The Journey Begins - Vancouver to Hinton

Many of you will know that I recently went on a road trip to attend the funeral of my aunt. It was a very long road trip with my brother doing all the driving.  Along the way we visited an my mom, her elder brother and a sister; all of whom live in different towns and cities.  Part of my decision to go so far at this time was so that I could visit my uncle (mom's brother) since he hasn't been well for some time and he is getting on in age.

Funerals can be very sad occasions, but for me it is also a time I like because I get to see relatives I haven't seen for a very long time. In this case, my aunt had just celebrated her 81st birthday and while that is not too old, she had been unable to speak for about 20 years after having suffered multiple strokes. In the last months, cancer had taken over and she stopped eating 21 days before passing. We look upon her passing as helping her to now enjoy better health in heaven.

We kept good records of the length of our journey and we covered just over 5000 kilometres.  I'm going to be doing a series of posts about our journey so I hope you will come back and travel with me. I will try to post some factual information of the different places we pass as well.

The first photos are maps. On our way north, through the province of British Columbia we passed through the town of Kamloops and then carried on through Vavenby, Avola, Valemount and  the world famous, Rocky Mountains past Mount Robson.   We stopped at Hinton for the night.  You can click on any map or photo to enlarge.

 

Here is a map of Canada so you can situate British Columbia and Alberta. They are Canada's two most western provinces.

The first photos I took were about an hour out of Vancouver. The scenery is always spectacular with the luscious looking and plentiful trees.

There are lots of mountain tops as we pass through majestic mountains which are part of the North Cascades.  The Cascade Mountain Range spans the border between the Canadian Province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington.  They are predominantly non-volcanic but there are certain parts which are volcanic like Mount Baker, Glacier Peak and Coquihalla Mountain. 
Officially these mountains are called the Cascade Mountains in Canada.

We are travelling northeast on on Highway 1.  This highway originates on Vancouver Island.  See the map at the top and you will see a large island to the west of the mainland of British Columbia. That is Vancouver Island.  We will pass by but not through many municipalities:  Port Coquitlam, New Westminister, Surrey, Langley, Cloverdale, Abbotsford, Chilliwack then Hope. I am not completely sure if I have these in order of location but they are more in order than not.

As we reach the town of Hope, the highway separates to take you to various points north and east.

North of Hope we are travelling on Highway 5 or the Coquihalla Highway, often referred to as the "Coq", pronounced "Coke".  I've captured a sign for you in the photo below so you can see one of the many warnings given to driver. I also wanted to capture the wild alpine flowers for you.

These mountain peaks always makes me catch my breath due to their sheer size and beauty.

The photo belows show an avalanche shelter. Fortunately I've never experienced any avalanche when passing through here in winter.  Currently there is a  lot of road widening and improvement work being done between Vancouver and along this stretch of highway. You can see some of the signage just to the right of the shot.

Another hour or so of driving and you can see the geography has changed quite dramatically.  We are now approaching the town of Merritt, British Columbia.  The town of Merritt is nestled in the Nicola Valley and has a population of about 7000 people. Glacial lakes are nestled amongst the grasslands where cattle also graze uninterrupted. This is pure cattle country and quite beautiful too if you like the semi-arid type of landscape.

I tried to capture a photo of the town as we passed by but we were going too fast.  Merritt is always our last stop before we get to Kamloops. Here we take a short break stopping at an outlying place to grab a drink of coffee, water or soda for the final hour's drive to Kamloops.

We are now in our final approach into Kamloops.

I always love arriving for it means a good portion of the journey is behind us!  We are making the approach into Kamloops from the northwest and we are at the top of the valley.  Kamloops is located at the confluence of the two branches of the Thompson River (north and south).  The population of Kamloops is about 87,000 people. I've noticed a tremendous amount of building going on over the past decade or more and one would think the economy was booming in the city. However doing some research I've read that the population actually declined in 2010, along with population declines in the town of Merritt. The reason is that people have had to migrate to larger cities to find work. Nonetheless Kamloops is a much bigger city than when my family first settled there.

The scene below is one of my favourite scenes of the city as it gives a panoramic view of the two rivers and the main part of the city. At night, the sparkling lights make this a very pretty approach.   Here we stopped and visited with my mom for an hour or so before heading north on the Trans-Canada Highway.

