Something fun!

 Pandemics suck.  I think we're all in agreement on this by now.

I'm no stranger to spending a lot of time at home.  As a teenager I was the queen hermit of indoor individual entertainment, computer games ftw.  The thing is that after a lot of growing up, reflection and work on my own mental health, I realized that I felt a lot better about myself if I introduced variation to my environment, if I went out and spent time with people and actually developed friendships, if I made sure to have some fun. Not that computer games aren't fun - THEY ARE. (And yes I fully acknowledge my own bias).  But there is something about the spontaneity of physical fun, that steps away from the computer screen and involves being in the material, tangible world, that touches a different part of the soul.  It's this kind of fun that (at least for me) has gotten vampire-sucked out of life by the pandemic.

I started realizing my lack of fun a little over a month ago.  I suddenly had a revelation it was the middle of March 2021 and OH MY GOD it's the middle of March 2021?!!!!  How had time passed by so fast and yet so slowly?! How had the year managed to suck so much that I could barely remember a moment of actually feeling true appreciation and excitement for life in almost three months???  The monotony was too real:  the same places, same activities, the same things every day, day in and day out. That was what life had been reduced to.

Since then I've been looking for small ways to bring fun into my life.  It's challenging, I admit... especially when one's only daily companion is an 85 year old half-deaf Italian roommate with whom there is almost nothing in common... but today I went for a walk by the river.  And in the course of walking by the river in the middle of this bustling city, I saw a small dirt path that left the paved trail and I decided to act on a whim of spontaneity.  Let's explore and see where this goes. I ended up walking through weeds to the edge of a small unpopulated peninsula that led straight to the water.  I saw a duck in a tree.  That was weird. 

Don't tell me
this isn't weird

 

And then after enjoying the silence, reflecting and praying, I began to seek the opportunity to get the ultimate selfie, because... why not? 😄  I  found myself engrossed in moving back and forth from the camera trying to get my phone to perch perfectly on a branch of a tree because I was nothing if not determined to get my picture, never mind the mortal risk to my phone from being in such a precarious position.  And I let myself get lost in moment, in the fun, because for me photography is a form of play.  And play these days, especially in the middle of a pandemic, is in such precious short supply.

So whether you think that selfies are vain or not, this photo was worth it because it allowed me to engage with the physical world and get some joy out of life today. I hope that you can find your fun too. 

💗

CHEESE!

 

Something adventurous! (part 3)

We were only an estimated half hour away from our destination in biking to Cavendish when my friend Josh stopped abruptly on the road and asked "Where the heck are we? That Google-Maps app can't be right!"  We were on a red-dirt gravel road full of pot-holes in the middle of nowhere that seemed to be leading further into the middle of nowhere, PEI.  Snowie Road, I think it was called.  It was probably called that because it spent the winter buried under untouched, unplowed, untrodden snow. 

Snowie Road

"No, we are in the right place," I tried to reassure him that despite appearances that we were on a dead-end country road, we were on track to our destination.  "There should be a turn off just around the next bend."

Sure enough, around the next bend another dirt road branched off in a perpendicular direction leading the merry jaunt through the abandoned country side.  I wasn't sure whether to find it spooky or beautiful.  On one hand we were getting an up-close and personal look at the Prince Edward Island wilderness complete with the legendary red soil.  On the other hand, it was nearing 4 o'clock and I wasn't sure what kind of wildlife was on the island and when said wildlife observed dinner time.

By this time I was walking my bike more than I was riding it.  My tailbone was so sore from the four hours of bike riding that sitting on the bike was nearly impossible without bringing tears to my eyes.  Still, the promise on the Google-maps app on my phone was clear: Cavendish was only a few more hills away.

When we finally pulled into town there was no cheering, no victory dance, no frolicking in joy.  There was just this sense of palpable relief, exhaustion and pain.  It had taken us just over 4 hours to make a trip that Google-maps had promised would be only 2 hours long.  Never trust Google-maps on a bicycle.  I looked at Josh and whispered to him, shamefully, "I don't think I can make the return trip."  Another 40 kilometers back?  Heck no, not happening.

Our first stop in Cavendish was at the visitor information centre, to find a shuttle that could drive us back to Charlottetown with our bikes.  Then we checked out Green Gables, Avonlea village and finally, the beach.   I had made the trip in faith, being told that Cavendish was an absolutely beautiful and magical place.  Was it worth the pain?  Here are the pictures; you be the judge: (click to view full-sized photo)



Green Gables!!!

Avonlea Village.  It was so adorable, and free to walk around!

On the other side of those dunes on the far left is the lovely beach.



The beach at Cavendish. 
Fun fact: the constant washing of the waves over the dirt washes out the
rust in the soil, removing the red colour.

I wasn't the only one enjoying the beach.



