We're Back! Catch Up....2015

After a long hiatus we are back!! A lot has happened in the last three years, but this post will focus on the happenings of the immediate past and the most recent "trek". Some of you will recognise it, but there is only one story, and this is it.

November/December 2015

I’ve thought a lot about the concept of “legacy” over the past few months, and what my legacy to the world might be. I think I have found it!!  I haven’t built an empire, saved a human race, or advocated on the world scale for human rights, but I feel that my friends, and acquaintances, have shown me what it is. I believe that truly “living” life takes courage, and I think my “legacy” is, to model the belief in yourself that you can do anything you want to (within the realm of possibility).  I think I have lived this belief for longer than I have realized!! After all, didn’t I turn my back on the safety of living in Edinburgh and strike out, alone, to Canada (1969)?  I have tried to encourage others to believe in themselves too, for example: the people I have coached throughout my career, the runners we coached through our running clinics, and through my general “always do your best” attitude to life. This “faith in myself” didn’t come early to me. It took me till about my late 50s to realize it. It was the climb up Huayna Picchu (aka “The Hike of Death”, Machu Picchu, 2009), and the trip sliding down the roof from the peek, and the steep steps down the sides of the ruins with 3000 feet drops on 3 sides to scramble in an ancient stone window to safety, that taught me, after I had a quiet talk to myself to calm the eruptions taking place in my stomach, that I can actually rely on myself, that I can do it! I had to, there was no alternative then, but it took a risky event like that to make me look inside and see the strength and courage that was there. Of course, my best that time may not have saved my life, but the message I walked away with was one of “do your best and you can do it.” 

So with all this courage pushing us forward, Ray and I made the decision to sell our house of 36 years, leave the province of 40 years of residence, leave the safety and security of close friends and community networks we have built up over these times, and strike out for a new life in Squamish, BC. 

 But, oh yes, I forgot, my parents set me a good example……and as Alanna said, “Mom, your parents had to cross an ocean to be with you, you only have to cross a country to be with me!” …..and Alanna and her husband are living here…..and we have a few long time friends close by in Vancouver….hardly a repeat of 1969!!  Well, let me tell you, it was much, much, harder work!! Anyone who has had to downsize – will understand! 

   Grandma and Grandpa Hankin - Trend Setters!

We have played around with the idea of selling our house for five years now, and made the decision that 2015 was going to be the year! But we continued to enjoy life: completed the Mt Albert 5 K race organization; Ray kept working on the executive of the OWA; we skied; organized a “home concert” for a singer/song writer friend of ours (39 people sitting listening to a concert in our lower area); trained for and ran a half marathon; endured high winds/low temperatures (-22C) on our training runs; worked out hard with Tony Horton and P90X , P90X2, and P90X3 from BeachBody.com;  were treated to a visit to Cavalia by a good friend;  took a trip down to Annapolis to see our friends and ran through the naval academy grounds surrounded by good looking, young, polite, naval officers; spent time with friends; spent time with Alanna when she came home for 10 days in May; read some great books and discussed them at book club;  had a tree planting bee and planted 100 baby trees on our property with the help of friends; and come the middle of May realized we had just about danced half of the year away!  We put the house on the market on June 4, and it sold on June 7. Shocked, dazed, and unbelieving we continued to enjoy the early summer months: we headed down to PEI and New Brunswick to visit friends in the middle of July; then stayed with some friends in Collingwood. It was then that reality started to set in. We had to clean the house out, and find a place to live after September 18. We had less than two months to do it in!! So, engaging that attitude “you can do anything you set your mind to” (we forgot about the within reason), we set about downsizing from 5500 sq ft of finished floor space to 2400; found ourselves a rental property in Squamish; and cleared out!! A few things we sold; we gave two truck loads to Habitat for Humanity; one truck load to the Jewish Russian Community Centre; numerous bags to the Blue Door Shelter; and numerous bags to the Uxbridge Hospital Foundation’s “Chances Are” store. We packed boxes, and wooden trunks, and suitcases, and by September 16 we had almost done it. Our furniture was on its way with AMJ Campbell Moving, and the only things left in the house were what were coming with us in the cars! Our friend and neighbor Tamara had held an amazing surprise “farewell” party for us; our motor biking friends had taken us on a beautiful “farewell” ride around Lake Simcoe; we had eaten dinner with some of our closest friends; and we stayed our last few days in Ontario in a sanctuary at my friend Robin’s house.

