The acrid smell of smoke filled my nostrils as I rose from my slumber. My eyes burned with the microscopic particles of ash that have invaded the atmosphere of my Okanagan home. I noticed the weight of the air in my lungs and dreaded what could be the beginning of a long summer of smokey skies. The heat and dry conditions have been ripe for the start of a terrible fire season in the Northwestern part of North America. A Read more…
BC entered phase three of its reopening plan. The hated masks are no longer mandatory in public places. It was a wonderful thing to see a strange face once more. Along with the masks we are allowed to gather again. Festivals and concerts are returning and live music is back. Many people are rejoicing at the lifting of restrictions and infection counts of the dreaded covid are way down. In our beautiful province, they have told us that it is Read more…
Intense rays of sunshine continued to burn on our faces and our shoulders. The heat overwhelmed to the point it had a presence. It was like a wall of sweltering air that greeted me when I stood in the parking lot of the Cook Road boat launch. It was a heat I have never felt in my fifty-plus years on our planet. A planet that is being transformed by climate change unprecedented in recorded history. I am one of the Read more…
Buzz crawled slowly through the grass. The heat was overwhelming, all he could do was survive the day. It felt like an extra weight pushed down upon every fibre of his being. He had never felt the intense temperature before and the sun scorched his back with burning razors. Buzz had to escape. He crawled deeper into the grass. His search for flowers, for pollen or nectar of any kind, was forgotten in his need to survive. He was caught Read more…
Searing heat enveloped Okanagan Valley this week as my life spun into chaos. Summer has arrived with intense warmth as the days melted together. I cruised the refreshing water of the Okanagan Lake with my dear friends Brad and Byron. We splashed into the water and soothed our bodies scorched by the raging heatwave. We trolled the glassy surface of the waters in search of an elusive lake lunker… “Beep, Beep, Beep!!!!” an intense alarm brought us from our relaxed Read more…
Blue sky glowed to the west as warm rays of sun bounced off the waves in the distance. The shining reflection off the ocean filled my being with a sensation of freshness and glory. I stood at the railing of the huge vessel and watched the water cruise by. My wife and I were talking about going on a boat ride; we never expected it to be on the ferry to Vancouver Island. That morning my phone rang. It was Read more…
Vancouver is a beautiful city on the Pacific Ocean. Except when it rains – even then it has a beauty unmatched by any city in Canada and perhaps the world. Maybe I’m biased since it is the closest big city to my home. I like to visit big cities. But I would never want to live in one. The skyline of Vancouver sits etched in front of the glorious coastal mountains. The modern city is framed against the backdrop of Read more…
On June 15, 2021, the health authorities opened up our amazing province to travel. It was a great time for a road trip. So Krista and I decided a trip to Vancouver was in order. She wanted to go to Imagine Van Gogh and I had a small job to do. The sun was shining and the forecast was for warm weather, it was a great time to hit the road. We packed our bags and loaded the car. I Read more…
Jane stood on the stage staring at the world in front of her. It felt surreal. She wanted to pinch herself, was she dreaming? It was the culmination of everything she had worked towards in the last year. And it was real. In front of her sat Simon Cowell, Heidi Klumm, Sofía Vergara, and Howie Mandell, the four judges for America’s Got Talent. Behind them sat a live audience, the most people she had ever sung in front of in Read more…
The air was thick and the darkening sky glowered ominously overhead. The pervading smell of moisture greeted Barrman as he stepped out the door with his daughter Mia. It was a Sunday in the Okanagan and some much-needed rain threatened to dampen the day. He smiled at the odour that wafted in the breeze. ‘I love the smell of fresh rain.’ The fifty-ish-year-old man dropped his kid at her job and returned home. Through the rain-spattered windshield, he stared at Read more…