Monday 24 August 2015

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes Blues: Monday, August 24th!

The bed looks great but I think you might consider painting the wall behind it a lighter color to accent the bed more and make the room look bigger too. We can do it on my next visit!


I'm planning on painting out all the darker colours except for the gold in the living room. What colour do you think I should do?? Love MOM  Red! Red! Red! Poppa obviously missed the Chinese red wall at the Island Inn Red is not the answer! Take look outside at this morning's sun and tell me what colour you see!

Thanks Patrick Great to see what you all got up to and where you are living - the flowers (plus food and drink) look lovely ! Trust you are enjoying your new abode. All the best Jan

Patricio, THANKS as always for energetic communiqué! Fortunately, it looks like my dear daughter needed no parental networking to find a place to live. We talked to her last night and it looks like she will be holing up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. It’s not as close as she’d like to NYU, but it is clean, the other three young women in the rest of the 4 bedroom apartment are friendly and THE PRICE IS RIGHT!

Sounds like you are really getting a wonderful and thorough-going introduction to the Penticton area. It’s always exciting and stimulating, isn’t it, having to learn new things in a new area, get to know new people and involve oneself in a new community. I always enjoyed being a sabbatical wife for this very reason. Take care, thanks for your efforts to assist Ellen. Looking forward to seeing you and Corinne at the Festival. Kathryn  


Hi Patricio, I am going on a mild bike ride, too much smoke, health index is "very high risk" this morning. See you Thursday. Thanks for great photos!
Cheers, Aarturo 


Hi Elaine and Laura! Trust you are enjoying New York, Elaine! Just had a message from Kathryn and her daughter, Ellen, has found accommodation so no need to ask around. Your willingness to help was much appreciated, nevertheless.

In spite of the heavy smoke which has blanketed Penticton since late Saturday, I decided to join the Monday hiking group, led by Al Tinka, a retired teacher from Penticton High who taught Will, I discovered today! This is the third hike I've been on but Al was not on first two. Too, too busy with his orchard as Will would know. He told me that the had seen Will a few weeks ago as he came to collect fruit, if I'm correct. At any rate, another former student, Julien, (?), [Al calls him "Jules".], Ehlers, I believe, knows Will as they went to high-school together! Jules thought that the last time he had seen Will was about 17 years. ago. He and his wife, Heather, live in Paradise Valley, just out of Squamish. Have been there for about two years, apparently. She is expecting their first child on November 23rd, her birthday. Jules is finishing his doctorate, Mechanical Engineering, I think but am not completely sure, at U of Calgary. Heather has a post-doc at U of Victoria, in Environmental Science, I think.

On the second hike, I got to know Anthea and Dave Bryan, and their lovely pooch, Tia. Turns out that Heather is their daughter and she and Jules have been visiting. As well, Will probably knows Jim French, a retired mathematics teacher from PenHi. He was one of the leaders on first two hikes and took me under his wing, so to speak, always extremely welcoming and helpful, (As everyone has been, I must add.), to me as a newcomer to group and hiking in general. Anyway, seems like I'm getting to know loads of people somehow connected to friends in Vancouver!

The hike itself was to Conkle Mountain, up above the golf course in Summerland. Have attached some snaps. Hope one of you might forward message and pics to Will/Jules as I don't have an email address for either of them. Thanks. Cheers, Patrizzio!
Cora Lee dropped me off at the IGA parking lot in Summerland, the meeting spot there, at 9:00 am. There were only five of us, (Smoke was a big issue for many, I gather.), and we loaded ourselves into Kilean's truck. He is originally from Switzerland so it has been very interesting to chat with him over the course of the the three hikes. Took us about five or ten minutes to drive to a small clearing across the road from the gold course and once we'd put on our packs, (Jules only had a water bottle!), we took off. Terrain was far less demanding than climb up N'Kwala Mountain, my first ouing with group, so it really was most enjoyable for entire hike. Footing was often spongy with pine needles so very comfortable. A bit of scree, (I think that is the technical term.), at times but nothing that was at all worrisome. Much of the hike was along various ridges so pretty flat and easy going.

About an hour and a half into the hike we came to a point, overlooking Trout Creek, where there was a pretty precipitous drop and difficult rock faces so Al suggested I take an easier route to the eventual summit. Kilean had hiked the other route before so he very kindly volunteered to keep me company. We set off up a slight slope and Jules, Al and Eduardo made for the rock face and its narrow ledges. A fall, apparently could be rather serious, so I was happy not to tempt Fate. Funnily enough, Cora Lee texted me, almost immediately, and suggested I was being a rather timorous and urged me, over and over again, to follow the mountain goats! Fortunately, coverage faded out and I followed Kilean up a reasonably steep slope but not at all punishing as footing was solid and quite comfortable.

At the top we found a fairly well-defined road! He assumed it had been used for logging at some point. At any rate, we walked along, seeing our second deer, and he tried to get his bearings, relative to where we had agreed we'd meet our comrades. Headed back towards the edge of the cliff and followed a fairly wide, flat ridge for a bit. I called out and heard a whistle in reply. In fact, I actually saw one of the lads pass through a small clearing, a couple of hundred feet below our location. We then set off in same direction, up and down a few small gullies, and when we came to the next ridge we could hear talking. A few minutes later we were reunited in a small clearing where we stopped for lunch.

Everyone had brought sandwiches or vegetables, etc., so we enjoyed a terrific picnic for twenty minutes or so. After the refreshing break we headed back in the same general direction but followed a slightly different route. Al is a wonderful fount of knowledge and he would always point out various fascinating landforms, flora and fauna and the like. At one point we came across a number of trees that had obviously been cut with a chain saw and Al said that this was probably the work of someone he knew, (I cannot remember the name.), who had a background in biology/forestry. Now retired, this chap conducts voluntary research on trees in the area, (Comparing tree rings on those felled by natural causes against others cut to allow neighbours to flourish, as this is a managed area, I understand.), to determne their age, possible growing conditions, and the like. Simply a delight to have a natural history lesson in such idyllic surroundings. 

