Mexico

Try waking up to this view!

On a whim we flew to Mazatlan. We managed to do almost nothing while there except sleep, read and eat. We faced decisions like; what time shall be go to the pool? Which pool should we go to? When should we eat? Which restaurant should we go to? Some of these decisions were so taxing that we needed to have a rest before and after making them. We were in an all inclusive in Emerald Bay. A lovely place with manicured jungle gardens and open lovely vistas to the Bay and clean sandy beaches.

spot the iguana

Ellen Genevieve Broome nee Monck

Broome, Ellen Genevieve (née Monck)

 

July 28, 1919 to November 21, 2013 - Calgary, AB

 

 

Ellen passed away peacefully on November 21 surrounded by love and care at the age of 94.  She will be dearly missed by her daughter Diana of Vancouver and son Wayne (Chris) of New York, numerous nieces, nephews, grand nieces, grand nephews, their families and many friends.  Ellen was predeceased by her husband Bill in 1966, her parents Geoffrey and Flossie, and her loving sisters Mildred and Doris.  She retired from the City of Calgary in 1985 and spent many years involved in her community entertaining in senior centers and care facilities with her dance, music, art and laughter.  Special thanks to the warm and loving care and support of the staff at Santuari in the Peter Lougheed.  In lieu of flowers, family and friends are invited to donate to the Alzheimer Society of Calgary.  A private celebration of Ellen's life will be held at a later date.

Water water everywhere

The storm of the century blew in as Peg and I set forth on our sea adventure. It wasn't the open sea, and that is a good thing but, deep and cold enough in the narrows and channels. We left Maple Bay at 11:00 am aboard her 35 ft trawler Time Thief into calm waters and cloudy skies. We didn't have to tangle with a ferry or buck high winds and the crossing was pleasant. The weather disintegrated after we tied up in Telegraph Marina on Thetis island. But she maneuvered her boat to the dock like the pro she is. This was more to the astonishment of the men standing by to help than to her astonishment with her new confidence I felt she had. She used the bow thrusters for a little push and in one move we were tied up.
Thetis is only a couple of hours away from Maple Bay but the distance wasn't the issue. The reason for the trip was for Peg to Captain the boat for her Mike who had passed away and whose ashes she was going to sprinkle over the water just off Tent island. And to do it without help. Believe me when I am your crew you are doing it without help! I was promoted from galley bitch to fender hauler in a short time and then I held the post of first mate and dog holder. Did I mention that the Yorkies sailed with us? Brave little guys who knew I didn't know what I was doing and after I dropped Charlie Yorkie in the drink, they stayed well away from me until they needed a hot water bottle at night.
The yacht club members greeted us with appies and drinks and the first night was underway. I did my best to keep up the rum drinking but eventually the clock caught up with me and we made up our beds and went to sleep. My bed was over the diesel heater. I woke up in a sweat to the tune of the fans which sounded to me like we were about to take off down a runway. The waters were calm and so I couldn't even sleep in a rocking motion. The next morning after a group breakfast we were all back on our boats battening down the hatches for the huge winds that blew up. A stray sailboat found shelter in one of the few slips that were open and the passengers all looked soaked to the skin.
Up to the pavilion for a roast pig that night but only the intrepid, the youth or the rummed up could bear the cold winds. We were back in the boat talking and paying Bananarama. The next morning, no one lingered and visited, we knew a bad storm was brewing and we hied off across the strait. 4 ft waves the other boaters were saying and it was a rough ride. Peg put the boat on Autopilot and went to the swim deck to sprinkle Mike and the rose petals. A huge rainbow lit up the water and the waves rose up and tumbled us side to side. I couldn't hold the wheel and the rose petals blew back inside the boat.

Did I mention that Peg has a very bad hip and she is in constant pain. She is getting a birthday hip on the 3rd of December but until then she is swinging her leg and limping up and down the ladders and the decks.
With a death grip on the helm (just kidding), we proudly motored back to Maple Bay where Peg got a round of praise from her fellow yachts people.

 

 

 

 

 

Spruce. Meadows

Ian Miller over the jump on Saturday Sept 7th. Not a great day for weather as it rained all day and we went home soaked.... horses and riders and gates all covered in mud. Sunday the crowd swelled to 81,000 when the sun came out. The temperature soared, It took us an hour to get home out of the parking lot, to margueritas on the deck in the beautiful evening.

