Back to Work

As of last Wednesday I have finished my 6 month leave of absence and have return to work. The last six months were filled with plenty of fun and adventures through travel and being with family and friends. I also had important down time - time to relax and do things such as clean and organize my apartment and hang out with my cats.
Overall I would summarize my leave by saying it was a pleasant, productive and fun 6 months. Until next time...

Week of Sun

Well I have just finished a very pleasant week in Florida with my parents. During the day I walked on the beach, biked and swam. We did some shopping and ate many great meals- either at home or out at interesting restaurants in the area.
Awesome!

Salvador Dali

St Petersburg Florida hosts an art museum with the works of Salvador Dali. This artist was a master of surrealism who lived here in the 1900's and who originated from Spain. His art is very detailed and interesting and each time I see his work I see something different. During this trip to the museum we went on a tour. Our tour guide had a shoe, a red ladies' pump, pinned upside down on her head. She used this "shoe hat" to explain surrealism: "something that is out of place, not where we expect it".

Visiting

One of my co-volunteers Elizabeth, who was also my roommate in India, lives here in Tampa. I had a great day of visiting with Elizabeth, walking on the beach, talking and sharing photos from India. We both toured around India after volunteering, so we were able to share ideas for future trips. We both want to go back to India soon.

Florida

Hi All

I am now in Florida ready to enjoy 8 days of sunshine and visiting with my parents.

The plane ride down was easy compared to traveling to India. It was also neat because the space shuttle was launched just as we were flying into Florida so we could see it ascending into space. I took some photos but they don't do justice to the experience.

Leaving India

As I write this I am sitting in the airport waiting for my flight back to Toronto – it is 12:30 am and my flight doesn’t leave for two more hours. I am happily exhausted -it is way past my bedtime!
I have enjoyed many things about India, here are a few:
- Meeting many people who were all helpful and enjoyed helping me understand and learn about Indian and Tibetan culture, customs, food and lifestyles.
- Being blessed by four religions- Buddhist, Muslim, Sikh and Hindu
- The landscape, the architecture and the history
- the mass chaos – especially on the streets and in the markets- with so many people, animals and excitement. Even in the airport right now there seems to be chaos- loud announcements, staff running around shouting something (but no one can hear them because of the announcements) and a lot of people. Oh and of course the internet doesn’t work.
- Feeling like a celebrity- all the children want to touch you and say “hello”, and many people want their pictures taken with you. Even from our oversized bus as we drove on small roads through towns and rural areas (basically imposing ourselves on them), they still all waved, yelled hello and were genuinely excited to see us.
- The cows everywhere. I literally bumped into one while I was on a sidewalk, at a market in Jaipur. None of us expected to see one there as most cows were on the street but this one wanted to walk right next to the stores. The shocked look on my face entertained the locals (we were the only tourists) and the icing on the cake for them was when I pulled out my camera and ran ahead to the cow to get a front view shot. As I did this someone laughingly yelled “my country, my cow, my culture!”

There is so much more to tell all of you about my trip.

Taj Mahal

The grand finale of my trip in India was seeing the famous Taj Mahal. Of course I had heard so much about how magnificent it is and seen many pictures, but nothing compared to being there.
We were there for the sunrise and after some explanation of the story of how it came to be and how it was constructed, we spent nearly two hours wandering around and admiring the structure. As the sun rose, the light shining on the marble and inlayed stones changed, making it look different, so we all took many pictures during the two hours (I only took 179). It was a peaceful way to finish my trip.

Ranthambore

Accompanied by a naturalist and in an open jeep we braved an afternoon drive through the Ranthambore National Park to look for wildlife. The main attraction to see is a tiger in the wild, but only 30% of visitors see one and we weren’t in the 30%. To find the tigers, the guide listens for an alarm call that the monkeys give out to warn the deer when there is a tiger nearby. When we heard it, we rushed in the jeep towards the spot. One time we could watch the monkey in the tree giving the call, so we knew the tiger was there somewhere, but we couldn’t see it. Incidentally our tour guide told us stories (afterwards) of people (including himself) having close calls with tigers in National Parks; all had a happy ending, but were a little scary.
We also looked out for leopards, but they are much harder to see. We did see summer and spotted deer (also known as tiger food) monkeys, birds, crocodiles as well as interesting plant life.
I’ll have to come back to India to see a tiger!

