Parents

Today at 2:00 pm people in Whitehorse will gather for Benji Correos' celebration of life. For those who live in Whitehorse, Benji's story has been in the papers, on the radio, and talked about in line ups of coffee shops and the aisles of Extra Foods.

On Thursday afternoon Riverdale commuters were probably silently cursing under their breathes as traffic was significantly slowed while police cars and fire trucks parked along the bridge and peered into the Yukon River. By Friday morning, most of Whitehorse had heard about the tragedy that had delayed us by a minute or two.

Benji Correos was with his family playing near the Yukon river. His 7 year old son Myles slipped and fell into a exceptionally high and fast-moving river. Benji and his wife Josie jumped into the river to save Myles, and while Josie was caught up on rocks - Benji was able to get to Myles. Benji managed to keep Myles above water long enough for some friends to grab him and bring him to shore. Tragically Benji had been under too long and fell unconcious. His body was retrieved almost a week later down river from the site.

I hope that everyone takes a few minutes today to think about Benji Correos and his amazing act of bravery. But, I also hope people take a moment to think about their own parents. I have no doubt that my parents, faced with the same circumstances, would have jumped into the river without hesitation. And while I am exceedingly grateful that this has never had to happen, I am also grateful to be so loved. I pray that someday, when I have children of my own, I will understand that kind of love and selflessness.

My thoughts and prayers are with the Correos family.

Sierra posted this on Aug 29, 2007 from the livingroom | | permanent link

The 5 Year Reunion Tour (Yukon Portion)

Touring the Yukon with a friend, especially a friend who's never seen Canada, is a lot of fun. It doesn't take much to forget what an awe-inspiring Territory we live in. After driving the same roads you stop noticing the mountains, the flowers and the incredible amount of space that surrounds us. Having Jenny up was an excellent reminder that I live in a pretty cool place.

Our adventure started with a trip up to Dawson City. I have managed to get to Dawson City every Discovery Day for the last 4 years. I think Discovery Day is the perfect Dawson holiday - there's lots going on, but it isn't ridiculously busy like it is during Music Festival. By end of August Dawson has started the journey into Fall, so while the days are hot, the leaves are changing colour. Instead of attempting the full trek to Dawson on Friday after work, we decided to stay the night at Moose Creek Lodge just after Stewart Crossing. The cabins at Moose Creek are simple, but fabulous and the breakfast in the morning was delicious. The best thing was that we could leave Whitehorse around 6:00 pm, have a decent drive to Moose Creek, and still get into Dawson early enough in the morning that we didn't feel like we were missing out on the weekend.

Tony decided he wanted to bike the Heritage Ridge Road, so we dropped him and the dog off at the trailhead and continued into town with enough time to enjoy a coffee by the river and scope out good seats for the parade. This year's parade featured some great floats, including a group of seniors on scooters that identified themselves as "Reformed Hell's Angels". After collecting a couple handfuls of parade candy, Jenny and I headed up Bonanza Creek Road to meet Tony on the top of the Ridge Road Trail. The drive took us past Dredge Number 4, an interesting, but sad reminder of what kind of power and destruction we employ in an attempt to find shiny metal. The upper trailhead of Ridge Road offered some spectacular views of the Dawson hills. We managed to enjoy a nice hike down the trail before some bear scat got Jenny scared enough that it looked like we would have to turn around. At just that moment, a black 4-legged creature came bounding down the trail with my husband behind him. Starbuck was pretty wiped out after the first 32 km of the trek, so we packed him in the car and sent Tony off to finish the other 32 km and meet us back in town.

Once we were back to Dawson it was time to start the headline tour of Dawson. We went for a quick dinner at the Drunken Goat, followed by some naughty martinis at Bombay Peggy's. I think this picture is of us drinking an Easy Lai and a Spank My Naughty Ass.

Bombay's was followed by a trip to the Downtown and the initiation of Jenny into the Sourtoe Cocktail Club. I'd been telling Jenny about the Sourtoe Cocktail since she landed in Vancouver. She never seemed too excited about the prospect of drinking a shot of alcohol with a human toe, but was generally nonchalant about the whole thing. All in all, I thought her willingness to drink cocktails with human appendages was simply the consequence of travelling to foreign countries and being de-sensitized when it came to interesting food choices. Then on Saturday afternoon Jenny finally asked me: "So what is the toe made of". When my response was "Well, what all toes are made of. Some flesh, some bone and a toenail", it started to sink in that this was not some fun joke cocktail, but an example of how deranged northerners can become after a winter of darkness and frigid temperatures. The toe in question was apparently lost in a tragic lawn mowing accident. This being my second Sourtoe Cocktail, I felt brave when it came to touching the toe: . Jenny was a little more reticent about the entire affair:

By the time the Sourtoe Cocktail was over, it was getting close to my bedtime, but no Dawson night is complete without a donation to the Klondike Visitor's Association care of the blackjack tables at Diamond Tooth Gerties. I was particularly careful this year and lost only $20. This was probably in large part due to the fact that the tables were packed and finding a spot to "donate" was particularly challenging.

