Great Bears of Bute Adventure – A Full Day of Beauty, Wonder and Learning

Yesterday was one for the books! (My personal history books, I mean 🙂 ) My sister and Donna and her husband had arrived in Campbell River, BC the day before in order to be on time for our early morning Homalco Tour’s Great Bears of Bute adventure. (You might remember we were in Campbell River earlier this year…so of course part of the agenda for THIS trip was to revisit our favourite Indigenous woman-led businesses there and to stock up, which we happily did!)

On the dock at 7 am, a bit bleary-eyed and raring ready for adventure! L – R: my sister, me, Donna and Richard.

We eagerly boarded the beautiful Klohoy (Homalco word for chum salmon), a comfortable aluminum boat with 2 seats per person on the tour (1 in the indoor heated cabin with onboard loo, 1 on the viewing deck). After a brief safety lesson (including being instructed to wear our masks at all times), we were off on the 2 hour journey to Bute Inlet!

Words and pictures cannot begin to describe the beautiful views we encountered at every step of the day’s adventures.

We weren’t too far into the trip to the mainland when Captain Flavian noticed whale blow. Which meant of course we had to stop to investigate.

Humpback whale blow – photo by Donna
Not the greatest photo of 2 humpback whales. For better shots of these magnificent mammals, please go to an older post, here.

After enjoying the whales for about 15 minutes, we continued on to an inlet where Captain Flavian had grown up, to learn some of the more recent (last 200 years) history of the Homalco people. Our guide Holly also tried to teach us some words in the Homalco language.

From Donna’s notes, here are the English translations from top to bottom: 1. The language of our people (4 tribes); 2. Grizzly Bear; 3. Chum salmon (name of our boat); 4. Whale; 5. Seal; 6. Sea Lion; 7. Eagle; 8. Raven
Holly and Flavian.

Holly told us to notice that the waters of the inlet were the most beautiful colour, due to glacial sediment from the rivers that feed it. And that the boat’s colour scheme had come from the colour of the water. See for yourself!

Orford Bay, Bute Inlet
A pretty good match, don’t you think?
Orford Bay welcome sign
Well, actually I am kinda hoping there are lots of bears in the area 🙂

After docking, we made our way to the cultural centre to get a safety briefing from our bear guides: JJ and Ian. Basic takeaway: Listen to your guides! When they say “back on the bus”, this means NOW, not 2 more photos first! On the bus, JJ also regaled us with stories involving bear spray…er…misadventures from his childhood, and cultural stories of what the Homalco learned from observing grizzly bears.

At our first stop, a bear ambled into view even before we were all able to get off the bus. And there were bears at every stop thereafter. Holly mentioned she has yet to be “skunked” on any bear adventures she has hosted. Please check out my Instagram for the many videos I posted of this adventure!

Of course the bears were there for one thing only: to fatten up on the many chum salmon in the stream! Unfortunately the fish – although plentiful and easy to spot – were very hard to photograph through the running water.

Where there are bears, there are also many birds (including bald eagles – no good photos to share, unfortunately) – also there for the salmon…both for the eggs in the river and to clean up the fish who had already died on their journey to spawn.

Everybody’s gotta eat!
My sister and I are beaming, under our masks. Taken while visiting one of two specially constructed bear viewing platforms.
Donna, my sister and I in front of the bear sign. We asked and were granted permission from our guides to move to the sign for a photo. The Homalco word for grizzly bear is pronounced “howgas”. (I hope I am not butchering the language too badly.)

After 3 hours of being awestruck in the presence of the magnificent grizzlies, we were as hungry as the bears themselves.

Eating our delicious boxed lunches in the world’s most beautiful outdoor “restaurant”.

Once back on the boat for the journey back to Campbell River, even more wildlife was spotted.

Harbour seals sunning on a log in Orford Bay.
Orca! My first sighting!!!! This male is T11A, and you can read more about him and wild transient orcas here.
Steller sea lions having a bit of a bro fest.
Adult males can weigh up to 2500 pounds.
The stunning views just never stopped on this trip.

