Back Home

 

Back at home after a special trip

Its funny that my friend recimended a second chinese resteraunt, this one called The Magic Wok,

Because this trip was like a magic Walk.

Flying home, in perhaps a steryotypical manner, there were a lot of Newfoundland people flying to Calgary, and presumably on to other locations nearby for work.

Forced by economic circumstances to leave a beautiful place for the search for work elsewhere.

Kind of like the song by Buddy Whasisname and the Other Fellas- Salt Water Joys.

But for me, that elsewhere place, Alberta, also is my home, and a place also where I do seek that connection and peace with nature.

Like today on a bike ride in Bragg Creek on a trail called Kestril.

So, I hope we all -who want to  -can find that special healing and heart filling connection. If we are luckily enough to have that chance.

Amazing Trails

September 3, 4, 5, 6

Four more amazing hikes, and the trip is coming to an end.

After the last hike, I thought I saw somone I knew. To get back to St John's from Torbay, I had to call for a taxi. I gave the first house address I could see, closest to the trail. I was sitting down below looking out at the bay. After a while, I heard dogs start to bark because he had pulled into the driveway of the address that I gave. I ran up, shouting 'Its me! Its me!' And..., it was her? She was dog sitting for the owners. We stared at eachother for a moment. I got in the taxi, and we drove away.

Was really her? Could it have been? When we met before, there was a chance for a relationship, I was interested, too, but I wanted to respect my boundaries. I didn't know how to explain that. 

...

Latter that night, I listened to a friend and his band playing down on George Street. It was his first time being back at that venue after 20 years, and he said theres a term for that in Japanese, coming back to an old place, but it seems something has changed.

...

Saturday- Puch Cove to Flatrock to Torbay

Friday- Pouch Cove to Cape Saint Francis (almost) 

Thursday- Piccos Ridge Trail, Portugal Cove Side

Wednesday- Cape Spear to Fort Amherst

 I hope I do get to come back.

There were even some friends I didn't get a chance to see...

What Dreams May Come

 

Wednesday September 3

Waiting for the Metro Bus

Newfoundland accents at the bus stop

and new comers from around the world

Rode past farms and schools

Through neighborhoods untill everyone got off

Turning around at the very end of the route

'You want to get off here?' The driver asks.

Old Shoal Bay road, 

Pavement ends

Cross a river

Up a hill

Look down the other side 

I can see the ocean

6.4 km to the shore

Another river comes and goes

It flows down the road for a while

Easiest path to the sea

We pass through mossy wooded glens

Still pools reflecting on stones

Suddenly I'm at Raymonds Gulch

Up-swelling clean sweet smelling air

Blueberries I can pick fistfulls at a time

Basalt bolders and ferns birch trees and fir

An eagle jumps out of a tree

So close I hear its wings flapping

and I jump backwards, too

I come to the footprint of an old living space

One or two homes in a clearing by the sea

The kettle's still here, and the top of an old rake

Raspery bushes and blowing green grass

I pass Miners Point, a once copper mine,

Now here theres blueberry bushes

The coastline horizine fading into the clean air in the south

I climb up a Headland 

onto green feilds in the sky

Seagulls below me flying under the cliffs

I lay in the grass, and the moss

The sea far below

I've been taking photos all day

every five steps at least

(But my cameras just a trick, it hasn't been saving)

I lay on my stomach for a close up

a Pitcher plant, we both smile

I pass through a feild of bolders and grass

Slowly I come back down to the level

I surprise two big grey seals laying on a rock

The dive and dissapear

Poking up now and again to examine me

The sun starts going down

I approach Petty Harbour, a small town

Its like Im waking up from a dream

I knock of the door of a closing-up resteraunt

Fish and chips in a paper bag to go,

To go sit on a bench in the twighlight

Strings of lights reflecting on the water

Where the Grass Starts to Grow

 

Beyond the Baldan Highlands,

I prayed today on the heather 

overlooking the ocean,

and lay down in the sun

where I enjoyed the cool breeze

and seagulls flying by, and a kittiwake

and the waves down below tall granite cliffs

terraced with fir trees gold in the sun.

