Meanwhile on Maui.....

Thursday, August 2

Aloha everyone, with apologies for such scanty communication. Picture this: You're nestled in a 62-year-old ranch house with wood-burning stove, comfy chairs in a wood-panelled living room, bookcases filled with an array of books both old and new that would make a librarian weep, the coyotes are yipping outside and there's absolutely no reason to go anywhere. Well, except for one: there's no indoor toilet so trips to the outhouse are carefully scheduled. And the only thing missing is - yep, you guessed it - Wifi! In fact, we have no newspaper delivery (yay), no radio (double yay) and no TV (that's the biggest yay ever!) so truly, living at the ranch is a way to really unplug. Of course, the downside is no Facebook, no email and no updates on politics. Wait, did I call it a "downside"???

Yesterday we left the comforts of the ranch for the comforts of our RV. We took all day to load up and make sure we didn't forget anything important in the way of clothing and tools, then drove into High River to stay at Cousin Shane and Peter's for two nights. Tomorrow we'll drive to Claresholm and camp in the town campground for three nights. On Monday we leave for parts unknown, although the general direction will be north and possibly as far north as the Peace River country.

This afternoon Shane and I have a table at the local farmer's market to sell our bags. I've been working hard every day at the ranch (when not fishing), making my Bags of Joy out of fabric rejects and scraps I found at the salvage yard up the road (website: joyofrecycling.com). Shane crochets lovely gift bags; altogether we both have about 20 bags each and hope to sell enough to pay for dinner tonight. Wish us luck.

Much has happened since my last post. Our grandson, Hunter, got a good taste of country living at the ranch including lots of ATV riding, helping dig a new hole for the men's outhouse (and then helping the guys move the little building), assisting my brother with fencing, and generally watching and listening to the old folks tell their tall tales. And yes, I showed him the fine art of trout fishing on a little itty-bitty creek, then demonstrated my technique for cleaning the catch. And then I cooked 'em and we ate 'em!

Our trip to Beaver Mines Lake was fun and successful - I caught a lovely rainbow from the shore using a barbless hook. Photo below. We camped one night just to give Hunter an idea of the RV lifestyle. I think he preferred the cozy ranch house I described above.

All in all, the fishing has been great - many cutthroat and brook trout - and I expect to do some more as we travel north.

The last two days of Hunter's visit were busy. One day we drove into Calgary, right downtown, and went up the Calgary Tower to have lunch. It's a revolving restaurant and, fortunately, the day was clear as a bell so the views were outstanding: we could see all the way south to the mountains at the ranch, east into the prairie, and west to Banff. Jim took Hunter through the Glenbow Museum - a Charlie Russell exhibit was the highlight - while Shane and I shopped for goodies to take home as gifts.

The next day we drove to Drumheller, about 70 miles east of Calgary, to the world-famous Tyrell Museum where most of the world's dinosaur study is done. What a place... if you haven't been, it's worth every dollar of admission and every moment you spend. After that, we explored the Atlas Coal Mine in East Coulee and while the rest of the group toured the tipple I spent a wonderful hour wandering through the yard of cast-off equipment, old machinery, rusty wheel and gears - my kind of artifacts indeed.

Hunter got on the plane the following day and made it safely home to Maui; his first foreign trip now just a memory.

Mom and Dad are doing well I'm happy to report. Mom will be celebrating her 90th birthday in September, which is the reason we'll be here until almost the end of that month. Considering Dad is well into his 94th year, still driving, still taking daily walks around the town, and still sharp as his age will allow - well, I'm feeling really blessed, believe me.

The weather has been typical Alberta: almost freezing at night, almost 90ºF by noon, thunderstorm at 4 p.m., lovely sunsets over the mountains, light until 10. It's a little cloudy and coolish right now but I expect it will be gorgeous again soon. And now for some photos, willy-nilly, as Blogspot doesn't seem to like it when I insert them throughout my narrative. Happy trails till we get together again.