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Hikes and Such · Mar 16, 09:48 PMIt’s Sunday night, and I’m pleasantly exhausted. On Friday night Colin and I had a date night — dinner and a movie, Juno. Quite enjoyable. I really liked the movie. Saturday we spent a lot of the day doing stuff around the house, and Colin spent most of the day getting his bike shaped up for summer. We plan to insure it for the season, and our first trip will be this coming Easter weekend when we go to Nanaimo. Brimley will have the privelege of riding in a backpack behind Colin and in front of me. Should be quite interesting. I wonder what they’ll say when we buy our ferry tickets. I wonder how much Brimley will enjoy riding a motorcycle. I guess we should get him a pair of doggles.
So after our big hike, we went over to Lara and Aaron’s place for a delicious roast beef dinner. That Lara can cook! Even though she complains about not being able to. She’s just being modest I guess. It was wonderful, especially the yorkshire pudding, and it was nice to get to have some play time with charming little Dylan. Well, I’m beat, so I think I’ll turn in early. Only three more weeks of classes left, and then a whole month off! Yippee! |
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Anyway, today we got up and headed east to the Chilliwack area for a hike. We chose a trail featured in my book of best hikes and walks of southwestern British Columbia, and it didn’t disappoint. I was a little surprised at the amount of snow up there, but I guess we were at a little higher altitude. We parked on the side of the road near the Lindeman Lake trail head, walked a kilometre in and then headed up the trail. 
It was beautiful walking through the woods, with a light dusting of snow on the ground and big beautiful trees all around. But soon the hike turned quite steep, and it was actually pretty gruelling for about 20 minutes or half an hour. It was basically all uphill to the lake, and it turns out I’m pretty out of shape. Go figure. I blame Tivo and my lack of discipline/motivation. Anyway, we finally reached the lake, and it was beautiful. We were the only people there, and it was incredibly quiet and serene. Brimley was just having the time of his life, 
running circles around us, sniffing everything in sight. He even dipped his feet in the water a few times when we were sitting around looking at the lake and enjoying some refreshments. All in all, a wonderful and invigorating hike, though a little far from home. It took us about an hour and a half to get there. Kind of a lot of driving for a two hour hike. Spring is a Beautiful Thing · Mar 6, 10:45 PMI think spring is officially here. The days have been sunny and mild lately, with the usual spattering of rainy days thrown in for variety. I am thrilled. Winter is something to be endured, and I for one am glad that it’s over.
The next trip will be in May, when we drive to Salmon Arm with the tent trailer for Lee’s wedding. Lee is Colin’s step sister, and she’ll be marrying her sweetheart at Carol and Arden’s place. Quite an idyllic setting for a wedding. We’ll likely stay at the campground near Salmon Arm. June will be fairly empty until the end of the month, when we drive to Blue River for the Canada Day long weekend to camp with Annette and her family, and Andrea and Kelly and their two dogs. Four nights of frivolity. Definitely looking forward to it! That brings us to July. The last weekend of July we’ll be driving all the way to the Kootenays, Crawford Bay to be exact, for my cousin Sean’s wedding. It’ll be a family affair, and I’m sure it’ll be quite a lot of fun. Probably a fairly rushed weekend though, since I think it’s about a nine-hour drive to get there. Lots of driving. And then we have August, which ends with the Labour Day long weekend, and the annual Stokes/Fletcher camping weekend. I’m not too sure of the venue this time around, but it’ll probably be somewhere between here and Salmon Arm. Should be another successful trip. So lots of tent trailer use in store for us! And that’s not even counting any trips with our tent trailer buddies. We’ll certainly do at least one trip with Julie and Jess over the next few months. I have a lot to look forward to this summer, and I haven’t even mentioned the upcoming fun things. We’ll be spending the Easter weekend with Julie and Jess and clan in their new house in Nanaimo, while they shop around for tenants. And my sister is planning on moving to Vancouver Island (Comox area) by the end of March, so I’ll be spending some time out there in April visiting and helping her get settled in. And then of course there’s the sailing trip during the first week of August. Highly anticipated, as usual. Boy oh boy! This is why summer is my favourite season, hands down. I can’t wait for the fun in the sun to begin! |