After over 8 hours on the water and the mainland of British Columbia, it was time to head back to the dock in Campbell River, and from there back to home in Nanaimo.

Today I received the following (excerpted, from the email) from Homalco Tours:

Thank you for joining us on a recent tour from Campbell River. We sincerely hope that you enjoyed yourself!

By travelling with us, you are contributing to the growth and preservation of Homalco First Nation culture, Indigenous employment, and to the restoration of wild salmon populations in Bute Inlet. “I:mote” means “it is good” and is the word for gratitude in the Homalco language. We extend that gratitude to you.

I don’t think there is a big enough word for me to express my gratitude to the Homalco people for providing me the opportunity to partake of this adventure on their land. IT IS and WAS GOOD.

Rock on,

The WB

Wordless Wednesday – Tofino Weekend with My Sister

My sister from Ontario is here on Vancouver Island, visiting for 2 weeks. Last weekend we spent a delightful 2 nights in Tofino. Here are some pictures from our stay. Hope you enjoy! (We sure did!)

My sister enjoying the washed up wood on Chesterman Beach
Of course we had to visit Tacofino for a trio of delicious tacos: fried fish (lingcod, I believe), seared tuna, beef
Rainy Long Beach walk on Saturday, followed by lunch (Zoe’s Bakery: highly recommend!) and a visit to the Aquarium in Ucluelet.
There is a tuna derby going on all week long at our resort (Tofino Resort and Marina). $40K grand prize. Exciting!
This was cause for celebration on our part.
It was so much fun to sit at the pub and slurp back oysters, and watch the fishermen bringing their catch of albacore tuna in at the end of the day.
Caught in mid-bro fist. Sporting his lucky fishing wig? Or did he lose a bet? 😉
Official weighing: each team brought forward their 4 biggest fish of the day to be weighed.
Leader board with Day 1 results
Sunday morning found us on the Rainforest Trail.
Looking up at a giant cedar
Of course we had to visit the tree my daughter and son-in-law chose for their nuptials.
After checking out of the resort, we were off on a whale watching journey, guided expertly by Elder Moses Martin of Clayoquot Wild.
There were stunning vistas all along the journey. We spent a good amount of time watching a gray whale (named Orange Crush by the locals because of an orange spot on its fluke). I was too awestruck to get out my camera…sorry (not sorry).
We did see a good number of sea otters, and those I did capture a few shots of.
They are much bigger than river otters. These guys were hunting salmon.
So many beautiful views.
Gorgeous.
Happy, tired faces. Ready for the drive back home over the mountains, and to get rested up for our next adventure.

Rock on,

The WB

Lead with Your Heart

For at least a year now, I’ve been looking to support more women-led businesses, when I want need want to purchase something. And for the past six months I’ve been trying to do the same for Indigenous-run business. And when I come across them and they are good (and so far, they are ALL good), I will talk about them on ye olde blogge. For some of these finds, look here and here (Indigenous AND women-run).

I learned about WestCoast Wildflowers & Company on ye olde Instagram quite a few months ago…I saw that they were following Sequoia Soaps (Indigenous women-run company from Quebec) and was excited to find a related business just “up the road” from me here on Vancouver Island, in Campbell River. At the time I became aware of them travel outside my local community was discouraged due to rising numbers of Covid-19, so I filed this tidbit away under “later, in better times”. And just recently I learned of RavenSong Soap and Candle…also located in Campbell River; also run by an Indigenous woman. A road trip to Campbell River was written in the stars!

I asked adventure/camping/blogging buddy Donna if she wanted to come along and the answer was a resounding “HELL YES”. So off we went, vaxxed to the max and ready to rumble. According to Google, the businesses were practically next to each other in Campbell River but what we didn’t know (and Google didn’t either, apparently) was that both had very recently moved to new, larger locations. So as an added bonus, we got to explore more of downtown Campbell River than we had anticipated (a very good thing!) and got to speak with some locals in our quest to find these businesses.

First stop: West Coast Wildflower & Co., where we met delightful, bubbly business owner, Ali.

L-R: Yours truly, Ali, and Donna in front of the West Coast Wildflowers & Co’s new location. We wore masks when entering the local businesses, but removed them for the photos.