 On September 23 we left Uxbridge together with 2 cars, 2 motorcycles loaded in a trailer attached to the SUV, and two mountain bikes on the bike rack on the Saab, and drove for 6 days across Canada to Squamish.

So, here we are in Squamish.  We’ve been here over two months now. It is unbelievable! The 6 day drive across the country was the transition between one life and the next. I guess our minds were “processing” the move as we rolled through Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and finally BC, and we were able to leave Ontario slowly and peacefully and arrive in our new home in BC with excitement and anticipation.

 Dan and Alanna made an excellent choice in recommending our new rental house.  

Ray waiting for furniture to arrive in Squamish

View from our Squamish home

Unpacking was the WORST!!!   The clearing out and the packing up were one thing, but the unpacking went on and on….and there are some boxes sitting in our kitchen/family area that are still begging to be unpacked, but I have run out of energy! Actually, no, I have not run out of energy, I have run out of space!!!  Three boxes of china, etc. that I really don’t think I need, excepting two or three items somewhere in those boxes that I really would like! And, boxes of pictures that we have no walls on which to hang them!! Oh, and I forgot the 100 small boxes in the basement and garage filled with books, sentimental papers, and photos!!

The move to Squamish has made our hearts happy. It is wonderful being close to Dan and Alanna. We have had dinner with them several times, either at their place or ours, and several other types of outings including, for me, a session on an “Introduction to Shamanism” and a women’s circle!  Four days after our furniture arrived, we had a dinner party for 8 to celebrate Dan's birthday on Wednesday 7^th Oct! When we arrived they were so good to us and I happily said - so we'll have a celebration dinner on the 7th - then I thought Dan might like to invite some people - and Alanna said "let's make it a surprise"! So, suddenly, we had 8 for dinner.  That was a bit of a push - but it gave us a deadline and although we hadn’t unpacked everything, the bulk of it was done. It was quite exhausting!!! But the party went well, Dan and Alanna's friends were lovely, and we all had a good time! The best was the three girls got into the kitchen and "hey presto" everything was loaded in the dishwasher. In the morning, Alanna finished the washing up......and I had nothing to do!!

The rental house has lovely space and we felt very comfortable walking through the front door. The area is beautiful...what can I say....and the landscape around us is stunning. Where in Ontario the landscape was “horizontal”, here it is “vertical.” Tall fir trees, jagged topped mountains, and long tumbling waterfalls. Every time I drive down to the village from the house, I am breathless. I can’t take my eyes off the mountains around us. Every time I drive down the Sea to Sky Highway into Vancouver I am breathless. I can’t keep my eyes off the ocean. Given that the residential roads seem narrower than in Ontario, there are more roundabouts, kids, cyclists, and dogs than in Ontario, the highway is hilly, and winding, the cars fly past at outlandish speeds, and there are deer, elk, bear, and rock warnings at regular intervals, the whole business of driving in all this amazing scenery becomes a battle of focus!

