Cal's Journal

Fires lit the roadside, goblins and ghouls stalked the night. Zombies guarded the gravesites. Small groups gathered in circles performing ritual sacrifices of random liquids. Two young girls braved the darkness, they stood alone watching, waiting. “Hello, Marijke, Bailey,” a boy’s voice broke through the creaks and moans that echoed into the night. ”We were waiting for you, are you ready?” Marijke gave him a mischievous look. She was happy to see her new friends Bailey and Jackson, they would Read more…

I lay submersed in the water, soaking in the warm embrace of a mineral enriched bath. I was hoping to drown my pain, ease my aches, and alleviate my distress. Losing myself in the moments there was nothing but the pressure of the jets. I felt the release I craved and let myself go and floated away. With a start, I knew it was time to move. I willed myself up and weakly crawled from the cooling touch of the Read more…

Big, fat, fluffy white flakes are falling into the alpine. In the valley, the leaves have turned from green to gold and brown. On the mountain tops, the trees are being freshly coated with a layer of crisp white snow. Okanagan champagne powder has been piling up on the slopes and in the trees. It looks to be an epic season of snowfall, the base is growing steadily and even the village is gathering snow. Mother Nature and U’lr the Read more…

Mondays have come and gone in the days of the coronaverse. It was a Monday in March and the winter snows still clung to the ski runs and rooftops of Big White. It was a Monday I won’t forget. The first Monday I began my journey exploring the new normal I found myself in. Reality had sunk in and our ski hill closed for the season. Many other businesses soon fell victim to the panic that the pandemic invoked. Now Read more…

In case anyone missed it British Columbia elected a new government yesterday. I think. Sort of, for now, except if the mail-in ballots change things. The result shouldn’t change, but who knows… The NDP won the majority they sought. They succeeded in shutting down the Green wave and beat up on the Liberal party that was ill-prepared to fight an election in a pandemic. I lost a lot of respect for John Hogan and the NDP when they called a Read more…

The weather outside was frightful, the day was nigh delightful. We really weren’t ready for snow, but it snowed. And it snowed, and it snowed. We set a record in the Okanagan for October, a dubious record to say the least. We recorded the most snow for an October day since 1899. One hundred and twenty-one years ago the settlements of Penticton and Kelowna were in their infancy. I am certain they were ill-prepared to deal with such a massive Read more…

It’s the seventh month of the pandemic. Thirty Mondays ago they closed Big White and we sat in fear of the unknown. We left our mountain home in shock; we packed up and went back to the valley. Big White emptied and the world stood still. It feels like seven months of Mondays since they first locked us down. I have been one of the fortunate ones this summer. I was able to work outside and ride my motorcycle to Read more…

I lost a piece of my youth this week. My first big rock concert was in 1984, it was a cacophony of sound and sight. It was bigger than life and I was a fourteen-year-old kid in awe. It was Van Halen. David Lee Roth pranced across the stage, legs spinning higher than any man had a right to. Alex Van Halen pounded the drums with Michael Anthony pacing the rhythms. Above and beyond it all was the incredible sounds Read more…

My days were starting to slow down again. It was time to get busy and de-clutter my world. I stared at the disaster that is my garage, the mess that developed as if on its own has begun to overwhelm me. Someone must have put all that stuff in there. I no longer have a window cleaning business so I struggled to find someone that I could blame; until I looked in the mirror. Now it was time to clean Read more…

I went down the rabbit hole today. I made the mistake of watching the news and heard Trump brag about healing so fast from Covid19. It made me sick; I couldn’t believe that he said he should kiss everyone at his rally. It’s hard enough to imagine that he is having rallies in the first place. I posted on facebook my feelings about Trump. I vented how sick I was of the way he acts and hoped that he would Read more…