After yesterday’s adventure I was ready to hang low and stay home today. I made my wife a gourmet breakfast; scrambled eggs with chorizo. I have often thought about starting a actual bed and breakfast. Krista thinks I’m crazy. I’m a pretty good cook so I think it would be a fun way to entertain. We started out our day by walking down to the nursery and getting our veggies for the garden. Peppers, tomatoes, and lettuce, we were getting Read more…
Calgary, Alberta, Canada is a city nestled in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. I lived the better part of thirty-six years in the city by the Bow. I still love Calgary and it will forever own a piece of my heart. It was home sweet home. Until I escaped. Nineteen-seventy was an epic year – I was born! So I think that was a pretty epic year in the life of Victor Calvin Barr. The average cost of a Read more…
My day really started at three-o’clock in the morning. Sleep was eluding me and my mind was racing. I knew I had to go to Vancouver today. I was feeling a mixture of emotions: excitement for a road trip, trepidation about leaving home, and a feeling of release because I had something new to do when I got up. I felt a bit like a kid at Christmas wanting to look under the tree early. My lovely wife whispered into Read more…
Signs or premonitions… Floods, we worried for those affected Fire, smoke and fear Famine in Africa a world away The climate is changing she screamed; you have failed us We can’t see the climate change; we can see the hurricane The pestilence The flames of the raging infernos We can’t see this virus Yet they warn it will overwhelm The very systems we cut. Now a reset. A new world order? Or more the same? Flowers grow toward Read more…
March 23 we closed the condo at Big White and prepared to leave the mountain for the last time. That was not the way we thought the season would end. We were having one of the best ski seasons in memory. Over 300 cm of snow base, I had 42 days on skis and there was so much more to come. Then it ended. So much has changed in that lifetime that was only a month. At that time we Read more…
Yesterday it started, The Netherlands announced no getting together until August 31. I have known for a while we probably weren’t going to go to Europe in June for our celebratory adventure. Today the reality struck like a hammer on an anvil. I awoke to an email from AirBNB; our accommodations in Paris July 12 to 14 was cancelled and I would be getting a refund. Today I began the process of cancelling the rest. Westjet is offering a twenty-four Read more…
I Woke up early today, actually showered and blew dried my hair. I sure need a haircut. I guess I can find another piece of my youth reclaimed. As a teenager and as a young man I had shoulder length hair. My hair hasn’t been this long since those days. I brushed my hair and figured I should try to look my best for our Zoom meeting. Zoom is a new innovation in online communication and meetings. It is something Read more…
Staying in one place, after moving all our life Reorganizing societies Re-evaluating priorities Overcoming fear, avoiding all strife Into a strange new world, we find a new reality Filled with fear Is the enemy near? In this new world full of unanswered anxiety Kindness is what can save humanity our discord it heels Uniting our ideals Being kind to avoid calamity
Today was 420, another day of the week, a day like every other. Monday, I think. It began with a shock. A roof has collapsed at Big White. People are without a home. Fortunately, no one got hurt when the atrium roof at the Snow Ghost Inn dropped four floors in a catastrophic heap. 420 didn’t seem all that important and everything takes a back seat to luck. Lucky the hill was closed and no one was under the roof. Read more…
Sleep, wonderful blissful sleep. I remain in my slumber as late as I can, Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest. Yet rest escapes me again. A temptation on the fringes of consciousness I fight to remain in the depths of elusive sleep. No flickers today to interrupt my dreams yet dream I do. Another moment in time, we would be going skiing for the last day of the season today. Sleep would be secondary. Noon sneaks up Read more…