Cal's Journal

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

It was a two’s day today. Lots of two’s in the day of the month. A day that was called a palindrome – that is if you use a calendar that uses the year, day, month – 2022,22,02. Yet my computer says it is 2022-02-22, year month day. A format that is preferred in many English-speaking countries would be the month, day, year – 02,22,2022 and in other places, it is the day, month, year – 22,02,2022, another palindrome. There Read more

Road Trip. We took the Coquihalla Highway and went to Vancouver Island for the family day weekend. As usual, it was a struggle to leave when we wanted. I don’t know how some people manage to leave early when going on a road trip. I was happy to be on the road an hour late.  Especially when we were trying to get a teenager moving. Perhaps I should have told my daughter we were going to the mall. Then maybe Read more