HEADING NORTH ONCE AGAIN

 POST # 644

The tulips are just about done, but I happened to find one that looks just like me.  Tulips are a big thing around this neck of the woods, at this time of year, but like every other year, they come and go, and with that most of the tulip tourists leave the area as well.

Another week has gone by, and soon I will be heading north once again, this time to Vancouver Island, to take care of a couple of furballs, that I have spent time with before.

A few other projects have been completed around Mary's yard, and I have been happy to help out where I can.  

Dora-dog has been our companion all along the way, and a blog post from here wouldn't be complete without a picture of her.  Here she is looking happy, as I get ready to take her for her daily walk.

She likes to stare out the front door and occasionally a critter walks by.  In this case it was a deer crossing the road. You can see the deer, just to the right of the mailboxes.  Dora-dog watches its every step with a focused concentration.  If I opened the door, she would be gone in a flash, so she has to be satisfied just to look.

The latest sign out front of Shelter Bay contained some words of wisdom from the Dali Lama with whom I had the pleasure to meet one day back when I lived in Melbourne, Australia.  

I was going to end the post with a political comment or two, as today is election day in Canada.  But why spoil a good post to talk about politics.  Having not voted in a federal election in Canada for at least two decades, to me it's just another day. 

And a PS.  Here is nature at work.  Even from a concrete block, a seed begins to grow.  Amazing.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

A SPRING PROJECT

 POST # 643

One week ago today, I departed Vancouver enroute to La Conner Washington, to visit Mary and Dora-dog.  Arriving at the station, I was happy to see that the Amtrak train was indeed back in business, after being suspended for a short time, while they worked on getting some newer cars on the route.  That was the first good news after arriving at the station.  The next potential hurdle was customs.  It's sounding more and more like a journey into the USA is not going to be as easy as before.  Imagine my surprise when I fronted up to the customs agent, and he just looked at my passport, stamped my customs card, and I was on my way.  He didn't even ask me one question.  Now, that's never happened before.  I was happy to board the train and soon we were on our way south.

We arrived at my stop of Mount Vernon about fifteen minutes behind schedule and Mary and Dora-dog were there to greet me.

Now that spring is here, there are projects that need to be completed, and the first one on the list was getting a new surface on the driveway.  

The first job was to put down the landscaping fabric, which looks like an easy job, but the day that we did this, the wind was blowing, which made it difficult to get the fabric in place.  With patience and persistence, we eventually had the driveway covered, in anticipation of the truck arriving the next morning with a load of gravel.

Somehow we managed to get that large pile of gravel spread evenly all along the driveway.  The man at the head of the driveway is Peter who was there to help us out.  So it was ***Peter, Paul and Mary working hard to get the driveway completed.

The final job was to compact the newly dispersed gravel.  The neighbour had a machine to accomplish this task, and so I had the opportunity to give it a go, and finish the job.  Mary took this photo of me at work.  I look like a grumpy old man.  I was actually enjoying the work, so I have no clue as to why this expression was on my face.

So that job is done, but I am sure there will be other jobs to complete during my stay.  

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

***This is the second time that Mary and I have been together when a man named Peter arrived on the scene.  Some years ago we were house sitting together, and a man rode  up on his motorcycle to visit the owners.  He introduced himself, as Peter.  I said "hi, my name is Paul and this is my friend Mary."

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

 POST # 642

My most recent journey began yesterday.  As soon as the suitcase was in view, Toby wasn't too happy about it.  I'm sure that he thought that I would be leaving him at home, but once he realised that he was coming along for at least part of the trip, he settled down, and became my travel companion to Kelowna airport.  Even though I wasn't going to be boarding a flight, this is the location that the E-bus stops at to pick up passengers heading to Vancouver.

Once we arrived, Toby was once again in a happy mood, because he saw his owners coming out of the airport.  They had just returned from a trip to Australia, so we had a quick visit, and the three of them headed home after their long journey.  I took up residence at the airport to wait for the E-bus.  I had two reservation forms, one for the trip from the airport to Kelowna, and the other from Kelowna to Vancouver.  I mistakenly looked at the departure time for the second bus trip, which is later than the one from the airport, and if I hadn't checked it a second time, I would have still been at the airport when the bus came and went.  Something in my brain told me to re-check the forms, and I'm glad I did.

The bus ended up being about twenty minutes late.  A little side note.  There was one person getting off the bus, and he had the exact same luggage as me.  What are the odds?  I went over to say hello, and we both had a good laugh about it.  I should have taken a photo.

So we were on our way, first stop being downtown Kelowna, and then across Okanagan Lake to West Kelowna and beyond.

There are plenty of stops between there and our final destination of Vancouver, but it was an uneventful journey, with the exception of one individual on the bus that snored almost the entire way.  Oh, and also the fact that the odour emanating from the onboard toilet was a fragrance that was to say, a very memorable one indeed.

