A GOOD WALK

      A long time ago, a blogger I followed said, "A good walk is an excellent opportunity for photos." That has worked for me many times. Now I rarely carry my camera. 

     I try to go for a walk every evening. My walk is usually in the 4000 to 5000 step category.

   I meet quite a few people and their dogs. Most nights I have one or two good visits. 

   My walk today was special. I met a Ukrainian couple who are doing quite well here but still struggling with things. They are both computer programmers. He had just lost his job but is hopeful he will find another job. 

   After a slow start to the conversation, it picked up. They were practicing their English with me. They found that as an older person I spoke slowly and was easy to understand. For them, younger people speak too fast and use more slang.

     They like the beautiful area here. We were standing on a foot bridge watching a beaver go back and forth under us. 

     So I get to learn about some of their culture. I try and tell them that my ancestors, although they were German, came from the Ukraine. I'm not sure that they understand that. All my ancestors spoke German and Russian when they came here and some spoke Ukrainian. 

    So it was a quiet pleasant evening for a good walk. 

WORLD CHOCOLATE DAY

       Today is a day I really like. Or in other words , I like chocolate. World Chocolate day is thought to celebrate the introduction of chocolate into Europe in 1550.

     There are several other days celebrating chocolate. 

     National chocolate day is a U.S. date celebrated Oct 28. 

    Candy makers have a day designated to celebrate chocolate. 

    So I like chocolate but there's no chocolate in the house to celebrate with. 

    I hope you will find some chocolate to celebrate World chocolate day. 

PEACEFUL SUMMER EVENING

       I've commented many times on how much I love the long daylight hours we have here. 

      There's more to it than that. We get to be outside and enjoy long evenings. Now each evening has it's own characteristics. Many times the wind doesn't go down until just before sunset. We get to see some interesting sunsets. 

     What I really like are those very calm evenings. It seems that people follow a schedule throughout the year and they are not out in the evening. So it's quiet. No people on the street! Very few cars. So with the coming of sunset the day seems to quietly wind down. 

    So on June 30 I decided to go out just before 10 PM and see if I could catch the peaceful evening. When I looked at the photos, it surprised me at how light it was. 

    So here there's little activity in the evenings even if it's light. However, in the Arctic it as different. We had sun up for 24 hours a day. People were active at any time of the day. I met some of my students out at 4 AM. Inuit got up to hunt at any time to take advantage of the tide to go out of the bay. One teacher got mixed up with time and came to school just before 9 Pm. She got teased for a long time. 

HAPPY CANADA DAY

      I have never gone out and attended a Canada Day celebration. Yes, I know I'm bad. I have attended the fireworks in the evening. I would take my family to a good vantage point and watch fireworks. It was fun when the kids were little.

     So, today I was doing my regular grocery shopping. Yes, that's me . Grocery shopping on Canada Day.   

     I met an Asian woman with three little kids doing her shopping. 

      She had a three year old who was bouncing with great abandon. That kid had energy. 

    I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the seven year old had a tiny Canadian flag and he was holding it up. I realized that he was saying Happy Canada Day. I wished him Happy Canada Day and I got the politest  "Thankyou" I've ever received. 

     The five year old girl had a pink birthday hat on. I asked her if it was her birthday and she said it was. I wished her happy birthday and also received a very sincere thankyou.

     This really made my Canada Day. 

    It was better than fire works. 

A FEW AMENDMENTS

       Some of your comments showed  that I had not fully given necessary information.

       We had lots of supervision. Three of us taught out door ed. Two  of the three of us usually went on the trip. We  had no problem getting male supervisors. Some of them came with us a few times when their kids were in the program. Getting female supervisors was a challenge. There were very few Moms who wanted to do an overnight field trip. Once we went without a female supervisor but that was the last time for that. 

      Kids on field trips were always well behaved. They were noisy but good. In fact they stuck to you like glue. They also knew the rules and why we had those rules. 

      In the early fall we would do a hike. Before Christmas we would do a cross country trip and sometimes it was a snow shoe trip. In one grade we would do a winter camp. In other words in a tent with snow and below freezing temperature. For this one I threw in all the covers I had to cover my garden when it froze. The blankets were all used and appreciated. 

   So the point I wish to make is that this was a group effort and other than noise they were well behaved and learned many things. . But then middle school kids are great noise makers.  For many of these kids it was their first exposure to the natural world. 

        These blurry photos were from an area that we went to many times. 

   

ANOTHER BUS EPISODE

      Ticks were not the only excitement on outdoor ed. trips. I taught outdoor ed. for a few years. We would pack the bus with kids and supplies and head for the Rocky mountains for field trips. We would overnight in youth hostels, rustic youth hostels. These youth hostels were meant for ten to twelve people. We would crowd in 15 or so boys and 2 or 3 adults. The boys had to cook for themselves. Sometimes there were other travelers there as well. We would reserve the hostels. We never had as many girls so the lady's hostel  was never so crowded. I remember 10 or so boys sleeping on the floor. Supervisors didn't get much sleep. 

    Sometimes a little guy would be rolling and bouncing around. If you could see who it was, it was easy to settle him down. Just tell him to go out and pee. 

   Those nights in the youth hostel were magical as we would go out in the moon light in the Rocky's. The bright snow and moonlight gave a beautiful view. 

   We also took summer field trips. The highway up to High Wood pass is closed until sometime in the late spring. From where the highway is closed to the top of the pass is 19 Km. We had the kids ride up the pass on bicycles. All of them made it. The ride down was dangerous as it was hard to persuade them that they would go too fast down the hill.

     Well, every field trip has to come to an end. We had routines that everybody had to follow. One time we had all the kids on the bus and equipment and supplies loaded. We were making one last check to make sure the area was left as it should be. All of a sudden kids were yelling and screaming. Somebody had seen a squirrel get in the bus. Well, that meant everybody had to get off the bus. It also meant that this old guy has to check the bus to make sure the squirrel was not on the bus. I had to check under the seats to see if the critter was hiding. The all clear sign was given and the kids got on the bus gain.

    Now we've talked about this incident a few times. We're not sure  a squirrel actually got on the bus or if someone's imagination got carried away or if the critter left very quickly and the kids didn't see it leave. 

    Field trips were always a great adventure. 

TICKS

       This morning I listened to an item on ticks on my favorite radio program on CBC. Ticks have been in the news lately as they have become more abundant. They were noted for passing on Lyme disease but now they pass on other diseases. They are annoying because they are sneaky little beggars that attach themselves and are on your body before you know it.

       The expert being interviewed suggested that ticks were moving about 50 km further north every year and that this was due to climate change.

     People remember when they've had a tick or when a pet has had a tick. One I remember is when I had a tick on my throat just below the edge of my beard. Luckily, my brother saw it and took it off before any harm was done. 

    I taught outdoor ed for a number of years. We took the students on 3 field trips a year. When you're taking out 35 kids for two nights and 3 days very strict  routines have to be set up. One of the routines was for each student to have a buddy to check for ticks. 

    One time we had  a couple of extra hours so we took them on a trail on the side of a mountain.. This was in late March and on a south facing slope where the snow had disappeared. So ticks were already active. 

     We got o the bus and one of the students found a tick. There was excitement and pandemonium and all the kids got off the bus. The checking was done and no more ticks were found. We loaded the bus and headed for home with an interesting event to tell about. 

     Whenever I go by I still look up on the mountainside and remember the tick episode