Why I live in the best place on earth

 

Top end of the Missouri

It was such a lovely afternoon and I since we needed to take a little break a walk along the levee of the Missouri river at its upper reaches seemed just the ticket

He is pointing to the names of deceased folks named Morrow.

 

 

One of my Dad's favourite tunes to whistle and sing was "How are things in GloccaMorra?" Well I can answer that. This place is at the Sweet Water border. So the answer is....not so good.

Fort Walsh Saskatchewan to Havre Montana and Fort Benton Montana in 34 hours

the hoosecow

Beautiful rolling hills, but one wonders why they didn't build the fort down below on the flat badlands. Okay, hunting might be tricky but all that climbing and dragging heavy stuff around....geesh. Like a 9lb cannon, that must have taken several oxen to drag it up and over the hills and  then chase the indians with it.

Life was challenging in those days, but the pay was good...1 dollar a day. 

exact as could be determined, reproduction of the hoosecow. Two to a room. 

Buffalo hide bedding, although originally the floors were mud and the roof was sod., I know that buffalo hide can keep you warm at 30 below. 

Fort Walsh Saskatchewan is in east side of Cypress Hills, accessed through Maple Creek down a narrow asphalt road. By the time we decided to take the eastern block road , it was about 2:00 p.m and
all along  the 45 minute drive we enjoyed the beautiful countryside and heard the birdsong. This is pretty rough country for a lot of the trip,  suddenly you leave the badlands and you are in lush green and forested foothills. Deep valleys and windy hairpin roads take you to the fort.  This is a National Heritage Site and the actors go out of their way to make the tour as realistic as possible. They even arrested a couple of kids and put them on trial. Everyone enjoyed the show. Being the last day of the season, they had closed the cook house but we are told they do a pretty mean bannock. 

Beneath the streets of Havre are very famous. Years ago after a fire set by disgruntled drunken cowboys, the town was burnt to the ground and because of a shortage of building materials to reconstruct, the townsfolk took their businesses down below into the basements of the original brick buildings, they tunneled between the buildings and under the sidewalks,  adding glass blocks into the concrete of the overhead walkways for some natural light. This photo is a depiction of the bootleggers office where he met the likes of Al Capone, who bought the whiskey transported from MooseJaw. These stories are all true. The worst of it was that there was NO police, only the Cavalry and because they were too out numbered to do anything the town just got worse and worse. Only recently was this town renamed to Havre, it used to be called Bullhook Bottom. A very apt name. Main employers were, the saloon, prostitution, opium dens, bootlegging, railway and saddlery. Some honest folk set up their bakery, pharmacy and meat market but they were also down below with the bad 'uns.

The bakery...no ventilation other than the cracks in the walls and ceilings,

The pharmacy

chinese laundry ...how culturally sensitive the maniqins are

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Fort Walsh, Sask Notice the british flag.  It is so quiet here that it makes your ears ring.
We thought we would be smart and take what appeared on the map to be a paved road, the # 615 south, to a road that then went west to take us to the Wild Horse border crossing. As the Willow creek crossing closed at 5:00p.m., as it was already 4:45 p.m., we had to find an alternate crossing to the west Wild Horse,  this meant more time on the road, however, we were fed, watered and peed and we thought we were good to go. The first 100 yards of the road were great, okay they were gravel but how bad can this get? We soon answered the question and it was a hard slogging 100 kms of rutting rocky not so much gravel as boulder road, just to get to the 41 south in Alberta,  but we were committed by this time as I had paid for our hotel room in Havre and by gum we were going to get there if it killed us. We nearly lost our fillings by the time we bust out of the badlands and onto a paved road.
Here is the interesting part, in the late 1800's Sitting Bill walked his people from Fort Assiniboia Montana (Havre) to Fort Walsh to negotiate a treaty (with all his people) and when he got there, Colonel Walsh had left for Regina,. ARGHHHH! wouldn't that just  tick you off. So he went to Regina, and Walsh had left for Ontario. So they went back to Montana and you know the rest. 

Heidi's pup

http://youtu.be/dOZSoYbojk8

I love the look on Grommit's face....he goes to a special peanut butter place. http://youtu.be/dOZSoYbojk8

The beginning of the harvest

 

Bow Valley Parkway lunch

 

Mares in the rain

 

Bryan using the walking stick made by his bro Bob

 

High River AB July 19th 2013- 1 month later A Ghost Town