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With spring brings the promise of a very exciting and event-filled summer. We have a tent trailer trip planned every single month from April to the end of August. In April, Annette and Andrea will be visiting for a few days, so we plan to take the tent trailer up to Whistler and spend a couple nights there. We’ll do some exploring and have some adventures and likely split our sides from laughing too hard. I can hardly wait! Midterm Exam Time · Feb 21, 11:31 AMI’m sitting here in a classroom watching students write their midterm exam. It’s pretty boring. It’s also kind of a nice break for me, since it’s certainly preferable over the normal three hours of tiresome verbatim reporting. I’ve been thinking lately about the evolution-creationism controversy, prompted mostly by the Human Evolution course that I’m doing at SFU this semester. It’s pretty clear that the vast majority of people in the academic and scientific world believe in the theory of evolution to explain our origins, and I count myself in that group. I’m currently reading a book called “A History of God”, which details a sort of ‘evolution’ of religion over the past 3000 years. It’s clear that things evolve. What isn’t clear to me is the theory of creationism. I mean, I have a pretty good idea what it describes, but I’m hoping to find a compelling and logical argument in favour of accepting it over the theory of evolution. The two theories seem, to a large extent, to be mutually exclusive. So to believe one, must you discard the other completely? If not, is there a way for the two theories to co-exist harmoniously? And again, I still want to hear the argument for creationism. I’ve heard the arguments and evidence for evolution, and I usually strive to hear a clear account of both sides of any debate so that I can feel satisfied that I’ve made the most well-informed decision. Perhaps it’s a matter of being raised in a religious environment? I’ve never really been to church, so perhaps it’s merely a matter of faith and indoctrination. Perhaps that’s where the controversy comes in. Perhaps it’s impossible for proponents of the two sides to enter into a debate because the one side is using scientific methods and data as evidence, whereas the other is appealing to faith and a belief in something which is fundamentally unknowable and unprovable. They’re using different tools of persuasion, and therefore speaking different languages. This is my best guess anyway, and I suppose I may have to resign myself to accepting that I may never hear a compelling argument for creationism. Though if someone could prove me wrong, I’d be delighted. |
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Another Happy Birthday Aaron! · Feb 16, 03:09 PMYup, today is Aaron’s birthday. We’re planning to have a poker party at Lara’s place tonight. Julie and Jess and kids and nanny have come to Vancouver for the weekend to visit, Not too much has happened over the past week or so, so I’m at a bit of a loss as to what to write about. I’m happy that spring seems to be looming on the horizon though, and there are fun things too look forward to. We’ll likely be spending Easter in Salmon Arm, although there’s a chance that we may spend it in Nanaimo at Julie and Jess’s new house. How exciting! And I’m super excited about April 10th, when Annette and Andrea arrive for a long weekend of giggling and silliness. We’ll be spending a couple nights in Whistler together — totally awesome! Well, that’s all folks. Sorry I have nothing exciting or entertaining or funny to write about. Brimley has been doing well, Colin’s been behaving himself, and the semester is almost half over now, which is just wonderful. So life is just life. Oh, we did go to the boat show last weekend, so I’ve been dreaming about the big blue ocean again, and about our big around-the-world sailing trip coming up in a couple years. Can hardly wait for that! Then I’ll have something to write about! And really, isn’t that what everyone wants? Something to write home about? |
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and we just returned from taking a nice walk around Granville Island — all 12 of us. It was pretty fun, a little chaotic, but fun. So nice to see everyone again. Feels like we’ve been cooped up for a while, and it was nice to get out and smell the ocean air again and have some good chats with good friends. Brimley seemed to enjoy himself as well, and now that we’re home, he’s launched into a big afternoon nap. At Least January is Over · Feb 4, 12:02 PMJanuary is the worst month of the year, as far as I’m concerned. February isn’t great either, but at least it’s a short month (although this year is a leap year!), and it means spring is just around the corner. I hope we have a nice early spring, and then an early and warm summer full of beautiful weather. Speaking of summer, I have another fun trip to look forward to now. We’ve booked that same amazing 50-foot sailboat for a one-week charter, August 1-7. Can’t wait!! Still firming up the crew list, but most spots are filled already. Yippee! This past weekend was pretty enjoyable and relaxing. Now it’s Monday, the start of another work week. It’s week 5 out of a 13-week semester, so I guess we’re getting close to the halfway point, thankfully. I sure love having that month off in April, August and December to look forward to. Makes the semesters bearable. I’ve also been going for a massage each week for the last couple weeks to try to work out that persistent ache in my neck/shoulder area, and I think it’s helping. Along with the strengthening exercises and pilates that I’ve been doing. I hope it goes away for good! I guess that’s all I have to report. Not much happening these days. I think we’ll likely go to the boat show this coming weekend, so that should be fun. Hope everyone is enjoying February! |
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Brimley got to go for several walks and logged some solid playtime at the dog park. On Saturday Ryan came over for a visit and a brainstorming session on an idea for a new website that we’re keen to develop. And on Sunday, we had a nice little visit from Lara and Dylan. Dylan let me photograph him in all his cute glory, and he was very cooperative for the camera. I’ve posted a small album of my favourite shots.
agreed, summer is hands down the best season. so happy we have a couple weekends in there with you…XO