Making It Up As I Go Along #274

Just the rundown of the last few weeks today. A story to come with next Sunday's update...

MONDAY (June 11)...
— Sort of like Tuesday with work. I worked yesterday too. Okay day at work... in a bit early... Tina is back from maternity leave... go to chip wagon for supper with Janice, Shawn, Devin and Leslie.
— A late night walk is done for the first time in probably six months. I need to get back into it. About an hour and twenty minutes with the MP3 player. Saw a couple of rabbits in the neighbourhood too.

TUESDAY (June 12)...
— Okay day at work. Janice, Laura, Karen, Leslie, Sheila and I all go for supper. It’s meant for our team in wishing Karen and Laura good luck in their new jobs... but Leslie and Sheila come anyway.

WEDNESDAY (June 13)...
— Work three hours and then it’s off to the airport for mom and dad. This brings to an end my working with Laura and Karen. Laura goes to day shift for Thursday and Friday and then she’s off to another floor and another job. Karen is off Friday and then she’s gone to the other job too. And I end up not going to work Thursday, so no more Karen and me on Wednesday too. It’ll be weird not being around them. I’ve worked with them for a couple of years and been friends with Laura for much of that time.
— After getting mom and dad, get a few groceries and have supper.

THURSDAY (June 14)...
— Go to the National Archives in the morning. We’re there longer than I thought we’d be and by the time we get home, I should be at work. So we decide to do some family stuff and I call in to take the night off work. We go to the Glebe (a nice neighbourhood in Ottawa), have supper in a pub there and walk around the area. It would be a different life in this city living in an area like that.

FRIDAY (June 15)...
— New blinds for the house... I work while the folks clean my place. Nice of them to do... it’s not that I don’t appreciate it... but I’d have been happier leaving the car for them to go do something in Ottawa rather than use them for slave labour.

SATURDAY (June 16)...
— Up early and fly to BC. Two movies on the flight... Wild Hogs is... forgettable. Astronaut Farmer is good.
— White Spot burger in Vancouver airport.
— BBQ and easy going times with the full family in Castlegar.

SUNDAY (June 17)...
— Father’s Day... go for a walk with Edena, Dad and Claire... drive around a bit with mom and dad (downtown Castlegar and Robson)... supper with everyone in Trail. We have traditional Italian and it’s quite good.

MONDAY (June 18)...
— Off to Nelson with mom and dad for some shopping and lunch.
— It’s weird to look out at 9:00 PM and still see blue sky when I know that most of the people that I spend most of my time with are asleep in bed.

TUESDAY (June 19)...
— Rossland in the morning with mom and dad. Nice little ski resort town.
— Duff has a presentation in the afternoon. So we take that in for some cultural education.
— Supper at Castlegar golf course while the two girls have lessons.

WEDNESDAY (June 20)...
— Back to Trail with mom and dad. Check out the museum and sports hall of memories there... Trail is well known for sports. Two World Championship hockey teams came from Trail to play for Canada (one in the 30s and one in the 60s). And many athletes are from Trail (Ray Ferraro, Karen Lee Gartner, Jason Bay to name a few).
— Lunch along the Columbia River at a nice beach. Rest of the day is around the house and going for a walk.
— Flies are eating me this summer. It started in Ottawa and BC flies are keeping it up. I likely have over 20 bites on my arms and legs right now.

THURSDAY (June 21)...
— Some sight seeing with the parents and Duff... we get Edena from work to have lunch.
— Golf with Duff in the afternoon/evening. I do as well as I could hope for a first round of the year... and we watch an eagle grab a fish out of one of the course ponds.

FRIDAY (June 22)...
— Mom and dad’s 45th anniversary. We do some stuff around Castlegar and have Chinese take out for supper.
— I’m sick of my gut. More ice cream and pop on the vacation hasn’t helped but lots of walking is helping to keep the balance. I just need to keep the activity while ditching the junk when I get back to Ottawa.

SATURDAY (June 23)...
— Drive to Kelowna with mom, dad and Fraser. Edena, Duff and Claire will follow in the late afternoon. We see three or four deer on the way there, walk around the city a bit, and have supper at the local White Spot.

SUNDAY (June 24)...
— Some Kelowna time with the whole family... shopping and a winery.
— Edena and her family go back to Castlegar while mom, dad and I go to Salmon Arm and Revelstoke for an extra trip. It’s sort of a rainy/cloudy day but the scenery is good and times are fine. I really like Revelstoke too. It’s a small town and quite sleepy this time of year... but snow capped mountains surround us and there’s something nice about so little going on.

MONDAY (June 25)...
— Busy day, a little shopping at Revelstoke and then we’re gone in the late morning. Lots of spurts of rain come down off the mountains and we visit Nacusp, New Denver and Silverton. Take lots of pictures and it’s back to Castlegar for supper with Edena, Duff and Claire (Fraser is off on a school trip). Nacusp is another great small town and New Denver reminds us of the harm Canada did to its Japanese citizens during the second world war.

TUESDAY (June 26)...
— Castlegar day. Dad and I go for a walk... mom picks us up and we go have lunch while Edena joins us for a coffee. Supper is at the golf course again while the girls have their lessons.
— Edena’s family is all sick now and I fear getting it, and sinus issues, just before flying out on Saturday.

WEDNESDAY (June 27)...
— Walk in the morning with Duff and dad. We go along the shore of the Columbia and around the local college where Duff works.
— I buy more clothes today. Lots of money spent on clothes during this vacation.
— Evening around the house... much of it looking at the pictures of our trip so far on mom’s computer.

THURSDAY (June 28)...
— Lots of driving. Kaslo, Balfour, a ferry across to Kootenay Bay and Crawford Bay. The brooms for the Harry Potter movie are actually made here. Pretty amazing looking brooms too... who’d guess?
— Kaslo was nice and lunch there was good... the ferry ride was fine too. The only disappointment of the trip does happen today though. Heading back to Kootenay Bay for the return ferry, we see an amazing view of the Kokanee Glacier across Kootenay Lake. My last time in the BC interior, I flew over this glacier in a small plane. But our view of the glacier here is out of nowhere while we drive and there’s no good place to stop for a picture.
— A movie with the family at night. A Simple Curve was actually filmed around the New Denver area and it’s quite good too.

FRIDAY (June 29)...
— Last day of the vacation. We spend much of the day in Nelson where we have a family lunch and do some art shopping. I’m stuck on that missed shot of the Kokanee Glacier and, if there was anything nearly as majestic as that view, either in photograph or painting, I’d probably buy it. But Nelson seems unimpressed by the glacier... the artisan town has nothing to offer me in this mission.
— Edena and I head to Trail after that. Some groceries and I get a Smoke Eater (the name of the hockey team) t-shirt.

SATURDAY (June 30)...
— Fly day... we leave Castlegar in the morning... have a very quick turn around in Vancouver... and head for Toronto. See the Good German (movie) on this flight... it’s good.
— Three hours in Toronto give mom, dad and I supper. In the two weeks, mom and I are the only two of the seven to not get a cold... although dad’s not too bad today.
— Back in my place in Ottawa just after midnight. It was a good trip... I can’t say seeing the Ontario landscape below the plane was a wonderful thing. I’ll miss the mountains.