It's a long walk back to the harbor where

I saw a young man sitting just past the houses

where the grass starts to grow.

His golden retriever looked happy

looking at the seaguls in the water below.

I used to enjoy sitting there 

and a breeze was in the grass

and a sunset light was on the rocks.

I made to say hello

and suddenly felt shy, 

but he offered me to pet his dog.

Its just on the edge of the Atlantic

and just on the edge of town.

Chinese Food Resteraunt

 There was a girl.

How many stories begin with phrase? 

After a day of walking old trails, and talking with old friends.

Looking out at the rain in the night. 

Sat by the window in the Chinese food resteraunt, in St John's Newfoundland.

Dressing and Gravy

 

Officialy back in St John's!

First stop, Chess's Fish and Chips, got to try the fries with dressing and gravy.

First first stop though, even just moving from the plane to the terminal, I can smell and feel the ocean air. It is a rainy ish evening, maybe that adds to the salt and humidity in the air, and its breezy, too. 

Taking deep deep breathes, as I was walking home from the Fish and Chips, I was enjoying the sweet air. Phmmmm,  Aaaahhh, going deep into my lungs. Nothing quite like it.

Excuse Me, Can You Please Cheer Me On?

 They say it is harder for guys to ask for directions. 

I was at the climbing gym today, and a particular guy caught my eye. I wanted to watch him climb, and yet not seem weird. I continued with my climbing routine, but kind of kept stealing glances, and I think maybe he noticed. The gym is in the shape of a circle.

My routine is to go around the circle. Near the end of my routine, I happened upon a route that my man and the lady he was with were sitting close to, So, I asked them to watch out ere I would fall and crash upon them. They politely moved to the other pad, though I never fell.

After that we shared some Beta. So to say, I had further made his acquaintance discussing a V.5 we were both working on, and another climber with a tuque and a grey beard- a long one and very full-  offered some advice as well.

Then, they climbed one and I climbed another. Therewith, I suggested that we all go look at a steep V.4. I had been working on it for a few weeks and I was hoping, perhaps, they could enlighten me on how to finally ascend it. However, after looking at it they decided not to try it, despite the favorable grade. Therefore, I could gather no clues from their endeavors. 

Alas, I jumped forward to try it at once with them both looking on. Lo and behold, their audience helped me to give my best effort yet, however not quite to the top could I ascend. They consolidated me with some encouraging remarks, and I was glad for their company.  

Hence I realized, I could simply have asked from the outset, 'Excuse me, can you please cheer me on?'

The Month of May

 

May

Mom away on Holiday in Ireland for most of the Month

Did a weekly walk at Anne and Sandy Cross Conservation Area

Nice early morning hike with fried Shahaab

Birthday Present Cavaly FC Soccer Game at Spruce Meadows

c

Edmonton vs. Florida at Moose Mountain

 

Remembering Dad at Lake Louise (May the 4th be with You! was the Last Day of the Season at Lake Louise, stayed at the Hostel and had a nice phone call with friend in NFLD, Arpit)

Lake Louise with Kate

 Had a very nice weekend at Lake Louise ski hill with Kate and Sofie and Markus and Kevin and some of their friends. It was a good chance to do some fun skiing, hit some ski jumps and enjoy the spectacular mountain views. We also had a big group dinner with live music and NHL playoffs in the explorers pub at the Lake Louise inn with all the kids and parents having a good time together. I stayed two nights in the Hostel next door. On Monday after everyone went home, I had a nice backcountry cross country ski up to Bolder Pass on the way to Skoki Lodge. It was a moody day with wind and falling snow and misty mountains. Saturday and Sunday on the ski hill were sunny and clear. Temple Mountain and the surrounding peaks and glaciers of the continental divide clear and blue and white for me and Kate, and together we both yelled out Hello to Dad and We Love you Dad from the top of his last ski run called Eagles Flight.