Ali stocks local and (mostly) Indigenous-made clothing, accessories, food, toiletries, toys and crafts in her bright, spacious store. Donna and I immediately gravitated towards, purchased and donned the Totem Design House shirts you see in the photo, and were stylin’ twins for the rest of the day. (Honestly, we didn’t intend to coordinate our bottom halves either but there you go…) Here’s a closeup of the gorgeous shirt design:

Chatting with Ali and trying on shirts was hungry business we found out. The ever-helpful Ali suggested Jiggers Grill, also Indigenous-run. Which we didn’t get to (next time! ) as we came across Seabreeze Food Truck (another Indigenous-run eatery) first and made a wise decision to stave off the “hangries” by stopping the car and checking it out.

I had the Fish Taco salad (L, with mango salsa) and Donna had the Halibut Caesar salad (R). Both excellent choices!

Refuelled, we sought out our next (and final) destination: RavenSong Soap and Candle! Little did we know when we arrived that the store had opened for the first time in its new larger location just 30 minutes prior! Another bright, beautiful, well-stocked retail operation with another bright, beautiful owner: Valerie.

From L to R: owner Valerie, Donna and myself. Yes, we bought these shirts too!
Here is Valerie, talking about her soap-making and inspirations.
My “haul”, as the young ones say. Including the beautiful Ghanian basket. Soaps, bath bomb, candles, moon cake, soap holder, shirt and a bear bell (for my hiking pack).
Home again and ready to try out these products. Maybe using them will actually spur on some real Pacific rain??? We desperately need it.
Close-up of the unwrapped July Buck Moon soap. So gorgeous!
I wish you could smell this candle.
Closeup of detail of the moon cake. Sorry for the poor focus. Got too excited and threw it in the tub before checking the photo…LOL!
Dissolving moon cake in tub. These are the coolest things ever and I need to buy more. Post-soak, my skin feels amazing. See my Instagram post for the video (that WordPress refused to upload)!

Both shops (actually ALL shops mentioned in this post) offer online shopping. Please do go check them out if I’ve inspired you to do so. You won’t be disappointed. 🙂

Rock (and shop) on,

The WB

Joanne Comes To Visit – The Gift That Keeps On Giving

About 3 weeks ago now, I had my first houseguest to my new Island home: my friend Joanne, of Following a Bold Plan fame. It is not an exaggeration to say that the Vancouver Island bloggers I know were practically jumping out of their skins with excitement in anticipation of her arrival (yours truly, included).

Within minutes of her aircraft landing, we met up with Erica/Erika of Behind The Scenery, and were exploring Island View Beach.

Happy smiles! This will be a theme throughout.

We spent a delightful 2 days in the Victoria area, with Erica and Chuck as our exemplary tour guides. Donna, of Retirement Reflections, joined us for a day of exploring beaches…

Bloggers descending upon French Beach

Once back at home base (Chez Badass West), we set up a loose schedule of hikes and explorations. Donna, living relatively close by, joined us for as many as she could. The weather called for 2 days of full rain, but we didn’t let that us stop us from getting out there.

Smiling and waving hi, from a damp hike at Englishman River Falls
Another smiley but damp hike, at The Notch in Nanoose Bay

Then Donna had some family obligations to attend to on the weekend, and we continued to hike and explore on our own.

Joanne snapping photos at Neck Point Park, Nanaimo

A visit to Nanaimo wouldn’t be complete without seeing Saysutshun. And being that it was Joanne and I, you know we were going to get into kayaks at some point!

Smiling behind our masks (can’t you tell?) on the ferry to Saysutshun (aka Newcastle Island), for some kayaking fun.
Joanne in her happy place.
Joanne taking a break from paddling, to snap some shots.

The owner of the kayak/bike rental business on the island (Jeff) is a real character, as we found out. The lady who sold us the tickets to the ferry referred to him as “the man who owns no shirts”. Uh oh.

