After the election, I received at least one thank you for having helped Biden squeak out a win by our not staying in Vancouver that night and risking a repeat of 2016.  John and I were happy to make the sacrifice of heading to Whistler and are gratified that it worked.  We had a nice couple of days despite some rain on day two and three.  The Nita Lake lodge, where we’ve stayed once before, is a gorgeous retreat at any time of year.  It’s… Read More »Whistling from Whistler

A heartfelt thanks to those few of you who have commented on my blog, either by putting a comment on the blog itself or by sending me an email after reading it.  Sometimes it feels as though I am blogging into the void as I’m only aware that one or two people are out there.  Any acknowledgement I receive is so appreciated.  My most regular commenter is Susie Haddon so THANK YOU Susie!  But also, to anyone else who has let me know that they’ve… Read More »Holding Our Breath

Ahh, life on the 28th floor in the West End of Vancouver is a big change from being in Vernon or wine tasting in the Southern Okanagan.  It’s urban living and we’ve been here a week now and are loving it.   On our first full day, we took a walk and a water taxi to Granville Island and then back to have a drink at the bar at the Sylvia Hotel.  It was a gorgeous evening and we had an amazing view of English Bay.… Read More »Very Vancouver!

My Intro to Wake Up workshop ended a couple of Tuesdays ago.  However, I’m not sure I can now consider myself “woke” in that it is an ongoing project to become a better, more aware person around the subject of racism and bias in our world.  But at least it’s a start.  The last three sessions were on the topics of reparations, intersectionality, and ally-ship.  I found the topic of reparations particularly powerful and, from the readings, became convinced that finding ways to provide economic… Read More »Waking up, falling down, and tasting wine

Autumn is here and right on cue, the weather has turned cloudy with sprinkles here in Vernon.  Luckily, the smoke cleared so we can breathe freely once again, literally if not figuratively. We arrived back at John’s house just over a week ago and it’s been a tough time in the news cycle.  First, I read the hair-raising New York Times/Pro Publica articles on climate migration, the first a prediction on migration throughout the world and the second including even more detailed modeling on people… Read More »Chillin’ in Vernon while Dealing with Dread

I’d been starting to feel some survivor guilt being up here in the beautiful, clean air while my friends and family suffer through terrible air quality in the Bay Area.  But that changed as we woke up Saturday morning to find that the smoke from Oregon and Washington had arrived at Vancouver Island during the night and the clear air had turned hazy.  We left Hornby Island a day early and are now back in Vernon where the air is equally dismal with smoke from… Read More »Orcas and Otters and Water Tanks, Oh My!

Haha!  I know.  Portland is landlocked so how could I sail there?  North of Victoria, BC, is Portland Island.  On Sunday, John and I had the pleasure of sailing there from the Northern tip of the Saanich peninsula with our friends Susie and Peter.  Susie is my friend Angela’s sister and Peter is her sailing and life partner and they live in Victoria.  They have a C&C 37 sailboat named Cilantro and are experienced sailors who go off for several weeks at a time on… Read More »Sailing to Portland

I’m feeling a bit sheepish about writing a blog about Victoria, BC.  Every morning when I haul out my iPad and click on my various news sites, including the SF Chron, I’m confronted by an apocalyptic spectacle of fires and smoky air all around the Bay Area.  The idea that it took raging fires to knock coronavirus and racial protest news from the top of the daily paper is sobering. Despite my feeling vaguely guilty, as well as grateful, that I am not in the… Read More »Island Life

On Tuesday evening, I attended via Zoom my third of six Intro to Wake Up workshops.  Our assignment for this session (there are 20 of us) was to read My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem.  I made it only halfway through since the many exercises make it slower going than a regular book.  The author, a therapist, puts forward the thesis that trauma, which exists both for victims and perpetrators, resides not only in… Read More »Trauma and Telephone Poles

I am in Victoria now, on Vancouver Island, staying in a charming 1908 Craftsman bungalow that is like a miniature version of my Berkeley house (back of house and kitchen pictured below).  John and I brought our e-bikes up here with us, pulled behind my old Prius on our fancy Kuat bike rack.  On previous visits, I’d heard about the Galloping Goose trail but I’d never ridden it so I’ve been excited about doing so. Similar to the rail trail in Vernon, they took a… Read More »Galloping Goose