I’ve recently had the opportunity to fly at low altitude over the peaks and high plateaus of the Chilcotin Mountains of BC. It’s one thing to know that we live on the edge of wilderness, and it’s another to see it from the air.
We live in an amazing province in a vast and vacant country… and it’s beautiful!
It took a good part of the weekend, but I got the pool set up for the summer. The water pump driven solar panels are up, but as you can see in the image the pool is not quite full yet and so I still have to test all my pluming connections for leaks… but the hard part is done.
For the past few years the ritual of getting this pool ready has marked the start of summer for me. While it will be at least 2 weeks before it gets warm enough to swim, having it up and spending more time in the back yard makes the last few weeks of school a lot more enjoyable. It certainly helps that it’s also bright out a lot later.
The funny thing is that I really don’t go in the pool much. My wife loves it and gets in regularly, while I mostly go in to vacuum it. I might sit on an inflatable seat a handful of times at the most, but I love the hot tub and would rather sit in it than the pool. For me the pool isn’t a destination, it’s a symbol, a symbol of summer.
Our gazebo has 3 garden boxes and each year I fill them with plants that are hearty and don’t need too much attention. I usually include some herbs/edibles, and this year they are basil and mint. The rest of our backyard garden are all perennials and so this small row of flowers is the only plants I put care into each year.
I often share that I’m not someone who particularly enjoys gardening. Just ask my neighbours who care for their lawns like I care for my kids. Meanwhile I don’t like like yard work and tending to my ugly lawn. But if I’m completely honest, I enjoy tending to these three little garden boxes.
I enjoy cutting basil to add to a salad or pasta sauce. I like the vibrant colours on our deck. And I like nurturing this small row of plants that don’t take too much time to care for. But if I’m completely honest, I also like that it’s pretty low maintenance. No weeding to worry about and just a quick check every couple days that the the soil isn’t too dry.
Still, these three little flower boxes bring me joy, and remind me that summer is finally here.
In January of 2021 my buddy Dave Sands and I decided to do the Coquitlam Crunch, an uphill trek along the power lines on the north side of our city. It includes a segment with 450+ steps, and at the top we take a small circular detour that makes the walk feel more like a round trip than just up then down again. We started doing this at the height of the pandemic when we really weren’t socializing at all, and this was a great place to meet that was outdoors, or we would not have gotten together.
We enjoyed it so much that we made it a weekly event. Early on it was every Friday, rain, shine, and even snow. Later, we switched to Saturday mornings, and we treat ourselves to breakfast at Starbucks afterwards. Today we did our 80th walk together since we started.
That’s 400 kilometres we’ve travelled. But it’s not about the distance, it’s the time together that really matters. We naturally and unintentionally created a routine of ‘talking shop’ (talking about work) at the start of the walk, and usually ending that part of the conversation by the time we reach the top of the stairs, barely half way up. Then the rest of the walk is filled with conversations about life, the universe, everything, and anything.
When we started, this was like therapy. We had been bottled up with pandemic restrictions and just having someone outside our tiny family bubble to talk to was such a boost to our mental health. While it still serves that purpose, it’s also so much more. I’m looking forward to keeping this tradition going, and hitting milestones like 100 Crunches and 1,000 kilometres… and beyond.
What’s a tradition that you have with family or friends that you plan to keep for a very long time?
Yesterday our school went on a field trip to a nearby lake. As part of the day we offered the opportunity for kids to go on a short canoe trip. The route we take is quite shallow and students get to paddle between tree stumps and under a small walking bridge. The whole trip lasts 45 minutes to an hour depending on how good the students are canoeing.
Before we go, we get life jackets on and do a short safety chat, followed by a few instructions. We also ask students about their background both paddling and steering a canoe, and make sure the more inexperienced paddlers are put in the front of the canoe, and the more experienced paddlers steering in the back.
I’m always amazed how some kids overestimate their abilities. They confidently get into the back of a canoe, and then the canoe starts meandering off in any direction except straight ahead. We had to switch out people a couple different times, because there would be no way for that canoe to safely stay in sight of the other canoes.
We also had one student insist that it would be too embarrassing to be moved, and took an extra 20 minutes longer than everyone else. The other teacher remained close and when we were around the last bend he and I took the rest of the canoes in, then got in the same canoe and went back out to be with this canoe.