We pass a few very small places like Rayleigh as we head north. The first real small town is called Barriere. I took a photo of the surrounding hills.  There was a huge wildfire a few years ago now which almost wiped out the town .  You can see from the photo that the forest is still recovering.

Barriere, British Columbia is located 66 kilometres north of Kamloops on Highway 5 which winds along the North Thompson River.  The community is 375 meters above sea level.

Legend has it that 
"during the early days of the Cariboo gold rush, an old trapper named MacDonald, hailing from Scotland, was plying his trade in the central North Thompson Valley. Each winter he would stockpile his pelts at Little Fort. In the spring of each year, he would load up his pelt on his old mare, and with the help of a young Chu Chua Indian, he would set out on the old highway for Kamloops.
On one of his annual trips, the old man and his young companion stopped for lunch at the site of what is today: Barriere. Following lunch, the old mare refused to start up again. The old Scot gave her the buggy whip and she suddenly keeled over and died. His Indian companion said to MacDonald: "What  are you going to do now?" to which the old man replied: "Bury her". From which Barriere got it's name.
from a story re-told by local authority: David Baines

A photo of the North Thompson River.

The beautiful and majestic Mount Robson rises before us as we approach the border to the Province of Alberta.  The air was quite cold but there were still a lot of mosquitoes.

I took a lot of photos of this lake you see below.  It is called Moose Lake. I think it is very beautiful. The lake went on for miles and miles.

We saw some cars parked along the way and stopped to see what was going on. People had stopped to look at this huge mammal, the spectacular elk. The light was fading and most of my photos did not turn out but I think you can make it out due to the lighter skinned coat and it's big rack of antlers.   The photo doesn't do justice to the size of this creature.

A fabulous moon guided our way.

We stop off at the Howard Johnson Motel in Hinton, Alberta for a room. It was difficult to get a room in the city. This place was the only one with rooms available. It turned out to be quite comfortable.

The beds were super comfortable. The weight of the duvet was perfect. Not too light and not too heavy. There was air conditioning in the room also to keep it nice and cool.

In most Canadian hotels and motels you will find a coffee maker, complimentary tea and coffee, an ice holder for getting ice from the ice machine, a soda pop machine, a desk for working at and often a mini fridge but not always.  The cost of the room for the night was $109.00 Canadian dollars plus 10% tax.

Well that concludes the first part of my journey. Please join in again for the next part of the trip through Alberta.

You can also join in for Scenic Sundays from around the world by clicking the badge below.

Spectacular Colours

I really like this photo taken through the side mirror.

Once the colours changed we really had to stop and take a photo or two.

These photos are all taken on the highway between Grande Prairie and Edmonton, Alberta. My next post will feature maps and more photos of my recent journey.

For more wonderful sky photos please join in at Skywatch here.

I'm also submitting this as my first submission to Weekend Reflections.

A Daisy Will Do You

 

As I was taking photos one day not so long ago for my macro flower submissions, I spotted a nice grouping of daisies.

As I got closer, I saw a few ants enjoying the daisies as well.

Ponder the ant a bit. Such a tiny creature and sometimes a real nuisance in your garden or house. They can damage crops and invade buildings. How many of you have ever had your garden or your home over run with ants?

Yet ants are very social creatures and very industrious too. Apparently ant societies have division of labour, communicate with one another and have an ability to solve complex problems. This makes ants quite fascinating. 

Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:  Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,
 Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.
Proverbs 6:6-8 (KJV)

I bet some of you remember your fascination with ants as a child. Or perhaps you have a child or grandchild who watches the ants and sees how they work so feverishly; marvelling at the heavy loads ants can carry on their backs as they prepare for the winter.  I think we can all learn something from this hard working little creature.

The daisy is such a simple flower but yet so intricate and beautiful at the same time.  Look at the fascinating centre of the flower. Such perfection!


I learned that the daisy has some medicinal properties. I believe this daisy is called an English daisy. 