The next morning, despite the previous evening's shenanigans, Jenny and I were able to make the long climb up the Midnight Dome road to get a beautiful view of Dawson City. If anyone is ever interesting in walking the Dome Road, I strongly suggest finding a local who can give you decent directions. We used the Yukon Hikes and Bikes guide and never successfully found the suggested route. Thankfully, there are a million paths to get up to the top and so by following the road we were able to successfully get to the top. While we were walking, Tony was enjoying another Dawson City landmark - the Mud Bog. An annual event where noisy trucks go ploughing through a muddy swamp. I would be lying if I said I didn't think this was one of the coolest things in the world. When the Subaru is looking at her last days of life, I think I will enter her in the Mud Bog. I have no doubt that she will not even make it into the pit, but it would be the crowning achievement in her very long life.

Instead of heading all the way back to Whitehorse, we booked the cabin at Coal Mine campground in Carmacks. This was a fabulous choice! The cabin is right on the river and features 4 comfortable beds and a great fire pit. The only thing missing was hot dogs and marshmallows and I received a stern talking-to from Tony about only bringing health food on a camping trip. Lessons were learned and next time there will be s'mores for all.

Our weekend of excitement wasn't over because as soon as we rolled into Whitehorse on Monday morning we loaded up all our mountain biking gear and headed to Icycle for a day trip to Montana Mountain in Carcross. Our friend Jake owns the local A-Line bus company and worked with the Contagious Mountain Bike Club to organize this wicked trip. A group of around 12 people went to Carcross and after the first run (which involved climbing a mountain for 20 minutes and then racing down the mountain for 20 minutes) made me concerned about Jenny's health coverage while in Canada. Jenny and I quickly broke away from the group (although I suppose the correct term is fell away from the group) and happily went at our own pace around the newly built trails. After two hours of biking we took a much deserved water/ice cream break in Carcross, before returning for a hard climb up Montana Mountain in a desperate attempt to find "a view". The view remained lost until our way back down Tin Cup when we came to a lovely ridge overlooking Bennett Lake. After our ride we were treated to an amazingly delicious dinner prepared by Jake's wife Lindsey and a nice bus ride back to Whitehorse.

On Wednesday Jenny headed to Prince Rupert for her final trek down the coast into Vancouver. While I'm sad to see her gone, I'm absolutely exhausted from all the hiking, biking, visiting and drinking and am looking forward to a recovery weekend.

Sierra posted this on Aug 24, 2007 from the outside | | permanent link

The 5-Year Reunion Tour (Vancouver Portion)

The bad news is this post is going to be part 1 of a VERY long post. The good news is that it has nothing to do with gardens.

Five years ago I spent just over 6 months living and studying in Fiji. This was an adventure that is well documented on my very first blog and started my slight blogaholism. On this adventure, I spent a lot of time with my Erika Eliason, a friend from Vancouver and Jenny Bonitz from Germany. We went on many a Fijian adventure, along with our motley crew of ex-Pat colleagues. Two weeks ago, Jenny and I reunited on the happy occasion of Erika's wedding and got to spend 2 weeks travelling Vancouver and the Yukon on a whirlwind tour.

After arriving in Vancouver and rendezvousing at the airport, Jenny and I's first stop was at our friend Jason's house in North Vancouver. Jason also spent time in Fiji with us and was kind enough to let me live in his home in Fiji and then follow up 5 years later and let me stay the night at his place in North Van. Staying with Jason was pretty much like staying at the best Bed and Breakfast in the world, we woke up to a spread of breakfast and hot coffee.

After Breakfast we hopped the Seabus and travelled in to Vancouver where we rented some sweet single speed cruisers from the Denman bike rental place.. After hopping on the bikes, and stopping for a quick cupcake half a block down the street, we were off to the seawall and a leisurely 20 km ride to UBC. Because it was warm out, the goal was to get to Wreck Beach and have a relaxing lay on the sand. For those who have never gone to Wreck Beach, it is a lovely little beach that just happens to be a semi-nude beach.

Following our cycling adventure, Jenny and I got pinked out for a fundraiser for breast cancer. Some friends of mine were gearing up for the "Weekend to End Breast Cancer" and put on a great little party at a local club. Living in Whitehorse for the last couple years I had forgotten what a dance club was like. Needless to say it was an eye-opening experience, as I think I saw more skin at the club then at the nude beach.

On Saturday mornign we prepped for the main event of the week-end - Erika's wedding. The wedding was way out in Langley, but luckily we hooked up with some of Erika's kind colleagues who were willing to give us a ride. The wedding was absolutely gorgeous, taking place at a cute little Bed and Breakfast with an adjoining pond and lovely walkways. Jenny and I revisited our dancing days in the South Pacific and spent most of the evening on our feet shaking our moneymakers.

