Bert

Adventuring aside, February was a hard month for me. Only a few weeks earlier our family dog, Bert, was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer. He was an otherwise very healthy little doggert despite being nearly 12 years old, so the thought that he would leave us so prematurely was a hard pill to swallow. The sting of it all was that he might have lasted much longer, except that his very swollen lymph nodes in his neck were occluding his airway and making it very difficult for him to breathe. Lucky for him he loved to be outside anyway, and the cool air helped to constrict swollen glands and open things up for him. But, he didn't sleep outside at night, and he had a terrible time of it. After two and a half weeks, I think he was becoming terribly exhausted. I caught him sitting out on the front step, still trying to keep an eye on the comings and goings, waiting for the mailman and the meter-reader, and doing the gentle head-bob of someone who was trying their best not to fall asleep while sitting up.

Before I had to come back to Vancouver, my dad and I made the last trip to the vet with Bert. I won't go into it too much because I'm still quite sore about it myself. I'm not sure if Bert knew what was going on at all, but he must have known something was up because I was entirely blubbery. It was quite quick - something I'm both happy for, and sad about - one minute he was with us, and the next minute - because I'd given the nod to go ahead -  he was gone. I wrapped him up like a little burrito, the way I do with the babies at work to keep them warm and safe.

This was an entirely different experience with death for me. With the others I was much more accepting; they were people whose time it was to see their new adventure. It was sad, but expected. You could rationalize it easily. With Bert, it was just sad, and too quick, and I definitely wished I could talk to him about it. The best I could do was to feed him soft duck paté and snuggle him in a blanket.

Bert was a dog who wasn't ever really interested in cuddling or obeying, and he prefered to sit on the porch alone in the cold, but he was most definitely a part of our family. Actually, the fact that he was an oddball probably made him more like a mamber of our family than any other dog might be. We're very accepting of people who don't fit in to social norms, you see.

 

May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

February is for Lovers...of snow!

Our February adventure took us to the Rocky Mountains! My father and I drove to Calgary to pick up Mike from the airport, and we spend a week skiing our way back to Kamloops. We visited the three mountains at Banff (Norquay, Sunhine and Lake Louise), then Kicking Horse, and finished with Revelstoke. Let me tell you - for all the fun we were having, my legs we like unto jello once we reached day 5!

We each had our favourite hills - mine was Sunshine. Kicking Horse was a real challengine mountain, but easily one of my favourites simply for the view. I felt as if I was climbing the mountains on my way to Mordor! There was a track from the lift to the Blue run that was maybe 25 feet across - and dropped sharply on either side! This mountain also had a second bowl that you had to hike to, which we never attempted to visit. The track was called the Lemming Line, as in skiiers and snowboarders follow each other like lemmings up this track and over a cliff. It was a little advanced for us.

Lake Louise with my dad. Good weather that day!

Post ski bewskis. Definitely necessary

Kicking Horse. Gorgeous! I wish I had more pictures, but I don't - we spent more time fiddling with the helmet cams...

Also Lake Louise. So rad

Dad was stoked on snowboarding! This was the gondola at Sunshine

Later, In January

I have excellent friends. Let's start with that. I have friends who try crazy things, big and small! Things ranging from "Yeah, ok, I've only even been snowboarding twice but I'll give Whistler a go!" to "I'm a huge fan of naked skydiving" and "Surfing in January, of course," and "let's open this gnarly wound dressing and see what's underneath....ummm...you're gonna want to call the surgeon." I love these awesome friends!

in January, I was invited along for a girls' weekend to Whistler. I didn't know anybody except for my one friend, but it turned out to be a very, very, extremely memorable trip! Our first day was a little shakey, plus we didn't get to hit the slope until after noon, but the snow was fair and the weather was unbelieveable! I thought to myself "if the weather's like this tomorrow, I'm just going to go boarding anyway, even if there's nobody to come with me!" The next morning, BOOM! Skies clear blue. I was definitely going up that mountain to see the Blackcomb Glacier.

This is how stoked I was to be at the top of the mountain, without any clouds whatsoever

Ridic sunny skies at the glacier

Once, in January...

Despite my best efforts, I haven't taken the time to update my blog in a fairly long time. Often I'll take a picture or do something cool and then say to myself "this'll be an swesome thing to add to the blog," and then it'll be three months later and I won't have done anything with it. I suppose the silver lining to it all is that I've spent my time out doing interesting things rather than sitting at my computer. Yeah, life!

