Down Then Up

As you may know, the teachers in British Columbia are embroiled in yet another battle with the provincial government.  I won't climb onto my soapbox for very long, but suffice it to say the teachers are involved in rotating strikes as we seek improvements in learning conditions for our students.  And yes, a raise would also be nice as our current salaries are less (in today's dollars) than a decade ago.

On Friday, the teachers in the Sea-to-Sky school district were out walking the picket lines in front of their schools.  We had lots of vehicles honking in support.  Families stopped by with drinks and doughnuts; home-made muffins and handwritten notes of encouragement.

Halfway through my shift, a car slowed down in front of us.  The old man inside rolled down the passenger window, leaned towards us and yelled, "YOU'RE JUST A BUNCH OF OVERPAID BITCHES!"

Our jaws dropped.

That ignorant comment was certainly a punch to the gut.

My colleagues are some of the hardest working, passionate, compassionate and caring professionals I am privileged to know.

How dare he call us down like that?  Disagree with us.  Fine.  Go right ahead.  But let's have some intelligent discourse on the subject, not yelling misogynist insults from a moving car.

THAT was the downer of my day.

But have no fear.  It went up from there!

Later that evening I joined a couple of friends at a Squamish Valley Artists fund-raiser.  We sat out on the sunny patio of Match Eatery under the watchful eye of the Stawamus Chief and enjoyed a delicious burger and beer.

I even had the winning bid on a beautiful painting of the Stawamus Chief!

Stawamus Chief by Wanda Doyle

Things were looking up!

And things continued to ascend today.

This morning Joe and I decided to take the Sea-to-Sky Gondola up to the summit lodge and hike the backcountry Sky Pilot Valley Trail.  We threw some hummus, crackers, nuts, apples, water and beer (gotta have beer) into a backpack and off we went.

Sky Pilot and Co-Pilot Mountains, our destination 

Don't look now, but I think our destination is moving further and further away from us.

After a 2 hour uphill climb, we're almost there!

Looking down Sky Pilot Valley from the headwaters of Shannon Creek

When we hit the snow line we decided it was definitely time to stop for lunch.

Happy hikers

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!  

And if you happen to run into any teachers, please give them a hug and let them know you appreciate the great job they're doing.

ROAD TRIP!

I love a road trip.  The kind where you throw a few clothes in a bag, jump in the car and go.  We were lucky enough to do just that last weekend.  Friends invited us up to their cabin on Little Shuswap Lake and we were out the door the next morning.

We decided to take the slow and scenic route through this fair province of ours to reach our destination.   It even involved a sleepover at my youngest sister's home and a visit with an old friend.  We stopped all along the way; going for walks, snapping photos, eating at old hotel restaurants in small towns.  Like I said, I love a road trip.

Green Lake and Whistler Mountain.

Mount Currie, Pemberton, B.C.

We stopped at Joffre Lakes Provincial Park to hike in to see the glacier.  We were surprised to see so much snow!  I only fell once on the icy trail.

Lower Joffre Lake and the glacier.

Duffy Lake and Mount Rohr

Seton Lake, Lillooet, B.C.

What is it about toasted white bread sandwiches eaten in roadside cafes that make them so damn delicious?

An overnight visit with some of my favourite people.

I hadn't seen this beauty in quite a while.  It is so great to connect with old friends!

And then there's this guy.  My nephew Fred.

Our weekend abode on Little Shuswap Lake.

Patio lanterns.

Friends.

Friends.

Beer tasting with hooded bottles.

First time kayaker.

Tile rummy.  I lost every game.

Good-bye Little Shuswap Lake.  Until we meet again.

And in other breaking news, many trees in my garden are blooming.

Tree peony.

Weeping Robinia tree.

Laburnum tree. 

This Is Where I Live!

The Sea-to-Sky Gondola opened last week.  I am so happy!  It is a world class destination in Squamish and I am very excited to take my friends and family up there.

Joe and I bought season's passes last November and we could hardly wait to go up the mountain to enjoy the beautiful hikes and spectacular scenery.  Last Saturday was the day.  The first of many.

We went up in the morning.  The skies were cloudy in town, but as we reached the top we were enshrouded in the clouds!  No matter.  We walked the trails and enjoyed the silence.  Even in the fog it was beautiful.

Into the fog...

Reflections of Western Red Cedar trees

The Stawamus Chief viewing platform in the fog

We decided to return later in the day if and when the sun came out.  The sun did not disappoint.

Big Daddy rides the gondola

The suspension bridge

Beautiful Howe Sound

The Stawamus Chief viewing platform in the sun

Looking down on the Stawamus Chief and up the Squamish Valley.  I can see my house from here!