On Sunday I headed back to Whitehorse and started cleaning the house in anticipation of Jenny's Thrusday night arrival. The next post will follow up on the Northern portion of our adventure...

Sierra posted this on Aug 23, 2007 from the outside | | permanent link

The Colour Purple

Inspired by a fun book (which I borrowed from Lisa and never returned) 75 Exciting Vegetables for Your Garden , I've been trying to grow some fun foods. This year's biggest and most colourful addition to the garden was a Graffiti cauliflower that was not only bright purple and enormous (bigger than a basketball), but also incredibly delicious. This cauliflower is the crowning achievement of the garden (so far...) and I am bitterly dissappointed that there will not be a Harvest Fair to show it at. The Purple Monster (yes, I named my vegetable) may have been saved the fate of sitting on a paper plate from 8 hours, but it couldn't stay out of my stomach, so for a small dinner party yesterday we had a cauliflower and carrot salad that was very scrum-didly-umptions.

Keeping with the purple theme, this year's garden also featured red baron onions, which were the first onions I've ever had that didn't get eaten by worms. These onions taste like shallots and can be used like green onions. I also grew purple carrots (again) this year. I don't think they get as long as the normal orange nantes carrots, but who cares - they're purple. Purple trumps length in the carrot world. The purple cabbage isn't exactly a special vegetable, but I'm going with a themed post - so what the heck.

The last purple emergent of the day is a nice trumpet lily that I can't quite capture on the camera. The lily bulbs were bought this year and started in the house. This ends up being a nuisance, but you get your flowers out of the deal...so nuisance or not, I'll probably do it again next year.

Last, but definitely not least, are my favourite sweetpeas. I get these seeds from a small organic company. They aren't as showy as the grandiflower sweetpeas, but they are smelly and unique. I love the bicoloured flowers...

Sierra posted this on Aug 17, 2007 from the garden | | permanent link

The Rise of Wormopolis!!!

Gardening is one of those few activities where it is very important to be shitty. In fact, in the end, the more full of shit your garden is the better it will grow. This year, I did not do a great job of properly amending my garden beds before planting. The outside vegetable beds got a couple bags of steer manure and a few bags of compost, but somehow I forgot to treat my greenhouse with as much love. This accidental error has left me with a greenhouse full of mediocre tomatoes and struggling zucchini. Thankfully some of the hanging tomatoes were put in fabulous soil and a producing enough tomatoes for a bowl of bruschetta a day.

Finding good stuff for the garden can be a bit of a nuisance if you don't happen to have some sheep or horses wandering your backyard. Each year, it seems like I'm loading my car with a couple dozen bags of feces and rotten vegetables. In the end, I have garbage bags full of plastic and a visa bill that seems hard to rationalize. This year, in an effort to be slightly more self-sustaining, I've decided to invest in a new super-civilization of poop-machines aptly named Wormopolis. Wormopolis is a tupperware container full of red wigglers that happily (and somewhat magically) transform kitchen scraps into beautiful, but stinky, worm manure (more asthetically referred to as "worm casings"). This poop is rumored to be super-shit in the world of gardening, so I am very excited to test it out next year. The worms were gifts from my friend Lisa and a work colleague who apparently has a superpower when it comes to worm countries. It is this colleague that has advised me on how to start and build a worm civilization.

To grow a worm world take a tupperware container and drill some holes into the bottom, sides and tops. Your worms still need air and it's important that the worm juice (delicious sounding, I know) has a place to trip. Put about 2 inches of peat moss or soil in the bottom of the container, you can also add finely shredded paper or sawdust. Then just add your kitchen scraps (same rules as compost...no oils or meats). Make sure your worms are kept about 5 degrees, so in the winter, you will either have to put them in the house or sneak them into a neighbour's basement. They are pretty stinky, but in the end they'll help you grow pretty smelling flowers - so who cares! It won't take long to see the nice dark "casings" which can be scooped out and added to your soil in the spring.

The best part about this method of composting is that it's quick! With the cooler temperatures and dry air up here, I find it hard to get my compost really hot. This is probably partly because I believe in the lazy method of composting that doesn't involve turning it over or aerating it. The worms can get a bigger bang for your banana peels, by transforming them in a couple weeks instead of a couple years. If you keep your wormopolis happy, they'll reproduce like crazy and by the time spring comes, you can drop a couple handfuls right into your compost bins and hurry them along. This does mean sacrificing some of your countrymen, but sometimes in the search for freedom and democracy - lives are lost.

Here's some Wallys and Wandas...

Sierra posted this on Aug 06, 2007 from the garden | | permanent link

Oooh La Lily!

The lilies in the garden are opening up and stinky, but fabulous. So far, the August weather is fabulous...lets hope we can make it last!

And the Splish Splash Geranium...just because

Sierra posted this on Aug 03, 2007 from the garden | | permanent link