Descent was far easier than on Monday's hike, now shod in my spiffy new hiking boots, and I certainly appreciated the walking poles that I'd inherited from Rosie-the-Riveter when they left to return to Winnipeg this past April. Still the slowest member of the group but chaps didn't ever desert me to be eaten by Black Bears as we saw a fair bit of evidence of their scat. Back to the truck by close to 1:00 pm so we were on the mountainside for about three and a half hours. Short ride back to Summerland and we stopped at Good Omens Coffee House where everyone had a San Pellegrino Soda. 

Met Pam, another member of hiking group there. She usually organizes Monday's outing but was to take off on an overnight hike next day so decided not to join today. With a bit of backing and forthing, it was determined that next Monday's outing will be to the Three Blind Mice Trail, above Naramata, so looking forward to that. As well, Thursday's hike was settled upon. It will be out of OK Falls, near to See Ya Later Ranch, off Green Lake Road, atop Hawthorne Mountain. While I've been to the winery a number of times, I've never hiked here so, again, looking forward to exploring this gorgeous landscape and rugged terrain.

Wished Pam well on her hike to Border Lake, near Cathedral Provincial Park, and Kilean dropped us off at IGA. Hitched a ride with Eduardo as Cora Lee had taken the Equinox in to All Racks to have a trailer hitch and new bike rack installed. When home, she was still out. While I was away the new glass door for the master bedroom shower had been installed, as well as the glass bathtub shower screen, replacing the very dated three-panel unit. Very pleased with how both looked and a few minutes later Lady Mary arrived so I was able to see the new bike rack. Looks grand and although it only holds two bikes, it will allow the trunk door to open, without any adjustment to rack itself, when not loaded. When carrying bikes, a simple click of a lever allows the rack to tilt back to allow rear door to open.

Back inside to have a shower with new screen. Much more room in tub now so happy with change. Other shower cannot be used yet as Silicon has to set. Chap who installed it will be back tomorrow to make final adjustments so guess we'll test it tomorrow, at some point. Cora Lee was off to volunteer at Richard Cannings' campaign office, from 6:00 pm- 8:00 pm, just down the street, a few blocks away, so I've been charged with fixing dinner: salad and a bbq'd chicken. Hope we can watch at least three episodes of Homeland, Season 4, while eating and over the rest of the course of the evening.

Hi Patrick and Corinne Sorry for the delay in responding; but we have been busy trying to get organized I also traveled to Thunder Bay over the August long for a wedding and extended my stay there to spend time with my family.  As well; Henryk has been travelling for work. He's been in Las Vegas for a week already  returning this Thursday. The company he works for has a training centre there. He is in the midst of a series of training so has a few more work trips before we head west to you.  Our weather here in Ignace is in a cold spell.  It was only 7 when I work this morning - so have had a cozy fire on all day that continues tonight - as tomorrow isn't going to be much warmer.  Just the opposite to Henryk is Vegas - he's in a heat advisory! Thanks for your numbers - I have added you both to my contact list.  Here's ours.

Its nice to be here - we have a few summer friends that also have cottages here - so have enjoyed many dinners and drinks together with them. The guys are also Henryk's fishing and berry picking buddies so we've enjoyed a few pickerel dinners and got enough blueberries for one blueberry cake and one pie. The weather hasn't been great for berries too cold and rainy.  While Henryk has been gone; I have had some company; but this week it looks like I will be on my own. that's good as I have some work to do for Pam - especially now that she is back to work.  

It's a bit isolated here as far as shopping...  We only have one grocery store; so we make a trip to Dryden every couple of weeks. We are only a mile from town so have all the other amenities - town water, garbage collection, TV and internet.... 

Due to Henryk's work travel schedule; we haven't finalized our travel plans yet to head your way - but will definitely be there before you plan to head to Vancouver and then for your trip to India.   Sounds like you guys are having a wonderful time in your new home.  We are soooo looking forward to our stay there. I did promise some pictures - so after I send this - will send another from my phone take care, talk soon Louise
 
Hi all, While I haven't been available for hikes over the summer, I am grateful to receive notifications of them and am interested in returning to do more hikes in the cooler weather.  I also enjoy very much seeing others' photos as it keeps a connection going.

However, I have a request in that regard for everyone to consider.  Not everyone has super high-speed internet, and not everyone uses "the cloud" or servers to store emails.  We don't.  We have an email "client" which directs all emails from our ISP server to load onto our computer, where they are then stored - in other words, we can be off-line and look at our downloaded emails.   The recent lovely attached photos came to almost 20 megabytes, and when we checked our email, the photos took almost 20 minutes to download.  (Our ISP is via satellite - no other viable option out here in the boonies.) 

Therefore, I hope people don't mind, but my request would be that those who would like to share multiple photos, I wonder if you might please consider using a service similar to what Al and Rick use when posting photos.  That way, we, and anyone else who has issues with download speeds at any time (1) would have the option to check the photos at a time of our choosing and convenience, (2) would be able to bail out of a download if we need to and (3) could still receive our other emails and deal with them promptly (which we otherwise are unable to do in the middle of a heavy download).

I am truly not trying to upset anyone.  However, if huge attachments keep coming, I will have to remove my name from the group, and I would be saddened to have to do so. Thanks kindly for your consideration ...Susan


Hi Susan! I must apologize for sending out the large files. No excuses. I had planned to do just what you suggested but ran out of time. I'm terribly sorry for any inconvenience I obviously caused. Won't happen again. Patrizzio! 

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