Clinton’s Zee Chevalier recounts a recent experience while on holiday in Europe
It was the best kind of November day. Cold and crisp, but not quite freezing, not icy.
Rainbow Rowell
It’s mid-October as I write this, and there are still many beautiful yellow and gold and orange trees in my neighbourhood, but I know the time isn’t far off that one morning I shall open the blinds and face bare trees, branches totally devoid of any leaves and colour. That’s the way the seasons go in the Cariboo: short, intense, well-defined. I’ve seen a light frost several mornings over the past few weeks, but the big one is yet to come.
I’ve always hoped the real cold holds off until after Halloween. I know from experience that all the lovely costumes I sewed had to be made several sizes larger than the little ones wearing them, as the outfits had to fit over heavy warm jackets and long pants.
Summer at the cabin was busy, with many family members choosing to spend vacation time there. It was capped off on Sept. 6 by a lovely lakeside wedding followed by a gathering at the cabins for food, fellowship, and fun.
Kelly Lake was a stunning backdrop for the ceremony between my grandson and his lovely bride and their attendants. Like magic, the Mill Girl Follies presented a spectacular wedding lunch, and the dinnertime guests thoroughly enjoyed an array of Mexican specialties from the Cache Creek taco stand. Daytime decks became nighttime dance floors. It was a happy event.
We winterized the cabins on Sept. 7 and 8, and on the 10th I flew from Vancouver to Norway for a 10-day tour. It was wonderful. It was a great trip with two of my daughters and a granddaughter: three generations appreciating three different perspectives on many things.
Norway is a land of fjords, high, steep cliffs that meet the still, deep waters with myriad waterfalls tumbling down the sheer granite boundaries. High, glacier-capped mountains, blue skies, and evergreen trees presented at every hairpin turn of the winding, twisting highways, interrupted only by the tunnels for which Norway is famous, numbering in excess of a thousand, the longest being 28 kilometres.
A cleaner country you won’t ever hope to find: no clutter, no litter anywhere. Dwellings are wood-frame, universally white, black, dark rusty red, or mustard yellow. Only three per cent of Norway is arable land, so every bit is used to grow hay, seldom anything else: no wheat or grains. A tiny plot may have three or four white-plastic-wrapped bales, a few more on a larger space. Mostly black and brown and white sheep graze. There are very few cattle throughout the country, and almost no horses to be seen. Small farms dot the mountainsides above the fjords, begging the question how do people and possessions reach their destination? There must be some narrow roads, but they are seldom visible.
We heard colourful descriptions of a Made in Norway delicacy, lutefisk, and aquavit was put to the taste test as well, with mixed results.
We had fun at Lillehammer, site of the 1994 Winter Olympics. We Canadians were taking advantage of a photo op on the medal podium, claiming #1 for our country. Then we realized that many of the remaining tour members were snapping pictures and having fun with us holding up our tour battery packs as medals. A woman from Minnesota handed my granddaughter a maple leaf she’d found on the ground, and as she was waving it the American lady began to sing “O Canada,” and many of the group joined in!
“Where did that come from?” we asked. She smilingly replied, “Hockey Night in Canada!” It was awesome! The world had shrunk a little.
The Clinton Seniors’ Association is preparing for the Marketplace on Saturday, Nov. 8 at the Clinton Memorial Hall from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Come and do some early Christmas shopping.
The Association’s AGM and a regular meeting will be held after lunch at the Clinton Seniors’ Centre (217 Smith Avenue) on Thursday, Nov. 20. There will be no December meeting; the next regular meeting after that will be on Thursday, Jan. 15.
Happy Birthday to Jane Pletchet (Nov. 27).
Growing old gracefully means having a keen curiosity about learning things about the world that you didn’t know yesterday, no matter how many yesterdays you’ve had.
Padma Lakshmi