Cal's Journal

It was another day in a winter paradise. We were on our way to go for first tracks when everything stopped. I was opening the garage door and it stopped. My honey was coming out the door when the lights stopped working.  It all just came to a crashing halt. The power was out. Little did we know that the power would be out all day. We thought just another minor inconvenience. For my wife and me, it was just Read more

To My Daughter; Seventeen years. Seventeen years are gone in an instant. They have been wonderful years. You have changed so much and yet remain my little girl. You will always be my little girl even when you are grown up and left the nest. January 12, 2023, you turned seventeen years old. Holy wow, what a beautiful, strange trip it’s been. And it has only just begun.  I look forward to many more birthdays and graduations, more celebrations. But Read more

Barrman and Big Boarder looked into the abyss. At least it seemed like an abyss. All they could see was white. The only other thing they could see was each other. They were at the top of the mountain and the sky touched the ground. It was white and it was surreal. They felt a sense of vertigo as they stood listening to the sound of the T-bar spinning behind them. They could make out shapes and figures and they Read more

Barrman and Kaydee woke up and began their day at their mountain home. They hoped to look outside and see a fresh layer of snow. Barrman poured himself a coffee and Baileys and Kaydee went to the window.  She looked out outside and smiled, “a small dusting of snow. It’s better than nothing.” “Fresh turns on snow let’s go, go, go.” Barrman buzzed around the condo. He felt the excitement build. Fresh snow was better than no snow. It didn’t Read more

Here comes the Kraken. No, not some strange sea monster. Something stranger ye t; a new covid variant. Yes, they are now naming Omicron Covid after a mythical sea creature. I guess XBB1.5 wasn’t enough to scare everyone anymore. So the media announced another variant. the Kraken. Yet the Kraken isn’t sending people to the hospital, it isn’t killing anyone. So why do they continue to spread the word about the latest covid variants? Don’t they realize almost everyone is Read more

It was a new year, a new month, a new week and a new day. Everything was still much the same as it was twenty-four hours before. Regardless, it was a good reason to look back at what the previous twelve months have been like. We used that time to reflect on all that happened in the last fifty-two weeks.  What a crazy 365 days it has been. And it was also a great excuse for a party. With less Read more

Snow continues to fall on our valley paradise. Some might not think a snow-covered world is a paradise.  But paradise it is. Too bad I have to move the snow off the driveway and sidewalks. At least I don’t have a job to go clear it from other people’s driveways and sidewalks. For much of my adult working life snow removal was my winter job. I would have to wake up at 3 am and look outside. I would stand Read more

The weather outside is frightful, but the day was so delightful. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.  The weather had the old Christmas song ringing through my head. It was a day when most people would hunker down and stay inside. A day of snow blowing and falling across The Okanagan and in many parts of North America. It’s been a week of numbing cold and record participation. Over 30 people have died in many parts of Read more