Sky Pilot and Co-Pilot mountains

Half of Squamish was on the patio at the end of the day enjoying a beer in the sunshine.  Here's Joe talking to the fire chief about his as-yet-to-be-built wood fired pizza oven.

Open Invitation to family and friends:  Please come up and enjoy this experience with us!

And in other breaking news:

Joe's newest project involves over-seeding the field behind our house.

R.I.P. 'Joe-Can't Buy-Any-More-Food-Until-The-Stuff-We-Have-Is-Gone' Project

Sadly, the New Year's project is dead, folks.  Dead, dead, dead.  No one (except me) will be surprised by this news.

I shouldn't be surprised.  This project was on life support a couple of weeks ago.

I knew it was over when I discovered this in our garage yesterday:

Joe bought some chicken thighs, re-packaged them and sneaked them into the freezer.  His fatal flaw was that he didn't get rid of the evidence.  I'm sure the chicken will be happy living in our freezer alongside an entire pig's leg, four big boxes of duck legs and a myriad of other things that have been residing in there for a while.

I admit defeat.  I did my best to relieve this house of the mountains of food that reside within its walls.  But I lost the battle.

Joe gave up on my food project to focus on a newer one; securing wood for his yet-to-be-built pizza oven.

Remember this from two weeks ago?  His good fortune at stumbling across 3 felled maple trees in our back field?  How he told me he was so motivated to chop the logs and stack them in our woodshed for his beloved oven?  How he told me not to worry about the logs all over the lawn because the wood was going to be off the grass by the end of that day?  HE WAS SO MOTIVATED!

March 30th

April 6th

And why finish a second project when you can begin a third?

Joe pushed the pause button on the chopping-wood-for-the-non-existent-pizza-oven project to work with our neighbour to replace the fence that divides our properties.

April 9th

Thank goodness for our friend Dan!  He offered to chop the last remaining logs for Joe.  My husband was so grateful for the help, he has given Dan free pizza for life!  When the pizza oven is built, that is.

April 11th

The wood did get stacked at the beginning, but things deteriorated towards the end.  As Dan chopped, Joe flung the wood hither and thither into the woodshed.

The woodshed in its current state.

I planned to do a little gardening this morning and needed a shovel.  I went looking for one and this is what I found:

Seriously?

And in other breaking news, spring has definitely sprung!

I love hyacinths.

So THAT, my friends, is how things stand around here.  More food, more wood, more fence, more adventures.

Twenty-Eight Years And Counting...

Joe and I celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary yesterday.  It was a day to reflect on how we got here and what the next twenty-eight years might bring.  I hauled out our wedding albums and we had a few good laughs.  We even had some tears remembering all the folks, young and old, who had been at our wedding and have since passed away.

April 5, 1986

April 5, 2014

A friend recently asked me, "What's your secret to a happy marriage?"

Her question made me stop and think.  There really is no secret.  Just hard work.  And like my Dad used to say, "Hard work was never easy."

Saint Augustine's Church

One word of advice I would give young couples is to choose someone with qualities they admire.  For me those qualities included honesty, intelligence, dependability, trustworthiness, and a blistering good sense of humour.

I invited my kindergarten students to our wedding ceremony.  When Father McIntee noticed them spilling out into the aisle to get a better view, he invited them up to the altar so they could have the best seat in the house.

I would caution young couples not to base their choices on things like looks.  As you can see from my 'before' and 'after' photos, these things change.  People gain weight.  Hair goes grey.  Body parts droop.  Facial hair grows in unwanted places.  Ears go deaf.  Teeth yellow.  

But the core values of who we are remain.

That being said, no matter how well suited people are, no matter how many qualities you admire in each other, marriage is work.  You have to work at keeping it joyful, loving, interesting and open.

Getting married to the one you love is all well and good but throw a few kids into the mix, along with a master's degree in the U.S., a mortgage, moving to a new town, a couple of careers, a long daily commute, chronic illnesses, housework, yard work, pets and things can get stressful!

I remember watching Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman being interviewed on television several years back.  James Lipton asked them the same question my friend asked me.  Newman quipped, "We never wanted to get divorced at the same time."

"THAT'S IT!"  I thought.  When I was at my worst, Joe was at his best.  And vice versa.

I would encourage young couples to keep going even when it becomes difficult.  Trust me, a good marriage is worth it.

After 28 years, the stresses of yesteryear have now waned.  Our kids are grown and happy and getting on with their lives.  The house is paid off.  We are down to one cat.  A house cleaner comes every two weeks.  I have grassed over large swaths of my huge flower beds.  We are travelling fools.  We are nearing retirement.

We have kept each other going through this crazy, wacky thing called marriage.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.