Laid back, super friendly Jeff is a throwback to the 1960s. We watched in amazement as he turned away at least 2 groups of customers who wanted to rent bikes from him. The first group was 2 guys who Jeff determined didn’t have enough time to experience the island by bike before they had to leave to pick up some friends at the Nanaimo airport. The second group was a family of 4 – Jeff opined after speaking with them that they would have more fun walking the trails than biking them, and thus that is what they did.

Ummm Jeff, can we have a word about your business practices please?

We were both so taken by this guy and his outsized personality. Wait, not out-sized but in fact perfectly sized for his out-sized physical self. See picture, below.

I asked if I could take his picture and put it on my blog.

Jeff: Sure you can! Uh, what’s a blog?

Next thing I knew, Jeff had his arm around me and Joanne was snapping our picture. Only after our 2 second encounter did I think: WTF did we just do?!?! There’s a pandemic going on!!!

Gentle readers, let this be a cautionary tale about how easily one’s guard can be let down…

So here we are many days later and I didn’t come down with The Covid, and I assume the same for Jeff. Dodged that bullet, thankfully. Why do I feel like a teenager who just “got away” with having unplanned and unprotected sex? What a world we live in now…

Jeff, our Hulk Hogan-ish purveyor of rental kayaks. He is best described as the love child of the famed wrestler and Tommy Chong. What the hell was I thinking???

On the (last) Monday of Joanne’s visit, we made good on a long-planned trip to visit Ann of The Unretired Life on Hornby Island. Donna and Erica were able to join us as well!

On Hornby Island, with our host Ann. Photo by Erica.
More smiles. Helliwell Provincial Park, Hornby Island

The next day was spent in a luxurious visit (also long planned) to the Grotto Spa at Tigh-Na-Mara, in Parksville. No pictures were taken due to spa policy but I did pick up a very pretty nail polish with my spa credit so here’s a photo of that. At $25/bottle, it had better be spectacular.

The photo doesn’t really do the microglitter justice. It is gorgeous. Message in a Bottle by Deborah Lippmann. The Pandemic Nail Salon approves of this purchase – see my IG posts for my adventures in doing my own dip nails. 🙂

In what seemed like the blink of an eye, it was the 2nd last day of Joanne’s visit, and our last hike…to Jack Point.

Donna, myself, and Joanne. Last hike (for this visit), at Jack Point – with Nanaimo in the background.
Refueled and rehydrated at Penny’s Palapa, a floating restaurant in the Nanaimo Harbour – a delightful après hike experience! Man, those were good margaritas and fish tacos…

For more photos of these adventures, please check out my IG account: @widowbadass.

So, why did I put The Gift That Keeps On Giving in the title of this post? Well, Joanne introduced me to her secret weapon for air travel and, as it turns out, drowning out noisy apartment neighbours – Bose noise-cancelling headphones! She let me try them on, and they work very well.

After only 3 hours of sleep the night before last (thanks to the Stompy McStompersons living above me and the Party Bros down below), I headed out to Best Buy to get my own pair. Thanks, Joanne! More about my “adventures” in apartment living in an upcoming post.

And they work great! Problem solved, for now…

Come back soon, Joanne! We all miss your smiling face (me, most of all)!

This last photo is just for Joanne 😉

There! I fixed it for you, Joanne

Apropos of nothing, today is the anniversary of my wedding to JD. If he was still alive, we would be married 10 years today. Or would we (still be married)? Hmmmm…

Rock on,

Your friendly neighbourhood Widow Badass

Vancouver Island October 2019

After a spring and summer filled with shenanigans (hehehe!), I had 4 vacation days left to use before my end of year retirement and it only seemed right to use them for a quick trip back to Vancouver Island to see my daughter and her boyfriend, in their new abode in Ladysmith.

I’ve been back home for over a week already, and only getting around to this post now – apologies, especially to Donna and Erica (two lovely bloggers I went hiking with during my recent visit) who were able to post already on the fun time we shared here and here.

Sleep deprivation, staff vacations, Elton John (more about this later!), and my sister coming for a visit all contributed to lack of blogging, and after catching up on rest this past weekend I feel mostly human again, and capable of stringing a few words together.