This was fine with us because it was before lunch and so we weren’t delaying another group going out, and also the person in the front of the canoe was a friend who wasn’t seeing this as a bad situation in any way. They both had fun and when they were done even joked that they were first back because no one else was at the beach.
It seems like all of the kids really enjoy the trip. It’s fun giving them a few tips and watching them weave through the section that has tree stumps, and ducking way lower than they need to in order to get under the walking bridge. It’s also wonderful to see them appreciate being out in nature and enjoying the scenery. On top of everything we had absolutely gorgeous weather, with warm sunshine and hardly a breeze… that’s not always the case in early October. It felt like a beautiful summer day.
We haven’t done a field trip like this in almost 3 years, and the day could not have been better. Some students fished, some went on a hike, some played card games or tossed around a frisbee, and many played capture the flag to end the day. So often on field trips everyone is corralled into specific activities and the entire day is planned for them, but this trip is about connecting as a community and letting kids… be kids. Sometimes it’s good to allow students choice, and to give them the time to play, to choose their own activities, and to connect with each other organically. I’m already looking forward to doing this trip again next year.
Today my buddy Dave and I kayaked from Barnet Marine Park to Deep Cove, with a stop for a drink on the rocks of Belcarra Park on the way home.
Zooming out, you can see how close I live (blue dot) to this wonderful escape.
Zoom out a bit more and you can see that the parkland north of me is nothing but vast rainforest all the beyond Whistler, a 1 hour-45 minute drive away.
We literally live on the edge of nature. If you look at the second map shared above, my wife works at an elementary school near the top of Westwood Plateau, and once or twice a year they need to do indoor recess or lunch because of bear sightings.
Today was my 4th day this summer kayaking around here and I realize that I want to own a kayak. To be able to have such a beautiful getaway so close to home is too good not to take full advantage of on a more regular basis. I also want to go on more hikes, and reap the benefits of living on the edge of wilderness. For me, the great outdoors are at my doorstep.
Yesterday the air in Nelson was much better. The day before, thanks to nearby forest fires, Nelson and neighbouring Castlegar had the worst air quality in Canada. With better conditions we decided to take a couple hikes in Kokanee Provincial Park.
Hike 1 was along the river, among some towering old growth trees.
Hike 2 was around a beautiful lake.
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After the previous day that took our breath away with smoke, these hikes were breathtaking in more ways than one.
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This morning we climbed Pulpit Rock. It’s smokier than yesterday, but we couldn’t even see this spot from the city across the way 2 days ago. Hopefully the worst of the smoke is over.
It’s the Saturday of a long weekend. I’m sitting in our gazebo with a coffee, and my family is starting to join me, so this will be brief.
A recent Facebook memory from 6 years ago was a photo of the hot tub pad that I built with a friend, at a time when I was dealing with chronic fatigue and moving cinder blocks was an exhausting ordeal.
That means our wonderful deck has been built for 6 years. This year we added an above ground pool and it is filled and ready for the first dip (for my family, I will wait for it to be warmer after we set up the solar heater). With covid restrictions, I think we will spend a bit more time in our backyard this year, and I have to say that we’ve made it into a place I love spend time in.
And now it’s time to make a latte for my daughter, and put my phone away. 
I’ve probably written about this several times before, but I’m really not a fan of yard work. I don’t understand growing grass and making it nice and healthy, just so that it needs to be cut more often. I think weeds are prettier than a blanket of green grass. I understand watering a vegetable or herb garden, but flowers are made to be outside… if they don’t grow with the weather you have in your environment, then they are the wrong flowers to grow.
I love being outside, and I enjoy my back yard immensely. I want to spend time out in the sunshine. In fact, I’m about to assemble our above ground pool and I’m looking forward to putting a couple hours into this. So, it’s not that I don’t like doing chores outside, I just don’t like gardening, and cutting the grass, and weeding. Maybe one day, 30 years from now, if my knees and back are capable, I might fall in love with nurturing a garden. But right now, I’d rather sit in my back yard and enjoy the dandelions… if only my wife (and neighbours) agreed with me. 🙂
