It's been a while...a Christmas update

Well it has been some time since I have put digits to keyboard in an attempt to share some of our recent activities, adventures, changes and challenges. Since July, since the Bowron Lakes canoe trip, where the forest creatures tried to march two by two into our canoe, much has happened. The biggest news is that Catherine was six weeks pregnant for that Canoe trip and is now nearly 7 months pregnant. We are expecting our first born somewhere near the end of February. We do not know whether boy or girl and after seeing our ultra-sound video and pics we have nicknamed the kid Face in honour of the title of one of the photos.

During the pregnancy Catherine has been amazing; transitioning from a fly in camp job to an at-home office working for a non-profit environmental awareness organization. Not only was this transition difficult because of the drastic change in responsibilities but the at-home office meant that Catherine went from surrounded by colleagues in an industrial scientific field to essentially an independent contractor for the Northern Environmental Action Team. Like the truly talented lady she is Catherine managed to kick start the organization's Dawson Creek activities, building relationships in the community and creating some events that bolstered the profile of NEAT and involved schools, and community groups. (I should note that her at-home office became, on several occasions, my at-home work shop. Bird houses, spice racks, vertical gardens were all built by Catherine's little elves.) These items were all used to promote re-use of pallets and other materials. Catherine has also now moved into the consulting world and now operates as a business. She is doing water sampling work for the Ministry of Forest, Lands and Natural Resource Operations. So, why is Catherine amazing, if you didn't get it...She has switched jobs, single handedly kept and an organization going in Dawson Creek, started a business, canoed 118 kilometers in torrential rains, continues to swim, challenged herself with indoor rock climbing, hosted family from East and West playing tour guide, cook and babysitter, all while managing her first pregnancy! Amazing!

I have settled in to teaching Grade 8 which is an interesting challenge and very different from grade 3-4. The kids are emotional, hormonal, full of energy and many challenges. I finish most of my days very tired and with an ever growing to do list it seems. I am enjoying the energy and challenge and have found working with students of the middle school years very interesting because the conversations are more sophisticated and the learning more dynamic. While I am happy to be on break I am eager for the new year and the projects that await. I continue to work at the climbing gym and am now a certified Level 1 instructor.

Catherine and I have been busy. I think we had 5 jobs between the two of us at one point this year. We have been fortunate to have family from both sides visit. Dave and Ronnie were up followed by Murray, Tracy and Graeme (who took in his first rodeo) and then Steve and Yolande to finish out the summer in August. Dave wandered the streets, Tracy came determined to see wildlife and the Northern lights and left having seen both, although the latter sighting may have been influenced by fizzy orange adult beverages. Murray and I enjoyed many beers, Yolande redesigned, redecorated, cleaned windows and polished silver candlesticks( I think she found every store in Dawson Creek with anything good to offer) Her special touch warmed rooms up and made the place feel like home for travelers coming from all directions. Steve and I put the finishing touches on an interlock patio I designed and built and then he spent the rest of the visit with a mystery allergy/flu. Despite the flu we toured and saw the Old Kiskatinaw Bridge, The WAC Bennett Dam and places in between. We thoroughly enjoyed all the time that we spent with family up here and Y'all come back now ye here!



This summer was also filled with celebrations of love. Mike McPherson married Tina Scott, Stephanie Simmons married Peter Grauer, Matt Franks wed Jocelyn Carten, Marc Bergeron tied the knot with Jocelyn Bueller, Shaun Elliot and Erin Ladd and Emily Black and Aaron also took the plunge. Wow! It was a summer of touring around seeing some of our close friends and family take the next step in their lives together. The nuptials brought us to PG, around the island, to Pender island and around the lower mainland. It was awesome to share in these celebrations of love and we were thrilled to be a part of them all. I should share a couple of my adventures or misadventures surrounding some of these celebrations.



After the Franks-Carten wedding the celebrations moved to Tofino. Catherine had to fly back to the mine so she missed out on this unfortunately. It was my first visit to the west coast of Vancouver Island and a memorable one. The next visit will be with my love. Anyway, it was awesome!. I visited cathedral Grove, Sproat Lake, surfed in Tofino, dined in Uclulet and camped at a newly constructed camp ground that offered rugged, spectacular vistas, great beach and Yurts to come. The wedding partyers congregated in what can only be described as a paradise on Earth where we surfed, ate, drank and were merry. Halfway through my stay on the West Coast Houdini dragged the chair and enormous piece of driftwood into the ocean in a desperate attempt to join us in the surf. He killed my phone and nearly 3 other phones and several cameras. This left me incommunicado with my pregnant wife (Dog house to follow)I headed out after three days of living the life of an indulgent hippie and went to visit Rogi, Lizzie and Tilly - The Youngs. Before arriving at their home in Duncan I stopped and bought myself a phone - YAY iPhone! I love maps on this thing! I toured with the Youngs to Campbell River and camped some more. It was great to catch up with them and see Tilly old enough to climb trailer ladders and deposit cell phones in recently extinguished fires. All kinds of personality that kid, can't imagine why.



