The Way I See It, Two Years In

Food for Thought

INTOLERANCE

DIVISIVENESS

SELF-RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION (I,D,SI)

These seem to be the flavours of the day………and I don’t much like these flavours.  Maybe I’ll just stick with vanilla.

I am currently finding that everywhere I go these days, these are the topics of conversation: Covid, vaccines, mandates, and protests.  These are conversations with friends, relatives, colleagues, and acquaintances. (FRCA)   I’m finding that these conversations are full of I, D, and SI.  So much judgement, so much vitriol.

No one seems to be able to, or even to try to see things from another’s perspective.  A lot of the times, I “mostly” agree with the speaker, yet I find myself appalled at the I, D and SI.  I find myself disappointed at their lack of understanding and compassion for another’s point of view; dismayed at the hatefulness and contempt.  I’ve even tried playing “Devil’s Advocate” to no avail.  As a result, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about all my opinions on these topics.  Pondering these topics of the day.  And frankly, because of all this pondering, I’ve been able to start to “see” where “the other side’s” perspectives are coming from…………and perhaps “understand” a bit of why they are feeling and reacting the way they are.

This is what inspired my blog today; my first in a few years.  There’s so many stories of families and friends driven apart by their opposing views on today’s polarizing topics.  

Let’s start with MEDIA:

Oh, the media………what can I say?  I just don’t know what to believe or who to believe.  The internet has opened a whole new world of rogue “journalism” where facts don’t matter, opinions run rampant, and sources feed you more and more of what you want to hear.  There are “fact checkers” but I feel like even they have been compromised by politics.  I really just don’t know what to believe most of the time.  There is a contingent of people who think “we”, those who are following all the rules blindly, have been duped by the mainstream media; fed a narrative…………and that it’s not all done with complete honesty………it’s done with the goal of compliance.  I don’t know if I believe this or not; but it has planted a seed of doubt.

Back in the day, (haha, old person’s saying), we used to read newspapers.  They had a certain degree of credibility.  I think they couldn’t just print lies.  Here you could buy the Vancouver Sun, the Province, maybe the Globe and Mail or the New York Times.  Yes, you knew they all had their own slant a bit, but I think we all mostly felt that if you read something in one of those it couldn’t be complete rubbish.  Yes, there was The National Inquirer and the Star, but I just assumed everyone knew they were tabloids and had no credibility………except for the odd little old lady who grabbed one as she bought her chewing gum and would later be telling her friends at the beauty salon about the woman who gave birth to the baby with the alien head. 

So, what can we believe from the internet?  I don’t know the answer.  People stretch the truth, manipulate data, exaggerate and cherry pick facts, quote out of context and outright lie.  Yet, they can print whatever they want and some people read it, believe it, never question it.

Now, there are those who feel that the WHO, Dr. Fauci and other big players in this game called Pandemic have not been completely honest with the public.  I don’t know if it’s true; I don’t know if it’s false.

CENSORSHIP

So first came unbridled journalism and next came censorship.  Somewhere along the line freedom of speech became a thing of the past and big players in the game decided they could censor media.   I can definitely see why they thought this might be necessary when there was so much false information causing dangerous actions in response to Covid but it is undoubtedly a disconcerting thing to be happening in our free society.

There is also a contingent of presumably reputable, knowledgeable scientists who claim they have been censored (by the big players: the gov, WHO, Big Pharma, the ultra-rich) for having a different view than what mainstream media is feeding the public.  Their claim is that any scientific ideas, data, or studies they’ve tried to get out there, that don’t follow the “narrative” are being taken off the internet.  Again, I don’t know if this is true or false; fact, fiction or exaggeration.  

IVERMECTIN

LOL, we can’t have a conversation about Covid without mentioning Ivermectin.  It’s become the joke of the day.  With an air of SI, we’ll belittle those who took “horse tranquilizers”.   Belittling is right up there with I, D, and SI.  Is that really how we should be treating our fellow human beings?  The truth about Ivermectin is that it is a useful anti-parasitic drug that has been approved for humans since 1987 and is widely used in low and middle income countries.  There have been studies for its usefulness against Covid but I don’t think there has been any conclusive results.  There are those who think Big Pharma is not interested in re-purposed drugs as it doesn’t make money for them.  It’s extremely unfortunate that some scared people were so desperate that they tried to get it from horse tranquilizers when the human form was unavailable.   But to take that out of context and make it the joke of the day sure doesn’t show much compassion.  Would any of you belittle a man who jumps from the 10th floor of a burning building??

VACCINES

OK, here we go……..on to the contentious issue of vaccines.  I am triple vaccinated; I love my vaccine; I love that I’m not the least bit worried about Omicron now because it is unlikely it will result in severe illness or death.  

Do I think we should be able to force others to get the vaccine?  I don’t know.

Could we have compassion for those who are afraid of the vaccine?  Yes, I think we could and I think we should.

If your best friend was terrified of heights, would you try to force them to cross Capilano bridge?

If your loved one had claustrophobia, would you belittle them for not getting in a small elevator?

If you were agoraphobic, would you like to be treated as the “anti-vaxers” are being treated now?

Now I know, some of you will rebut that with “This is different than those examples. They are being selfish; they are not thinking about the safety of others.”  Well, my point here is, these are irrational fears and some may view the fear of the vaccine as an irrational fear, but we typically treat people with those other phobias with some level of compassion.  I would like to see a little more compassion and a little less I, D and SI.  As for the selfishness, yes, you can call it that if you want.  I was selfish for having children in an overpopulated world.  I’m selfish every time I fly to a foreign country for a vacation.  I’m not perfect either.   They are putting themselves at risk by not getting vaccinated but I feel their threat to the vaccinated population is minimal; the vaccinated are also spreading Omicron asymptomatically.

The next rebuttal with be “Well, they are filling our hospitals”.  Yes, there is no denying that.  I won’t argue that one.  However, I will point out that our hospitals are also filled by smokers with COPD, lung disease and stroke.  They are filled with overweight people with high blood pressure, diabetes and gallbladder disease.  They are filled with accident victims who drive too aggressively.  They are filled with people who don’t eat right or exercise and have heart disease. They are filled with broken bones of the brazen adventure sport community.   We don’t treat any of those people with the type of disdain we are showing the “anti-vaxers”.

WHY NOT VACCINATE?

I feel that there are a few reasons why people don’t want to get vaccinated.  Now, this is completely my own speculation.  No facts here, just a guess by me as to why this is happening in approximately 16% of our Canadian population.  

1) Fear of the Vaccine itself: I don’t know why but some people are very afraid of the vaccine.  I’m not an expert on vaccines so I can’t really comment.  I am typically a trusting person and I trust the medical authorities and basically I’m a pretty compliant person.  For those who don’t trust and have heard bad things about the vaccines, it has caused a real fear for them.

2) Past experience: perhaps some people have had a bad experience with vaccines or some other medical procedure before that makes them vaccine hesitant

3) Distrust: some people just really distrust government and/or the medical community and don’t feel they should have to do what they say………….despite the fact that it is selfish not to think of the community as a whole

4) Defiance: some people just don’t want to be told what to do.  I personally don’t think this is a good reason, but I’m trying not to be too judgmental, remember?

THE SCIENCE

We like to say to the unvaccinated, “Why don’t you follow the science.”  While I agree with this, it’s of interest to point out:

---anyone my age grew up learning that Pluto was a planet but guess what, the science has changed and it is no longer classified as a planet

---science thought it was a good idea in the 1950’s to treat morning sickness with Thalidomide; we all know how that turned out

---the science of the 1980’s touted the low fat diet leading to the obesity epidemic we see in North America today

---I think you should see my point

WHY SUCH DISTRUST?

Well, it’s clear that governments/societies aren’t always right.  There have been a lot of mistakes made by many past governments and some people are very distrustful and fearful of letting them get too much power over us.  Like I said, I’m basically a very trusting and compliant person and mostly I like to think that the people with those jobs should know what they are doing but really, that’s pretty naïve.  There are a lot of reasons to question governments actions.

---there was a time when they thought it was a good idea to bring different people over from across the ocean to fill the labour shortage in their cotton fields

---there was a time when they thought women shouldn’t have a vote

---there was a time they thought it was a good idea to put First Nations children in Residential Schools to educate them so they could get jobs in society

---there was a time they thought it was best to force a child to use their right hand if they were showing a tendency towards the left

---again, I think you get my point; the list goes on

THE PROTEST

Another contentious issue:

Do I agree with trucks clogging highways and downtown Ottawa?

No.

Do I understand at least some of the message they are trying to convey?

Yes, sort of.  I’m pretty ambiguous but I “kind of” get the “freedom of choice” bit.

Do I need to get all I, D, and SI on them?

No, I definitely do not.

Do I respect that they are standing up for what they believe in?

Yes

Do I agree with how they are doing it?

No, but I don’t have a better idea to offer them. (write a letter and clog up their mailboxes? ;))

Do I paint them all with the same brush?

No

Do I recognize that the extremist element has jumped on their bandwagon?

Yes

Do I think that should reflect on all of them?

No

Do I think they should protest in front of hospitals?

Absolutely not.

I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO BELIEVE

It’s unbelieveable that humans exterminated millions of other humans in the 1930’s and 40’s, but it is true.

It’s believeable that toilet seats have 10X more germs than cell phones but that’s false

Sometimes the believable is false and the unbelievable is true.  How do you know what to believe when there is so much conflicting information out there?  How can you trust anything you read when anyone can post almost anything on the internet with no journalistic integrity and no responsibility to back stories up with facts.  How do we trust information when some scientists are censored?

CONCLUSION

To those who are full of I, D, and SI in a discussion about any of these topics, please try to remember: you might not be wrong, but you likely are not 110% right like you think you are.  If you can’t see that there is at least some shred of validity to someone else’s view, then you’re not looking hard enough.

The world is not Black and White

It is not Good and Bad

 It is not Right and Wrong

The world is a very Grey place.

Now more than ever

Hey, did you hear about the lady in Florida who had the baby fathered by a crocodile?!

Enduring Friendship

Good friends

Old friends

Forever friends

What an awesome 4 days I just had!

 I just spent an extended weekend with my best friend from my school days in Vauxhall, that small prairie town in Southern Alberta with its potholes and prairie oysters. 

We were inseparable back then, June and I, but as life went on and we married and raised families, we didn’t see each other that much. It’s always been that when we did get together it was like no time had passed but none the less, we have not spent that much time together in the past 30+ years.

This weekend we had 4 wonderful days together and we had so much fun. We biked, we hiked, we talked and kayaked, we talked, we wined and dined and we talked some more. We reminisced, discussed and shared. 

We rediscovered what I always knew: we are good friends, old friends and forever friends!

Thanks so much for coming to visit, June. ❤️

Keen on the Tonquin Valley 2017

"Keen" On Adventure

95km through the Tonquin Valley

August 2017

Well, what can I say……….another adventure and another great one at that!  After weeks of anticipating our hike to the majestic Mt. Assiniboine in Banff, the highest peak in the Southern Continental Ranges of the Canadian Rockies, our plans were foiled by what has been dubbed BC’s worst ever wildfire season.  Our trail was closed.  As the date approached and our anticipation heightened, we hoped it would reopen in time. It didn’t.  But thanks to the efforts and continued excellent planning by the phenomenal brother/sister duo,  James and Joanne, they had a back up plan in place.  After many hours of research, planning, phone calls and reservation making, we were off to the Tonquin Valley near Jasper instead.

We loaded up the Acura at my house, Saturday, August 5, and headed on our way………7:04am, only 4 minutes behind schedule.  By 7:06 we had our first wildlife viewing; a deer and her 2 fawns………probably the same culprits who have been eating my hostas at the bottom of the roadway.  We were on our way!

After pit stops at the Blue Moose in Hope for coffee, Pedro’s near Salmon Arm for fruit, the Village Idiot in Revelstoke for lunch and the Truffle Pigs Lodge in Field for a quick hug, we rolled into the Lake Louise Hostel around 7pm just in time for dinner.  Thanks to Joanie and Joanne, I didn’t have to drive the whole way myself and was able to take a snooze or two.  When I thanked them for helping with the driving, Joanne said “I like driving different cars” to which Joanie replied “I like driving nice cars.”  At one of our bathroom stops Joanie pointed out that “These bathrooms are always the pits, literally!”

After dinner we met with James, Joanne’s brother and group “mountain man” who would prove to be instrumental in the well-being, safety, fun and overall adventurability of our posse.  This year he brought along his side kick, Daryl, who I refer to as “mountain man 2” but Barb just chooses to call Daniel.  We were briefed in detail of the agenda for the next 6 days then sent on our way to prepare for the next morning’s 8am departure along the Icefield Parkway.

Sunday--It was about a three hour drive along this stunning stretch of highway before we turned onto 93A near Athabasca Falls. 

After some poor navigating by me at a detour sign and a near miss with an orange cone, we made our way down Cavell Road towards Edith Cavell Hostel where we were to park.  By just minutes we had missed seeing a Grizzly bear and her 2 cubs. The other part of our convoy got an exciting view of them and was able to capture some photos from the safety of their car window………..the best way to encounter a Grizzly.

Here the 8 of us donned our hefty packs to start the 16km trek to the Wates-Gibson Hut that would be our home for 4 nights. This was when I named my monstrosity of a pack, “the beast”!

 

The first 8km seemed to go quite quickly and smoothly as we merrily trotted along enjoying the scenery along the Amethyst Lake Trail  The last 8km turned into a very tiring, uphill climb that almost wore us out and we arrived exhausted around 7pm.  The trip had taken about 2 hours longer than James expected…………hmmm, so we can’t maintain a 3.2km/hr pace with 30+lbs on our back, go figure!

We arrived to somewhat of a drama.  A young “meet-up” group from Edmonton were missing 2 of their hikers from their day trip.  The map was out, ideas of what went wrong were analyzed and a rescue plan was devised. If the pair’s mistake was the most likely scenario that they had come up with, they should be about 1 ½ hours behind them.  The rest of the group ate dinner, rested up and were ready to head out searching if the wayward duo did not arrive by 9:30pm.  At 9:00, in they walked.  The young woman who was the leader of this meet up had shown great leadership and had come up with a valid plan but when they walked in, she melted into tears. We were all very happy to see them arrive safely.  Even I had a tear in my eye.  Sure enough, they had gone wrong in the exact place that the others had anticipated. We were all reminded of how easily things can go wrong and how important it is to stay together on the trails.

With all hikers safe and sound the 18 of us sharing that hut slept soundly despite the snoring, twisting, turning, zipping and muttering of our bunk mates.  

Monday—We headed out at 8:20am.  Our lunch stop was at the Maccabe lookout. Along the way we saw wildflowers, red squirrels, a caribou and a woodpecker.  After lunch we met up with some adventurers on horseback on the bridge in the meadow.  As we stopped to admire their horses, one rider told us he named his horse “Baby” because she carried all of his day hike essentials.  Well, I informed him that I named my pack “Beast” because she was way too heavy!  To reduce her weight I should introduce her to Dr. Atkins, Jenny Craig or Jocelyn Clennette!

After 27.8km of tiring hiking, we returned to the hut that day at 5:50pm.  Joanie had stayed back that day and she treated us all to amazing foot massages just like she used to give patients in her early days of nursing.  What a treat!

Tuesday—After Barb mixed her Beef Massaman Rice and oatmeal together for an interesting breakfast, we headed out hiking.  Today’s adventure involved bushwhacking with full trust that James would find the trail with his orienteering skills.

After a long uphill climb to the foot of Fraser Glacier and beyond, we enjoyed our lunch on the Continental Divide with nothing but vistas for 360 degrees!  “This feels like heaven” I thought as I sat on a rock in Alberta just steps from the border, looking at the beautiful view in BC.  I bit into my wrap filled with last night’s Uncle Ben’s Rice, a tasty but heavy camping meal.  I have learned when backpacking, dehydration is your friend.  I will strive for lighter food next time!













Dana expressed that she was very grateful to be here with incredible people and was also thankful that her feet were holding up.  She was also grateful for powdered almond butter.







As we reflected later with that fearsome four, here were some of the sentiments:

As we all enjoyed our time “on top of the world” on that Continental Divide, we all reflected on our trip so far:

Joanne thought that yesterday was beautiful and today was incredible!

Barb said that her dip in the Amethyst Lake in her bra and shorts was ridiculously fun……….and cold.

Joanie was feeling so lucky and so in awe.

Jocelyn felt that we were damn lucky and pointed out that our glacier shots where we got some amazing photos were probably a little bit dangerous.

We all felt that we were blessed and there was a common sentiment that we were all so lucky to know Joanie as she is the common denominator of this group.

Back at the hut, there was a handsome young hiker that we all thought kind of looked a bit like Justin Trudeau.  That night amongst the sleeping bags and packs in our crowded sleeping area, Barb found some sort of string or rope.  She held it up and asked, “Is this anyone’s thingy?”  JT’s look alike laughed and replied “No, it’s not my thingy.” We all had a good chuckle over this.

It was fun to meet the other hikers, bonded by our mutual enjoyment of the outdoors.  There was JT and his wife from Edmonton, 2 dads from Kamloops with their young daughters, a mother with her sons from Vernon and 2 dads from Kimberly and Winnipeg camping with their grown daughters.  It was so moving to witness all of this family bonding in our beautiful outback surroundings.  One last humorous moment was when we were all quiet and trying to go to sleep and the 2 young girls just couldn’t settle down and kept giggling.  Just when we thought all was quiet, they would giggle again and then we all heard them say “Sorry Dad!”

Wednesday—Today we sadly had to leave our hut for just one night……..we weren’t able to book it for that night but would be back again the next night.  So off we went leaving at 8:20am, tents in tow, to set up camp at a campsite 9km away. By noon we were all set up and ready to head out for yet another day hike.  Once again James led us off trail through trees, past lakes, over slate scree, over more slate scree and up several ridges.  Just when we thought we were done, James would decide we should go up just one more ridge.  Eventually, the last ridge was just too much for me.  Joanie and Dana had already stopped on the last ledge and when I decided I just couldn’t slide my way up any more of this slippery scree, Joanne kindly turned back with me and we went back to join them.  There we hunkered down with our bug nets over our heads while we watched that hard core group of Daryl, James, Barb and Jocelyn while they conquered that last ridge. 

Joanie said it was powerful to watch them go up that cliff face. “You guys are really hard core!” she pronounced.

Dana felt a real respect for those people pushing themselves beyond their comfort zone and she felt very content to be a part of it.

Barb’s word of the day was “Bad Ass Awesome”.

Jocelyn’s was “Gratifying”

Thursday—Well, we had to pack up camp and head back to the hut……this stretch of trail is getting a bit repetitive!  We enjoyed our lunch at Arrowhead Lake, a beautiful glacial green colour.  There was a thunderous roar as it came down the rocky creek into the lake.  Here we enjoyed our lunch on the block shaped, lichen covered, rocks, soaking in the sunshine and enjoying the silence……..a rare entity with 6 women travelling together.  As we sat relishing our feet in the cold water, there was a sudden splash, then a short panic and a quick rescue.  Dana had somehow fallen in and we managed to pull her back up onto the rocks before she got swept away.  Upon returning home she informed us she had broken her finger!  Ouch!

Friday—Last day; our hike out back to the vehicles.  We were tired.  It had been a long 5 days already.  James had big plans for us to drop our packs and do a side trip but as we approached, we all agreed that we wanted to head straight out.  After 6 days of hiking and 95km, we arrived back at the parking lot where we had left the cars.  To our joy, Joanie had left beer and potato chips in my car so there we sat, on the pavement of the parking lot enjoying our little treat before our drive to Jasper where we would spend the night before driving back to Vancouver.

These are the proclamations we heard that day:

Joanie---You women are tough!

Joanne—Sorry, my feet don’t smell all that great.

Barb—I’m grateful for James, Joanne, Daryl, Plan B and the other 4 hiking buddies.

Daryl—It was a lot of fun with this non-complaining group.

Jocelyn—This felt challenging until you talk to Daryl about hikes he’s done.

Joanne—I’m very blessed to do this with my brother and it’s awesome to have Daryl with his knowledge and him keeping the group safe.

Joanie—Where are my Birkenstocks??

Abby—Sorry, but I’m really thankful that Joanne’s New York friend needed bunion surgery and couldn’t come so there was room for me!

                                      Our sensational sextet.

Other highlights of the trip:

After an injury free 5 days, Barb had a distracted moment on a bridge on the last day.  When she misstepped, her pack launched her into the creek below.  James did some on site first aid.

This gorgeous lake had us anticipating an amazing swim to cool off.  After our hard climb up the ridge, we circled back this way only to find that the bottom of this lake was a nasty sludge hole.  Yuck!

These were a couple of our wonderful
facilities along the way!

Some fun stops along the way:

                                    So much natural beauty!

I Am A Cycling Enthusiast

I never thought it would happen to me…………..but is has and I’m OK with it.  Oh, you’ll never catch me in my padded Lycra shorts without leisure shorts over top and I’m not yet clacking about in clip in shoes, but I am thoroughly enjoying the sport of cycling.

It started this spring when Terry and I finally purchased hybrid road bikes like we had been talking about for quite a few years.  We have more time now and with Terry’s recent knee surgery it was the sport of choice while he gets back to full form.

We started with a couple of trips to Lonsdale Quay, peddling around the Seawall and eventually all the way to Ambleside.  Next thing you know, I was participating with friends in the “Ride Don’t Hide” fundraiser for Mental Health.  The choice was the 20km route or the 60km route.  I wondered at first, which I should do, but quickly chose the 60; easy-peasy………riding 20k is kind of like going for a 20 minute hike.

Now we are planning weekends and holidays to involve biking.  We did the Galloping Goose Trail on Vancouver Island on the Canada Day weekend and are going to do a ride in Seattle when we head down there this weekend for a Mariners game.  We are also planning to do some cycling on our Croatia trip coming up in September.

In mid July I decided to try cycling to work for the first time.  It is 20km and takes me about an hour.  I did my first trip on a day I didn’t start work until 9am so I could cushion in some margin of error.  What a great route and all was fine so now I’m set.  I’ve done it twice more, leaving at 5:30am for my 7am shift and I’m able to shower there thanks to the handy facilities in our lab restroom.

Today was my third time and I really enjoy it.  I find I’m challenging myself to power up some short hills, to try to keep up with an old guy in front of me and sometimes a young guy (fat chance!).  I race to make green lights downtown, watching the pedestrian crossing countdown;…….5, 4, 3, 2……..I can make it!  As I pedal down Adanac trail through the middle of Vancouver, the third most populous city in Canada, without a care in the world as far as car traffic goes, I find myself very appreciative of this wonderful, overpriced city that we live in and for the downtown bike lanes complements of “Mayor Moonbeam”.  There were a few exhaust fumes on Dunsmuir on my way home and plenty of noise as I crossed the Second Narrows Bridge but once I hit Dollarton, it’s the home stretch and the big city is behind me.  The nice painted bicycles along the road remind to to keep safely to the right.  I always aim for that right tire on the picture.  I don't "live on the left edge" as some others I notice, who would?

I feel like a kid again as I ride my bike and I am simply delighted to be a cycling enthusiast!