Mother Nature's Protectors

If you go south of Vancouver you will eventually cross the border into the United States. If you go west you will get your feet wet with the Pacific Ocean. If you go North or East you will be blocked by Mother Nature's guards - the mountains.

Standing tall against all the elements and harbouring British Columbia like little else can, these majestic peaks are as much a part of a Vancouverite as the rain.

Although I am BC born and bred I did spend ten years in Calgary Alberta. And I liked it there, I had a lot of fun and many life experiences. Yet every once in a while I would get lonely and miss the west coast. I would look to the West and gaze at the Rocky Mountains. Just over those peaks was my home province.

Now I am not going to say that I will never live anywhere else because I don't know what the future holds for me. I will tell you though that Vancouver will always have a piece of heart.

Here's to you finding the beauty around you.

PS: thanks go to Salvatore, the owner of the apartment building I live in. He allowed me to go onto the balcony of an empty suite on the third floor to get some better pictures.

TAGS:Vancouver, Karen Magill, Mountains,
Calgary,protectors,heart,Walk,

Summertime Memories

It is a beautiful sunny day out there. On my walk today I had the sun beating down on me and warming me. Fortunately I could seem to will up a breeze when needed so I wasn't too hot.

I always here people say how the summer makes them feel like children and brings back so many memories. I wonder if that because summer can give an illusion of freedom and reduced responsibilities. To be honest I don't think there is much about summer that makes me feel like a child again.

Running through sprinklers was something I did as a child but it doesn't bring back sweet memories. I see a child running through the water and I smile. But I don't feel all sentimental. Sames goes for swimming pools, the ice cream truck, playing in the playground or sitting on a blanket in a park. Pleasant events but nothing that makes me reminisce.

However there is something that does bring back memories:

Finding a patch of wildberries. I spent from the ages of six to twelve living in northern BC. Part of that time was spent on a farm where wildberries of all sorts grew. The girls who lived on the farm next to us and I would spend our summer days horseback riding, swimming in the river and traipsing around the two properties. The discoveries we made were incredible - at least to us. But there was something special about picking the wildberries and eating them. The sweetness tinged with the tart was a taste that was heaven sent. And we never worried about whether there were any chemicals or such on the berries. We just ate them and we survived. I liked the blackberries but saskatoon berries are the ones that stick in my memory.

Here's to you finding the beauty in your environment.

TAGS:Vancouver, Karen Magill, Wild Blackberries,
Saskatoon Berries,summer,childhood,Walk,