Spring is Springing!

Yesterday morning it did feel very much like spring.  We took ourselves off to Castlegar to discover Waldie Island, a former heronry on the Columbia River.  There's a good trail along this side of the river and our first stop was an elevated platform to observe the birds on the sewage lagoon!  There were tons of them, mostly ring-necked ducks and there were also enormous turtles laying on various logs - the sun was out but it was only about 5 degrees.  That did surprise me.

Other bird species we saw were:  teal, common goldeneye, mallards, buffleheads, common mergansers and we think, a female wood duck.  There was even a lone,  red-winged blackbird sitting in the remains of bullrushes.  

As we hiked along, we read well-worn signs about the area and in the early 2000s the location of Waldie Island in the Columbia River was a huge heronry.  However, since 2003 there have been very few pairs found at the Island.  It is a restricted area, but likely it was NOT restricted 20 plus years ago so the herons decided to leave because of all the human activity.   The walk is a good discovery for us because birds do seem to come there, at least in spring!  Here is the Island on a bright spring morning.  

Seventy Fifth Year

I've just had my birthday weekend and have entered the 75th year.  I enjoyed celebrating myself.  Saturday (the actual birthday), I went out with the "running" group who are mostly all walking now.  I have become a walker with my 75 year old left knee and plan to continue with that for the long term.  We celebrated "me" with coffee and treats which is the usual Saturday morning routine, but I got toasted!  In the evening, I went to see The Red Thread, performed by Elle, at the Langham Theatre.  It was a very well done presentation of Elle's life and her relationship with the three muses.  It was cleverly put together and I so admired her red crocheted pantsuit - I wonder if it was a thrift store "find" or do she make it herself???

Thursday evening, my pre birthday, eve, I had 3 women to dinner for our regular book club and was presented with my absolute favourite chocolate cake!  I have yet to make one of these cakes but I do have the recipe.  It's the best chocolate cake that I have ever eaten.  The women did the candles and song version of the birthday.

Friday, as part of my pre-birthday celebration I had lunch with a friend at the Kaslo hotel and we were served an excellent fish chowder!  I will return.

Sunday, another friend took me for lunch, once again at the Kaslo Hotel.  This time, I had the "mini brunch" breakfast - also very good.  Then I had a walk with Dave in the areas of Woodbury and Ainsworth and we dined at JB's in Woodbury that evening.  I have been extremely overfed!

Happy Birthday, me!  

Enough Said!

Puzzling!

 One change I've made in 2025 (other than turning off the top of the hour news) is to try doing some word puzzles,  rather than simply playing bridge hands to keep my brain active.  I haven't had to pay any money yet and I participate in 3 games.  Free access (at the moment) is available for NYT Connections (my favourite), a few words on the NYT Spelling Bee, and the Mini Crossword.  It's a quiet and calming way to begin the day in these rather turbulent times!  

School Absenteeism

 I understand that school absenteeism has really blossomed since the end of the pandemic.  I certainly think that many people learned that school isn't all that necessary and I have to say that I wonder what academic work is actually being done within the school.  There are lots of valuable things going on inside the school, but I really don't feel that my grandchildren in Canada have a good understanding of the geography of Canada and how our own country "fits" together.  It's something that they should know by eighth grade.  Their knowledge of history is also limited.  

In our family, to complicate matter even further, both of the grandsons are heavily involved in ski racing.  One of them is participating in both nordic and downhill racing.  The meets occur almost every weekend of the winter season which means they often miss TWO days of school - the meets are comprised of events on Friday, Saturday and Sunday - and there is a day of travelling involved, often.  In March, the boys are going to Smithers, BC (over 500 km away) for some ski races.  It happens to be "winter break" in Smithers.  They will get back from Smithers and begin their two week "spring break" for the last 2 weeks of March.  They are going to have nearly a month away from school.  It's bizarre.  

