Cal's Journal

Barrman tossed and turned in the night, sleep was fleeting and powder dreams circled his brain. Rain was falling hard in town throughout the night. That meant it was snowing in the alpine. He hoped it was snowing a lot. After a final spurt of sleep the skier awoke a minute before his alarm was set to go off – “5:59”. He turned off the alarm before it would wake his sleeping wife and crawled out of bed. Careful not Read more…

Two years ago they declared covid19 a pandemic. Back then no one imagined we would be still living in the shadow of the dreaded coronavirus in 2022. Crazy days indeed As far as anniversaries go this would not be my favourite.  In the before times – before covid that is, the world was already divided. There was the left and the right – neither side was right. Here we are, two years later, separated along some of the same lines Read more…

It was a moment many of us have been waiting for. Dr. Bonnie Henry made the announcement – masks will no longer be mandatory indoors in the Province of BC as of midnight March 10. It has been met with relief and anticipation.  It was two years ago this week that the pandemic shut down the world. We had no idea it would be 722 days later the health authorities would finally be lifting the restrictions we have lived under Read more…

Humanity has strived to and thrived with creating and maintaining connections – connections with each other, our environment, and most importantly ourselves. If we aren’t connected with ourselves and our own needs then life can be very challenging indeed. Yet so many of us go through life disconnected. We exist merely to be – nothing else but to take up space on the third rock from the sun. The world is filled with so many opportunities to connect. Nature embraces Read more…

I finally made it to the pool again. I go in spurts, trying to get into shape and then letting life take over, or should I say procrastination. Johnson Bentley Aquatic Centre is West Kelowna’s only swimming pool. It has remained open throughout covid except at the very beginning. I forget how much I enjoy swimming until I am stretching my body out and enjoying the rhythm and feeling of moving through the water. It is an escape that I Read more…

Two years ago we stood in the Happy Valley Day Lodge at Big White Ski Resort and swayed to the music.  I held my honey tight as Jon Bos strummed the notes to the song Thank You by Led Zeppelin. We’d heard about this dreaded coronavirus that was spreading throughout much of the world. It all seemed so far away as we danced to the wonderful rhythms of our wedding song.  Things had already started to feel a little strange. Read more…

Payback time. I think my parents that raised me are looking down from heaven and laughing. Ok maybe they wouldn’t be that cruel to laugh at me, but I’m sure they appreciate the irony. After what I put them through when I was sixteen they are surely appreciating what frustrations my daughter is giving me now that she is sixteen. And she is a lot better kid than I was. It was 7 am on Saturday and we made a Read more…

Invasion.  It’s something I never expected to see in Europe in the 21st century, I was brought back to when I was a kid living under the shadow of the cold war. Russian troops crossed the border into Ukraine and the world holds its breath. When I was young it was something we always feared, Russian troops crossing the border.  In a time when war should become obsolete, we have a country flexing its military might and sending young men Read more…

“Do you have an open mind?” Sam looked over at Barrman and smiled. Barrman stared back across the table at the bearded man. His hair was tied up in a ponytail and his heart was on his sleeve. In his eyes, there was a look that said he knew what he thought. Barrman just joined his good buddy Jeb at the bar and they welcomed him at their table. It was a strange question to start a conversation, he pondered Read more…