I will move now to the Simmons-Grauer rehearsal dinner. So I was to get organized and bring myself on time to the rehearsal dinner - no problem. My parents were arriving for their visit that afternoon as well and they were going to travel by transit to the Jerricho Beach hostel. However, their flight was delayed and I was tracking it. It was delayed but scheduled to arrive at a time where I could get them, drop them off and make it downtown for dinner. OK here we go. Drive to the airport, one lane for 20 mins on Southwest Marine Dr. Checking AC App for arrival time, sweet they just touched down. Fly in to the airport, hug the rents, wait for luggage (tapping feet). OK got it lets go, pay the parking, on the road. Get downtown, on the way through Kits, dad is using 2 smart phones to calculate best route (I dont know if iPhone or Blackberry won). One way grrrr, no left turn hmmm, doing it anyway, woohoo on the right road. Drop the rents off, pop a Ueee, heading downtown. Awesome I am getting on to the Cambie St bridge, almost downtown, I'll be drinking beer at Steamworks soon, maybe only 15 mins late. But what's this? One bike, 2 bike, 3 bike, four bike, tall bike, long bike, WTF (Sorry Grandma). What is this??? So I wait... and 45 minutes later I arrive at the address. Contact the wife, this is an Asian food place, where r u guys? Sally comes to get me. I get in, there are leftovers and a none too happy wife. I enter to a round of applause, never good when you miss the entire event. I sputter and stammer and say "but bbb but there were all these bikes and I was on the bridge and you cant just get off the bridge and and..." Then Stephanie saves me, "Holy crap, you got stuck behind Critical Mass" Critical what? Apparently I managed to hit a once a month anti-establishment hippie-a-thon that tries to disrupt traffic. That could only possibly happen to me, FML (Sorry again Grandma). Well, I was on time for the wedding the next day, found some great parking(so great I left my vehicle there all weekend, but that is a story for another time), and enjoyed a beautiful ceremony and awesome reception.

More recently, because Catherine has been working in the rural areas around Dawson Creek and our family is growing, (literally I think Catherine is bigger every day now...she is not enormous by any stretch though...love you dear) we purchased a new truck. The Tucson is going strong but better it is an in town vehicle than a highway warrior now. Houdini was dancing to the beat of his own drum most of the summer, we think maybe a sense of sibling rivalry. However, he is his usual cuddly self again so must have resigned himself to the inevitable and is solidifying his place in our hearts. (It hasn't changed)

Well, we had some cool Halloween decorations up and the neighbours liked the spooky decor. We have followed that up with x-mas lights on the house and we are truly enjoying our place up here. We hunted our x-mas tree with our new tenant ( a law student from T. O.) and set it up. We chose one that had been blown down in recent chinook winds and this may have been why it died quickly and early on us. The tree shed so many needles it had to come down already and when I removed it from the living room I could have counted those that remained.

I think that's it in a nutshell. We are heading to New Westminster for Christmas and the New Year. We miss everyone out east and are looking forward to seeing Saskia and Scott over the holidays so we can relive some of the Celtic Campervaning together. My New Year's resolution is to write more so come back and check this out again soon. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and all the best to our friends and family for 2012.