I DO feel that they get a good learning experience from ski racing and they are meeting lots of new people.  The boys aren't particularly academically-oriented so perhaps it doesn't even matter.  I'd really like to see a return to some regular consistency in the school year that devotes itself to the three Rs but I don't think that is to be.  And perhaps I'm just way too "old school" for this generation.   At least they get to experience the winter wonderland of Canada!  

CanCon

 The theme song segment on Daybreak South (my current favourite CBC radio program) is CanCon for this week.  I had to remind myself via google when CanCon became a "thing" on the radio and I do remember it.  I was a bit disgusted because at the time I was living in Nova Scotia and listening to a lot of American radio that played all the rock and roll hits.  It was 1971 when CBC was "ordered" to include 35% CanCon.  1971 was also the year that I rediscovered CBC radio.  I had been raised in a "CBC family" and as a teen I was genuinely annoyed that it didn't play any Beatles music, etc.  As a university student in 1971, I became aware of This Country in the Morning,  and in the evening,  As It Happens.  I felt that I had discovered the world. I remember arguing with one of my profs (later President of Acadia University) that I was learning more by listening to the CBC than I was attending classes.  He was taken aback!

I think that CanCon was an excellent decision in Canada.  Listeners were "forced" to listen to Canadian composers and singers and the system worked. The content had to be 35%  Canadian of all content played.  That rule remains in place, according to google (if we can believe any of what it tells us!).  We discovered the talent that we had (have)  in Canada.  It's never looked back.  Thank you, CBC.

I'm still an avid CBC listener (won't listen to anything else, really) and have been throughout my adult life.  One thing that I like about listening in the Kootenays is that there isn't a lot of radio competition so almost everyone in my age group is listening to CBC.  It provides plenty of discussion points.  Thank you, CBC.  I'm glad that my daughter listens to CBC but she is the only one of my parents' grandchildren who is a listener.  I do hope that the CBC can survive the next election because I'd like to remain a listener until the end of my time!

BC Highways: Changes Needed in Transportation

The Kootenay Lake Ferry strike is going into its FOURTH month and service has not been restored, except for 2 ferry crossings each day.  This is becoming a hardship as the snow falls on Kootenay Pass.  And I am positive that it is an absolute nightmare for the employees who are losing so much income.  

We experienced the hardship involved on Dec. 28th when we decided to travel from Trail to Cranbrook in mid-afternoon.  We did see the sign that indicated the pass was closed and we checked online and it was to open at 4 pm.  We decided to continue our travel.  We were stopped by the traffic about 1 km from the summit.  It was snowing heavily and the temperature was 0 degrees C.  We waited and 4 o'clock arrived.  The Pass did not open.  An hour later,  traffic travelling west was allowed to begin.  By this time we knew that we'd have difficulty with our camper van getting started on an icy hill with no momentum.  Dave shoveled beneath the wheels and asked the snow plow truck to leave us a bit of gravel.  The driver did do this but by the time we could begin, it was to no avail.  We simply could not get started on the incline under those icy conditions.  Our only option was to turn around, which we did and it was no problem to go downhill, although we travelled gingerly because of the icy roads.  At 7 pm we arrived at the Kootenay Lake ferry terminal.  I was able to talk with the strikers and a ferry was going to leave at 9:40 that night.  We took it.  We stayed in our camper van overnight near Creston and 17 hours after leaving Trail, we made it to Creston on Sunday morning.  The usual time is about 2 hours.  

Last Friday we had a major snowstorm in the Koots and once again, the Pass was closed and the ferry remains on strike.  I have written to my MLA in Nelson and negotiations, as far as I know,  have not recommenced.  This is a huge inconvenience and danger for  people  needing to travel to and avoid the Pass.  Winter conditions close Kootenay Pass regularly and the last thing we need is a ferry strike through this season.  At least the roads are somewhat safer in the summer!  I sincerely encourage the BC government to send these employees back to work for the many people affected by the strike and the dangerous driving conditions.  

Medical Care in Canada: A BC Perspective

I've spent the past week partially under the care of the BC medical system.  I felt my SVT return on a Thursday afternoon while sitting quietly with a book.  I had experienced a couple of earlier episodes in the morning  that had been easy to diminish.  In the afternoon, the usual "vagal" practices didn't seem to work.  Dave took me to the ER in Kaslo which operates from 9 - 5 pm daily, I believe.

