5 Retreats

So, so, so exciting to see my first cover feature in British Columbia Magazine! I was whisked away to the Kootenay Rockies to visit five retreats, write about it and snap a few photos. Here are a few of my favourites that didn't find their way into the pages.

Johnson's Landing Retreat Centres

Quantum Leaps Lodge and Retreats

Simply Delicious Lodge

I'm a bit behind on posting my photos. Let's just say I have spent more time writing articles and habituating to Facebook, which somewhat negates the creative need to express here. That being said, sometimes this safe haven is just what I need. It's more personal, more emotional. In that spirit, here are a few personal photos I had to share. This time, spring in Beacon Hill Park with friends.

Spring blossoms, green grass, bright flowers, golden hair, smile.

When she doesn't think I am looking, that's when I really see her.


This is what family looks like.

1978 - Across Canada in 66 Days

In June, 1978 my family embarked on a cross Canada trip that lasted 66 days. We travelled and lived in an RV - one that would now be put in a museum as a flashback to the 70's. Flower fabric on the upholstery, lots of orange. Yep, I loved it! I know I have earlier memories as a child, but that trip hosted some my favourites.

I was looking through the old Photo Album and thought I would share of glimpse into road tripping back then.

Back then, you pet the wildlife and tents were triangular but small towns were still small towns and water looked just as inviting.

Here Piggy Piggy Piggy

Okay, by popular request (which in my world means at least one) I am sharing a highlight from my recent trip to Maui.

For Christmas, my parents gave me and my boys a two-hour trail ride with Mendes Ranch north of Wailuku. When we saddled up, we noticed a rather large swine wandering the grounds amidst the dozens of peacocks milling about (yep, peacocks, dozens of them).

We were joined by few other families so the guide ended up splitting us into two groups. As the first group rode off down a dirt trail into the lush, tropical foliage, the pig trotted off after them.

It was finally our turn to head out, sitting high on our horses as they trudged up a steep trail. We reached a plateau overlooking a deep valley ravine that was supposedly featured in the opening scenes of Jurassic Park. After a quick glimpse of the waterfalls below, we turned around, passed the ranch, and sauntered down to the ocean shoreline where we met up again with the first group and the pig, who traded alliances and remained behind with us.

After a few souvenier photos, the pig got in line and followed our horses back to the ranch. For the longest time my horse wouldn't pass it. Of course, I was too busy laughing and trying to take a photo of to care. Eventually I got ahead, but even as we galloped the last stretch, the pig kept going, still steadily following along.

I like to think this not-so-lazy pig, between our two groups, completed the entire trail ride. I also like to think it goes on all the trail rides, twice a day, all year long.

I read today that "amazing" has been named an overused word of 2011, so I will instead use the words immortalized in the song Zuckerman's Famous Pig, from the movie Charlotte's Web:

"Oh, wow, look at him now
Zuckerman's Maui's famous pig
Suey, whaddya see?
The greatest hog in history!
Fine, swine, wish he was mine
What if he's not so big?
He's some terrific, radiant, humble thig-a-majig of a
Fine, phenomena"

And now, the photos: 

Maui Surf, Face First

The first time I took surf lessons, my surf-guru Dove and I paddled out off the shores of Malibu Beach, California and learned pretty quick that good, local surfers didn't take too kindly to newbies in their midst. It was a short lesson and I caught more insults than I did waves. In fact, I didn't get up on my board once.

Thankfully learning to surf in Maui is as common as flip-flops and fish tacos, and the locals, at least the ones we met, were more than happy to have us share the warm water and tiny waves with them. These photos of our family surf lessons were taken by Big Kahuna Adventures, but I played around with a few of my favourites to share with you.

Put your diamonds in the surf
(yes, we went to the Jay-Z and Kanye concert the day before leaving on vacation).



Kje, which means garden of the sea, shot up on the board first time, first try. Awesome!

Surf Dude

 Really, I did get up! How else would you explain going down like this?

Pop the Glock

Yep, that's right. Time for another 40 birthday party away from home. This time, Vegas!

My friend Rob wanted his "over the hill" party in Vegas, complete with late night blackjack, beer buckets at the pool, 60 oz football beer from Fremont Street and succulent scallops at Mon Ami Gabi. And in true Vegas style, only in the U S of A, he wanted to shoot some guns.

So in the spirit of "doing what I want, when I want and paying for the fun when I'm 41" hubby and I were in. In for Vegas. And not just Vegas, but in for Paris, Vegas. In for football beer. In for beer buckets at the pool (actually we were in for enough beer buckets and chi chi's that our pool bill almost matched our hotel room bill). And of course, we were in for the Uzi, the Glock and the M249 SAW.

Despite being a west coast peace & love kinda gal, I must admit I was actually a bit intrigued and excited about doing something in Vegas worthy of a milestone birthday.  Something I normally wouldn't do at home (not that I wake up every Saturday and hang by the diving board with tropical drinks and beer buckets). And shooting an AK47 sounded more my style than well... getting married at the Elvis chapel or hiring a few hookers for the night or squeezing my body into a teeny-tiny tube dress and 4 inch heels to line up for hours in front of one of the exclusive nightclubs.Wait, let me rethink that.... Na, Elvis would win...