It has the following properties:

• anodyne - pain relief
• antispasmodic - suppresses muscle spasms
• antitussive - cough suppressants
• demulcent - agent that wraps around mucus membrane to relieve minor pain and inflammation to the area
• emollient - softens or soothes skin
• expectorant - to helps remove mucus from lungs, bronchi, and trachea
• laxative - induce bowel movements or loosen stool
• purgative - helps induce vomiting
• tonic - improve health

It can be well tolerated in homeopathic remedies but since the daisy is a diuretic, there can be dangers of toxicity when taken with anti-inflammatory painkillers. Don't try to self-medicate. Get some professional help if you want to consider an herbal remedy.

I will be travelling for a family funeral so I apologize in advance if you visit  my blog and I cannot comment right away. I may have one or two pre-scheduled blog posts if I have enough time.

Please join in to the memes, Macro Flowers Saturday and Weekend Flowers of Friday. You will see some beautiful flowers.  Thank you to Maia and Tina for hosting these beautiful memes.  Happy weekend!

Easy Rice Pudding

When I was a child my mother made the most awesome and wonderful rice pudding and bread pudding. The older I get the more I grow nostalgic for these foods and for the memories of the smells of mom's cooking as I'd walk into the house after a long day of school. Over time, I am learning some of her repetoire but I never really asked her how to make the two puddings. She couldn't recollect the recipes now so I will try to find some that will work.

I precooked a lot of brown rice for yesterday's dinner (featured in yesterday's post) and  thought now would be a good time to try making some rice pudding.  I made this recipe found on Allrecipes.com, with modifications as noted.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup uncooked white rice  (I used left over brown cooked rice)
• 2 cups milk, divided  (I used evaporated milk)
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2/3 cup golden raisins  ( I used dark raisins)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil. Add rice and stir. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
2. In another saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups cooked rice, 1 1/2 cups milk, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat until thick and creamy, 15 to 20 minutes. I cooked my rice about 10 minutes longer because the brown rice is not as fluffy as the white (though it looks fluffy when cooked). I kept stirring so that the milk didn't burn the bottom of the pot. 
3.  Stir in remaining 1/2 cup milk, beaten egg and raisins. Cook 2 minutes more, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and stir in butter and vanilla. Serve warm. 

Tip: If you use evaporated milk like I did, don't forget to reduce the sugar otherwise it may be too sweet!  You could also use Splenda.  I cooked the mixture a little longer to soften the rice as much as possible. Brown rice will be crunchier than white rice. Nonetheless it was a creamy pudding with a bit of crunch and not bad at all. I sprinkled cinnamon spice on the finished product but you could also stir it in the pudding while cooking.

While this is not my like my mom's rice pudding, it is pretty good!

I will be travelling for a family funeral so I apologize in advance if you visit  my blog and I cannot comment right away. I may have one or two pre-scheduled blog posts if I have enough time.

Simple Eats

While I am a simple cook, sometimes simple can be so nice. Today I made dinner consisting of brown rice cooked the old fashioned way on the stove top, roasted chicken drumsticks and a colourful black bean and corn salad.

The salad consists of:

• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

• 1 1/2 cups of frozen corn kernels

• 1 medium red pepper, washed and diced

• 2 stalks of green onions, washed, peeled and diced

• 1/2 papaya, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces

• 1 lime

After you assemble and prepare all the ingredients, simply toss them together with the juice of a freshly squeezed lemon.

If you like spices, you can add cayenne pepper and garlic. Or, you can add some avocado if you wish. As for me, I left out the spices and used bigger chunks of papaya.

Tip:  There is no need to defrost the corn kernels first. I made this salad while the rice and chicken were cooking.  By the time the main meal is ready to be plated, the corn kernels in the salad are thawed enough to eat.

I am grateful that we in the west can still eat. 

Even if we have no money there are things like food banks and soup kitchens

as long as you are able bodied enough to walk to these places. 

My heart and head are still concerned about the hungry and the 

dying in the Horn of Africa. Please consider your gift today. 

You can find donate buttons on the side of my blog.

UN makes historic Somali aid drop - Africa

Friends have a look at this story
UN makes historic Somali aid drop - Africa - Al Jazeera English to learn some of the recent events in the Horn of Africa.

If you missed my introductory post, please check out "Crisis in the Horn of Africa",  posted July 31st, 2011.

There are donate buttons on the side of my page also for World Vision and World Food Programme.  If you prefer to give to those at the grassroots level, you can donate to Missions of Hope here.

Join Me on a Walk

I thought I would do something different for my Blue Monday this week.
I have posted a video I made some time ago. 

It features lots of beautiful blue sky, blue restaurant banners and other blue here and there.
Grab a tea or coffee and rest awhile. I hope you enjoy the show and the music.

Enjoy!

      

Lily Macro Series

The lily was beginning to fade when I photographed it.  But I found it quite beautiful as I got closer to it. It was amongst a group of flowers planted around a post on the street.

The young shopkeeper came out to water the flowers as I was photographing them. I thought it was very charming of him to tend to flowers that are growing on the side of the street.  Perhaps he planted them.  Anyway, they make a nice touch in an otherwise not so pretty area.

Enjoy your weekend and enjoy more flowers and beautiful scenery at the following links (click badges).

Scenic Sunday

The Simple Joys of Living

Often I get very behind on housework and domestic tasks despite my best efforts. Does anyone else have that problem *wink.  Then when I energetic  I whirl around like a dervish trying to catch up with things.   I am always pleased when I see how much I've accomplished.

This week I got a lot of domestic tasks done:

• finished loads and loads of laundry. They were all small loads so I was able to conserve water.  As part of my laundry exercise, I was trying to shrink some linen clothing and a rayon dress I purchased recently for comfort in the summer heat we are finally getting.  While the dress shrunk a bit in length, the linen clothing didn't shrink at all!  Now I think I have to alter them or have them altered. It is okay because they were purchased on a very good sale. I can alter the clothing myself if I have time but I want to wear them before I'm likely to get the job done myself. I'm torn about whether to spend the funds because I like to save pennies too.  So we will see what happens in the next week or so.
• loaded up on food shopping. It seems I was out of all the basic items and then some. I didn't even have eggs, milk or margarine on hand.
• baked muffins and bread. Baked goods are so expensive and there was no bread on sale today. The banana muffins saved my bananas from going to waste and the blueberry muffins were made from last year's blueberries which needed to be used.  I also made a loaf of bread and half a dozen rolls from a new recipe.

These buns have a crispier crust than the ones I usually make. I like a crispy crust so will likely use this recipe again.

• baked some navy bean and beef soup with a tomato base in my Kitchen Aid casserole. It may seem like a hearty dish for summer but this week I seem to have a craving for beans.  In a few days I'll try my hand at some black bean salsa or black bean relish and pair it with some fish or chicken.

• washed lots and lots of dishes and pots and pans. My room mate generally makes the dinners.  I clean and run the household.  The cleaning part never seems to end and it can seem tedious.  Given that the work will always be there, I'm making a concerted effort to look at my daily tasks in a new light. I am fortunate enough to have a home, hot running water and hands to to clean so I am trying to take joy in these simple tasks and be grateful that I can live the life I live.

I've been busy with other things too.

Like shopping for my mom. I learned a few days ago that she needed some grooming and toiletry items. It's taken a few days to pull it together but it's all done now.  My brother will kindly deliver these things to her on Tuesday as he is travelling to her city for a quick trip.

I also bought her a few dresses as she is celebrating her 75  birthday later this month.  I bought one each of the dresses you see on the left and right and a 3rd dress for which I don't have a photo.  The dresses in the photos are being modelled by store clerk.

The dresses were shipped a few days ago.  I wish I was there to see her surprise when she gets the package.  The dresses are  nice and roomy so that they won't pull when she sits in her wheelchair. Moreover, the width shouldn't shrink when the care home washes her clothes as they tend to wash clothes in scalding hot water.

I've had a chance to update my blog.  It took awhile but I finally have a new header and a new layout. I hope you like it. The header has a "lomo-ish" effect which brings out the colour of the lily and blurs the images a bit.  Let me know what you think. I plan to change out the header every now and then. It seems to be a popular thing to do amongst bloggers.

Well that it's for now. 

I've got a gazillion things to do this 

weekend around the house and more errands.  

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

A Little Yellow Bird Came To Visit

In my last visit to Nairobi, I had a little visitor over breakfast. In fact several birds came by through the open window at the hotel but I was only able to capture one in a photo. It isn't the best quality but I'm hoping someone can identify it for me.  Update:  Nelson, from Safari with TAfrica, has identified this bird as a weaver. Thanks Nelson!

Here is the bird perched on a wooden rail between the dining tables and the open windows.