Jaipur

Jaipur is a large city in the state of Rajasthan; located south of Delhi. Our group spent two days there.
First we visited the Amber Palace which is one of the earlier examples of architecture that blended Muslim and Hindu styles. This mixed palace was the result of a marriage between a Muslim Prince and a Hindu Princess; a marriage intended to unite the two cultures and religions.
This part of India is known for items such a hand printed cloths, hand woven carpets, and miniature paintings. Craftsmen and artists demonstrated the intricate details of how each of these treasures is made from start to finish. In most cases the craft or skill has been in their family for many generations. Picture above is a man stamping colours onto a cloth that was previously hand stamped with a design.
Jaipur has an ancient astrological observatory. One of the kings who ruled in this area during the 1700’s was very fond of astronomy and had it built. There were large historic stone tools that measured everything related to the sun, including time, altitude, the position of the planets etc. There was also a tool for each zodiac sign, used to predict horoscopes. This observatory holds a world record for the largest sundial. It is still used today.

Mandawa

Mandawa is a small town in the desert state of Rajasthan, famous for its Frescoes. We stayed there two nights, first in town in a Haveli (old merchant homes with frescoes painted everywhere) restored to a charming hotel. We enjoyed walking around looking at the artwork, of which most seemed to retain their vibrant colours even though they are about 300 years old.
The next night we stayed at a resort made of mud- the walls, beds night tables were all made from local mud. It was beautifully painted with designs by local women. We overlooked the desert which had sand of course, but also trees spaced out as if they’d been planted. We swam in the afternoon and then in the late afternoon, when it was slightly cooler, we went for a camel ride to a nearby village. On the camels we were so high up that we could see into everyone yards; the villagers didn’t seem to mind but I don’t think I would like it. All the yards had a water buffalo, goats, sheep and cows. At the village a local family invited to their house and offered us Chai. There was even enough room in their yard to park the eight camels. My first camel ride- neat!

Delhi

I spent 3 days in Delhi; during which time I finished my program with CCS and joined Imaginative Tours. Both groups took me sightseeing in Delhi; some of what I was able to visit included: Humayun’s Tomb, India Gate, the Lotus Temple, a Hindu Temple, a Sikh Temple and Gandhi’s Memorial. We observed great architecture from all through the ages and rulers of India. I am getting particularly attached to visiting Temples. The Lotus Temple is the most modern one I’ve seen and it looks exactly like a lotus flower.
Delhi, like all big cities in India, was very busy and chaotic. It was fun to watch and see all that goes on, but I was usually glad to escape into a quiet store or tea shop, or even a Taxi to rest from all the bustle. I found in more hectic than shopping at Christmas in Toronto. Cars, cows, bicycles, oxen, carts, rigshaws, dogs, people etc are all over the streets in one big free for all.
Of course to add to my confusion, people knew I was a foreigner and thus I was constantly being approached and surrounded by beggars and merchants trying to get some money or my business. We were advised not make eye contact with the beggars, and that even a “no thank-you” to a merchant would be taken as a maybe, and he wouldn’t likely give up very soon. Since begging is huge exploitive business in India, our hosts really do not want it encouraged. It was very hard to ignore the children. They grab at you, want a pen or money or food. Our travel company has arranged for us to give money to charities that work to save children from this exploitation, so this eased my conscience a bit.
I caught a glimpse of my first charmed cobras in Delhi. A man was playing his flute and they were moving in time to the music. But I didn’t watch (again an exploitive business), but also I am a big chicken when it comes to snakes and I walked as far away as fast as I could from them. Since then I’ve been on cobra watch at all tourist spots so that I can successfully avoid them. When I was at the Gandhi Memorial I saw a man playing a flute; I took one look at him and turned away and walked very fast in the opposite direction. He must have seen my face because I heard him say “ma’am no cobra, no cobra ma’am, no cobra”...poor man was just playing his flute.

