Cal's Journal

Dark clouds hovered ominously over Okanagan Lake. The sky had patches of blue that gave promise of sunshine but grey and black storm clouds swirled above. Along with the clouds came a steady breeze that whipped across the lake. I departed my boat slip in Peachland and set out across the choppy waters. The wind pushed the boat forward on top of the churning waves.  It was a forty-minute ride across the lake to pick up my intrepid group of Read more

Recession. A scarier word than pandemic – almost.  And it is what our country and the world are in the grip of. Or so the media tells us. The reality is much more bizarre… And complicated. I have watched the phones for my business go silent. People suddenly are not booking lake tours, and I have wondered why? So I went to my local hotels, and B and B’s in search of new customers. The word is the same at Read more

Barrman, Kaydee, Crispee and Cookster sat looking skyward in anticipation. It was 13:00 hours and the show was scheduled to begin at any moment. The four friends gathered on the old ferry wharf across from downtown Kelowna and awaited the return of Canada’s aerobatic finest. The crowd had gathered on the ferry wharf, and the day’s heat warmed the ground below. But the hot temperatures of the afternoon sun weren’t the only thing warming people who were looking to the Read more

It’s back…  What’s back you may ask? Music in the park in West Kelowna is back. Westside Daze returned after a three-year hiatus and it came back to life with the glorious sounds of musical joy. The midway was packed with laughing kids and the bandstand was full of talented people filling the park with the refreshing sounds of Elton John. Andrew Johns led a very talented group of musicians in a two-hour tribute to the piano man at the Read more

Happy 155th Birthday to our home and native land. It was August 1864 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, the beginning of a nation was born. It would take three years of negotiations that would culminate in the birth of Canada on July 1, 1867.  There were many reasons that Canada first came together as an independent country. Great Britain was afraid of American expansionism and the threat of a newly ‘United’ States of America that had a large army and Read more

Summer arrived in full force and the timing couldn’t have been better. We were registered for a golf tournament and the day couldn’t have been more perfect.  I wasn’t even sure if I would be able to golf in the tourney until the last moment. We’d signed up for the Gonzo Okanagan tournament scheduled for September 2021. At that time we’d hoped the pandemic which had paralyzed the world was over and we were headed back to normal.  We were Read more

Summer arrived in all it’s rainy glory. Alas on the first official day of summer the mysterious golden globe in the sky made a rare appearance in our valley.  What a difference a year makes. One year ago we were “suffering” in what the so-called experts termed a heat dome. When I was young we called it a heat wave. I’m not sure what changed to make it a heat dome but the results were the same. Man, was it Read more

Louise looked down upon St. James United Church and smiled. Many of her friends and loved ones sat in the pews looking at her glowing face.  That sure was a good picture.  Her favourite songs rang through the air, and she could sense the beauty of the moment. There was a calmness about it all. Her dear friend stood in front of the people and described a wonderful person who they all were missing in their lives. The person being Read more

The madness continues. In the last two years, the world has spiraled out of control. World events have been like some strange novel that Tom Clancy could have written. Pandemic, fires, floods, war, and now a global recession amongst soaring prices. It makes a person’s head spin. At times I feel like it may spin right off.  For those people who bought Bitcoin, they just watched their value plummet to depths never thought of. It’s not surprising that the fake Read more

Rain, rain go away, come again some other day. The old catchphrase could not have felt more appropriate this morning. After one of the wettest first two weeks of June in memory, the sun came out and it looked as if summer was primed to arrive in our corner of the world. It was not to be. I took my boat out for a tour in the warm rays of sun and when I got home I didn’t put the Read more