So peaceful....

The landscape was absolutely stunning, even without mountains.

 I am happy to say that despite all the pain, tears and inconveniences that accompanied the adventure, I am glad we took the chance to visit Cavendish.  I got to see an incredible landscape, become intimately acquainted with Prince Edward Island, visit a place that inspire my favourite books, and lived a story that I can now tell on my blog.  But best of all?  I got bragging rights!  That's right 40 kilometres in one day, I biked across and entire Canadian province!

The "I made it! (even though I can't feel my legs anymore)" photo.

Something that depends on the weather

Bottomless Lake in Fundy National Park, NB

There are a lot of stereotypes about Canadians that exist that are not necessarily true, like that we are all lumberjacks, it is winter all year round, we live in igloos, and that we smother everything in maple syrup.  (I admit in regards to the last one I am a bad Canadian - I have a hard time even liking the stuff. *ducks the Canadian equivalent of rotten tomatoes*)   If there is one stereotype that holds true though it is that Canadians love to talk about the weather.  I heard on the radio a couple years ago that Canadians have the most weather networks on television compared to any other country in the world.  To be fair though, if Canadians are a little over-obsessed with the weather it is because we have a whole darn lot of it.  When a country's landmass is the 2nd biggest in the world and borders three different oceans, there is bound to be a bit of a variable in our meteorological forecast from place to place.


Canadians not only have a different perspective on the weather, we also have different seasons.  When I lived in Calgary, someone summarized the different seasons quite aptly: "in Canada there are only two seasons.  Winter, and construction."  *bum, bum, bum, ding*  ... ... ...  Okay, the joke might lack a bit of ooompf when I type it out, BUT travel across Canada and you'll realize how true those words are.  In Halifax every other street in the downtown had to divert the traffic to do road maintenance. In Montreal there were almost as many skyscraper construction apparatuses that I don't know the name of as there were skyscrapers.  In Ottawa I was awoken from my sweet sleep every morning at 8am to the sound of exploding dynamite from the construction site next door!  I live in BC and every time I want to do a roadtrip during the summer months, I have to allot time to be stopped in the middle of nowhere so highways can be expanded and maintained.  Construction is such a big deal in Canada from March to October that it might as well have its own season!

In all seriousness though, seasons do differ quite a bit from one end of the country to the other.  For instance let us consider the season of autumn (a word that I much prefer to the synonymous "fall").  Autumn in my hometown in central BC will last 1-2 months - what I would say is the national average.  In contrast, autumn in Calgary typically lasts 2 weeks: one moment the leaves are yellow and then before you can blink they are off the trees!  On the far opposite end of the spectrum, coastal BC will still be experiencing what the rest of the country considers autumn weather in the middle of January.  Lucky bastards.  Speaking of winter, just last year those of us living in ski resort towns in British Columbia watched the television in downright envy as those on the eastern side of the country got all of our snow. If Canada was a little shorter across the middle I'm sure we would have gone over with our bobcats and shovels to borrow a few buckets of the white fluffy powder! Temperature has no consistency either. When I moved back to British Columbia after living in Calgary for 7 years I almost laughed aloud when I heard people complaining about the -15 degrees Celsius weather we had for a couple of weeks.  In Calgary that was average.  Likewise I also had to hold the giggles back when I visited the land of eternal temperate temperatures - Vancouver - in May one year and heard everyone comment at how hot it was at 21 degrees Celsius!  Again, for perspective, this past summer my hometown had a few days where it was officially the hottest place on the planet at 43 degrees Celsius. 

Anyways, if there is a point I have to make it is that weather in Canada has no consistency, thus it neutrally makes for one of the most dynamic topics of conversation.  Likewise, an experience of the weather is one thing that all Canadians have in common, despite our geographical differences, so the topic binds us together and unites us as a people.

This conversation also allows me to illustrate my disappointment, frustration and resignation that although I travelled to Eastern Canada to experience the splendour of their fall colours, which were due to arrive near the end of September, the weather did not cooperate.  The summer months had the resilience of an energizer bunny, effectively causing autumn to be a full month late!!!! Grrrrrrr.....

The National Art Gallery in Ottawa

Alas, I'm afraid my pictures of an Eastern Canadian autumn are few and far between.

*sad face, cue violin music*

Something through a different pair of eyes

My Carpool Entourage

"I have one rule in the car," I announce to my carpooling entourage, "if you see something that you want to take a picture of, tell me to stop!"

I'm pretty sure that was not the rule they were expecting.  After all, how many drivers grant their passengers even marginal backseat driving privileges?  But we were in Nova Scotia, driving along the Cabot Trail, one of the most notoriously beautiful places in Canada - and I was a photophile (my new made up word of the day) - so there really was every good reason to stop as often as possible to take pictures!    Not to mention that my entourage consisted of three men crammed together in the back seat of a compact car and another woman in the passenger seat beside me, so stopping as often as possible to allow the men to stretch their legs was our version of an act of mercy.  At  one point we stopped at a gas station before we entered the national park and the attendant's eyes almost bugged out of his face.  "Where.....How did you manage to fit all of you in that tiny car?!"  Ah, it was a bit snug, but it sure is a great way to get to know each other.  Especially when you frequently unintentionally lengthen the trip by getting "temporarily misplaced" ("We are never lost, only temporarily misplaced." ~ my female passenger that day)

Speaking of temporary misplacement, have I ever mentioned how amazing the internet is?  At one point on my eastern Canada trip an older woman looked at me and all the other people around her holding our phones and electronic devices, doing who knows what mysterious voodoo on them, and declared in a loud scoffing voice "I don't know where all you young people would be without those gadgets."  I simply looked back at her and said, very sincerely, "Neither do I."  My phone with its 5GB of wireless data and its Google maps app are the only things that kept me on my whole trip from getting hopelessly lost.  People I met on my trip would always go overboard in trying to explain directions and it felt so gratifying when I could simply pat my coat pocket and say "It's okay, I got a phone and Google maps, I'm good."  I was a cool navigational badass!

Travelling with strangers in the car can really open your eyes to re-examining experiences through a new pair of eyes.  A couple from Toronto was in the car with us and they got so excited when they saw fog on the road!  "Seriously... fog?" I thought to myself as they were oooing and aaahing over it.  Fog was a fact of life in the mountains of BC, and almost an everyday occurrence in the winter months.  But these two people were seriously excited to be driving through condensed water vapors.  They were also thrilled to be driving up a twisty-turny mountain road in the middle of a mostly-coniferous forest and seeing little tiny waterfalls dripping on the side of the road from mountain run-off water, which is again another everyday experience for us BC-folk.  "I am soooo glad you are driving!"  They exclaimed, as I obviously had experience handling hazards that they would never encounter on their big-city streets.

This is why a photo-stop house rule for the car makes sense. On that trip through the mountains of Cape Breton Island, I found myself taking pleasure in other people's simple enjoyment for things that I would typically take for granted.  I am sure that if I had been travelling alone I would have given very little thought to them, but because I was with these people I took notice of and appreciated something even as basic as fog. Things that I would have normally have passed by without thinking about were suddenly worth time and attention and maybe even a polaroid moment.  The everyday experience became something precious and worthy of celebration.

One of those roadside polaroid moments for me.

Something beautiful

Once upon a time (about a year ago) I discovered that one of my core values is beauty.  And by beauty I am not talking about manufactured attractiveness - the "if I visit my hair stylist and wear makeup for the pictures then maybe I won't be embarrassed to show my driver's license to everyone" perception of beauty, or the "I don't care who I date as long as he has a six-pack (and I'm not talking about beer), yum, yum, yum" deluded manner of thinking.

 

 No. The beauty I am talking about is the beauty of creation as demonstrated by the sun dipping behind the mountains setting the world on fire with an almost other-worldly glow. 

 

 

It's the beauty of a person who finally finds his or her self-confidence and learns how to smile from the heart. It's the beauty of a community that unites together and supports one another through tough times.  It is found in the simple and spontaneous moments of life.  It's when you see or hear something that just takes your breath away and you think to yourself "Ah, that's beautiful."

 

Beauty is all about perspective; about seeing the world as God made it and realizing that it is good.  It seeks to find the value in everyone and everything.

 

 



Another core value for me is "sanctuary".  And no, before the question comes up, I am not talking about a television show, a wildlife reserve for birds, hippos or iguanas, or the sacred interior of a church building (although the word could apply to all three, and I have watched the television show).  The "sanctuary" I am discussing is found in the silence, the stillness, the solitude; there is beauty there too.  But sanctuary for me is not simply an absence of people and of noise.  It is a state of being: of being completely myself, of being completely whole.  It is when I come face to face with myself and with God and see myself in perspective to Him and realize that I am loved and complete in who I am – even if the person who I am is not perfect and does not always act in a way that is beautiful. 

 

 

Sanctuary is an inner space where I feel a sense of worship towards the divine.  It is where I surrender and release the need to be in control and turn my eyes to the El Shaddai and in the process of losing myself in Him, I rediscover who I am.

It might be the influence of the these two values that have helped pique my interest in photography.  That or it was all the hiking with my crazy friend where we kept finding amusing photographic opportunities like this:

 

Either way, the fact is that I have become addicted to the feeling of finding moments of beauty, sanctuary, and yes even humour and capturing them in that instant so I can share the same wonder that I feel with the rest of the world.  When you learn how to look at the world in a certain way it becomes all the more amazing.