Winding down for the Summer

Feels like things are definitely winding down now for the summer. Schools are out on Wednesday. All the music lessons, orchestra, cubs etc. have stopped and will resume in the autumn. The long summer vacation lies ahead. We've a few things planned starting next week when we are renting a lakeside cabin in the Wells Gray Provincial Park. I'm hoping to canoe, hike and fish a little. K is hoping to relax by the lake and knit. I'm not sure what the kids will be up to but I'm pretty sure it won't involve the violin or piano.

Gybe ho!

In case you were wondering why things have been quiet lately, the reason was my spending last week down in Vancouver. I was on a radiology course during the mornings but had the afternoons free to go sailing out of Eagle Harbour Yacht Club in West Vancouver. I had great weather although the wind was a little light the first two days. Eagle Harbour Yacht Club's claim to fame was that it was used for on-location filming of the movie Charlie St Cloud with Zac Efron.

This is my coach, Lindsay, who, as it turns out, is young enough to be my daughter. She put me through my paces. We sailed double handed Pirates on the first three days including a blustery Wednesday when I managed to capsize us after over-hiking on a close-hauled course. On the final day I took out a single handed Laser which I thoroughly enjoyed while Lindsay shouted out instructions from the coach launch.

This is a photo of a Pirate at Eagle Harbour but not of us as I had to leave my camera and phone behind at the clubhouse. By the end of the week I passed my Whitesail III qualification which means I can now skipper my own sailboat!

Summer sledding

How do you go sledding in summer without any snow? Welcome to the world of "snow blocking"! Just find a large block of ice, stick a towel on it, then sit on it and launch yourself down the hill. V had fun trying this out with the church youth group last night. Just don't forget to yell if you wipe-out early before your block hits someone else at the bottom of the hill. (As if we didn't have enough snow in PG the rest of the year to do this sort of thing)

Bruins win and the City of Vancouver loses

The Boston Bruins convincing 4-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks last night keeps the Stanley cup on US soil for another year. A disappointing result for Canucks fans but it was fair to say the best team won on the night. One positive point was that the Bruins captain Zdeno Chara started out his hockey career playing for the Prince George Cougars, a really nice guy to boot. Not so nice was the fans response in downtown Vancouver afterwards. 100,000 Canucks fans crammed downtown for the game but it then became ugly with a minority turning to rioting, vandalism and looting. Unbelievable! After last years Olympics success, Vancouver's reputation has been set back years. It was more upsetting to watch than the game itself and I must say, most un-Canadian. (photos courtesy of The Globe and Mail)

And so to Game 7...

Boston's win on Monday sets the cup series up for a nerve-racking final game 7 decider tonight. The good news is it's on Vancouver's home ice. The bad news is that several of the Canucks will be playing injured and the Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo has picked a rather inopportune time to have a bit of a wobble in form. I like Roberto Luongo. His $10 million price tag aside, I find his occasional wobble and apparent recurring inner demons which plague his normally brilliant goaltending ability remind me that we are all human, we can all buckle under pressure and that life is generally full of uncertainty. Unfortunately, the sports world is less understanding and far less forgiving when only a win will do but then, that's sport for you.

Trout on Wheels

How do fish get around from lake to lake in BC? Using the trout bus of course? This Freshwater Fisheries Truck is used to transport fish for controlled restocking of various bodies of water around BC. We also have a Salmon and Trout fry hatchery in Prince George on the Nechako river.

One game away...

Using home field advantage, the Canucks answered their critics on Friday with a decisive win over Boston in game 5. The venue swings back to Boston tonight for game 6. If Vancouver win tonight they hoist the Lord Stanley Cup for the first time in their history but every game in this final series so far has gone to the home team. If the Canucks lose, the tension rises further and the cup will be decided by the final game on Wednesday in Vancouver. Everyone is talking about it. The staff in the sushi restaurant we visited this weekend were all dressed in their fan gear and decked out the restaurant in blue. Most of all, D is completely beside himself with anxiety and excitement in equal measure at the moment.