There I was met by a nurse within 5 - 10 minutes and monitored by an ECG.  At the beginning, my heart was calm but it soon escalated.  Fairly quickly, I was met by the attending ER dr (who also has  patients that he/she needs to visit as a GP part-time in our town).  Within an hour he had administered a drug that was supposed to bring my heart back into regular rhythm, but did not.  After 2 doses of this unpleasant experience, he called the hospital in Nelson to consult with an internist there.   I was given 3 doses of a different beta blocker and it did reduce my heart rate but not below 120 bpm.  By this time it was approaching 5 pm and I was asked if I wanted to go home or check into Nelson hospital to be monitored over night and see the internist the next morning.  That was the route that I chose.

Nelson hospital was expecting me (although not at the registration desk) and I was put onto a Holter monitor and saw an attending dr to review the experience.  I actually slept in the very quiet ER where I was basically given a private room (no bathroom) with a very good internet connection.  My heart continued to go in and out of arrhythmia.   I was given breakfast and the internist was at my bedside by 9:30 am.  He did a very thorough "past experience" interview and told me that if I had SVT, the drugs I was given in hospital should have worked.  Because they didn't he felt that I should take a blood thinner because of either atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter.  I was given a new beta blocker and went home with prescriptions to deal with the issue.  It worked well through the weekend, I was booked into an echocardiogram on Monday morning and then went to revisit an ER in Trail on Tuesday morning because the arrhythmia began again.  After spending the morning there, I was sent home and continued to have an uneven heartbeat (that didn't happen in the hospital) but it was manageable and I had a good night.  We sent the internist an email about the latest episode. He did not call us back until the next day, but I was surprised that he did call.  I am now booked for a stress test in 2 weeks.  He has also made the cardio unit in Kelowna aware of my situation.  

Most everyone is complaining about the medical system in our country.  BC is no different.  I was extremely impressed with the care that I was given in an "emergency" situation.  I was given full attention, I felt.  Each dr that I saw (3 in total) wrote a very thorough and accurate report on the hospital experience that is now in my health portal.  I suspect that these reports, which I believe are dictated, still take a physician at least 10 - 15 minutes to complete.  I felt very CARED FOR with the staff that I met in this recent experience.  I don't have to undertake medical care very often (and perhaps that is about to change), but my situation assures me that I should be in good hands.  

 

Travels in America: Road Island

 I've always liked the name of this home in Bernardsville, entitled Road Island.  It's a triangular lot that is surrounded by 3 roads, and I do enjoy the name of it.  The picture doesn't really show what's involved with it, but it's a very nice piece of property in a small town in America.  I'm always amazed at the large, older homes on fairly big lots that dominate the eastern part of the States.  

Bernardsville is quite a lovely town if you enjoy looking at real estate.  Unfortunately, it's not a "walking" town.  I walk everywhere, but there is a very busy intersection that has to be navigated to go in almost any direction  and it is very unfriendly to pedestrians and bikers.  However, I don't think that I've ever seen a public bus that travels through the area (there's a train that goes from town to town into NYC) and as a consequence EVERYONE is driving EVERYWHERE!  

Travels in America: Up Close to the 1 Per Cent

We've spent the past week in the US, on the east coast, visiting our family in NJ.  It's a different lifestyle compared with Kaslo - we basically drive everywhere and almost every drive is 20 minutes.  Watching basketball games - which I prefer to soccer games - has taken us to a few new spots.   The skies are bright and with all the leaves off the hardwood trees it's easy to spot things in the distance.  The bird watching has actually been quite good.  There's been several very scenic walks.  And as we take that 20 minute drive, nearly all of the time we are driving amongst homes that belong to the 1 per cent.  This is one of my favourites, located on the outskirts of Bernardsville.  From the McCormick home, we get a 8.5 km walk partly through town and next to many homes that are similar to the one below.