Turning 23

So, I turned 23 on Saturday. And this is what I turned into...

Yup, that's me tearing apart a telephone pole on a gravel road on the way to some hidden lakes.

Okay, you know me better than that. It wasn't me. It was actually a black bear marking his territory until he heard our car and ran into the woods. Pretty cool to watch a bear leap through the trees or, rather, blunder through them - fast! But he had already done some pretty serious scraping. We though about reporting him to the RCMP for vandalism.

Jill took AmyLou and I out for linner, aka dunch, aka lunch/dinner at Tatla Lake. It's the closest restaurant to their house, only a 40 minute drive. :) Then she drove us to see some pretty lakes tucked into the forest in the shadow of the mountains. One of the lakes sounded just like the ocean as the wind was washing waves up on its pebbly shore. Aaah, the ocean. I miss it in this dry and dusty land.

Over the weekend, we've seen plenty of wildlife, like the bear mentioned earlier. Also, deer (we see them pretty much every day when we drive to school), several grouse (they're mating right now), countless birds and ducks, a beaver (or was it a mink?) in the marshes that we visited Friday night, a cougar - oh no, wait, we didn't actually see a cougar. But Boycy - Steve's friend who is over a lot - keeps trying to friek us out by talking about a cougar he has supposedly "seen." He said we should let him have the cat first... :)

By the way, this is what my current "home" looks like.

Yeah, that little white square looking thing to the left of the road is Steve and Jill's house. The white blurb on the path is Kate, their dog. She came walking with me Sunday afternoon - or I should say bouncing, 'cause she can't hold still for two seconds. Hence the reason that she is so far ahead of me. But, yeah, I've posted this pic 'cause it's pretty typical of the landscape - pines (some infested with the pine beetle), dusty ground (never realized that the forests near where are I live are really rainforests until I walked in the forest here - had to wash my feet after 'cause dust got into my shoes), endless telephone poles and fences, and the desserted highway except for the occational truck or car that goes whirring by. People say it's beautiful and sometimes I agree but I do miss the lush green and the many colors in the lower mainland. One thing I do appreciate here is the silence and the open space.

So, besides some exploring and enjoying the outdoors, the weekend consisted of reading, playing piano, working on lesson plans, eating good food, having good conversations, and sleeping in.


That's plenty for now. To end, here is the view from Steve and Jill's porch, early one morning. The white in the distance are snow-covered mountains - the coastal mountains.