Talking about bears, we had our first bear sighting our first weekend in the house. Dan and Alanna were over for dinner. Ray was outside barbecuing, for some reason he chose the front of the house to set up at, and he heard some "rattling"; he looked up, searched through the darkness, and saw a big, black, bear, shaking one of our neighbour's garbage cans. Fortunately, everyone has the big plastic roller type of bins which are "bear proof", i.e. you “lock” them. The bear had no luck, so he slowly shambled down that driveway, and up the next. All of us ended up watching him, and all our clapping and shouting, and making noise didn't bother him in the slightest. He was obviously quite used to being around!!! So...Alanna called the conservation number you are supposed to call when you see a bear, and described his activities. "Quite normal" they said!! So we took our barbecued chicken and finished cooking it in the oven!! In Ontario, we would look out of our windows and see deer, or raccoons, or skunks, or coyotes, or foxes, but if you stepped outside, they were gone in a flash!! Ray and I are hoping we don't see him out on the trail!! But, he has been back again – several times. We saw the evidence  when we noticed ours and our neighbours’ garbage cans on their side. He didn’t get into ours as it is locked, but he did get into the neighbour’s bin, which is not good at all for him. Once they get the taste of human food, they are doomed. The part that worries me the most is that he may decide to pay us a visit in the house….and yes…..they can do that!! They are supposed to go to sleep in their dens for the winter but food was short this fall and the park rangers are warning that because of that, and the fact that they can get easy food in the built up areas, some of the bears may not be sleeping!

We have volunteered as interpreters for the Eagle Watch programme – that means we get to share our newly acquired knowledge about bald eagles with the public on the Brackendale Dyke. One Saturday morning, shortly after we arrived, we went to the opening of the eagle season. The breeze and drizzle chills the bones so we made sure we were well protected with rain gear…and yes….thermal underwear. Excitement was mounting when we reached the Dyke. The eagles were coming! They were soaring across the raging river and landing in the golden coloured cotton wood trees in the Brackendale Eagles Provincial Park on the opposite bank. No human feet are allowed on that far side of the river during the eagles wintering here (Oct – March). The Eagle Watch volunteers set up a very strong telescope and we were able to see the eagles’ activities on the opposite bank. A dead salmon was being devoured. First one eagle would use his steel like talons to tear some flesh off the fish, then another eagle would land and push the first eagle out of the way, thus several eagles were able to feed off the same rotten fish. When the eagles needed a rest from gorging, they turned their back on the fish which was the sign that the gulls could step in and make a frenzied attack on the fish before the eagle turned back for its next course and pushed them aside. The eagles are majestic in the air, with their 8 feet wingspan supporting a calculated glide through the air from tree to riverside, from tree to tree, and from one side of the river to the other. They say an eagle can see a rabbit on the ground from 300 m up and 1 km away!! Several juvenile birds joined the adults in their search for food. Meanwhile, in the river the harbour seals played in the current popping their steely grey heads out of the water from time to time to spy what was happening around them….and occasionally to grab a salmon.

A group of Squamish First Nations sang a welcome to the eagles, first to the males, then to the females. This was followed by an energised dance during which the young dancers replicated the eagle’s movements with much agility.  Then there were speeches by the mayor, the president of the Squamish Environmental Society of which the Eagle Watch is a part, the leader of the Eagle Watch, and the owners of one of the partners of the Eagle Watch, Sunwolf. 

About two minutes from our house is a beautiful trail, called “Jack’s Trail”. Alanna first introduced me to the trail this visit for a morning run, and since then Ray and I have run it, biked it, and walked it. The trail was tough. Started out quite stony, then widened out and then for the most part was a long slow climb in rocky terrain up to Alice Lake - of course the return was downhill, and therefore quicker. Just over an hour and about 7.5 km. We didn't meet any bears, or cougars, but we were passed by several bikers and of course walkers. Very similar to the forests we run in Ontario. The only difference, we were running diagonally up the side of the mountain, so huge big BC trees on one side, and on the other the steep side of the mountain. We passed several streams. Really beautiful!! And this is only one of several beautiful trails to hike/bike/run/walk on!

 

We are living in a beautiful part of Canada – right up there with the best scenery in the world! If you are planning a holiday, think about a visit here! It is stunning!! We would love to entertain you in Squamish, and you will have a place to stay….not before the beginning of June though….any time after that.