Shaun, Catherine, Houdini and Face

The Bowron Lakes

Catherine and I just returned from a 7 day and 6 night canoe expedition through the Bowron lake chain in Bowron Lake provincial park just out side of Wells/Barkerville in the Quesnel mountains. We tested our new tent, rain gear, dry bags and other equipment in some of the worst conditions the park has ever seen. In case you haven't heard it has been pretty rainy in much of BC this errrr summer. Dawson Creek has seen 2 once in 40 year floods in the last month and many spots around the province have had flood notices and record water levels. The main highway north between Prince George and Dawson Creek was closed for several weeks due to wash outs and missing bridges. It has only recently re-opened with single lane alternating traffic for much of the lead-in to the pine pass just south of Chetwynd. In any case, back to the Bowron. To begin our trip we spent a nice night at Becker's Lodge as this was the outfitter from whom we rented our canoe. We caught the owner in a good mood and he offered us a lightweight Hellman Prospector (Kevlar) boat which turned out to be awesome. The boat managed moving water well and cut nicely through the wind. It served us well. Another piece of our new gear did not serve us so well. We discovered that our new cook stove would burn out and not re-light. We wasted much of our gas trying to cook bacon and eggs the first morning before departing. This proved to be a lucky break in the end. It forced us to buy a much cheaper/less techy stove from Becker's. We bought more fuel and our cheaper stove worked 100% of the time. Had our stove worked the first morning we might have been screwed. The stove we bought was a JetBoil and while I love the pot construction (helps to heat up really quickly), the burner is a piece of shit and unreliable.The stove disaster set us back in the morning and we just made our 9am orientation. We did not manage to start the first portage until noon. The first day saw a couple of rain showers on the way to our first site. We paddled through Kibbee Lake and to a spot about halway down Indian Point Lake. We set up camp and had a good dinner. The wind came up and our enormous blue tarp needed emergency adjustments but served us quite well the first night and several others.

The next morning we had a lake bath which was quick and cold and would be the last for 5 days. We paddled to the bend of Isaac Lake the second day and were caught in a thunderstorm en route. We stopped and threw up a tarp. I unsuccessfully tried to build a fire the whole time we were waiting the storm out. Much of the wood for the whole trip was water logged and difficult to burn. By the time we arrived at the bend in Isaac Lake we debated staying at a shelter area, it was marshy around the site and swarms of mosquitoes swayed our decision (along with a trio of Germans who were pressing on) to keep going. We paddled to a site a little further on, set up camp and then the rains began in earnest. The wind came up, the clouds settled in and it rained for 50 hours straight! FML! That night we snacked in the tent until full, played some crazy 8 countdown, and fell asleep exhausted.

We spent 14hrs in the tent that night because the rains did not let up. finally in a modest lull we tore down camp, packed up and pressed forward on Isaac Lake in the pouring rain and wind. The only up side was that we had a tail wind. 1.5 hrs later we arrived at the Cabin where the German trio stayed the night (by themselves, shit shoulda kept goin). They invited us in to warm up and have a tea. That was great! We stayed for several hours and swapped travel stories. Catherine and I decided to press on to the next cabin because in the end we needed to make some distance, even just a little bit. We paddled another 2 hrs, the wind having changed for the second half and arrived to the second cabin to find more Germans. (this time a water logged family of four and the patriarch's Canadian cousin) We walked in and their canoe had vomited all over the Cabin. It was kinda dark and an awkward entrance. Again we were offered tea and a spot by the fire. They made some space on hangers and we added our gear to the canoe vomit. Catherine and I warmed up and then started figuring out where to put our tent. As we tried different spots around the cabin the German trio showed up and then it was kind of crowded. Luckily Catherine spotted a great site in amongst the cedars behind the cabin. We set up shop and pitched the enormous blue tarp over the tent. This time it worked how I had envisioned. It created an A-frame over our space which added a huge cooking and storage area around our tent free from the rain. The cabin only came with one designated tent spot and it was in between arms of Lynx creek. By the time we set up our tent the creek had come up enough to run completely over the tent site. Because of this the German trio undertook a real construction project to get their tent set up. They flattened ground, hammered in tent pegs and cut down a tree to brace their tarp. We went to bed on night three - 28 hours of rain.

It was blueberry pancakes for breakfast the morning of day four. A good breakfast and some dried out gear got us going and we decided despite the rain to make a big push and paddle 20kms or so to the end of Isaac Lake. We departed just before the German trio and set off in a steady drizzle. We ate and drank regularly for this paddle and it kept our spirits and energy up. I also finished 99 bottles of beer on the wall, a lifetime first! Four and a quarter hours later we arrived at the shelter on the end of the lake at the head of the Isaac river. We were the first to arrive that day and our canoe and bags barfed all over the shelter. A fire was started immediately and we brewed some tea for us and the German trio who were to arrive shortly after. It was very nice to dry everything out and be warm by the stove. Invigorating enough for me to set out and do some fishing before dinner. Did not catch anything but improved my casting ability greatly.