However, I think I’ll let my photos (and captions) do most of the talking. Behold:

Spotted this rascal on a walk along the Nanaimo waterfront on my first day back on the Island. I still can’t believe how close he/she let us get. Herons in Ontario are less bold.
Sunday found us doing some exploring via island hopping, since our planned whale-watching excursion got cancelled last minute due to “rough seas”. Uh huh. This photo was taken on Hornby Island – looking out towards Denman Island (with Vancouver Island in the distance). Note rough seas.
Waiting for the ferry to Denman Island. I still can’t believe we dared to take all those ferries in these rough seas.
View from the ferry, approaching Vancouver Island. Wait, are those actual waves?
Went to do some forest-bathing with these two rascals. The wonderful Donna and Erica. It’s always a great day for a hike when you have such lovely ladies for company. We talked about all the important things like we’d known each other for years. Even blogging!
Donna in her cute yellow rain jacket – being used here for scale!
Beautiful Holland Creek Trail
On my last full day, we went to Victoria to do some exploring in the capitol of BC. Chinatown was fun (and delicious!), as always.
This fine fellow greeted us as we entered Chinatown.
Of course we had to shoot a selfie in Fan Tan Alley.
After Chinatown, we walked through the city with the goal of getting to Fishermans’s Wharf. This is a statue of the artist, Emily Carr. That is a monkey on her back, that she is turning her attention to. I assume it was a pet – like her little dog, and not a statement about any struggles she may have been going through! The Empress Hotel is in the background. I enjoyed the high tea experience there, back in 2003. Fancy!
Mizz J (and K) looking towards Fisherman’s Wharf – our objective – which was eventually reached – although everything was closed when we got there.
We still had fun walking around and admiring the unique homes on Fisherman’s Wharf.
Fisherman’s Wharf warning sign. Point (get it? 😉 ) taken.

The week just flew by and was over far too soon. The beauty and charm of Vancouver Island continues to astound me. I wonder if I will ever get used to it. I hope not!

Rock on,

The WB

The Devil’s Lettuce, A Psychedelic Train Tunnel, and Slap-Happy Sexcapades: Another Blaze n’ Badass Weekend

On the weekend agenda!

How’s that for an click-baity enticing title, eh? Last weekend was planned several months ago, after coordination with another blogging buddy and IRL friend, Karen Hume. Joanne (aka trail name: Blaze) and I visited Karen last in the summer of 2018 and another visit was definitely overdue!

Joanne asked me if there was anything in particular I wanted to see on our little road trip (besides Karen, of course) and without much hesitation I said “Tweed, in Smiths Falls!” This was more than cool with our intrepid Joanne as well, so off we went on Friday morning to see what this facility that grows cannabis was all about. Joanne wrote about her observations on our tour here and she has some great pictures of pot production at “Ganga University” as I call it, because our tour guide kept referring to the facility as a “campus”.

So, without replicating Joanne’s photos…we were both snapping away so a lot are the same…here are some of mine, from our tour:

There was a bit of a museum at the beginning of the tour, along with a video presentation on the history of cannabis. Worth watching!
These overhead lights are depicting the chemical structure of THC – the stuff in weed that gets you high.
These vials were filled with cotton balls doused in the different terpenes found in weed (also found in other organic items such as lemons and pine) – the chemicals that contribute to the taste and scent of cannabis. So we sniffed away, and cleansed our nasal palates in between with coffee beans. Apparently there are people who smoke weed for the flavour so descriptions of cannabis products talk about this. Sorry highly informative and cute little tour guide: I have yet to talk to someone whose first concern is the flavour of the weed they are smoking despite you assuring me of the existence of such unicorns connoisseurs.
Here is the source of one of Joanne’s disappointments : a chocolate room not making chocolate, even though it was supposed to be Day One of production. So clean! So shiny! So devoid of activity and chocolate! Sorry, Joanne! 🙁
Smiling despite the lack of chocolate and free (or otherwise) cannabis to try.

After a couple of hours spent gaining an education about ye olde electric lettuce, bhang, mary jane, dank, green goddess etc., we were off to meet up with Karen for some pub grub and plans for our Saturday together. Which included visiting:

The Brockville Farmer’s Market! Bursting with fall produce.

