Paused

Moving on to other places, other directions. Look here no more...not for now, at least.

M.Sc.

The official poster to publicize Crystals defence to the entire university. I dare say that we were actually out of the university and halfway through a pint by 3:00, though. Oh, she passed...

DONE!! ... in sign language.

Pop...pop...pop.....pop goes the champagne bottle.

Celebrating her successful defence with the sunshine and a bottle of sham-pain.

A toast to Crystals Masters - 3 years in Prince George completed.

:)

Tofino Trilogy

Part 1: The before Tofino part (Rockin' our way up some mountains and climbin' our way up some rock faces in the deadly heat of central BC)

Part 2: The Tofino part (Rainy with wet periods, hiking our way along epic coastlines, getting lost and losing trails for 8 hours on the rocky shores, and gulping back some fine vino by a campfire whilst dinner crackles on the bbq...then glorious sunshine!)

Part 3: The drive home (Sick as a bag of bacteria, eating ice cream and muffins for four days...blah. Crystal would be a fine nurse.)

Update: Part II

Woke up at 1am to some 20-something punk trying to break into my car. Chased him down the street, gave him a good scare. Fucking thieves.

Update: Part I

Silence on my end. For very long. I have been mulling around inmy resignation from the School Board, organizing my contract for next year, packing and liquidating our house, and...oh yeah...getting robbed and losing our computers. We came home from a climbing trip, brought our things inside, collapsed on the bed for a moment of pause and relaxation before the all-present task of unpacking....then heard a noise. Walking. Movement. The lady that lives below us was out - her car was not in the driveway - and we were both within eyesight of each other, unmoving. Who was walking?!? Who made that noise? I got up, lurched my way towards where the noise came from, and at the same moment our door rang. The lady who lived downstairs had come to ask "what the hell is going on?!?". Then I knew something was amiss...I looked down the hallway, and saw open doors. I looked at my table and saw a blank empty space where my computer should be....we had been robbed. Called the cops, got everyone outside, grabbed my knife and started going through the house, door by door, closet by closet waiting to penetrate a mans flesh with my humble camping knife. But...nothing. Once satisfied that the robber had left, we waited outside for the cops to come. They did. They looked, they poked and prodded, and then basically told us that our stuff was gone, get on with life. End of story.

That ended our computerized life for a while...but we did not stop living the life of BC. In the meantime we have been out climbing a lot, hiking some, and taking some moments to look over our city that we once, well I guess we still do for a while, called home and considering the good and bad times therein. Mostly good, which is not exactly what I expected the firt day we drove into the city limits and set our bags down on the floor of a seedy motel to start our search for a home and for work. So long ago, so much we have changed.

Marble Canyon: First Ascent

...on our new climbing rope! Our majestic yellow and blue and red baby.

The view from the road - driving out of Vancouver, en route to Chilliwack, on a gloriously sunny and warm day.

A buttercup with the pollinators doing their thing.

A lunchtime break along the backroads of BC. On our way to Marbl Canyon.

Further moments of our lunch break - pondering the canyon.....

Marmot! We also saw a baby marmot, scampering about in the rockfall below this fella.

Marble Canyon! This is me preparing the rope (which was well tangled) to set up the anchor and the climbing route.

Rope set up, harnesses and gear on....Crystal is getting ready to climb.

....I think this is her after that first climb.....

It was 4pm by this time and the heat....the heat!!!

Gear set-up. Note the cool rope!

Crystal climbing.

Us, between climbs and baking in the glorious sunshine of the canyon. Well, its more of a valley. Marble Valley.

Me, on my way down after a climb on the second route we set up.

Still on my way down.

Once we made it back to camp, and despite the raging heat and the dry air, I craved coffee. Thanks to Robin donating his old coffee pot, we were able to have a nice brew on the side of the canyon and watch the evening approach.

...and approach it did. This is Crystal standing beside the lake we camped on.

Same lake...

...and in the morning, the wildlife was taking full advantage of the early moments. Here, a loon peruses the morning mist and searches for breakfast.

Speaking of breakfast...here is Crystal over a morning bowl of cereal and cup o'coffee. Bhind her, way off in the distance, is a portion of the climbing rock from yesterday.

Duck.

And me, dufing the same breakfast, enjoying both the warmth on my skin and the glorious goodness of ceareal in my bowl.

Then we packd up, and headed home - 6 hours of BC scenery and sunshine!