year, the skates are further down to lace up and don’t seem to go as fast as the year before, regardless the ice still feels good.
Rob Dunn, who published The Valley Peak passed away last week. He had been battling serious health issues for several years. It still came as a shock to many of his friends and acquaintances. It seemed he had been on the doorstep quite a few times and always battled back. This time, unfortunately, it was not to be.
Rob’s paper, The Valley Peak resembled a coffee newspaper that you often find in cafes. Like a coffee news The Valley Peak contained jokes and ads, however, The Peak was much more. It was usually 8 pages printed on coloured bond paper, published weekly and widely distributed up and down the valley. But what really differentiated it from any other publication was that it contained a lot of Rob.
He promoted many worthwhile causes over the years. He set up a free food bin on one of Invermere’s streets for people in need. He espoused the benefit of gardening, fishing, cannabis use and roaming the outdoors. He often expressed his love for his hounds and the joy of being a dog owner. He and I shared a love of stargazing and that is what we often talked about, as we did when we met in the grocery store about a week before his passing.
Rob was also a self described conspiracy theorist. Since the start of Covid he dedicated part of The Peak to his thoughts on the disease, vaccinations and alternative medicine. He also tackled other subjects such as global warming, woke culture and government interference. He had plenty of followers that agreed with his stance and also many people who did not. Regardless, he always seemed to know where to draw the line as not to piss off too many people, especially advertisers that he had many of. I was always in awe of this skill. Perhaps it was because he was always good natured.
An often theme of his short column Robservations was to treat each other with respect and compassion even when we don’t feel like it or have different views. It is a good message.
It seems the Valley is losing its character and special characters. Rob certainly was a character without replacement. Lisa and I extend our condolences to his family and friends.
Happy stargazing Rob, wishing you clear skies and good fishing.
Lisa and I made a quick trip to Calgary on Friday. We didn’t have much time to look around. I was able to get to an Indigo bookstore for about 20 minutes. Always a treat for me.
This is what I have noticed about bookstores; it seems every time I go in them they have less books and more of everything else. The magazine section is all but nonexistent now as people now read on their phones or iPads where everything resembles a quick magazine read. Books, as well, are now consumed on line and read on a digital device. I am not there yet, and probably never will be, preferring instead to turn a paper page.
The extra space in the bookstore is taken up with giftware. high end crystal stemware, placemats, picture frames, plush towels, yoga mats, serving platters, art supplies, toys that only an adult would find interesting, games and health and beauty products, Including a little gadget called, The Firefighter Vibrator. It had a ‘Smile Maker’ extra 20% OFF sign beside it and promised ‘strong and focused stimulation of the clitoris’. THIS in the bookstore where they no longer carry newspapers! I guess it is for the women who wants more than to curl up with a good book.
Damn I’m getting old.
Fog, rain, snow. It’s a little bit of everything. I was hoping to get in one more hike into the mountains with the kids from work, but it doesn’t look good. Today brought soft wet snow in the high country. If the sun decides to shine and the temperature drops we still might get a chance. A few years ago I took out a young couple from Scotland in mid November. It was a brilliant clear cold day and they got to see some sites from the top of a snow blown ridge.
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Willow and I were out on Sunday driving the backroads. We managed to bring back a load of pine firewood. The roads were muck and very slippery, Lisa would have hated it. My father used to call those roads ‘gumbo’. I switched the beast into four-wheel drive and managed to keep it between the ditches.
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As I get older I wonder if I will succumb to the many conspiracy theories that are so prevalent and popular these days. I say this, because so many of my older friends have bought into the many out there.
I don’t spend much time on social media so I am not being bombarded with bullshit. Older people have more time with some of these platforms such as Facebook.
It’s possible that a good conspiracy is easier to believe than the truth. Conspiracy wraps things up nicely and also puts blame or vilifies an organization or government. God knows some are not trustworthy. However, let us not forget, they are mostly incompetent thus making them trustworthy in what they can and can’t actually pull off.
It is upsetting to see people who were once able and healthy skeptics believe nonsense. I think it is human nature to want to understand events. Unfortunately, many events, illnesses, etc are random.
I will use the moon for an example of randomness. From earth we only see one side of the moon, because it takes the same amount of time to orbit the earth as it does for it to spin on its axis. That is quite a coincidence. It also appears about the same size as the sun in the sky. It almost completely blocks the sun in a solar eclipse except for a thin outline. Yet the sun is massive and much further away. What a coincidence that just the right distance and size allows for this coupling. Are we to believe such random serendipity? The mathematical possibilities of these facts are, well, astronomical.
Or would it make more sense that the moon is projected onto the roof of the sky? And we are just living in a giant dome? And? And?
Although I am making fun here, it does bother me to see people who were once so sharp not able to see when they are being fed bullshit.
I will no doubt be there one day. One thing for sure, there is no shortage of bullshit in this world and people peddling it.
Palliser Pass 