May there be spring!

On a recent helicopter flight for work, our pilot commented that the Peace is two weeks behind his hometown Vernon.  The rivers here are filled with silt and not yet at their high water level for the year, snow still lingers in the bush and makes roads inaccessible, vegetation here is in various stages of leafing out while Vernon has had leaf out, flowers and is snow free!

We northerners cherish our summers.

It's rare for gardeners to plant before June due to lingering frost risk yet we're out on riverboats enjoying the snowcapped peaks and high water that makes areas inaccessible in warmer months.  Music festivals run into the never-dark night.  Black out shades sell out from the local hardware store a month before summer solstice as we attempt to adequately rest before launching ourselves into another high activity day of weeding, hiking, fishing, BBQs.  Even with our long days, it seems there's never enough time to fit it all in.

Industrial spray season, vol II

Six years ago my forestry summer job dried up before it even started.  This year it happened mid season.

Both times, a minor scramble followed to get myself back on someone's, anyone's payroll.  I had to expand my search outside of the community I live(d) in and the forest industry that typically employs me and settle for employment outside the province.

Like last time, I've signed on with Ace Vegetation.  As before, it's just for now, to tide me over, help them finish off their spray season.  I haven't decided if supervising suits me better than spraying but it's certainly more flexible.

It's definitely not a long-term fit for me, but it'll do for now.  

Sweetwater 905: festival season opener!

Sweetwater 905 Arts Festival outside Rolla, B.C. tripled in attendance from its previous year despite this past weekend's rain!  A stellar line up of musicians and artists from around the Peace, province and continent ensured that this ninth year will not be the festival's last.

The captive, appreciate audience at Sweetwater could be an audience at any northern music festival: inclusive, quick to dance and not shy about showing off their varied footwear and outfits.

Many of us, musicians and audience alike, neglected to change our tops, nevermind undies for the duration of the three-day festival.  Impossibly over-made-up gals jived alongside the Mattsons, venue hosts and owners of the property, while plaid-clad dudes in cowboy boots freshly wreaking of the cow paddy camping field mingled with the requisite hippies these events attract dressed in their baffling numbers of coloured layers.

Fire show performers deserved their own spot instead of inappropriately entertaining during an energetic performance from Ben Caplan.

Other standout sets were delivered from Samantha Scott, High Society and Dave Soroka and his "band."  Can't wait to hear you all again!

Chetwynd is a long way to come for cake

Spring, with a smattering of summer has finally arrived in the Peace!  Apple trees, dandelions and lilacs are flowering in town while prairie crocuses have already gone to seed in the bush as false saloman's seal and strawberries are getting their fragrant white flowers out.

BBQ season is in full swing with at least one invite rolling in per week from various friends around town.  Yesterday afternoon Caity and I sat on the deck under a sunny sky, drink in hand and caught up on the week we hadn't spent together.

Janice, the once-mother cat, will not be carrying on her reproducing ways as she was spayed on Friday.  That means our cutie kitty pot pies will be available for adoption this Friday to a loving furever home.  Will I miss them?  Absolutely.  Will I be pumped to see them come into their full kitty selves as indoor/outdoor cats together?  Even more so!

Our first couchsurfer, Yoko, from Japan was a hoot!  We popped around to the local pub, Murray's, for an early lunch  yesterday and as our sever's special table of her shift, she bought us a piece of chocolate cake for his long-distance visit.  His valiant attempts at English, a delightful tea ceremony with procedures resembling Communion preparations and keen attitude for anything Canadian, Alaskan or First Nations made for a delightful weekend.  

Work is hum bumming along.  I'm waiting for the first hatch of mozzies to start their annual assault but have otherwise been occupied ID-ing juvenile plants, classifying streams, planting lease sites (Seriously! I thought I'd hung those bags up!) cranking out nest surveys and logging some brain-numbing hours in the office reading manuals.  

It's weird being "The Local" on the crews.  It's true this is my fifth summer in Chetrock, but I by no means consider myself part of the permanent residential population here.  A plus of "local" status: I don't have to live in the company house.  

Back on the Alberta front, my extended family is taking turns visiting my brother in the Foothills Hospital after he rolled his truck two weeks ago.  From the updates, he has good and bad days where confusion runs rampant as his brain is attempting to slot info, data, sensory while also healing itself.  I'm beyond immediately worrying about him and much more concerned about how my mother is coping and processing it all.  

A trooper through and through, her state of mind and health are compromised and she openly confesses she is sleeping poorly and I fear that the responsibility of caring for him post-hospital (admittedly a long way off) is more than she can carry alone.  

Blessed beyond belief with a caring Calgary Crew composed of friends and family and a rocking group at her work, Mom says she is getting the support and breaks she needs while gardening and her kitties keep her distracted when she's not in Calgary.  

Kevin's given us substance abuse scares in the past and wonder of wonders he only injured himself with this most recent one.  

Monkman Pass Memorial Trail

In late June, six hikers from across Canada pulled on their hiking boots, grabbed granola bars and donned weighted packs for an overnight trip on the Monkman Pass Memorial Trail that followed the footsteps of pioneers that dared to follow their dreams creating an unforgettable corner of the Peace Country.

The park and the cascading waterfalls it contains were named after the men and women who unflinchingly dedicated their lives to the area, and it was a pleasure to share the trail with their memory and spirits.



Group photo at the beginning



Lunch spot at ~9 km



Crossing the mighty Murray



Another crossing. This is way scarier than it looks.





By our campsite



No bears here



My Creator's canvas.



Smooth out.