The next morning I was up at 5:30 for some reason but enjoyed getting a fire going for all the campers and organizing us for the paddle down the river and on to Sandy Lake. It was to be a big day of paddling. The weather finally broke on this morning. The sun tried poking through and everyone was cracking jokes about the weird object in the sky. We set out down the river at about 9:30am, our earliest start. The first set of rapids were fun. The first portage was not. We paddled the Isaac river and managed the portages but we were clearly fatigued. After the Isaac river we fished on McCleary lake. I caught bottom and Catherine didn't fare much better. We reeled in and entered the Cariboo river. This river is silty and there are warnings about avoiding deadheads and sweepers including an example of a halved canoe left on the waterway to remind you to pay attention. We enjoyed this section as we got some sun and were able to take a few nice photos. The Cariboo spews you into Lanezi Lake. We saw fish jumping and decided to put a line in. When we did so we realized I had left my net (unused) at the last portage. Oh well, you don't need a net to keep fishing. I passed the rod off to Catherine and she trolled for a few clicks. Unsuccessful, she reeled in and put the rod away. As she was doing so it bounced out of the boat, I missed it, boat kept going, by by rod. So, no rod, no net, no fish - FML again! We continued paddling Lanezi Lake and it seemed like it would just never end. We finally stopped at a flooded out site to eat lunch with an enormous Marmot. There were Marmot holes everywhere including one under the unwalled facilities, it was a nervous poop! After lunch we trudged on and on and on it seemed, eventually passing through the narrows that join Lanezi Lake to Sandy Lake. We had decided to Camp midway on Sandy Lake so not much further after the narrows. However, I hit the wall and we weren't going anywhere until I munched a couple of snack bars and hit the Gatorade. With enough energy to finish, we arrived exhausted 40 minutes later. We set up camp and then sought out some wood at another poorly marked woodlot. Upon our return we had our second lake bath, dried gear, cooked dinner and had a fire and hot chocolate with toasted marshmallows. The winds and rain came up again and we quickly retired for the night.

The next morning there was some low cloud and fog but the lake was glass and the mountains looked impressive. We never seemed to get going as fast as we would have liked, however packing, cooking, organizing, loading is a production and in the end it just takes time to do it right. We left on the morning of day six at about 11am. The only paddlers ahead of us were a father and sons trio who passed by our site at about 8am. We quickly paddled the rest of Sandy Lake in the morning and down the lower Cariboo. At Babcock Creek you can choose to do an out and back to Unna Lake but we decided we were tired enough and had to make some good distance so we skipped it. We ran into the paddlers that had passed our site at the Babcock Creek portage. We followed these paddlers through Babcock Lake and Skoi Lake, past moose families until we arrived at Spectacle Lakes. Here they stopped to fish and we pressed on. We stopped a little over halfway at a group site and shelter. We enjoyed a soup lunch with fresh fruit in the sun and then watched and waited out a thunder cloud and rainstorm. We decided to continue making ground and go to the next site, hard to leave a nice well-equipped site but we did. As we paddled to the next site we saw that it looked pretty busy. Then we saw people scramble to hide behind the trees at their fire and tarp. Okay we get the picture - no room at the in and fuck off. We were cheesed off at that action and so paddled on. This last stretch dragged on and we were getting tired. This was made worse when the final campsite we were shooting for was not on the right place on the map. We plugged on, silently, because this is best for us at this kind of juncture. Finally we camped at a site at the head of the lower Bowron River. The sun came out and shined on us as we set up and ate. It was a good last night with a fire. Not much more to say, we were pooched.

The final morning greeted us with cloud of course but also some blue patches and sunshine poking through. We got on the water relatively efficiently and headed downstream. The sun came out and the mountains appeared in all their glory. It was beautiful. We floated and leisurely paddled the river which snakes through a lowland known as moose flats. We understood why almost immediately as we passed just feet from a sow and calf. Golden eagles overhead, ducks at our side, deer and moose, frogs and red wing black birds it was so nice to be finishing our trip under the sun. As we exited the river only the tops of water course markers were visible and the river entrance signs had only the top foot exposed. There had to be at least 5 or 6 extra feet of water in the lake. We paddled into a headwind for the first half of Bowron Lake and then stopped midway with the end in sight to eat something and enjoy the sun. The hard paddle of the first half was balanced by glassy waters for the second half and we leisurely cruised in to Becker's Landing. The trip was a challenge in many ways but really that is what it was all about. It was glorious and really epidimizes what great opportunities we have in Canada for exploring natural beauty.

We packed well and had enough food and warm /dry clothes for the whole trip. Ironically I sunburned a little the last day as the only thing we packed and didn't use was sunscreen. After checking in and returning our canoe we b-lined to A&W for a poutine. A great trip that will be done again!