Another helping of Canuck Crumble

The Boston Bruins tied the series 2 games each on Wednesday as the venue switches back to Vancouver tonight. There are a lot of nervous Canuck fans out there now as the cup boils down to the best of the last three games. Boston have the momentum without a doubt. Can the Canucks slay their inner demons and rediscover their A-game in game 5? Bring it on.

AOW at Williams Lake

Managed to sneak a little R&R time whilst on the PGYO Cariboo tour and spent a lovely few hours on Scout Island, a nature reserve on the North Shore.

I spotted this beaver lodge walking onto the island. The creatures get in and out via an underwater entrance but sadly no beavers were to be seen that day. The lodge itself wasn't that large, I've seen larger on the Crooked River north of Prince George, but then I saw this tree felled by the presumed same beaver and changed my mind. It must have been HUGE!

Canucks crumble in Game 3

The Canucks suffered a crushing 8-1 defeat in their first away cup game at Boston on Monday. Unfortunately, the game will be remembered more for the Canadian players' aggression and shameful behavior rather than the scoreline. One of the Boston players was knocked unconcious by a late Canuck body check and this transformed the Bruins into a completely different team. Canada's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, will be at Game 4 tonight in Boston so let's hope the players will be better behaved for him. If the Canucks win tonight, it means they could go on to win the series on home soil in Vancouver on Friday, an outcome every British Columbian would love to see. In any case, we have a real battle shaping up for the Stanley Cup.

PGYO Cariboo Tour

Last weekend I joined the Prince George Youth Orchestra on their 1st concert tour of Williams Lake and 100 Mile House in the Cariboo region of British Columbia. There were 26 of us in total and the kids had a great time visiting the region and playing the concerts. V had a great time although didn't fancy the 4 hour drive on the tour bus so came in my car. Here they are practising before the concert at 100 Mile House.

We stopped off for a picnic lunch at a heritage museum at 108 Mile Ranch. The towns on this old coaching road are named after the distance from the road's origin, in this case the town of Lillooet, near Whistler.

And here is the orchestra posing for a photo after their final concert with their conductor and director Sebastian Ostertag. The concert included excerpts from Vivaldi's Four Seasons, some Baroque dances and some Irish folk dances. There was also a instrumental heavy metal number by Metallica arranged for cello ensemble just to keep people awake and on their toes!

2-0 Vancouver for the Stanley Cup

It's getting quite exciting now. A tight second game saw a stronger Boston team give the Canucks a run for their money. A brilliant goal by lightening fast Alex Burrows 11 seconds into overtime sends Vancouver off to Boston with a crucial 2-0 game lead.

Stanley Cup fever is spreading fast. Does this fan look like a canuck* or what?!

*canuck n. an informal name for a Canadian, particularly a French Canadian.

Go Canucks Go!

Last night saw the opening game of the Stanley Cup final series in Vancouver. This is the ultimate Hockey prize in North America and the biggest annual sporting event in Canada, even more so this year as our team, The Vancouver Canucks, has made it through to the final series against The Boston Bruins. The Canucks have never won the Stanley Cup in their 40 year history and the entire province will be glued to their screens over the next week. The series is best of 7 games and Vancouver got off to a fantastic start winning game 1 with the only goal of the game 19 seconds from the end of the third and final period.

Best Breakfast Ever

One of the highlights of cub camp was the canoeing. After a brief lesson, two cubs set out in each canoe with the leaders supervising from their own canoes. There was the odd collision but no capsizes. The wind got up a bit at one point but was thankfully blowing to shore. Nevertheless, one cub canoe strayed out of bounds and was then blown down the lake a considerable distance before managing to paddle their way back to the bay.

The cubs finally got off to sleep at about 11.30 under a star-filled sky. I was woken in my tent at 3am by the emerging dawn and some sort of animal walking around outside. From the sounds it was making it was either a deer or moose and not a bear so I went back to sleep.

And for my final cub camp picture, how about the best breakfast ever after a night under canvas? Freshly flipped pancakes, oodles of maple syrup and bacon (sorry, I ate the bacon before I took the picture).