I arrived late last night at Nicole and Dan's place, and I will be leaving this afternoon for Washington.  Ollie has been kind enough to keep me company while I am here.  Nicole and Dan both left earlier to head to work.

I expect to be boarding the Amtrak train later on today.  There was news a while back that they had cancelled their service from Vancouver, but apparently not.  I guess I'll know for sure once I get to the station.  Hopefully all will go well, although when one reads some of the news regarding border crossing from here on out, I do wonder how things will go.  I'll know soon enough.

So I've got a little while longer to hang out with Ollie, and then I'll be on the road again.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

FINAL THOUGHTS FROM LAKE COUNTRY

 POST # 641

As the season continues to progress, the trees are now starting to green up around here.  Spring has most  certainly arrived.

On our daily walk, we came across this old apple orchard, which I featured in my last post.  The trees continue to be chopped down, to make room for what?  More apple trees, or maybe a different type of crop will be planted.  The cycle continues on.

Below is one of my views, looking in a northerly direction towards the village of Oyama, which can be seen in the distance, at the northern end of Wood Lake.  Whenever I see that name, Oyama, I think of Granville Island, as one of the most popular shops at the market is Oyama Sausage.  In the foreground is part of the blueberry orchard that belongs to the property that I am on.

But the days are winding down, and it won't be too much longer before I head out.  I will certainly miss relaxing on the couch with Toby, and I'm guessing that he will miss this as well. He seems very relaxed.

I tried to explain to Toby that I will be gone soon, but as you can see from the look upon his face, he doesn't seem to want to accept that news.  One could say that he almost looks a bit sad.

Ah, don't worry Toby, your owners will be back home before you know it, and then all will be well in your world.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

WINTER'S LAST BLAST

 POST # 640

When I arrived at my current location, it was free of snow.  But in the past week, mother nature decided to give us one more blast of winter.  I have already forgotten which day the snow came down, but it snowed all day long.

Of course, that's no excuse to not take Toby for his daily stroll, so we headed out that morning to take our usual walk.  Toby could care less that it was snowing, as we wandered along the road.  If too much snow accumulated on his back, he just shook it off, and we continued on our journey.

One of the many fruit crops that are present in this area is apples.  When I was here last year, I took photos of apples still on the vine, having not been picked.  It seemed like such a waste to me.  But hey, I'm no apple farmer, so what do I know? 

And this year, I've come across an orchard that has finally come to an end.  At some point in time, the trees have produced as much as they can (I guess), so the next thing to do is to chop them all down, and plant something else.  I walked past this orchard a couple of days ago, and now the majority of these trees are now chopped up into small pieces, no doubt to be used for firewood at a later date.  Perhaps more apple trees will be planted here, or maybe a different type of fruit.

So the snow is now history, and by the feel of the weather, I sincerely doubt that I will see any more of it for the remainder of my visit.  Spring has certainly sprung.  Toby and I will continue our daily walks, and enjoy the warmth of the season as it progresses.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

SETTLING IN

 POST # 639

After a very delayed train journey a week ago today, I arrived very late in Vancouver for an overnight stay, prior to hopping on a bus last Saturday to head to the interior of BC.  Along the way there was some beautiful snow covered countryside to pass through.

If the bus is on time, it takes about six hours to arrive at the Kelowna airport, where the owners were awaiting my arrival.  They brought Toby along with them, and he wasn't too happy to see me at first.  But once we arrived at their home, it didn't take long before he warmed up to me.

And as I write this blog entry, we are once again best buddies.  So this has been my week to settle in and get into a routine with Toby.  It's much warmer than it was when I was here last year, and as can be seen from the photo below, there isn't any snow, which is a nice change.

So settling in is what I have been doing for a week, and I am looking forward to spending most of my hours with Toby.  He's very easy to care for, although since my last visit, he has developed the habit of whining at the back door, when he wants to go out.  Hopefully, I can help to break him out of that habit.  But time will tell.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

DORA-DOG'S FINAL LONG WALK FOR A WHILE

 POST # 638

Dora-dog is ready and waiting to go for her final long walk for a while, as I will be departing later today for Vancouver, en route to my next house sit gig.  Of course, she doesn't realize that it's her last long walk for a while, but she will know by this evening when I depart for the train station with Mary.

Thankfully, the weather co-operated for our walk today, as can be seen as we walked across the bridge heading into town.  If you look closely, you can see Mount Baker in the background.

On our approach to the bridge, Dora-dog found a nice patch of grass to roll around on, and when she does this, she seems to be at her happiest.

Because it was a nice day, there were plenty of other four-legged friends to meet and greet along the way, so she had a very enjoyable stroll indeed.  And just prior to arriving home, a woman drove by, rolled down her window, and said, "your dog is super cute."  She gets cute all the time, but this was the first time she was called super cute.

And so our walk came to an end.  And later today, I will once again have to say goodbye to Mary and Dora-dog, which is always a sad moment.  But at least I can look forward to our next get together, which should be in about one month's time.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

P.S.  Happy birthday Bill.