Whatever. Here's the deal. You are greeted at the door with a menu outlining your "gun rental" choices. The World War II Package. The Zombie Package. The Ladies Package (guns painted pink) or for the connoisseur, the Shoot the Wall Package including 11 different machine guns. The one that blew me away (pardon the pun) was the Kids Package complete with a souvenier THE GUN STORE t-shirt. Have these guys not heard of Columbine?

You then head inside the bunker-style concrete building to pick up your ammo and targets and pay before lining up for almost two hours.

I selected the full size AK47 and the Glock 19. And yes, it feels odd to be able to say that as smoothly and easily as mentioning I sipped a cup of chai tea before yoga this morning.

So we all shot our targets and it was loud and noisy and we laughed at ourselves and our big guns and all the ammo shells on the floor. It was quite surreal.

On another note, have you seen the movie It, based on the Stephen King book about a sadistic clown? It was one of the scariest books/movies I have ever read/seen in my life. Let's just say I took great satisfaction in selecting my "Pennywise the clown" target and shooting it dead in the heart multiple times. And yes ladies, I got it dead centre in the "Pennywise package"...in the crotch... in one shot. (This is when I blow my proverbial smoking gun...)
 
Turns out I'm quite a steady hand on that Glock. Who knew?

And photos:

Should I pick the Zombie package?

Up-sell and cross-sell: Try a rifle, pistol or shotgun

 

















Accessorize with Ammo

 

Target Practice

Yep, that's me and Pennywise. A bit blurry...

Aftermath

PS. Dear all future employers and friends. Please disregard above.

Ah, Iceland

I thought I would share a few shots from my favourite co-pilot and photographer assistant's recent trip to Iceland.

Can you find the house tucked into the hill?

Icelandic chickens:

Door to the past:

Ta Da! And this would be the ice:

Modern art:

Big blue sky:

In Remembrance

Prior to going, I felt uncomfortable sharing my family story of why we were spending our summer holiday at battlefield sites in Europe. I felt uncomfortable talking about the collective inspiration found in civilization building computer games, poems read in assemblies every November in school, Battlefield 1942, Platoon, The Pacific, and Band of Brothers, to name just a few. (Nope, not all Bugs Bunny, Lego and the Game of Life at our house.) It's true, admitting an interest in war history is awkward, at least to me.

But nothing compares to being on the ground, at the battle site, feeling uncomfortable witnessing the ultimate discomfort of so many who experienced WWI and WWII first hand, and still rest there with or without graves. Or reading in museums about the over 5o million dead from WWII. It was extremely unsettling standing in In Flanders Fields Museum listening to the shearing sounds of bombs dropping from overhead. And walking around the 11,856 graves at Tyne Cot cemetery, the largest Commonwealth cemetery in the world. And reading the names of 54,389 missing soldiers, whose names are etched on the Menin Gate Memorial. And the medical bunker full of Canadian mementoes. And the emotional videos on personal stories from civilian survivors in Bastogne. And then there is Anne Frank's bedroom in Amsterdam. The list goes on.

Now, I share with you In Remembrance, a focus on WWI battle sites of the Ypres Salient:

A medical bunker at the site of where Major John McRae was believed to have written "In Flanders Fields" in 1915.

Essex Farm Cemetery, one of 160 within the Ypres Salient battle sites. I believe I heard someone say it took a team of five people seven days to keep the grass in order throughout all 160 sites.

St. Julian Monument marks where 18,000 Canadians on the British Front withstood the first German gas attacks in 1915. 2,000 fell and lied buried nearby. This day, locals were spraying weeds.

Tyne Cot Cemetery, with many visitors and their fallen tears keeping the grass green. One of the most emotional sites...

Common wooden crosses found throughout the Ypres Salient. Simple, yet says so much.

8:00pm every night since 1927 buglers sound the Last Post to commemorate those who gave their lives for Belgium's freedom. The Menin Gates name the 54,896 Commonwealth soldiers, including 6,983 Canadians, without known graves.

A pack of cards showing a propoganda wartime  poster.

In a trench, this one speaks for itself.

Top Shots: Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg

De Dutch fishing at Kinderdijk:

Paris playing at our lakeside picnic:

Tony loving his bike in the back alley:

Zeeland cows:  

Antwerp Dogs:

$5 worth of pralines from the Rubens market = one happy Kje: 

Afternoon of Eminence at Battle of Waterloo site. "I am standing where Napoleon stood!":

La Roche-en-Ardenne Castle:  

Mardasson Memorial at the Bastogne Historical Centre (Battle of the Bulge):

Luxembourg City gorgeous gardens view:

Kje thoroughly enjoying himself in the Charleroi Museum of Photography:

Ypres.... so much to remember. In Flanders Fields Museum. Listening to the Last Post and Reveille ceremony. Walking through trenches. Walking through rows of graves. 

Sail 2010 in Amsterdam:

Rembrandt. Van Gogh. I am tired of museums:

Solemn memories from Anne Frank Huis, photos of kittens from KattenKabinet cat museum: 

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol & British Airways, home away from home: