The Summer Reading List

School is done, what a sigh of relief! No assigned reading, night classes or assignment deadlines for at least the next four months. I intend to spend the summer, which is currently being held at bay by May flurries, with work, gardening, reading and trips to the mountains. Ahhh!
As such I have composed for myself a summer reading list. I realized a while back, the complete lack of fictional reading in my diet. My non-school books still tend to focus on theology, spiritual formation and discipline and world issues. None of that creative stuff. So I am making an attempt at even list for the summer, 4 parts fiction and 4 parts not. The list:

1. Passage to Juneau - Jonathan Raban - This travel book, is actually falling into my fiction category. It follows the authors' sail from Seattle to Juneau via the Inside Passage. And all the while telling stories of the explorers, natives and contemporaries who have lived their lives on it.
2. Surprised by Hope - NT Wright - It's NT. And he's addressing our theology of death, resurrection and what the Christian hope truly is and isn't. I'm excited.
   
3. Hey Nostradamus! - Douglas Coupland - This will be my first Coupland read. From a school shooting in Vancouver a story is told through two students, twisting into their religion and life a dozen years later, all told supposedly with dry humor.
4. Freedom of Simplicity (Foster) / The Wounded Healer (Nouwen) - I am giving the two of these only one spot. Because I've actually already read half of each. And they're incredible, and they just need to be read to completion.
5. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen - I picked up a copy at a used book sale this weekend, and can't wait to give it a try!
6. Colossians Remixed - Walsh & Keesmaat - One half biblical commentary on the book, and one half what do we do with it. The subtitle has me hooked: subverting the empire.
   
7. Book of Negroes - Lawrence Hill - Follows one child forced from Africa into slavery, and her life long journey out of slavery and eventually back home. I will read it with a box Kleenex.
8. The Original Jesus - NT Wright - NT again. I found this at the used book sale on the weekend, and it must be read. As you can probably imagine, it looks at the historical Jesus.

There it is. Written in stone. The must reads. I'm excited to soak up all the ideas and stories and for all the new things to think about. And if this snow ever melts I'm looking forward to days spent sitting outdoors with one of the above.

So Far

It was a dramatic, disappointing and weary wait for this whole adventure to start. But here we are in Portland, one week since we left GP. Having perused Seattle's Pike Market, hiked 2 of our planned trails, seen Cape Disappointment (and toasted life's disappointments), and found a Kite Flying Festival on the world's longest beach. We've got lost along the mountain roads to Mt. St. Helen's, which were wildly unmarked and inconsistent with the map. Slept within 15ft of the most prolific train route known to man. White water rafted a class 3 and 4 river and gone over a waterfall, on purpose. Seen the world's 3rd tallest waterfall, Multnomah Falls. And eaten fiery hot Thai food in Portland, Oregon.
Today we move on down the coast, we reconnect with the 101 and all it's twists and turns. We get to frolic in the ocean, see the sand dunes and track the Hobbit Trail to a hidden beach.

Smoky River

D and I spent an afternoon at the river. He and I are hanging out for these 2 weeks, I'm reclaiming my "domestic goddess" title, tying up all the loose ends for the trip and trying to get in decent shape.

Unemployed!

It's official - I'm unemployed! Everyone else is heading to work, being responsible, continuing on in "normal" and I get to plan my own days. What do I want to do today? It's kind of exciting.
I'm sure my days will mostly fill up, appointments and errands I have been putting off, can be put off no longer. I have to do a better job of packing things into storage, need to soak up this hot weather and there's a grand trip to plan!
It's less than 3 weeks until Chantal and I hit the road the West Coast. I can't wait for the beauty of the ocean, the 101, the mountains, the redwoods. I have to spend these weeks getting into shape, cause I have been lazy since boot camp ended. So I've started into a regular regime of running stairs to get ready to hike.
And then there's the farming to plan, my friend Kurtis has decided to join me, and we're searching out the best farms in California! This next chapter of life will be grand!

The Bottomless Lake

It was 2 weeks ago my folks texted with a command to pack a bag and join them in Jasper, where it was very hot. I thought for a moment and did as I was I told, arriving that evening. I had two lovely, gorgeous weather days in the mountains. We floated down the Athabasca and I went swimming in the bottomless Horseshoe Lake. Which was certainly cold and mildly nerve-wracking. What appears in these pictures to be crystal blue waters was actually shear underwater cliffs, a black unknown full of fish. And I'm a sissy! But I eventually accomplished my goal and swam out to this fascinating island rising almost to the top, right in the middle.


Alas summer is over, winter has come and my feet and fingers are always cold. Sweater days are here!

the D tour

Last weekend I made a province-wide road-trip with stops in Edmonton, Calgary, Okotoks, Longview, Kananaskis, Canmore, Banff, and Jasper. I also managed to see Ben and Lisa, Jessica and Jordan, my Nana, Kayte, Dakota, Sarah and Heather. I slept in my car one night. And took in Canmore's annual free Pancake Breakfast. Pretty good for a trip taken alone!
Now I didn't use my camera on the first half of the trip, but from the time I saw D, to the time I got home, I took a couple hundred shots. Stopping at every great view, all the way through the Rockies!
You'll have to forgive the little blur spot on most of the pictures, my lens needs looked at, and the pics need retouched. I have yet to do either.

Head for the Hills

Shye and I went for an adventure today, out at Kleskun Hills!
It's a pretty big hill for a small kid, and there's 5 more like it.
I asked her, "How big is the mountain?" "This Big!"
Greetings from the top!
This is us after 6 hills conquered in the hot, hot sun!