New House

We have finally moved in to our new place and it was a whirlwind. Catherine and I frantically, moved, cleaned and moved some more to empty our former residence into our new digs. We have both become increasingly pleased with the location, neighbourhood and home ownership in general. The project list has begun and the first task was to unpack and set up. Check. First thing done on the list and now to the real projects, the renos, landscaping, painting and upgrading that will make this place shine. Here is the place as it is now...peachy!

Leprechaun Kicks and a Bridge

So surfing old pics is a great way to find a story stored in the ol' memory banks. I found the photos below to go along with this little diddy. When Catherine and I traveled to Disneyland, I believe it was '06, we took Ronnie's Corolla and burned rubber the whole way (Haha kidding! Although I did manage a speeding ticket upon our departure from LA...more on that another time). The little green Corolla served us well with our tent, cook stove and Disney coupons. This was to be California on the cheap. We camped the whole way down. One of the campground's we selected was on the outskirts of San Francisco in San Rafael. It was located in a small oak woodland that looked south toward San Francisco Bay. There was beautiful vistas and really unique dune and serpentine vegetation. There was some nice walking trails all round the park and after we set up shop we went for a walk.

The location was a great jumping off point to San Fran. We crossed the bridge, that is the Golden Gate Bridge, which is amazing and impressive. We toured the fish market, China town and looked out to Alcatraz. We couldn't get out there because you had to book way in advance to get a tour. We shopped at the Bubba Gump Shrimping Co. and Catherine visited Macy's and we looked for shoes. We alos visied Lombard Street, the windiest street in the world (also very steep). We jumped on packed street cars and sailed around downtown. However we did manage to get on a street car that was too full, stalled out and started rolling backwards down one of the busy streets. The driver stopped the slide but we all had to disembark and walk. Catherine and I walked to the outdoor skating rink and marveled at the huge line up of Californian's and tourists trying to go for an incredibly packed skate. (I hate line-ups because we would have joined in the fun)

In the end Catherine performed some masterful Leprechaun kicks at our campground and I took one of my favorite pictures. California will be visited again!

Skies

I am endeavouring to write more, add photos and share. It is in great part due to Yolande Henry (thanks mom) and also Grandma Hickey that I am inspired to write about the things that are important. The things that are really important. The little things, everyday stuff, love, family, friends, the earth, social justice, peace... To this end I compiled a variety of skies from places that were a part of inspiring times in my life, regular times in my life, places I felt connected to the planet...most importantly all of the photos help me see life as the beautiful thing that it is and the opportunities in life that have been afforded me.

And now for a good laugh. I have spent a long time hunting these photos and need to go to bed. I will write more right away...I swear.

Moose...amazing!

Came across this video in the archives and thought it was kind of hilarious. Living in the north of BC has certainly made this experience ordinary rather than extraordinary as it is for the city folk of south eastern Ontario. We had a moose in the schoolyard in town twice last week and on Thursday I watched another swamp donkey stroll across the local ski hill while I was there patrolling. I let him do his thing.

Winter Wonderland

Well it snowed for 3 days straight and now we have 70km/hr winds. Crazy winter weather in DC! Check it out.

The New Year...The New Place

Well Catherine and I thought what better way to start a new year...new decade than with a new house. So that's exactly what we did! Catherine and I bought a house and we are set to move in as of the 18th of February. This is incredibly exciting and we are very happy to get into our own place and really make it our own. Bring on the visitors to Mile 0, we have the room at Auberge Henry.

Hello 2011

Well we rang in the New Year in New West and the party had a distinctly PG flavour. Thanks to Andrea for hosting and Matt for ringing in the new year with good tunes. Cheeseburgers, dips, a ton of appy's anda variety of rums all spiced the evening up. The New Year was made extra special by the final countdown (thanks to Stew and Drew)! We danced, we ate, drank and were merry! Good end to the decade with the company of great friends and family!

Goodbye 2010

It has been a bit of a whirlwind since my last update. Catherine and I traveled to New Westminster to visit family and enjoy the holidays. We did just that but getting there was an adventure! On the way down we traveled with our good friend Danielle. The drive was music filled and went by relatively smoothly (a few more bathroom breaks than usual)until just outside Chilliwack. Unfortunately, outside Chilliwack our roof rack blew apart and we lost a bag full of our sports gear. Kinda a downer, it didn't hamper the x-mas spirit, Danielle made it to the Dominican and Catherine and I visited as much as possible. We rode the x-mas train in Stanley Park, went skating at Robson square, snowboarding at Cypress and and did some cross country skiing at the Olympic venue in the Callaghan Valley outside Whistler. All and all a good finish to the year 2010.