On the Move

Hi All
I am in Delhi and I have joined my tour group. The internet is quite unreliable so it has been difficult to post blogs, and likely will continue to be difficult. So I am posting before I lose this again...

Life at the Home Base

I have to say that I quite enjoyed the month I have spent here at the Home Base in Dharamsala. I would describe it as supportive and fun. I lived with 7 other volunteers and the staff that came during the day were available to help us if we needed assistance or had questions (they were also available by cell phone at all times). The staff also organized our outings, Hindi lessons, guest speakers, meetings and placements. We were never bored. There were 3 community workers Monica, Kanchan and Anju who were all women and whom I particularly enjoyed talking with. I thought of them as my older Indian sisters even though they were all at least 20 years younger than me.
Some of the things that the other volunteers and I noticed or found interesting:
- we had wireless internet; however it frequently went out and nobody (i.e. the staff) knows why.
- we could get our laundry done within 24 hours. The service came to the house everyday (including holidays, weekends), picked it up and delivered it all for a very small price
- switches in Canada are opposite the ones here, so I often turned lights and fans off instead of on
- we would run out of water, but with 10-15 minutes there was usually more
- knives were not routinely put out for meals; someone found them in a drawer a week after we arrived. I had already adapted to using a spoon.
- to insert our adaptors into an outlet, we needed to push a pencil in a hole at the top of the outlet, put in the adaptor in, and then pull out the pencil. Somehow sticking a pencil into a 220 volt outlet worried me; however nothing has happened so far.
- we take bucket showers. This means we fill up a bucket of water, and using a small cup, pour water all over ourselves, soap up, and then rinse with more water using the cup. This took some getting used to. I particularly found it challenging not to get my soapy hands in the clean water that I was about to rinse from. Also, the entire floor is wet afterwards. There is a drain in the floor but the area is not separated off. After you were done you squeegeed the floor the best you could, and hoped to get the floor dry enough so that you didn’t slip.
- Out toilet was a squat version- I just pretended I was camping for a month.
Overall adjusting to all this with other the other volunteers enriched our experience. I can’t wait to come back!

Amritsar

Last weekend five of us took a side trip to Amritsar, the capital city of the State of Punjab, also known as the Holy City. It was a chance to learn more about the Sikh religion (as the majority of people in Amritsar are Sikh) and see some important sites.

We visited The Golden Temple (Sikh), Jallianwala Bagh Memorial, The Silver Temple (Hindu), a museum, and we witnessed the changing of the guard at the Indian/Pakistani border. The Temples were grand and beautiful, both were surrounding by water and well maintained. At the Golden Temple the Sikhs were eager for us to learn about and see their Temple, and eat with them , so it was a pleasant, peaceful experience. At the Hindu Temple, we were each blessed by the priest (not sure of the title) who did this by saying something to us and tossing a lay made of marigolds around our necks. The museum was interesting as it was a tribute to a very popular King known for his kindness and policies on equity. He ruled about a thousand years ago so the museum gave us a glimpse into history and the lifestyle of this time period. The changing of the guard was facinating - both sides teased and competed with each other all in good fun.

For me the most significant site to see was Jallianwala Bagh Memorial as this is the place where in April of 1919 the British Army fired on people, without warning, (Indian men women and children) who were meeting to discuss an act that was unfair to them. General Dyer ordered the soldiers to fire into the crowd, until all the bullets were used. The victims were trapped in a city square, with the soldiers between them and the only gate, so there was no place to go, except a water well in the middle of the square and many people jumped into the well to avoid the bullets (but still died ). In the end over 1000 died (including babies, children)and another 500 were injured. The spot where the General was standing was marked, the well is enclosed with glass and some of the bullet holes can still be seen on the original walls. This event is one of the many heartbreaking scenes that was re-enacted in the movie “Gandhi”.

