Link to My Newer Blog Postings

Link to My Newer Blog Postings on Wordpress

Initially, I was looking for a way to stay in touch with several people at once and because I wanted to use lots of pictures, email wasn't really an option and Facebook was definitely not the right medium. What I really needed was a website, and thus I began looking into blogging.
I started blogging here at Blogger.com just to see how it would work out and found it to be quite a good site as long as I was using my laptop to compose the blogs. Once I made the decision to miniaturize further (ie using a Win8 Tablet and Android Phone) I found that composition became more difficult (especially without the use of a mouse).
A little research led me to Wordpress.com and after a bit of a learning period in which I attempted to keep both sites more or less active, I have decided that Wordpress wins out. To connect to the newer postings, click the link above or cut 'n paste the URL below. :-)

The URL to my newer postings is https://gone4aday.wordpress.com/

West Coast Winter

January in Sidney

As I am writing this, Calgary is experiencing another mid-winter summer (or chinook) so some of the shine may be lost, but not much, since mid-winter summer only lasts for a few days but the weather here continues...

    People say the west coast can be dark an dreary and wet in the winter, which is true except I haven't noticed the dreary part. I have however noticed that it is almost always warm here (at least by Canadian winter standards). When the sun does pop out, it is like instant springtime because everything is already green and if you look closely there are even flowers. 

a misty day in the woods...

 To be fair, not all days are bright and sunny, but for the most part they are still quite warm and even when the air is damp i don't find it uncomfortable (nothing a sweater doesn't fix) and it can even be enjoyable!

a slightly under performing Cdn$

It is looking like I"ll have to suffer through this weather for a while longer yet as we have more delays in business. A good amount of headway has been gained but not much has ultimately changed as yet, although a closing date has finally been proposed, so things will all fall into place soon... it's just a little unfortunate the Cdn$ decided to do a swan dive recently.

west coast Arbutus trees

Otherwise the hiking and other outdoor activities -including a little tennis the other day- are quite pleasant and offer some rather interesting atmospheres. 

i have a few more photos, but unfortunately i don't have them here yet!

Searchmont Ontario!

50ft contour with our ski tracks overlaid

Searchmont is a small town 40ish km north of Sault Ste. Marie Ontario. Searchmont is also the location of a ski hill with 3 main lifts (that I saw) in addition to a bunny hill lift.
Only 2 lifts were running so we started on the left and worked our way across the hill, trying each new run we came across.  It is too bad the one lift wasn't running as that looked to have the most challenging runs and the deepest, steepest powder.


...yes, they are shovelling the roof

It isn't a mountain by any means, but it is a very decent hill and with no lift lines it was quite enjoyable. Ok, yes that was a bit of an exaggeration (the part about no lines - the part about it being enjoyable was very true) as we did have a 3 or 4 chair wait once or twice.
In a way it is too bad it isn't a mountain, what with the enormous amount of snow that is normal for this area of Canada


if the powder is too deep,
sometimes it is easier to use
the snowboard as a toboggan!



view from the top

Ticket prices here were quite reasonable - lift and rentals for 2 of us were $63 for a half day. We only snowboarded in the afternoon as the morning temperatures were still below -20 C and although Pepper had my vintage 1976 Lake Louise jacket (warmest jacket ever!) I was by no means equipped for that temperature! 

New Years Eve 2014/15

Yes, this is a little late.  I actually posted it on time, but a technicality prevented you from being able to view it, so I re-did it just for you! 😁

 Not a lot exciting going on these past few weeks. I'm homeless, but so far not without a place to stay.


The new year finds the girls and I in Buffalo Niagara, London and Sault Ste. Marie.

Buffalo City Hall

Buffalo is a city...
...with people

Some people seem to have money - the city does not. There is some interesting architecture that dates back to the days when Buffalo was a vibrant city about a century ago, but the intervening decades of decline have taken their toll and the vast majority of the city now just feels tired.



this guy stood in the
 freezing mist a bit too long

Having previously made a daytime visit to Niagara on the Canadian side in summer, we decided to visit the American side in winter at night. New Years Eve started as a light blizzard in Buffalo, but by the time we got to Niagara the snow had stopped, although the wind was still pretty bitter. It made for some very frosty scenery downwind of the falls.