And the Brockville Railway Tunnel, Canada’s first:

Joanne and Karen admiring the mineral deposits forming in the tunnel interior.
Our tunnel experience included quite the light and music show! But you know what was missing though? Some Tweed product samples would have put the cherry on the icing on the cake of our railway tunnel visit, doncha think? 😉

While visiting with Karen, we stayed at a lovely little complex on the banks of the St. Lawrence River:

St. Lawrence sunrise, from the deck surrounding our rooms.
Signs of a beautiful fall all around us.

And it really was lovely, except for the paper thin walls between the rooms. On Saturday night Joanne and I turned in early, in our respective but far apart rooms – we’d had a full day of catching up and touring the area with Karen, and had filled up on some delicious Chinese food for supper as well. We were both looking forward to relaxing with a good book and catching up on our (a-hem) beauty sleep.

Joanne was treated to a loudly battling father and son in the room next to hers while I was treated to something else entirely.

There I was, safely tucked into bed and enjoying a good book, when I heard the unmistakeable sounds of…er…knockin’ boots, from the other side of the wall behind my headboard. Which was not at all unusual I suppose, except that I was also treated to some loud and (I sincerely hope) playful slapping going on, besides! Talk about your “slap and tickle” – it was a veritable slap and tickle festival happening next door to me. Hah! Thankfully it was at a decent hour in the evening and the festivities um climaxed died down before they cut into my ability to sleep.

The next morning we shared our experiences at breakfast while I scanned the couples in the complex’s dining room to try and figure out who was the slapper and who was the slappee of the previous evening. I think I figured it out. Not only that, we ran into those same people at a highway rest stop on the way back to our respective homes later that morning! The woman seemed in quite a jolly mood so I inferred from this that apparently all that slapping was done in a loving and consensual manner.

Joanne asked me how long I had to listen to this symphony of slap-happy sex. I said long enough that I didn’t have to feel sorry for the female partner. 😉

Have you ever had your rest interrupted by a loud couple next door? Do tell, and…

Rock on,

The WB

My First Year Driving My Prius Prime – Edward III; Long May He Reign!

On May 25th, 2018 I picked up my 3rd version of “Edward the Sparkly Prius“. This one is a plug-in Hybrid, meaning it can be charged via an electrical outlet and also uses gas as fuel.

The shiny new Edward the Third. Long may He reign.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise then, that I love Priuses (Priuii?) and the (non) colour Blizzard White, and Toyota products in general. (Before my current Prius phase, I was a Matrix gal). I already benefited from good gas mileage with my other Edwards (I and II). With Edward II, I was refueling about every 10 days or so at an average cost of $90 per month (Canadian fuel prices were higher then: 2017/2018). Not bad, right?

Well, I hadn’t seen anything yet! My perception of “not bad” changed with Edward III (long may he reign!). Eddie came to me in May 2018 with a full tank of gas. My first fill up was at the end of July (!). Then the one after that wasn’t until November (!!!). Then I filled up again in December, then in February; and the most recent time I had cause to visit the pumps was back on March 30, over 8 weeks ago. I still have just over 1/2 tank of that fill. For a grand total of $155.47 for a year’s worth of fuel purchases. I drove a little over 13.5 thousand kilometres in that time span.

Mileage as of end of day, June 4 2019.

I couldn’t tell anyone what gas costs right now. I’m only aware of gas prices going up/down when I see long line-ups at the pumps. When Edward is down to 1/4 tank, I just go fill him up. The price of gas no longer holds sway over me.

I had to install an outdoor electrical outlet (just a regular one, not the more expensive, faster “charging station”), to feed Edward. That set me back a few hundred bucks, for an electrician. I haven’t seen a discernible difference in my electrical bills, although I was told at the dealership each full charge could cost $1. I program Eddie to only charge when the electricity is cheapest, so I can plug him in at 5 pm and know he won’t start drawing power until after 7 pm on a weekday. It takes 5.5 hours to fully charge Edward using the regular outlet.