Pictured above: me in front of The Golden Temple; the spot General Dyer was standing during the massacre; bullet holes in the original wall.

Indian Food

Rakesh, our cook prepares our meals for us here at the house. The days alternate between Indian and American food; the American foods, such as pizza or chicken burgers, still have an India touch to them. Over the years CCS has found that this formula works best for us volunteers who are experiencing many differences from our home life in a short time.
The Indian food is really popular in my group for all but 2 of us. Unfortunately for myself, I find it too spicy and strong as does Anna (a 9 year old volunteer here with her family) so Rakesh separates out part of the meal before he adds the spices just for Anna and me. Although secretly I still find ours too spicy (Anna does as well, she eats a lot of PB&J sandwiches). I like to try a small bit of everything and somewhat enjoy the chick pea and lentil dishes if I can dilute the spices sufficiently with yogurt and naan.
For those of you familiar with Indian food, Rakesh prepares dishes such as: Tandoori Chicken, Jeera Aloo, Mutton/ Chicken Curry, Baingan Bharrta, Chana, Bhatura, Pao Bhaji, Dal Arhar, Gobhi Masala, Mutter Paneer, Dal Masoor. These are served with naan, rice and yogurt.
Overall Indian food is just not my thing – I knew this before I came here and I have now confirmed it. Those that like Indian food constantly rave about how good it is here and how much they enjoy it.

Dussehra

Monday was a holiday here and we went to witness one of many Dussehra festivals taking place across the country. It is a big deal in India – apparently one of the bigger holidays. It is an event that celebrates the victory of good over evil; the slaying of a demon King Ravana (and his brother and son) by Lord Rama (one of the gods-who comes to earth as a man to fight). The celebration involves a large field and three huge effigies (Ravana, his brother and son), actors, fireworks and fans. A re-enactment occurs with first a blessing given to Lord Rama by the goddess Durga (divine mother) and then the battle, and finally the shooting of arrows to kill the three men.
What we saw when we arrived was tons of kids play fighting with toy bows and arrow and swords. There was loud music , never-ending fireworks and a lot of excitement. The children were clearly enjoying it. It is an Indian holiday but many Tibetan children were present (embracing the culture of their host home land). The actors arrived amongst many cheers and engaged in the re-enactment . This was taking place close to the fireworks and we were situated well back for safety, so it was difficult for us to see all of the action. Once the fighting finished, the hero pretended to fire arrows into the effigies. Each one exploded, caught on fire and burned to the ground (this we could see clearly). It was loud! The explosives in the effigies created deafening blasts (I plugged my ears). Once it was all done, cheers from the crowds filled the area and more fireworks were set off.

Indian Village

As part of our cultural orientation, CCS took us to a local village; this was the first time they had tried this particular cultural exchange. Villagers who know about us volunteers (most people here do) invited us to come see the village and explore their homes and lifestyle. Some of the villagers travel 1-2 hours on the bus everyday to come to work in Dharamsala.
There were no cars in the village and the roads seemed too small (but cars must come in sometimes for deliveries and pickups) so we parked on the edge of the village at their local school and walked in. It was dense with foliage on either side of the path and about ½ a Km in we started to see houses, stores and local businesses. We attracted quite a bit of attention. All the children came running over to us and followed us through the entire visit. The adults all greeted us with a smile and “Namaste”.
We went to host house described to us as a multi-family unit consisting of an uncle (head of the household), three nephews and all their wives and children.
First they served us tea on their porch, and then the women invited all the women in the group to go on a tour of the house. The house itself was made out of dried cow dung (just looked like clay) and all rooms had a door to a porch. The kitchen was very small (smaller than my own kitchen) and the women who do all the cooking squat to cook- there were no counters. All the family members also sit on mats on the floor to eat. We asked lots of questions and the women were so pleased that we were interested.
They took us into their bedrooms as well. There was one for each couple and their children. Each room also had a small staircase with an upstairs which was mostly used for laundry and storing clothes. Once we were done, the men in the group also wanted to see the kitchen and the house. Again the women were pleased; I don’t think they expected this.
We continued to drink our tea and talk about differences between our lifestyle and theirs. They asked many questions about life in America and clearly the differences were huge.
After our tea was done the host family men took us on a tour of the farmlands around the village which they maintain and harvest. This consisted of a mango orchard and many, many rice fields. To walk through the rice fields we needed to walk single file and balance on a ridge of soil. I only fell off a couple of times. The children who were still following us ran up and down the ridges with ease. We also visited the flour mill, honey bee farmer and checked out the huge squashes growing on the roofs of the houses. There were chickens, goats, water buffalo, and of course there were cows. Overall it seemed to be a self sufficient village.
It was also peaceful and beautiful. What a nice healthy life for them all.

Tibetan Tours

The Tibetan Government-in-Exile and His Holiness the Dalai Lama are both located in Dharamsala. This past week I visited the government offices, the main Temple (where
His Holiness lives) and enjoyed some Tibetan food.
First I met with Tyseng, who is Tsering's nephew (Tsering is my co-worker in Toronto) and I brought along another volunteer Katherine who is here studying Tibetan culture. Tyseng took us on a private tour of the Tibetan Museum and Archives and showed us around the complex. He did a great job of enlightening us on Tibetan history. We saw artifacts that are over 500 years old and that had been secretly taken out of Tibet during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Some items, like scriptures, were partly burned and damaged. Alot of items- statues of Buddhas, Deities, Goddesses etc were in great shape. Tyseng also took us to the Tibetan Archives where we saw old books all cataloged and wrapped in colourful cloth.

After our morning tour, Katherine and I went for Tibetan food. I had freshly made Momos- something I have had at work with the Tibetan women (and thoroughly enjoyed!)thus was pleased to have them again here.

In the afternoon we toured the main temple. Once we were in (and navigated past some cows) we saw 50-70 Tibetan monks sitting on mats meditating and visiting. We went right into the inner part of the temple and saw beautiful, ornate statues and tapestries used for Buddhism. There were also an number of offerings - everything from cash to cookies. The inner part was smaller and quiet; we had to remove our shoes and could not take pictures. The outer part, where the monks were sitting, had more activity, people were wandering around talking and using the prayer wheels.
If you like to see more pictures, check out my FaceBook album.

A few days later CCS arranged a talk on Tibetan issues which was given by the Secretary of the Department of Information and International Relation of Tibetan Government in Exile. Again, this speaker reviewed the history of Tibet and the current issues facing the Tibetan people- both living in Tibet and in exile. I found it informative, unbiased and interesting. I really feel that I have a better understanding of Tibet and I am looking forward to absorbing more of their culture while I am here.

Land of Cows

Well for those of you who haven't been to India and just heard the rumours, it is true: cows are everywhere and they are very sacred. They are in the field outside our Home Base, they are on the roads, they are on pathways, in Temples and in the Market. Cows never get honked at by drivers (drivers honk at people, cars, dogs, donkeys, goats, rams...all on the roads) but never a cow. We were told that if we wanted to be safe walking on the streets, we should adopt a cow (very tempting). The Indians are not even frustrated by them blocking traffic. Canada has 2 seasons- winter and construction. India has 1 season - cow.
We live in a quiet upper middle income area. I go out for a walk everyday and pass at least 2 cows but usually 5 or 6. Cows are starting to be my landmarks, I know where I am in the town by the cow that is hanging out at that corner.
Cows have it made here!

Anganwadi Kotwali Bazaar

While in Dharamsala I have the pleasure of volunteering at an "anganwadi" (daycare). This anganwadi is one of many across India that falls under the Intergrated Child Development Services (ICDS) of India and it is funded through UNICEF. There are four sites in Dharamsala that we volunteer at, each of the other sites has 2 volunteers but I am the only one at my site.