So way back in January, Mike and I decided that we'd rather spend his week(s) off from work going places rather than have him just come back to Vancouver and have not much to do. Our first adventure was to New York City!

Spent our first day in Central Park. Look! I found Alice!

....Mike found a dry place to nap...

This was our view from the top of the Empire State building. That tall building is the new World Trade Centre, which apparently has another 1/3 of the height of the tower left to build. Frankly, I thought it was a big 'old "F-U" to decide to build a tower that's so much taller thant he original

We took a boat ride towards Lady Liberty - the closest we could get since the island wasn't yet prepared for visitors following hurricane Sandy

NYC was really, really cold. Also windy. Mike was acclimatized, what with his living in Sudbury. Not me, though! On this chilly day, we took refuge in the Public Library for a while. It's massive!

Mike wanted to make sure we went for a walk on the Hi-Line, a reinvented old elevated railway line that runs through the city. This was the day I'm positive I got frostbitten, but the experience was neat!

No trip to NYC is complete without a visit to a broadway show! Although there were some very traditional musicals playing, I opted for Once, a musical based on the film of the same name. Last year it won a bazillion Tony Awards, and I thought Mike would like it. A highlight: The set (a bar) was open pre-show and at intermission ro buy beer! I didn't care that it cost me an arm. It was awesome. The next evening, we saw Avenue Q off Broadway, too!

Another really cold day in NYC, but because I was headed towards the Plaza for tea I just had to dress up. We stopped at Tiffany's on the way...

We also stopped at the Big Piano!

I'd originally bookde tea at the Ritz, but after seeing that the tea room wasn'y much more than the lobby lounge, we decided to relocate to the Plaza. It was at this time that Mike noted that we were going to all of the places Kevin visited in Home Alone: Lost in New York. Mike thought he would try eating the garnish. Trés classy.

We visited the Bull of Wall Street

I was trampled!

We skated at theWoolman rink in Central Park

At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, we found yet another example of a baby choking a goose. We saw this theme several times over when we were in Europe. It's just so....weird!

We visited the WTC memorial, and the location of the new tower. Note to travellers; there's a helluva lot of lines and security if you're going to visit this place....

At the Met, this was easily one of my favourite pieces. It's a mosaic fountain created by Tiffany!

While I was not prepared for the cold weather, I absolutely reccomend visiting the city outside of high tourist times. We hardly ever had to wait for things! I coudn't imagine the wait times for some of the attractions (like the Empire State Building, which had so much velvet rope I imagined waiting for hours and hours! Also, we had out pick of whichever last minute Broadway show we wanted) Plus, there was the bonus of getting to do off-season activities, like skating!

A few little nuggets of this adventure: I had my wallet pick-pocketed while we were on the subway a few days into the trip. A minor hitch, since Mike still had plenty of cabbage and I still had my passport safely stowed in the hotel room. Mostly, I was sad that I had my shoppers card stolen with 91000 of 95000 points on it! (FYI, I just got those points back!). We also had fun trying out plenty of new foods! Of course we had a slice of greasy pizza, but we also ate mexican and Afghani food, too. mmmm. So much food in that city!

I'd Sing You a Morning, Golden and True

For my evil sock-dog.

Vulnerability, Part Deux

Remember what I wrote about vulnerability a while back? Well, I found this written on the wall in an art store a few days ago...

Things I like

 I like the BC Lions coming to my ward and visiting my patients. (I also like laughing at them a little when Leo accidentially tipped over a kid's urinal. oops!)

 I like getting a hot toddy and writing a letter at Christmastime, especially before going to a Stuart MacLean show.

I like going to Roedde House for a reading of A Christmas Carol, especially when I'm the only attendee under 60, and when I rub elbows with elderly people who want to chat up the "young blood."

 I like my new snowboard, the Swoon, by Arbor. I like it very much.

 I like visiting New York City with Michael, even when it's so, so very cold.

I very much like snowboarding on the Blackcomb Glacier at Whistler, and I really like doing it on cloudless, sunny days with my Arbor Swoon.

These are the things I like, though there are many more things that I like, too. I like apple pie. I think there will be more things I like very soon, too.