Sunday, January 24, 2010

Goodbye Ronnie

My grandmother's brother passed away from colon cancer last night. 


I am glad he is no longer in pain .. I know he has suffered much physical and emotional pain. His wife had a severe stroke recently, and it has affected her ability to remember a lot of things. Ronnie had moved into a nursing home to take care of her, when her care required around the clock assistance. Then he himself was diagnosed with colon cancer... it has been a long year for my family and the collective declines due to cancer. 


We love you Ronnie. 

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Lighthouse Park Vancouver

Lighthouse Park is another free provincial park in West Vancouver (north of Lions Gate Bridge)

This was the first REAL hike I've had since I moved from New York in 2007. I was in complete heaven! This park is right off a road, but goes from the road to the bay, and lots of pretty scenery along the way.

From my perch here, I could see Lions Gate Bridge and Vancouver downtown to my left, University of British Columbia and the Provincial Beaches directly in front, and then the bay and Vancouver Island to my right.









And what would a lighthouse park be, without a Lighthouse?? This lighthouse wasn't open to the public so I wasn't able to get any closer than this. Coming to this park first, this was my reference point as I worked my way around the Bay to the UBC Pacific Spirit Park, Wreck Beach, and Stanley Island.





Lynn Canyon Vancouver


I chose Lynn Canyon over Capilano Suspension Bridge becase it was free, less busy, and absolutely breathtaking. I will forever be an outdoors girl - this is what tells me I won't stay in Chicago forever. I did the Lynn Canyon trails on my first day in Vancouver, after spending the morning at Lighthouse Park (will be my next post).




Once I got over the bridge and onto the trail, it diverted down to the river after a while. I found a big rock in the middle of the water, and Listened to my hearts content. I realized the water wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, and so I got my camera out and started looking at the leaves floating and swirling around at the base of the rocks. The picture below is one of my absolute favorites I've taken, Ever.

I have had all these pictures on my computer Screensaver, and I could tell a 10 minute story about every one. So much serenity. So much clarity of thought. So much contentment. Even in situations where I would never have fathomed myself saying the words "I'm Happy", I made the conscious choice. And what do you know... I was happy.


Panning up from my rock in the middle of the river... I looked up and saw lots of rocks. Empty places where people could take a diversion from the trail and just think. And look up. And smell the water. And listen to the birds. and realize that all of this enjoyment cost not a single penny to appreciate. There were no lines. No Tickets. Just a pair of sneakers and a willing body.


Scenes like these are ones that make me remember one of my favorite quotes from
"A River Runs Through It"

Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.
I am haunted by waters.


Vancouver Review - PICS!

I love memories. And photographs. Sometimes I worry that because so much of my activities don't involve other people, there's only me to have the memory. And if something should happen to me or my memory... all these experiences would just fade into the nether. Even 2 people involved in the same memory will have different recollections, but thats still possibly better than none at all.


Its paranoia, I know. I hope that I'm never a victim of Alzheimers - I could deal with phyiscal ailments if they came along, but losing my mental capacities would be the most crippling, power stripping thing I could think of.

My Vancouver trip especially.... I spent an entire week in Canada, no friends (other than a quick lunch visit on my last day), no familiar people. And this week was one of the best experiences of my life. I don't know very many people (only 2 come to mind, actually) who have had similar if not exact experiences. That makes it difficult to frame the experience to someone who has no starting point.

And now... with that morbid thought out of the way. Pictures! Memory sharing!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Progress

I was reading an earlier post from this summer where I was patting myself on the back for getting out of the office by 5:30.


I regularly leave the office at my scheduled time of 4pm these days. GO ME!


Before the Holidays set in, and the bitter cold weather snuck up, I was walking 40 miles a week. I think I can continue to maintain that. I did 6.2 miles yesterday, in the nice and brisk 30F temps. Its supposed to stay this way all week. Both Dusty and I are loving the extra exercise.
 
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