The goals of this program are very similar to the goals of programs/directorates I have worked with. They centre around child devolopment for 0-6 year olds (eg psychological, physical and social development,improve the nutritional and health status, reduce the incidence of mortality, morbidity, malnutriton and school drop out). At my anganwadi there are 5-10 children ages 2-4 years, that come everyday between 10 am and 1 pm. There is a teacher, Mala and an assistant Rama, both kind, patient caregivers (and very nice to me!). My role is to teach numbers, colours, shapes, social skills (sharing) etc to the children in as many creative way as I can.
When I arrive, we set up the one room (not very big!) with a mat for the children to sit on. The kids all say "Namaste" and "Good Morning" to me as they arrive and I get to meet the parents and see their sibblings. Once all the children have arrived they say their prayers, then we usually bring out blocks/Lego for them to play with. Next, we sit in a circle and say rhymes and sing songs, both in Hindi and English, but mostly English. This includes songs such as: Itsey Bitsey Spider, If Your Happy and You Know It and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I have been trying to teach the kids ""Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes", and while they are starting to get the actions and some of the words, really they love watching me speed up while I sing it to them. Next I try to do a craft, then I read them a book. I give them reading/looking at books time and provide each of them their own book. They show me pictures and words and ask what things are (or at least that's what I think they are asking). Each day I try to do something physyical with them like playing with a ball or blowing bubbles for them to catch. I usually end with something quiet - for example we have a Xylophone that they like to play with (photo above). By this time it is usully lunch time and I am exhausted. The assisatnt cooks them a hot meal and they have lunch. Soon after, it is time for me to go home and rest up and plan for the next day.

Orientation

During this first week in India we have been very busy with orientation. CCS planned many activites designed to help us feel comfortable and adjust to life in India.

We spent the first part of the week in Delhi, then later flew up to Dharamsala together. While in Delhi a professor came from the university and condensed 5-10 thousand years of Indian history in 2 and 1/2 hours. He was extremely interesting and was able to tie together all the bits and pieces and relate it to India's current culture. I could have listened to him for a week! He also somehow knew that I was the only non-American in the group and guessed that I was Canadian. This really impressed everyone.

The Director of the program, Bela, gave us a workshop on customs and values, comparing them to North American customs and values in a humourous way. Bela is also one of the founding members of Cross Cultural Solutions. Herself and an American man created and developed the program. India was the first site (now there are sites in 12 countries) and Bela recounted the challenges and fun of setting up and developing this NGO (which is so neat!).

Our Indian hosts served us Chai Tea (although here is is just called Tea because apparently "Chai" means "Tea" in Hindi), gave us instructions on making tea, along with a "Tea" kit as well as a package of Indian spices. Before we left Delhi they took us out to lunch to try a large variety of different authentic foods.

The staff in Dharamsala met us at the airport and helped us settle in to our Home Base. We learned a little about the history and culture of Dharamsala are ready to learn more in the comming weeks.
For our work placements we each were taken to our sites with a CCS community worker who introduced us to the staff we'd be working with. We were able to ask questions on expectations of work (with a translator) and then just observe for the first day. Back at the Home Base we had a creativity workshop where we all shared ideas on teaching English and working with children (primarly focuses of our work). This set us up really well for success.
For fun the staff challenged the volunteers to a Tug-of-War. We volunteers painted war paint on our faces to pysch out the staff - it worked- we won 3/3 matches. The picture is of the volunteers just before victory. We also had Hindi lessons and played Cricket. Most importantly though, throughout this first week the staff helped us through the day to day adjustments at our workplaces and living in Dharamsala.

Indian Style

In this photo I am pictured wearing Salwaar Kamize (traditional Indian clothing that is worn in Dharamsala). In order to gain respect and be taken more seriously at our placements, CCS (Cross Cultural Solutions) would like the women to wear traditional clothing to work. On the first day of arrival they took us to a clothing store to purchase a couple of outfits. The store was filled with beautiful colours, fabrics and styles. Most of us though, including me, were so tired from the trip that we found it difficult to decide on what we needed. In the end I bought this outfit, and a another top (Kurta) that matches all for $42.00. After this picture was taken one of the female staff, Monica, helped me arrange my scarf (well actually she just did for me) so it sits properly and pinned it to keep it from falling off.
The clothing is so comfortable that we all enjoy wearing our outfits even after work is done. The women in the community have commented that they appreciate that foreigners are wearing their clothes. I plan on going to a local tailor to have more outfits made.