My range, using electricity only, varies depending on the temperature. In the winter the lowest it dipped down to was 35 km on a full charge. As of this morning (June 5), I am up to 54 km per charge. Most days in the warm weather I can do all the running around to work and back, and any daily errands on a single overnight charge. In the winter I did find the gas engine had to kick in for the last few kilometres, in order to get me home every day. (I know; cue the world’s smallest, saddest violin…) I use the gas engine mostly only on extended, weekend drives.

Edward, in his royal benevolence, is teaching me to be a better more fuel efficient driver. Through positive reinforcement such as this;

He likes my driving. 🙂

And this:

Edward approves of not blasting the A/C in the summer time.

I am very happy with my new Edward. I do have to remember that he makes about as much noise as an electric golf cart when in EV (electric vehicle) mode (which is all the time, most days), and that pedestrians and cyclists won’t necessarily hear his approach. Or departure.

Last summer, at the KW Bluesfest, I surprised the slightly inebriated woman leaning on the vehicle parked beside me when Edward began to silently pull out of the parking spot. Her disorientation, double-take, and clutching of the vehicle behind her for support was priceless.

I think this type of vehicle (hybrid or all-electric) is the future. Until we can teleport ourselves à la Star Trek, that is. 😉

Would you/do you drive an electric car?

Rock on,

The WB

The Changing Seasons: April 2019 The Search for Spring

Well here I am with my Monday night Game of Thrones lack-of-sleep hangover, trying desperately to get my April post out before much more of May gets away from me…

In retrospect, April in Ontario was pretty meh with respect to the nicer aspects of spring. It remained cold and grey for most of the month. So it was a relief mid-month to head south to Augusta, Georgia for a few days of spring (and a couple of days of summer-like temps) before coming home to yet more chilly rain.

Here are some photos, that capture my month:

Start of Mandala painting Apr 4. Starved for colour and spring isn’t coming across with the goods!
Apr 6 Attended the Lineup Reveal concert for August’s KW Bluesfest. Lucky Peterson performed.
Apr 7 Still plenty of ice on the trail.

Apr 7 Sign of spring: fuzzy caterpillar
Apr 7 Another sign of spring: first frog sighting!
Apr 10 Daffodils spotted in Pennsylvania. Enroute to Augusta.
Apr 11 Tulips in Wytheville, Virginia
Apr 12 Our home for the weekend, outside of Augusta. From spring to 30 degrees C!
Apr 13 & 14 at the Masters. I didn’t take this picture as cameras weren’t allowed on tournament days. Someone snapped it on one of the practice days.
Apr 21 Speed River flooding just off the trail I walk. Some areas of Ontario were very hard hit by flooding.
Apr 21 Colt’s Foot blooming in dry areas.
Apr 28 65th birthday party for my BIL at Lionhead Golf Course. It was a surprise party, and it was my job to get him to the course under pretext. I did a great job – he was completely stunned to find out it was his birthday party and that I actually didn’t need his help in planning a corporate golf tournament – but it tore me up inside. I don’t like deceiving people, even for happy reasons, I have discovered.
Apr 28 My BIL (in blue) making the rounds of his party. Note the media screens. There were 4 in total. I gave a slideshow of our trip to Augusta.
Apr 30 Progress made on mandala painting

For some reason, WordPress is cutting off some of my photos. Or is it? On some devices I can see the entire photo, and on some they remain cut off. This is aggravating as I do spend some time cropping my photos to enhance them, and then to have them further cropped…well, colour me pissed. I don’t know what I am doing or not doing to cause this to happen. Argh!

Anywho, that was my April. The Changing Seasons is a monthly photo challenge hosted by the ever lovely Zimmerbitch. Please check out her blog and the other bloggers who participate!

Rock on,

The WB

Augusta or Bust-a: Mission Accomplished

When last I left off, gentle readers, I was planning to take a portion of my dead husband’s ashes down with me to Augusta, to scatter them on the hallowed grounds of the golf course there, during the 2019 Masters event.

Well, I am happy to report that my mission was accomplished with no drama. Kinda anticlimactic, really.