We managed to avoid being frozen in place by alternating visits to the falls with visits to the pub or restaurant as we waited for midnight to arrive. Usually, with the American affinity for fireworks, they outdo fireworks displays put on by the Canadians, but this time it was the Canadians who significantly outdid the Americans.

can you see me at midnight sitting
in the freezing mist painting this
wonderful scene with my mittens on?
'cause that totally happened!

On the Canadian side there were fireworks over the falls, more at the concert and even more falling from the tower. In comparison, the Americans had a somewhat longer but much less vigorous display spouting from their tower. To say the Canadians outdid their American counterparts re their respective New
Years Eve concerts would be a bit of an understatement as well. I won't comment on the performers, as that is a personal preference issue, but there must have been 20 times the number of people in attendance on the Canadian side.

US falls with Canadian falls in
the background

The falls themselves are a very different experience by night. They are still huge and very impressive of course, but night give a sence of mystery, and being lit gives them a very different look where they are much more the centre of attention. It may have been due to the freezing wind, but the experience
was a much more personal one as well, since there were almost no other people around.
.

Houston

Well it has been a few days so likely time to surface..... Houston is still the Houston I remember from 15 yrs back, only now it is even bigger and the freeway stacks are even higher. Business got completed in a couple of days so today I was going to do a bit of sightseeing. It was raining pretty heavily when I headed out so I was not very a happy person on the freeway.

 

Hence I decided the mall would be a safer place. The Galleria is like the West Edmonton mall (without the indoor beach/waterpark and rollercoaster) but it did have a Tesla store which I thought was quite exciting! On a less exciting note, because the Apple store was there, I ventured in, and was a little creeped out... seriously! (I didn't get that feeling when I was in the Microsoft store) ...it was all white and terribly uncomfortable - maybe I'm just not ready to walk into the white light!

Seems I'm Moving

http://wp.me/p2J6p4-Y

...this should be a link to my (other) post

Autumn Alpine Larches

Friday, October 26, 2014

Sunshine Ski Area
Banff, Alberta, Canada

When you live somewhere long enough you begin to take things for granted and so today we took a short trip to enjoy our own back yard.
It wasn't the nicest of days, at 8 degrees Celsius with a bit of a wind and cloud and rain interspersed with blue sky and sunshine on an alternating 30 minute cycle, but when the sun did pop out it was about as close to paradise as you could probably find on Earth.
$20 gets you and your family or friend and your car into Banff National Bark; another $20 buys you a return bus ride from the main Sunshine parking area up to the ski area itself. You can walk or bicycle up (and consequently back down) but it is 6km and roughly 1000 meters elevation gain, so be prepared for a bit of exercise!

The bus drops you off at the old ski lodge which is open and has snacks, bathrooms, tables and a warm fireplace. None of the chair lifts are running, so from here on it is up to you and your legs. The first kilometer of the trail to the south is wide enough and, for the most part, smooth enough to negotiate a wheelchair or child 'pram' but the remaining trails are 'single track'. Although all the trails are in excellent condition and follow an easy grade, it would be helpful for those not practiced at rail walking to carry a hiking pole with them. There are sections across wet or environmentally sensitive areas where you are literally walking on beams - wide beams, but they can be slippery when wet. Sometimes you get two side-by-side, but more often only a single, so a bit of balance is needed, which is where the hiking pole can be very useful!

This is the week that the larch trees change color before dropping their needles for the winter and main reason for this trip - to be in a forest of gold with the crisp air, mountain peaks and with a bit of luck, sunshine.
A day in the mountains with low cloud has a very different feel to it than sunny days and so if you are lucky enough to  get a day like today, you can experience the best of both. On a sunny day you can see not only the near mountain peaks, but also the far ones and all of the ones in between. Everything is bright and crisp and there is nothing better than sitting on a rock by a babbling mountain stream running through a mountain meadow in the warm sunshine. When the clouds come down and envelope you it is a little like snuggling into a fluffy down comforter. It isn't the warmth, but the sensation of cosiness. Your focus is kept to your immediate surroundings and not distracted by the distant views and the diffused lighting makes the colours so much more vivid.

South Loop

Main Loop

The main trail forms a large loop about 6.5km long, and takes you through both high and low mountain meadows. At the far end of this loop a separate smaller 3.5km loop takes you past 3 small mountain lakes set in a small valley with some groves of larger larches, or a separate spur trail will take you to a viewpoint at the top of Mount Standish. Two hours walking time will allow both loops at a fairly relaxed pace.