India

Hi All
I have arrived in India and I am recouperating from the long flight and adjusting to a different diet.
I am in Dharamsala, which is in Northern India. It is a smaller town and we have a beautiful place to stay- a nice big house with balconies off every room. We are in the foothills of the Himilayans and have great views of the mountains right from our house. The group of us -12 volunteers- are all amazed at the beauty.
We have had quite an intensive schedule since I arrived on Sunday, once we have been orientated we will have more time to explore, hike, shop, visit new Indian/Tibetan friends etc.

Cottage Therapy

During the summer I spent some time at the cottage with my parents. I had the energy and time to purge alot of my stuff that had been there for years (some things were 30 years old). Dad moved beds around, so now I have my Grandma Vida's bed in my room to use. I am now ready to re-decorate next year.
Dad and I also went out canoing on our lake. We were lucking and saw Loons fishing and feeding there young the fish they caught. As well we took a longer trip down the Tay river into Christie Lake. Mom drove us to the launch and picked us up a few hours latter. We saw otters, beaver huts, herons, and many other birds. A very pleasant paddle. Next year I will be going on the white water part of the Tay river.

Auntie Margie catches the big one!

This August I was priviledged enough to go on a luxury fishing trip with my Auntie Margie on Separation Lake near Kenora. For Margie, fishing is something she loves to do, for me it was more of a new experience and it was fun to go with someone who enjoys it so much.

Now when I say "luxury" I mean luxury. There was a guide (Fred) who did everything for us- take us to different places on the lake, set up our rods with louers and bait, coach us through catching the fish and make a fantastic shore lunch everyday for us (with the fish we just caught). If I'd had known that to get bait on my hook all I had to do was swivel with my rod, in my cushioned seat, passing the end to a person like Fred I would have done this sooner! Other times I have been ou fishing it hasn't worked quite like that.

We caught 40-80 fish each day (for three days) and saw about 40 American Bald Eagles (who also watched us carefully while we were fishing!). Margie caught the biggest one- a 40 inch Northern Pike- a record for her. I caught a 38 inch Northern Pike and a 27 inch Pikeral. Not only was the fishing great, but the scenery was amazing. There is nowhere like Ontario.

During this trip I also remembered my Uncle Bob who used to enjoy fishing himself and, 45 years ago, worked as a guide at this same camp. Hope he was watching us...

Dad's Birthday Weekend

This year we celebrated Dad's 70th birthday with a "Cottage Birthday Weekend". My Aunt Pam and Uncle George came for lunch, then Peter, Mark and Kim (specially-invited-secret-surpise guests) and myself arrived. Latter on Henrie drove from Guelph after visting her parents for Dad's celebrations.
We visited, hiked, canoed, ate and enjoyed 2 birthday cakes - 1 chocolate and 1 vanilla (imported from Toronto).
An extremely fun weekend!

Katimavik 25 Years Later

During the last weekend of July we had our annual Katimivik reunion with myself, Chris and John and their families at my cottage. We did our usual activities - sit on the deck and reminisce, talk, eat great food, drink, swim, walk, have a treasure hunt for the kids, and most of all have fun with each other. This year the reunion weekend fell 25 years (to the day) of our program start date.
Twenty-five years ago, on the first day of Katimavik, we all flew into Kelowna from across Canada, meeting each other and other Katimavictims (as we called oursevles) along the way. The first night was very high energy and we ended up in the garage partying late into the night. (I think we in the garage because there were smokers in the group). This reunion weekend at the cottage 25 years later we are still doing the same thing; the adults wandered up to my parent's garage to smoke (our yearly cigar) away from the kids, and ended up partying there together.
I am looking forward to 25 more years!