Not only did I NOT get dragged off the course in ignominy, but my own people didn’t realize what I had done. Even though I made a point of making eye contact with them while I was doing it. I was amazed when I was asked – safely back at the hospitality suite – did I do what I set out to do?
Perhaps I need to go into the spy business. I seem to be (too) good at covert operations.

I scattered some of JD at 2 different locations, during the 2 days we spent at the tournament. Saturday was at the Amen Corner; Sunday was near the pond on Hole 16 – another pretty spot. Do I feel guilty about doing so? Not one bit. I am sure I am not the first, nor will I be the last to do so. Plus, the tablespoon of cremains I deposited is nothing compared to the amount of cigar ash deposited on the grounds daily, based on my observations.

As I mentioned in my previous post, no electronics were allowed on the course during the final days of the tournament so I don’t have any pictures to share…yet! I did get sent some pictures taken by someone who was on the course on the practice round days, when photography was allowed. I’ll post those after first debuting them in a slideshow at a special event I will be attending next week.

These (and accompanying verbiage) will probably make up the most of my upcoming Changing Seasons post for April.

Rock on,

The WB

Augusta or Bust-a

Tomorrow I am leaving for Augusta, Georgia, to attend the Masters Tournament being played there on the weekend.

Some of you may be wondering how I ended up in this delightful situation, not being a golfer (or rabid golf fan) and all that.
Well, wonder no more! Get yourself comfortable as the Widow Badass tells all…

My late husband came from a family BIG on golf. I mean seriously addicted to the game. JD started golfing when he was 4 years old, with his dad, who LIVED for golf. Big Daddy D often held down multiple jobs at once to provide for his family but Sunday morning golf with his JD was sacred. Even when everyone else had packed it in for the season, Daddy D and JD would be out there, using coloured balls so they could be seen despite the snow dusting the course.

So golf was a big part of JD’s life and he became very good at it. So good, that at one point Daddy D’s golfing buddies asked him not to bring JD because they were tired of getting their asses severely beat by the young lad – every time. So Daddy D told his golfing buddies to take a hike. As one does…

Anywho, life happened to JD as it does to us all and instead of pursuing life as a golf prodigy, he went into accounting, got married, got divorced, blah blah blah.

Then we (former elementary and high school-mates) got reunited and JD introduced me to the enjoyable yet exasperating game of golf.

Long story short, JD came to an turning point in his career and I suggested he finally realize his golf dream and become a teaching pro. So he did – he was into his apprenticeship when he got lung cancer and passed away. I put away my golf gear – such as it was; I was more of a caddy for JD than an actual player myself. The game held too many memories and associated emotions for me, both good and bad. The onslaught of those while playing the game are still too much to bear. 

Back to today: JD’s sister (B) and her husband (M) are also fans of the game and have been putting their names into a draw for spectator tickets to the Masters for about a decade now. Last summer their names were finally drawn and they purchased a package including 4 tickets for Saturday and Sunday. If JD were alive, he would have been the one going but since he is not, I was invited to take his place. So B, M, me and M Jr. are heading down to Augusta. B, M and me will be going by car; M Jr. is taking a plane, to minimize his days off work.

I have never been to a major tournament like this. It’s pretty damn rules-y, that much I can tell you. There is a dress code (no jeans, no short-shorts, basically dress as if you were playing); there will be no electronics allowed (cell phones, cameras, tablets, laptops, watches that can accept phone calls); there is absolutely no running allowed; no food or drink allowed; no noise at all when the volunteers hold up the Quiet sign; etc. etc. Happy Gilmore, it won’t be!

I’ve decided to pack a bit of JD, to bring along with me. So I opened up his urn (on my dresser still, along with the cremains of my dog Lucy and my mom – quite the collection!), and scooped a tablespoon of his ashes into a little plastic container. I plan to sprinkle him somewhere on the grounds. Not sure where yet. When I see it, I’ll know it. I didn’t read anywhere in the rules about “no sprinkling of human remains on the grounds of Augusta National” so I’m going for it. After all, it’s basically bone meal fertilizer, right? Wish me luck.

Rock on,

The WB